I recently had a nasty fall and fractured my hip on my 2008 Giant XTC 2.0. The only thing that happened to the bike was that the top of the seat post bent a little. The whole bike took a crazy fall, no frame damage. I was impressed. So Giant Bikes, if you are reading this, It would be nice to test out some new bikes.

Giant’s ALUXX SL butted aluminum is the perfect platform for aspiring racers and hardcore trail

riders. Experience aluminum’s near-perfect efficiency, with the race-tested geometry and trail-taming

suppleness only Giant can engineer.

Features

• Marzocchi 22 LO 100mm suspension fork w/ lockout

• SRAM X.5 trigger shifting, X.7 rear derailleur

• Shimano disc brakes

• Crank Brothers Smarty pedals

All Features

size XS,S,M,L,XL

color Blue/Black

frame ALUXX SL-Grade Aluminum

fork Marzocchi 22 LO, 100mm w/ lockout

shifters SRAM X5, trigger

front derailleur Shimano Deore

rear derailleur SRAM X7

brakes Shimano M486 160F/160R

brake levers Shimano M486

cassette Shimano HG50 11/34, 9-speed

chain Shimano HG-73

cranks TruVativ 5D 3.1, 22/32/42

bb TruVativ Powerspline

rims Mavic XM 117 Disc

hubs Formula 32H Disc

spokes Stainless steel

tires Kenda Small Block Eight, 26×2.1/1.95 Folding

handlebar Alloy low rise

stem Alloy, 10 Degree rise

seatpost Alloy 350×30.9mm

saddle WTB Silverado Race

pedals Crank Brothers Smarty

In my opinion, this is by far a superior bike from last years model. Better brakes, better rims and tires.

Lance Armstrong will once again race Trek road bikes at the highest level of sport, announcing yesterday his intention to return to the pro peloton in 2009. Armstrong will reunite with his old team manager Johan Bruyneel and race for the Trek-sponsored Astana Pro Cycling Team. As driven as he is to win an eighth Tour de France, Armstrong is candid that his number one priority and main motive for coming out of retirement is his determination to carry his cancer fighting message around the world.

As a Trek-athlete for life, Armstrong’s return to professional racing opens another important and exciting chapter in Trek’s history.

“Lance is a great champion and a wonderful ambassador for cycling, cancer survivors, and for Trek,” noted Trek’s Director of Marketing, Dean Gore. “He’s an important part of the Trek family and we are of course delighted to see him return to the sport that he loves—the sport that we love. We look forward to helping fuel his success, both on the bike and with his Global Cancer Initiative. We share his passion to cure cancer in our lifetime, having partnered with the MACC Fund for the past 19 years to hold the annual Trek 100, which has contributed more than $7.2 million to childhood cancer research. Lance’s values dovetail perfectly with Trek’s.”

Lance’s return also marks the first time he’ll race aboard Trek’s new Madone platform, a bike which Lance has ridden for the past two years, but never raced, and a bike that has been ridden to three Grand Tour victories, including the 2007 Tour de France, since Lance’s departure. He’ll also have an opportunity to race aboard Trek’s latest Equinox TTX. The prototype TTX Lance raced in the 2005 TdF has evolved considerably and the refinements will no doubt be to Lance’s liking.

“For nearly a decade Lance has played an important role in Trek’s product development,” noted Trek’s Road Bike Brand Manager and former team liaison Scott Daubert. “Keeping Lance ahead of the competition during his seven Tour championships pushed us to innovate and perform at the absolute highest level. We look forward to resuming that fruitful relationship. The new Madone and Equinox TTX bikes are the best bikes in the pro peloton and we’re confident they’ll give Lance the competitive edge he needs. But we in no way intend to rest on our laurels. We look forward to collaborating with Lance and the rest of the Astana team to develop exciting new products.”

Lance’s first race back with Astana will be Australia’s Tour Down Under, which kicks off on January 18th. Lance is also slated to race the Tour de France in July and the Leadville 100 mountain bike race in August. Additional races will likely be added to Armstrong’s schedule as the season progresses.