Obligatory Lance Armstrong Post

As I type this, Lance Armstrong has moved up to 2nd place in the Tour de France.

Armstrong has many biographies, training manuals, and websites devoted to him, so I'll spare the reader any biographical information they could find elsewhere, probably more accurately.

But as an engineer, Armstrong is really the posterboy for biomechanical engineering. From wind tunnel testing to adjusting the bike mechanics and aerodynamics, to ergonomics of the bike seat, to aero bars, to his intense training regimen that is, like horses, set up to peak at race time, to his embrace of new technology, the man and the economy that surrounds Armstrong proves that science and technology can coalesce into a superior version of the human condition. Although most of us do not have 6 hours a day to ride and a team of dieticians to provide us with perfectly designed meals, we do get the shake down of technology that has largely been brought about in the last 10 years...a.k.a. The Reign Of Lance. Ten years ago you just didn't see people on bikes much. Nowadays you see them on carbon fiber bikes with disc wheels. These technologies weren't invented by Armstrong or even his team. But the freakish success of Armstrong in TdF after TdF has proven the success of the technologies.

Whereas cyclists used to take a very relaxed off-season (see Jan Ullrich) and start getting in shape in early spring for the racing season, now most competitive cyclists never stop to catch their breath.

If you are lucky enough to catch Armstrong, Leipheimer, Contador, and the peleton of bikers on television this month, just try to admire for a second the marriage of technology and biology that has occurred to create the athletes spinning across your screen.

And when the inevitable EPO scandal hits some of the cyclists, instead of reviling the sport, and the athletes that participate in it, instead realize that biotechnology has come so far that we've even figured out how to artificially increase our red blood cell count temporarily to enable higher speed at higher altitude. Cheating? Yes. Amazing? Yes.

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