lance on a 29er

jdog

Shop: Halter's Cycles
Shop Keep

Attachments

  • armstrong-mtbike.jpg
    armstrong-mtbike.jpg
    108.9 KB · Views: 152
Last edited:

kush

Active Member
yep. here is a good thread and quote from rocky hill race director

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=467668&highlight=lance

I am the race director for Rocky Hill and it was great having Lance out yesterday. I got a call from his bike handler on Thursday asking about the details of the race, and Friday morning he came out to pre-ride at the ranch which is about 45 minutes from Austin. He started out on a Trek Fuel but came limping back with something amiss with the rear suspension, he then changed over to the GF 29'er and did two more full laps of the 9 mile course, trading wheels/tires after the first one. He and his assistant were very cordial and friendly to the other folks out pre-riding that morning. When they left, they asked the details about registration, within a few hours it was on a couple of forums that he had been there, and I got a call from CyclingNews Saturday morning asking what was up. Like clockwork he showed up about 10:00 o'clock for the the 11:00 start. We gave him the courtesy of having an official go to him to register so he could warm up fairly incognito. He rolled to the pre-grid with two minutes to spare and was called to the front row as a former World Champion to a plethora of clicking cameras. On the start he didn't get clipped in very quickly and so was about 10th going into the first climb out of a field of 26. By the end of the first lap, he was inbetween Bryan Fawley and Scott Henry, with Mitch Comardo a few seconds behind them. He admitted to losing some ground in the technical twisty parts, but Mitch said he opened "the most violent attack" he'd ever seen on a bike on the downhill jeep road ending the second lap, probably hitting 30-35 mph. As they came across the s/f line to start the last lap, Lance was about 30 seconds ahead of Henry, and the other two were similarly spaced behind. The race ended with Lance about a minute ahead of Henry with the others about the same gap. He left pretty quickly after the race, but did take the time to sign autographs for a swarm of kids and was very gracious. His assistant came up to me before they left and said Lance said to give his prize money back so we just paid 2nd place the 1st place money and so on. I did give him Lance's award, a really cool handmade ceramic mug that my co-director for the race, a fulltime artist, had made. All in all, his presence was a cool sideshow for our series' season finale. On a side note, Lance raced TMBRA's Comfort marathon race last January. His last previous TMBRA XC race was at Ft Hood in 1999 so it had been a longtime since he did one of the local short races.
 

743power

Shop: Bicycle Pro
Shop Keep
Was this the same race he did last year where he broke his bottle cage and dnf'ed? He was on a superfly then too I believe. . .
 

THATmanMANNY

Well-Known Member
It's so crazy... well not really... he shows up to all these races to train for race mentality and then he tears the field apart and sets new records at these races that other racers have held for quite some time. I just feel bad for those former record holders :rolleyes:....
 

Steve Vai

Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
Shit son, even Lance Armstrong knows Gary Fisher 29ers are the best bikes on the planet;)

-Jim.
 

syadasti

Wet Rag
Why would it be a welcome, it was sloppy seconds back up ride, his 26er Trek was first choice and his 29er wheelset only lasted one lap:rofl:

He started out on a Trek Fuel but came limping back with something amiss with the rear suspension, he then changed over to the GF 29'er and did two more full laps of the 9 mile course, trading wheels/tires after the first one.
 
Last edited:

bonefishjake

Strong like bull, smart like tractor
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Why would it be a welcome, it was sloppy seconds back up ride, his 26er Trek was first choice and his 29er wheelset only lasted one lap:rofl:

please find the part of the article for me where it says he swapped his tires/wheels b/c they shredded and/or exploded and no longer worked. the only fact i see is that a trek rear triangle blew up.

you must be in advertising or media. if not, you should be b/c you're the master of conjecture.
 

RNG1

Well-Known Member
It's so crazy... well not really... he shows up to all these races to train for race mentality and then he tears the field apart and sets new records at these races that other racers have held for quite some time. I just feel bad for those former record holders :rolleyes:....

Man it will never happen to me but I am not sure that I would really mind if I held a record that was only broken by Lance....
 

kush

Active Member
For the record, Lance did try out both the Superfly and the Trek Top Fuel 9.8 for the Leadville 100 in August. He chose the FS Trek. Arguably, doing 100 miles on a squish is a bit more comfortable than a hard-tail from a fatigue standpoint.

For the Rocky Hill TX race he chose the Superfly presumably as he was having mechanical issues with the Trek.

Even a 29er Hardtail is a backup ride for Lance Armstrong, its still a big vote of confidence in a 29 inch HT not to mention that Superfly is in fact a fantastic ride.
 

EABODS

Member
the point here, Rog, is that Lance has a plethora of bikes and decides which one to ride based on the course. Rog thinks that a ss 29er is the best way to go no matter what, I still can't wait to watch him climb mt. snow in the pro field next year w/ one gear. I'll be eatinga pint of B & J on the sideline.

EABODS
 

BiknBen

Well-Known Member
Great photos but doesn't that bike look small on him?

I also thought the bike looked small. It doesn't even look like a 29er to me. Looks cramped in the top tube. I guess he was sliding up the saddle while climbing or something.

After seven TdF winds, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.
 

xc62701

Well-Known Member
Great photos but doesn't that bike look small on him?

It's the angle of the picture or the lens. He's closer so he looks larger and the bike looks bigger. That's why Jim V's avitar looks like he's riding a 36" front wheel ;)
 

CrossAddict

New Member
Ben & Jerrys

the point here, Rog, is that Lance has a plethora of bikes and decides which one to ride based on the course. Rog thinks that a ss 29er is the best way to go no matter what, I still can't wait to watch him climb mt. snow in the pro field next year w/ one gear. I'll be eatinga pint of B & J on the sideline.

EABODS

Better bring a cooler for that ice cream.:D

Nationals are in Colorado in 2009. So, EABODS, pack yo' bags Double B. We iz hittin' the trail. ---- Oh wait you'll still be in school? JK

-R
 
Top Bottom