Lance developed a love for endurance sports at an early age. He joined a local swim club when he was in the fifth grade and he trained with a coach that Lance says to this day is one of the best coaches he has ever had. When Lance was 13, he started riding a bike to swim practice. His daily workout routine consisted of 6 miles in the water and 20 miles on the bike. Pretty soon Lance became known all around the country because he was already a professional triathlete at the age of fifteen. Lance and his mom would travel all over Texas and other southern states entering as many races as possible. When he was sixteen years old he was making about $20,000 a year racing.

By the time he was a senior in high school his main interest was cycling. That year he was named to the U.S. national cycling team and he left home to g

In 1996 things started to come together for Lance. He says he felt like he was finally coming into his prime. Armstrong won a race called the Fleche-Wallonne, a grueling race through the Ardennes that no American had ever conquered. He also had five second place finishes and finished the spring season with a win at the Tour Du Pont, a 12-day, 1,225-mile race through the Carolina Mountains. He was about to break into the top five international rankings for the first time in his career. However, something wasn't right about his body that particular year. After his win at the Tour Du Pont he was too exhausted to pump his fist in the air as he usually did at the finish line. His eyes were blood shot and his face was flush and pale. After the spring races he was run down and had sore nipples, a sign of illness. He also had a slightly swollen testicle.

He returned home in pitiful shape. He couldn't even climb a small hill without getting off the bike and catching his breath. His VO2 Max had dropped from the high 80's into the 50's and his muscles had atrophied. He went home to Texas to recover. He would start a training routine later the next year. In January of 1998 Lance engaged a woman named kik that he met during his Chemo treatments and they moved to Spain to restart his Career. He started racing again and was doing pretty well. He placed top 15 in several stage races but he wasn't happy about it. He was use to leading those races. Later in the spring he entered the Paris-Nice, a brutal two week stage race that is known for taking place in cold, wet weather. He dropped out; told the team he was done and called his wife to tell her to pack her bags. They moved back to Texas. Lance was sick of racing, he hated it, and he said he couldn't imagine doing it any longer.

Armstrong says "Cycling is a sport of self-punishment. In a race, everything hurts, your legs, your lungs, your feet, your back, your hands and arms, everything." A rider has to get use to dealing with pain. This is one reason he says he ignored the symptoms of illness. He figured his body was just exhausted from a hard season, but the Olympics and the Tour De France were still to come later that year and he couldn't slow down now. After finishing a disappointing, 4th and 12th place in the Olympics, he went on to race in the 1996 Tour De France. After only five days he had to abandon the race. He was physically run down and had become sick with bronchitis. A couple of weeks after he dropped out of the race he was diagnosed with testicular cancer.

Some common words found in the essay are:
De France, Lisa Lance's, VO2 Max, Boone Armstrong's, Texas Lance, Kik Lance, Chemotherapy December, Angeles Times, Du Pont, Armstrong Cycling, tour de, tour de france, de france, tour du, du pont, vo2 max, chemo treatments, tour du pont, win tour, win tour du, cycling sport, contract team confidis, scheduled surgery, drug test, armstrong cycling sport,
Approximate Word count = 2219
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)