Breakfast with Lance, Levi, Basso, & Bruyneel

There aren't too many mornings when your interests converge in such a way that you knock out three things at once... such was the morning today. An early morning jaunt through the trails to knock down 5 miles as the sun hit the horizon was just the beginning. An unexpectedly warm morning of 55-degrees welcomed my first steps. Knowing there were other matters at hand — I cranked out my 5 miles and clocked them at 46.10 ...right on track. So far I have been impressed with how my body has responded and recovered after some of the first few long runs in my training cycle (much better than last year at this time.)


After finishing the 5 miles I was off to my "breakfast date" with greatness. Why fight the crowds? I was close enough to head to Bicycle Sport Shop on foot. An extra mile round trip was a good choice. Once I arrived at said location I was met by a throng of people. Okay, so my "breakfast date" really just consisted of being in the same place with cycling legends Lance, Levi Leipheimer, Ivan Basso and Johan Bruyneel who were helping raise money for a local Bikes For Kids project to provide 750 new Trek bikes to deserving children this Christmas.

The Discovery Channel Team is in Austin for their annual training camp and the riders took time from their schedule to help raise money to help brighten Christmas for hundreds of Texas kids.

For those of you who think Lance is nothing more than domineering and 'in your face,' you haven't seen his interest every year (10 straight) in giving back to his
community by trying to raise money to buy more than 10-thousand bikes as part of JB & Sandy's Bikes for Kids. JB & Sandy are local morning radio guys who are extremely involved in the community and come up big for a variety of causes every year. (JB is quite a local rider also.) I didn't go for an autograph from the cyclists or really even to talk to any of the guys... I just knew it was a chance to stop by after a quick workout and support a good cause. What better way to do that while catching a glimpse of champions...both on the bike and in the community.