Post A # 4

Vocab
Pretext (159)- the misleading appearance assumed with an intention
Brunt (177)- the main force or blow of something



Appeals



"'I'm pretty sure I'm done with that [biking],' I said. 'It's too hard on your body.'" (166)

This sentence is an emotional appeal, showing the struggle Lance went through after he had recovered from cancer. It is true, he beat cancer, but he beat it at the cost of becoming only a shadow of his former self. He doesn't think he can ever become as good of a biker that he was before his cancer incident.



"Things change, intentions get lost. You have another beer. You say another cuss word." (182)

This sentence is Lance talking about how when he was sick, he told himself that he would never do anything bad ever again, and would be the most clean-living guy ever if he survived the cancer. Now that he has survived, he starts to see that nobody is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes, but you just gotta dismiss the little things, and think of the big picture.

"The next night was New Year's Eve, the last night of libations for her." (205)

The loaded word in this sentence is libations. Could it be that it stood out to me because we just learned it in Mrs. Burgess' English class? Possibly. The sentence is talking about how Lance's ex-wife Kik drank a lot on New Year's Eve, then swore not to drink anymore, which would later lead to a healthy baby.

Quote

"A few days later, Och went back to the States. He told everybody who would listen that I was going to win the Tour de France." (223)

Lance trained on a hill called the Madone, in Nice, France. It is an eight mile climb, that most riders only ride once a year. Lance rode it once a month. After months of training, he had just beaten the record for climbing it, which was 31:30. Lance got 30:47. The time right after he beat the record for the Madone was the first real time that he felt confident about his post-cancer biking skills.

Theme
"You can't make it through life on your own. Enlist the help of your friends, and listen to what they have to say." If it weren't for all of his friends, family, and biking coaches, Lance would have never thought of winning the Tour de France, and would have never raced again after his cancer.