Dear Not A. Cyclist, — Obviously a lot of them doped, although I would love to see you say that in front of “The Badger”. (I personally believe Hinault was clean & rode on pure rage. He’s over 60, but I’ll bet you’ll need a dentist afterwards.) There was, is, and will be cheating in cycling. Honestly, I’m less critical of the riders of the 70’s and beforehand. However, in the 80’s, 90’s, to the present, with the technological advances and cheaters doing the preposterous to succeed, even knowing what blood doping and other banned substances would do to them? One would say you would be foolish, stupid, greedy, desperate, or a combination of these terms and others. Regardless, athletes taking those measures should not be exalted as role models. They should be penalized harshly. Not for stealing races from others, which is another matter, but for instilling false hope in future racers and being mendacious to cycling & its fandom. True enough, sometimes I find it ridiculous that WADA doesn’t differentiate between Sudafed and sermorelin, which is magical in itself. I am sure you are witty enough to understand the difference between the two.

Don’t single out deanabt, or Lee, or anyone who actually cares what happens with the future of cycling. The children now, the kids that will be competing in future years, should have at least some respectable role models to look upon; to say, when they are presented the Needle of Deceit, “Get stuffed. I don’t need or want any of that poison.” Those are the role models that were sorely needed then, and still are now. Good on the folks that Fight the Good Fight, there will always be some who seek out the Right Way to do things.

You can call me a hypocrite, or me for that matter. You can tell the others that most cyclist don’t give a frack, etc., etc.. You are entitled to whatever opinion that you have concocted, but I’ll take Lee Rodgers on my team any day over Contador every time. His palmarés at least doesn’t have an asterisk next to it, and most likely trumps yours. Oh, and Not A. Cyclist, should you want to discuss it further, mind that this former messenger, with three Boston winters under his belt, doesn’t give a frack what you have to say or think, but you best smile when you say it.