A 3200 KM bicycle race spanning 21 days. 22 Teams and more than 200 riders competing against each other. Tour de France is widely considered as the most demanding sporting event. Most of the cyclists dedicate their life for it. They prepare round the clock with this one event in mind. The Mountain stage is the most gruelling. Imagine riding up the mountains under pressure, chased by hundreds of competitors and cheered by fans. Tour de France is going on since 1903. The monumental race never caught my attention until a cancer survivor took the sport by storm winning ha-trick of titles.
It was a really inspirational story. I was curious to know more about him. I grabbed a copy of his autobiography "It's not About the Bike, My Journey Back to Life". Its the same time we were building our new house and I lost the book while we were shifting. I hardly finished 50 pages from the book and developed a strong sense of closure to know more about my hero. I kept on looking for the book but couldn't find it. Mean while Lance came back from retirement to compete again.
Frankly Tour de France hardly mattered for me. I used to engross myself following other sporting events Cricket and Tennis in particular. After his ha-trick of titles Hindu published an article highlighting Lance Armstrong's revival. It was inspirational. I made sure I kept myself updated about the Tour results thereafter. I rejoiced every time he wore the yellow jersey (the race leader of Tour de France wears yellow jersey while the stage winners wears green jersey). The respect for Armstrong kept growing. I was following my hero as he went on to win 7 titles on the trot.
It was a really inspirational story. I was curious to know more about him. I grabbed a copy of his autobiography "It's not About the Bike, My Journey Back to Life". Its the same time we were building our new house and I lost the book while we were shifting. I hardly finished 50 pages from the book and developed a strong sense of closure to know more about my hero. I kept on looking for the book but couldn't find it. Mean while Lance came back from retirement to compete again.
By the time I located the book, Lance was stripped of all his 7 titles and banned for life for doping. I refused to accept it until Lance himself confessed the same on Oprah Winfrey Show. For starters this may be just another news. Be noted that cycling is always under doping cloud, every year someone or other gets suspended for doping. That only reinforced my admiration for Lance. They couldn't beat him despite the extra mile they got by doping. Armstrong had been a hero for nearly 10 years and I invested lot of emotion on him. For me Armstrong's victory mattered more than Tour de France itself. How could he cheat millions like me making us believe he is a hero? I felt devastated and took a while to accept the truth.
The strong sense of closure I had to finish his book has now diminished. Yeah he won't include the doping part in his book and as I stare at the book now I can't help but tell myself:
"Naduvula Konja Pakkatha Kaanom"
Moral of the story: Winning is not everything. Armstrong went all out to create a level playing field for himself by cutting corners. No matter what we do in life, we need to answer our conscience. Armstrong could have done that. More importantly the message "Winning is not everything" applies not just for the performers but for followers too.
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