Lance Armstrong has always been one of my heroes. His return to the sport of cycling after a surprising diagnosis of testicular cancer is a story for the ages. From a mediocre cyclist as far as world standards go, to a struggling recuperating shell of his former self, to the finely tuned climbing machine he has become, the book “It’s Not About the Bike” chronicles every inch of his story up until the Sidney Olympics.
And what a story it is.
From his upbringing and being raised mostly by his mom alone (he refers to his dad as a DNA donor and a Sperm Donor, something a friend of mine who reads regularly would truly appreciate), his life was a struggle. He grew up in a middle class neighborhood where football ruled and if you didn’t play football, worship football, or spend Friday nights at the High School watching the game, you were less of a person.
Because of Lance’s downright abnormal ability to process oxygen and produce much less lactic acid (the chemical your body produces that burns your muscles during a workout), he was a natural athlete as a kid, excelling at triathlons and running. Because his mom worked during the day, Lance would bike to school, swim in the pool for hours on end, then bike home. Obviously something only the most gifted of athletes could do, especially at a young age.
The book goes on and on, and without recounting the entire Lance Armstrong story, does so in great detail.
But the section that’s the most powerful is right after his chemo ended when he decided to try riding again, and how the people who used to just hang with him had to slow down to let a professional racer catch up. Then the story of Cofidis, his old team, and how they said they wouldn’t terminate his contract when he made his announcement, only to later terminate it and leave him insuranceless. It’s a harrowing tale of overcoming a mountain of self-doubt and outside doubt.
It’s great, and it’s inspiring. Amazing is winning six Tour de France championships. Astonishing is what he went through to win his first.
Read the book. It’s not a cycling tome as much as it is a small but intricately connected group of subplots that came together to make Lance the man he is today. It’s a weighty book, but I finished it in four days, and I highly recommend it.
Great story, great writing, great man.
What do you have to lose?
