Cycle of Lies

The Fall of Lance Armstrong

By: Juliet Macur

Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie

Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

The definitive account of Lance Armstrong's spectacular rise and fall.

In June 2013, when Lance Armstrong fled his palatial home in Texas, downsizing in the face of multimillion-dollar lawsuits, Juliet Macur was there - talking to his girlfriend and children and listening to Armstrong's version of the truth. She was one of the few media members aside from Oprah Winfrey to be granted extended one-on-one access to the most famous pariah in sports.

At the center of Cycle of Lies is Armstrong himself, revealed through face-to-face interviews.

But this unfolding narrative is given depth and breadth by the firsthand accounts of more than 100 witnesses, including family members whom Armstrong had long since turned his back on - the adoptive father who gave him the Armstrong name, a grandmother, an aunt. Perhaps most damning of all is the taped testimony of the late J. T. Neal, the most influential of Armstrong's many father figures, recorded in the final years of Neal's life as he lost his battle with cancer just as Armstrong gained fame for surviving the disease.

In the end, it was Armstrong's former friends, those who had once occupied the precious space of his inner circle, who betrayed him. They were the ones who dealt Armstrong his fatal blow by breaking the code of silence that shielded the public from the grim truth about the sport of cycling - and the grim truth about its golden boy, Armstrong.

Threading together the vivid and disparate voices of those with intimate knowledge of the private and public Armstrong, Macur weaves a comprehensive and unforgettably rich tapestry of one man's astonishing rise to global fame and fortune and his devastating fall from grace.

©2014 Juliet Macur (P)2014 HarperCollins Publishers

An Excellent Read

While I was already familiar with the whole sordid Lance Armstrong debacle, this excellent book revealed to me a lot of things I didn't know, and I came away feeling a little different about him than I did before. I truly believe he was just part of the giant doping mess that is professional cycling, where if you want to win the biggest races, you must go along with the plan. Still it's no excuse for the way he treated people; there is no excuse for that.

Excellent along w/ Wheels of Lies

I bought this book along time ago and when I replace my phone at the time there's no way to keep the audiobook so I bought it again because I'm a victim of a violent crime and the violence the lies the gaslighting threats did not stop there plus NYPD joined in and every court I sue they lied like they were Lance Armstrong they weren't shy and they were protected so I love listening over and over to his books. It's so upsetting when people try to brush off what Lance Armstrong did! He was a bully who is a bully cheater liar cheater win threaten people he had no remorse....This book in the wheel of lies are excellent highly recommend them

long lose armstrong

armstrong is pathetic and childish - accountable to nothing. people don’t like him because of who he chooses to be not the fact that he takes drugs while he cycles

great writing and narration - very well-done

Couldn't put it down.

I found this book fascinating. The performance was excellent. A great look into the professional cycling world.

Liar, cheater, doper, hypocrite . . .

weak character, selfish, cruel, a bully. I could go on but you get the idea. I found this book fascinating, almost a character study. Macur includes Lance Armstrong's family background history and his sports history. She does a fine job of detailing the history of cycling and how it became deeply interlaced with the doping mentality. You can come to understand how doping (with chemicals, testosterone, blood cells, etc.) caught on and why the belief that you could not really compete without doping was integral to the sport for so long. Perhaps it was true that one could not really compete without following suit.

Still, you have Lance Armstrong, an idol and winner, whom our youth and our entire country looked up to and believed in, when he swore he never doped. And then, such a hero for conquering cancer, a cancer that certainly had a terrible prognosis. Who could ever believe that someone who came so close to death would subsequently continue to dope? It just wasn't fathomable.

In my opinion, the narrator, Carrington MacDuffie, does an admirable job and is excellent with male voices. This listening experience, while eliciting many negative emotions on my part, was really worthwhile. Highly recommended.

If I Heard “USADA” one more time...

It’s “You Saw Du” and “Waugh Duh” etc. No one says USADA over and over.

Very interesting book. Worst narration voice ever. Wanted to ride over a cliff by the end.

...Pants on Fire

First of all, bravo to Macur, not only for her excellent job of journalism here, but for having the balls to stand up to Armstrong's cocky insistence, "You can write what you want, but your book is called Cycle of Lies? That has to change!" Evidently, the fallen, self-aggrandizing demigod is still juiced up on a cocktail of arrogance, bullying, moral relativism, and egotism. I'm more fascinated than disgusted -- as long as I don't have a full stomach. I'm also fascinated by Pete Rose, Bernie Madoff, the Emperor's new parade outfit, Presidents that scrutinize what the meaning of the word 'is' is, and anyone that has to have Oprah Winfrey clarify the word *cheater*.
Oprah: You did not feel that you were cheating taking banned drugs?
Armstrong: I went in and just looked up the definition of cheat. And the definition of cheat is to gain an advantage on a rival or foe that they don't have. I didn't view it that way. I viewed it as a level playing field.
Almost everything that has come out of this guy's mouth since he was finally cornered and force fed the irrefutable evidence, is a toxic sound bite arguing the case against there being even a miniscule glimmer of remorse, enlightenment, or humility within.

Cycle of Lies (nee-ner-nee-ner-nee-ner) is a *fascinating* and wonderfully researched book that rises above previous points of view and factoid pieces of work, setting some records straight, and obliterating others. Macur's one on one journalistic relationship with Armstrong (often more like a sparring partnership), and hours of conversations with insiders that have never spoken before about their knowledge of Armstrong, due to a doping *Omertà* among the cyclists, reveal whole new levels of ugliness to the grand deception. Called "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen," by the Union Cycliste International (UCI), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC). [Omertà implies "the categorical prohibition of cooperation with state authorities or reliance on its services, even when one has been victim of a crime"; a term used by the Mafia; or the equivalent of a pinkie-swear among cycling dopers.]

Probably the most revealing and damning information comes from Macur's exclusive access to 26 hrs. of taped testimony from Armstrong's mentor and surrogate father, J.T. Neal. Beyond the doping facts, Neal gives a clear picture of a boy that was ruthlessly mean, self-centered, and uncaring, who grew up to be a man that magnified those traits, determined to win at all costs. There is nary a kind word spoken of the champion (that actually never was, according to information contained in Cycle of Lies). Which shouldn't be so surprising dealing with a man that "used cancer as his shield many times," [The Armstrong Lie; Alex Gibney] and discarded people like used up garbage. Just when you begin to wonder if Macur had a wee bit of a get-back fantasy, a secret desire to dish out crow -- surely there has to be some tenderness, some softness somewhere, some pleasant testimony powerful enough to redeem the self-justification and destruction -- Armstrong opens his mouth and spits out another arrogant comment, demanding pity for money problems that ensued after sponsor's jumped ship, or thanks from corporations that owe their success singularly to him. He just doesn't get it.

Before listening to this book, I read Wheelmen: Lance Armstrong, the Tour de France, and the Greatest Sports Conspiracy Ever, by Reed Albergotti, and wrote down this quote: “...Lance is the inevitable product of our celebrity-worshipping culture and the whole money-mad world of sports gone amok. This is the Golden Age of fraud, an era of general willingness to ignore and justify the wrongdoings of the rich and powerful, which makes every lie bigger and widens its destructive path.” I think Macur eloquently makes the point that Lance is the product of Lance, and in the end, for any of us and our choices, the responsibility is ours alone.

If you are still hanging onto one of those rubber yellow wristbands, you're probably not going to appreciate a great job by author Juliet Macur. A cyclist myself, I found the book engrossing, with each mind-boggling revelation leading into another, more absurd than the previous. I tossed my Live Strong band, unworn, years ago. It's not my job to judge or forgive; I just remain fascinated, and in the saddle.

Unbelievable!

Cycle of Lies was a true eye opener to not only what Lance Armstrong did but to the history of cycling. Prepare yourself for a jaw opener because it was truly unbelievable what Armstrong and his fellow cyclists put their bodies through in order to win. Blood doping, the use of testosterone and cortisone, as well as EPO were all employed to achieve cycling domination. What was equally astonishing was his arrogance. He vehemently denied doping throughout his career until he was forced into a corner and even then he was anything but remorseful. "If everyone was doing it, then it was not cheating." Never mind the physical consequences that he and others riders put themselves through by taking these toxic drugs - winning was all that mattered.

Besides relating about his cycling career and personal life, there are quite a few mentions of the charity, LiveStrong, that he founded and how it was affected by his "victories" and then ultimate downfall. It is a shame that such a positive cause was diminished by the selfish actions of one person. What's even more discouraging is the fact that he tries to justify his doping and actions by arguing that he helped millions of cancer patients with his charity.

Macur did a great job at writing from a neutral standpoint. She could have been more subjective in her painting of him but the readers can come to a clear understanding and judgment of Lance Armstrong just by listening to the quotes that she offers from him. First hand witness accounts are also provided and they also shed light on the person that Armstrong is. He is a brutal monster that equates himself to some god. It was liberating to finally read that he was held accountable for his actions.

Good story

Great detail that I have not seen in this format. I also loved Hamilton's book.

I never knew that Lance's mom claimed to have raised her son as a "single mom". How is this possible? Was she not married for most (if not all) of Lance's childhood and adolescence?

The cycle of lies, lies, lies never stopped. Just tell it like it is. Armstrong and Brian Williams have a way of changing the past and they way they remember it. There are two sides to every story.

Amazing

Quite an amazing account. Good narration. Kept my attention throughout.
Would recommend to others interested in the story.