Lance Armstrong... Yes or No?

[Brian Cotgrove]

Lance is # 1 in my Books , just being a Cancer Survivor , alone

Anyone here had cancer and survived ,,

My dad died of Prostate cancer in Nov 03 , and I was a eye witness to the pain and the tremendous physical and mental effects , that took my dad down over a course of a year , it was horrible

Anyone that can survive cancer , gets my vote , lance did it

then he came back and kicked ass on a bicycle race that takes 3 weeks and he did it 6 times in a row

Drugs dont push them pedals , up Alpe De Huez , raw courage and determination does

Big Credit to USPS and the people behind lance , as well

How can people dispute this guy ?

Just My 2Cents

JP in Canada

Gooday jcpiercy, Mate your dead right about "Lance" he's a great survivor of a disease that has taken so many loved ones, I'm sorry to hear about you Father, my condolences to you and the family, only the good die young?

As I said in my original comment, he only really rides "Le Tour" and not much else, and compared to someone like Eddie Merckx, or Big Mig, he hasn't ridden the other races and made a name for himself there.

Sure he's a great athlete in the true sense of the word but he would be even better if he had ridden the "Vuelte", and the "Tour of Italy" in the same year and won them as well, but he hasn't.

I only posted the last comment because I heard via the TV Sports show, that he is going to ride the classics next year and retire at the end of the year. What truth there is in that is yet to be determined, I look forward to "2005 Le Tour" for another challenger to take away his crown (if there is one).

Just to make it more interesting, so as to speak, however having said that I'll miss the television coverage of the race, as I'll be on the road for three months from the start of May till the end of July 2005 and will have to rely on second hand reports or maybe a DVD of the race when I get back home.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it, have a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year, God Bless You and Yours. TBC

 

[jcpiercy]

Hi Brian , thanks for the good wishes

My post was in reply too the initial Poll Question and truthfully , I had not read your post or the whole thread

thanks

JP in Canada

 

[Fletchnj05]

I'm a fan of Lance and I'm from the US. However I like other US riders too, but I think once Lance retires we can kiss race coverage bye bye in the states.

I hope I'm wrong, I'm sure most of you remember the 30 min a night tour coverage on ESPN, which was mostly Power Bar and Automobile commercials!

 

[Brian Cotgrove]

I'm a fan of Lance and I'm from the US. However I like other US riders too, but I think once Lance retires we can kiss race coverage bye bye in the states.

I hope I'm wrong, I'm sure most of you remember the 30 min a night tour coverage on ESPN, which was mostly Power Bar and Automobile commercials!

G'day Fletchnj05, I hope your wrong too, although here in Australia we are only just getting the good coverage of 'Le Tour", back a couple of years ago we only got a minimum coverage of half hour per night, only on our SBS television channel.

We have a lot of OZ riders and that is good for us, especially blokes like Stuart O'Grady, Robbie McEwen, Brad McGee, Alan Davies, and many more so it looks good as far as support for them is concerned.

The other TV channels don't think there's anything except cricket and rugby leage and horse racing which is a shame, however maybe now they will wake up and get behind and actually support our riders.

Last year we got four almost full stage broadcasts, which went for about four hours from 10pm till early hours of the morning, which is about the time difference between Europe and here. As well as this they gave us the nightly hallf hour bulletin as well.

Now wait for it, yes, this year we are going to get all the stages, full coverage, I say full coverage but it will probably be the four hour abridged coverage, well thats what they say, and I have no reason not to believe them.

The only problem is I will be out of the country when all this is going on?

I sincerely hope for your sakes, they do not pull the plug after Lance stops, because there is good following in your country, having said that don't forget there are other American riders that are very good also, Big George, Levi, Tyler (providing he's clean) and many more that I can't think of at present.

Keep your finger and toes crossed, and keep the wheels turning, and don't look back unless it's to see who you dropped on the last climb? TBC

 

[tcklyde]

Sorry my last mail was meant to be amusing !
There you go !

Trying to catch Lance Armstrong in the TDF : oh, to have even 1% of their ability !
It's what I love about this sport : no matter how well you think you're going (or have gone in the past), these pros train so hard that eeven on your best of best days, you (or me) would be lucky
to even stay with these guys for 5 minutes.
It's why I admire them all (and I include LA !!).

little late reading this thread, but this is exactly why i love cycling as well. It's amazing. I come back from a couple hours on my bike and then watch some cycling and it's clear that wow, holy cow, these guys are strong. Watching a sprint after 200km, climbing the Alp, or Ventoux... it's just unreal. Awesome!