Moving Forward [NQM027]

There are few individuals in recent memory that have experienced such incredible highs and devastating lows as Lance Armstrong. He is a polarizing figure that is bound to draw some type of knee-jerk reaction out of people. When he openly admitted to being on the juice (read: EPO) for all his Tour de France victories on the now famous Oprah Winfrey interview in 2013, he was labeled as public enemy #1. Not only did he drag his reputation down the drain, but nearly everything he had helped build or was very heavily involved in (remember those LiveStrong bracelets?).

While it is easy to take the stance of not wanting to listen to what he has to say based on his past, the facts remain that he has a ton of experience, competing at the highest level, and a ton of experience climbing his way out of the deepest of holes. There is value in that knowledge. There is tremendous value in opening your mind to a person that has seen it all, regardless if the majority of that was built on lies and cheating. We all face lows in our life, we all have to regain the trust of those you love in some capacity at some times in our lives. By being open and accepting we can learn lessons and techniques that can come in handy when it is our time to redeem and rebuild.

Personally, growing up in Europe and being exposed to European media covering Armstrong’s dominance of the Tour, everything I knew about Lance Armstrong was framed in a negative and accusatory manner. Part of it was the fact that he was an American dominating a traditionally European event, but part of it was logic as well, as never in the 117 year history of the Tour had we seen something quiet like him, shattering what as thought possible a human body could do on a bike. When the news broke in 2013, I was not surprised and had a few choice words to describe Lance as well. But we all mature. Fast forward a few years and truly starting my own journey of trying to become the best possible version of myself, I came around and realized the goodness in Lance Armstrong’s character, and the amount one could learn from him if they only set aside the preconceived notions and labels.

It is now widely known that during his seven tour victories, only one cyclist who finished on the podium with Lance has not been implicated in a doping scandal. Virtually every rider in the peloton was abusing performance enhancing methods in one way or another. During much of the modern age of professional cycling and the Tour de France particularly, competition has become a proving ground to out-smart and out-science the anti-doping methods currently in place.

Diagnosed with cancer in 1996, Armstrong saw his comeback cycling career as a matter of life or death. That made him so successful in a field where virtually the entire peloton was on some sort of doping regime or another. He took that life or death strategies with him while denying any doping allegations, often coming across as extremely hostile and brash in interviews. Now, 8 years removed from the Oprah interview, Armstrong has taken a new approach to rebuilding his life, an approach that translated into how he talks about his experiences and his quest for redemption.

One of the strategies that makes up this new approach is to spur open and brutally honest conversations. He started a podcast named The Forward in 2016, inviting guests to talk about a variety of topics, but often with the central theme of how to move forward from a low point, and how to come out the end happier and healthier than before. Armstrong has been a guest on numerous podcasts as well, talking about his road of recovery and new outlook on life. I highly recommend his podcast, and for the cycling fans out there, he also hosts a second podcast called Stages, where he offers end of day summaries of big cycling events (Ex. the Tour, the Giro, etc.).

Armstrong has been a guest on a number of podcasts himself, where he does a great job explaining the ways he is recovering from the lowest of lows, and along the way, regain the trust of as many people that he let down. Some highlights of his interviews with the Team Never Quit guys, Rich Roll, and Aubrey Marcus below. Check them out!

On how riding the bike saved his life: I often think about what Dakota Meyer said prior to his actions for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor: I didn’t think I was going to die, I knew I was going to die. I got sick and what pushed me is to get back on the bike. We all make mistakes. When you compete at the highest level, the risk of making those types of mistakes become bigger. I got cancer, and in order to stay alive I had to ride that bike. The do or die mentality, which I lived with cancer, is what made me so competitive on the bike.

On how he is happy where he is now and on not changing a thing: I set myself up for exactly what happened. I wouldn’t change a thing. The way I walk around now is exactly the way I want to walk around. I needed this. I was a raging A-Hole that thought he was completely untouchable. And if this didn’t happen, I would be afraid of what I would be doing right now. It wasn’t healthy, it wasn’t what a father of five should be doing, it wasn’t what a husband should be doing. There were no boundaries. At the time, I thought it wasn’t fair. But now, I gained a lot of context and perspective on what went down.

On the biggest challenge of all: The concept of reestablishing purpose after world crashes in on you is one of the greatest challenges we face as human beings. We all go through it over the course of our lifetime, to varying degrees. I got locked into the ride, especially with a team pushing me and then ending up taking the hit for it. Once you get locked in, you are in there. The challenge now becomes, how do you get out?

On gaining a completely new perspective: I have a tremendous sense of responsibility to my family and to do right by them. I haven’t been through this alone, we work on this every day. I sit with fans that now hate me and let them tee off on me, it helps me understand what others went through, you let them tell you what it was like to be a defender for so long and then look like a total jackass at the end of it all. You do a few of those sit-downs, you look at the whole thing differently.

On not asking for forgiveness: I will never ask for forgiveness, because that is not an option for a lot of people. I want my actions and decisions from here on out dictate whether people think I am worthy of being granted forgiveness. They have to be ready for it. What I will do is say, I get it, and I am sorry for everything. If you can’t come around, I understand that. I understand people’s raw emotions,

On the benefits of taking a beating:  You ended up being vulnerable and open for hits, and at the end of the day, you are still standing there. That is a big part of how you build your reputation back up. It is the concept of taking a beating and publicly stating that this is what needs to happen to me. This approach is applicable to almost any type of redemption scenario. It is the core strength you use to stand up and take the beating, to take that step forward every single day to get back in the fight:

On using perspective: I have an unfair advantage since most people in my situation (publicly shamed) don’t have what I have, or have been through what I have been. This is not the worst thing to ever happen to me. I use cancer recovery to reset the scale for me. I have been through worse and I have survived worse. I lost a lot of “friends” in this process, and they ended up not being my friends. Similarly in this process, surprisingly, I have gained a lot of friends. It sucks that people you thought were friends aren’t really your friends, but it gets outweighed by people who step up when you are at the very bottom.