Le Cheat

How does a rider look so bad one day (Vino, Stage 14) and then miraculously smoke everyone the next day (Vino, Stage 15) in an individual time trial? They "freshen up" their blood, that's how.

I could care less what happens to Vino now and he deserves to lose everything over this. How many people's lives will be adversely affected by this one?

If you are a T-Mobile exec, do you really sign up for another $20.4 million per year? If you are an American corporation being courted by Lance and Johan to replace Discovery, do you even call them back? If you are Jonathan Vaughters, do you really want to take your young Slipstream-Chipotle team to Le Tour next year? If the answer is unanimously no then the list of unemployed cyclists, coaches, team directors, mechanics, and support staff is going to be very long.

Today's news made me think about one of my all-time favorite Blog posts. Last year about this time we had some similar bad news and Adam wrote a great piece that I think about often. I am proud to be an everyman (July 28, 2006). This weekend in Laramie I will be cheering for the everyman like never before. I will cheer for the everyman that passes me on the Headquarters climb 3 miles before the finish and I will cheer for the everyman who crosses the line well after the 9 hour mark. There will be no "tranfusion tents", no team chefs, and no team buses with tinted windows. There will be real people, with real jobs, busting their asses because they love mtn biking and I can't wait to be a part of it this weekend.