Thursday, December 10, 2009

Lance, Logos and Team Radio Shack

Now that I've officially completed my first month of 'getting back' into cycling... I re-instated my free online subscription to "RoadBikeRider" e-zine. For signing up, you get a free e-book, "29 Pro Cycling Secrets for Roadies" which is full of good info.

This week was a pretty entertaining issue as there was quite a bit about Lance Armstrong. I know I'm on my own 'comeback' starting a point way behind where Lance was when he left the sport (obviously) but he's almost TEN YEARS older than I am. Surely if I train my butt off for 10 years I can get close? Don't think so? Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Anyhow - here are some smiles for your day courtesy of Lance:

NBC Philadelphia - Lance Can't Stand "StillerStrong"
Stiller and Armstrong are going head to head in a YouTube war. Who knows, maybe it will end in a walk-off like the LapDogs Christmas party for 'best legs'...

Looks as though Team Radio Shack has been pretty busy this week. It almost looks like they've only published their fan site within the last couple of days. This is one of the best cycling team sites I've seen. It's seriously excellent; easy to navigate, relevant information, user feedback all over the place... The bust is I don't think they bought enough bandwidth as when I tried to go back on a few minutes after finding it via google...

Here's some fresh photos posted within the last THREE HOURS (Dec 10, Lance Armstrong, Livestrong and Team Radio Shack release previews of the new Trek Madone). There's a place on their forum to vote. While requesting a "Thumbs Up" or "Thumbs Down" vote - I voted "TD for design and TU for parts. Why?

In a drive for branding and sponsorship; "Team Shack" shows just how many logos you CAN fit on a bike.

Seriously, how many R's do you have to put on a bike before it's too many? (How many are on there now -10, maybe 15?) And get off the wheels! Lance's yellow discs were a think of beauty; true design. If they need "Radio Red" make a cool design that makes your eyes bug out when the boys are flying by at 45mph.

We all talk about how it's the 'clean' bikes that are the beauties of the tour. Radioshack, if you're listening - EVERYBODY will know that you're sponsoring Lance and an incredible team; you don't have to splash it all over the bike. "Quality not quantity", I think a little more class would be nice.

Parts - great kit set-up. Worked well last year! (I just wish I could get a set of Pro Team SRAM Red cranks; I'm hoping to swap my retail version for a stiffer set of Dura Ace 7900s). I recall the guys at Toyota-Fuji United saying the Bontrager wheel's were the stiffest out there. Everyone knows tours can be won on Trek's Madone model... Don't think you can really go wrong there anywhere, well except for the design.

You can vote on the bike design yourself here and see more photos here.

Online Info:

www.teamradioshack.us/ (amazing interactive fan site)
www.teamradioshack.com/ (ad spalsh page)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_RadioShack
www.facebook.com/TeamRadioShack
http://twitter.com/TeamRadioshack (official twitter)
http://twitter.com/team_radioshack (fan twitter)

No comments:

Post a Comment