Former professional cyclist Lance Armstrong will join Ride the Rockies on Monday. (Nathalie Magniez, AFP via Getty Images)
GRAND JUNCTION — Cyclist Lance Armstrong will be riding on Monday in Day 2 of Ride the Rockies from Grand Junction to Hotchkiss with Tim League, the founder of the Austin, Texas-based Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Armstrong said in a tweet on Sunday.
Armstrong said the route looked “epic.” The 96-mile course starts here in Grand Junction and hits the towns of Palisade, Mesa, winds up Grand Mesa, goes down into Cedaredge and finishes in Hotchkiss. The day is one of the two hardest of the tour, with 7,631 feet of elevation gain.
Excited to be riding day 2 of with my buddy tomorrow. Route looks epic. Team !
— Lance Armstrong (@lancearmstrong)
Armstrong, the disgraced American cyclist was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles in 2012 by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency because of blood doping and banned for life from all Olympic sports, has continued to participate in recreational rides and competitions. He was in Aspen on Sunday — where he is a part-time resident (he also has a home in Austin) — , a benefit for the city’s host organization for the USA Pro Challenge. He has previously expressed his desire to be able to compete in triathlons now that he is finished with competitive cycling.
He still faces numerous legal problems after publicly admitting to doping in 2013. He that a $100 million whistleblower lawsuit filed against by former U.S. Postal Service teammate Floyd Landis — and joined by the U.S. federal government — risks to ruin him financially.
The second day of Ride the Rockies. (Severiano Galvan, The Denver Post)
