“When the group of elite athletes was called to the line, Armstrong got nervous. He saw that the other runners’ legs were as thin as pencils. His had much more meat. He was about 165 when he raced the Tour. Now he is 180. He dreaded the pounding ahead, he said.”
180, wow, I guess he did put on some pounds!
I’m not doggin’ him or anything… I mean, my Promised Land Egg Nog is about to show up on our local grocery store shelves and with my liter a day habit I’m going to have a hard time staying under his weight for a few months
No one can compare the weight of a top cyclist pre-race to what should be considered normal. Those guys look like they’ve been lost in the desert for 4 weeks. I hate it when they take off their jerseys because they just look so horrible. I remember when I saw Tyler take off his shirt after he abandoned that year. I couldn’t believe how gaunt and starved he looked. I realize they are doing what they have to do, but it can’t be used as a comparison for what someone should weigh as a real person.
very good point…in ‘Lance Armstrong’s War’, the author went into quite a bit of detail about how thin these guys get during a Grand Tour, …I’ve watched the '03 and '04 tours on DVD several times and you can actually see Lance’s face get more gaunt through the course of the three weeks.
To gain 15 lbs from Tour weight is not that much, for the pictures I’ve seen, he certainly is not fat or anywhere close to it.
??? I don’t recall making any comparisons or what was “normal”. I was just surprised to see the “180 pounds”.
Lance and I are the same size, and when I’m in racing season I can get down to 155, so having seen him in person at the Tour I’d guess he weighed less than 165 and probably more like 150-155. Yes, Tyler looked terrible, as did many of the other guys as well.
**It’s usually fat people that comment on how horrible thin people look. That’s been my finding anyway. **
Really? I haven’t noticed that. I think lots of people of all sizes can look at someone who is too thin and realize they are too thin. Do you really think the guys who are racing the TDF look healthy?
he looks great to me. healthy, and obviously in great shape.
He looks fine… he did at 150-whatever and he does now. He used to date my sister-in-law so I know that we’re the exact same size because we went out and did things together, so I guess my point was that I was surprised that he now weighed more than me. Or maybe proud
I think the TDF riders look more heathy than guards and tackles in the NFL or those Sumo wrestling guys. To me they just flat look horrible. I realize that’s the way they MUST be in order to be competitive in their sport but still to me they don’t look healthy.
In my case, and I’m nowhere near as thin as TDF riders, I’m always told how I’m too thin and not healthy. Usually it’s someone that’s pretty fat telling me that.
IF he weighed 180 and ran <3 for a mary, then I am actually impressed - that’s a lotta extra baggage (be it muscle or fat) to tote along for a run that long.
I’m 5’10" w/ a small to med build (not too unlike Lance, in general, obviously I have nowhere near his abilities) and have weighed anything from low 180’s (in my meathead lifting days a while back) to low-to-mid 150’s (pre-Kona), and I can’t even imagine running <3 while being up in weight like he supposedly is. Add in that he didn’t really train all that hard (again, supposedly) and it was a pretty impressive outing, given those ‘facts’.
IMHO - I have a hard time believing he was at 180. When I weighed that much, people accused me of having taken steriods, since for an otherwise ectomorph bodytype, that’s a lotta extra stuff to be carrying around. It didn’t seem like he was sporting a gut in any pics I saw, and it wasn’t like he was looking jacked either. So, where’s the beef??
I’m not going to do this remark justice, but I recall reading somewhere where a pro rider said,
when people start mumbling to each other when you’re around, you know you’re on the right track. When they come right out and ask if you’ve been sick, you’re getting closer. When they get together and stage an intervention to force you to eat, you know you’ve finally achieved ideal race weight.
So, if he raced the TDF at 155 LBS, Lance has gained 25 LBS since he quit cycling. . . Karma has Lance showing up next year at 205, considering the amount of sh!t he gave Lemond for gaining weight.
