Biking Bis - Bicycle Touring and More

Armstrong confronts bicyclists' Public Enemy No. 1

Gene Bisbee — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:57:00 -0700

When someone clued Lance Armstrong about comments made by the host of a sports call-in show, he didn't like what he heard. His reaction on Twitter:

"Disgusting, ignorant, foolish. What a complete f-ing idiot."

The "f-ing idiot" was Tony Kornheiser, long-time sports commentator who had already been suspended from ESPN once this year for commenting on an outfit worn by a female co-anchor.

What drew Armstrong's anger was Kornheiser's comments about how motorists should hit bicyclists with their cars. He was running-off at the mouth ....

Watching Milan - San Remo online and on air

Gene Bisbee — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:43:00 -0700

For cycling enthusiasts, March Madness continues with Italy's Milan - San Remo bicycle race on Saturday.

Considered the opening day of the Spring Classics series, the one-day race will be streamed live on Universalsports.com beginning at 10 a.m. (ET), following by replays and highlights. The race will be broadcast on Universal Sports cable at 3 p.m. (ET), with repeats at 8 p.m. Saturday and 1 a.m. Sunday.

Americans cycling at the 185-mile slog include sprinter Tyler Farrar (Garmin) and George Hincapie, Brent Bookwalter and Jeffrey Louder (BMC Racing).

Lance Armstrong was scheduled to lead the Team RadioShack contingent...

Windy South African bike race for Lance Armstrong

Gene Bisbee — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:43:00 -0700

Lance Armstrong knows all the details of the epic l'Alpe d'Huez and the Tourmalet climbs in France. Now he can say he knows about the howling winds at the Cape Argus too.

Armstrong finished in 9th place among the elite cyclists riding at the Cape Argus Cycle Tour in South Africa.

The 7-time Tour de France winner traveled to South Africa immediately after the Vuelta de Murcia in Spain to ride to raise funds for a South African charity.

The Cape Argus is a massive charity bike ride that boasted some 35,000 participants this year. It has an elite cyclist element, however ....

Murcia ends with Armstrong in 7th; Paris-Nice begins with Leipheimer in 3rd

Gene Bisbee — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 09:02:00 -0800

Lance Armstrong finished the Vuelta de Murcia on Sunday in 7th place behind winner Frantisek Rabon of HTC-Columbia; Armstrong's plans include adding another race to his Tour de France preparations.

Meanwhile, his Team RadioShack teammate Levi Leipheimer opened the Paris-Nice bike race with a third place finish in the prologue, 6 seconds behind Lars Boom of Rabobank. The race will roll across France through Sunday.

More action unfolds this week as the Tirreno-Adriatico rolls out Wednesday for seven days across Italy. Highlights will be streamed live on the Universal Sports website.

Regarding his 7th place finish, Armstrong told reporters:

"Worried would be too strong of a word. ....

Team Columbia's Rabon leads Murcia; Armstrong climbs to 7th

Gene Bisbee — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 10:52:00 -0800

HTC-Columbia's Czech time-trial champion Frantisek Rabon won Stage 5 of the Murcia bike race on Saturday and took the overall lead, as Lance Armstrong climbed into 7th place.

The Vuelta Ciclista a la Region de Murcia across southern Spain ends Sunday with a 75-mile stage that's expected to end in a mass sprint.

Elsewhere, the week-long Paris-Nice bicycle race starts Sunday in France, and Tirreno-Adriatico rolls out Wednesday for seven days across Italy.

While top racers struggle for top finishes in the Murcia bike race, most eyes are on Armstrong. RadioShack manager Johan Bruyneel made headlines ...

Armstrong rides again at Murcia, Hunter wins stage

Gene Bisbee — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 08:34:00 -0800

Lance Armstrong returned to pro cycling at the Vuelta Ciclista a la Regiona de Murcia on Wednesday, more than a month after completing the Tour Down Under.

But it was Robbie Hunter, riding for US-based Garmin Transitions, who supplied the sparks to the first stage of the race across southern Spain that ends Sunday.

The South African won a bunch sprint at the end of stage 1, beating the likes of Graeme Brown (Rabobank) and Daryl Impey (RadioShack), among others ....

Armstrong to compete at 2010 Criterium International bike race in March

Gene Bisbee — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 06:59:00 -0800

Update: Feb. 4 -- Also cycling in Cape Argus bike ride in South Africa

Lance Armstrong and Team Radio Shack will compete at the Criterium International bike race on the island of Corsica on March 27 - 28.

That's a change for Armstrong, who originally was scheduled to race in the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya in Spain from March 22 - 28 .

Race director Christian Prudhomme made the announcement; he's also director of the Tour de France, which is owned by the same group that owns the Criterium. The schedule change ...

Is Armstrong big enough to be Athlete of the Decade?
No, he's No. 2

Gene Bisbee — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 07:45:00 -0800

Associated Press picked golfer Tiger Woods to be its Athlete of the Decade, beating out nine other male and female athletes, including Lance Armstrong.

Woods, whose squeaky clean image has been tarnished ever since he crashed backing out of his driveway last month, was chosen for dominating the world of golf for the past 10 years.

Armstrong finished second in voting by AP member editors. Woods got 56 to Armstrong's 33. And Armstrong finished far behind Woods in the number of late-night talk show jokes written about him.

More than half the ballots were turned in after the Woods crash that launched his sex scandal .....

Lance Armstrong's 2010 cycling schedule

Gene Bisbee — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:49:00 -0800

Some interesting news from Lance Armstrong buried in other items at the Team RadioShack press conference in Tucson this week was his tentative bike racing schedule for 2010.

VeloNews mentions just six races for Armstrong in the 2010 season, although there's nothing to prevent him from adding more.

Here are the races as reported at VeloNews and the dates ....

Fashion statement from Team RadioShack; and the new Madone

Gene Bisbee — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:00:00 -0800

Team RadioShack has issued a sneak peak of the prototype jersey the new US-based pro cycling team might be wearing next year.

Then Trek released a photo of the Madone that Team RadioShack will use in 2010. The graphic scheme will be available to the public in March.

I like the distinctive look of the jersey.

With the grey top and red through the torso, it should be easy to spot from helicopter camera views of the peloton. That's especially helpful if you're trying to find Lance Armstrong's team on a foreign language broadcast.

From the looks of the first day of training camp in Tucson on Monday, the team could use its own jersey. ....