CALL IT the power of Twitter or the power of Lance. Yesterday at 10am, seven-times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong sent out a tweet to all his fans.
“Good morning Dublin. Who wants to ride this afternoon? I do. 5:30pm @ the roundabout of Fountain Rd and Chesterfield Ave. See you there”.
The message was short, but the clarion call to every amateur cyclist was loud and clear. This was one for their grandchildren.
No other cyclist, probably in history, could have sent out such a message at short notice and attracted such a colossal crowd to the Phoenix Park.
Armstrong has had to deal with persistent, but never proven, allegations of performance-enhancing drug taking all his career, but his fans believe him and revere him as the greatest cyclist of all time.
By 5.30pm, gardaí estimated that 1,200 cyclists had gathered at the appointed place.
David Costello from Shannonside Cycling Club in Athlone took a week off to watch the Tour of Ireland and follow Armstrong in the hope that he would repeat a similar public cycle he did in Scotland last week.
“I knew he was in Dublin. I had an idea he might do something. I took the time off pretty much to hang around for this,” he said.
Armstrong was mobbed as he arrived by bicycle through the front entrance of the Phoenix Park. “Sign this, sign this Lance,” said one woman attempting to thrust a copy of his bestselling autobiography It’s Not About The Bike into his face.
Another tried to get him to sign a drawing. Someone else knocked his gold-coloured sunglasses off.
His considerable entourage had to clear a path for him through the adoring throng and a pile of manure left by the Garda horses.
Then he was off like a super-charged Pied Piper with an enthusiastic following.
There is no template or protocol when a cycling megastar decides to go for the equivalent of a stroll in the park.
It was only supposed to be three laps of 4km each. It turned into nine. “It was the last lap, two laps ago,” said one of his entourage. “He’s got a smile on his face, he’s enjoying himself.” The competition to ride alongside Armstrong was intense and there were several crashes as enthusiasts failed to observe the niceties which stop every bike race turning into carnage.
Thankfully nobody was injured. There was more bedlam when Armstrong called it a day, an hour and a half after he started.
He signed autographs and then clamoured into a blacked-out people carrier. “I don’t think anywhere can top Dublin now after this,” he said.
