Among my emails Wednesday morning, out of the blue, was one from Lance Armstrong.<\/p>\n
Riles, I\u2019m sorry.<\/p>\n
All I can say for now but also the most heartfelt thing too. Two very important words.
\nL<\/p>\n
And my first thought was . . . \u201cTwo words? That\u2019s it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Two words? For 14 years of defending a man? And in the end, being made to look like a chump?<\/p>\n
Wrote it, said it, tweeted it: \u201cHe\u2019s clean.\u201d Put it in columns, said it on radio, said it on TV. Staked my reputation on it.<\/p>\n
\u201cNever failed a drug test,\u201d I\u2019d always point out. \u201cMost tested athlete in the world. Tested maybe 500 times. Never flunked one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why? Because Armstrong always told me he was clean.<\/p>\n
On the record. Off the record. Every kind of record. In Colorado. In Texas. In France. On team buses. In cars. On cellphones.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d sit there with him, in some Tour de France hotel room while he was getting his daily postrace massage. And we\u2019d talk through the hole in the table about how he stared down this guy or that guy, how he\u2019d fooled Jan Ullrich on the torturous Alpe d\u2019Huez into thinking he was gassed and then suddenly sprinted away to win. How he ordered chase packs from the centre of the peloton and reeled in all the pretenders.<\/p>\n
And then I\u2019d bring up whatever latest charge was levied against him. \u201cThere\u2019s this former teammate who says he heard you tell doctors you doped. There\u2019s this former assistant back in Austin who says you cheated. There\u2019s this assistant they say they caught disposing of your drug paraphernalia.\u201d<\/p>\n
And every time \u2013 every single time \u2013 he\u2019d push himself up on his elbows and his face would be red and he\u2019d stare at me like I\u2019d just shot his dog and give me some very well-delivered explanation involving a few dozen F words, a painting of the accuser as a wronged employee seeking revenge, and how lawsuits were forthcoming.<\/p>\n
And when my own reporting would produce no proof, I\u2019d be convinced. I\u2019d go out there and continue polishing a legend that turned out to be plated in fool\u2019s gold.<\/p>\n
Even after he retired, the hits just kept coming. A London Times report. A Daniel Coyne book. A US federal investigation. All liars and thieves, he\u2019d snarl.<\/p>\n
I remember one time we talked on the phone for half an hour, all off the record, at his insistence, and I asked him three times, \u201cJust tell me. Straight up. Did you do any of this stuff?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo! I didn\u2019t do s\u2014!\u201d<\/p>\n