Response to the OP
Originally Posted by straydog
Let me start this post by saying that I am really looking forward to see what amusing and deluded lengths...
<snipped for brevity>
...Let's talk about the future of cycling....whatever that may be. And frankly until someone shows me a photo of Armstrong or Bruyneel sacrificing babies on the postal bus before the ITT at the 2004 tour, I will, without reservation, love my memories of the past.
Peace
Congratulations on your post and the number of replies it has provoked. I think it's great that you have found a cyclist that you can be a fan of. For myself, I've stopped being a fan of any cyclist as all of the ones I've been a fan of have tested positive for PEDs. Something about cycling still keeps me following the sport, although this is limited to websites and the occasional TV viewing.
I think that the credibility of your arguments is undermined by your attack on people like Paul Kimmage and Greg LeMond. Also your opening post labels the "anti Armstrong brigade" as deluded and intimates that they will automatically label you as a troll, a Livestrong employee or Lance Armstrong himself.
You go further, saying that as well as having an extraordinary amount of free time on their hands, they are haters, believe in Father Christmas and have a fevered imagination - imagining things which I had not heard until you mentioned them (the Floyd Landis allegation aside - which came not from this forum, but from Landis). This insulting approach is likely to get people riled up. Was that your intention?
If you love cycling, hopefully you love clean cycling, and that is what Paul Kimmage is on about. Yes, he took PEDs - he's been quite open about that. You have read his book twice so I don't need to tell you the context in which his doping occurred. I agree with you that Kimmage is not a great writer compared to Hemmingway, Shakespeare et al, but as a first book Rough Ride was at least readable and very honest. The system that he talks about that leads cyclists to dope is alive and well today. His book was a call to try to end doping in cycling and unfortunately has been largely ignored by the UCI and others who are responsible for cycling. Finally, you say that Kimmage was an average cyclist. I'd say that becoming a pro cyclist for four years, riding and finishing the Tour and Giro clean takes something well above average in cycling.
Greg LeMond. I'm not a big fan of his, but he is one of the few top cyclists of whom I've never heard a single doping rumour. He has been outspoken on doping for a long time. If you'd love to know who his Doctor was in the '80s then why don't you ask him yourself?
Perhaps also you need to rethink your argument that if all the top cyclists were doping, the playing field was level. That argument takes no account of the cyclists who weren't doped, as others here have pointed out.
It's great that you love cycling and that it's changed your life. I also love cycling and it's changed my life also. By the way the two great cyclists you mention are actually named Eddy Merckx and Jacques Anquetil.
Peace to you, too.