Congratulations to Lance Armstrong and the rest of Team Discovery on the seventh Tour win. An amazing feat that most likely won’t be bested for a long time. If any of you haven’t watched a stage of the Tour de France I reccomennd that you check it out next year. Pay special attention to the mountain stages. These guys ride between 100 and 150 miles every day for 21 days. 120 miles through (over) the Alps is something that most of us could never even dream of accomplishing. Here’s to the Tour and all the riders that finished in one piece.
On Saturday Steve and I rode our bikes for five hours. We went all the way to Marina del Rey, which is way far. It was our own little Tour de Places-we-could-maybe-eat-lunch-if-we-weren’t-so-picky-and-dumb. I think I broke one of my kidneys or something because nothing has felt quite right since. I admire these cyclists. Their organs are so much tougher than mine.
According to the doctors on the Tour, Lance was born genetically advantaged for cycling. His heart was 20% larger than a normal heart. Through intense training his heart has grown to 50% larger than a normal human heart. Yikes! Mutant cyclist!
according to LA himself, he never would have had “the right stuff” to win Le Tour at all, yet alone 7 times, if he had not gotten testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain. Lance being who he is opted for the more painful chemotherapy that would spare his lungs further damage thus allowing him to have the chance of even cycling at a world class level again if he survived the 30% chance that the medical gurus gave him. This man is a genetic freak but he is also an example of what the human mind can accomplish when focused, wheather that be in a sport like cycling or just on surviving when most athourities say it is unlikely. Please support Lance and all cancer victims by visiting http://www.livestrong.org/ and check out Lance’s team at http://team.discovery.com/ LA could never have won without their support.
According to my doctors, I am genetically disadvantaged for cycling because 1) I am bred from Pennsylvania Dutch stock who tend to be thick rather than think in case the mules break down and we need to plow our own fields, 2) even the thought of cycling for two miles makes me want to take a nap and 3) even thought I run several times a week I can still not mount the stairs to the dean of my college’s office without weezing, making me look far from impressive during out pre-meeting handshake.
It has also been proven that I like pudding pops 30% more than the average human.