Warming up the crowd while warming down
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SOLVANG -- When cyclists finish their day’s competition the pedaling doesn’t stop. The body can’t just suddenly quit the cadence, so the riders hop off their bikes and onto trainers to keep spinning, warming down their bodies in the process.
At the Astana bus during the Amgen Tour of California this warm down period has drawn a large crowd who mostly come to plead for autographs from Lance Armstrong. And the crowd pressed against the barriers in front of the Astana bus Friday after the Stage 6 time trial. One woman, in particular, who was sitting atop the shoulders of another men, was relentless in taking pictures and shouting at Armstrong. And it worked. When the woman, who said she was from Puerto Rico, kept yelling, Armstrong kept looking up, even smiling. This is, indeed, a more fan-friendly version of Armstrong, as you can see from the video.