Armstrong Wins Ironman 70.3 Florida (w/cool photo).

Would have been even faster if he knew where to mount his waterbottles!

Just over 2hrs on the bike, alone, without a pack, is pretty impressive.  And a none too shaby run as a followup.  Can't wait to see what happens in France.

He used to live in Nice, shared a place with Frankie Andreu. They rode all over that place. He'll likely have a strong bike ride. He's a good descender, and those descents are horrifying.

I think Armstrong will be the new Mayor of Nice after that race.

Did anyone *really* expect anything different from one of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen? Let's not forget this guy's career - he 'became a cyclist' because he was 'pretty good on the bike' during that leg in triathlons *when he was younger*. He WON his FIRST triathlon entered, at age 13. He had already proven himself as a freakishly good swimmer. Think his mind is a little weak? You might have forgotten about the CANCER. 

He's a total freak, and really fun to watch, but I'm also an unabashed Yankees fan, so I tend to enjoy the behemoths of sport.

Sad.

I thought there was going to be a picture of a cat.

Insert PED joke here

At one point in the race I was only 10 minutes behind him.  He started at 6:30 and I started at 6:40.  Gave him a head start

Seriously though , it was great for the race having him there.  Made for a lot of excitement. 

Duane

"I thought there was going to be a picture of a cat."

Best I could do on short notice...

"Are you talking about the hump in his back? I believe it is because anytime they were able to get his back flat he was losing too much power, therefore going slower."

There are three reasons for Armstrong's position being a little different than the flat back stereotype oft considered as de facto "best": 

1. His rounded  back was more aerodynamic in wind tunnel tests that began with John Cobb and continued on with other testing. This thinking was confirmed in other tests with Chris Boardman and later Bjorn Andersson, who both had radically low positions with flat backs but higher drag coefficients than Armstrong's posture.

Here's Andersson at Allied Aerospace:

2. Armstrong broke his back in a cycling accident while training in southern Europe about 8 years ago. As a result he reported issues with lower back mobility, especially at the top of the pedal stroke.

 3. Armstrong had surgery on his saddle area as a result of his battle with cancer. The resultant surgery scars may influence his saddle and posture preference; he may like to sit a specific way to accomodate any anomolies he has since surgery. That may influence the angle of his pelvis on the bike.

Parker Johnson - 2012-05-22 5:09 PM I can't stop staring at the bike

I'm with 'ya.  That doesn't look like anything I've seen at the local Trek store...

"I wonder how much those wheels cost?"

For LA, probably nothing...

They are likely Zipps with his own graphics (404 front and disk rear). When I toured the Zipp factory in Indiana they told the story of how Lance's wheels for the Tour de France came right off the same production as consumer wheels. One of the ladies in the there did say she wrote "Goodluck lance!" inside one of the hub bodies with a sharpie when they were assembling his wheels.

an anomoly, such as one ball