Looking satisfied at world's (Image credit: Shane Stokes)
Time for a tea break
Kristin Armstrong starts 2006 with a lot of changes. For the first time in her professional career she has switched teams, and looking ahead to Beijing 2008, there's a few other changes in store. Cyclingnews' Mark Zalewski spoke with Armstrong about this new chapter in her career, how it affects her goals and the state of women's racing in the US.
Kristin Armstrong has had a relatively compact career as a professional cyclist. Forced into cycling out of triathlon in 2001 after being diagnosed with osteoarthritis in both hips, Armstrong turned pro and landed a spot on the T-Mobile women's team. In 2002 she survived the menacing La Grande Boucle Feminine and finished seventh in the HP Women's Challenge. She went on to a successful 2003, including 13th at the world championships in the time trial, and in 2004 she won the national road championship.
Late last year the fate of the T-Mobile women's team was quite uncertain, and Armstrong was faced with either waiting out to see if the team would make or finding another ride. "I started talking with them [T-Mobile] a little, and wasn't sure what was going to happen; we all wanted to keep the doors open," Armstrong explained. "I had heard of TEAm Lipton as a regional team, but didn't hear of it becoming bigger until last August."
"Finding sponsors, sometimes it's like a job!" Armstrong says with a chuckle. "I try to pretend it's not a job. Your friends that don't race professionally say, 'Yeah, you have a rough life - got to go for a ride.' But they have no idea, especially when you wake up and there's snow on the ground."
