Long Live the King

I've been watching the first three days of the Tour Down Under-- the first major pro-cycling event of the year. Granted, I would watch the race no matter what (and sit here and feel sorry for my snow-encrusted life), but there is a really cool element to this race that I've never seen before-- Lance Armstrong is racing.

This is his comeback event, after having retired from cycling in 2005. I knew of Lance Armstrong-- who didn't?-- and the little I did know of the Tour de France came from his winning of it 7 times. (Which really ticked off the French, and anything that does that tends to make me laugh a little.)

I didn't become a cycling addict until two years after Lance retired. I've watched nearly every minute of cycling coverage in the last two years, but I've always felt a little bit ripped-off. Lance Armstrong was really IT for American cycling. Granted, that's a very big IT, but still-- the only notable thing to happen for the Americans on the pro-tour was Floyd Landis winning it, then being stripped of the yellow jersey for doping in 2006. I actually missed that one too.

Then Lance came back. Granted, I'm not a huge fan of the comeback. I mean really, two words adequately describe why it shouldn't be done-- Brett. Favre. Need I say more?

And usually, I'm not the kind to jump on the BIG THING bandwagon-- Tiger Woods, Cold Play, Ashton Kutcher-- all things I think are overrated.

I'm not a fan at all of Lance's personal life either-- I think that he should have stayed with his first wife, but no one asked me.

All that notwithstanding, I am loving watching Lance race. I love that he's not coming back with the intent of crushing the competition. He's coming back to further a cause that he has devoted his time, money and heart to-- cancer research. He has leveraged his own personal power for something that affects so many of us. He's riding to inspire-- and it works for me.