Lance Armstrong and teammate, Tony Cruz, showed up at the Scary Fast Santa Cross race today here in SoCal. You can read the stories about him winning with ease on many of the news sites - I’ll leave that to them. Here are my observations:
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Lance and Sheryl actually showed up in a Subaru - no kidding, a black one.
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Although he had a few people with him, he didn’t have an “entourage” nor did he act like the superstar that he is. No special treatment, didn’t ask or expect any, he really was just one of the guys - as much as he could be, anyway.
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Tony Cruz was in his USPS kit, but not Lance. He had a black Nike skin suit with a yellow band across the chest. Inside the yellow band, in black lettering, was “WEARYELLOW.”
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He and Tony were very respectful while warming up on the course. Unlike many riders out there, they were cognizant of other races going on and stayed out of the way. I came up on them during my race (Master’s 35+), and made a joke about pack fodder needing to stay out of the way. The laughed and chased my on the downhill (oh how I wish someone had taken a picture).
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They were riding black Trek 'cross bikes - apparently they had been overnited to them by Trek when they decided to do the race (didn’t confirm this, but I’m pretty confident it’s true).
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Lance is carrying a little holiday weight (I’m guessing 10 pounds), but was still extremely fit. For the first few laps of the race, he hung up front with newly crowned 40+ National Cross Champ, Mark Noble, but he then accelerated on one of the many climbs on the course and that was that. Tony, while looking very fit, didn’t fare as well - he placed fourth. Lance’s cross skills, while not extraordinary, were still pretty good. Tony, well, he should stick to the road.
All-in-all, it was a fun day and a great surprise for the ever-growing SoCal 'cross scene. Mark Noble has a background in Triathlons, and won his Nat’l Champ jersey last week with his running skills. You multi-sporters should try 'cross for off-season cross-training. It’s fun…it hurts, but it’s fun.