Give Lance Armstrong his due – Google him, YouTube him, watch archive footage of him, – you can’t fail to be motivated. As the clip says ‘if you wish to be out front, then act as if you were behind’.

Whatever you’re take on him, one thing is for sure; he’s hard as nails!

Although he never once tested positive, it would seem more than amazing that so many of his greatest rivals have gone on to admit to using performance enhancing drugs, or quite simply, been caught. Mind you, Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso never tested positive for PEDs either….. so how does Lance go about shifting this opinion? Well by getting back on the bike of course. In a completely open and fully transparent way. – By bringing a film crew along to record everything. – Including his independant anti-doping plan, which involves anti-doping expert Don Catlin supervising biological monitoring of him throughout his training and racing schedule. - Not that a film crew is able to edit anything of course? Is that too cynical of me?

The risk would seem to be great. There appears to be a lot to lose, and not so much to gain – on a competitive level. The driving force behind much of the previous hype was that he represented some form of natural phenom, with this massive engine; a huge VO2 max the likes of which was never seem before or after…. Sure, his highest value of 85ml/kg/min is significant, but not compared to Greg Lemonds’ monster 92.5ml/kg/min. In fact, none other than Lance’s controversial coach Michele Ferrari described it as “an excellent value, but common to many other pro athletes that obtained far inferior results in their careers”.

However, the flip side of all of this is the huge exposure cycling is now about to gain, plus the much bigger picture; the prospective benefits for cancer research.  He has stated that his primary focus is on the cancer campaign, and that alone is his major motivation for returning to the professional peleton. Already he has instigated much change in his home State of Texas – he has secured $3 Billion to support the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. His hope is to secure money all over globe to continue this work; “with this campaign we feel that by racing the bicylce all over the world, starting in Australia, and ending in France, it is the best way to promote this initiative, it’s the best way to get the word out”.

Despite everything, I, like many, see Lance as a massive inspiration. I’ve even got a poster of him on my wall that says “I rode, and I rode, and I rode. I rode like I had never riddden, punishing my body up and down every hill I could find….. I rode when noone else would ride”.

I was in the cinema the other evening and saw a short little Orange advert about him (you can’t go to the cinema anywhere in the world without seeing something ‘Orange’). It charts the journey of Mark Beaumont – from Scotland no less – as he circumnavigated the globe on his bicylce faster than anyone else previously had. All 18,000 miles of it!

On that note ….. I think I should get out on my bike!

I am not an Xterra athlete, and I don’t know Jamie or her husband, but I am a fellow pro triathlete and I, like many people in this world have experienced the effects of cancer on our friends and loved ones. I am an avid triathlon enthusiast and student of the sport, so I was fully aware of Jamie and her results as an Xterra athlete (including a World Championship title and 37 Xterra Series wins) but it was through my friend and current World Champion, Julie Dibens that I first heard of her battle with pelvic cancer earlier this year.

Whilst in America during the summer I read a magazine article written by here detailing her progress and rehabilitation. I left the article thinking it was great to read she was improving, and that racing again at the top level of her sport appeared to be a possibility. Unforntunately that is no longer the case for she has had to have a second sugery in July, and is currently having to fight illness and a bone infection before being able to begin her course of chemotherapy, which of course is vital in helping her beat the cancer.

I have been reading her website this morning, and so I have had the banner about the silent auction at the forthcoming Xterra US Nationals in Tahoe added up there in the top right corner. Go to SupportJamieWhitmore.org to read about what the Pro field and fellow athletes are doing to try and help her and her family cope with her ongoing fight with the cancer.

As I said, I don’t know Jamie, and this isn’t much, but hopefully every little can help. Positive thinking can go a long way, so I will be thinking happy thoughts on her behalf at this tough time. Good luck Jamie.