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PERSPECTIVE: Lance Armstrong, Cancer Survivor and Father of Three

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Lance opens up to Lauren Smith Ford on running marathons, opening his bike shop,
how much he loves those cute kids of his, and what the future holds.

T: I hear you “banned the bike” for a while when training for the Boston marathon. What did it feel like to get back on a bike again after the race?
LA: It was a good long break from riding, like a couple months. I rode the very next day in Boston. We flew to New York, and I stayed there for a few days and rode every day in Central Park. It’s beautiful weather this time of year, and the park was packed with people. Seeing cyclists and runners out is always a good feeling. Riding again is like your favorite T-shirt that you lost for a while and all of a sudden you find it, and it’s like, this is good.

T: What are some differences for you between training for running and cycling?
LA: They are not comparable for me now, because one was a job and one is passion, a form of exercise. Naturally, I approach those differently; the pressure I put on myself is totally different. Cycling is an efficient mode of transportation, whereas running isn’t, and with running comes a lot more impact and a lot more pounding on the muscles and the joints and the rest of the body. Running is harder for me because I came from cycling, where you don’t necessarily get sore. Some people may, but I never did. With running, you get muscle soreness and tightness, things I wasn’t used to. Then in long runs you get other effects too. At the end of Boston, my feet were completely destroyed, blisters everywhere, because of the hills there. I am officially a marathoner now because I am going to lose a toenail.

T: What about getting through the bad days in training or the rough points in a race between running and cycling?
LA: Cycling was always the place for me where I felt happy doing it, comfortable, at peace. Even though I was suffering on the bike and trying very hard, it was enjoyable. I haven’t reached that point in running where it’s a place that I can Zen out and get in the zone like I did with cycling. Maybe it’s because I just do it so casually, for 30 to 45 minutes a day and that’s kind of it.

T: What does the future of running look like for you?
LA: I don’t know. I’ll continue to run as long as my body can take it. I think ultimately most people are prohibited from running, especially with marathons. The body just says no more at some point. Hopefully that won’t happen, but as long as I can do it, I don’t know why I wouldn’t go back to Boston and New York every year—because those are the two marquee events in this country, those and Chicago. They work great for me to stay in shape, great for the foundation to raise money and put people together to run.

T: What are your favorite cities to run and/or ride in?
LA: Austin is a great running city. When I moved to Austin in 1989–90, it was a great cycling city. It’s changed a lot because of development, and with that development the bike hasn’t been as respected on the road. We haven’t kept pace with other cities when it comes to making Austin a bike-friendly city. My favorite cities to ride in are Santa Barbara, Napa, and Aspen. There are a lot of great cycling cities, and urban cycling cities like Portland that have bike lanes and trails everywhere throughout the city. Portland, Oregon, will not pave a mile of road without paving a mile of bike path. So for their com- munity of kids, parents, and commuters, and people who want to be fit and care about their lifestyle, that’s a huge benefit for people to be able to say, “I’m just going to ride down somewhere.” Even with their weather, people ride everywhere. Austin has to think about that. Everybody wants to have this downtown revitalization with lofts and living space and residential, commercial, retail. Our city, specifi- cally our downtown area, wasn’t built for that many people, so we’d better think about that. The bikeway (Lance Armstrong Bikeway) will help.

T: When did you first have the idea to open a bike shop in Austin?
LA: We have always kicked it around, but we never found the right location. We had a few in mind, but they always fell through. Once we got the location at Fourth and Nueces, it gelled for us, especially in light of all the residential that’s going in down there.

T: What needs to happen in Austin for it to become a true bikefriendly/ commuter city?
LA: Some of it we can help, some of it we can’t. First the stuff we can help: The city has to become more bike friendly, so that means the bikeway will help keep bikes off the busy roads. Bikes and cars don’t always blend because cyclists are oftentimes scared of cars and cars are oftentimes annoyed at cyclists, so that intersection is a problem for the relationship. Getting people off the roads or making significant bike trails throughout the city is what we need to do, but in order to do that, you need a passionate mayor and a passionate council. I’m not saying they are not, but it starts with the local government to initiate that and appropriate the money. It’s not easy, it’s not cheap, and it’s not free. Then ultimately from there, the citizens have to put the pressure on the council, the mayor, and the leaders of the city. And you can even do it for the state. Why wouldn’t Texas be a cycling-friendly state? The second part is the heat. In August, to tell somebody go ride your bike five miles to work through hills, when it’s 100 degrees out? I think there are only three to four months when it’s unbearable. Then, if offices have a place where you can shower, get cleaned up, and go to work, which is what we will have at the shop; if people don’t have that at work, they can ride to the shop and shower, get cleaned up, put your stuff in a locker, and go to work.

T: What is your vision for your bike shop, Mellow Johnny’s?
LA: Our shop will have everything from the finest road bike in the world to just a simple commuter bike. Bike shops can sometimes be intimidating for people because you walk in, see all the equipment, and it’s very high-tech and complicated—especially, I think, for women. They see all this metal and aluminum, carbon fiber and gears, and think, “Not for me.” Mellow Johnny’s will be a place that appeals to women and makes them feel comfortable to walk in and try out a bike or maybe want to start riding.

T: When you first had the idea for the foundation, could you ever have imagined how successful it would be?
LA: No. We thought we would remain a small organization. We didn’t really know what we would do with the money. We thought we would raise a little money, and the idea was to give money to some hospitals or to Indiana University, where I was treated, and ultimately try to put together a group of smart doctors and scientists who would help us out. When we had $10,000 in the bank, we thought we were going to solve all the world’s problems. Now, we are almost to $300 million. It’s been quite different than we anticipated, and even if we were at only $20, $50, or $100 million, we still would have done the things we have that have been meaningful for the lives of cancer survivors. We are not interested in being the biggest organization in the nonprofit business. We are just interested in having an impact, and we can say we have done that in terms of putting together a group of people who can really rally behind Live Strong. Proposition 15 is something that we can say was a good investment for us, for our donors, for our constituents, and all the people who believe in us.

T: What are your personal goals?
LA: Not anything much different than what I do now. I do four things. I have kids. Kristin and I have our three kids that we swap back and forth. I think that’s the number one priority in both of our lives. So far, so good. I think they are amazing. Then, I have the foundation, and the for-profit stuff I do, like sponsors I go and work for, speeches I give, investments we’ve done, businesses we maintain, and then personal time, travel, and friends and family.

T: Are your kids going to be athletes?
LA: I don’t know. They show interest, but it is definitely one thing I could never put pressure on them to do. All of our kids were the last in their classes to ride bikes. I was very sensitive to being that jerk out there saying, “You have to ride your bike.” I was very laid-back about it and said, “Whenever you are ready, let’s go do it.” Luke started riding because Bella did it. Bella can do anything on the first day—like she could wakeboard on the first day she ever tried, she water-skied. When Luke saw that, he went, “Okay, I have to try this.” She put the pressure on him, not me, which is fine.

T: Will you always have a house in Austin?
LA: I don’t know how I would ever leave Austin. It’s been my home for more than half my life now. I don’t see it changing. Obviously Austin has changed, and some things are better, some things are not better.

T: What do you miss about old Austin?
LA: It’s like the whole drawbridge thing. Back in the late eighties, early nineties, Austin was an interesting place to be. When I moved here, I was making $18,000 a year racing for Subaru Montgomery, my first paid cycling team. I lived in a little loft upstairs right off Lamar and 15th. I would walk down to the original Whole Foods, which is now Cheapo’s CDs. I would get my groceries there, or eat in the café. They had these bad-ass peachand- mango smoothies. I would always go down and have those. It was a very simple existence. To me, Austin in the late eighties and early nineties was about that. It’s not about that anymore, but that’s also probably because my life is no longer simple. I have kids, I have a job, I have things to do, people to look after, and that inevitably complicates things. And obviously traffic is different. But when you have a great city, there is no such thing as a moat or a draw-bridge. People are going to come, they want to be here, they are attracted to this place. If it’s a million people today, in 10 years, 20 years, it’s realistic to think it will be two million. It’s going to continue to grow. We just have to be happy that we live in a great city and people find it attractive as well. If you eliminated July, August, and September, we might have 10 million people here. That heat drives away a lot of people.

T: What do you love most about Austin?
LA: I don’t go out that much. I go to three or four restaurants, one or two bars, and that’s kind of it. When I am here, I stay at home with my kids and live in this little bubble, which is kind of a shame. It’s really a shame when people come into town and ask what should we do, what about this place, and I’ll go, “Uh, I don’t know.” But I would tell someone if they want to live my life for a day in Austin, go run on the hike and bike trail, great for anybody to run, on a good, warm day. I would head straight from there to Deep Eddy and swim. I love Deep Eddy. I hate chlorine, and I grew up swimming. Deep Eddy’s cold and there’s no chlorine. Then, I’ll just go home and hang out, eat lunch, pick up the kids from school. Also, the Hill Country is something I love, so if you can head out to Dripping Springs, or Fredericksburg, Johnson City, Marble Falls. Those are special communities.

T: What are you most proud of?
LA: Professionally, in cycling, it would be winning the Tour de France, but I don’t think about that anymore. With regard to the foundation, if I had to pick one thing, it would be Proposition 15. It was my proudest moment so far. But I think we can top that. We could encourage another state to follow that example. My kids. I am incredibly proud of my kids. They are great kids. They’re smart, they try hard, and they make great grades. They are very sweet, sincere, and compassionate kids. I say that because again I am biased, but when you hear that from random people who know them, it’s quite the compliment. Then on the personal side, I have great friends and family. My mom is my best friend. She always was and still is. And I have had a core group of friends for 20 years who are the same group of people. Nobody has ever left. I am very proud also of the relationship with Kristin. For a divorced couple, sometimes it’s hard to navigate those waters. We had a period of that, where it was hard to figure out how we were going to do it. But now, I can’t imagine how we could be any closer. Any closer and we are married again. The thing about Kristin is I completely trust her—I trust her with our kids, and even with decisions I have to make. If I ever faced a very critical decision in my life, she would be one of the first people I asked. For example, when I was asked to go to Iraq and Afghanistan before Christmas, I said I would like to go, but I just needed to ask one person. That person was Kristin. I called her and asked if I could go, which she didn’t give me right away (laughing). She needed to think about it. But you don’t want to leave a mother alone, when you take a dangerous trip; you want to make sure the mom of your kids is cool with it.

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