Lance is back
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jonovision_man posted 10 weeks ago.
Geez Lance, stay retired... leave us with memories of greatness!
No good can come out of this, he either won't be his former self, or he'll finally get a positive test.
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ChunkyB posted 10 weeks ago.
"anonymous source". I doubt it's true.
That's really sad if it is true though. Another Michael Jordan/Brett Favre/fill-in-with-generic-professional-athlete. Why can't they just stay retired. I know it would be kind of shocking to go from riding your bike all day every day for years to sitting on your can all day, but I think I could adjust pretty easily.
"The melting point of wax means nothing to me": Thrice
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Anton posted 10 weeks ago.
One of the things I did respect about LA (and mind you, I'm not a fan) was his decision to step away from it all at the top of his game.
Now he just looks like so many other Pros who with fanfare and tears and a vow never to return, come back, only to disappear again... diminished.
"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?" - Vincent Van Gogh
My Blog: http://agingsuperhero.blogspot.com
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RV posted 10 weeks ago.
If he wants to ride and someone wants to have him as a part of their team - and it is a legitimate move to bolster the team - then why not?
It will certainly draw interest - if true.
RV
It takes a long time to get good. - Scott Molina
Slow is smooth; smooth is fast. - Rich Strauss
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Anton posted 10 weeks ago.
I can just see it:
LA: Hi, I'm Lance Armstrong!
Nymphette: OMG! You are, like, that guy that sells FRS!
LA: (To himself) Damn...I need to start racing again.
"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?" - Vincent Van Gogh
My Blog: http://agingsuperhero.blogspot.com
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gfd posted 10 weeks ago.
He doesn't seem to have the personality to deal with anything less than a chance to win when he is racing. I'm not going to knock him for giving it a shot, even if it turns out he is nowhere near what he once was. I continue to race in marathons and tris because I love the training and the feeling I have during the race, crossing the finish line, and afterwards. Maybe he wants that feeling that only riding the Tour gives him.
"If you set a goal for yourself and are able to achieve it you have won your race." -Dave Scott
~Garen~
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Tamara posted 10 weeks ago.
And I think Anton's comment points out why athletes do it. Heck, even 65yr old retirees do it - go back to work part-time, or consult or something. If you don't have a plan for what you're going to do when you get out of bed every morning, life in retirement can be stressful in its emptiness.
A number of years ago (a few weeks before 9/11), I lost my job when the dot com I worked for died. Other than job searching, I wasted a lot of time that now I wish I could get back. I wasn't prepared for how to fill my days during that four month period of unemployment.
Guys like Michael, Brett, Lance are young - they remember that they loved getting up every day and being challenged by a job. If the daily grind of retirement is dull in comparison, I can't really blame them for wanting something more.
"It's very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit." ~George Sheehan
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cutiger95 posted 10 weeks ago.
Lance has tried several other things but can't seem to break to the top. In all honesty I wish he would try an Ironman in lieu of attempting to get back into the biking world. He already has a great marathon time, I believe in the 2' 40" range or so. I suspect he could pick up the swim and we all know that he would destroy the bike.
In the tour I think that he can only damage his legacy. Come back and win, so what he is Lance. Come back and struggle, so what he is old. Come back and get busted doping, uh-oh...
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derek5 posted 10 weeks ago.
I found this online today... I am beginning to believe this story is true.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU
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krazyfranco posted 10 weeks ago.
cutiger95 wrote:
Lance has tried several other things but can't seem to break to the top. In all honesty I wish he would try an Ironman in lieu of attempting to get back into the biking world. He already has a great marathon time, I believe in the 2' 40" range or so. I suspect he could pick up the swim and we all know that he would destroy the bike.
Lance was a triathlete. I'm sure he could "pick up the swim" :)
............................
In the 1987–1988 Tri-Fed/Texas ("Tri-Fed" was the former name of USA Triathlon), Armstrong was the number one ranked triathlete in the 19 & under age group; second place was Chann McRae, who later became a US Postal Service Cycling teammate and the 2002 USPRO National Champion. Armstrong's points total for the 1987 season as an amateur athlete was better than the five professionals ranked that year. At 16 years old, Armstrong became a professional triathlete and became the national sprint-course triathlon champion in 1989 and 1990 at age 18 and 19, respectively.
(wikipedia)
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longtall33 posted 10 weeks ago.
I was at the book store this weekend a saw a magazine with LA on the cover (it was next to Triathlete). In the article, he said he considered getting back into triathlon, but said "then i would have to win."
He sounded content riding more for pleasure and didn't seem to have any desire to train at such a high level anymore. I'll believe it when I hear it from him.
Comfort is the enemy of success
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beads1985 posted 10 weeks ago.
Considering cycling was his job for so long, and it helped his get thru his cancer, it is not surprising he feels the urge to get back into it.
After winning his 7 tours, he retired on the top of his game and spent some time doing other things which game him time to clear his head and give him a break from the stress of needing to perform in cycling. Now he is probably feeling that competitive itch again.
It would be interesting to see him try an IM.
Nothing to it, but to do it
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TriSooner posted 10 weeks ago.
cutiger95 wrote:
Granted, I don't think "try" is the operative term when referring to what he could do to an IM field, but yes, THAT'S what I want to see him do! He'd be the first to go sub 8 at Kona.
try an Ironman in lieu of attempting to get back into the biking world . . .
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jonovision_man posted 10 weeks ago.
Astana says "no Lance":
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2008/sep08/sep09news2
----------------
The rumoured return to racing of seven time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong has been officially denied by the Astana team, which Armstrong was reported to be joining.
"He is not part of our team," press officer Philippe Maertens told the Associated Press. "Team Astana has no plans with him."
----------------------
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zagfan posted 10 weeks ago.
It would be great to see Lance get into the Ironman scene, not only would it be great to watch his bike splits but it would also bring some great publicity to the sport (maybe we could actually watch an Ironman on live TV). I was listening to an old episode of Ironman talk where they were interviewing Dave Scott and they asked him what they thought about Lance getting into Ironmans. Dave Scott not only said he would get handled by the top males but then went on to say that Wellington would eat Lance's lunch in Kona. It was pretty funny to hear b/c he was dead serious. His reasoning was that Lance runs around 2'50" on fresh legs (old interview so he may be faster?), and he doesn't think he can come near that after the 2.4 swim and 112 bike. Very interesting topic to listen to and consider. I think it would be a great matchup to watch though. See Lance come off the bike and have Macca, Stadler and Crowie nipping at his heals. Would probably give Trek a big boost too, imagine watching Chris Lieto and Lance crushing the bike course on top of the Equinox.
I'm all for Lance coming back to cycling, the sport hasn't been able to replace his popularity and mass appeal. The biggest question is whether he will work for Contador. Astana is going to have an amazing team. Now lets just hope he's clean.
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ChunkyB posted 10 weeks ago.
zagfan wrote:
His reasoning was that Lance runs around 2'50" on fresh legs (old interview so he may be faster?), and he doesn't think he can come near that after the 2.4 swim and 112 bike. Very interesting topic to listen to and consider.
I think 23 days of straight racing trains you to race with tired legs pretty well. I understand that doing it all in one day is different, but I don't think the fatigue would be the big issue. I think he just isn't that fast a runner, period. I don't think he would win at Kona, but I think he could do very well.
And, I think he might be able to get some pretty good sponsors too.
"The melting point of wax means nothing to me": Thrice
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zagfan posted 10 weeks ago.
ChunkyB wrote:
I think he just isn't that fast a runner, period. I don't think he would win at Kona, but I think he could do very well.
I think this was the point that Dave Scott was getting at. Lance just wouldn't be as fast off the bike as the other top pros. Macca won last year with a 2:42. Lance ran a 2:50 in Boston this year. The logical reasoning would say that Lance would be a little slower after the first two legs. Also, we're talking Kona which means all of the top pros would be there. Could Lance win one of the other Ironman races? I think he could, the guy is an absolute machine.
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ChunkyB posted 10 weeks ago.
zagfan wrote:
ChunkyB wrote:I think he just isn't that fast a runner, period. I don't think he would win at Kona, but I think he could do very well.
I think this was the point that Dave Scott was getting at. Lance just wouldn't be as fast off the bike as the other top pros. Macca won last year with a 2:42. Lance ran a 2:50 in Boston this year. The logical reasoning would say that Lance would be a little slower after the first two legs. Also, we're talking Kona which means all of the top pros would be there. Could Lance win one of the other Ironman races? I think he could, the guy is an absolute machine.
Yeah, that's true. I guess I was just saying that, even with completely fresh legs, he wouldn't beat most top pro triathletes. So, yeah, pretty much saying the same thing.
But, as has been said, it would be so good for the sport if Lance got into it. I don't think he ever will again, which is a bummer, but it won't stop us from talking about it once in a while. I can just see him looking back into Macca's eyes before he pulls away, like back in 2001.
"The melting point of wax means nothing to me": Thrice
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Anton posted 10 weeks ago.
Thinking about it...Someone of LA's stature wouldn't have to go join a team. I believe he could pull together the funding for his own. Sort of like a Rider/owner.
"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?" - Vincent Van Gogh
My Blog: http://agingsuperhero.blogspot.com
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Tamara posted 10 weeks ago.
It's official...he had a press conference today. Doesn't know which team yet, but he is "100% confident" that he'll be competing in the TdF next year.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/more/09/09/armstrong.ap/index.html...
"It's very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit." ~George Sheehan
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jonovision_man posted 10 weeks ago.
Wow. Good for the Tour, but I sure hope he can live up to his reputation...
jono
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ChunkyB posted 10 weeks ago.
Here's the link from above. I think it's cool that he's doing it to raise awareness of cancer, but I still think it would have been cooler if he had just bowed out gracefully.
But, don't get me wrong, I think it will definitely make the TdF more interesting next year.
"The melting point of wax means nothing to me": Thrice
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stewarba posted 10 weeks ago.
zagfan wrote:
ChunkyB wrote:I think he just isn't that fast a runner, period. I don't think he would win at Kona, but I think he could do very well.
I think this was the point that Dave Scott was getting at. Lance just wouldn't be as fast off the bike as the other top pros. Macca won last year with a 2:42. Lance ran a 2:50 in Boston this year. The logical reasoning would say that Lance would be a little slower after the first two legs. Also, we're talking Kona which means all of the top pros would be there. Could Lance win one of the other Ironman races? I think he could, the guy is an absolute machine.
I don't think its really fair to compare LA's marathon time with professional triathletes. You can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think LA has ever truly trained for a Marathon at least not since he retired from cycling. Not sure about Boston, but I remember reading that he never ran more than 12 (or 15 - its been awhile) miles leading up to his New York marathon due to his schedule. If LA wanted to put in the time he would be competitive.
Pain is the sensation of weakness leaving the body!
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CGroth posted 10 weeks ago.
this is from espn.com, looks like this is no lie...
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gfd posted 10 weeks ago.
Could he be going to any teambesides Astana? If not, how are they going to handle telling Contador that he is now a support rider in the mountains? Or do they give him the freedom to push Lance all the way to Paris?
"If you set a goal for yourself and are able to achieve it you have won your race." -Dave Scott
~Garen~
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jsk85 posted 10 weeks ago.
I for one hope he doesn't go to Astana, although it seems like an inevitability to me...I know he wouldn't be able to ride in support of Contador b/c of his personality, but at the same time Contador deserves to be the team leader. It would be great to see them go head2head. Although Johan would never allow it, it'd be sweet to have the rest of Astana ride in support of both, and just allow them to battle it out...dual team leaders...I guess similar to CSC (Schlek and Sastre) this year, but more heated I'd imagine.
Either way, it should at least make the next year of cycling pretty interesting
http://www.xtri.com/features_display.aspx?riIDReport=4919&CAT=24&xref=xx
this could get interesting....