Lance Armstrong: Six Shooter

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Outside Magazine, July 2004

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2004 Tour de France: The Ultimate Guide
Six-Shooter (cont.)


	"If the team disbands, I'll most likely stop. I love the people I'm around now. I don't think I'd be up for trying to re-create that." (Anton Corbijn)

Is Sheryl going to come see the race?
I think so. She'll be around.

She's not really into cycling herself, is she?
We went to a Lakers game recently, and some reporter asked her if she'd been on the bike. She said, "On the bike? Are you kidding me? I'm just looking for the next Krispy Kreme stand." It was reported on TV, and then it got on the chat rooms and bulletin boards, and, well, from then on it was endless doughnut jokes. People speculated that I was neglecting my training and eating poorly. That's the magic of the Internet. If people think I'm sitting around eating Krispy Kremes, they're sorely mistaken.

Has she composed any songs about racing?
She hasn't been writing about any pelotons lately.

It's a hard word to work into a lyric. What rhymes with peloton?
I don't know. Telekom? Unabomb?

I'm interested to hear what you think of the rap cycling has gotten from EPO and other drugs. It must suck to work in a sport that has a cloud hanging over it.

"I read everything that happens in cycling, and I think that, clearly, drugs work. But they don't work as good as hard work, and I know that for a fact."

How do you deal with skeptics who assume there's no way you can do it without drugs?
I try to take a longer view and think about 10, 20, 30 years from now, when those victories don't have an asterisk beside them. I read everything that happens within cycling and I'm as amazed as anybody else, because I think that, clearly, drugs work. But they don't work as good as hard work. And I know that for a fact.

And, of course, they kill you—sometimes.
Well, it depends. There's this whole preconceived notion about EPO and young riders dying. I would be very interested to compare every sport—cycling, running, basketball, hockey, football, baseball—and total up how many young athletes have passed out, or passed away, on the field. If it happens on the basketball court, nobody says anything. If it happens on the soccer pitch, nothing. But if it's cycling, they say, "Drugs." I wouldn't say it's not true, because I don't know. But I certainly don't think it's fair in comparison to other sports.

Do you still think much about cancer?
Of course. I'm not scared on a daily basis of getting sick again. I feel healthy and strong; I feel confident that I'm cured of the disease. But this illness is a real bastard. If I said I didn't have any respect for it, I have this idea that it would be listening to me say that.

As you enter the homestretch of your training, what are you leaving out, in terms of diet, that you miss the most?
In Normandy, they have this amazing butter, just unbelievable. And, of course, the bread in Europe is kick-ass. So I think about cutting open a friggin' great piece of bread and absolutely smearing it in butter. God, that's good! You know, the food is so much better in Europe. It's so much tastier—and you'd think so much more fatty, and yet the people aren't nearly as heavy as they are over here in the States.

We need to go on a national diet, don't we? We need to appoint, like, a Cabinet-level position—a Secretary of Obesity.
It's so hard to understand. In France, the diet is oil-based, cheese-based, and alcohol-based. But the obesity rate is much lower. The problem here is fast food, basically.

That's where it comes from.
How has your relationship evolved with the French press and the fans over there? It used to be that our relationship was iffy at best. Every year, it's gotten consistently better.

Last year, with all the anti-French sentiment in the States, did you notice increased tension in the crowds?
I expected the conflict between Bush and Chirac to trickle down to the Tour. I mean, not only am I an American, but I'm from Texas and I've spent enough time with the president for people to refer to us as "friends." But you know what? The fans were great last year, better than ever.

Certainly it was a low ebb in Franco-American relations, wasn't it?
People wanted to change the name of French fries to freedom fries, that sort of thing. I told people in the States, "You know, if the French fans on the roadside had that mentality, I never would have made it." They would have killed me.

They would have sabotaged your race?
It's an open road—anything they want to do, they can do. It happened with Eddy Merckx one year [1975]. Some angry fan punched him in the gut, injured him, and he lost the Tour. Simply leading, or looking like you're going to win, could be enough to piss them off. Let's hope that doesn't happen this year.

Apart from some crazy fan, what's your biggest nightmare?
Crashes are by far the biggest concern. Crosswinds can cause them. Sharp turns in unfamiliar villages can cause them. But you can usually avoid crashes by riding in the right position, riding with your team, and totally staying out of trouble. You don't want to be in the very, very front, because that's where the crashes start. If you're a little bit back, you can react. There's just kind of a sweet spot that we try to be in.

It used to be said that anger was a big part of your drive. But looking at you now—here on this massage table, dating Sheryl, house in Spain, international lifestyle—it's hard for me to think of you being pissed off anymore.
Less and less so, it's true. But I still read things that tick me off. Quotes from other riders, especially.

Does it ever worry you that maybe you're not pissed off enough anymore?
Oh, when I need to be pissed off, I can still come up with something.

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