After reading this book, I found that Lance Armstrong is one of the most extraordinary men I have ever heard of. I've been a fan of Lance before I read this book since he won his first Tour de France but now I am an even bigger fan of his. "It's not about the bike," told me his whole life, from when he was born to present time. The one thing he couldn't tell us is that after he wrote the book he won the Tour de France four more times in a row, he is now tied for the most Tour de France victories.
Lance had been a champion ever since he was a little boy, smoking the competition in every event he raced. His mom encouraged his cycling and did anything to help him. Lance and his mother are very close and would do anything to help each other. When Lance was a little boy he would ride his bike everywhere, no matter how far the distance was. That tells you how much of a fan he was of cycling. At the age of 13, Lance was earning $20,000 a year from winning races and from his sponsors. Lance put that money towards helping his mom with anything she needed; he would also use that money for new bikes and parts.
Lance had two fathers when he was younger. One was his birth father that left him when he was born. His second father was Terry Armstrong, who Lance hated and wished he would die because he would cheat on his mother. After a few years of marriage Lance's mother and Terry divorced. Lance couldn't have been happier.
In October of 1995 Lance was diagnosed with cancer. He was devastated. All he could think about was if he was going to die. He finally got his act together and started trying to beat cancer. He researched everything about cancer and how to beat it. He tried everything that he read about. The doctors didn't think Lance had a great chance of survical, that's how bad he was. He started his chemotherapy treatments, which was the worst part of his cancer treatment. He had to do four cycles of chemo.