I got this e-mail from my buddy exactly 2 weeks ago, and I don't think he'd mind if I shared it (it is anonymous, after all) with the PCers, not least because I thought it was a realy damn cool story. He lives in Los Angeles.

Although if it's too weird, personal, or invades anyone's privacy (i.e. Lance's), please take it down. I just got very geeked out on hearing the story.

Keep in mind my buddy has legs, i.e. rode a fixie around San Francisco(!) for years.

The text is below.

On Wednesday, Jay-Z was playing a free show in front of the theater where they film the "Jimmy Kimmel Show."

I rode down there to see if it'd be worth making a trip later in the day to catch Jay-Z.

I looked at the stage, and then kept riding towards a climb I've done a few times, but it's been over a year since the last time I did it. It's a tough climb. I was riding and couldn't remember the name of the street, and ended up passing it, so I turned around to head back. Three cyclists were riding towards me, and I figured I could ask them where the climb was.

The three riders were Lance Armstrong, another guy, and trailing them both was a third rider in a Carmichael jersey.

I didn't want to ask Armstrong, but I didn't mind asking the fella trailing. So I asked where the climb was, and he told me to follow them and take a right.

I did and boom, they showed me a new and awesome climb through a park that's closed to motor vehicles.

I passed buddy number 2 and said, "Good morning." He didn't respond. I passed Armstrong and said good morning, and he sort of grunted, "Hey."

I kept on going --- I had to stand on my pedals because it was steep! I didn't want to die in front of Armstrong, though, so i just kept my pace steady.

About three minutes later, I heard a bike behind me, and then a familiar voice grunted, "You're killing me!" Armstrong pulled up alongside me, and I said "How are you doing?"

Armstrong said, "Suffering!" We laughed and rode together for the rest of the climb, which lasted about 7 minutes, and during the ride we talked about a bunch of stuff.

At the top of the climb, Armstrong asked if I knew where I was. I did. He said he was going to wait for his buddies, so we shook hands, and I rode off. As I was leaving he yelled, "Next time take it easier on me!"

It was a great experience.

My buddy mentioned two other things: first, that Armstrong's bike was some incredible Trek bike that made absolutely no noise on the road.

Second, my buddy said Lance was definitely not struggling.