How to Ride a Bicycle Like Lance Armstrong
Lance Armstrong's stunning 7 consecutive wins in the Tour de France were a product of his physiological and psychological discipline, strategic advantages and superior equipment. You can replicate some of Lance's magic by following his techniques.
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Instructions
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Get down to your lowest healthy weight. After cancer treatment, Armstrong had lost 20 pounds but retained his strength.
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Summon your determination. Armstrong had a legendary ability to get into "the zone." He had an unparalleled hunger to win and willingness to endure pain after defeating metastatic brain cancer.
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Buy the right bike for racing. Made from lightweight carbon fiber, Armstrong's climbing bike was 3 ½ ounces lighter than a tour bike. This sounds insignificant, but riders must have state-of-the art equipment to get the winning edge. Equip your bike with aerodynamic disk wheels.
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Position your body on the bike to reduce wind drag. Most bikers know the forward-leaning posture associated with bike racing. You must fine tune this angle to maximize your aerodynamics without losing power.
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Choose the clothing of champions. Typical racing bike apparel is form fitting, but Armstrong's had strategically placed dimples to deflect the wind.
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Train intensely if you want to compete. There isn't a substitute for the long, grueling hours Armstrong clocked on a bike. Sometimes he rode more than 450 miles a week.
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Ride at different altitudes. Your lungs must learn how to extract the most oxygen from the thin air at high altitudes.
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Comments
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toff
Aug 27, 2008
Bit of a let down article. All competitors who raced against armstrong did these things (with the exception of disk wheels, which are almost never used in outdoor bike racing). - Armstrong pedalled in a very high cadence compared to his competitors. This kept his legs fresher than his competitors, such as Jan Ullrich, who used to grind bigger gears. - Armstrong trained exclusevily for the Tour De France. He spend weeks climbing over the same mountain passes. This gave him intimate knowledge of the course, including when to attack, and when to conserv energy. - Armstrong developed the ability to accelerate on climbs. He would take his cadence, which was already higher than others, even higher for a minute or two, and surge away from them. He taught his legs to be supple enough to do this. Other riders would be forced to change from big gears to faster smaller gears to try to k -
toff
Aug 27, 2008
Bit of a let down article. All competitors who raced against armstrong did these things (with the exception of disk wheels, which are almost never used in outdoor bike racing). - Armstrong pedalled in a very high cadence compared to his competitors. This kept his legs fresher than his competitors, such as Jan Ullrich, who used to grind bigger gears. - Armstrong trained exclusevily for the Tour De France. He spend weeks climbing over the same mountain passes. This gave him intimate knowledge of the course, including when to attack, and when to conserv energy. - Armstrong developed the ability to accelerate on climbs. He would take his cadence, which was already higher than others, even higher for a minute or two, and surge away from them. He taught his legs to be supple enough to do this. Other riders would be forced to change from big gears to faster smaller gears to try to k
