Lance Armstong said he’s retiring (again) after this year’s Tour de France, but this time he means it! The grueling race begins in a few days and in the meantime, Snoop Dogg made this rather surprisingly bizarre send off video for the cycling great.

Led by artist Tom Sachs, creator of “Lance’s Tequila Bike for Girls,” the talk will cover “the ethical implications around the use and re-use of stolen and liberated bike parts,” followed by by “a guided tour of the neighborhood’s abandoned and dismembered bikes,” where the “demonstration” likely takes place. If you don’t make it out, all you really need to know is: “Don’t steal bikes, bro.” |Trackstar|

“Tom Sachs: Stolen Bikes. An Ethical Discussion & Demonstration,” November 20th, 7 PM, WNW Space, 232 Eldridge Street

Photo via Hint

All types of two-wheelers have taken over The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum for “Bike Rides: The Exhibition.” Curated with the assistance of musical bike advocate David Byrne, the mixed media show features working bicycles, both functional and artistic, as well as pedal-inspired pieces by Lance Armstrong, Bamboo Bike Studio, Tom Sachs, Puerto Rico Schwinn Club and Cai Guo-Qiang among others. The Ridgefield, Connecticut exhibition will remain on display through January 17 to “emphasize the diverse use and function of these man–powered machines that is present in different societies.”

Images via Aldrich Museum

World champion cyclist and art patron Lance Armstrong tweets about the downside of racing: random drug testing. Just like parolees!

Combining two of life’s greatest joys, bicycling and art, Lance Armstrong’s Stages exhibition opened at the Emmanuel Perrotin gallery in Paris last week. On view through August 8th, the benefit show for the Lance Armstrong Foundation features commissioned work from the “world’s most accomplished and promising international artists.” The selection of 16 artists, all but two of them male, was tasked with creating new work with some type of cancerous connection.

Geoff McFetridge’s pushpin homage to the ubiquitous Livestrong bracelets, Shepard Fairey’s portrait of a cancer-surviving friend, Tom Sach’s “tequila bike for girls” and Catherine Opie’s photograph of a long open road are among the artworks surrounding the disease, surviving and bicycling. After the show’s Paris run, it will exhibit in New York this fall.

With the Tour de France underway, Trek offers an overview of Lance Armstrong’s sextuplet of artist customized bicycles. Along with more detailed views of the rolling canvases by KAWS, Shepard Fairey, Kenny Scharf, Marc Newson, comes a closer look at the most recent bikes stylized by Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara and shark cutter Damien Hirst.

For the 37-year-old cyclist’s return to racing, Nara decked out the time trial bicycle with his childish drawings and a hidden message for Armstrong as he’s mashing gears: “Never Forget Your Beginner’s Spirit.” All six of the STAGES bikes will be sold off on October 2nd in New York to raise money for the pro-twittering cyclist’s anti-cancer foundation.

While we hoped Damien Hirst was crafting Lance Armstrong a racing bicycle adorned with actual dead sharks and lambs, the animal cutting artist took a slightly more animal-sensitive approach, styling the bike with a butterfly wing motif reminiscent of the stained glass window designs he once crafted from the insects’ wings. Here’s a sneak peek at the Trek Madone that Armstrong will race later this month in the Tour de France, after which it goes to auction for the pro cyclist’s anti-cancer charity, along with rides customized by KAWS, Shepard Fairey, Kenny Scharf, Marc Newson, and NARA.

Images via Limited Hype

Adding to his stable of artist customized bicycles by the likes of Shepard Fairey and Kenny Scharf, Lance Armstrong rode a new Trek time trial bike designed by Marc Newson for Saturday’s start to the Tour de France. Later in the stage race, the pro twittering cyclist will also be riding bikes customized by Yoshitomo Nara and Damien Hirst to help draw more attention to STAGES, the anti-cancer art show opening in the midst of the Tour at the Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin in Paris on July 16th.