On one side we've got Stephen Hodge, the confessed cycling drug cheat.

Lining up in the opposite corner is Stephen Hodge, the tireless worker in the Canberra cycling community.

They do share a couple of things, specifically the ACT Sport Hall of Fame status and the criterium track named after Hodge at Mt Stromlo.

So after a weekend of voting, polls and split results, it's time for Canberra to decide again.

This time it's about Hodge, the once darling of Canberra cycling and an inspiration and mentor for a generation.

In case you missed the news last Friday, Hodge admitted to taking performance-enhancing drugs during his career as a professional cyclist.

The immediate ramification is the obvious shame and stepping down from his post as Cycling Australia vice-president.

But the shockwaves will ripple around Canberra for much longer as the capital decides where he sits in the community.

Don't expect any immediate decisions from the ACT government (when it's decided) or ACT Sport.

The enormity of the bomb that Hodge dropped on Australian cycling and his supporters in Canberra will take a while to sink in.

The issues we face are:

■ Should a drug cheat be in the ACT Sport Hall of Fame, and;

■ Does Hodge deserve to have a cycling track in Canberra named in his honour?

It's easy to hang Hodge out to dry. He cheated. He took drugs. He was part of one of the most disgraceful eras in cycling.

Conversely, there's the persona Hodge has created post-cycling and post-drugs. The hard-working man in the cycling community willing to put back into the sport.

Of course, his status and ability to put back into cycling is built on a reputation he falsely created by taking drugs.

We're entering murky waters.

Even if Hodge is in the Hall of Fame for his post-professional career work, does it still make it OK? Do we accept that? Does it devalue the position of past and future inductees?

I spoke to both the government and ACT Sport on Friday after Hodge had delivered his admission.

Both were in shock.

But both made the right move in not acting hastily to banish him from a Hall of Fame or strip his name from the criterium track.

The government and Hall of Fame authorities can't just let the issue slip into the background, either.

Baseball in the United States is facing the same problem.

Players from the ''steroid era'' boast amazing statistics, but their images and reputations are tainted by drug use.

New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez said drug use shouldn't affect Hall of Fame decisions. ''I think you have to look at the data. If you take a career of, you know, 25 years, and you take away three, or you take away 2½ or you take away one, I think overall you have to make a decision.''

But former Boston Red Sox general manager Lou Gorman said: ''It doesn't matter whether the player's production, either home runs or hits, was drug-enhanced once, twice or 10 times. It doesn't matter; it's still cheating and impugning the integrity of the game and the player's accomplishments … those great players currently enshrined in the Hall of Fame achieved that honour strictly on the merits of their god-given talents.''

Hodge has done great things off his bike without drug assistance.

But is he still a Hall of Famer and worthy of his own cycling track?

Which side are you on? It's almost time to vote.