Clan-Members » punishing, dramatic day of racing, Armstrong set her ja

RIO DE JANEIRO -- To understand how double Olympic gold medalist Kristin Armstrong can look so perfectly still in the saddle while rocketing along a time trial course, it takes spending at least a day or two in the place she found her balance.That would be Boise, Idaho, where Armstrong settled after enrolling at the University of Idaho for the simple, practical reason that she could get in-state tuition after a childhood and adolescence of ricocheting between the United States, Asia and Europe with her military family.Boise is where Armstrong, a swimmer and a runner in her youth, took a job as aquatics director for the local YMCA in her 20s with no intention of morphing into an elite athlete. On a lark, she entered a local triathlon called the Y Not Tri.She got through the 400-meter swim just fine, pulled a pair of soccer shorts over her bathing suit, laced up tennis shoes and hopped on a fluorescent green mountain bike for the 7-mile ride -- and got waxed. Armstrong wound up walking half of the 2-mile run, but she crossed the finish line. She nearly always does.Three days after playing a key leadership role in the U.S. cycling teams strong road race showing, Armstrong duels for a third straight Olympic time trial championship Wednesday, the day before her 43rd birthday.?The Rio course -- which the riders traversed as part of Sundays epic road race -- promises to be tougher than either Beijing 2008 or London 2012, where Armstrongs margins were a whopping 24 and 15 seconds, respectively. There are climbs, flats, technical sections and a freshly paved-over stretch of cobblestones. The forecast is for temperatures in the high 60s and a chance of rain first thing in the morning when the women start.Armstrong and her husband and partner-in-all-things, Joe Savola, prepared in their trademark methodical fashion by overlaying the course topography on a local loop so she could train until it became rote. She loves those Idaho roads even though they become impassable in the winter and are almost never populated by other riders near her level. One stretch is named the Kristin Armstrong Bikeway in her honor and has her winning 2008 and 2012 times embedded in small type on the multi-colored road sign.When ice and snow descend, I take a break, Armstrong said. Good for my mind. Im not one to be around a lot of other people who do what I do.Armstrong is a throwback -- an Olympic champion with a family and a flexible-hours but very real job. As community health director for the St. Lukes health system, she works on wellness initiatives and is a liaison between the hospital and non-profit organizations.It doesnt take long, listening to her erupt in peals of joyous maternal laughter on the sideline of her 5-year-old sons soccer game, or watching her go over renderings and budget for a new capital project with St. Lukes CEO Chris Roth, or seeing her navigate a long meeting with community groups, to realize that personal equilibrium really is what keeps Armstrong upright.Her ice-blue eyes and businesslike, clipped-speaking cadence can create a certain remove for those who dont know her well. She has an unapologetic competitive edge, giving no quarter to anyone when she has an individual goal, whether its a bike race or a game of dominoes with her in-laws.She doesnt like second place, said her father, retired Marine Col. William Dean Armstrong Jr., who watched her jump in the water as a 5- or 6-year-old, following her older brother Eric onto the Zukeran Sharks swim team on the U.S. Marine base in Okinawa. She hasnt sunk since, parlaying her talent in triathlon into a brief professional stint before a diagnosis of osteoarthritis in her hips ended her running days and diverted her to her true athletic strength.Armstrong calls his daughter the hardest worker he has ever seen, which covers some ground, given what he did for a living. She briefly considered a career in the military and attended a summer session of officer candidate school when she was 18, but decided it was not for her.Characteristically, shes still a little peeved with herself that she didnt see it through. I think I just had a weak moment where I just cracked, Armstrong said. Im not a quitter. Thats probably the one thing Ive quit that was significant.Armstrong has won two world championships along with her pair of Olympic golds -- the second of which came two years after her son, Lucas, arrived. Close friend Nicola Cranmer, owner of the Twenty16 cycling trade team, helped sneak Lucas into the finish line area in London so he could run to the flower ceremony podium for a hug, completing Armstrongs dream. Minutes later, she was in the back seat of an official car, medal still around her neck, changing her boys diaper.Yet as much as that individual success has meant to Armstrong, she takes enormous pride in being a team player. She coaches a couple of younger riders on the side and came into Rio, after coming out of retirement a second time, utterly determined to show her true colors on the road course as well as in her solo specialty.Armstrongs selection for the 2016 team raised some hackles, partly because she had a subpar ride at the spring national championships and partly because her longtime coach, Jim Miller, is a USA Cycling executive, which inevitably raises the issue of conflict of interest. (Miller recused himself from the actual selection process, but many critics were not appeased.)That was on her mind when she arrived in Rio, even though she said she didnt feel pressure to prove anything in the road race. On a punishing, dramatic day of racing, Armstrong set her jaw and stuck it into the wind. She worked tirelessly on the front of the peloton, earning public kudos from her teammates, especially Mara Abbott, who finished a heartbreaking fourth.That was my contribution, Armstrong said at the finish line, and then briefly choked up. I did the breaks, I covered the moves, I chased in the end, and at the base of the big climb I was depleted completely. She pulled out at that point -- only the second time in her career she has abandoned a race. The other was in 2002.Armstrong said she knew some cycling fans and probably some teammates of mine questioned her commitment. I hope I dont have to say anything else anymore, she said.She gets to express herself with one more monologue in motion Wednesday. Wali Jones Jersey . -- Vincent Lecavalier got everything but the desired result in his return to Tampa Bay. [url=https://www.cheapwizardsonline.com/469k-don-ohl-jersey-wi