Hero Worship

This is a little off topic for this blog. With the Adirondack house and farm all sold, I’ve time to ponder other issues that have had an impact on my life. Especially now while I am convalescing after my recent back surgery. Which was certainly brought on by all the lifting, scrubbing and lugging I suffered while clearing out the old house.

During the late 90’s and early 2000’s I was totally consumed, infatuated, and devoted to Lance Edward Armstrong. My wife and I traveled to Paris three times to watch him finish 3 of his 7 Tour de France Yellow Jersey wins. We stayed in the same hotel with him, his then girlfriend Sheryl Crow and comedian Robin Williams, who too, was an big fan of Lance. I strived for access. My company, Bigelow Advertising, signed up for pro bono work promoting the Tour de Georgia for five years straight. We got to meet, dine and chat with all the pros. Floyd Landis, Tyler Hamilton, Georgie Hincapie, Chris Horner, David Zabriskie, Levi Leipheimer, Jonathan Vaughters and many others became household names. The Tour de France played endlessly in my company’s lobby. I collected memorabilia , lanyards and VIP passes, jerseys that my company had designed, books and magazines, etc. I was all in. All in.

The good part was that I also rode my bike. I took spin classes. I rode group charity rides. I became the best rider I could be. Maybe a little old, but I never was more fit in my life.

I supported the Lance Armstrong Foundation. I wore and gave away those yellow rubber bracelets by the hundreds to friends, family and clients. When my brother David was fighting cancer I could not buy and distribute enough of them.

Then in 2006 Floyd Landis was stripped of his Tour de France win. After years of denial, he finally admitted to continual doping, also revealing that Armstrong and many other top riders systematically doped as well.

At first I didn’t believe any of it. I went to a Free Floyd event. Donated money. He signed my jersey. I bought his book, “Positively False”. Then I had a beer with him.

It was later, after I watched Lance’s 2013 Oprah Winfrey pity-fest, where he finally came clean, when it finally sunk in. I was completely crestfallen.

I struggled with this. For a long time. So much so that I tossed out my little 2 1/2″ painted lead action figure of Lance in his U.S. Postal kit as recently as 2 months ago.

So why am I writing about this now? Yesterday, the New York Times published an exclusive. “Trump’s Taxes Show Chronic Losses and Years of Tax Avoidance.” This “emperor has no clothes” revelation struck me very much like my reaction to the Floyd Landis’ 2006 Tour de France win/lost.

Like I was, Trump supporters are polarized in their faith. Impossible to reason with. Very much like my former hero-worship of the Lance Armstrong/U.S. Postal Cycling Team fairy tale. I say fairy tale because it all was a manufactured lure that I and many others swallowed hook, line and sinker.

Unfortunately the election is less than a month away. It took me years to shake it off, see and accept the truth. Slowly I discarded all my collected memorabilia; signed jerseys and caps, posters, books, magazines, etc. The whole thing was fake. Lance was a hoax. A liar and a cheat.

A lot like the man who currently occupies the White House.

Even if he loses this election those supporters will still wave the Trump flags, wear those red MAGA ball caps, and chant “Hoax”, “Election Fraud”, “Lock him/her up” and whatever other nonsense he feeds them via Twitter after his defeat.

Eventually the hero-worship hold will give way. Truth will slowly seep into the Twitter-written fairy tale. And after some time, say a decade or so, the Trump-train will completely disappear. Like Lance’s 7 TdF wins. Erased.