Armstrong’s yellow jerseys and many of the bikes he rode to glory during his career hang throughout the 9,000-square-foot shop, museum style. But they share equal space with custom low-rider cruisers, art bikes, and a $15,000 retro Concord replica watches Naked bike that Armstrong bought from Whittingham earlier this year (reportedly the first bike Armstrong has actually paid for since he was a kid). Austin’s never been the most bike-friendly town around. This is Texas, after all—narrow shoulders, heavy traffic, and a lot of trucks. But if anyone’s got the force of personality to change that, it’s Lance Armstrong. And his shop is a huge step in that direction.—John BradleyFor more on my preparation for the two toughest amateur bike races in France, visit the Crazy Bet home page.
As fans of the Discovery Channels Deadliest Catch know, commercial fishing is risky business. Now, the New York Times has compiled statistics on just how dangerous it is, and Northwest Dungeness crab fishermen, better take out bigger life insurance IWC replica watches policies. The fatality rate for California, Oregon, and Washington crabbers wasmore than twice the rate among all fishermen, nearly 60 times therate for all American workers. Most of these deaths result from capsizing in the freezing Pacific waters. Twenty-three boats went down between 2000 and 2006, resulting in 43deaths, and only three of those boats had valid Coast Guard safety decals. The rest of us should thank our stars and kiss our desks - there were only four deaths per 100,000 non-fishermen during the same time period.--Emily Matchar
The 198 riders in the Giro dItalia, the first of professional cyclings three Grand Tours, headed off last Saturday on their 2,158-mile romp around the boot of the Mediterranean. Stage four concluded earlier today with a win for Mark Cavendish, Corum replica watches a 22-year old sprinter from the Isle of Man. Take it as a hopeful sign of renewal.On the doping front, the Giro is the first significant chance this year for the battered sport to regain some footing, after several years of scandal-laden races. Missing from this years tour will be Italian sprinter Alessandro Pettachi, whose one-year ban for a non-negative result on excessive asthma medication was upheld just before the start of the race.
