Lance Armstrong: 'Shoot Me the Bird'

Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong will make his first public appearance since admitting in January that he had doped to win all of his Tour de France titles when he races in Iowa’s annual “Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI)” at the end of July. 

Armstrong, who called himself a realist, said he understood some of his former fans may revile him. He encouraged people to show him love–or hate. 

“I’m well aware my presence is not an easy topic, and so I encourage people if they want to give a high five, great,” Armstrong told the Des Moines Register on Tuesday. “If you want to shoot me the bird, that’s OK, too.”

He also said, “I’m a big boy, and so I made the bed, I get to sleep in it.”