Hi JV,
...yeah, I know I could e-mail this to you, but I know you still lurk on here, and I imagine your e-mail is getting pretty full these days.
It's Now or Never.
I think it was pretty awesome of you to walk away from all of the BS when you did. The famous IM conversation sums it all up. You risked banishment from the sport you love, just for walking away, not even threatening to take anyone down. That took some courage.
Posters on here just want to think of you as the guy with the turtle neck going to fancy restaurants. Me, I remember the days of seeing you and a bunch of juniors driving from Colorado to Montana with the 5280 team and thinking, "wow, this is what happens when you pi$$ off Armstrong? Ouch!"
You had a vision to provide an option to those who wanted to compete clean. You probably thought of your old teammates and buddies like Willett, Pate and Candelario, big talents who didn't play the game and never got the place in the sport they probably deserved. Man, that took some guts, and a vow of poverty to boot!
I still ride quite a bit with a couple of your current team riders, one of whom you're personally coaching. They both tell me about the extreme pressure NOT to dope, and you've been really supportive of both of them, despite some thin results. It's great to see you trying to hang on to that original purpose.
When you dismissed part of the IM as hyperbole, I certainly understood; the walls have ears, and the Longarm of those named does run long and deep. You have to be in the system to change it, after all.
I never minded didn't you didn't come totally clean yourself. I mean, you couldn't and still work in the sport, you know, cleaning it up from the inside. I understood your tacit admission well enough.
I was willing to buy into some pretty impressive transformations from a couple of your riders, thinking "hey, maybe the playing field is level". After all, I think it's at least "more level" than it's been in a while. Still, pursuiter to climber does make one wonder a little. But hey, I'm willing to believe in the current guys.
When you took in a guy with a pretty shady rep, and another convicted doper, I was certainly willing to give that some room. After all, maybe they really were just tired of all of the B S themselves and just wanted to stop living like a porcupine! Their results seem to indicate that they weren't quite where they used to be, and in an odd sense I was really happy about that fact.
I'll admit, when you said you'd take Floyd back if he beat the rap, well, that was pretty curious. Even then, I figured maybe you just wanted to give Floyd another option. And when Lance announced his comeback, I knew that while bristling on the inside, you had to play nice. Again, you gotta be in the game to change it. I understand even if it angers a bunch of forum posters. I get it.
When this Landis stuff hit the fan, I knew the timing was pretty lame. Z was going great, and you've got a bike race to try and win. That certainly wasn't the time to talk about all of this stuff. And, the Giro is still going on, they're still racing to be done.
Well, the Giro's now pretty much over for the Argyle Crew. The ToC is in the bag.
Now is the time.
It's time to man-up. Tell what you know. Everything.
I know what you're thinking: "man, I can't do that, I've made it to the inside, and I'm changing things from here! Do you know what it's taken to get this far in?"
Actually, I do. I remember the old days. I was just a lame junior kid racing Cat 4 back then, but I remember, really (I was still taller than Colby, though!).
"with Floyd's admission, I don't need to come forward". Actually, you do. No one can call you a "bitter crackpot" after all. Besides, when the Feds come knocking, the "non-denial denials" really don't play to well.
"I have some guys who made a change, they're doing it the right way now!?". Well, that may be true. But tell it to Carney! Sprinting for power bars instead of tour stages? Remember, you weren't victims. All of you guys had options. Some took them, some didn't, so let's stop pretending, OK?
"But it's really getting better now!". Well, incrementally I'll believe that. However, putting on new siding when the framing is rotting isn't going to fix the long-term problem. I hate analogies, but you know what I'm saying here, and you know I'm right.
"But man, it runs so deep, there's no getting to the root of it". Well JV, now is your one and only shot to really make that big difference. The difference you wanted to make all along. The entire power structure is on trial. The situation is as precarious as it's ever going to get. If you don't swing for the fences now you're never going to have another chance. It'll be back to "two steps forward, three steps back".
Look where we are now: Rhis and Och are back in the game, transfusion kits are being labeled as the "french conspiracy", and the Livestrong juniors are ready to get to the "next level". The old crew are getting right back to business. Sure, they'll lay low right now while the heat is on, but do you really think that's going to last? Seriously??
It's time to man-up JV. It's Now or Never.
...yeah, I know I could e-mail this to you, but I know you still lurk on here, and I imagine your e-mail is getting pretty full these days.
It's Now or Never.
I think it was pretty awesome of you to walk away from all of the BS when you did. The famous IM conversation sums it all up. You risked banishment from the sport you love, just for walking away, not even threatening to take anyone down. That took some courage.
Posters on here just want to think of you as the guy with the turtle neck going to fancy restaurants. Me, I remember the days of seeing you and a bunch of juniors driving from Colorado to Montana with the 5280 team and thinking, "wow, this is what happens when you pi$$ off Armstrong? Ouch!"
You had a vision to provide an option to those who wanted to compete clean. You probably thought of your old teammates and buddies like Willett, Pate and Candelario, big talents who didn't play the game and never got the place in the sport they probably deserved. Man, that took some guts, and a vow of poverty to boot!
I still ride quite a bit with a couple of your current team riders, one of whom you're personally coaching. They both tell me about the extreme pressure NOT to dope, and you've been really supportive of both of them, despite some thin results. It's great to see you trying to hang on to that original purpose.
When you dismissed part of the IM as hyperbole, I certainly understood; the walls have ears, and the Longarm of those named does run long and deep. You have to be in the system to change it, after all.
I never minded didn't you didn't come totally clean yourself. I mean, you couldn't and still work in the sport, you know, cleaning it up from the inside. I understood your tacit admission well enough.
I was willing to buy into some pretty impressive transformations from a couple of your riders, thinking "hey, maybe the playing field is level". After all, I think it's at least "more level" than it's been in a while. Still, pursuiter to climber does make one wonder a little. But hey, I'm willing to believe in the current guys.
When you took in a guy with a pretty shady rep, and another convicted doper, I was certainly willing to give that some room. After all, maybe they really were just tired of all of the B S themselves and just wanted to stop living like a porcupine! Their results seem to indicate that they weren't quite where they used to be, and in an odd sense I was really happy about that fact.
I'll admit, when you said you'd take Floyd back if he beat the rap, well, that was pretty curious. Even then, I figured maybe you just wanted to give Floyd another option. And when Lance announced his comeback, I knew that while bristling on the inside, you had to play nice. Again, you gotta be in the game to change it. I understand even if it angers a bunch of forum posters. I get it.
When this Landis stuff hit the fan, I knew the timing was pretty lame. Z was going great, and you've got a bike race to try and win. That certainly wasn't the time to talk about all of this stuff. And, the Giro is still going on, they're still racing to be done.
Well, the Giro's now pretty much over for the Argyle Crew. The ToC is in the bag.
Now is the time.
It's time to man-up. Tell what you know. Everything.
I know what you're thinking: "man, I can't do that, I've made it to the inside, and I'm changing things from here! Do you know what it's taken to get this far in?"
Actually, I do. I remember the old days. I was just a lame junior kid racing Cat 4 back then, but I remember, really (I was still taller than Colby, though!).
"with Floyd's admission, I don't need to come forward". Actually, you do. No one can call you a "bitter crackpot" after all. Besides, when the Feds come knocking, the "non-denial denials" really don't play to well.
"I have some guys who made a change, they're doing it the right way now!?". Well, that may be true. But tell it to Carney! Sprinting for power bars instead of tour stages? Remember, you weren't victims. All of you guys had options. Some took them, some didn't, so let's stop pretending, OK?
"But it's really getting better now!". Well, incrementally I'll believe that. However, putting on new siding when the framing is rotting isn't going to fix the long-term problem. I hate analogies, but you know what I'm saying here, and you know I'm right.
"But man, it runs so deep, there's no getting to the root of it". Well JV, now is your one and only shot to really make that big difference. The difference you wanted to make all along. The entire power structure is on trial. The situation is as precarious as it's ever going to get. If you don't swing for the fences now you're never going to have another chance. It'll be back to "two steps forward, three steps back".
Look where we are now: Rhis and Och are back in the game, transfusion kits are being labeled as the "french conspiracy", and the Livestrong juniors are ready to get to the "next level". The old crew are getting right back to business. Sure, they'll lay low right now while the heat is on, but do you really think that's going to last? Seriously??
It's time to man-up JV. It's Now or Never.
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