He was born with an exquisite capacity for VO2 max (gauge of how much oxygen you can take in and use) and tremendous lactic acid tolerance. He would hone his muscular body through participations in running, swimming and cycling events. And he would consistently win races with an indomitable will and irrepressible strength.
During his senior year, he would train with the U.S. Olympic cycling developmental team in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
He would rise rapidly in the amateur ranks, and Lance qualified for the junior world championships in Moscow in 1989. By 1991 he was the U.S. National Amateur Champion.
Pre-cancer Lance Armstrong has always been a very impatient rider, and would not give two hoots about showing respect to other competitors. He won races based on pure adrenaline and strength. However one event would change his perspective of life significantly.
Death Of Fabio Casartelli
Fabio Casarelli, the 1992 Olympic Champion, and Lance’s teammate on the Motorrola team, was killed on a high speed descend. Lance was close to Fabio and was devastated by his death. Fabio had just gotten married and his baby was barely a month old.
When Jim Ochowicz, his manager told the team about Fabio’s goal to win the Limoges stage in the Tour De France, Lance knew exactly what to do – he want to win it for Fabio. Previously he had only won two stages, in San Sebastian and Tour Du Pont, but he had never won Limoges before.
On the day of the race, Lance was very focused. Despite the punishing routines, he did not feel any pain at all. He had rode with a higher purpose, for Fabio, and he felt that Fabio was with him all the while. Lance Armstrong won the Limoges by a minute.
As Lance won, he pointed to the sky towards Fabio.
Lance had experienced the first significant victory in the Tour De France…however his life would be shattered by what was about to unfold in his life…
Lance Armstrong Struggles With Chemotherapy…
I would never understand how Cancer and chemotherapy felt…but reading this book at least allows me a glimpse into the life of a cancer patient and the struggles a cancer patient would have to put up with in chemo treatments.
The first symptoms that got Lance worried were coughing of blood and an unusually large testicle that made riding difficult. By the time he sought treatment, he was diagnosed at Stage 3, the last stage of cancer.
Before commencement of treatment, Lance Armstrong was a big strong muscular fellow at 175 pounds, with a round thick neck that were the result of years of tough training in swimming, running and cycling.
Four months of chemotherapy, countless episodes of hair loss, nausea, and burning skin sensations from the inside out, had reduced Lance to 158 pounds with narrow and hawkish face.
The question that was constantly on his mind as he went through chemo was “which would the chemo kill first: the cancer or me?”
Lance would joke ironically that the worst he felt, the better his condition was. At the last stage of treatment, he would be reduced to being dragged out of bed, but he was almost clear of cancer cells.
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