Ben Stiller gets on Lance's bike

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Is Lance in good enough shape to win the Tour?

The last time he raced Cancellara over a similar distance at the Tour, in 2005, the Texan was a minute faster than the Swiss. Contador was nearly 2 minutes slower than Armstrong that day. On Saturday, Contador was 22 seconds quicker—but he is 11 years younger, too.

SHOOT: His strengths lie in his team, as a tactician. Is he the strongest rider in the Tour? No, but evidently not far from it, which means he is a contender. In cycling it's not always the strongest who wins, but the smartest. In Le Tour though, strength and fitness counts for a lot, especially in the mountains. This is a great article on Lance, check it out.

clipped from sports.yahoo.com The bottom line: on Saturday, Armstrong rode his worst time trial at the Tour since the cancer-survivor first took the race by the scruff of the neck in 1999. He placed—gasp!—10th. There’s dozens of guys at the Tour who would give their paychecks to be that good and 170 of them—most of them years his junior — finished behind him. Armstrong was only 40 seconds slower than the winner, Fabian Cancellara, the Olympic champion in this intense, technical discipline of racing against the clock. In building his record string of seven Tour wins from 1999-2005, Armstrong competed in 19 time trials and won 11 of them. He placed no worse than third in all the others except one—a short clock-race in Paris at the start of the 2003 Tour, where he was seventh.

Lance Armstrong on top of the Col du Columbiere

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SHOOT: If Liam can do it, so can Luke.

Lance Armstrong interviews Robbie Hunter [VIDEO]

Lance and Levi Speak With Robbie Hunter After the Giro -- powered by http://www.livestrong.com

SHOOT: This is great!

Giro: Chris Horner's brakes fail while going 50 mph downhill in the rain

SHOOT: Now this is good nail-biting journalism. Chris Horner, Armstrong's teammate describes a perilous descent in the rain on Stage 7. Armstrong - you can't help admiring him. Having broken a collar bone most people would expect him to play it safe. What does he do?

Horner: As we approached the descent the field was in full-gas mode. By now it was raining and 45 degrees. With every bit of road being used up, we were handle bar to handle bar fighting for position at 35 mph on wet, scary roads.

Astana teammate Lance Armstrong hit the front for us, stringing out the field by riding at 35 mph on the front. This helped to keep our team out of trouble and in good position at the front for the descent. On the descent we were up to 50 mph, and almost curb to curb, 10 to 12 guys across the road going all out in the rain.

Giro Stage 7: Watch the finish.

clipped from blog.oregonlive.com As we hit the tricky parts of the descent, the first hairpin started coming up quickly. I hit the brakes to set up for the corner, and NOTHING HAPPENED! Within seconds I was rubbing the rear tire of the rider directly in front of me at incredible speeds. At this point, I was really wishing that I made out my will before I left home. Time slowed down, and I knew that in the next second only two things could happen. One, I'm on the ground with something broken, or, two, the brakes would kick in and pull me back out of trouble. Luckily for me the brakes dried the rim enough that the pads could grab and start slowing me down. Now the only problem was that I still needed to survive 40 or 50 more hairpin turns in the next 30 miles before I would be safely at the finish. From this point on staying at the front and as safe as possible was the only thing on my mind.

Giro's stage 5: Lance feels the pain, concedes 3 minutes, but he's happy

SHOOT: Lance wanted to concede no more than 2 minutes, but felt okay with 3 minutes.

NYT: For Armstrong, the warm-up might be over. Four stages of his first Grand Tour since retiring in 2005 have passed. Voigt said he saw cracks in Armstrong late in Tuesday’s stage: “I don’t think he was looking too convincing.”

A bigger test will come Wednesday. The fifth stage has a climb at the end that quickly rises from 1,086 feet to 6,050 feet.

clipped from www.telegraph.co.uk Armstrong, nearer 38 than 37 and currently riding with his collar bone pinned with metal clasps after he suffered a fall at the Vuelta a Castilla y León in March, said: "I am happy with my performance. "This was my first big climb since retiring. I had a good feeling and no collarbone pain at all." On his Twitter page, the seven-time Tour de France winner said: "Uphill finish. Legs weren't bad and made it almost the whole way. Came off a little at the top. Not bad for 1st big climb in first grand tour back and for coming back after the crash. Overall, I'm pleased. Team was amazing as well. All look good. Tomorrow-tough!"

Lance 'The Animal' Armstrong is back

SHOOT: Have a look at the determination in the shot below, taken on stage one of the 2009 Giro d'Italia. Armstrong made 15th on the General Classification, and Astana were the third best team on the day, with a deficit of "16.

clipped from www.livestrong.com

Day 2 - Post Gira on the Bus -- powered by http://www.livestrong.com

Armstrong's best chance of winning in Oz is tomorrow

NVDL: I'll be watching.

clipped from www.telegraph.co.uk The American seven-time Tour De France winner, however, refused to rule out a large surge to get among the leaders as the race progresses. Armstrong finished in the peloton and conceded afterwards he was still a little rusty following his long lay-off. “It’s disappointing but still it’s January not July so I have to keep reminding myself,” he said. “It’s all about setting and resetting expectations, it’s been three-and-half years, it’s a long time. “This is still the first race back after a long time and I’d be kidding myself if I expected to show up and pound people.” The race concludes on Sunday on the streets of Adelaide with the Texan insisting he will be there or thereabouts come the finish. He said: “I think I can be there, I know I won’t be riding away (from the field).” It is expected Armstrong’s best chance of winning a stage will come tomorrow when the competitors ride from Snapper Point to Willunga.

It's cool in the pool - and sometimes it isn't (Column)

Know the difference!

There is a saying in Afrikaans aanhouer wen which directly translates to someone who keeps on screaming - on howler - is a wen/whiner. No, that's not it. It means persistence pays off. Ja,this time I'm sure.
The English equivalent of this is 'hard work pays off' or 'hard work is it's own reward'. William Penn said To have striven, to have made the effort, to have been true to certain ideals - this alone is worth the struggle. And Aristotle: We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. Do I have a point? Yup.

It's this. If you can come up with an effort, great. Your chance of success is far greater than if you do nothing. It's kind've like putting on a green. They say never hit the ball too soft. Why? If the ball falls short it never stood a chance of going in, whereas if it went long - even if it missed - at least you gave yourself a shot. Is the mist starting to clear?

Let me clear it for you even more. There are few things as dispiriting as putting in a lot of discipline and effort, and coming up short. And not because your effort lacked anything (except perhaps the right person to receive it). Fact is, to make an effort and fail again and again is just stupid. To fail twice at the same game is dumb, especially if you do the thing you do, the same way, for the same person. Aristotle has a curve ball in his claim that we are what we repearedly do. If you repeatedly make the same attempt without success, then the more often you do the exact same thing without success the dumber you are.
There is Colonel Sanders - one presumes he was learning something new every time he pitched his recipe, and perhaps he was adding the finishing touches along the way. But here's the thing: Colonel Sanders wasn't dumb enough to approach the same guy again and again, hoping he'd get a different answer.

Let me give you an example from my own extensive archive of how NOT to waste your effort. I'd seen on a freelance site that there were invitations to write for a particular finance publication. I made an offer, the guy said he liked my stuff, would I write 3 articles for him over the next 2 weeks, then he went off on holiday and I went - well, to Baviaans, Sun City, and got a double whammy of sickness. When he got back I told him I had been sick and hadn't gotten round to writing anything. He was pretty pissed he hadn't received anything from me, and sent me this email:

Hi Nick

I'm sorry that you are ill, in fact I can see it when reviewing your articles on Ohmynews International between 21 and 31 August, which don't have the sizzle of your writing that I reviewed earlier.

I do hope that you get better.

Clive

I got this email whilst sick and Clive was hoping for articles for his magazine called, ironically enough, Productivity. You read that email and it seems fine right? Actually Clive really didn't care that I was sick at all, in fact he didn't believe I was to begin with. The entire message is a contrived piece of sarcasm.

When I told him I had been sick, he then went onto Ohmynews (a resource of my articles I'd provided him with as a sort've portfolio) and 'checked up' to see I had produced writing in that time. Since I'd written for them why didn't I write for him? Er...because I was sick Clive. Do you want one doctor's note or two? His comment at the end: I hope you get better is scathingly ambiguous. Even though I suspected as much, I still made one extra effort to say - Look, would you like any those pieces you asked for. He didn't respond. Here is an example of someone you never approach again. Ever.

In contradistinction, I submitted a 4x4 story to Leisure Wheels in the last few weeks and I got this curt reply:

Thanks...but no thanks

I then emailed the editor (Jannie) directly. He made a personal call to me the next day (while I was cycling to Sun City) and said, "We'd love to see your stuff." When he got it he said they liked it and wanted the photos on disk.

Notice how important discernment is in the above cases. But there's something else. Make a single extra effort - even in the face of defeat. Trick is - break that habit of defeat early.

When on the brink of complete discouragement, success is discerning that... the line between failure and success is so fine that often a single extra effort is all that is needed to bring victory out of defeat. - Elbert Green Hubbard

You can put in endless amounts of hard work for the Clives of this world. Please don't. Rather save yourself for Jannie, who values what you do and will even call you to make sure you know he wants what you have to offer.

You don't have to be a writer to know Clive and Jannie. You might have a boyfriend or girlfriend or just a friend, or a boss, or a relative. Invest in Jannie. All that energy you have, the work you do - don't cast those pearls before swine. Pay attention to the way people treat you. Don't persist with those who persist in not knowing their manners. It's really not about the manners aspect - it's the fact that if someone doesn't know to treat you and your work with respect, they probably don't know what to do with treasure when they've found it. You want someone who will take care of your treasure, and carry you on a sailboat of success - the wind a wind of your will, your dreams turned into action.

The other aspect is that single extra effort. That's you. That's where you get up and put the scraps of what remains and give it another go. That's how I did the 2005 Ironman. One last effort, third time lucky. I'm sure we all have stories about how important the one last attempt can be. Ryk Neethling quit swimming around 8-9 years ago. Then he started swimming for fun, enjoyed it, got better and put in another effort. He ended up - well, it's old news now.
Look at Michael Phelps. He got his 8 gold medals, but some medals were one by the smallest fraction imaginable.

In cycling, perhaps more than any other sport, if you put in that extra effort on the climb, during the break - you stay with the bunch, or with the breakaway. In a sprint, I've been matched pedal for pedal, over 2 or 3 hundred metres. It's those last 5 metres that matter. In cycling if you fail to put in that last bit of effort, you lose the bunch and can struggle - literally - for a hour, even hours on your own. Relationships can sometimes work like that. Getting that effort into the hoop. In my case it might be a story published or getting a certain result in a bike race.

Lance Armstrong has just announced his intention to make one last effort. He is coming out of retirement for an 8th attempt at winning the Tour de France. Btw that's his new bike shop pictured at the top of this post. A large part of that final effort involves Lance surrounding himself with a strong team. People who believe in him, people who believe he can win and who will help him win. And crucially - people willing and able to translate that belief in Lance into belief in their own ability to come up with great blood curdling efforts. Every last effort from Lance and his team will count (Lance even has a book that echoes that - Every second counts). When people say, squeeze every drop out of an experience, there is a tremendous amount of wisdom, reward and benefit in that.

Zig Ziglar summarises it best. Where you start is not as important as where you finish. Keep track of where you are. There are people out there that will insist on you dropping the anchor. Steer clear of them. That's the easy part. The hard part is being the sort of person that knows how to sail, how hard and fast to sail and finding like minded people on the ocean of truth that is out there to sail with. There aren't many, but the rewards out there are worth it. Good luck.

Freeing the Lance (Armstrong) in You (Me)

Freelance writing isn't the easiest job in the world is it? To register with the Southern African Freelancers Association (SAFREA) go here.

Meanwhile, here's my power bar (instead of pizza) powered mission statement (an extract from a recent email to BW):

I have been published in Shape, go!, Heartland, Sunday Times, a few paying local and overseas websites. An article will appear in this Sunday’s Sunday Times. My goal is to be recognized as an important voice. Not quite like Barry who is sort of specialized. Sort of like a mix of Noam Chomsky and Jim Kunstler (www.kunstler.com) who talk variously and meaningfully about important matters in the sense that one is recognized as a bit of an intellectual, a sane and sensible voice in the media maelstrom. I’d be distinctive in that I would add to the dour political comments an occasional artistic view or appreciation of the world. I also believe in altruism and sustainability, and see writing as a vital way of reforming the zeitgeist/world. It’s one way to shift our collective psychology to begin to affect urgently needed lifestyle changes.

I think what I bring to the craft is great visuals, useful analogies, and also a firsthand hands on approach. I don’t like the idea of the survile weakass loser nerdy reporter who goes grubbing for stories. I prefer the idea of the writer as a well established, successful human being in his or her own right who also has experience in other things (in other words, is balanced and doesn’t relie solely on writing for ego satisfaction). That’s why I enjoy interviewing successful swimmers, because I was a good swimmer and sportsman, and I get where they are coming from, and can ‘talk their language’. This provides far more insights than a wannabe going: “I can’t even swim one length. How do you do it?”

I also want to go a lot further, publishing fiction, making films, affecting change. Getting involved, but as an independent, not joining clubs or working through some other voice. I’ve been very frustrated in the area of getting my fiction manuscripts actually read by publishers. Friends have read a manuscript called HOLIDAY, some have read it again and again 2 or 3 times. Yet the publishers turn their noses up at it. As I say, I suspect they don’t even look at it from the generic responses. Even the latest Time magazine writes about Apocalypse New – saying there is so much end of the world stuff coming out – I am Legend, Cloverfield. HOLIDAY was inspired by a similarly post apoc book called The Road.

Buy Tickets To See Lance Armstrong at Coca Cola Dome

Just received an email and sms from 94.7 organisers informing me of race numbers and associated events. They're also promoting the Night of the Stars thing, which Lance will be attending, and another event the next day at the same venue. To buy tickets, click here.

Lance Armstrong: 7 (VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS OF AN ASTONISHING LIFE)

Lance Armstrong 7 - Funny bloopers R us

Lance Armstrong: Enjoy The Weather (NIKE VIDEO AD)

Lance Armstrong - enjoy the weather!!! - Watch a funny movie here
From the last page (185) of HOW LANCE DOES IT, By Brad Kearns:

As Lance says in his It's Not About The Bike, "I realized that I only had one more chance [after recovering from cancer], and that this time around I had to do everything to the absolute maximum, to strive for perfection. This is my secret now. My competition cannot possibly have the eyes that I have."

Each of us has only one more chance in life - today will come around just once in your lifetime. Make it the best day possible; do your absolute best today tomorrow, and every day. When you adopt this powerful stance and act accordingly, you become a breath of fresh air to everyone you interact with in your life. Just like Lance.

Armstrong: Did you know?

"Cancer awakened Lance to the fact that he was intelligent."

"It's not that Lance broke the code on cancer. Cancer broke the code on Lance."
- both quotes by Bart Knaggs

Lance’s 4 Success Factors

Brad Kearns book How Lance Does It explains what it takes to be a champion

Kearns book on cycling legend Lance Armstrong has something different to offer. At the very least, it offers positive reinforcement and ultimately, is a very motivating and fresh perspective.

Brad Kearns trained and raced with Lance when Armstrong was a promising triathlete, even before ihis transformation as Ubercyclist.

Kearns posits the following success factors:

Positive Attitude: By turning every negative (even something like cancer) into a positive, you create a positive result in a positive mainframe.
Clarity of Purpose: The difference between Lance and his competitors in the Tour de France was simple single-mindedness. Lance’s goal was concrete, and simple: Win the Tour. Coming second to Lance was the equivalent of losing. That represents a high standard, but the value of this commitment lies in its hard no-nonsense simplicity.

Specialized Intelligence: Competitive advantage often lies in this area, but perhaps this is the most difficult area to develop and more important, maintain an edge. Triathletes and cyclists invest a lot of energy and resources into using the lightest and most aerodynamic technology to get on top. By the same token, whoever you are and whatever your business investmenting time and thought into strategy and software can pay off huge dividends in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. Important to remember, before starting anything is to first ask: Why? And then decide How?

Pure Confidence: Belief is a great motivator, and belief tends to be bolstered by preparation. Preparation means many things: work, training, readiness, investigation, homework and groundwork. It’s all of these things of course.

Lance’s life is motivating because whether we are out of shape or depressed, we can always compare ourselves to Lance who had it all, seemed about to lose it all (to cancer) and then really came back, Living Strong, with his new lease on life. We also learn that it is the basics that count: love of sport, or love of work (but a basic love of life) that must underscore an sinpired and meaningful life.

Americans on America

You might be surprised (then again you might not) that Americans themselves find themselves unwittingly propelled towards a certain fate, thanks to The Prez. They don't feel good about it, but they don't seem to be capable of much more than bitching at this point. 60% of Americans are overweight, and the obese percentile of that group is enough to populate Spain. Is it any wonder that those capable of getting off their butts to beat around the Bush are by far in the minority.

If you follow the link provided (click here or click on 'bitching' above)you can follow a New York Times forum on what Americans are thinking and saying regarding the mess they're in.

I wonder what a world under Al Gore would have been like? Theoretically America would allow itself to diminish, and other countries would follow suit, working around the clock to figure out how to transition from oil to anything else. Sssshh. By the way: Oil futures have been nudging historic world records over the past few days. Ssssh.

If all else fails, Vote Lance for President.

Get Out There

LiveSTRONG, like Lance

Understanding his winning psychology

Daniel Coyle describes Lance Armstrong’s Psychology, which is based on fairly simple, but highly effective software, on these paradigms:

1. Binary evaluations: everything is either good or bad, there are no grey areas.
2. Attack, push, inflict yourself on the world.
3. Free yourself; block out the negative.

To understand how powerful Armstrong’s persona is in the world of cycling - it’s moved into popular mythology since - it is important to have a basic understanding of the lifestyle, and the realities, of the professional cyclist.

During the 2002 NASCAR season, there were five injuries all year. Professional cyclists (and there are approximately 400) suffer about five serious injuries a week. These injuries include having the flesh torn off your eye, punctured lungs, broken vertebrae, concussions and that staple of cycling injuries - the broken collar bone.

For the full article click on the title of this post.