Post A # 5

Vocab
Insinuated (242)- suggested or hinted in a sly manner
Undulating (243)- to move with a sinuous or wavelike motion

Appeals

"I can emphatically say I am not on drugs. I thought a rider with my history and my health situation wouldn't be such a surprise. I'm not a new rider." (246)
This sentence is an emotional appeal for two reasons. It seems a bit defensive, but it also shows Lance's anger towards the seemingly endless drug tests administered to him.

"When you open a gap, and your competitors don't respond, it tells you something. They're hurting. And when they're hurting, that's when you take them. (237)
This sentence is a factual (logical) appeal. I thought about this, and yes it's true. Usually in extremely competitive races, gaps like that do not go uncontested. In the first stage of the Alps, which was 132 kilometers, Lance proved to the rest of the peloton that he simply had greater endurance then they.

"We changed into the complimentary bathrobes [...] and had our private moment." (258)
This sentence has a loaded phrase. The loaded phrase is, "private moment". Nothing else is explained in that sentence, except for the fact that Lance and his wife changed into the hotel's complimentary bathrobes and drank champagne. The phrase, "private moment" leaves the sentence open-ended, which is horrible, and I hope I don't need to explain why. In my opinion, that sentence detracted from the point that he had just won the Tour de France.

Quote

"Odd as it sounds, I would rather have the title of cancer survivor than winner of the Tour, because of what it has done for me as a human being, a man, a husband, a son, and a father." (259)

This sentence is deep, and I'm not saying that lightly or in a joking manner. I cannot pretend to know the struggle that he or anyone else with cancer went through, but from this, I know that cancer taught him more than just perseverance on the bike.

Theme

In a person's life, one must think of their priorities.

When Lance divorced Kristen, he was saying to the world, subconsciously or consciously, "Kristen Armstrong is not a priority for me, and my son isn't so high on the list either." I don't know why or what exactly prompted him to do this, but to me his decision to do that will always be a black mark in my mind.