The Beat

What was Lance Armstrong doing last week while the Tour de France went on without him for the first time since 1997? For one afternoon, anyway, the seven-time Tour winner took actors Matthew McConaughey and Jake Gyllenhaal on what his rep, Mark Higgins, called a "leisurely" bike ride through the mountains of Malibu, Calif. Gyllenhaal is an old Friend of Lance and an avid rider, while McConaughey is a fellow Austin resident who roamed the sidelines with Armstrong during Texas's 2006 Rose Bowl win. All three were in L.A. for the ESPY Awards, which were to be taped this week. ( Armstrong will host the broadcast, which airs July 19.) Besides spending time with pals, Armstrong, says Higgins, has been training for the Nov. 5 New York City Marathon.

? Before the start of the Dodge/Save Mart 350 in Sonoma, Calif., last month, Jeff Gordon had two things to say to his crew chief, Steve Letarte. First, Gordon, who hadn't won in eight months, promised he would win the race. Then he told Letarte that he and Belgian model Ingrid Vandebosch (right) had gotten engaged. After the race--yes, Gordon won--the driver and his fianc�e spread the news to family and friends in a manner NASCAR's founding fathers could never have imagined: with a cabernet toast at a croquet party. They haven't set a date yet.

? The Kit Kat Lounge and Supper Club, a predominantly gay bar in Cubs country, a few blocks from Wrigley Field, is "honoring" White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen--who sparked a furor by calling Chicago Sun-Times reporter Jay Mariotti a "f------ fag" last month--with the Effen Ozzie GuillenTini, a martini made with Effen vodka and "a whole lot of fruit." Kit Kat general manager Kami Cantrell says the libation is truly an homage to Ozzie and that the Mariotti comments were blown out of proportion. "If the word fag offends you," she says, "you're too new to the scene." ... The Larry O'Brien Trophy, which goes to the NBA champs, is probably having a better summer than you are. Last week Miami Heat owner Micky Arison, who is chairman and CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines, took the trophy to Genoa, Italy, on one of his ships. Since the Heat won the NBA title last month, the O'Brien has cruised to Hong Kong, Shanghai and Rome, where Arison joined tenor Andrea Bocelli and supermodel Eva Herzigova for the launch of the 3,000-passenger ship Costa Concordia.... Mad magazine has updated Casey at the Bat for the steroid era with a poem called Barry at the Bat, which will appear in the August issue.... Not every NASCAR driver is as lucky in love as Jeff Gordon. Carl Edwards, who has gone winless in 17 Nascar races this year, recently suffered a romantic flat tire as well. Edwards and swimmer girlfriend Amanda Beard have split after a year of dating. Beard, a seven-time Olympic medalist, was recently named World's Sexiest Athlete by FHM magazine, to whom she explained, "I'm a surfer girl from California, and when you date a race-car driver, there's so much stress. Race-car drivers are too intense for me."