Wet weather getting you down?

Well, a lot has happened in the last 2 weeks, so today will be an attempt to catch up on it all. This way you'll have heaps of reading to do and videos to watch over the weekend while it's raining outside. Well, if you are in Sydney at least. For those of you living where it isn't raining, lucky you! And I hope you make the most of it! :-)

First up, when I last updated, the Giro D'Italia and the Tour of California were both underway. Both races saw exciting racing right up until the final stage, with the top 5 riders not giving in and attacking right up until the end. Great stuff to see! In the end, Ivan Basso took the win in the Giro, despite the best efforts of Cadel Evans, and Aussie Mick Rogers took the win in California, denying Team RadioShack rider Levi Leipheimer his 4th consecutive victory, despite his best efforts.




Photo courtesy of VeloNews.com

Despite Basso winning the overall, it was great to see all the other jersey's in the Giro won by Aussies! Cadel took the red points jersey, Matt Lloyd the green climbers jersey and Riche Porte, the young sensation of the race, the white U23 jersey. An excellent race for Australia.

Meanwhile, the build up to the Tour de France is building. Although the exact make up of Lance Armstrong's preparation for the Tour was still undecided recently, he is now competing in the Tour de Luxembourg, finishing in 5th in the very short opening prologue, and currently sitting in 3rd place overall after the first stage. Fellow Team RadioShack riders Gregory Rast and Andreas Kloden are also in the top 10.

The other Trek sponsored road team, Trek-Livestrong U23, also had a win recently with Taylor Phinney winning the U23 Paris-Roubaix for the second year in a row. This is a great result and confirms the talent this young rider has. You can see a video from the race here.

Although denying rumors that he will get called up to Team RadioShack early, no doubt there is a bright future ahead for him.

Photo courtesy CyclingNews.com

That's it for now. I'll have more stories from the world of Trek soon.

Weekend coming

Howdy fellow Cyclists!

Not long now until the weekend hits us, and I hope the sun is shining in your part of the world so you can get out on your bike for some fun and thrills.

Thought you'd be interested to see the following movies of Lance Armstrong and Chris Lieto having a little 'Twitter Time Trial' in Hawaii where Lance has been training recently:

Pre Race:

Post Race:

Looks like fun!

If you want to keep up with Lance's Twitter, it's right here.

Also sneaked out on Twitter from @TrekRaceTeams is a picture of Taylor Phinney's new track pursuit bike:

Nice! Just don't ask us when you can buy one. Strictly Olympians only. Sorry.

In the world of racing this weekend the Volta Ao Algarve is happening over in Portugal. Team RadioShack have got Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Klöden heading the team. Follow the action over at CyclingNews.com

That's it from me. Check back next week for more MTB news!

Lance Armstrong featured in Nike Commercial

Check out this cool new ad for Nike, featuring a lot of their star athletes, and finishing with Lance Armstrong.

And, no, Team RadioShack will NOT be made entirely of Lance clones for 2011.

Cycling in Major Papers

It's not too often that cycling makes the major national news papers, but today is the exception.

Of course with the Tour Down Under being run, the nations sports writers re-familiarise themselves with the sport of cycling and pen a few words. Today's Sydney Morning Herald has a full spread, including a summary of the TDU so far, a massive article on Lance, and then some smaller articles on Cadel Evan's new team and the possibility of a second Pro-Tour race in Australia.

Next up was the Fin Review, getting in on the action with a large article about the growing popularity of cycling, both as a recreational activity and as a more legitimate form of transport. They refer to the announcement earlier this year from Victorian Roads Minister Tim Pallas, at a launch of a cycling plan, that having more commuters on bikes would relieve pressure on other parts of the transport system. This comment is a healthy contrast to views expressed by former transport ministers. Glad to see the tide may be turning and looking forward to more support for cycling infrastructure.

Of course, bike paths are great, but what if you don't have anywhere to park your bike when you get to work? Or no where to shower and get changed? One of the company's referred to in the Fin Review article is Penny Farthings, makers of the Green Pod, a self contained bike parking and shower/change facility that is designed to fit into the space of a standard car parking space. A great way for companies to make cycling to work more viable for their employees.

See you on the road!

Lance Drops by Local Trek Dealer

Adelaide Trek dealer Bicycle Express is obviously having a big week with the Tour Down Under in town.

That week got a lot more exciting on Monday when Team Radio Shack, led by Lance Armstrong, dropped by while out for a training ride.

The team checked out the store, complete with Trek Project One and Livestrong clothing displays, said Hi to the staff and then Lance signed a 1274 Project One Madone before they continued on their ride.

The staff were very surprised to have such a visitor, but it just goes to show that if you're in Adelaide for the race, then you never know who you're going to bump into!

If you are in town, drop by Bicycle Express to see the bike that Lance signed, and have a look at the rest of the Trek bikes they have on show. You can also test ride a Madone for yourself and find out why Lance insists on riding Trek.

Stage One Down Under

By now the second day of racing will be underway at the Tour Down Under, but the first day provided some great racing while showcasing the beautiful surrounds of South Australia’s wine growing regions.

Photo Courtesy CyclingNews.com

The main breakaway of the day included 20 year old Tim Roe, a member of the Trek-Livestrong U23 team who is from Glenelg, just outside of Adelaide. While the rest of the Livestrong U23 team is at a camp in Califormia, Tim stayed with the breakaway while they opened up a gap of close to 10 mins, and then dropped his fellow breakaway riders going up the major climb of the day, Menglers Hill. Despite a short off-road excursion on the descent, he managed to hold on a little longer until the peloton caught up as the pace quickened in preparation for the sprint finish. Tim’s riding was following UniSA team orders to be aggressive and earned him the King of the Mountains jersey and the most aggressive rider jersey, a great achievement for him.

 

Photo Courtesy CyclingNews.com

Once the race got to the finish town of Tanunda the pace quickened in preparation for the sprint. Team Radioshack was up near the front of the field to lead out Gert Steegmans. In the frenetic finish Gert got himself up for a fantastic 2nd place, behind stage winner Andre Greipel. This has got to be the first time a member of Lance’s team has been so closely contesting a sprint! Great to see Gert up at the front and we’re looking forward to Team RadioShack pushing for a stage win in the next few days. You can read more reports from PezCyclingNews and CyclingNews.

 

Photo Courtesy CyclingNews.com

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Trek Bicycle Corporation is helping to grow the sport of cycling in it’s home state of Wisconsin. Bike Radar recently did a short article on the bicycle manufacturers support of cycling through working closely with advocacy groups and government officials. The fact that Trek has a full time “director of advocacy and government affairs” goes to show how much they are committed to helping more people enjoy cycling, whether competitively or purely for transport and recreation. Great to see from such a large bike company, but probably easier to believe as it is still a family owned business rather than a public company.

Thousands join Lance on his Twitter ride

Last year Lance Armstrong twice tweeted that he was going for a ride in a foreign city and invited others to come join him. With only a few hours notice several hundred people joined him in both Glasgow and Dublin. He had then indicated that he would do a similar thing in Adelaide, and this time he gave 2 days notice.

The Tweet that started it.

The result was the incredible site of approximately 5,000 people showing up at a park in the beach side Adelaide suburb of Glenelg to join Lance and Australian cyclist Robbie McEwen for a casual ride.

Photo courtesy Adelaide Now.

Aware that this may happen, local police had been planning for several weeks and escorted the ride with a dozen police on motorbikes, operating rolling road closures as the ride headed north to Semaphore, then turned and headed back to Glenelg.

There was even a sausage sizzle and a festival type atmosphere at the park.

You can see news reports of the event with photos and video from Adelaide Now and Cycling Central.

What great visual evidence of the appeal of Lance the sportsman, cancer survivor and fighter, and man of the people.

Were you there? Comment with your story from the ride, and why you made the effort to be there.

Photo courtesy Adelaide Now.

And now for the Road.

Of course the big talk over the last few months has been the movements of individuals to and from the various Pro Tour teams. Although by far and away the most talked about team and rider was Lance Armstrong and his new Team RadioShack.

Since then we’ve had Trek confirm that they are sponsoring the team (Duh!), close looks at the team bikes, including a You Tube video below, the final team roster, featuring many of the riders from the previous Team Astana, the team training camp in Arizona and a sneak peek at the possible jersey design. Phew!

Lance has also said that he’s planning on riding for another 2 years, so there’s plenty of time to see him ride!

In other road related news, Bike Radar reviewed the Trek 2.5 and found it to be a very solid, dependable and sprightly bike. The didn’t like the height of the headtube, however those wanting a lower position are probably better off with a Pro fit 5 or 6 Series Madone.

Speaking of which, Bike Radar also happened to have reviewed the latest 6 Series bike and found it to everything the 5 Series did, but being stiffer for those racers wanting more of an edge.

And to round out 2009, there was the auction of Lance’s ‘Stages’ bikes to raise money for the Livestrong charity. They were auctioned by Sotheby’s in New York at the beginning of November and raised an incredible $1.25 million US! The undeniable show stopper was the Damien Hirst ‘butterfly’ bike that went for $500,000. What a great result for Livestrong and for the fight against cancer.