July 6, 2004

TdF: The Lance Effect

Earlier today I wrote about the Tour de France and effect that Lance Armstrong's success is having on bike sales. For me, the Lance effect is a little different. I was into cycling long before I ever heard of Lance Armstrong, though I chose the brand of my latest bike indirectly because of Lance - he's the only rider in the Tour to ride an American-made bike, and it's made by Trek, and they've made incredible advances in technology and produce, in my opinion, bikes that offer the best technology and the best price. The fact that Trek bikes have won the tour five times in a row sold me on my new Trek 2100.

But that's not the "Lance effect" for me. For me, the Lance effect is that strange feeling that I really ought to be out riding 30 or 40 miles instead of watching the Tour de France on teevee, especially the early stages that seem so inconsequential in a 23-stage, 2,100-mile bike race.