As Le Mond Turns, Episode #2342

Well, the sleepy controversy about whether to believe science or to believe a Mennonite cyclist with millions of dollars of commercial endorsements on the line certainly turned into a "human drama," as they said on NPR this morning.

Le Mond of course has more than one skeleton in his closet — as, indeed, we all do. (I've been told I should upgrade to a walk-in sized skeleton closet).

One reason we give props to the hefty, former champion: There is no delicate or elegant way to do what he's doing; it will always look like sour grapes. But the pro cycling community is a tight one-- probably too tight-- and anyone who has spent time in it will, with a few pints of truth serum, tell you stories that'll curl your hair. It goes significiantly beyond pharmaceutical cheating, let's just put it thataway.

But like I say: Le Mond doesn't have a lot to gain by breaking that circle of trust. Other than, you know, to remind everyone that he won the Tour, you know, three times... and, you know, almost got killed by a gun in there one time too... so, you know, might have won it two or three more times in there too... you know.