Austin, TX is Lance Armstrong Central

Austin, TX loves Lance Armstrong. Everyone went a little Tour de France and Tour de Lance crazy for 3 weeks in 2005.

I thought some folks might like a view of what it is like to be in Austin, TX during the 2005 Tour de France.

Frank Irwin and I tried to go to the Mix 94.7 Victory Party at Six at 4th and Colorado (by the Spaghetti Warehouse). We found parking fine, but it turned out that at 12:15 pm they were at capacity, and, even worse, not serving food. Not good from the perspective of two cyclists who had just had a "short easy" ride through Bastrop/Buescher State Parks!

While downtown, we noticed almost every bar advertising daily Tour de France coverage with big yellow banners.

	We moved onward to my favorite Austin hangout.
	The Central Market Cafe at 41st and Lamar teamed up with Austin Podcasting to offer free Tour watching on a large screen TV.
	Customers enjoy the show. Decked out in yellow for local hero Lance. Though not pictured here, Frank Irwin and I have enjoyed watching the Tour at Central Market over dinner several times lately. We were not dressed in yellow, but we had been out on the tandem in the morning!
	All Central Market employees were decked out for the Tour.
	OLN came out to celebrate the last day of the Cyclysm at Central Market. They had several large postcards for adoring fans to sign for Lance. I wonder what Lance does with all this stuff. Storage room? Landfill? Ebay? Seems a little large for living room decoration and this was one of SEVERAL.
	A BVC president couldn't resist the fun of writing on the postcard to Lance.
	My words -- not very eloquent, but heartfelt.
	Other people were more creative.
	Lance's fans come in all shapes and sizes.
	OLNs employees pack up the large postcards for Lance

Tour excitement could be found in all corners of Austin, TX.

	My favorite gardening store is Pots and Plants Garden Center, famous for the pink flamingos on the front lawn. Even they got into the Lance Armstrong act. They are located at RM 2244 (Bee Cave Road) and Loop 360. It's a great store.
	Yes, that is a yellow Flamingo bike.
	Me and the flamingo bike.
	Frank Irwin in the flamingos. Even on this hot muggy day he's been my faithful lieutenant in Tour de France Appreciation. And bucking for the title of best boyfriend in the whole wide world. :)
	Sitting in the flamingos. Yes, there are a lot of yellow flamingos.
	Is that a commentary on Jan Ullrich and the pink T-Mobile team lying there in the grass?

Copyright 2005 by Jean Marie Linhart, all rights reserved.