sneakpeek: Lance Armstrong's Tour Down Under Trek Madone

Here's a preview of the Trek Madone that Lance Armstrong will ride in Australia at the Tour Down Under this month.  It's an off-the-shelf Madone Pro 58cm frameset that is dressed up in Livestrong colors and graphics.  The project was slotted into Trek's normal paint production as all hands chipped in to make this bike something special. Below Graphic Artist Mike Pfalzgraff and Paint Dept Maestro Bob Seibel discuss the masking and detail work on the fork.

Project One Paint Cell Leader Brian Yuker sprays the masked Livestrong logo and yellow band on the Madone toptube.

  

Below Bob and Brian discuss more project details.  Every bit of this bike is paint - there are no decals.  This project has close to 30 hours of labor so far (and the frame will still need to be hand-carried to Aus).

Weeding the masking.

Livestrong details on the fork, downtube and toptube.

There are a few hidden messages in the graphics (none of them shown here).  Team liaison Ben Coates will share their meanings when he posts photos of the complete bike.  Watch for more photos in the weeks to come!

Delivering the bike for Tour Down Under

For all of you who have been following twitter and hearing about Lance's new bike, here is bit more of the story.

Lance Armstrong's Tour Down Under bike is a stock Madone red series carbon frame with a full custom paint job.  Although the bike went from a twinkle in the designer's eye to painted and built in less then a full week there was nothing easy about it.  It took over 30 hours to paint the bike, not including curing time, that is strictly airbrush gun in the painter's hand pointed it at the frame......  Everything on the bike was painted in house at Trek by one of our Project One painters.  There are no decals on the bike, the bike is 100% paint!  When you see it up close it really is a site to behold, knowing that it was hand done makes it even more incredible.

Getting the bike to Lance has been an adventure in and of itself, delays, shipping mishaps, changed flight plans, canceled flights, driving in the snow, running through the airport.....and finally handing it off to Lance.

As anyone who has ever received or even purchased a new bike knows, there is something special about it that is indescribable.  Even a guy like Lance who can have a new bike pretty much whenever he wants has a special appreciation for it.  When I wheeled in his new bike he was smiling, happy and very surprised.  He loves it!  This has been an awesome experience for me, I got to deliver the bike that Lance Armstrong will race in his first race back out of retirement, I guess I am the only person who can say that......ever!

Here are the specs of the bike

• Trek Madone Red series carbon Pro fit frameset
• Bontrager Aeolus 5.0 wheels with custom LiveStrong/1274 decals.  X Lite clinchers for training, XXX lite tubulars in the race.
• 1274....The number of days Lance was "retired".
• 27.5...million people is the approximate number of people that died from cancer during that same time.
• Bontrager XXX lite VR handle bar and XXX lite stem 120mm x 7 degrees
• Bontrager RXL saddle with Ti rails
• Sram Red Component group
• Sram SRM Cranks.  175mm crank arms, 39/53 chainrings and 11-26 cassette
• Shimano Dura Ace pedals
• Bontrager Cork handlebar tape

And some photos of the bike and delivery.....Thanks to Kendal from Nike for the shot with Lance and the bike.

Blowing the Doors off!

I was lucky enough to be invited on a follow ride yesterday with the Astana Team.  Sitting in a team car is always exciting and I always learn something.  Unfortunately for all of you there is a rule about talking about what is discussed in the team car.  Not that any secrets were divulged over the course of the 5 hour ride but I would like to be invited back into the car some day, so I have to stick to a short story. 

Everyone is anxious to see what Lance can do in his comeback race.  True cycling fans know that Lance does not expect much out of himself down here but everyone cannot help but be excited .  He has routinely been quoted saying that he is more fit then he has ever been in January and that he is quite a bit thinner then he used to be at this time of year too.  He has had three years off the bike circuit but I can tell you he looks fit! 

Yesterday on the ride he wanted to rev the engine a little.  About 2 and a half hours in, on the second climb of the day, he got his chance.  There was a steady 8 to 10 minute climb, nothing really steep but definitely enough to test the motor.  Lance blew the doors off!  Lance always plays chess but I would not mind seeing him take the opponent's queen out early.....  The Tour Down Under is going to be a great race and Lance just might try to go something.....

LiveSTRONG!

I am sitting in Juan Pelota(translate that for a funny inside Lance Joke), a cafe inside Mellow Johnny's down in Austin, TX.  I am down here for the Trek LiveStrong camp.  The boys, I can say "boys" because they are all under 23, will be arriving tomorrow and things are looking good.  Bill the team mechanic has feverishly been working on building up the new bikes.  Here is a quick shot of what the new team bike is going to look like.  More to come and better pics........