I'm sure by now that everyone knows what has gone on in Lance Armstrongs life this past month. For those that don't know what has happened or need a refresher please read this article. What follows are my feelings as a cyclist and as a Type 1 diabetic, both of which give me a connection with Lance Armstrong.
I will start with the cycling side of my love of Lance Armstrong. Lance Armstrong made me a cyclist, if I didn't have a life altering moment at the age of 26 I may have never gotten on the bike and become the cyclist I am today but I still would have been a huge fan of the sport. In 1995 I remember I saw that American Lance Armstrong won a stage of the Tour De France. I was thirteen at the time and thought that it was great that an American won a stage. I thought to myself how cool would it be to see an American win the tour. For three years I followed the Tour and wondered what happened to that American guy, I thought it was just a fluke that he won a stage. Then 1999 happened, Lance came back from cancer and won his first of seven consecutive Tours. After my surgery I wanted to be a hometown Lance Armstrong, I wanted to get on a bike and race in local events. Obviously not to many people would hear about my story, but for the first time in a long time I had a goal in my life. I would go out everyday on the bike and pretend I was Lance, I would sprint down Ocean View Highway and pretend I was finishing a time trial to win the Tour just like Lance Armstrong. I have a lot of Lance in me when it comes to the bike, Lance once said "I don't ride for pleasure, I ride for pain." I couldn't say it better myself. I need to suffer to know that I'm still alive, if I'm not in pain on the bike then I'm not trying. I have a lot of built up aggression while I ride, riding a bike is my release. If I have a bad day I go right to the bike to feel better, if I'm having a good day I can reach down in to my well of past disappointments and use the bike as a way to reflect on the past and learn from my mistakes. Being on a bike for up to ten hours a week you have a lot of time to yourself and a lot of time to reflect and do a ton of soul searching. I'm very angry with Lance the cyclist, he was my idol and now he is just another cyclist that cheated. I now turn to Pierre Rolland as a cycling role model and hope that he is a clean cyclist that will win the Tour one day.
I will start with the cycling side of my love of Lance Armstrong. Lance Armstrong made me a cyclist, if I didn't have a life altering moment at the age of 26 I may have never gotten on the bike and become the cyclist I am today but I still would have been a huge fan of the sport. In 1995 I remember I saw that American Lance Armstrong won a stage of the Tour De France. I was thirteen at the time and thought that it was great that an American won a stage. I thought to myself how cool would it be to see an American win the tour. For three years I followed the Tour and wondered what happened to that American guy, I thought it was just a fluke that he won a stage. Then 1999 happened, Lance came back from cancer and won his first of seven consecutive Tours. After my surgery I wanted to be a hometown Lance Armstrong, I wanted to get on a bike and race in local events. Obviously not to many people would hear about my story, but for the first time in a long time I had a goal in my life. I would go out everyday on the bike and pretend I was Lance, I would sprint down Ocean View Highway and pretend I was finishing a time trial to win the Tour just like Lance Armstrong. I have a lot of Lance in me when it comes to the bike, Lance once said "I don't ride for pleasure, I ride for pain." I couldn't say it better myself. I need to suffer to know that I'm still alive, if I'm not in pain on the bike then I'm not trying. I have a lot of built up aggression while I ride, riding a bike is my release. If I have a bad day I go right to the bike to feel better, if I'm having a good day I can reach down in to my well of past disappointments and use the bike as a way to reflect on the past and learn from my mistakes. Being on a bike for up to ten hours a week you have a lot of time to yourself and a lot of time to reflect and do a ton of soul searching. I'm very angry with Lance the cyclist, he was my idol and now he is just another cyclist that cheated. I now turn to Pierre Rolland as a cycling role model and hope that he is a clean cyclist that will win the Tour one day.
Lance Armstrong the cancer survivor and Livestrong founder will always have a special place in my heart. Lance changed how millions of people look and handle cancer, I know it was not just Lance that changed things but he has made cancer a daily topic by sharing his story. Lance is the reason that I do so much for diabetes, Lance is a normal guy that came from nothing to form a cancer foundation that helps people all over the world. I believe that Lance and I have a great connection, I'm a normal guy that almost lost his life to a terminal illness because I didn't take care of myself for a good ten years and now I have my life back and want to change the diabetes landscape. Cancer and diabetes are nothing alike but on a daily basis I will go to YouTube to watch Livestrong videos and get ideas on how to change the way people view diabetes. I own a Livestrong Guidebook and for the past month I have used this book as a guide to slowly develop my own diabetes guidebook. In my opinion Livestrong has shown all other nonprofit organizations how to care for people affected by a disease. My dream is to start a diabetes foundation that changes the way people living with diabetes deal with the disease. I want the videos I share on this website ten years from now to be videos of diabetics speaking for an organization that I helped form. I want videos about diabetics sharing their personal stories and how the (Yet to be named foundation) changed how they live with diabetes. Lance has set the bar very high but I want to surpass what Lance has done and I want diabetes to be the disease that is talked about by everyone. I will wear my Livestrong band as long as I live because the rubber band is not about what Lance did on the bike, it is about the millions of cancer patients all over the world. I wear this band for REJ54, I may not have known REJ54 but I have heard stories from the people I love and I would do anything I could to save someone suffering from cancer. I don't want any cancer patients friends and family to feel the pain that the friends and family of REJ54 had to feel.
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