Livestrong Junkie

Over the past few months I've turned into a bit of a Livestrong junkie.

It all started quite innocently enough, back in June, when St Pete and I went to New York for a week - a prize I won with Qantas and radio station MoreFM.  While there I came across a Livestrong bike jersey in a sports store and decided I had to have it.  I've always admired Lance Armstrong and the work he's done with the Livestrong Foundation and I figured I wouldn't see many of those jerseys back in New Zealand. 

So the jersey duly returned to New Zealand with us and became a regular feature on my long Sunday rides.

Not long after I started thinking about getting some new sunglasses.  I had a new aero helmet for Ironman and it fitted close in around my face and I had been finding that my sunglasses were slightly too wide to fit inside the helmet comfortably.

I was quite keen on Oakley's Jawbones and as luck would have it, that model comes in Livestrong colours.  It only seemed right, then, that this should be the pair to get, to match my cycling jersey.

In rapid succession followed the Radioshack limited edition 28 jersey.

This jersey was designed for the Radioshack team for their final day of the 2010 Tour de France and has the number 28 on the back, in honour of the 28 million cancer sufferers around the world.  Because they didn't get it pre-approved by the Tour officials, though, Radioshack were forced to remove the jerseys before the race started and had to ride in their regular red and grey colours.  At the end of the day Radioshack claimed the Team honours for the tour and the jerseys finally got an airing on the podium and gained enough notoriety to be in hot demand by Livestrong/Radioshack/Armstrong fans worldwide.

I admired the jersey along with the rest of the world but never dreamed I'd see them on the racks in Scotty Browns in Christchurch.  All reports were that they were being released as a limited edition and it seemed pretty obvious that they'd be snapped up well and truly before heading to this part of the world.  It was an opportunity then too good to pass up and one was added to my ever-increasing Livestrong collection.

The latest addition has been the Giro Ionos Livestrong Helmet.  Completely unnecessary (there was nothing wrong my with previous helmet) but the balance has shifted to an extent now where I can only think of myself as a Livestrong Junkie and so must have the entire collection...if Lance's Giro Livestrong aero helmet ever appears on the shop shelves then St Pete had better hide the credit card!!!

Speaking of St Pete, he's being slowly sucked into the Livestrong collector's vortex and has ordered his first Livestrong products...along with Livestrong bike pants for me, all on their way from the Livestrong store in America!