Monday, September 21, 2009

Lance Armstrong - Biker Extraordinaire

By George Ross

One of the most inspiring life stories would that be of Lance Armstrong. He is a champion biker and has won the Tour de France for a record breaking 7 consecutive years from 1999 " 2005. Among his many achievements are being hailed ABC Wide Sports Athlete of the Year in 1999, Prince of Asturias Awards in Sports in 2000, Sports Illustrated magazine Sportsman of the year from 2002, and he even got ESPNs ESPY Award for Best Male Athlete from 2003 " 2006. The list goes on and on but the point is, Mr. Armstrong achieved all these despite suffering from something others might consider a terrible tragedy.

In 1996, Lance was diagnosed with testicular cancer, a tumor that has metastasized to his brain and his lungs. Despite the originally poor diagnosis, with the help of his treatments that included brain and testicular surgery and chemotherapy, he rallied himself and bounced back. What happened after that was history.

People are just awed and inspired by what Lance has achieved after all he has been through. In fact people have followed his exploits and are interested even in his personal affairs. His relationships with famous celebrities have not diminished albeit only fueled the interest of the public.

The cyclist has such a huge following. When his bike was among those stolen from an Astana Team Truck, all he needed to do was post the incident on his twitter. Right away his twitter fans were alerted and in four days, police in Sacramento took receipt of Lances bicycle.

The post caused so much hype that a Facebook group called '1 Million Citizens Looking For Lance Armstrong's Bike was immediately created.

The creation of the group made it clear that everybody now was on the lookout for their heros bicycle. It really made it hard for the suspects to move much less sell the bicycle. The man who delivered the bike to the police was not a suspect and no arrests have been made. It seemed that people were contented that the bicycle has been returned.

It is wonderful how a loss of a bike can launch a million interest. But if you are a Lance Armstrong, a million fans would probably be moving heaven on earth to make sure you get back a lost treasure. A Champion's Bike.

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