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Armstrong Prompts Huge Growth in Cycling



 
 
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Old July 24th 05, 06:28 AM
Garrison Hilliard
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Default Armstrong Prompts Huge Growth in Cycling

Armstrong Prompts Huge Growth in Cycling

By TIM REYNOLDS
AP Sports Writer





Without fail, it happens daily at this time of year. Someone, typically
middle-aged and at least a wee bit out of shape, ambles into Lance Armstrong's
favorite bike shop and professes to be "just looking." And a few minutes later,
that person wheels away a bicycle - the first one he's owned in, perhaps,
decades.

There's no simpler example of the legacy Armstrong has created and will leave
behind Sunday, when - barring some sort of catastrophe - he takes his last
victory laps along the Champs-Elysees in Paris, where hundreds of thousands are
likely to watch him wrap up his seventh, and final, Tour de France title.

"The business is a nice reward, but the best thing is still that a home boy is
in the Tour de France," says Ken "Woody" Smith, manager of the Richardson Bike
Mart in Richardson, Texas - a store that builds an annual shrine to Armstrong,
complete with authentic yellow jerseys and other mementos.

"He's made cancer survivors out of people. He's got people who don't look like
bike riders buying bikes. He inspires everyone to do more, to be better."

USA Cycling, the sport's national governing body, says more Americans are riding
bicycles these days than ever before - a direct correlation to Armstrong's
popularity. And the stable of professional riders in this country may have the
most depth and talent in history, in large part because Armstrong raised the bar
so high.

Without question, when the Texan pedals away he'll leave cycling better than
when he found it.

"But I don't know what happens next," says John Sabatier, a director of the
rapidly growing Everglades Bicycling Club in South Florida. "And that scares me
to death."

Since Armstrong - who is retiring at the end of this race to devote more time to
his family - won his first Tour in 1999, membership in officially sanctioned
road-cycling clubs has risen more than 20 percent. Bicycle shops nationwide
report higher business, with a distinct spike every summer around Tour time.

Sabatier estimates that his club has seen a 40 percent jump in members since
1999, mainly because of the Armstrong phenomenon.

"It's the bug. They get bit by the cycling bug," he says.

Yet even while Armstrong has dominated a sport like perhaps no other athlete,
cycling still finds itself fighting for respectability in the United States. And
several up-and-comers might have to collectively carry his torch now, since no
one expects to see another Armstrong-type rider again.

"I think the biggest change over these last few years has just been having Lance
in the program and him doing the things he's done," says Jim Ochowicz, the
president of USA Cycling. "It's been huge for him and huge for a lot of other
guys who find themselves having more and new opportunities now."

Take Armstrong out of the equation, and it's still been a pretty solid Tour for
American riders.

David Zabriskie wore the leader's yellow jersey at the start, before dropping
out because of an injury. Armstrong's longtime top lieutenant, George Hincapie,
won a stage. Levi Leipheimer and Floyd Landis were among the top 10 at midweek
and poised for strong finishes. Olympic bronze medalist Bobby Julich wasn't far
from the leaders.

It's a much different scenario from the days when riders such as Armstrong and
his predecessor as the American bike king, three-time Tour champion Greg LeMond,
were considered the only true world-class U.S. cyclists.

"Before Lance, there'd typically be a few elite Americans. Now you see different
Americans leading different teams, having significant roles on premier teams,"
says Kip Mikler, editor of the cycling magazine VeloNews. "We're not going to
have another American seven-time winner, but they're pretty competitive."

Another major facet of the legacy Armstrong - a cancer survivor - leaves behind
is his mark on culture, even away from the bike.

More than 50 million of those yellow "LiveStrong" wristbands have been sold,
with the money raised going toward cancer research. Now, a new
Armstrong-inspired clothing line - "10//2" - rapidly is gaining popularity, with
some proceeds there benefiting the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

The line derives its name from the date Armstrong was diagnosed with cancer -
Oct. 2, 1996.

"In terms of persona, we'll most likely never see another Lance Armstrong," says
USA Cycling spokesman Andy Lee. "Not only because of his dominating Tour de
France wins over the years, but because of the incredible human interest
component to his story."

For the last three weeks, people at bike stores and hospitals nationwide have
crowded around televisions to watch the Outdoor Life Network - a once-fledgling
cable network that smartly decided to begin showing the Tour live, and has seen
its ratings soar - telecast the images of Armstrong's final competitive ride.

At the bike shop in Richardson, a store that once had Armstrong as a team member
in the late 1980s, they'll lay out a traditional French breakfast, including
croissants and coffee. Some devout cyclists even will skip their traditional
Sunday ride, just to make sure they see Armstrong's finale.

"Lance took what Greg LeMond did and capitalized on it, multiplied it by five or
six," Smith says. "It's on the rise. Will it plateau? Maybe, yeah. But people
need a hero, and Lance has been our hero, and next year there will be another
hero. What he's done is gotten people involved in cycling. Now they're hooked."

---

On the Net:

Tour de France: http://www.letour.fr

Lance Armstrong Foundation: http://www.livestrong.org

USA Cycling: http://www.usacycling.org


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...07-23-11-50-15
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