"We as people want to believe he overcame cancer and he won the most grueling bicycle race in the world, and he did it seven times in a row.

"But cycling was here before Lance got here and it'll still be here long after we've forgotten him."

Back at the 15-year-old Livestrong Foundation charity, which has raised more than $500 million to support cancer patients, donations have increased since the allegations linking Armstrong with serial doping.

"It might be that people are learning about the work of the foundation as a result of the controversy from the cycling world," mused Livestrong spokeswoman Katherine McLane. "In which case that is a positive effect."

Armstrong stood down as chairman of the Livestrong Foundation in October, the same month the organization also legally changed its name from the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

McLane says it's his work with the foundation that should remain as Armstrong's lasting legacy -- not the implosion of his cycling career.

"I would say that Lance's greatest legacy is creating an organization that has helped 2.5 million people when they are facing cancer," she added.

"He's still the foundation's biggest donor. He's donated $7m."

Amid all the opinion and rhetoric bubbling around Armstrong in Austin, there was no sign of the man himself.

His only public appearance since the scandal enveloped him was at a Livestrong gala on October 20 and when Formula 1 made its debut in the city, Armstrong flew to Hawaii to avoid the hubbub.

Suzanne Halliburton, who has followed Armstrong's rise and fall for the Austin Statesman newspaper since 1996, is one of the few still in regular contact with Armstrong.

"The last time I talked to him he seemed to be doing reasonably well," she told CNN. "He has access to a private plane where he can zip off and go hang out in Hawaii at his house there."

Armstrong, who also has a Spanish-style villa close to downtown Austin, has no reason to keep out of the public gaze in his hometown, according to Halliburton.

"When he rides he goes out to Hill Country but his house is in central Austin," she explained.

"He's got five kids, two of whom live with him. He's very active, going to see all their sporting events, sometimes coaching their soccer teams. He sits in line to pick up the kids.

"He lives pretty normal. He goes out to eat. I don't see him keeping a low profile here.

"He's not beloved anymore, but he's not hated."

Away from Austin the wheels of justice are cranking into gear.

An International Cycling Union commission has been assembled to investigate the USADA's damning report into the allegations that Armstrong systematically used performance-enhancing drugs.

He could also face lawsuits from groups such as British newspaper The Sunday Times, which lost legal disputes with Armstrong surrounding doping allegations and, as a result, paid out huge sums, as well as Texan insurance firm SCA Promotions, which insured performance bonuses paid to the American after he claimed his fourth, fifth and sixth Tour de France wins.

Back in Texas, there is a little expectation of Armstrong undergoing a Damascene conversion.

"He'd already fallen off the pedestal," Martinez argued. "All that is left is for a mea culpa -- but I don't think that is ever going to come."

Halliburton is less sure.

"Whether you think Lance did drugs or not -- and it looks like he did something -- he still worked his ass off," she opined.

"I've had people come up to me and say 'I've been an athlete and I know that performance enhancers are not going to help somebody who's not also working hard', so he's real driven, he's a perfectionist and he doesn't suffer fools gladly.