From PEOPLE Magazine Click to enlarge
What goes best with a Lance Armstrong LIVESTRONG wristband? For Sheryl Crow, a diamond ring. On Aug. 31, during a mountain-biking vacation in Sun Valley, Idaho, Armstrong proposed to Crow, his girlfriend of almost two years. "This is the sweetest, most wonderful thing," says his mom, Linda Armstrong Kelly, 51, who received a call from the couple soon after. "Lance loves her, and our family is so very thrilled. Marriage was the logical next step."

Still, Armstrong first got the okay from his kids—Luke, 5, and twins Grace Elizabeth and Isabelle Rose, 3—before popping the question. (Armstrong, who turns 34 on Sept. 18, split with first wife Kristin in 2003; Crow, 43, has never been married.) The couple are mulling a spring wedding, which could allow Armstrong to rescind his recent retirement and compete for an eighth straight Tour de France victory next summer. On the heels of a French newspaper report—vehemently denied by Armstrong—that he tested positive for a banned blood booster during the 1999 Tour, "I'm thinking it's the best way to piss [the French] off," he told the Austin American-Statesman. Even if Armstrong stays retired, life with Crow will leave him fulfilled, says mom Kelly: "Being together makes them complete."

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