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Look. He said what he did. He came clean. Took him years, but he did it.
Someone step up and sign the guy already. Reward truthfulness. Encourage other to do the same in like situations. Push the ball forward. Clean up the sport.
The alternative is that other cyclists will continue to deny everything. Because denial is rewarded. Because lying is condoned. Because falsity is sanctioned.
He should not be alone in this.
You can read about the Nevada City Classic, where Floyd Landis finished fourth wearing an off-the-hanger comerically avaiable jersey and raced alone, at Velonews.com.
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it took balls.
Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you mad—–Aldous Huxley.
I’d bet 80% of American cyclists and cycling fans hate Floyd for coming out. Whistleblowers are always despised. Floyd is a very brave man to ride against some of those cranks in Nevada City. But if anyone tried any crap a million cameras would be on it.
Here’s hoping Floyd has a nice uneventful race.
I Thought the race was coming up. I should pay attention to what I’m reading. Too much caffeine and porn. Can’t see straight.
4th is good
can a brother get some champers on ice here? Damn steeraights.
I believe Floyd.
I gave Floyd the benefit of the doubt the whole time he was fighting the charges. I would have given him more respect if he had admitted to cheating and just agreed to do his time and try to get back into the peloton with clean legs 2 years later. But I have NO respect for his trying to take everyone down with him. He only decided to ‘come clean’ when he wasn’t taken back into their loving embrace with no questions asked. The guys a douchebag and he wears the appropriate jersey now.
F-that OTB. Dude got scape-goated by a system that condones doping, and every “beloved” champ to come out of it, is a doper. That includes L.A.
Fuck em all. Burn the whole fucking thing down until the lot of them are begging for gas money to the next race.
Excellently worded post, BJ. I am with you in the fight for change.
I am anti – OTB on this one. The system of cheating, denial & lies MUST be burned down to the ground.
I find American “pro” wrestling to be more believable than pro road races. Fucking sad.
I just can’t seem to get past the part where he solicited donations for his defense fund.
If he’d come clean from the start, then more power to him. But years of denial and taking money from Joe Public when he knew he was lying, that’s bullshit.
I don’t believe he was alone, I’m sure most if not all were doping too. The system is fucked, but Floyd is part of the problem, not part of the solution.
@OTB: imagine the pressure FL was under to toe the line when he got busted. compound that with the fact that professional cycling was all he knew. pretty heavy stuff and i am confident in saying that there are very few mortals that would not have succomb to the pressures he was under.
so he toed the line and fought the fight for all. then they shit on him. what would you do in his shoes? sometimes walking away isn’t always the higher ground. the guy loves to ride and wants to do so on the legit. if it is all in fact true, and his motives are clean, then i give him props for exposing the scene.
now he’s out there showing more fortitude than any other rider on the planet. can you imagine the ripple effect if someone like Ulrich stepped up and said FL is right, let’s fix this. Or hell, if LA got his head out of his ass, strapped on a neuticle, and backed FL the whole industry would probably make a paradigm shift.
Amen. In the immortal words of Bill Hicks ” you’re a Christain aren’t ya? , then forgive me….”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxsGyljd6B0&feature=related
The guy cheated, did what many did and got caught. Lost everything and his loyalty was not rewarded by those that introduced him to what brought him down. I saw ” A ride with George Hincapie “the other day. Armstrong talks about how “loyal” Hincapie was and that was his redeeming quality. Floyd was not one of the drones and that is why he and LA did not get along. I applaud Floyd for the balls to do what he did and even moreso for the balls to show up and race his bike with no team. Mad props.
Floyd is a true American.
Someone get the man a blow job and a pizza.
love him or hate him, what he did (confessing) took courage and balls. However, he lost all my respect with the whole “floyd fairness fund” (took honest people’s money without even blinking just to fuel his denial). How about paying those people back, Floyd? Secondly, Bahati went out on a limb to sign him and he brought on board OUCH Medical Center and the support of Dr. Brent Kay. Dude comes out, whole ToC shit storm, then OUCH pulls its sponsorship on Bahati’s organization and leaves them destitute. Riders and team personnel are left with nada. Hey, thanks Dr. Kay. You’re a real stand up guy just like Landis! Why continue to support a complete douchebag when you could have stuck around and supported a real stand up organization who gives back to the youth? What’s that old saying???? Birds of a feather flock together? Yeah, Floyd and Dr. Kay…fuck off. Just disappear. My two cents worth, but WTF do I know?
you don’t know anything, Flo. nothing at all. nada. zip. ziltch. squadouche.
get back on the boat and slap a hoe.
Flo,
Bahati team was going down before Floyd and Dr. Douche got on board. Dr. D just delayed their demise by a month.
sorry Floyd, but just go away. Sure, I believe you, but cycling has been down that road. After you admit what a dumbass you are for writing the book and collecting money for your defense–well, even then, eat shit and die.
Floyd made a mistake by not coming clean right away. He’s not the first to do that and he won’t be the last. He finally talked, said what he did, what he heard, what he saw. I believe him.
Thanks Floyd.
I hope someone signs him.
I’m not sayin growing up Mennonite fucks a person up, but just sayin
Off topic post here but I wanted to share this and don’t got nobodies email around here. Another biker down story, this a fatality from Little Rock. The road she was crossing, Cantrell, is a deathtrap at best for anyone on two wheels, with cars racing through the center of town at 50-60 mph. But she did have the green light.
http://arkansasmatters.com/news-fulltext?nxd_id=324325
“A Little Rock woman is dead after she was hit and killed by what police say was a distracted driver while riding her bike.
Little Rock Police say Marilyn Fulper, 56, was riding her bike along Highway 10 near River Mountain Road just after 9:00 a.m. Sunday morning when a driver that ran a red light slammed into her.
Fulper was rushed to the hospital but died at 1:15 Sunday afternoon.
Police say Patsy Booth was the driver of that car and was most likely distracted. They do not believe she was on a cell phone.
Charges against Booth are pending.”
http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2010/06/21/charges-pending-in-bike-death
“Lt. Terry Hastings said the driver will be ticketed, at a minimum, for running a red light. He said the prosecutor’s office will review what other charge, if any, should be filed.”
A pleasant surprise, these last few *great* posts. Keep these wheels rolling.
Celebrity, dialogue, intelligent commentary, controversy…. and glorious bike racing. Thanks for bringing some glory into the picture, and recognition for the fallen. Restons forts.
he thought all his buddies aka everyone that he named would step up to help him out of getting hung on the positive
the guy has some bad ass in him read the battenkill earlier this year and I remember DZ laughing his ass off about Floyd coming to races with a 57 big ring…i guess that could also be filed in the character department
…gnomer sez:- ” Floyd is a true American.
Someone get the man a blow job and a pizza.”…
…damn, senor…let’s be real here, dammit…throw in good beer & a shot or 3 of jack, for heaven’s sake…
…truth is, like everybody else in that situation, floyd tried to toe the “company line” in the beginning…if that’s not understandable to some of you self righteous clowns, then why do you bother following pro cycling…a high percentage of the peloton has juiced for years…you don’t want it, i don’t want it but facts are facts…
…most pros who get busted have to face a certain amount of shame & loss of income but you don’t read about them losing their loved ones…
…floyd landis’s humiliation extended to the point of not only losing his wife & child but it was his brother-in-law, who acted as his assistant who committed suicide at the time of the tour win being stripped…if you can’t see the differences between floyd’s case & others & how it might affect the man, you’re not paying attention to the facts…
…as far as floyd racing nevada city & wearing that ‘arrogant bastard ale’ jersey ???…man after my own heart…that is fucking awesome…props, dude…wish i’d been up there for the race this year…woulda been cheerin’ for ya all the way…
…man up, pro team managers…hire an honest man who’s ridden a rocky road…
I think Floyd is telling the truth. That doesn’t mean that he isn’t a douche bag. If he were so much concerned about cleaning up the sport, why didn’t he write a book about how he spent years doping? This guy got paid MILLIONS for a book in which he lied his ass off in order to get back in the sport. Don’t even get me started on his sponsor that freak Dr…
He could have done it the right way like Millar on Garmin. Just come clean, shut the fuck up and race. No need to point others out as everybody involved in the sport knows how dirty you have be to be to actually win any of the Grand Tours.
After being in the big game this weekend I can’t believe how mixed the reaction was to his being there. He is still one of the most humble people I have ever met. As was said to me during the cool down lap “I just want to race my fucking bike.” He knows he is in a shitty position but wants to what he loves.
Big Beer, Big Wood.
Amazing.
Even better? It reads “Wood is Good” on the tramp stamp. It can be yours for $60.
http://stonecompanystore.com/store/product/1700/OAKED-Bicycle-Jersey-MD/
“Continuing our domination of stuff you actually want to wear while riding.”
…landis did not get paid “MILLIONS” for a book w/ limited readership…not even fucking close…
…& millar on garmin ???…i’ll reiterate a basic fact…find & read the rest of them if you think he’s so bloody righteous…he came clean ‘cuz he was worried he was gonna go to jail…he got busted by plainsclothes paris drug cops, not a lab & the uci…
Landis wont get a team–and he shouldn’t. People dislike him–not because of the doping, but because of the whole fairness fund and charade that came after it. People are definitely more willing to forgive for doping that for all the other crap he pulled afterwards. The stuff he’s saying now is stuff most of us already expected all along. Frankly, I’d rather see him pay for defrauding people with his book and fairness fund than start racing.
…right…
…dozens of ‘mainstream sports’ pro players have been busted over the years for drugs, ( cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, speed, whatever else) guns, manslaughter, murder for hire schemes, dog fighting, who knows what else & they get reinstated & go back to making actual millions…
…floyd got busted for performance enhancing drugs & he initially lied about it, both of which have been standard practice in the sport for years…he then comes clean & exposes just how rampant the use was during his euro carreer & how & who he learned it from so the purist’s amongst you don’t believe he should be given another shot at what he loves…
…glad to know i’m surrounded by so many people who’ve always taken the right steps in their lives…
To paraphrase what others have said, I think Floyd jumped the shark a long time ago. Had he come out after the positive and said “Save my sport, we’re all on drugs” I’d feel way differently about cycling and doping. But, he spent TONS of others money defending himself, wrote a book to defend his lie and tried to ruin Greg Lemond’s life (not that I think Greg is an angel either, but that is a different topic). I know tons of cyclists are doped to the gills right now as we speak, but I need someone a lot more credible than Floyd to tell me others are dopers. Floyd should come back to the mountain bike world where he’d be embraced.
Just read all 31 responses while formulating my own…and teamfubar said EXACTLY what I had come up with in his last sentence. Fuck the road, come back to the mountain, where people just don’t care…and seem to have more fun.
@bgw. You make some good points, but have to remember that when an NFL player flunks a whiz quiz or gets arrested his team doesn’t get disbanded. One of the big reasons why Floyd is damaged goods is that the Phonak team was looking for a new sponsor when he got busted, and the team folded in the aftermath. Some of the blame for that falls on Hamilton, but a lot of staff and riders lost their jobs while those two were fighting legitimate claims. In a sporting sense, I think he has every right to be racing right now, but no team owner should be expected to shoulder the risk. Maybe he does need to get back off of the road, where he can get into major races without a lot of team support.
The common theme among Floyd’s detractors is that he lost their respect.
Fair enough, he followed the lead of his peer group into a chasm of deceit and he dug the hole deeper with the defense fund. So yeah, no surprise that those actions are viewed as they are but consider this;
Respect is earned and he’s trying to earn it back. So, fair play to him. Its never too late to start doing the right thing. I really hope it works out for him and at least some of the detractors come around to appreciate his efforts. (this is of course assuming some positive consistency on his end)
Gnome. Your shit cracks me up. blowjob and a pizza. ..magic.
Arrogant Bastard couldn’t be more fitting – and not because I dig the swill. Dude can obviously still motor, but the whole fan-supported defense fund thing was one too many lies for me to get past. Unless Al Davis needs a cyclist, Floyd is probably SOL.
The problem I have with Landis is that everything he does is self serving. I can’t get behind a guy who only went public because he couldn’t get a ride. If Radio Shack had taken him aboard we would never hear of Floyd’s desire to clean up his sport. The guys is a self-serving whiner, and those type of people no matter how talented or correct they are need to be bitch slapped.
So arrogant, self-serving, liar, etc. don’t apply equally to DopeStrong? This guy doesn’t have the ego and the money to create a corporate juggernaut and protect himself. Besides, none of you know how you would handle something like this until actually put to the test, so its all just bullshit. Get off his tits.
He did his suspension. He lied (a lot). He came clean. Let the man race.
Fuck Landis and the bike he rode in on!
Would that be the BMC or the TRECK?
the benefit of doubt. in pro cycling? anyone who gives these guys the benefit of the doubt while they’re taking salary is a moron. you’d have to know zero about cycling and human behavior in general to believe this dickheads when they say they’re clean.
landis is my hero. somebody (that cat at evilcycling) said ” i hope the whole motherfucking circus burns to the ground.” hell yeah! lemond’s “bloodbath” thing is nice too.
BMC = Blow my cock…
Trek = The righteous eunuch kometh.
you’re saying “fuck landis” because he fooled you? well, who’s the fool in that scenario? then you act all outraged because you look dumb and you’re embarrassed and your feelings are hurt? damn. that’s some victim shit there. figure things out, bro.
Wazat?
bikesgonewild wins.
make no mistake, we are just getting started with the Floydesque stories. It has gone to the Feds and many “heros” that currently are given respect will crumble like feta…
there comes a time to make things right, not for them but for yourself. If you can’t face your own demons and make them right, how the fuck are you going to change anything. It takes the concerted actions of a few to impart major change on the masses. Half you fuckers on your high horses would not take the stances you are taking if you loved the sport. This is the tipping point and hopefully those that did will come clean and we can believe in our sport again.
I am going to go ride my 29’er tonight, Amen sommerfliesby
Love to see him race MTB in an old team jersey with the sleeves ripped off and a PBR in each pocket.
What about the “fan supported” livestrong empire established on the very same method of extortion? Huh? Huh? But some ya’ll still want Landis to be the horrible one?
Pound foolish, penny wise.
Gotta sing it out now.
gimme a break.
gimme a break.
break me off a piece a that bullshit bar.
I know for a fact that some of what he said were bald lies.
And IMO the horse has already left the barn on this one. The time to come clean was YEARS ago. Like Bob says, when you ain’t got nothin’, you ain’t got nothin’ to lose.
I know for a fact that some of what he said were bald lies.
And IMO the horse has already left the barn on this one. The time to come clean was YEARS ago. Like Bob says, when you ain’t got nothin’, you ain’t got nothin’ to lose.
And he got signed to a decent US team last year but spent his year finding the bottom of a bottle. He raced no better than I did as a category 1 years ago.
…erik raced w/ the man this past weekend & he points out the basics, ‘As was said to me during the cool down lap “I just want to race my fucking bike.” ‘…
…life is full of a lotta much bigger shitstorms that affect how we live & breathe…let the man race his bike…
…& speaking of this shitstorm, i gotta admire ol’ floyd…check out that foto again…being in the middle of this particular one & considering all that he’s lost & he not only has enough of a sense of humor to wear the “big beer, big wood, arrogant bastard ale” jersey but on top of that, he gets his foto taken in front of that big ol’ sign…“the independent”…
…huevos, amigo & glorious ones at that !!!…keep ridin’ & racin’, mr landis…fuck the self righteous clowns & their self serving disingenuous attitudes…they ain’t been there…
I’m American. I only get pizza…
I don’t think coming back to MTB is the answer for Landis. There is no money in it. Also, he was good at the regional level, but was off the back at the National level.
Landis needs to go away and get a job. Maybe some of you Landis lovers can put him to work, whore him out or something like that.
Wow, read this site everyday and can’t have been more anti this BS post than anything that’s ever graced these pages!! Fuck Floyd!! Fuck him hard, make an example of him!!
Give him another chance? WTF???
He’s like a naughty kid who turns on everyone else to try and save his own skin… While the “let him race” crowd is at it, maybe we should pardon Bernie Madoff, I mean he’s come clean!! What about paedophile kiddy fiddlers who admit that what they did was wrong, shall we let them teach at the local school??
What the fuck, he’s a cheat, and is dragging the sport even lower!! I’d be happy never to see his lie-ing cheating ass on a bike ever again… And I’m not singling him out – you cheat, you take drugs, fuck off, go find another sport!!!
I love this sport, I put pro’s on a pedestal, and have done from a very young age!!! So when you tear that down, and lie and lie and lie!!! WTF!!!
Floyd, if you’re going to rock the Bastard kit, you should have went with Dirty Bastard. It’s obviously more fitting and DB is the ale by which all other Bastards are measured.
Won’t happen, even if truthfulness deserves reward.
In the end, he’s a snitch and nobody likes a snitch.
Here’s a different angle on this for those who contributed to/or are upset about the defense fund.
What he was defending were the RESULTS OF A SINGLE DRUG TEST- he was not defending the concept that he took PEDs his entire career. Again, now that the truth is out, the question still remains- were the tests accurate for THAT PARTICULAR STAGE?
I believe in whistleblowers- we are our brother’s keeper.
Burn the entire system to the ground and build it right. Or, build it DIFFERENTLY- with the individualized genetic testing/biological passports, let them use PEDs but within boundaries that EQUALIZE each person to the other- that way, the “Lance Excuse”(I train harder, longer, faster, etc more than anyone else), will be truthful
Call me Utopian, Cynical, Stupid, Short-Sighted- this is just my 2 pesos
To further that different angle, suppose professional cyclist A does a shit ton of drugs. A has done so his entire pro career. He knows his way around PEDs, what to take for what reason, the side effects, the benefits. He knows what he is taking, when he is taking it, how long it will be in his system. Simply stated, A has been evading the testing procedures for years. He is confident he can continue doing so.
Then A gets busted. Drug testing authority B says professional cyclist A took banned substance X.
A knows he did not take X. He took Y & Z, and a lot of it. But not X.
(Or, for a slightly different wrinkle, A did not take X in the amount drug testing authority B claims that he did.)
A fights test results. B defends test results.
Is this plausible? Maybe. Maybe not. But, I find it damn near as believable as anything else.
We may actually have two failed protagonists in this story, where both parties are wrong. A may have been taking other drugs (still a “cheater,” but implicated falsely in the present failed test), and B might, either knowingly or unknowingly, have a flawed testing procedure (which may wrongly implicate other professional cyclists if left uncorrected). Do two wrong make a right? Can they in this situation?
I went to the FFF dinner in Snottsdale, paid some dough to support him. I am not bitter and he was not there spouting that he was clean, the whole thing was about how the system was flawed. And it is…in a fucked up bad way. His Testosterone came back 264% above the limit, based on that alone the test should have been thrown out. The lab did not and does not follow procedure.
I am not defending his cheating, what i am saying is that you have to look at things from another perspective. He cheated, got busted, then those that introduced him to the madness continue to get away with it but turn their backs on him.
Whether it is guilt or vengeance I DON’T FUCKING CARE! If Floyd is the impetus behind our sport changing for the better and he has to take down Hincapie, Barry, DZ, and anyone else especially LA then SO FUCKING BE IT!
Couldn’t believe my eyes! big jonny supporting this weasel cuts me deep. I haven’t felt as much despise as i feel for Landis since Canseco whored his soul for publicity. These people don’t give a shit about “doing what’s right”. For cycling or anything else.
He can smoke your ass on a bike, dope or no dope.
…i will always believe that someone in the lab not only fucked up but did it intentionally in the landis case…landis is an intelligent chap who admits to using other “stuff” but not testosterone in that instance…a reading of 246% above “normal” is too “off” to even be a procedural mistake…gimme a break…
…i still go w/ the theory that after 7 straight tour wins by armstrong, which had the french apoplectic over “their” tour, when landis shows up for year 8 with <i?"yellow jersey" written all over him, some wealthy french patriot sez “pas bon, monsieur, enough is enough !!!”…
…a key to a hidden swiss account, not to be touched until retirement, a few manipulations late night in the lab & “viola…these clever riders & their well financed doctors don’t look to good in the public eye, now, mais oui ???”…
…floyd admits to cheating but even while he’s scorned by so many, he still maintains that the results from “that” test were flawed…i believe him 100%…
…& i believe someone at the chatenay mabray laboratory profited…
My problem with Floyd isn’t that he rode dirty.
My problem with Floyd isn’t that he denied it.
My problem with Floyd isn’t that he availed himself to due process and required his accusers to prove he doped.
My problem with Floyd is he begged money from people who put their faith in him, knowing that it was a charade.
My problem with Floyd is that he thrashed Greg LeMond who only offered his support and wanted to help him in exposing the doping problems in cycling.
My problem with Floyd is he threw Greg LeMond under the bus and help make public one of the LeMond’s most personal and painful experiences in his life.
Fuck Floyd. I hope never gets a sponsorship. I hope he dies penniless.