Spine Road High School isn?t high on Cape Town?s list of tourist attractions: set in the heart of the Cape Flats, in the thick of the city?s ganglands, it?s the harsh underbelly of the postcard visage Cape Town cheerfully projects to the world. But one American tourist veered off the usual route on Tuesday, and dropped in on a school that makes for a surprisingly uplifting destination: an appropriate place to visit, then, for Lance Armstrong.

The school in question is a resilient institution, an oasis of hope in an area very short on positive images. Headlined by a vast, modern school hall built on the industry of a passionate headmaster, and the support of former student Dale Santon (yup, Dale went to school; none of us could believe it either), Spine Road also features an artificial multipurpose sports surface built by the South African Rugby Legends in partnership with the JAG Foundation, and now serves as operations central for JAG on the Cape Flats.

And with JAG having mustered the resources to bring Armstrong out on his Cape Town visit to lend his name and support to the foundation?s work, Spine Road was an appropriate location for cycling?s greatest to drop in on, to get a firsthand feel for the extent of JAG?s work, using sport as a platform for social change. The scale of the challenge is vast, certainly, but offsetting the enormity of it is the enthusiasm with which both JAG coaches, and the children involved, launch themselves at the programs involved ? and that enthusiasm will only have grown after Armstrong?s visit.

Lance didn?t speak for too long, an audience full of young children not lending itself to drawn out oratory; he spoke powerfully, though, and when he mentioned that he?d grown up never having known his father, he struck an immediate chord with kids sadly familiar with broken homes and splintered families. The simple message of sport as a channel for opportunity echoed the core sentiment of the JAG Foundation ? and while the kids drew inspiration from the presence of a man whose legend comfortably extends to poorer corners of the Cape, there were some more familiar faces amongst the audience just as focused on Spine Road High?s iconic guest.

Ryk Neethling, Makhaya Ntini, Kirsty Coventry and Ashwin Willemse are all JAG ambassadors, and all four took the bus out to the Cape Flats to join Lance (Ntini his usual barrage of unintelligible noise), clearly revelling in the chance to spend time with a man described at Tuesday night?s banquet by speaker Gayton McKenzie as ?the legend?s legend?. Usually it?s these guys who?re surrounded by fans; it was most entertaining to see the role inverted.

Guests on Tuesday night at the new Robbie Fleck Stadium had the opportunity to pose questions to Lance, on an evening I co-hosted with Phil Liggett, who?d swapped his German tourist khakis for a suave Italian suit come the banquet; and after a brief but passionate introduction from Lance, focused on the fight against cancer and the work that remains to be done, the questions came in, with the answers an honest and amusing selection from a man a lot more relaxed than the prism of the global media suggests.

The answers? In brief: yes, he believes he can win the Tour de France, but the chances are slim; Alberto Contador is the greatest rider he?s competed against; no, he doesn?t think about cancer every single day, but doesn?t forget what he?s beaten, and the second chance he?s been given; the athlete he admires most is the American runner Steve Prefontaine; his greatest day of racing was the Alpe D?Huez in 2001, when he faked fatigue, gave Jan Ullrich that famous look, and then took off up the mountains; and no, Phil Liggett wouldn?t be a guest at his dream dinner party...

Lance was on stage for some time, and for those people there last night ? including Giniel De Villiers, Corne Krige, and former Canadian ice hockey captain Joel Savage, who?s in town for the week ? it was an unforgettable evening with a man who?s inspired the planet with his riding, and given the world belief with his battle against cancer. A small school in the Cape Flats now joins the 400-odd people at Tuesday?s dinner at the forefront of Armstrong?s supporters ? and with several more events to come, Lance Armstrong?s impact on a city he?s openly fallen in love with, isn?t going to stop just yet.