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This blog is to honor the greatest American bicycle racer of all time Greg LeMond. Now settle down all you non American bikers. This is not meant to take away from the long time dominance of the sport by the Italians and the French. It is just that this is personal. Greg LeMond was born in 1961 and a decade Later Lance Armstrong was born in 1971. I was born in 1964 so based on age I am in a unique position to see the merits of both riders. As a young triathlete I had by chance raced against Lance Armstrong in a USTS triathlon in Miami on one occasion. I believe he was just 18 years old at the time. It was a bad day for me. A flat tire killed my position and performance enhancing drugs began to come onto the scene.Although I was willing to do the hard work the drugs were the one thing I was not willing to do. So much more than my tire was deflated that day. Athletes of all kinds were jumping on board to the performance enhancement drug scene. The reasoning? "to perform on that level you have to". Wrong! The answer is: if that is what you have to do to perform on that level than do something else. In life we experience pain and struggle, defeat and frustration. With this we build our character and our endurance, it develops who we are. The performance enhancing drugs take away from this struggle, and although there is an appearance of victory and greatness with the use of these drugs the truth is a different picture.
Hats off to Greg LeMond for his struggles in life and his accomplishments in bicycle racing. He is presently struggling with lead poisoning due to a hunting accident earlier in his life. I wish him and his family well.
Hats off to Lance Armstrong for defeating testicular cancer.
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