I believed in belief, for its own shining sake. To believe in the face of utter hopelessness, every article of evidence to the contrary, to ignore apparent catastrophe - what other choice was there? We do it every day, I realized. We are so much stronger than we imagine, and belief is one of the most valiant and long-lived human characteristics. To believe, when all along we humans know that nothing can cure the briefness of this life, that there is no remedy for our basic mortality, that is a form of bravery. To continue believing in yourself, believing in the doctors, believing in thetreatent, believing in whatever I chose to believe in, that was the most important thing.

In my most painful moments on the bike, I am at my most curious and I wonder each and every time how I will respond.

Truth is, a triathlete won the Tour de France seven times.

It's tough to be a 15- or 16-year-old athlete competing around the country. There's tension, there's media. I had no idea what I was getting into.

I didn't live a lot of lies, but I lived one big one.

How do you fight an invisible opponent like suspicion?

Cancer doesn’t care if you’re Republican or Democrat.