For those doing RAGBRAI this year....So is Lance!

Lance skips France to bike in Iowa
(posted 6/28/2006) View all News Items
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Lance Armstrong, 7-time conqueror of the Tour de France, will tackle the cornfields, cows, communities and coconut cream pie of RAGBRAI

By JOHN CARLSON
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
June 28, 2006

Lance Armstrong, winner of the Tour de France the last seven years, is passing up Paris this summer to ride RAGBRAI.

"My Julys are free now," Armstrong said in a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon.

That's because this will be the first year since 1999 that Armstrong won't ride in — or win — the most prestigious bicycle race in the world. Armstrong said he'd heard about RAGBRAI for years and was looking forward to spending time in Iowa.

"I talked about my summer plans, talked about going to the Tour, and I said one day, 'You know what? Why don't we spend the end of the month and go to Iowa and not even go to the Tour?' "

Armstrong said he hoped to be on the ride "several days." A cancer survivor, he hopes to discuss the issue with Iowans and encourage them to make cancer funding an issue with presidential candidates in both parties prior to Iowa's first-in-the-nation 2008 caucuses.

The Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, the oldest and largest event of its kind in the world, will begin in Sergeant Bluff on July 23 and end July 29 in Muscatine. Along the way, there will be overnight stops in Ida Grove, Audubon, Waukee, Newton, Marengo and Coralville.

"We want to use this as an opportunity to be there amongst the riders and their friends and the communities, and just ride with them and talk with them and have the opportunity to share the message," Armstrong said. " ... We'd love the opportunity to visit not just the riders, but the clinics or hospitals that are nearby, or the opportunity to speak to groups of people. A town hall setting in some way would be amazing."

He's not sure which portion of the week he'll ride, but he said this would not be an "in and out" visit to Iowa. And he already said he's penciling the ride in for next year.

"This wouldn't be a one-year commitment," he said. "We'd obviously want to be back next year if we behave ourselves."

RAGBRAI director T.J. Juskiewicz said he's delighted Armstrong will join the ride, which is in its 34th year.

"I can't tell you how happy we are to have Lance with us," said Juskiewicz. "The Tour de France is usually on while we're on RAGBRAI, and you hear riders ask one another, 'Did you hear how Lance did today?' This year, they'll be saying, 'Did you see Lance out there today?' It's great."

Juskiewicz said representatives of the Lance Armstrong Foundation contacted him about six weeks ago to discuss the possibility of Armstrong's coming to Iowa.

"We're thrilled it worked out," Juskiewicz said.

Armstrong is arguably the world's greatest athlete. In 2002, he was Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year. The Associated Press named Armstrong its Male Athlete of the Year in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005. And he was named ESPN's Best Male Athlete in 2003, 2004 and 2005.

He retired from competitive cycling after last year's seventh Tour de France win and now devotes much of his time to the Lance Armstrong Foundation. It provides money for cancer awareness programs, public health and cancer research. There is no more important cause for the 34-year-old cyclist.

In 1996, Armstrong was diagnosed with a late-stage testicular cancer that had spread to his brain and lungs. He underwent a series of aggressive chemotherapy treatments. Three years later, he won his first Tour de France.

The foundation was established in 1997 and has raised more than $146 million and sold 65 million yellow "LIVESTRONG" wristbands at $1 each. It has distributed more than $14.6 million in research grants and $3.8 million to cancer-related nonprofit organizations across the country. Its primary mission is to provide information and assistance to people who have been diagnosed with cancer. Armstrong, whose prospects for survival were considered slim, is probably the world's greatest example that cancer can be overcome.

"Outside of the fact it's a great event, and one of the biggest bike rides in the country, which is appealing, it's an opportunity to go somewhere, ride a bike and be among people who are going to have a unique opportunity in 2008 and get them engaged with regard to cancer," he said. "If you've got a candidate coming through, the people of Iowa can get them engaged in the issue."

Armstrong said that he's met with U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin about cancer research funding over the years and that Harkin has encouraged him to be part of RAGBRAI.

Actually, "encouraged" might not be a strong enough word. Armstrong said he "was practically put in a headlock" by the Iowa Democrat. He said he's heard the stories about 10,000 cyclists and their slow trek across Iowa and wants to see it for himself.

"It's thousands and thousands and thousands of people, (and) it's tremendously organized," he said.

"One thing that's really cool to hear — and it doesn't happen all that often in this country — is the level of community involvement. The ride comes through and towns just shut down, and people come out on the street and support the riders. For cycling, that's a serious commitment for the people to make."

Has he ever ridden with 10,000 people?

"I'd have to think about that," he said. "I probably haven't."

Armstrong might be interested to know there are a few tiny differences between the Tour de France and RAGBRAI.

The Tour de France has about 200 of the world's greatest cyclists sprinting 2,240 miles, a good part of it over mountains, for about three weeks.

RAGBRAI has maybe 10,000 people, including some of the world's lousiest riders, who this year will be struggling to pedal 441 miles in one week.

The Tour de France is the most prestigious race on the planet. RAGBRAI is a leisurely ride through Iowa's cornfields and small towns, with frequent stops for beer, pie and pork chops.

Armstrong was interested in hearing about it all. Even the pie.

That said, he has two words for all the pie bakers along this year's route: coconut cream.