Rolling with Lance
 

Got to ride with Lance on Tuesday as part of a customer event for Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco. Team Oracle served as ride marshalls.

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http://lh4.ggpht.com/_hxBnt2pLFlw/TJ...nd%20Brian.jpg

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Lance was great - had breakfast with us and went through a Q&A. He talked about the politics of the peloton and yellow jersey protocol, citing his fall in 2004 and Schleck's chain drop this year. He singled out how Contador said he didn't see it when it was pretty clear from the video he looked back and saw it.

He also talked about the Leadville 100 and said it was very tough. There's no singletrack, the race course is mostly fireroad and some pavement. But at 12,000 feet you are just hanging on and trying to avoid making any mistakes. And if you try to accelerate you will pay for it.

He seemed to really enjoy talking about cycling, even saying he could go on for hours about this stuff.

I had also wanted to ask him about filming the Radio Shack ads, and if it's true that the name for his sidekick Alphonse was really going to be Alberto but that RS chickened out, but we ran out of time.

Sounds like a great experience. I'd love to meet the guy myself. People around here seem to hate him but not sure why. They don't even know the guy other than what they hear. It's good to hear good stories like this. Thanks.

Jealousy?

Constipation? I don't know.

People who become famous always are hated and not liked by some, it doesn't mean said person is bad. From what I've seen of lance, I'd say he seems like a well rounded nice guy. The kind of media attention any celebrity receives is just horrible, it exaggerates any little mistake they make and demonize them becuase of it.

It's amazing how you guys met, rode and talked with him. My cycling friends would kill for a chance to do what you did.

People believe that they "know" a celebrity even though they have very, very limited true knowledge of what that person is truly all about. The Lance-haters aren't the only ones who do this of course, the Lance-fans are just as guilty, i.e. basing a belief on limited information. As far as the event that the OP attended, remember that Lance Armstrong (besides being a great bicycle racer) is a consummate spokesperson for both his foundation and his corporate sponsors. Realistically, would anyone really expect his behavior at a corporate event to be anything less than a class act?

The last two pictures look like they are pictures of those cardboard cutouts. :) Maybe it is the blue background?

I don't hate Lance. I do strongly dislike his fanboys. I remeber the fanboys saying he was the greatest ever when he won his third TDF. Not he might become, he was. To me he still has not cracked the top 3 by quite a ways. I dislike those who make him into the god of cycling. I dislike those who say he is not an athlete even more.

Of course, you could say the same for Pol Pot and Charles Manson.

Anyway, I suspect the reason people don't like the guy is that evidence says that he's a cheat and a bully.

so it wasn't a renaissance faire bike Joust with both coming at each other with Lances..

in full armor of course ..