Download Lance Armstrong, branded a drug cheat and banned from cycling by the US Anti-Doping Agency, was back on a bike in Colorado on Saturday and loving every minute of it. "Had a blast racing the #poweroffour this morning," Armstrong tweeted after finishing second in the Power of Four mountain bike race, a mostly local affair featuring tough climbs and descents on four peaks in the Aspen-Snowmass ski resort area. "Got whooped up on by a kid young enough to be my son! Keegan Swirbul - remember that name!" added Armstrong, a father of five who finished second behind 16-year-old Swirbul in the race. Armstrong, now retired from elite level cycling, was making his first public appearance since the USADA announced on Friday that he would be banned for life from cycling's top pro events and stripped of his seven Tour de France titles. The record seven titles, which helped make him a sports icon in America, will be expunged from his career record because of "numerous anti-doping rule violations, including his involvement in trafficking and administering doping products to others", but Armstrong sounded like that was the furthest thing from his mind on Saturday. "I'm more at ease now than I've been in 10 years," Armstrong said after the race in comments quoted by the Denver Post. "I have five great kids and a wonderful lady in my life. My foundation is unaffected by all the noise out there." USADA said Armstrong will forfeit all titles, medals and prizes earned from Aug 1, 1998, which means that in addition to the Tour titles he earned from 1999-2005 he also stands to lose the Olympic bronze medal he won in Sydney in 2000. |