Would you like the chance to meet one of America’s greatest cyclists? Kristin Armstrong may not be as famous as the other cycling Armstrong but her palamres may be more rounded then the other Armstrong. There’s no relationship between Lance and Kristin, they have never been married nor are the related, just both great cyclists.

Kristin won the Gold last year in Olympic Time Trial as well as world champion in 2006.

Starting life as a military brat she grew up in Tennessee, California, and Japan. Swimming was her first sport leading to her competing in the Iron Man Triathlon. She was diagnosed with osteoarthritis which forced her onto the bike first as therapy and now a career.

It’s her love of peanut’s that will bring her to New York City next Thursday March 5th. The National Peanut Board will be in town to rebuild the trust with consumers. Armstrong will be at Grand Central Station in Vanderbilt Hall talking about her use of peanut butter as part of her training diet.

One of my favorite snacks at a rest stop on a charity ride or at home after is a banana and a jar of peanut butter. Each fresh bite gets another tablespoon of peanut butter. If I don’t have a banana I use a jam filled energy bar and make an instant PB&J.

Joining Armstrong will be Food Network’s Michael Symon, peanut farmers, and other manufactures. Free samples will be handed out, so if you take the train in or out of the city check it out. For more information about Kristin click here.

For information about one of her sponsers, The National Peanut Board, click here.

LOS ANGELES (AP) “The Amazing Race” host Phil Keoghan is getting ready for an amazing ride: a multitasking bicycle trip across America.

Keoghan said he’s cycling cross-country to encourage people to pursue a healthy life. He also intends to spotlight the battle against multiple sclerosis, a cause he’s supported for several years.

Keoghan will set off from Los Angeles on March 28 and end in New York on May 9 — the day before the “Amazing Race” season finale airs on CBS, the network said Wednesday.

He plans to average 100 miles a day, and said he hopes people will join in as he passes through their area.

“I feel like where we’re at in the economy, the bicycle is a pretty good solution to helping people’s waistlines, wallets and the environment,” Keoghan said by phone from Auckland during a visit to his native New Zealand.

“This is saying to people, look, it’s time to make a choice in your life. We have way too much obesity and way too many people sitting back and not getting involved in life,” he said.

The ride, sponsored by nutritional retailer GNC, also is intended to support the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s Bike MS fundraising effort, with Keoghan attending rallies nationwide.

A member of Keoghan’s family, a cousin, has the disease, a CBS spokesman said.

Keoghan’s path will take him to more than 30 cities including Las Vegas; Denver; Lincoln, Neb.; Des Moines, Iowa; Chicago; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Columbus, Ohio; Pittsburgh; Washington; Baltimore; Philadelphia; and New York.

Want a bit more flexibility on the bike? Try yoga, it’s great for loosening up muscles and joints to help prevent and recover from the stresses of cycling. There are tons of free podcasts about yoga, with tons of great content, but one particular cycling-specific podcast is here on the iTunes store.

By BETH HARRIS AP Sports Writer  SOLVANG, Calif. (AP)  Lance Armstrong is just along for the ride this time. The Tour of California is all about helping teammate Levi Leipheimer defend his title.

So far, so good.

Leipheimer won the individual time trial Friday and added to his overall lead, with Armstrong finishing 14th.

Leipheimer crossed the finish line of the 15-mile course in 30 minutes, 40 seconds, and waved three fingers on his right hand to signal his third consecutive time-trial victory in this quaint Danish tourist town. The American who competes for Astana is going for his third victory in the race’s four-year history and increased his overall lead by 12 seconds.

“It gets more and more special,” he said. “I said on the podium this one is the most special because it was so tight. For me to beat these guys, it’s a big honor.”

Armstrong, riding his time-trial bike that had been stolen along with three belonging to his Astana teammates after last weekend’s time trial in Sacramento, dropped from fourth to sixth in the overall standings. The bike, worth about $10,000, was turned into police on Wednesday by an unidentified resident.

“There’s no pressure on me,” Armstrong said outside Astana’s motorcoach. “This race is about Levi, so while I was doing my race I was waiting to hear the time splits on Levi and (David) Zabriskie.”

The 37-year-old seven-time Tour de France champion was unable to gain precious time racing against the clock on the fast, mostly flat course, leaving him unlikely to dethrone Leipheimer over the final two days.

“Done with the tt. That hurt!” Armstrong wrote on his Twitter feed nearly two hours after finishing. “Not a bad first test. Wanted to be top 15 so was able to do that. Story of the day tho was Levi. Amazing.”

Leipheimer doesn’t expect Armstrong to go for a victory in either of the two remaining stages.

“He knows how cycling works, you can’t do it without a team,” he said. “I have a lead and he’s a great teammate. I think he will focus on helping me win the race.”

Leipheimer understands the arrangement is a quid pro quo for the Giro d’Italia, which Armstrong is scheduled to race in for the first time in May with Astana.

“I hope so because that means he’s riding extremely well and he’s back to the level he was when he was winning seven Tour de Frances,” he said. “You really have to appreciate the work that your team does for you. When I’m able to help a teammate win a race I share in the victory.”

American Zabriskie of Garmin-Slipstream was second by 8 seconds in the time trial and second overall, trailing Leipheimer by 36 seconds.

Zabriskie all but conceded the tour to Leipheimer.

“It would take a lot of screwing up on their part (to lose),” he said. “With the experience that they have and the depth of their team, they know what they’re doing.”

Australian Michael Rogers of Columbia-High Road finished fourth and was third overall, 46 seconds behind Leipheimer.

“It hurt the whole way around as it should when you’re going as hard as you can,” Rogers said.

Gustav Larsson of Sweden, who competes for Saxo Bank, was third in the time trial. Germany’s Jens Voigt was fifth, and American George Hincapie was sixth.

Unlike the tour’s rain-plagued early stages in Northern California, conditions were nearly perfect for the sixth stage, with sunny skies on a nearly windless day in the rolling hills of the Santa Ynez valley.

Armstrong had picked Leipheimer to win the time trial for the third straight year and referred to him as “Levistrong,” a play on Armstrong’s cancer charity Livestrong.

The Tour of California is Armstrong’s first competitive appearance on U.S. soil since returning to elite competitive cycling.

He was clearly the draw Friday, when crowds 10-deep surrounded Team Astana’s motorcoach, with many fans holding yellow-and-black “Lance Fan” signs on sticks and pressing close to catch a glimpse of him and Leipheimer. Astana’s own security staff was hard-pressed to contain the gathering that included kids in strollers and dogs of every kind.

“To have him around, it’s all positive because the riders, staff and everybody is doing their job above and beyond,” Leipheimer said. “The team runs to perfection. It’s a great environment.”

Fans jammed Copenhagen Street at the finish line in the village of 5,300 that has hosted some of cycling’s pro teams for training camps. Nestled in the heart of the Santa Barbara area’s wine country, Solvang is Danish for “sunny fields” and was a backdrop for the 2004 film “Sideways.”

Ivan Basso of Italy missed his start after crashing and dropped out. He returned to cycling in October after a two-year doping ban.

The race continues Saturday with Stage 7, an 88.9-mile ride from Santa Clarita to Pasadena’s historic Rose Bowl stadium.

Stage five of the Amgen Tour of California is complete and the six-man breakaway was captured just before the finish again by the charging peloton. Team Columbia – High Road’s Mark Cavendish beat Quick Step’s Tom Boonen at the line in another mass sprint.

Levi Leipheimer finished 15th to retain his overall lead.

CLOVIS, Calif. (AP) Team Columbia – High Road’s sprinter Mark Cavendish won the mountainous fourth stage and Montana’s Levi Leipheimer moved closer to his third straight Tour of California title after finishing in the pack Wednesday.

Cavendish edged Tom Boonen by less than half a bike length in the 115.4-mile road race from Merced to Clovis. Juan Jose Haedo of Argentina was third. Also in the hunt for the stage win was yesterday’s winner Thor Hushovd in 4th.  Two-time world champion Oscar Friere did not finish the stage the due to a crash. See photo.

Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, who began the day in fourth place, also finished in the main field. Armstrong remained 30 seconds behind Leipheimer, a native of Butte, Mont.

“It was a hard race and it was aggressive racing,” said Armstrong, who was informed about halfway through the stage that his bike stolen four days ago in Sacramento was found. “It wasn’t that easy today. All and all it was a tough day.”

Leipheimer, who lives in Santa Rosa, Calif., kept his 24-second advantage over Australian Michael Rogers. American David Zabriskie remained third overall, trailing by 28 seconds.

The fourth stage included five climbs and advanced into the Sierra Nevada. Race organizers cleared ankle-deep snow in some segments prior to the stage.

Kim Kirchen of Luxembourg, three-time former world titlist Oscar Freire of Spain and Scott Nydam of Sebastopol, Calif., all abandoned with undetermined injuries after crashing during the stage.

Leipheimer, who took the overall lead after a second-place finish in the second stage 2, avoided crashing and rode while surrounded by teammates.

“The first 1½ hours were blazing,” he said. “Even Lance took some monster pulls and brought back four of five guys on his own. It’s great to have such a strong team.”

Three riders, including current U.S. road titlist Tyler Hamilton, built a 6-minute margin after riding together for several hours but were caught with less than a mile left in the stage.

The nine-day event continues Thursday with the 134.3-mile stage from Visalia to Paso Robles, the longest leg of the event. The fourth-year race concludes Sunday in Escondido, Calif.

Journal News staff photographer captured this terrific photo Nick Sulivan of Brewster during his ride along route 312 in Southeast. Nick must be hard core riding on a day like today. To handle the weather he’s wearing a wool face mask, full booties, good set of gloves and to top it offf the helmet cover.

Nike – hope to see you on a ride in Putnam one day.

SACRAMENTO (AP) Lance Armstrong’s time-trial bike that disappeared from the Team Astana truck after he used it before Stage 1 of the Tour of California has been found.

Officers said a local resident brought the custom bike, worth about $10,000, to police headquarters Wednesday morning. The bike was stolen with wheels but returned without them. The bike shown here from a Sacramento Police handout photo is reported in good shape.

The Trek Livestrong 1274 was taken after Armstrong used it during Saturday’s time trial. Two other bikes belonging to Armstrong’s teammates were also taken, but there was no immediate word from police about whether they were still missing.

Officers wouldn’t discuss how the resident came into possession of Armstrong’s bicycle, citing an ongoing investigation.

More than 900 people had enlisted in a search for the bike through a Facebook group “1 Million Citizens Looking for Lance Armstrong’s Stolen Bike.” The search was set up by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s communications office.

Sacramento Police Sgt. Norm Leong on Tuesday denied an Internet report that said the theft was caught on tape.

The fourth annual Tour of California continued Wednesday with a 115.4-mile road race from Merced to Clovis. Armstrong, a seven-time Tour de France winner, entered the day in fourth place.

AP Photo

By JOHN LEICESTER AP Sports Columnist PARIS (AP) It’s time to cut Lance Armstrong some slack for failing to make good on his promises about drug testing.

Certainly, the seven-time Tour de France champion didn’t look good backtracking on his commitment to be regularly tested by American anti-doping expert Don Catlin, especially given the fuss he made of the planned partnership when he announced his surprise return to cycling last September.

“This will be the most advanced anti-doping program in the world,” Armstrong declared then. “Don Catlin can tell you if I’m clean or not.”

That pledge proved as solid as a flat tire. Armstrong’s people announced last week that the plan was off. Too complex and costly.

But that doesn’t mean Armstrong now has license to cheat. Like all top cyclists, he is scrutinized by the UCI, the sport’s governing body.

Unlike most of his fellow competitors, Armstrong is posting results from his UCI tests — a commendable effort at transparency.

Six sets of blood test results are up on www.livestrong.com, the Web site of Armstrong’s cancer-fighting foundation. The first is dated Oct. 16, the most recent Feb. 4. Armstrong spokesman Mark Higgins says they also have asked for test results from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, and that all results will be posted as they get them. Armstrong — currently riding in the Tour of California — says he has been tested at least 19 times during his comeback.

The results offer a window into Armstrong’s blood. Among the readings are those for hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that transports oxygen around the body, and for immature red blood cells called reticulocytes. UCI experts watch for unusual changes in such readings for signs of whether cyclists might be cheating.

So far, Armstrong’s results seem normal.

The UCI runs test results through computer software to calculate what a normal range of readings should be for each individual rider. Subsequent test results that veer too far from those calculated norms could signal possible doping. Based on the readings Armstrong made public, the software suggests that in future tests his hemoglobin levels should not fall lower than 13.4 grams per deciliter or rise above 16.3 grams.

And Armstrong’s so-called OFF-score, an equation that looks at hemoglobin and reticulocytes, should stay between 60 and 108.

The results he posted are well within those limits.

But the testing regime isn’t infallible, and dopers find ways to slip through the cracks.

That is where Catlin was meant to come in.

The scientist who ran the United States’ first anti-doping lab at UCLA for 25 years drew up what might be considered a Ferrari of anti-doping programs for Armstrong, with plans for urine tests every three days and frequent blood tests, too.

For Catlin, the promised opportunity to closely scrutinize one of the best-known athletes on the planet was exciting.

For his part, Armstrong hoped a clean bill of health from someone as respected as Catlin would silence the doping questions that have persistently dogged him — even though he has never failed a drug test — so public and media attention could focus instead on his campaign against cancer — the main reason the cancer-survivor climbed back on his bike after three years in retirement.

It was out of character for Armstrong to get ahead of the music and announce the partnership with Catlin before details were finalized. He is usually far more meticulous than that in his preparations. The eventual failure to produce a workable program with Catlin — especially after Armstrong had insisted that progress was being made — left him open to criticism of lost credibility.

But there were sizable obstacles, not least cost — estimated by Catlin’s camp in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Hoped-for urine samples every three days seemed problematic, too. It would have been hard for testers to keep to the schedule with an athlete as busy as Armstrong. An alternative might have been to space tests over a larger time gap, say every five days. But for Catlin, that could have left too large a window for possible cheating, undermining the validity of the exercise. Rather than scale back his ambitions, Catlin preferred not to go ahead.

“We faced a myriad of problems relating to administration, coordination and cost,” said Bill Stapleton, Armstrong’s lawyer.

Although the Catlin partnership fizzled, Armstrong’s Astana team is paying a respected Danish anti-doping expert, Rasmus Damsgaard, to keep watch over its riders. Damsgaard studies the squad’s UCI test results and can raise the alarm and suggest sanctions if he spots abnormal readings, even those that might not be clear-cut enough for the UCI to take disciplinary action of its own, he says.

That gives Armstrong an additional layer of scrutiny that many other riders don’t face.

MODESTO, Calif. (AP) Levi Leipheimer bumped wheels with Lance Armstrong, but recovered to maintain his lead after Thor Hushovd won the third stage Tuesday in the rain-soaked Tour of California.

Hushovd claimed the 101-mile stage from San Jose to Modesto in 4 hours, 28 minutes and 12 seconds, after which two-time winner Leipheimer was still 24 seconds ahead of Australian Michael Rogers.

Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, who began the day fourth overall, finished in the main group with Leipheimer. Armstrong remained 30 seconds behind his teammate Leipheimer.

Armstrong wasn’t available after the stage, but Astana team spokesman Phillipe Maertens said Armstrong spent the day “working for Levi. There was nothing special today.”

Race organizers shortened the stage for safety reasons by eliminating the second of two finishing circuits and reducing the length of the neutralized stage start.

For the third straight day, strong rain fell throughout the stage, and it took its toll. American riders Ted King, Omer Kim and Ian Macgregor individually crashed during the stage and abandoned the race.

Leipheimer and numerous other riders crashed when Leipheimer and Armstrong bumped wheels, but Leipheimer received a new bike and quickly returned to the field.

“It was my fault,” Leipheimer said. “Usually, you can put your foot down, but not today. I just didn’t concentrate for a second. I landed on my butt. It hurts, but nothing’s broken, so it’s no big deal. It’s racing etiquette not to attack when the race leader crashes, so I just took my time.”

Rogers, a three-time world time-trial titlist, also finished in the main field and has five stages of the nine-stage race remaining to reduce his deficit.

David Zabriskie of Salt Lake City is third overall, trailing by 28 seconds.

Hushovd, a six-time stage winner on the Tour de France, jumped to the front of the large pack with about 150 yards left.

“Hayden Roulston started it with a little more than one kilometer to go, then Dominique Rollin pulled into the last corner,” said Hushovd. “Then Brett Lancaster took over after the last corner, and I passed him with about 150 meters to go. Our team did a great job today, and I am really thankful. It’s the first time we’ve worked together and it went well, so that was a good start.”

Oscar Freire of Spain was second in the stage and Mark Renshaw of Australia was third in the same time.

The fourth annual event continues Wednesday with a 115.4-mile road race from Merced to Clovis.

Here’s a few notes from the stage. It started with a climb just 6 miles in and a breakaway went from the gun. Four riders got up the road, Bauke Mollema (Rabobank), Brian Vandborg (Liquigas), Jeff Louder (BMC Racing) and Brad White (OUCH-Maxxis. They built a maxium of 5:30 on the peloton. The sprinter teams of Team Columbia and Cervelo put riders on the front and made the perfect catch just 2 k from the line.

This was a big win for Hushovd and his new team, Cervélo TestTeam based in Canada. He looks set to win a spring classic and go for another green jersey in the Tour de France.

Here’s two photos that take you behind the scenes. First is Lance getting lunch. Here’s how it works. The race establishes a feed zone along the route. It’s about 200 meters long and normally 60% into the race. The perfect zone is straight and going up a 3 to 5 percent climb. This does two things, slows the riders down and increase visablity for the rider to see soigneur holding the mussett with food. The soigneur’s give massages after the race to each rider and feed them during the race. Most mussett hold a a small sandwich, energy bar, gel, and drink. I’d also find a local pastry shop during stages races and give the riders a pastry as a treat. The soigneur holds the bag at arms lentgh and the rider moves to you. Each team of eight has two feeders. that’s 36 people feeding over 150 riders often in less then a minute. It can get crazy and if soigneur’s strated to move and run it would be a disaster. So the rider reaches out and grabs the strap on the bag at 23 or so mph. They pull the items out and stuff them in their pockets and a fan up the road gets a souvenier.

Next is Levi getting help after his crash yesterday. Each team has a car with a director sportif and mechanic behind the race. The car is filled with spare wheels, parts, and full bikes on the roof. A flat tire can be changed in about 30 seconds to get the rider back in the race. A crash of the race leader will get the mechanics heart racing during those very intense 30 seconds.