My 3 miles with Lance

[KSH]

Woah really cool! Thanks for sharing!

Can't believe you got that close to the man... the legend! :D

[Denise223]

:D That's a great memory !! Thank you for sharing.

Have a great evening!

Denise

[Tuckervill]

Well....I know somebody who took a picture of Lance as he rode by her on some part of the TdF last year. ;)

When she and her family (stationed with the AF in Germany) yelled, "Go Lance, Go USA" as he passed, he looked over at them, smiled and waved and that was just the time they took the picture. What made it really cool was before the stage ended, she had already emailed the picture to me. It was almost like real-time for me.

But that's NOTHING like drafting off of him and chatting up some guy in his posse. Way to go, Beta.

Karen

[annie]

Cool, Beta!!!!! :D :D I am so happy for everyone who got to see/ride with/talk to Lance! I think I must be one of the few that didn't! :confused: Just a matter of bad timing. I am pretty sure my parked bike saw him whizz past in Brooklyn, but I was on the wrong side of the city park, painting toenails....:rolleyes: A good friend of mine, who is a cancer survivor, actually got to talk to Lance in the cafe where he stopped for pie and got his shirt signed! He send the shirt home and is going to frame it. It means so much to him! Having Lance here was at all was pretty amazing. And he's said he'll be back for the entire ride next year. I guess I'll have to go again! I can't wait!

annie

[Bikingmomof3]

What an awesome memory to have. :) I am glad your ride went so well and you have such beautiful memories.

[Lise]

Whoo-hoo, beta!!! I have been eagerly awaiting word from RAGBRAI, and it was better than I dreamed! More stories, even if no Lance in them! :D So cool that you "met" College. :D :D L.

[betagirl]

It's still kind of surreal to even think about it. Part of me was like, did that just happen? Grant it, it wasn't Ivan or George riding by :D Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures while in the group. My friend got one as we fell off the back, but while we were in the pack it was just too crazy to try to pull the ol' camera out.

Annie - was it hot enough for ya? After we'd finished at the river, we had to get back to our team bus and we got stuck at a light in town. My friend's bike computer said 113 degrees. I think day 2 was one of the most difficult days in my 4 years of RAGBRAI. 77 miles into a 15-20mph headwind, about 4500 feet of climb, and 94 degrees with high humidity. If I saw Lance that day I'm sure it'd have been a hallucination :)

[Bad JuJu]

It's still kind of surreal to even think about it. Part of me was like, did that just happen?

Yeah, another good reason to print out your story and save it in a scrapbook or something. What a cool thing to happen--you've gotta record it and save it, somehow--maybe along with other memorabilia from the ride. Thanks for sharing!

[mrsh]

I am so jealous of you!!

[kelownagirl]

Very, very cool!! :)

[bcipam]

I have a friend who also just did RAGBRAI and everyday she would send me an email complaining about this or that until Lance showed up... I think now she's so happy this year she did the ride. That was the highlight of the whole event - now I'm jealous I didn't go. very cool!

[DrBee]

Very cool Beta! What a great experience! It'll be tough to beat that!

[bikerchick68]

oh my gosh! This is so cool... what a cool thing to draft off Lance... I am very impressed that you hung on for 3 miles... holy cow... thanks for sharing your day with us... I sat here reading it chuckling and enjoying the moment with you! :D

[CorsairMac]

so this is one of those awesome stories that I'll get to repeat when Lances' name comes up - you know - that:

well Yeah I have this friend on the board that Rode with Lance for 3 miles.......;)

very nice Beta! - and congrats on RAGBRAI!

(which btw was Another story that I got to tell: RAGBRAI - oh yeah I've got some friends on the board that rode that.........:D )

[betagirl]

It was totally crazy. Never in a million years would I expect to get to do that. There was a lot of buzz about Lance during the week being on the ride. I was more worried about people getting crazy to get near him to ride than catching a glimpse of him. I was pretty indifferent about seeing him, let a lone riding with him. Then all of a sudden it was happening and I was blown away by the situation. I'm not sure how many people got to ride with him that day, but it was probably in the hundreds as he made his way across the route. So those of us who were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time got to have a once in a lifetime experience.

[WrensMom]

How freaking cool!!:cool: What a great story, and great memories. You are awesome for keeping up with them so long too:D

[Bluetree]

That is so cool!!!
It reminded me of the conversation I was having with a friend while watching the Tour. On a rest day, LA rode up a mountain (Alp D'Huez I think) just for the hell of it. A lot of cyclists, tourists and fans were testing the mountain that day and I said, "Can you imagine climbing that hill, seeing a guy blow by you, looking over... and it's Lance Armstrong!" We were both in awe at the mere thought.

[ChainsOflove]

Its In The Book!!! You Were Riding Next To Lance's Coach!!!

[Eden]

Its In The Book!!! You Were Riding Next To Lance's Coach!!!

College is certainly Lance's friend, but he's definitely not Chris Carmichael. He's pretty funny though (saw a lot of him on Road to the Tour or something last year) and he did crash the bus at the Tour de Georgia once.
Anyway betagirl -that's really cool - with the number of folks who do RAGBRAI, sounds like you were one of the very lucky ones.

[RoadRaven]

Well - it may sound repetitive... but that is !!!WAY COOL!!!!



wicked
buenísimo
smokin'
awesome
qué padre!
excellent
chévere
phenomanal
fantastique!

[ChainsOflove]

You are right, the book says the guy's name is John Korioth, who they call "college", its in "Lance Armstrongs War"

[Kitsune06]

You know... that had me thinking... we were running out of gas and making the final twists and turns along the road when a pack of maybe 10 guys nodded, waved and zipped past us in a blur. We all said "Heh! Speedy kids!" and gave little thought. We made the last turn and saw that in their speed, they'd gone past the last turn and had had to double back to the end. We *eventually* made it to the finish line (slooow, slow, slow... we were tired!) only to be told that Lance had finished about a minute before us. I STILL wonder if he was in/leading that pack of guys who rushed past us (and the turn before the finish!):eek:

[massbikebabe]

I'm speechless...you have had the ride of my dreams!!!!!!!!!! Tell me, was he riding a Trek??? I have this thing about brand loyalty...




karen

[wannaduacentury]

I'm glad you got to ride w/ Lance. 3 miles is pretty darn good in that heat @ 26 mph in Iowa. I saw him twice @ the Tour de Ga and got his autograph and a few pics. He does have nice legs. I can't believe so much energy comes out of the compact 5 ft 10 body of his. and he's a nice guy. This yr I saw Landis and got his autograph and he won the tour. both of em TDG & TDF. I hope he can get his doping mess straightened out.

[betagirl]

Tell me, was he riding a Trek??? I have this thing about brand loyalty...

He was riding a Livestrong bike, which is a Trek Madone I believe. So yes, brand loyalty :)

I think these are my fav pics of Lance from the week (from the Des Moines register's website). I've tried to find a picture of me with him, but haven't had any luck. There were news crews ahead of us the whole way in the back of a pickup truck filming. So who knows, I may have been on the news. But they were filming him most of the day. I'll keep looking around though. I was in our team's bright orange jersey that day, so it'd be hard to miss.

http://cmsimg.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?NewTbl=1&Avis=D2&Dato=20060727&Kategori=LIFE04&Lopenr=607260810&Ref=PH&Item=11&Maxw=450&maxH=450&border=0

http://cmsimg.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?NewTbl=1&Avis=D2&Dato=20060727&Kategori=LIFE04&Lopenr=607260810&Ref=PH&Item=1&Maxw=450&maxH=450&border=0

and of course having a beer:

http://cmsimg.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?NewTbl=1&Avis=D2&Dato=20060727&Kategori=LIFE04&Lopenr=607270811&Ref=PH&Item=8&Maxw=450&maxH=450&border=0

[Denise223]

Are you still replaying the events of that wicked special day in your head over & over :D ?? That's like a "once in a lifetime thing".... I'm sure it will be "permanently etched in your brain".

Thank you for posting the pictures.... He really is quite handsome/adorable, isn't he??? :) Very tasty morsel ;) .

Have a wonderful day!

Denise

[leighko]

Awesome story....Thanks for sharing. I heard he was going to be there and tried to imagine what it might be like to be riding along in Iowa and have "the Lance" cruise upon you....