Riding for Roses

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 We’re amateurs—nobody has withdrawn from the Tour de France.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.

K-EYE news anchor Allison Smith came out to Central Market on Thursday to do a story on the Tour Watch 2005 Tour de France viewing event. The story airs on K-EYE Sunday Morning News at 10 AM June 26.

Austin is getting ready for the Tour de France. Tour Watch 2005 is at Central Market every riding day during the Tour de France from 8 AM to 9 PM. It will include Tour watching, interviews with local folks, remote feeds from France, podcasting, 24 Hour Fitness excitement, Trek drink tastings, and a Lance Armstrong Foundation table.