You Don't Have To Be Like Lance To Enjoy Cycling

September 9, 7:03 PMCycling ExaminerAlan Snel

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So Lance Armstrong is poised to pull a Michael Jordan and a Brett Favre, coming out of retirement after peak athletic performances to dust off his road bicycle after winning seven consecutive Tours de France and reaching the top of the bicycle world.

After a couple of years of running marathons and dating Hollywood singers and pedaling mountain bikes in Colorado, Armstrong wants to race the Tour de France again -- arguably the most physically demanding competition in all of sports.

He has received massive media attention today after the news broke about his planned return to the bike race in France.

There's no other athlete in American history who has been so embraced after ruling a sport that Americans know so little about.

That's fascinating because most people in this country understand bicycling through the prism of Armstrong and the Tour de France when, in fact, most bicyclists are average folks riding a mountain bike or a hybrid bike in chunks of five or ten miles on a Saturday morning.

Armstrong's whipping of cancer and his subsequent winning of an unprecedented seven Tours are admirable. But I hope that bicycling in this country is not identified through Armstrong because his genre of cycling is out of reach for the average American.

If you're into road racing and high-speed cycling, then go for it. But I encourage you not to try to necessarily imitate Armstrong and instead simply dust the cobwebs off that bike in your garage and try riding it around your neighborhood, or take it to a local park with your kids or go to a trail to bike with your sweetie.

You don't need fancy equipment and matching tight bicycle shorts and jerseys like Armstrong's to feel connected to bicycling in this country.

Bike in comfortable shorts if you want. Use hard-soled sneakers. BUT do wear a helmet. That's my only hard-core request.

It's great that Armstrong is back.

But you don't need a seven-time Tour de France winner to motivate you to ride a two-wheeler.

Try it because you'll enjoy commuting to work or getting away from the stress or connecting with nature and all things around you.

And you'll get as much enjoyment out of bicycling as Lance Armstrong does from his love for cycling.