Lance and the Tour

I just wanted to jot this down before tomorrow's stage.

I don't for one minute believe that Lance is finished and Alberto Contador's only way of missing a victory is a mechanical or crash. That's right. And yes, I listened to everything Lance said after yesterday's stage. But I'm not buying it yet.

I am also not calling Lance a liar, or discounting all the things that the experts- of which I am most assuredly not- have said about Contador.

Here's what I've seen. Contador has gotten his entire advantage basically on two stages in which he made viscous accelerations up short climbs. And he only put Lance in apparent difficult in the second case. The first time, Lance didn't ride him down because that would not have been the behaviour of a teammate. It is true that he appeared to be incapable of staying with Contador yesterday.

To make a believer out of me, the same thing is going to have to happen on a much longer climb where Contador doesn't have the advantage of sitting on his teammates for most of the stage before launching a late attack. And maybe that's what's coming- an Alberto strike early in the Col du Grand-Saint-Bernard climb.

But I don't think he's the rider most likely able to do it. I'm not 100% sure it's Lance either, but I know which one I'd pick if I had to...

Lance Again

Yesterday's brick workout included a 45 minute run. I was near the end of the run, chugging along at 'race pace', when a twenty-something in a toyota went by, leaned out the window and yelled 'Go, Lance !'

First of all, clearly I do not resemble Lance Armstrong, who is younger, taller, fitter, and most recognizable ON A BIKE. I was even wearing my CSC socks and gloves and I ambled down the road.

I was running with my coach Eric Hodska today (great 2 hour trail run in Trumbull, where they've done an awesome job with some new trails) and he pointed out it's just something the kids like to yell out. And as the President of UNH told me the other day 'everyone knows I ride a bicycle.' Still, I guess it says something about endurance sports that our most recognizable endurance athlete is actually a retired cyclist.

It's also a reminder of the other Americans- Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton come to mind- who have tried and failed to supplant or follow in the footsteps of Lance.

Then again, Lance has last been seen (as an athlete) running the Boston Marathon the last two years. And on a good day (a really good day), I could probably match him on the marathon course.

So if you see me out on the road and feel like yelling 'Go Lance !' go right ahead- it won't bother me at all. Just don't throw anything at me....

Go Lance, Go !

One of the interesting things to me is how fully one single person can change the perception of millions of people. Take Lance Armstrong. He single-handedly reminded a nation who apparently had largely forgotten since the days of Greg Lemond that cycling was actually a professional sport.

So it's no surprise to me that once every two weeks or so someone yells out 'Go Lance !' to me from a car as I'm peddling along.

Sort of.

I'm not exactly a cycling geek. How much does my Elite T-Class with dura-ace parts and one 303 and one 404 wheel weigh ? Ask Dave Greenfield. I wouldn't know.

However, as a longtime CSC fan, I have all the gear. Socks, cycling jerseys, gloves. I had an easy ride today in iffy, cool weather- 2 hours spin. I often end up literally spinning on days like this, in the basement, doing an aero basebuilder. Despite the murk, I headed out and before you know it, bright sun was everywhere, the sky was blue- and I was tooling along at 18mph, easy, so easy.

I was about 45 minutes into the ride in Madison, when a silver convertible went by and a 20-something in the passenger seat leaned out and yelled 'Go Lance, Go !'

Which was kind of ironic. In the first place, while I'd been racing a car at 30 mph the other day in the same spot, I was really, really tooling along. Lance ? More like Bobke... Second, I was wearing CSC kit.

To me, when you see a guy in CSC kit and you yell 'Go Lance, Go !' it's kind of like seeing a kid in a Bret Favre jersey throwing a football and yelling 'Go Brady ! On one hand, obviously no one with even one working eye is going to mistake me- on or off a bike- for Lance Armstrong. On the other, I'm out for an easy ride and I kind of feel like I'm embarrassing the collective memory of Lance Armstrong out there just riding in my A zone, not even wearing my TT helmet, in an easy gear just keeping the cadence up.

I keep my effort down, but I couldn't help but laugh ? Lance ?

Maybe it was the yellow bike...

ps-After reading this interview with Eric Hodska, I wonder how my own picks: Sin (NIN), Spybreak (Propellerheads), and Rebel Yell (Live) stack up against the coach's expectations...