Lance Armstrong

Lance Armstrong is as finely tuned as any race car. Thanks goes in part to lead mechanic Chris Carmichael, a former Olympic cyclist and member of the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame, who has been Armstrong's personal coach since 1990. Carmichael, 43, also has advised Montreal Canadiens hockey player Saku Koivu and two-time Ironman champ Peter Reid, not to mention some 5,000 other professional and amateur athletes who've joined Carmichael Training Systems, his online coaching program. Now his expertise is available in print.

Attention all sofa jockeys: If your most recent experience with cycling was watching last July's televised coverage of Lance Armstrong at the Tour de France, then maybe it's time to dust off your bike and get back in the saddle. But before you shock your atrophic frame with some (gasp!) good old-fashioned exercise, you'll need to know where to ride. From paved trails to off-road paths, there are plenty of biking spots in the greater Baltimore area. Here's a list of some trails to get you moving.

With Lance Armstrong's seventh Tour de France coronation yesterday, there is no doubt that the American racer has raised the profile of cycling and encouraged greater participation in the United States over the past few years. However, Armstrong's retirement announcement raises the question of whether U.S. cycling - a beneficiary of the Lance factor - will suffer substantially from his absence. "Initially, when a sport loses its marquee player, such as when Michael Jordan left basketball, you have to face that issue," said Andy Lee, spokesman for USA Cycling, the Colorado Springs, Colo.

The most excruciating climbs in the Tour de France - steep, twisting mountain roads that chew up car engines, let alone a cyclist's legs - defy the sport's numerical rating system. They are simply labeled hors categorie, or beyond categorization. As Lance Armstrong readies for his campaign to win a fourth straight Tour, the same tag could be applied to him. The 30-year-old Texan appears to be at the peak of his athletic ability and has no clear-cut challenger in the 2,034-mile race, which begins Saturday in Luxembourg.

NEXT QUESTION With Lance Armstrong not competing, will you follow the Tour de France this year? Selected responses to today's question will be printed Monday on The Kickoff page. Please e-mail your answer (about 25 words) to sports@baltsun.com by 3 p.m. tomorrow. Include your name, address and a daytime telephone number for verification purposes.

The primary question regarding Lance Armstrong used to involve the number of times he would win the Tour de France. Sunday, it's how low can Lance go in the New York City Marathon? New York City Marathon Sunday, 10:10 a.m. (open field), 26.2 miles, Staten Island through four other New York boroughs

Erik Lerch, a sweet-natured boy who loved video games, riding his bicycle, white harbor seals, remote-control cars and cyclist Lance Armstrong, died of leukemia Monday at his Mount Airy home. He was 13. Erik was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoma when he was 10 and underwent chemotherapy at Johns Hopkins Children's Center. The cancer went into remission briefly, but the next year doctors told him he had leukemia. After another round of treatment, Erik again seemed to be getting better. In 2005, Erik's father, William Lerch, died of a heart attack while playing ice hockey.

LANCE ARMSTRONG didn't have the luxury of years past, of winning cycling's grueling Tour de France by five or six minutes. He won his fifth title by 61 seconds, less time than it takes some folks to tie their shoes. He is the first American to join the Club of Five (as the five-time winners are known) and only the second person ever in the tour's 100-year history to win the 2,129-mile race five years in a row. Mr. Armstrong confessed to a vulnerability he hadn't experienced previously on the tour and vowed to be stronger in next year's race.

It would take Shakespeare to concoct a tragedy such as the one that befell the Tour de France last year. Consider that its hero - Lance Armstrong - had left the stage in triumph after his seventh victory in 2005. Would a new star emerge to take his place? Then, the day before the race began, many of the contenders for the throne were not allowed to start because of doping allegations. Surely no one would care about this race now. Tour de France Prologue, 9:30 a.m. today TV: VS.

Howard County will host one of more than 500 Livestrong Day events nationwide Tuesday at Lake Kittamaqundi in Columbia. The free event, sponsored by the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults, will take place from 11 a.m. to noon. It will feature a raffle of autographed Lance Armstrong memorabilia, live music from the Blue Line and a box lunch from Clyde's and the Tomato Palace. Speakers will include County Executive Ken Ulman; Vic Broccolino, president and chief executive officer of Howard County General Hospital; and local cancer survivors.