Lance Armstrong

I don't know how big cycling is in the US, probably not as much as in Europe from what I hear, but I was wondering - what do you guys think of his return?

I'm not sure how much additional publicity/money it's going to give his "Live Strong" organisation, but for him personally it would seem to me to be a loose-loose situation. If he rides fast, people will say he's doped - if he doesn't, they'll say he's a stupid old guy. Personally, I've got a lot of respect for Lance, but to be truthful - Tour de France has been a lot more exciting to watch after he stepped down from his throne.

Mette

PS Does anybody out there have any photos of him?

Personally I think the sport has moved on a lot, and he has been away from it for a little while. Sure, he may get some publicity for his charity, but I don't see any way he will win anything serious.

I've seen him four times in all .. every other year I go to Paris to see the finish of the Tour. I took this pic the second or third year Armstrong won it.

Cheers
Mike

Nice one, Mike! I like it!

I've just been watching it on the telly since the early 90's, but I'd love to go to Alpe d'Huez one day...Did you go to see it that year it started in the UK?

Yes, luckily I think cycling has moved on quite a bit, and Lance coming back is a reminder of the good old EPO days. Whether he was clean or not, I really don't know - all the confessions in the last year or two certainly makes one wonder. Though I've always thought that somebody who has been as sick as he has and been pumped full of chemotherapy would think very seriously about putting any more drugs into the body...

Mette

I just got into it this year, but I really don't follow any sports competitions. You'll find tons of it at a sister-site, roadbikereview.com in the forums under Pro Cycling. But I do ride a Trek... :)

You are mid 30's, and all you've done since you were a teenager is ride a bike. What are you going to do?

Not the best vantage point, but an old film shot from the '04 Alpe d'Huez TT.

Yeah, I do know about the sister site but I don't really have time to be on two sites, besides most my fun with bikes takes place out on the road on "Red Bob" (yes, my bike has a name :blush2: ) and I don't think my interest in pro-cycling is great enough to spend much time on the computer with it. Just felt the need for a slightly less heavy off-topic subject after the recent McCain thread, where people could disagree without having each others guts for garters....Besides I was curious to see if there was other cycling fans out there, especially the picture-taking kind :)

Thanks rw for your Alpe d'Huez shot, guess with 1/2 mio other people it must have been pretty crowded...

As for what he should/can do with his time, well he wouldn't have very many years left in any case (unless he's aiming to be the first 50 year-old to win the Tour - having just said that, grandma Jeannie Longo is putting my words to shame :thumbsup: - yeah, yeah the women's competition is a different ballgame altogether, I know). But Lance seems to be a pretty intelligent guy and it's not as if needs the money, so you would think he would find other challenges - photography for example???

Hehe if I had that kind of money I would get the new Sony Alpha 900 :)

Mette

Here's a pic from last year's prologue in London.

Re Lance Armstrong, I am not at all sure why he would want to bother - he has already secured his place in the record books. Better to retire undefeated than to risk coming back and making a fool of himself.

In any case, he is not fit to tie the shoe-laces of the greatest of them all: Eddy Merckx :)

Cheers
Mike

Now why did something like that never happen all those years I lived in London....The only thing I've got is Michael Rasmussen (in yellow :D ) in a local street race last August (sorry for the poor quality, it was taken with a 7 year old Cybershot...).

I guess Tour Down Under will show how fit he is, I wouldn't write him off too soon. Otherwise I suppose he would make a good support rider for Contador LOL

Mette

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Originally Posted by Didache

In any case, he is not fit to tie the shoe-laces of the greatest of them all: Eddy Merckx :)

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I guess he's looking really fit again. Here he is riding training rollers. Just not human... :D

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LOL I never could figure out how to ride on rollers :cryin:

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Originally Posted by Pink Dragonfly

LOL I never could figure out how to ride on rollers :cryin:

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I just bought a set. I'll post pictures of the bruises and dented walls when I try them out.

aw - I'm impressed!!! That's keen! You do seem a sporty sort of chap, kayaking and all :) I've got a very old Tacx home trainer from 1995, state of the art at the time with "an advanced microprocessor (32kb) with extra memory (160kb)", including an Alpe d'Huez course! Good living room exercise though! Looking forward to seeing your roller pictures :D Think I'd prefer roller skis LOL By the way, thanks for your help in the beginning, I did manage to get my pictures out of the camera without too much sweat :)

Mette

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Originally Posted by Pink Dragonfly

Thanks rw for your Alpe d'Huez shot, guess with 1/2 mio other people it must have been pretty crowded...



Hehe if I had that kind of money I would get the new Sony Alpha 900 :)

Mette

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It was insane. They predicted it would be 1/2 mil, I did the quick math and figured that would be 5 deep all the way up the climb. No way I thought. We took a side road and rode a tandem up to 5K from the top, and sure enough they were 5 deep...

Didn't notice you were a Sony guy, I have an A700 myself.

Riding a tandem up Alpe d'Huez??!!! That sounds pretty crazy, you must have been 2 guys with very well-trained powerful legs! By the way, I'm a Sony lassie, not a Sony guy :blush2: I've only had my A700 a couple of weeks but it's great. Have a couple of Minoltas with various lenses, so I didn't have much choice....

Mette

hello all,
I rather think Lance is still a hero, but a come-back?? I personally would retire with the glory he has now and leave it be.

You are right when you say it may help his charity, but the controversy may not be good publicity in the end. You know, is he too old, he is doped up and all that jazz!

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Originally Posted by Pink Dragonfly

Riding a tandem up Alpe d'Huez??!!! That sounds pretty crazy, you must have been 2 guys with very well-trained powerful legs! By the way, I'm a Sony lassie, not a Sony guy :blush2: I've only had my A700 a couple of weeks but it's great. Have a couple of Minoltas with various lenses, so I didn't have much choice....

Mette

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:blush2: Oops! Sorry on the gender bit!

Nope - it was my wife and I. Back in the day she was very strong on the bike. One cyclist we passed as we climbed yelled out, "I wish my wife loved me that much!" Now we have a couple of kids, so riding time is limited. My training goal is to be strong enough not to fall over when I'm towing a Burley trailer.

I say Why Not!
Cycling could use the public relations boost.
I think he has as good of chance as any of the other 297 riders, maybe even better..
I say GO LANCE x8!
Brian

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Originally Posted by Pink Dragonfly

aw - I'm impressed!!! That's keen! You do seem a sporty sort of chap, kayaking and all :)

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Thanks - I have "wierd" hobbies... Road cycling has been pretty amazing exercise. I had to buy new clothes a week ago! Lance being two years younger than me and talk of him as an old man scares me a little bit :eek: but if he feels he can be competitive, then why not?

I haven't read a whole lot about it but if he's still riding Trek, their dealers would love to see him back on the front page. Trek is only about 75mi north of me so of course it's a popular brand here (as probably many other places).

rw - the best exercise you can get is riding with that baby trailer, makes mountains out of molehills :D and it makes it possible for you and your wife to ride together without a babysitter and it definitely evens out the gender differences...you'll need an extra water bottle!

As for Lance, I certainly hope he is less fit/doped up whatever one believes - by the his 7th year it was just getting a wee bit boring (like Indurain, just worse), the post-Lance years have been so much more fun, interesting and unpredictable to watch. And yes, Astana does use TREK bikes and he certainly is back on their front page with a big heading "He's back", certainly sounds a bit Terminatorish!

http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/

Mette

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Originally Posted by another view

Thanks - I have "wierd" hobbies... Road cycling has been pretty amazing exercise. I had to buy new clothes a week ago! Lance being two years younger than me and talk of him as an old man scares me a little bit :eek: but if he feels he can be competitive, then why not?

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I'm in the same situation :D I don't think he's too old! No, seriously, when you look around at other endurance sports, skiing, biathlon, triathlon, marathon etc, 37/38 is not that old.

As for your hobbies, I don't think they are weird, quite the contrary (of course it could be me that's weird :confused: ). I've always loved cycling, I also used to own a white water kayak, I brought it from the UK to Denmark where there's no white water, and without a skeg, it's not much fun on the lakes/sea. Later I took it to Borneo with a skeg and did have some fun with it in the sea, not so much for exercise but for playing with whale sharks and such like :) And I think they complement each other beautifully both in terms of exercise and "going places/seeing things" experience. What's the climate like in Illinois? You might need new clothes again later on in autumn as winter approaches (or do you get covered in snow?)...

Mette

If it's in his heart, he should do it. Jack Nicklaus won the Masters at age 48 and could still beat a lot of Pros in his sixties. Why not?

It'll be interesting to see how he does. I'm definitely going to shoot the Tour of CA when it comes through San Jose next year :)

I look at his previous victories this way: We know a fair amount of the top riders in the past couple years have doped. If Lance did dope, then he spanked them all on a "level" playing field.

If he didn't dope, well he still spanked them 7 times :)

Just heard today (whilst watching the World Champs) that Lance may not be able to return in time for Australia as he needs to have been part of the UCI anti-doping programme for min. 6 months before he is allowed to race...

By the way, didn't those two young Danish lads do great today :)

Mette