Riding for Roses

Today the Discovery Network Travel Channel is leaving Austin. They are creating a TV show about Lance Armstrong fans. They’ve been in Austin taping since Monday night and they’ve spent some of that time following me and my family around, doing some interviews, and capturing our lives both as Lance fans and a family dealing with childhood leukemia. It has been an interesting week of mostly fun and only minor inconvenience. I am looking forward to seeing the show on the Travel Channel, tentatively in September.

People who hear about them following me keep asking if it’s inconvenient or a hassle having them around. My answer has been the same since Tuesday—most of the taping is pretty integrated into what we are doing already and the only hassle is getting the fill shots. We wind up taping us getting into or out of the car three or four times so they can get transition shots from different angles. The normal activities are captured in one actual shot of real life. The interview/monologue sessions were mostly integrated. We had a taping session while I was driving to the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the only challenge was trying to drive while I was going through the emotions of telling about how Spencer got diagnosed.

Yesterday, we taped an interview at our house. Rachel and I talked while we went through some memorable family photos and watched a couple of videos we have of SCUBA trips and our wedding. This time it was Rachel’s turn to tell the difficult stories when she told about how her mother passed away last December from metastastized breast cancer. After the taping, we were talking with Bill, who is doing most of the camera work. Bill wanted to know if we felt like were having our lives invaded or it was offensive answering the difficult questions. Rachel and I both answered the same way. For me, it is remaarkably empowering to relive and discuss the difficult times. In a way, it is like getting free therapy sessions. It is certainly far better to process all of those emotions rather than try to bottle them up.

Our life seems to be bordering on the edges of the focus for this show. The original concept was to focus on hardcore Lance fans who are going to see the Tour de France. I hope they’ve gotten some useful footage from us. I especially hope they will use it to inject some of the cancer survivorship perspective into the show. I think Lance is an amazing cyclist. I also hope that 10 or 20 years from now, his work for cancer survivors will be viewed as his most important contribution.

Goodbye to Bill, Talia, and Michael. I’m glad we had the chance to participate in the taping of this show. I’m also glad we won’t have to load the car four times to get the best angle and light when I pack up from the Tour Watch 2005 this afternoon.