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Do not turn back when you are just at the goal.
First Century BC Maxim
It was just a millennia ago when the cycling community, along with the rest of the world, wrote off Lance Armstrong when it was highly publicized that he had cancer. Comeback? Forget that. Would he even be alive in six months time, was more on the minds of people, than whether or not he could ever get back into racing form again. I can remember after completing the Tour de Cuba and retiring from adventure cycling that I had time to devote to personal appearances on behalf of my sponsors; some of whom I had been with my entire career. It was at the Interbike show, the cycling industry’s biggest event in California, where I was making one such appearance that I ran into Lance doing what he loved...being on a bike, albeit one that was stationary. I stood off to the side and watched him for awhile. Even then he had a steely-eyed determination; mentally focused on the future as hordes of people passed him by, thinking to themselves, "There goes another almost that could have had a magnificent cycling career if cancer didn’t get him. Guess there’ll never be another Greg LeMond..." They just didn’t stop long enough to see a young man valiantly determined to not only just make a comeback, but to crush any thought of him being just another almost who might have been from anyone. I saw a will; a drive that day I knew first hand. It was that same look; that same desire and determination of getting up and moving forward after life beat you down that I was a part of when nearly 30 years before I was electrocuted. Four years of wheelchairs and therapy later, I was back on a bike with training wheels with the Great Wall of China calling me to challenge her. I never allowed 65,000 volts, 30 amps and a 30 foot fall deter me from my goal, and I knew that day at Interbike that Lance would not be stopped from his goals by some little bug called cancer. I never went over to talk to him during his training, but merely said a prayer that the Lord watch over this young man that he may go on to better things than when he had BC (before cancer), and hurried off to my next autograph-sponsored session. A year later, Sir Lance-a-lot, won his first Tour de France, and the media within and outside the cycling industry did wheelies over themselves with coverage of the Comeback Kid; joyously comparing him to Greg LeMond as, "Only the second American to ever win the coveted yellow jersey in the history of the Tour de France." I felt for my bud, Greg. I’m sure he wished he could have retained the title as being the only American to win cycling’s most prestigious race during his lifetime, but alas, it was not meant to be. Just as I like to think that I’ll be the only one in my lifetime to bike the length of the Great Wall of China, and take a bike to the highest natural point in each of the 50 united States, and race across the length of Cuba, I know someone else, someday, may equal my cycling feats while I still live and breath. So instead, I prepare myself now for that inevitable day by telling myself, "If it happens, that’s fine. I’ll always be satisfied with being the first, and no one will take that title away from me, ever!" I hope; I’m sure that’s what Greg said to himself when Lance won that first Tour in 1999. I’m almost certain that Lance was thinking the same thing, telling himself, "Okay, I may always be known as the second American to win the Tour de France. There’s nothing I can do about that, but so long as I live, I’m going to put my own signature on this Tour. While I can, I’m going to own this Tour if I have to bust a gut to do it!" So, although he would smile and lie to the press that he really had no thoughts of winning more Tours or even equaling three Tours like Greg did during his career, Lance knew all along what his game plan was...to not only win three like Greg did, but to do so one after the other. Then he would concentrate on the second part of his three-level game plan...to not only be in the elite group of Tour cyclists that have won five Tours, but to equal Miguel Indurain’s status of going for the high five! That goal has now been accomplished in magnificent style! One, even a non-cyclist, would have to admit that Lance’s fifth Tour de France last month was by far the most exciting. Oh, what prayers must have been sent forth his way from around the world... Let’s face it...at Lance’s age, if he’s going to be the owner of the Tour de France, he can’t afford to waste a year. He must be hating the momentary title of being known as the second person in the history of the Tour de France to win five Tours in a row... Not to fret, Lance, you only have to listen to the slander for a year. These last five Tours for Lance were merely warm-ups. Preliminary runs for the definitive Tour in ‘04 that will place him well above and beyond anyone’s doubt that he truly does own the Tour de France (much to the dismay of the French people who must have cursed themselves well into the next generation on an American winning theirs and the world’s most prestigious cycling race on it’s centennial anniversary). Next year’s Tour will be the one to watch. I have no doubt that the French will devise a specially created rule for Lance in which he alone must play fair and give other racers a chance to try and win by doing the next Tour with the brakes on (as he did in one of the mountain stages for Tour 5). If anyone can crack the fifth Tour barrier, it’ll be Lance. While four infamous 5-time Tour de France cyclists gather together for photo opportunities and hearty handshakes, Lance will stand alone. It’s what he wants, and what he’s going to bust a gut to achieve. Those of us who cheat death are like that. We set our goals. We go after them and claim them if we can. We’re never satisfied. We stand alone and unafraid... Until next month, Kevin |
THE
TOUR de LANCE