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OG: Um, who makes...your bike?
LANCE: Who makes it? Trek.
OG: Trek makes the bike, and then you have the
Shimano derailleurs and parts...
LANCE: All that, right.
OG: Yeah, all that. You've heard of, I assume, a
‘recumbent bike' - a sit down bike?
LANCE: I've heard of it, but I've never tried it.
OG: Never tried it. Well, they claim to have the
world record on the flats.
LANCE: Right...
OG: I tried one...
LANCE: [interrupting] Well, one of them
sits three feet off the ground and the other sits about
six feet off the ground, so aerodynamically, it's far
superior.
OG: Yeah. Would that type of bike be legal in the
Tour de France?
LANCE: No, totally illegal, [fighting back a
laugh] one hundred percent. If it were legal, we
would have tried it by now.
OG: Well, it's got two wheels...
LANCE: Yeah, but you have to have a traditional
geometry. They call it double triangle. We'll get you a
rulebook. [At this point Armstrong allows himself a
laugh] And when they pass it, believe me, we'll be
on it.
OG: The thing is, I noticed when I tried it,
going up hills, it was much more difficult. I
slowed down, and of course the owner then told me that
you have to develop the muscles, you know, if you're
going to go uphill...
LANCE: He told you that you have to train. That's
right, that's what he should have told you. [Laughter
and applause from a disbelieving audience]
OG: Yeah, but I don't go very fast.
LANCE: Well, you gotta train!
OG: Really? Well in comparisons with the slow,
average rider, they can get on the ‘regular geometry'
type of bike and go up hills a certain speed, they would
probably get on these recumbents and go uphill a
little bit slower, where as on the flats they might
go about a third faster. Anybody in here, uh, ever taken
one out one of these...?
LANCE: Nope. But our only opinion is that when we
can figure out how to use it, we'll try. We'd better
talk to Trek. They may not make those. If they don't
make them, then we're not riding them. [More laughter
fills the room]
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