Rock Racing Style

I have found the Holy Grail of cycling clothing! After Tyler Hamilton joined Rock racing I have followed Rock Racing and have become drawn to there kit but never had the $400 to see what the hype was all about. The logo is a little heavy metal and the colors are wild and flashy for most people, but I like the looks of how they are put together and my nephew thinks it looks like a super suit.

The jersey breaths well and does not have the uncomfortable elastic band around the arms like most jerseys do, there is a rubber strip around the waist to keep the jersey from riding up while in the drops. The zipper is a full zip and does not bulge around the belly like most full zip jerseys tend to do and the zipper is covered and zips easy with one hand. The jerseys are perforated for better breathability but you can’t see the holes from the out side of the jersey.

The Bibs are the best! If you have the means I highly recommend picking a pair up. The chamois is comfortable and breaths very well, all the bibs panels are well placed so they fit snug were they are suppose to be snug. The rubber band around the leg is very comfortable and does not restrict movement, the legs are longer than regular shorts though and I thought that would drive me nuts but I didn’t even notice once I was riding. And the biggest thing for me is the material breaths well in heat.
I can’t tell you how great they are so I would recommend if there is one kit you must have in you cycling clothing arsenal it’s a Rock Racing kit.

Armstrong 22nd overall at 3:34 Back?

Armstrong has been saying since the start of the Giro that he’s not here to race to win, but his fans worldwide just didn’t want to believe it. After hanging with the leaders Tuesday in his first mountain summit since retiring in 2005, I was still hoping for a miracle. Just hours before the stage started, Armstrong said he expected to lose two minutes. He was close and he always knows his numbers. After getting gapped with about six kilometers to go, Armstrong came across the line 35th at 2:58 back. “Like I said in the beginning, the first half is not going to be my half. I have to ride into the race and get my condition back after the accident. We’ll see what happens in the second half of the Giro,” Armstrong said at the line. “I cannot expect to be in the front. If I could have woken up this morning, snapped my finger and ridden away from everybody, I would have done that. I’d like that but it’s not realistic in 2009.” All eyes were on the seven-time Tour champ when he started swinging at the back of the lead pack with seven kilometers to go. With Liquigas cranking up the speed, topping 30kph on the 7-percent grades up the winding climb to Alpe di Suisi, the front group of 30 favorites was strung out and the chord finally broke for Armstrong with about six kilometers to go. “I don’t have a problem with people riding away from me. I knew it was going to happen,” he said. “I just look around, find my guys and ride my tempo.” He was always surrounded by his Astana teammates Janez Brajkovic, Chechu Rubiera and Dani Navarro, the four of them climbed together and limited their losses. “We just started to ride our tempo and try to limit the losses. Maybe two minutes, but closer to three, but that’s OK,” Armstrong said. “It was a matter of finding the right rhythm, you find your threshold and hold it there.” The people were cheering as we went by as if we were winning,” said Rubiera. “Lance was setting the rhythm and once he recovered a bit, we were going faster. My job here is to help him. I follow him even on the downhills back to the team bus, because people jump out to take photos and get in the way. I am impressed with his condition, considering he broke his collarbone in Spain a month ago. He’ll be good at the Tour.”

Armstrong’s bikes have been tagged.

Following tradition of having a custom painted Trek Madone for Tour Down Under earlier this year; Lance Armstrong will be racing the Giro d'Italia aboard two very unique Treks.

His Madone and TTX time trial bike have been decorated by artists Shepard Fairey and Kenny Scharf especially for the upcoming Giro, the first time the 7-time Tour de France winner will be competing in the Italian stage race, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the race.

Armstrong's trusty steed, his otherwise stock Madone 6.9, has been painted by Shepard Fairey to draw attention to the Livestrong foundation, the reason Armstrong has returned to racing, as well as pay homage to Italy's rich architectural heritage. Meanwhile, Armstrong's TTX displays a 'lightspeed' look by Kenny Scharf. The numbers 1274 on the frame refer to the numbers of day Armstrong was retired for. 27.5 million is the approximate number of people who died from Cancer during that time period. Both bikes will be auctioned at Nike's Stages, a global travelling anti-cancer show organised to benefit the Lance Armstrong Foundation, when it visits New York on 2 October.

Britain's Mark Cavendish is the first maglia rosa wearer — the first pink leader's jersey of the 100th anniversary Giro d'Italia —After his Columbia-Highroad team won the opening 20.5 kilometer team time trial.
The American team was the first starter and held the lead all day, finishing at 21:50. The team finished with its full team and Cavendish crossed the line first. And the other American team Garmin Slipstream was 6 seconds behind Columbia-Highroad in second and must have been disappointed not to repeat its win at the Giro's opening TTT, which last year put our own Christian Vande Velde in the pink jersey.
"We got down early and it was too much to overcome," the team's David Millar said. "I really thought we would be able to win again today, but it wasn't meant to be. That's sport."

Astana, matched Columbia at the first time check, but fell 6 seconds behind at the second marker and ended up third at 13 seconds.
All in all it was a good day for US cycling and Lance.

Who’s paying for this.

Well it looks like Lance Armstrongs team will start the Giro d'Italia this weekend wearing Astana uniforms, despite financial difficulties at the team.
The European media has been saying that some team employees and riders have not been paid and the team is in jeopardy of losing its UCI license. There is a lot of talk about weather new sponsors will step in to rescue the team, even as soon as the start of the Giro. However there is little real information to suggest that, beyond Armstrong's mentioning to reporters that he would like, at some point, to own and manage his own pro team.
Armstrong told reporters in Italy on Wednesday that the financial situation concerned him. "There's not a lot of clarity about what is going to happen," he said, according to the Associated Press.
"Maybe the situation gets resolved, and the guys start getting their dough," Armstrong told the AP. "Otherwise, I think the license ought to be transferred to (team director) Johan (Bruyneel), and we try and start a team in the middle of the season."
Alain Rumpf, the UCI ProTour manager, said there has been no request to transfer the team's license to new owners.
"We are working to ensure that this critical situation can be solved in a satisfactory manner for all parties," Rumpf said. The team's license is owned by the Kazakh Cycling Federation. "If it is transferred, the license commission will have to make a decision under which condition a transfer can be approved. However, I would like to point out that this is purely hypothetical as we have received no request for the moment."

So it looks like Armstrong may be without a team. I hope I didn’t jynx him by posting my last blog! Sorry Lance.