We're Ready

By: TeamTheShack

Prior to the 2009 Tour de France, there were lightning bugs of rumors about a new team to be formed for the 2010 season. Not just any team, a team headed by Lance Armstrong. Interestingly, an American based ProTour team. Rumors swirled around a major computer company entering the world of cycling. Image clips from a dormant website were circulated like wildfire as the excitement heightened. But, the rumors proved to be a smokescreen for the real deal. ESPN writer Bonnie Ford (shameless plug for @Bonnie_D_Ford) settled all rumors when she was the first to post a simple tweet on July 22^nd, 2009…”Two words: Radio Shack.”

Was it true? Who could confirm the tweet? Are you sure? We know the sponsor cringed a bit when they saw two words, but nonetheless, RadioShack (one word since 2000) was unveiled as the new sponsor for the 2010 cycling team led by Lance Armstrong. 

In true new media fashion as had become his practice, Lance followed up the firestorm reaction and posted a video of his official announcement on July 23^rd. We watched it over and over again. Where was he? Was this recorded before the Tour? Shall we check the global records and see where the weather matched the terrain? Did anyone happen to recognize the interior décor of the setting? Can we get a background noise analysis of the soundtrack? Was Lance really in a studio or was this real-time, real deal? (You think we’re making these questions up? Ohhh, how you underestimate the minutiae and contemplations of fans we know…not us, of course).

Wow. The documentation and implications of a comeback were barely dry in the biobooks. Now the image of a Lance leading a completely new team in the 2010 peloton raised the noise level of the cycling intelligentsia, twitterati, and the blogosphere to “11” (yes, they collectively went one louder). Questions rippled though the cycling world from those in-the-know, those thinking they were in-the-know and those…well, those who were just guessing because it felt like fun to participate.

So we do. We participate. We follow, friend ( 1!) and “LOL-smiley face” our way through the absorption and creation of thoughts, opinions, and facts about our heroes. Well, maybe not so much facts as just tidbits we read somewhere that are too difficult to refute unless you have a staff of MIT grads and are a Google search master. The kind of stuff you throw around on the next group ride since you know no one can check in the peloton. We’re fans. There’s a team and we willingly insert our team into our personal lives to share in something larger than us.

We’re armchair fans. That really just means we have an affinity for armchairs. But sitting isn’t really our style. Really we’re more like “…yes, we shave the legs, ride rollers in the winter, and pretend (OK, maybe not-so-much pretend as reality) we’re struggling up Ventoux in the wind for anything exceeding 3% grade…” kind of fans. Getting kitted up with ProTour logos for the club ride is a big no-no, though. We save getting kitted up for our big boy time watching live Belgian classics feeds via internet proxy servers (note: we do not advocate lawlessness on the internet) and for late night visits to the convenience store just to see if the clerk notices (and the answer is yes…they do notice).

We are all going after the same brass ring together on this giant merry-go-round of competitive cycling: the ability to follow our heroes, cheer for them, cringe with them, maybe even get that restraining order lifted so we can shake their hand again (ahh, but we kid…). We do this with a passion that transcends many traditional barriers. We know, you’re thinking languages, politics, etc., we’re thinking more like being able to watch a race via pirated completely legitimate webcasts and radio feeds since global coverage is still a goal and not always a reality. And the other touchy feely stuff too, of course.

We’ll be covering a fan perspective from a perspective so far outside the team’s headquarters that…well, number one, we listened to the judge about that “radius of contact” thing regarding the team headquarters; and two, we’re just really a long ways away and long distance calls are a pain, especially when everyone but us is in Europe, or Australia, or somewhere and we’re here staring at the mouse wondering why the mouse pad fuzz is clogging up the laser thingy underneath and if run on sentences are going to be canned by the editors or if Lance is going to ever let Ben Stiller near his time trial bike (ever!)…but we digress.

We’re going to get busy turning dials since the Tour Down Under race radio feeds are coming through on the HAM radio, so we’ve gotta go. Recap of the Tour Down Under to follow. Thanks and LIVESTRONG…WE'RE READY!

Photo: Graham Watson