Not bothering with Lance to show up

[shootingstar]

I'm sure Lance has done some nice things for individual fans. But he seems to have some simple judgement problems in certain areas.

I understand that Axel lives somewhere in central British Columbia (or has a 2nd home). He gets on well with the community in his area and have heard positive things in general.

Ryan Leech, a completely different type of pro cyclist is the sort of personnae that I prefer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc0Xf...layer_embedded
Have seen him "perform" and interact with crowds /individuals in person.

[OakLeaf]

The year Greg LeMond won both the Tour and the Worlds, he came to do a roadrace that my LBS was helping out with. He signed a photo for me that was on an inside page of a magazine. No charge.

At every (?) MotoGP event there's a big charity auction for Riders for Health. Various items of riders' autographed memorabilia are auctioned off, the riders make personal appearances to introduce their items, and in most countries the auction brings tens of thousands of dollars. And you know what? After their appearance, almost all the riders come down from the stage and sign autographs for fans. No donation, no charge.

I don't know much about LiveStrong, but I have to think that Lance would do the charity a favor by stepping away from it. Personally, I'm with ridebikeme. Maybe I'd ride with Lance if HE made a donation to MY favorite charity ... certainly not vice versa.