Trusted Enough

"What I like most in cycling is going out on my own," says David Brower, reaching the end of ten days spent providing live coverage from Tour de France winner Floyd Landis's trial by arbitration at the Law School of Pepperdine University, Malibu. The sheer effort of his breakaway coverage at Trust But Verify echoes that of the mountain sortie which saw Landis claw his way back to contention for the 2006 Tour.  "Exceptionally comprehensive", the tag given by VeloNews journalist Jason Sumner, is typical. And while he may have started his effort solo, Brower has been joined in his blogging efforts by illustrious contributors including Wisconsin State Circuit Court Judge William Hue. With more than 500,000 pages viewed, most of those with an interest in cycling and / or the case have already found their way to "TBV".

Brower, a 50 year-old software engineer and lifelong cycling fan has enjoyed watching the Tour de France with his wife for more than 20 years. "I really enjoyed last year's Tour," he adds, struck not only by the racing but by the contrast between Landis's diligent and approachable public persona compared to that of the prickly Texan, Armstrong. The doping allegation, with tests apparently showing Landis to have taken artificial testosterone before that epic mountain stage, proved to be a real shock. A search for understanding quickly began. The web was the obvious resource.

"My wife and I would be on opposite sides of the room, on our computers, saying 'look at this'," says Brower. He quickly found himself commenting on the bulletin boards of cycling and news sites, often reposting information he had researched elsewhere. Trust But Verify was the perfect solution for posting news summaries and links, just as Yahoo! once sprung from requests for two Stanford students to post a directory of their bookmarks online, just so other students could follow all those links to all that cool stuff. Brower's blog is not the only way the internet has shaped the response to the allegations against Landis. A wiki defense was joined by online fundraising and support.

A Whole New Ballgame

Even after the sustained impact of Lance on the US mediascape, cycling still receives little media coverage. Bloggers fill the void. As with other citizen sports reporting, fan sites can be hilariously funny but are rarely real serious. It is, perhaps, the nature of the game. Trust But Verify is something completely different, however. Page after page after page of deadly serious. Vying for column inches with stories of other misbehaving athletes, many mainstream journalists were happy to have salacious suggestions of attempted witness tampering to cover. This course of action proved to be a whole lot easier than learning the science of gas chromatography and dope test esoterica. TBV, however, continued to make room for research and detailed commentary. "With a blog, there are no limits on length," says Brower. "It costs nothing to be voluminous."

(Right: David Brower, Trust But Verify; left: Jason Sumner, VeloNews.)

But what of objectivity? Coupled with Brower's need to understand the allegations is a clear desire to see Landis absolved, yet TBV refers to lots of material unfavorable the cyclist.  Landis's defense pointed out during the hearing that testosterone has not been proven to help athletes recovery; TBV's research found an early application of synthetic testosterone was in helping WWII concentration camp internees be physically more productive. TBV commentary found the Landis defense 'slide show' to be unconvincing.

The integrity of Brower's work and his comprehensive approach has earned him the respect of leading journalists. An exemplary exchange from the press working room: his back-row seat was next to that of Pullitzer prize-winning Michael A. Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times. Hiltzik was writing about Will Geoghegan, fired as manager by Landis the day after that threatening phone call to likely witness and former Tour de France winner Greg LeMond. With no transcripts available, Hiltzik was trying to recall Landis's testimony on the matter:

Hiltzik "So didn't fire his manager right away because he wanted his advice?"
Brower: "No, he wanted the advice of his lawyers."

In his subsequent article, Hiltzik would write: "Landis defended his delay in firing Will Geoghegan, saying he wanted to consult his lawyers first."

With the trial concluded, a verdict is expected to take several weeks to reach. Whoever loses is then likely to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, in Lausanne, Switzerland. The process will take months. Thousands will continue to count on Trust But Verify for updates.