This is meant in a humorous light, so please keep your flames to your own -- oh hell, nevermind, flame away if you want to.
From
http://www.tylerhamilton.com:
October 11, 2004
COLORADO: Greetings from the Rockies. It’s good to be Stateside again. My wife and I traveled home in early October to officially begin the “off-season”. Although so far, instead of this being a restful time, it’s been a little more hectic than normal.
Hello. Good to be home, although my life has been **** lately.
As many of you know, there have been a few curve balls thrown my way over the last month.
Thanks a lot **** Pound! If it weren't for you scheming WADA kids....*shakes fist*
This has been a challenging time, but not entirely defeating. I have been very fortunate to have so much support behind me during all of this. It is true what they say about finding out who your friends are when the going gets tough.
I thank my lucky stars to whomever invented the term "Sports Marketing." I wonder if trying to convince the public that I'm actually a chimera and contain the genetic material of a long-dead twin will allow me to still market myself effectively.
I will always be eternally grateful to my family and close friends, my team and my sponsors for the way they have all stood united behind me.
Everyone in my camp understands well what Benjamin Franklin said -- if we don't hang together, we shall certainly all hang separately.
That all of us, as one collective group, have been supported by so many others, the thousands of you who have written, emailed or contacted us to show your support, means more than you will ever know.
The fact that you all are supporting me means that I'll still have an opening at Interbike to sign posters for all of you! Olympic TT posters are half off the normal price!
Most remarkable is that you've reached out and shared your strength and support while having only heard one side of this argument.
You heard some abortive attempts at an explanation before my lawyers got to me, but thank you for forgetting what I and my team manager said! REMEMBER TUGBOAT!!!!
Thank you for understanding that this is a long process, and that I will not be able to speak freely about this situation until the appropriate time. But rest assured, that once I am able, I will. For now, we are keeping our heads down and moving forward through a process that will take some time to complete.
Thanks for not realizing that the end of my bike career is near, and that when the appeals process is over, most of you casual fans will only remember my protestations that I am innocent, no matter what WADA, USADA, and CAS decide.
My current situation has a broad reaching effect beyond my life, reputation and career. There are many people, companies and organizations that are integral to who I am and what I do. All of whom have supported me steadfastly since this started, and in return, I have tried to show them the same respect and support.
But don't you realize that if I am banned, lots of starving children will go hungry? THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!!!
With everything that I have had going on lately, it may seem strange to some that I've opted to continue on with my schedule as planned. But I have felt strongly about seeing my commitments through to the best of my ability.
I have really needed cash lately, because my on-the-bike days are probably over. Thank you, Interbike!
My only regret was not being able to finish the Vuelta in September. To clear up any confusion about that decision, I will tell you this. I was notified of my A Sample test result at the Vuelta on September 16th. I immediately decided to stop the race for two reasons. First, I wasn't in any condition to continue on mentally after that. The words “stay calm” kept coming out of my mouth, but my brain felt like it had been scrambled and I was in shock. Neither of which is ideal while racing at a grand tour.
To clear up the Vuelta situation: I initially faked a stomach illness to get out of the Vuelta after being told about my Olympic "A" test. A sincere expression of regret seems like the appropriate thing here in order to continue to assuage my loyal fans. And hey, it's no walk in the park to contemplate the end of one's career!
Second, I have competed against guys in the past who were waiting out B Sample analyses. These instances are always meant to be kept secret, but somehow they always become public. When teams are forced to race against a rider who may or may not be able to continue the race after a certain point, it throws an odd dynamic into the mix, that I don't think is entirely fair. It leaves teams wondering if they should cover the moves of the rider in question. That creates an indescribably negative atmosphere. So I did what I thought was best for the team, the peleton and everyone else. I headed home to Girona.
Although I may have considered homologous blood doping fair when I injected it into my body, it's not fair to the peleton to have to race with a rider who is awaiting their "B" sample. So I went home.
Since that time, I have made three trips to Switzerland to meet with my team, a trip to Madrid to congratulate my teammates on a podium finish and five stage victories at the Vuelta Espana, a trip to France to conclude filming of the IMAX project “Brain Power”, and have traveled to the Interbike Trade Show in Las Vegas.
Since then I've had to try to get as much money as I can.
This would have been impossible without the help of my wife who has traveled closely with me carrying computers, phones, fax machines, printers and files all needed to manage the flow of information regarding my case.
Thanks for sticking by me honey!
The days have been long, but it also been important to keep the effects of my situation from spreading unnecessarily.
Please, for God's sake, don't let my doping interfere with my ability to make a living off of my name. Please don't let there be any carryover.
For instance, the IMAX production crew had been in Europe for weeks with a staff of over 50 people from three countries to prepare for the final days of shooting in the mountains of the Pyrenees. Under the circumstance I could have said I couldn't be there. And they probably would have understood. But that may have also meant the unraveling of the entire project if those shots were not completed. With two years invested, none of us wanted that. So we filmed by day, and I worked by night and all made the best of it. I the end, I was happy to be among such a great group of people during that difficult time period. The daily production schedule was a welcome diversion mentally.
Thanks, IMAX, for not cutting me off when my results came in.
Being at Interbike was also important to me. This is the biggest cycling industry trade show of the year in the United States and arguably worldwide. All the companies involved in this sport are in attendance. Over the summer I had committed to a schedule of 15 appearances over two days. We stuck to our plan because it was important for me to thank my sponsors and also to show the cycling industry that I am not hiding. I was honored to appear with each of my sponsors in Las Vegas, and really appreciated all the support they and the attendees of the show shared.
At Interbike I really made a wad of money. If it weren't for the fans who couldn't care less if I injected myself with elephant growth hormone, where would I be?
Right now, I'm at home in Colorado. We stopped here for a few days in May but we have not been “home” to stay since Christmas. So it feels good to be back. The mountain air and wildlife that surrounds our home is the perfect antidote to the recent craziness.
[
Note to tyler: Mountain air and wildlife evokes images of cleanliness and trustworthiness -- Ed.]
But in a couple of days we'll be back on the road again, attending Pedal for Progress events for the Tyler Hamilton Foundation in San Francisco, October 17 and in Denver on October 23, as well as a host of other commitments.
I have to leave soon to go make some more money before USADA and CAS find against me. New sponsors aren't exactly crawling out of the woodwork!
So we are doing our best to keep things as normal as possible during an otherwise not-so-normal time. Thanks for checking in and thanks too for all the notes you've sent via this site. I do read them – and your words and efforts to reach out mean an awful lot to me, my family and my team – which includes, Phonak, my sponsors, and THF.
Thanks again for misunderstanding the true nature of professional cycling, and my own personal part in the ongoing fiasco.
On a final note, I cannot sign off without mentioning my other favorite team. The Boston Red Sox just triumphed over the Angels, and are getting ready to face off against the Yankees in the play offs. The Sox haven't won a World Series since 1918 so send them some good vibes for me and the Boston faithful. THIS could be the year!
I feel cursed, like the BoSox.
Thanks for reading.
