Lance Armstrong: To look up to and feel betrayed by the same person at the same time

I will never forget the day I sat on my couch watching Lance Armstrong's interview with Oprah. I felt like he reached through the screen and punched me in the gut. I actually felt nauseous watching him tell the world that he did lie to us. That all of those wins were aided by performance enhancing drugs. Even now as I type this I can not type "all those wins were because of PEDs". Most people can and do say that. Look at the last Tour he did, he finished in the 20s clean. How could it not have been the PEDs? For 7 years starting in July and going until about March, I would defend a man I never met, never spoke to on the phone, never even got within a 1000 miles of. To see an American not only win the Tour de France but dominate it the way he did or dominate any European sport was everything to me. I would defend him by saying, his heart was bigger, his VO2 Max was more than anyone else, he kept his strength and endurance but lost the weight with chemo so he was more efficient. I used anything and everything I heard or read to defend the man that I looked up to, that was an inspiration to many many people around the whole world. So as I sat last night and saw that The Armstrong Lie was on TV, I had many mixed emotions. I saw that it has been on demand for a couple of weeks and I knew I wanted to see it, but couldn't bring myself to watch it. To me if I didn't see it and hear him talk about using, it never happened still. If you don't talk about it, it never happens right? But I decided to watch it and started in about the middle of it. The emotion of betrayal hit me again over and over and still so very strong that it surprised me. Why after all this time does this man have this impact on me. I tried to explain how I could look on 1 person with such hurt and admiration at the same time. The only thing that I can say to explain how I can is, when you take the side, defend, yell for, scream for something or someone for that many years and that many months each of those years you become emotionally invested and attached.

I don't know why I decided to write this. To put down how I feel now so long after the truth came out. Maybe it will make me see how ridiculous I am being holding on to my believe in him, what type of person he is. But even as I type this I have to stop myself from deleting the bad things I am saying. But the same time, I wish I could walk up to him and punch him in the stomach as say "that is what it feels like, that is what you did to this fan, this defender of you, this supporter." Maybe it is the far distance off chance that he will see it and just see that there are still people out there that wants to see him succeed and compete and prove but they are also at the same time feels like they were personally hurt and affected by his lies.

That is all just a inside to me and my thoughts.

Mirra, Bostrom, Dymond & Zabriskie Race Across America/ Legends of the Road/ Yield to Life Y2L

This is going to be a little shout out and support post for these amazing guys and all 130 teams that are competing in the Race Across America. I will start out with what the RAAM (Race Across America) consist of. This is directly from Legends of the Road website:
          The Race Across America (RAAM) is a 3000 mile transcontinental race considered the pinnacle of endurance cycling around the world. The race has been around for 32 years, and draws competitors from over 27 different countries. 

Beginning in Oceanside, CA, relay teams have just 9 days to complete the race to Annapolis, MD. The racers experience the true Americana culture, landscape, and varying climates. 

As a comparison the Tour de France is about 2300 miles long and is spaced out over 3 weeks. 

Now about the team: 

Ben Bostrom is an AMA Superbike, Supermoto, and Supersport Champion. He has been successful both on the national and international motorcycle racing scene. In the last few years, Ben has been racing mountain bikes professionally for Specialized, including an 11th place finish at the 2013 Leadville 100. Ben will be joining forces with his good friend, Micky Dymond, to race RAAM 2014. He will also be competing at the 2014 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb as part of the Ducati Factory Team and will again take part in the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race.

Micky Dymond is a two-time AMA Motocross Champion and an AMA Supermoto Champion. He was a pioneer of freestyle motocross and was instrumental in getting freestyle motocross into the X Games. He has also held the record and has been a class winner at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. After becoming an avid cyclist over the years, he has set his sites on racing RAAM on a 4-person relay team in 2014, and solo in 2015. Micky will also be competing in several supermoto races and the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in 2014 as part of the Ducati Factory Team.

Dave Mirra is the most successful X Games athlete of all time, competing in BMX and RallyCross. He is considered to be a true icon in the sport of BMX and making it a staple of the X Games. In addition to continuing RallyCross racing, Dave has recently turned his intense competitiveness to triathlons, finishing 4th in his first Half Ironman. He will be competing in Global RallyCross and more Half Ironmans in 2014.

David Zabriskie is one of the world's most popular cyclists not only for his raceresults, but also for his multifaceted ventures and his off-the-wall personality. Dave has posited himself as one of the best time trialists in the World. Recently retired, Dave still spends many days on the seat of the bicycle. Zabriskie was seriously injured when a car struck him during a training ride in in 2003. This prompted him to start the foundation Yield To Life, which he devotes much of his time to today.

I found out about this Race Across America by following Dave Mirra (GET IT!!) on Twitter and Instagram because of his training in Triathlons. So being someone who supports people in the community when I can I started to get information on this and I am following them on TRACTALIS. Not only are they competing in this race they are also riding for Dave Zavriskie's organization Yield To Life which brings awareness to safety on the road between cyclist and vehicles. 

Right now as of 2:00 pm EST 6/16/2014 they are in Colorado with a 36 km lead over 2nd place on Highway 160. They started the race at 3:00 pm EST time on Saturday 6/14/2014. I would personally like to thank all of their sponsors for helping them achieve this great task at winning this presitgious event THIER SPONSORS . Also you can help them by donating to them thru http://www.gofundme.com/LegendsoftheRoad . 

I will be adding updates thru out the next days till the race is over in all of my blog posts to let people know where they are in their ride and where they are placed. Thank you again for reading this and hopefully they inspire you to donate to their attempt.