OK - I just got back from Sea Otter and had a listen to the Lance Armstrong Sirius Live Strong Show. It was taped - Higgs couldn’t figure out why they call it “live on tape”. Well, me neither. They were in California, in the Santa Monica Mountains. Lance was riding a six-hour ride, with Higgs, Chris Carmichael and Dave Bolch. Of course, Lance was the only one on two wheels... Guess he was doing some steep climbs, but he still talked and told a joke - that’s pretty realistic for riding with the guys, too - telling jokes and horsing around.

Higgs asked Dave about his typical day with Lance and sounds like the big thing is to not run out of gas... Bolch says that Lance looks lots better and motivated this week, plus he’s having fun. Higgs asked about the difference between training and racing for Dave. Answer was that in training, Dave has to focus on only one rider and team racing is a lot more involved logistically.

Lance said he was “suffering like a dog” on the climb and was busting his ass. He did a couple of steep descents, so they had a lot of music. Lance told a joke from Francisco Quinn (son of Anthony Quinn, the movie actor from the Fifties, or sometime around that era). Lance saw him on ride, and found out that Francisco was one of 13 children and that Anthony Quinn worshipped Eddy Merckx. Joke: Father and young son go into library. Son is messing around with a quarter in his mouth, swallows it and is choking. Father yells for help. A nearby lady puts down her book, removes her glasses, and grabs the kid’s testicles - she squeezes and the kid coughs, “Aaargh” - Repeat - Repeat - Finally she squeezes his cajones real hard and the out pops the quarter. The father thanks her and says that she must be a doctor or paramedic. She replies, “No sir, I am a lawyer.” (Version I heard ends with: The lady picks up the quarter and puts it in her pocket, “Nope”, she says, “I’m a lawyer.”)

OK - remember that I am just repeating what I heard... I have friends who are lawyers... Lance said that his climbing heart rate was 168 while he was telling this long joke.... The guy is climbing some humongous, steep Santa Monica mountain and telling jokes? Well, yeah, I think his training is right on track.... Carmichael said that Lance took time this winter to enjoy his sixth win - that is a strong attribute that Lance has. He achieves his goal, takes time to enjoy it and then hits the training hard again...

I’m heading for Georgia early in the morning, so I’m signing off and will blog just as soon as I can... Cheers!