Team Radio Shack

Team RadioShack has just given us die-hard fans a sneak preview of its new jersey for the 2010 racing season and it looks good! Now before you go out and buy matching helmets, socks, gloves, water bottles, repaint your bike... this is a working prototype of the jersey whose final design is not be revealed until the Santos Tour Down Under in Australia staring January 19th. However, it’s apparent that this design is pretty close to the real deal that you’ll be watching as the boys start to make their presence felt in the first race of the season. In fact I hear The Shack team are wearing similar kits right now in Arizona as they begin training as a complete squad riding in team colors for the first time.
They’re obviously as excited as I am about their prospects this year and it comes through in their explanation of the kit. Here’s the exact words from the official announcement, “It was our goal this year to create something visually distinctive and a look that was symbolic of what we feel Team RadioShack is all about: cutting edge technology, speed, strength, determination and a global message to LIVESTRONG. The experts at Nike and our partners at RadioShack helped to create this fast form-fitting design using various textures and patterns symbolizing the themes of new technology, global connectivity and community. I think it looks pretty cool.”

Trek's new TTX

Trek’s development of a new TTX time trial bike could almost have been predicted: Giant, Scott, and Specialized have all engineered new TT frame platforms for their ProTour teams in the last 12 months, while Trek’s design cycle apparently remained static (at least in public).
Design Features
It looks like some big changes from the current TTX, the stem and fork crown merge in front of the "head tube". This hinged design is similar to what has been seen on Look and BMC TT bikes, as well as the current crop of UCI-compliant bikes from Giant, Scott, and Specialized.

Most notable on the front end is the apparent absence of a front brake — however; it’s not missing, just hidden between the fork blades. In fact, zooming in on head-on photos of the bike in action reveals what appear to be caliper pivots, and possibly an enclosed area for cable attachment. While most have tucked a front brake behind the fork crown, Trek looks like they took an extra step of actually hiding it IN the crown. The fork blades look especially wide, both to house the front brake, and maybe maximize airflow and the benefit of a three-spoke front wheel.
The rear brake is also hidden under the chainstays, and in fact not just hidden, but again integrated into the frame tubes. Close inspection of the photos shows the gap between the brake arm and chainstay, as well as a brake pad and fixing bolt. The brake arm is so perfectly matched to the chainstay that it could easily pass for the stay itself.
I’ll I can say is Trek looks to have done it again and now I want it. I can’t wait to see the real thing.

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.