Armstrong reflects on milestone year

04:33 PM CDT on Monday, October 3, 2005

By ERIN OCHOA / KVUE News

Sunday marks nine years since local cycling celebrity Lance Armstrong was diagnosed with cancer.

KVUE News

Cyclist Lance Armstrong sits down to talk about this weekend's celebration and his future plans.

In that time, he's won a battle with the disease and seven Tour de France titles.

This weekend, Armstrong will host a city-wide celebration to give back to his fans.

It's become an annual event for Austinites to celebrate Armstrong.

Last year, fans lined the street to watch him ride up Congress for a welcome-home parade and concert in his honor. This year, Armstrong is throwing his own party.

"The city really embraced a nontraditional sport. It embraced cycling. All the other years, the city has done something for me, either a concert or a parade or something like that," Armstrong said. "Coinciding with 9-year anniversary of the diagnosis, we said we'll just give something back to the city -- throw a party for the city. I hit up Sheryl to play, and she said, 'Yeah.'"

His fiancée, Sheryl Crow is headlining the show. Crews began setting up for it on Friday. The celebration marks the end of an era for the cyclist.

"I never thought that nine years ago -- sitting around a dinner table -- I never thought we would get to this level. I never thought we'd have yellow bands that sold 56 million around the world."

With seven Tour de France titles under his belt, Armstrong has reached the end of his professional riding career. He announced his retirement in April, just months before allegations of doping during his 1999 win went public. He has strongly denied the allegations.

"There were headaches the whole time. The speculation wasn't at the end. The speculation was seven years long. It started in 1999 and it's nothing new."

Armstrong says he has big plans for the future, and he will stay put for a change.

"Spend time with living in one place for starters... have a consistent schedule, where as in the past, I was always being pulled to Europe for months at a time and missing quality time with kids that evolve and change everyday."

Armstrong will also work on his endorsements and spend more time working with the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

His Tour of Hope kicked off Thursday in San Diego. Twenty-five people, including one man from Austin, will ride across the country to raise awareness about clinical trials for cancer.

They'll ride through Austin Sunday.

Armstrong's free celebration kicks off that day at 5 p.m. at Auditorium Shores.