Riding for Roses

I received this email yesterday from Art, who is on the Team in Training team this year raising money for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society. Please join us tomorrow at 8 AM in Liberty Hill for the TNT Hill Country Hundred to support the team. You can also donate to support Art’s effort and help cure [...]

Check out the Dutch TV coverage of Austin’s reactions to Lance Armstrong (click on “Austin is trots op Lance Armstrong” for the video). The reporter is a Dutch man stationed on Washington, DC, who travels around the US covering interesting stories. They came to Austin for a couple of days to catch Lance Fever.

It’s this simple: The Tour Watch 2005 event at Central Market North is the best Tour de France viewing party in Austin, TX. It’s true. My new friend Stephen says so. He visited every single Tour watching party at least once at says this one is the best.

Rumor mills can generate interesting fictions, blended with enough fact to feel true. Let’s cut the finish and then tell the story. Lance is not going to be in Austin on Sunday. Linda Armstrong Kelly is not going to be to Austin Sunday. However, if you get yourself to Tour Watch 2005 at Central Market on 4001 N. Lamar Blvd. in Austin Sunday morning, you will have the opprtunity to sign a big yellow thank you card that will be delivered to Lance.

At the oncologist on Friday, I commented to Spencer’s nurse, Jennifer, that Spencer’s hair wasn’t so much attached to his head as it was resting peacefully. Yesterday afternoon Spencer wanted to go for a swim and we wound up proving those words.

Conversations with Rob: Tour de France Jerseys

We are here at Tour Watch 2005 at Central Market North in Austin watching the Tour de France. Lance took the Yellow Jersey in Stage 4! People keep asking me about the special jerseys and what they mean, so I spoke for a few minutes on the meaning [...]

It is hard not to make analogies between my life and the Tour de France. This is the third stage of the Tour de France and, naturally, our third day watching it. Some of the attendees, volunteers, and sponsors at Tour Watch 2005 have already burned out. We’re amateurs—nobody has withdrawn from the Tour de France. The thing to remember at this event, like the Tour de France, is that the action comes in pieces every day, but the big action comes later. You have to survive through the first week to race in the mountains and eventually Paris.

I had the opportunity to chat with former Mayor of Austin Kirk Watson for a few minutes. We talked about Lance Armstrong, the Tour de France, Kirk’s experience with cancer, and the Tour Watch 2005 event. Kirk has some great advice for people living with cancer as a survivor or caregiver. You can listen to Conversation with Rob: Kirk Watson or subscribe to my podcast RSS feed to listen to all of my podcasts.

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.

Today was stage 1 at the Tour Watch 2005 event at Central Market North in Austin. Being the first day of the event, we didn’t really know how it was going to go until it happened. It was a great day of conversation with visitors to the Tour Watch and other event participants. We raised a little money and hope we will keep building momentum.