I, like most people, know about the Livestrong Challenge because I know about Lance Armstrong.  In early July, 2003, I had barely heard of Lance Armstrong.  A friend encouraged me to watch that year’s edition of the Tour de France.  I laughed,  There is no way, I said.  Guys in lycra?  Ha!  But, I relented at his insistence.  After ten minutes, I was hooked.  There were crashes and sprints.  Agonizing climbs.  Bike racing (that tour in particular) is simply courageous.

It was the guts of it all that changed me. Before 2003, I had not ridden a bike in over a decade or two.  Since 2003, I have ridden a bike five days a week.  I wanted to be like Lance.  I followed his career and was anxious about the 2004 and 2005 Tours.  Turns out, there was nothing to worry about.  By the time Lance retired, it didn’t matter. I was hooked.  I followed all of the races, scouring cyclingnews.com every day.  I followed the careers of other cyclists:  Leipheimer, Ullrich (poor guy), Boonen and, my favorite, Jens Voit.  I am still disappointed by professional cycling to some degree – Landis and Tyler Hamilton in particular.  It is scandals like those that make me miss Lance.  But, I still love the sport.  I won’t compare amateur bike racing to the professional circuit but all bike racers feel like there is a community. 

As time has gone by, however, I have begun to disassociate Lance with bike racing and have associated him with survivorship. Lance and his foundation have brought the issue of survivorship to the cancer community. In fact, the foundation has brought the issue to the mainstream.  I am not in the medical profession so I will not describe the term “survivorship” in a way that is completely accurate.  However, to me, survivorship is about the new lifestyle that one leads or should lead after cancer.  Too often in the past, cancer patients were successfully treated and discharged with the instructions “go live.”  Nearly dying of cancer is life changing.  Simple instruction to “go live” simply left an emotional void.  Research also began to show that different life practices could also reduce the re-occurrence of cancer.  Survivorship is about following best and healthy practices in order to “go live.” 

Lance brought another value to the table.  One could not only go live.  One could live stronger than before.  Before cancer, Lance was a good bike racer. He would have won some stages in the tour and other prestigious one day races.  After cancer, he could win the Tour de France.  A lot.   He learned to live strong.  His foundation is, like competitive cycling,is  a community of survivors who embrace this idea and live their lives by it.

 In 2007, the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance agreed to sponsor our bike team and the  idea for race4areason came to fruition.  Race4areason’s mission is to help survivors bridge the gap from illness to not only health but fitness while raising funds and awareness for survivorship and the Lance Armstrong Survivorship clinic in Seattle.  We meet this mission by leading bike rides with cancer survivors and teaching bike handling skills. 

To raise funds, this year we formed a team to participate in the Livestrong Challenge on June 29th in Portland, Oregon.  Our team is made of race team members and cancer survivors.  Our goal was to bring 20 members and raise five thousand dollars for Lance’s foundation.  I am proud to announce that we have exceeded our goals and, of over 150 teams, we are in the top 20 in terms of membership and fundraising.  Check out our results here. On Sunday, we will proudly wear the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance jersey with race team members and cancer survivors and will pedal 10, 40, 70 or mile courses. 

I know that Mr. Armstrong will never read this.   But, if I ever met him, I would probably have nothing to say.  I am a 44 year old attorney who has argued cases before federal and appellate judges but I would probably be completely star struck if I met Lance.  That aside, I think it is a strange thing.  I never intended to help.  At first, I just thought cycling was cool.  However, I became inspired.  First, Lance inspired me to ride.  Then, he inspired me to actually care.  Now, he has inspired me to do something about it! For that, I am very thankful.