Cancer would not stop him (Lance Armstrong)

Lance Armstrong was not to let them get cancer in the way of his passion : bike racing. His inspiring story describes his uphill back to health .
With Lance Armstrong , Austin, Texas

When I was 25, I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. I was given a less - than -40 percent chance of surviving , and frankly some of my doctors were just nice .

My career ended. The months of chemotherapy were grueling. I thought I would never to get back on the bike in a position . There were times when I was so sick I could not eat, could not television could not read my e -mails.

But when I was sickest from the chemo , I began to defeat cancer . In the fall of 1997, I have the one-year mark of the recovery. Finally I made on my mind : I would try to race again .

It was a disaster . I managed only four in ten finish in the first race of my professional comeback. I was used to leading , not finishing fourteenth .

Two weeks later I entered the Paris-Nice , an eight-day stretch notorious for their raw winter weather . On the second day I left out . This is not how I want to spend my life , freezing and soaked on the bike .

Back in Texas , I told my fiance , Kik , my agent , Bill Stapleton, and my riding buddy, Chris Carmichael, that I'm going to retire. If you've lived so long in fear of dying , you feel like you deserve to spend the rest of your days on holiday. I've pretty much been a bum. I played golf. I Water - skied . I lay on the sofa and channel - surfed .

One day Kik told me, " You need to stop around doing nothing is I love you no matter what , but that is not true . . . "

She was right . I could imagine bumming around for the rest of my life and I did not like it . As the days wore , I began to fluctuate in retirement. Bill persuaded me to one last race in the U.S. Pro ​​Championships, that May to commit . Chris insisted that I use to get an eight -to ten- day intensive training camp back in shape.

"Let's get out of town ," he said. "You can not concentrate here in Austin. There are too many distractions. "

We drove to Boone , North Carolina , high in the Appalachian Mountains. I had the Tour Du Pont won there twice , and I had spent many afternoons cycling on its highest peak , Beech Mountain . It was exhausting, but beautiful country.

Spring had just begun moving into the hills , creating a constant fog and drizzle that seemed to muffle in the pine forest. We drove the winding roads, only some of which were paved and mapped. We drove over gravel and beds of pine needles and drooping branches. The cold fried my lungs , and with every breath I blew white frost , but I do not mind . This time it felt good .

Later in the week we decided to Beech Mountain tackle . There was a time when I heard this mountain. It was a strenuous 5,000 -foot climb with a snowcapped peaks, and the crucial phase it was you been Pont victories in both my tour. I remembered the working mountainside with crowds along the route - as drawn painted on the road my name : Go Armstrong.

We went on a cold, rainy day plan to a 100 - mile loop drive , before we took over the large finished rise of Beech Mountain . We drove through a steady rain, and by the time we got to the foot of the mountain, I was soaked.

I picked her up from the seat and pushed the bike the slope . I hammered down on the pedals , hardworking, and felt a small bloom of sweat and satisfaction , a heat under my skin. Chris was behind me in the following car. He rolled down the window , shouting, "Go , go, go ! "

The ascent triggered something in me. While I am on top , I thought about my life - my childhood, my first race , my disease and how it had changed me. My mother was 17 when she had me, and she separated from my father when I was two. No one thought we would be nothing , but my mom thought differently, and she raised me with an unbending rule: " Make every obstacle an opportunity. "

In Plano, Texas, where I grew up , if you are not a football player you not to get noticed , and if you were not in the right social circles , either you have not noticed.

Well, my mother was a secretary and I wanted some attention somehow , so I tried football . But when it came involved in something that hand -eye coordination , I was not good. I was determined to find a sport that I could find on success . First ran , then swimming, then cycling.