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“Ten laps to go,” Lance Armstrong joked as he led off a string of two dozen invited guests on a ride around the 5-mile mountain-bike loop that circles his 444-acre ranch in the Texas Hill Country. It was Mother’s Day morning, and the seven-time Tour de France champion was having fun with friends, including many from the bike industry, who were helping him celebrate the opening of his new Austin bike shop, Mellow Johnny’s.

The Nashua Adult Learning Center is hosting the Second Annual Ride to Read cycle fundraiser on Sunday, September 14, 2008. Rain or Shine. This year, we have added another 100 mile route. This new route starts and ends at EMS in Peterborough, NH. All other routes, begins and ends at the Adult Learning Center, 4 Lake Street, Nashua. Proceeds to benefit the literacy programs offered at the Adult Learning Center. Event will offer 5 cycle routes: (2) 100 mile, 50 mile, 25 mile and 5 mile Family route.

Dear Readers,

Welcome to the latest edition of The Prologue, the weekly summary of news from the world of competitive cycling by your friends at VeloNews.com.

High Road's Mark Cavendish survived another chaotic dash to the line to win stage 4 of the Giro d'Italia on Tuesday. Gerolsteiner's Robert Forster crossed second and Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) third. Franco Pellozotti (Liquigas) retained the overall lead. "This is my finest victory," said Cavendish, whose teammates escorted him back to the front after a climb split the bunch with 20km to go. "It was the result of my team's work which kept me surrounded over the last 20km. The wind was blowing hard and Bennati went off at a good time, but I was able to follow him and overtake him.

Retail: CX bars: $245; C3 Extensions: $199. Weight: CX: 165 grams; C3: size S, 348g; size M, 366g; size L, 378g. Web site: www.syntaceusa.com Syntace's new Stratos CX base bars feature an aero cross section that is 15mm tall and 54mm deep. The carbon bars have a 31.8mm titanium mesh center section to strengthen the stem clamping area. The uni-directional carbon fiber allows up to 8mm of flex for comfort.[nid:76143]

The Baraboo Sharks take the win at Muskego.

Crit Carnage

FSA’s new brakes, to replace its black Gossamer-level ones still on many Giro bikes, is the SLK. For the Tour, K-Force brakes with identical calipers and titanium hardware and carbon pad holders will be on all FSA-sponsored teams, according to FSA’s Claudio Marra.

While Caisse d’Epargne’s Lastras is using Campy electronic, Shimano’s new cable-actuated shifters with cables under the tape is on the bikes of High Road’s Kanstantin Sivtsov, and Gerolsteiner’s Johannes Fröhlinger, Davide Rebellin, and Matthias Russ.

Mounting the battery pack for Pablo Lastras’s electronic shifting system requires three heads among the Caisse d’Epargne mechanics to figure it out.

Skippy plans on riding the Giro, Dauphine and Tour courses in their entirety on a solid magnesium Selle San Marco saddle. He finds the saddle comfortable and says it particularly shines in the rain.

As always, Skippy, the Aussie who follows the Grand Tours on his bike, is here again, his 10th straight Giro. This will be his 11th straight Tour de France this July. He says he does it in the name of handicapped sport and had planned to do it on a handcycle this time, but he could not obtain the support necessary.

Nichole Wangsgard and Lucas Sebastian Haedo — both of Colavita-Sutter Home — scored criterium wins in the final stage of Arkansas’ May stage race. Health Net's Rory Sutherland and Cheerwine's Robin Farina took the overall. Action Images photographer Kurt Jambretz was there to capture all the action.

Teams use all sorts of different brake pads on carbon rims. Saunier Duval’s Scott team bikes all use yellow Mavic pads on their Mavic carbon wheels.

Long shaft: that is a custom 150mm carbon-wrapped aluminum stem on Bäckstedt’s bike. Maggie is always pushing the limits of any carbon bike made in a stock mold.

Like many other riders, Bäckstedt uses super-deep Zipp 808 wheels in a lot of road races. Many choose the wheels because they prefer the braking to that of a 404 or a 202. CSC’s Fabian Cancellara, for instance, has repeatedly raved to Zipp about the braking with this wheel. Zipp’s Andy Ording says it is due to the toroidal shape of the rim being carried through to the braking surface. All other Zipp models have parallel brake tracks — the toroidal shape stops before the braking surface. “We did it strictly for aerodynamics,” says Ording, “but an extra benefit is better braking.” Why? Ording theorizes that when the entire lower edge of the pad contacts the rim first, it squeegees water and grime outward and gives immediate braking response, rather than a delay while material trapped under the pad moves away.

The 2008 Joe Martin final women’s podium (left to right) Robin Farina (Cheerwine), Catherine Cheatley (Cheerwine), Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine), Mackenzie Woodring (Colavita-Sutter Home) and Marisa Asplund-Ownes (Cheerwine)

The final men’s podium (left to right) Tyler Wren (Colavita-Sutter Home), Anthony Colby (Colavita-Sutter Home), Rory Sutherland (Health Net), Bernard Van Ulden (Jelly Belly), Edward King (Bissell) and Aaron Tuckerman (Jelly Belly)

At all levels of sport, mental fitness often sets athletes apart from competitors. On Thursday, June 5, 2008, Marvin Zauderer will speak on "The 5 Core Skills of Mentally Fit Athletes," and will present steps that all athletes can take to strengthen important mental skills. Whether you're a competitive athlete, recreational athlete, coach, or parent of an athlete, this presentation will give you tools that you can use. The talk, sponsored by Marin Cyclists (http://www.marincyclists.com/) and a benefit for the NorCal High School Mountain Bike League

Lingering snows in the high country have forced organizers to re-route a key stage of Mt. Hood Cycling Classic, but they promise the improvised route for stage 5 is just as challenging — maybe even more so. The six-day stage race gets underway Tuesday with a 1.7-mile prologue. The race is now in its sixth year and appears to be picking up steam: the 2008 edition boasts the strongest fields it has ever attracted.

Men's line-up