Ace

A Straight Line

July 26, 2004

The formula of my happiness: a Yes, a No, a straight line, a goal.

Does triathlon make a good background training regime? Pictured left is a 16-year-old triathlete, built, like many serious swimmers, with a lot more upper body bulk than long-distance runners or skinny climbing cyclists. Sixteen years ago, Triathlon was neither an Olympic nor a professional sport, so he went into cycling.

Can a lad from a single-parent family in Austin, Texas cope in the gladiatorial world of European professional cycling? He represented his country in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, rode four Tours but only finished one, and only won one stage.

And then he got cancer. What did not destroy him, made him stronger. The year he was ill, 1996, was the year that Miguel Indurain failed to win his sixth consecutive Tour de France—the victory going to Bjarne Riis (this year’s manager of CSC, whose Ivan Basso finished 3rd overall). Get yourself into racing shape, spending five or six hours on the bike every day until your legs are zeppelins of muscle, and there are only microscopic traces of fat anywhere on your frame. Then try to lose a stone.

What happened to our American is that he found he could not only finish the Tour de France, but being significantly lighter, he could climb like almost no-one else.

He doesn’t give triathlon advice. As a Times interviewer found out:

" …. here I am, thinking that I’d be getting hours of top-quality insight for my triathlon training, and, instead, it’s like I am back in my old job, …."

Well, any journalist known to show up to a press conference when in that old job, sporting a baseball cap bearing the legend "Media Scum" shouldn’t expect an easy ride.

Perhaps he’s famous for winning Le Tour every year since 1999. Perhaps he’s only famous for surviving cancer. Perhaps it’s his new girlfriend (left). I didn’t recognise “Mork from Ork” giving “6” signs to the Eurosport cameras at the finish. Maybe he’s the secret. Or Will Smith is. Whatever, the tributes pour in, starting with the man who, as Governor of Armstrong’s home state of Texas, feted him in the Capitol building after his first win in 1999. (The Texan Capitol is a lot like the White House, but being in Texas, bigger, and—whisper it! with the FMA and everything—pink.) The New York Post says Champ Lance’s Passion is an Altruistic Fashion. Even Jolanda Ceplak wore a "Live Strong" wristband at the Norwich Union International yesterday.

I doubt that an early start in triathlon will turn you into the greastest athlete on the planet. But it’s something to aim for.

Posted by Dave at July 26, 2004 01:32 PM

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