The selfie takers were out in force, they were aggressive and willing to do anything to get that all important photo with Lance Armstrong.
There was no shortage of takers when Lance Armstrong went back to the old days and invited members of the cycling public to join him for a bike ride in Auckland this morning.
A huge group turned out to ride with the man who has spectacularly fallen from grace and been stripped of his seven Tour de France wins due to doping.
And while some public chat shows have carried items featuring criticism of the public show of admiration for Armstrong, the photos and video from the event prove the brash Texan can still pull a big crowd; especially for 6am on a Tuesday.
Armstrong, who is in New Zealand to shoot a TV ad for Lion Breweries, invited people to turn up by taking to Twitter.
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And clearly the outpouring of good wish messages he received converted to bums on saddles.
However, he told a local TV crew he accepted others disapproved of the support he was receiving.
"Showing up here isn't going to make that go away,” he said, adding people felt betrayed by his cheating.
“I'm 45 years old, and they'll still be talking about it when I'm 90."
However, those who turned up for the ride around Auckland waterfront didn’t seemed to mind too much about his past.
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"Regardless of what your opinion is, the guy is still one of the best cyclists there ever was," cyclist Emma Swanwick told the local media.
"He still managed to win the Tour de France seven times, and even with drugs that's pretty amazing.”
Another rider, Johanna Wrack, said it was important not to forget the era Armstrong competed in.
"Yes, there is the controversy, but I'm sure the people who won second, third, fourth and fifth were doing the same thing," she said.
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