STAUNTON, Va. -- James Burris, owner of Black Dog Bike, watched cyclist Lance Armstrong's confession of doping Thursday night.
“I've heard so much about Lance and doping in the past, I was kind of over it, almost,” said Burris. “I kind of knew what he was going to say and what he was expected to say. I did tune in just to kind of see if he did come clean.”
Ron Spillers, Burris' cycling friend, also watched the confession and Spillers said it'll impact the international cycling community.
“It's a shame,” said Spillers, “It's pretty arrogant of him, and it's good that it finally came out. It's a shame that he drug so many people through the dirt trying to do what he did to protect his name.”
Black Dog has an autographed Armstrong jersey and several books for sale touting Armstrong's success, but Burris said his opinion of the international star changed since the first doping allegation.
“I kind of want to believe that he was clean, because he's a hero,” said Burris. “He came back from cancer and won the hardest sporting event in the world. You wanted to believe that he was clean, but at the same time everybody he was racing against came out that they were doping. You kind of figured that he was doping.”
Burris said the cycling community in the Valley's talking about the confession, but it won't stop cyclists in the Valley from enjoying the sport.
“It's bad for the sport of cycling. It's bad for us. All in all, really, it's not going to stop somebody from going out and riding.”
The second part of Armstrong's interview airs Friday night on the Oprah Winfrey Network at 9 p.m.
