My 3 miles with Lance

**KSH** · 07-30-2006, 05:58 PM

Woah really cool! Thanks for sharing!

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

**Denise223** · 07-30-2006, 06:41 PM

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

Have a great evening!

Denise

**Tuckervill** · 07-30-2006, 07:01 PM

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** · 07-30-2006, 07:13 PM

Cool, Beta!!!!!

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!

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....

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** · 07-30-2006, 07:30 PM

What an awesome memory to have.

I am glad your ride went so well and you have such beautiful memories.

**Lise** · 07-30-2006, 08:28 PM

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!

So cool that you "met" College.

L.

**betagirl** · 07-30-2006, 09:43 PM

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

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** · 07-30-2006, 11:56 PM

Originally Posted by betagirl

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** · 07-31-2006, 04:21 AM

I am so jealous of you!!

**kelownagirl** · 07-31-2006, 08:02 AM

Very, very cool!!

**bcipam** · 07-31-2006, 10:23 AM

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** · 07-31-2006, 10:32 AM

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

**bikerchick68** · 07-31-2006, 11:40 AM

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!

**CorsairMac** · 07-31-2006, 12:10 PM

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.........

)

**betagirl** · 07-31-2006, 12:34 PM

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.

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