I’ve been a little lax with the Monday morning Lance Armstrong Sirius radio reports. Sorry ‘bout that.... I kinda got out of the Sunday evening listening routine when the rounds of re-runs were going on.

So Sunday night was a new program, taped on Friday from Austin. Lance’s schedule sounds like he is pounding on the air miles, big-time. The show was taped because Lance flew up to Seattle for Sheryl’s concert there this past Sunday. Not sure how many of her concerts that he will make, but certainly some of them are in conflict with the Ride for the Roses next weekend.
Here is her concert schedule:

Mo Oct 17 : Theater in Clouds, Portland, OR
Tu Oct 18 : Idaho Center, Boise. ID
Fr Oct 21 : Greek Theater, Berkeley, CA
Sun Oct 23 : Hollywood Bowl, CA. (moved from Oct 28)
Mo Oct 24 : Copley Symphony Hall, San Diego, CA
Fri Oct 28 : Tower Theater, Upper Darby, PA
Su Oct 30 : Avery Fisher Hall , New York, NY
Mon Oct 31 :Avery Fisher Hall, New York, NY

As you can see, Sheryl will not be in Austin for the Friday night dinner, and has to be in Hollywood on Sunday - the day of the Ride for the Roses.

So between the Tour of Hope, the Austin 10/2 concert, doing the NuSkin talk in Salt Lake City, and getting to Seattle, Lance has really been swamped, as he said on Sirius. He has been flying into different stops along the way of the TOH, and said he didn’t know there were so many small airports along the way.

To add to the already jam-packed schedule, Lance said that his good buddy and partner in CSE, Bill Stapleton, was getting married on Saturday, and they were trying to talk him into a bad bachelor beer party after the taping.

Everyone has been wondering about Lance’s drum solo at the Thank You Austin concert, and Lance explained. He said that Sheryl had given him drum set for Christmas, but he hasn’t played much. Lance said he only knows how to do one riff. So he went to a rehearsal of Sheryl’s the day before the Austin concert and was foolin’ around with the drums. He did his one riff repertoire, and the guys in the band said, “Hey, we know what that is - ZZ Top - Gimme all Your Lovin’ - let’s do it!” So, one day before the concert, they arranged the encore with Lance on the drums. Sheryl learned the words in one day, and the band picked up the groove.

Funny thing is that Lance said he was in the can, and almost missed his big debut on the drums before the 20k crowd of Austinites... ( He did a pretty damn good job, for a beginner, too.)

Lance gave some history on the Ride for the Roses - how it originally started with a group of guys doing a ride in February that always turned into a hard-assed race, and the winner receiving a dozen roses to give to his girlfriend for Valentine’s Day. From there, it evolved into the fund-raising Ride for the Roses after Lance’s cancer diagnosis. (My sense is that it sounds like RftR may gradually evolve into being called the LiveStrong ride, like the one in Portland, with several more scheduled around the country next year.)

Lance also talked about the Bristol Meyers Squibb Tour of Hope history, and the big, glitzy New York Gala on October 19th, honoring Peter Nolan of Nike. Both Lance and Sheryl will be there, and she will be on stage...

Lance announced that eighty-three members of this year’s Ride for the Roses Peloton Project have each individually raised over $25k, and they will receive special honors at the Friday night event. And Lance’s buddy, Robin Williams, will be there, with his hilarious, scatalogical wit. Lance said there will be a special area for the kids, so Robin can be complete and uncensored for the adults. The Saturday night program will feature a dialogue between Lance and Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN. Lance also said his kids asked him if they could ride with him at the Sunday ride, so he will hook up a three-piece bike unit, with Luke on a bike trailer, and the twins in a regular trailer behind Luke. Lance said he hoped there weren’t too many hills, but he probably wouldn’t make over then miles, anyway... Yeah, right....

News Update: Just got a email Press Release from Michael of Electric Artists - Lance will be a presenter at the 2005 AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS , to air on ABC on November 22nd...