The Enemy Within by Glenn Loury

I binged Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative by Glenn C. Loury. It's a page turned. The first years of his life are at a much slower pace, but by the time he is a teenager the story really takes off.

I regularly listen to Glenn Loury's podcast The Glenn Show, so I'll admit to having a bias for him and his ideas.

With that said, I think the book is great regardless of someone being a fan of Loury. It's a piece of literature. Loury uses literary devices to craft the story. Early events of his life are foreshadows of later events. Everything comes back together almost as if literary fiction (maybe it is more fiction than memoir). It is a very well written and structured book.

There is a common theme of "the enemy within," which Loury originally wanted to title the book. You should read or listen to the book, so I will not say more besides that the ideas has multiple layers.

Loury opens the book with a meta-analysis of his goal using game theory. He then, of course, comes back to it at the the end of the book. This makes for an interesting read and relationship. It will affect how I read memoirs and biographies going forward too, trying to gauge how well and deliberate an author is using such tactics. Loury is very aware; he says as much in the opening. He is very deliberate in each word, phrase, sentence, etc. He is very aware of how each element might affect readers. He creates a suspicious with his readers to earn their trust. I'm not sure if this will be successful, but it sure makes everything a lot more interesting. This is a book I look forward to rereading in the future. What does he really want? Why is he really writing this book? I'll look closer into those ideas next time I read it.

Glenn Loury, the character in the book, makes mistake after mistake. It's a little painful reading. How and why can he keep doing this? It's surprising how far and bad it gets for Glenn. It really makes the reader question his character. How and why?

He gives an answer. It may or may not be the most honest answer. It's impossible to know, especially after detailing his use of game theory in writing the book. Loury tells all to gain our trust, but something is missing for my tastes. I wanted to get more Loury diving deeper within. Maybe only a confession of being a complete narcissist or something to that degree would suffice. He seems too self-centered and narcissistic. He admits it, but it isn't explored it enough to make me think he has changed. He's older and he certainly has changed. But I guess more of that change is biological than his personality. This would be consistent with modern pyschology. But a deeper, significant growth that a readers want, isn't there. I can't buy it. He briefly comes back to what I'm calling "it" in the end, but my suspicion is that Loury knows and is hiding how narcissistic he still is.

Loury defends and supports his idea each week on his podcast, so the book isn't to spread his ideas. Maybe the book is really intended to his family. But still, I think they might see through it too. All this makes me unsure if this book is or isn't written in good faith.

This level of criticism could be applied to all memoirs and or writing in general, and I'll probably apply it, as I mentioned, going forward, maybe even give myself an inward examination.

Still, the story and life is well worth reading.

The Running Fiction Challenge

Introduction

I may have discovered a market failure in running fiction, see previous post here. I think running memoirs, histories, and biographers are reasonably represented, but running fiction is either underrepresented in publishing or under appreciated by readers, maybe both. I'm curious how others would respond to those claims.

What Makes Fiction Running Fiction

This is obviously up for debate. If anyone feels strongly about a book that should or shouldn't be on the list, I'm open to a changing the list. I'm a reader who loves running, or a runner who loves reading. Other than that, I don't have any authority over what makes or doesn't make a piece of fiction in the genre running fiction.

The Challenge

Pay some respect to running fiction. Buy, loan, or download the most popular running fiction novels below. Read enough of the story to decide if you like it. Share a review on twitter, goodreads, amazon, or reddit so other readers can sample more running fiction. And of course discuss the books here on this post.

For twitter users use #runningfiction

Most Popular Running Fiction

The following books are the most rated running fiction on goodreads.com, as of 6 July 2024. Goodreads readers can vote here for the best running fiction. The books are in order by total ratings. I've added more specific genres and brief spoiler free descriptions of each novel.

1. *Forrest Gump by Winston Groom - historical running fiction. The novel isn't specifically focused on running throughout, but many chapters feature Forrest's physical running as important aspects of the narrative. (68,999 ratings)

2. The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen - young adult running fiction*. The story chronicles a high school 400m runner's physical and emotional journey of recovery and how running remains a central part of her life. (30,771 ratings)*

3. Once a Runner by John L. Parker Jr. - running fiction*. The novel is regarded as one of the most iconic novels about running. Its entire narrative is centered around the sport, both literally and metaphorically. Centering around the life of a competitive runner who vividly captures the intensity of training, the experience of racing, and the subculture of competitive running. (15,114 ratings)*

4. *The End of the World Running Club by Adrian J. Walker - dystopian running fiction*. Running plays a significant role both literally and metaphorically. While it’s not strictly a "running novel" in the sense of being about the sport of running, running becomes a key element of the story’s structure and themes. (14,848 ratings)*

5. Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron - historical running fiction*. A novel that centers around running, both as a literal sport and as a metaphor for survival, identity, and hope. The novel is set in Rwanda during the years leading up to and during the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. (7,104 ratings)*

6. The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner by Alan Sillitoe - running fiction. Once again, running is a central role, both literally and metaphorically. The story explores themes of personal rebellion, social class, and individuality, with running serving as a powerful symbol for the protagonist’s inner life and resistance against societal expectations. (6,686 ratings)

* Novel might be demoted due to not being enough about running 

Honorable Ineligible Mentions

• What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by novelist Haruki Murakami - memoir, not fiction. (171,386)

• The Running Man by Stephen King - dystopian fiction. There is a lot of running and some overlap between running qualities like endurance and stamina, but the sport or recreational activity of running is absent. The Running Man is really about survival, society, and oppression. (137, 820 ratings)

My Reviews

I'll be review each of the novels here on my blog. I'd love any and all feedback. Leave a comment. Here are reviews I've done so far:

• The End of the World Running Club
• Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron
• The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen
• Once a Runner by John L. Parker, Jr.

The End of the World Running Club by Adrian J. Walker (Running Fiction Review)

This is my third review in The Running Fiction Challenge.

Review

I read most, ~80%, of The End of the World Running Club by Adrian J. Walker.

Overall it just isn't a book about running. It's a survival dystopian novel. It's way more like Walking Dead without zombies than anything related to the sport of running. Ultimately, I didn't care about the story or how it would end. I was waiting for it to become more about running, and now I'm moving on.

The protagonist and narrator is an unhealthy anti runner. The title pretty much gives the basic premise of the story. The setting is modern day Scotland/UK, and the protagonists is telling the story in hindsight.

It's well written. The point of view and pacing make for a page turning read. I especially like the perspective of the protagonist. He captures a lot of the uglier philosophical aspects of manhood and fatherhood. The mentality, I suspect, that many men feel, but they won't admit. Here is my favorite example:

"Man Caves. Shed, garages, studies, attics, cellars. Places for "men--or at least their twenty-first-century equivalents--to hide. To tinker, potter, be creative, build things, hammer bits of wood, listen to the music that their families hate.

Drink, smoke, look at pornography, masturbate.

The subtext of the man cave, of course, is that men don't want to spend any time with their families. For some reason this is perfectly acceptable; every man deserves his cave.

It is my right as a tired parent."

The book is about surviving. If you want to know how the above quote relates to survival, you'll have to read or listen to the book yourself.

Originally The End of the World Running Club was part of the most popular running fiction, but I've demoted it to an illegible honorable mention.

Join the challenge below.

Most Popular Running Fiction Challenge

The following books are the most rated running fiction on goodreads.com, as of 6 July 2024. Goodreads readers can vote here for the best running fiction. The books are in order by total ratings. I've added more specific genres and brief spoiler free descriptions of each novel.

1. *Forrest Gump by Winston Groom - historical running fiction. The novel isn't specifically focused on running throughout, but many chapters feature Forrest's physical running as important aspects of the narrative. (68,999 ratings)

2. The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen - young adult running fiction. The story chronicles a high school 400m runner's physical and emotional journey of recovery and how running remains a central part of her life. (30,771 ratings)

3. Once a Runner by John L. Parker Jr. - running fiction. The novel is regarded as one of the most iconic novels about running. Its entire narrative is centered around the sport, both literally and metaphorically. Centering around the life of a competitive runner who vividly captures the intensity of training, the experience of racing, and the subculture of competitive running. (15,114 ratings)

4. Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron - historical running fiction. A novel that centers around running, both as a literal sport and as a metaphor for survival, identity, and hope. The novel is set in Rwanda during the years leading up to and during the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. (7,104 ratings)

5. The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner by Alan Sillitoe - running fiction. Once again, running is a central role, both literally and metaphorically. The story explores themes of personal rebellion, social class, and individuality, with running serving as a powerful symbol for the protagonist’s inner life and resistance against societal expectations. (6,686 ratings)

* Novel might be demoted due to not being enough about running 

Honorable Ineligible Mentions

• What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by novelist Haruki Murakami - memoir, not fiction. (171,386) 
• The Running Man by Stephen King - dystopian fiction. There is a lot of running and some overlap between running qualities like endurance and stamina, but the sport or recreational activity of running is absent. The Running Man is really about survival, society, and oppression. (137, 820 ratings)
• The End of the World Running Club by Adrian J. Walker - dystopian fiction. Running plays a minor role both literally, but a larger key element of the story’s structure and themes metaphorically. And running makes for a good title, but it is not a "running novel" in the sense of being about the sport or activity of running. (14,848 ratings)

My Reviews

I'll be review each of the novels here on my blog. I'd love any and all feedback. Leave a comment. Here are reviews I've done so far:

• The End of the World Running Club
• Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron
• The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen
• Once a Runner by John L. Parker, Jr. 

The Mindful Body: Thinking Our Way to Chronic Health

I heard an interview with Ellen Langer on PIMA, and then I listened to her interview on Big Brains. Those interviews lead me to Langer's book, The Mindful Body: Thinking Our Way to Chronic Health.

Many of Langer's experiments are famous and well known in pop psychology and science. How manipulating clocks affect diabetes; how people become younger when they act younger; how vision improves if you believe it'll improve; and the list goes on.

Below is a quote from the introduction to The Mindful Body: Thinking Our Way to Chronic Health.

“I believe the mind and body comprise a single system, and every change in the human being is essentially simultaneously a change at the level of the mind (that is, cognitive change) as well as the body (a hormonal, neural, and/or behavioral change),” she writes. “When we open our minds to this idea of mind-body unity, new possibilities for controlling our health become real. Making use of the power of a mindful body is well within our grasp.”

Throughout the book, Langer supports her claim with countless experiments and examples. This book is short and intended for a general audience. Anyone wanting to be healthier, minimize aging, and or improve something about themselves should read or listen to this book.

The best part is there is zero costs to thinking positive and potentially huge returns on investments. When in doubt, think positive. Believe you're doing what you wish your body would do. You might find out you can!

Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron (Running Fiction Review)

This is my second review in The Running Fiction Challenge. Of the first three books I sampled, this is the only one I finished, see other reviews at the bottom.

Review

Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron is historical fiction. The story takes place in Rwanda prior to the start of the Rwandan genocide in the 1990s. The main character and his family are Tutsi, an ethnic minority in Rwanda and Burundi.

I knew almost nothing about Rwanda and or the genocide before I started the book, so I was interested in learning more context about the region and conflict. I've looked up a few things already, and I'm enjoying the motivation to learn more about Africa and Rwanda.

I found the initial conflict to be too cliche. At the beginning of the story the protagonist seems to have it all, elite intellect and athleticism. Right off the bat, readers know something bad is about to happen. The first bad thing is the cliche part that I think the author should have cut. It's not needed. Readers will learn it and understand it just as well as back story. As a reader I thought this is going to be about the genocide when I saw the setting was Rwanda. Then the first main conflict in the story made me think, hmm maybe this isn't about the genocide. Then of course, it is about the genocide and the first cliche conflict was a distraction. Besides this nitpick of mine, the story flows well. It's a slower reveal for both the readers and main character. The first chapters are short and make for fast and easy reading.

*barely a spoiler* The running training make no sense. I'm not sure if the author knows too little about running, or if this is how coaches and runners in Africa trained in the 1990s. For example, the coach is having his runner run repeat races in practice!

Overall, the book didn't create emotional responses from reading the words and descriptions of the terrible events that took place. The events were summarized and felt more like reading a newspaper. All the emotions I felt were created by my imagination when I thought about the events myself. There was a lot of telling and little showing.

This telling over showing, felt appropriate. It is very much how the west sees Africa. It sucks that people are suffering unimaginable horrors, but I'm ready to read the sports or business section now. And this is how I feel. I want to look up more about the conflict, but I'm also ready for my next book.

Join the challenge below.

Most Popular Running Fiction Challenge

The following books are the most rated running fiction on goodreads.com, as of 6 July 2024. Goodreads readers can vote here for the best running fiction. The books are in order by total ratings. I've added more specific genres and brief spoiler free descriptions of each novel.

1. *Forrest Gump by Winston Groom - historical running fiction. The novel isn't specifically focused on running throughout, but many chapters feature Forrest's physical running as important aspects of the narrative. (68,999 ratings)

2. The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen - young adult running fiction. The story chronicles a high school 400m runner's physical and emotional journey of recovery and how running remains a central part of her life. (30,771 ratings)

3. Once a Runner by John L. Parker Jr. - running fiction. The novel is regarded as one of the most iconic novels about running. Its entire narrative is centered around the sport, both literally and metaphorically. Centering around the life of a competitive runner who vividly captures the intensity of training, the experience of racing, and the subculture of competitive running. (15,114 ratings)

4. Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron - historical running fiction. A novel that centers around running, both as a literal sport and as a metaphor for survival, identity, and hope. The novel is set in Rwanda during the years leading up to and during the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. (7,104 ratings)

5. The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner by Alan Sillitoe - running fiction. Once again, running is a central role, both literally and metaphorically. The story explores themes of personal rebellion, social class, and individuality, with running serving as a powerful symbol for the protagonist’s inner life and resistance against societal expectations. (6,686 ratings)

* Novel might be demoted due to not being enough about running 

Honorable Ineligible Mentions

• What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by novelist Haruki Murakami - memoir, not fiction. (171,386) 
• The Running Man by Stephen King - dystopian fiction. There is a lot of running and some overlap between running qualities like endurance and stamina, but the sport or recreational activity of running is absent. The Running Man is really about survival, society, and oppression. (137, 820 ratings)
• The End of the World Running Club by Adrian J. Walker - dystopian fiction. Running plays a minor role both literally, but a larger key element of the story’s structure and themes metaphorically. And running makes for a good title, but it is not a "running novel" in the sense of being about the sport or activity of running. (14,848 ratings)

My Reviews

I'll be review each of the novels here on my blog. I'd love any and all feedback. Leave a comment. Here are reviews I've done so far:

• The End of the World Running Club
• Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron
• The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen
• Once a Runner by John L. Parker, Jr. 
•  

The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen (Running Fiction Review)

This is my first review in The Running Fiction Challenge.

Review

I started reading The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen. 

The Running Dream is young adult fiction. The main character is a junior in high school and 400 meter runner. She has an accident and can no longer run. The chapters are very short and the pace of the book is fast. So far the first ~10% of the book doesn't have much to do with running. I assume it'll be more about running because of the title, structure of the story, and the character's mentality. Through no fault of the author, writing, characters, or story, I probably won't continue with this book.

The author Van Drannen is a runner. If you read over her website, she mentions running multiple times, even finishing six marathons.

For runners interested in young adult fiction, I'd recommend this book.

Join the challenge below.

Most Popular Running Fiction Challenge

The following books are the most rated running fiction on goodreads.com, as of 6 July 2024. Goodreads readers can vote here for the best running fiction. The books are in order by total ratings. I've added more specific genres and brief spoiler free descriptions of each novel.

1. *Forrest Gump by Winston Groom - historical running fiction. The novel isn't specifically focused on running throughout, but many chapters feature Forrest's physical running as important aspects of the narrative. (68,999 ratings)

2. The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen - young adult running fiction. The story chronicles a high school 400m runner's physical and emotional journey of recovery and how running remains a central part of her life. (30,771 ratings)

3. Once a Runner by John L. Parker Jr. - running fiction. The novel is regarded as one of the most iconic novels about running. Its entire narrative is centered around the sport, both literally and metaphorically. Centering around the life of a competitive runner who vividly captures the intensity of training, the experience of racing, and the subculture of competitive running. (15,114 ratings)

4. Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron - historical running fiction. A novel that centers around running, both as a literal sport and as a metaphor for survival, identity, and hope. The novel is set in Rwanda during the years leading up to and during the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. (7,104 ratings)

5. The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner by Alan Sillitoe - running fiction. Once again, running is a central role, both literally and metaphorically. The story explores themes of personal rebellion, social class, and individuality, with running serving as a powerful symbol for the protagonist’s inner life and resistance against societal expectations. (6,686 ratings)

* Novel might be demoted due to not being enough about running 

Honorable Ineligible Mentions

• What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by novelist Haruki Murakami - memoir, not fiction. (171,386) 
• The Running Man by Stephen King - dystopian fiction. There is a lot of running and some overlap between running qualities like endurance and stamina, but the sport or recreational activity of running is absent. The Running Man is really about survival, society, and oppression. (137, 820 ratings)
• The End of the World Running Club by Adrian J. Walker - dystopian fiction. Running plays a minor role both literally, but a larger key element of the story’s structure and themes metaphorically. And running makes for a good title, but it is not a "running novel" in the sense of being about the sport or activity of running. (14,848 ratings)

My Reviews

I'll be review each of the novels here on my blog. I'd love any and all feedback. Leave a comment. Here are reviews I've done so far:

• The End of the World Running Club
• Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron
• The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen
• Once a Runner by John L. Parker, Jr. 
•  

It's about the Dope

Good and Great Guys

I want to explore this idea later. I have a suspension that great people can't be good people. There is something about accomplishing greatness that requires a focus and narrow mindedness that isn't comparable with being a good person. I'm sure there are some outliers, until then, I bring to the stage Michael Jordan and Lance Armstrong.

I used to love and admire Jordan and Armstrong, and in many ways I still do. I remember a story of Jordan losing his cool over losing a game of Monopoly, a game largely based on luck. For guys like Jordan and Armstrong it wasn't about giving your best, no spirit of the game. It was winning or losing. They are two of the most competitive humans in history.

First a brief look at Jordan, then more on Armstrong. This is a continuation of my previous post, Rereading Lance Armstrong.

Michael Jordan

In The Last Dance (a documentary I highly recommend), BJ Armstrong (former Bulls teammate) was asked if Michael Jordan was a nice guy.

BJ Armstrong said, “Was he a nice guy? He couldn’t have been nice. With that kind of mentality he had, you can’t be a nice guy. He would be difficult to be around if you didn’t truly love the game of basketball. He is difficult.”

Another former teammate Jud Buechler said. “People were afraid of him. I mean, we were his teammates, and we were afraid of him."

One more by another former teammate Will Perdue said.“Let’s not get it wrong. He was an asshole, he was a jerk, he crossed the line numerous times. But... he was a hell of a teammate.”

These quotes are out of context, but if you watch the series for yourself you can see the dynamics. Jordan wasn't a nice guy, but he was great. He is and was very respected. Could he have been that determined, could he have pushed and motivated his teammates, could he have had the focus, if he was a good and nice guy?

Lance Armstrong

Lance Armstrong is like Michael Jordan. Both were multi sport athletes. Both were the undisputed best at their sport during their careers. One big difference, Armstrong has been practically erased from cycling for doping. His character has been completely ruined by the lengths he took to hide his lies. ESPN's 30/30 Lance is another documentary I recommend if you're interested in Lance Armstrong's rise and fall.

Rereading Lance Armstrong

I finished rereading It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life. I enjoyed rereading it. But I'd have to drop the book down to two stars, it's okay.

Armstrong comes off as an asshole throughout the book, his mom too. They seem proud of it. His arrogance and pride comes off even more shallow when he has his cancer revelations. In hindsight, as an older reader, it's so clear that Armstrong isn't a good or nice guy.

He uses his cancer, his recovery, his wife, his marriage, and his child to create his myth. He supposedly learned the importance of life and how to live. He overcame his obsession with cycling and winning, except he didn't.

And you can see in some of the interactions Armstrong describes later in the book. He hasn't changed. If you read the book as fiction, he's a very flat character. Outside of his determination and arrogance, he is a boring character. The scenes within the story show Armstrong is a boring story teller too.

He gives a disclaimer about cancer killing indiscriminately those who try hard and don't try hard. Then he goes go to describe and brag about how hard he fought cancer. He says he printed, bought, and read everything on cancer and could speak the lingo to the doctors, yet his descriptions in the book come off as just some jock talking about cancer.

Some of these factors make me think the co author Sally Jenkins saw through him and didn't fix these discrepancies in the narrative.

Game Theory of Doping

"Doping is an unfortunate fact of life in cycling, or any other endurance sport for that matter. Inevitably, some teams and riders feel it’s like nuclear weapons—they have to do it to stay competitive within the peloton. I never felt that way, and certainly after chemo the idea of putting anything foreign in my body was especially repulsive," said Lance Armstrong in It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life.

The first two sentences are true. It's an arms race. Pure game theory. If your opponents cheat and you don't, your opponents will have a huge advantage. If you cheat and your opponents don't, you'll have a huge advantage. If everyone cheats, no one has any additional advantages from cheating. 

(You never know for sure if your opponent is cheating. Even now, with drug testing getting a lot better, I'm not sure athletes can ignore that their rivals and other competition are all trying to find legal and illegal advantages.)

Armstrong came into cycling during a time when everyone was cheating. Cheating was part of the sport. Armstrong and his team were determined cheaters. They were doing everything. Even running around town secretly doing blood transfusions the mornings of races. 

For Armstrong, everyone knew everyone was cheating, so cheating wasn't optional. You don't cheat, you don't compete.

Then the problem becomes not getting caught.

The Lie

The book is part of not getting caught. The cancer foundation may have been part of not getting caught too. Here are a few of my favorite snap shots of the lie. All of the following are from the book.

Regarding doping, "certainly after chemo the idea of putting anything foreign in my body was especially repulsive."

"I WAS MAKING ENEMIES IN THE ALPS. MY NEWLY acquired climbing prowess aroused suspicion in the French press, still sniffing for blood after the scandal of the previous summer. A whispering campaign began: 'Armstrong must be on something.' Stories in L’Equipe and Le Monde insinuated, without saying it outright, that my comeback was a little too miraculous."

"I had absolutely nothing to hide, and the drug tests proved it... the drugs tests became my best friend, because they proved I was clean. I had been tested and checked, and retested."

“My life and my illness and my career are open... There was nothing mysterious about my ride at Sestriere: I had worked for it. I was lean, motivated, and prepared. Sestriere was a good climb for me. The gradient suited me, and so did the conditions–cold, wet, and rainy. If there was something unusual in my performance that day, it was the sense of out-of-body effortlessness I rode with– and that I attributed to sheer exultation in being alive to make the climb."

"I decided to address the charges outright, and held a press conference in Saint-Gaudens. 'I have been on my deathbed, and I am not stupid,' I said. Everyone knew that use of EPO and steroids by healthy people can cause blood disorders and strokes. What’s more, I told the press, it wasn’t so shocking that I won Sestriere; I was an established former world champion. 'I can emphatically say I am not on drugs,' I said. 'I thought a rider with my history and my health situation wouldn’t be such a surprise. I’m not a new rider. I know there’s been looking, and prying, and digging, but you’re not going to find anything. There’s nothing to find ... and once everyone has done their due diligence and realizes they need to be professional and can’t print a lot of crap, they’ll realize they’re dealing with a clean guy.'"

"I was hurt and demoralized by the constant barrage from the press. I put forth such effort, and had paid such a high price to ride again, and now that effort was being devalued. I tried to deal with the reports honestly and straightforwardly, but it didn’t seem to do any good."

 

Cycling in 2020s

I've started watching and following cycling the last couple years. I enjoy it. I realized reading Armstrong's book that current riders are winning and destroying the competition just like Armstrong did, but I'm not hearing suspicion of drugs and doping.

It seems obvious to me, based on game theory and the amount of money in sports, that these athletes and teams are most likely trying to cheat. Maybe the testing has advanced enough to make doping no longer possible? I don't know. I'm curious to look into it later on.

Conclusion

Lance Armstrong wasn't a nice guy.