Waiting for an (expensive) Armstrong autograph

PARIS - The bus of Lance Armstrong's team was waiting just off the course near the Champs-Elysees. Colin Hackett and Erin Meloche had been standing next to it in their RadioShack jerseys for almost two hours.

The brother and sister from Edmonton, Alberta, were waiting for a glimpse of Lance Armstrong after his last Tour de France stage and - they hoped - an autograph. And for this chance they've happily paid out a small fortune.

For $1,160 paid to a tour company, Hackett, 29, and Meloche, 27, didn't get a tour - they received a drink, some pretzels, and an orange wristband that gave them access to the guest areas on the final day of the Tour de France.

They did it for the love of Lance.

"It's just about what he's done for cancer research, cancer survivors, and bringing cycling to North America," said Hackett, a physical education teacher who came to Paris to present a paper at a teaching congress.

The pair watched six of the eight laps that the riders rode around the Champs-Elysees, but then they slipped away and missed Mark Cavendish's victory to make sure they had a good place at the entrance to the bus.

After the race, the riders returned to the bus to change their jerseys, but then they set off again to be awarded the team trophy. Now they're ensconced in the bus again, with security guards on the doors and a black curtain pulled across to prevent anyone looking in.

It was nearly 7 p.m. and Hackett and Meloche had a bus an hour later to travel to the airport for a flight to Rome. They already decided to stick it out, even if it means having to take a taxi.

The crowd, jostling for a little bit of space in the summer evening heat, was discussing whether Armstrong will come out again or whether the bus will leave. Some women consider starting a chant of "We want Lance."

"I just wish someone had suggested wearing sensible shoes," Meloche complained.

Some of the other riders come out. Levi Leipheimer signed his name across Hackett's jersey. But there was no sign of Armstrong.

Then a stir in the crowd. The bikes are brought out, and the riders start to emerge and ride off on them. The security guards push the crowd back. "A lot of other people want to see him, too," one says.

Armstrong emerged, gets on his bike, and rides past Hackett. "Lance, real quick ..." Hackett manages, before Armstrong is gone again, on a lap of the Champs-Elysees circuit with his team.

"I've been, like, this close to him four or five times. If I can just get the pen in his hand," Hackett says to someone else in the crowd.

They continued waiting, joking with the security guards. It's 7:20 p.m. "I'll miss my flight and I don't care," Hackett says.

He knows that Armstrong is facing a federal investigation into possible fraud and doping violations, but he doesn't believe the allegations.

"To be honest, I think it's just mudslinging," he says.

There are signs that the riders were coming back. Hackett was in a prime position just by the front door of the bus. But then the French police moved in and told the crowd to move back. The primarily English-speaking crowd resist the orders given in French for a while, but then the police get insistent.

"You have to leave," one says, shepherding the die-hards away. Hackett and Meloche climb a barrier and stand on the other side of it.

Now it's 7:30 p.m.

Suddenly the bus moves, pulling forward by a few yards. The crowd needs to move, too. Hackett dives around the side of the barrier and finds himself another place in the middle of the melee. Some of the riders return.

There was a cheer from the left. Armstrong is in the crowd. Hackett gets right in there.

Then Armstrong's bike is put into the bottom compartment, he disappears through the door and the RadioShack bus is moving off.

Hackett and Meloche are moving, too, running up the road just in time to get the bus to the airport.

"I got three or four autographs but not his," Hackett says. "But I got to see him, and got to touch him once."

And was it worth $1,160?

"For sure."