Prototype Dura Ace Carbon Pedal

To all of the Shimano reps and employees who; for the past 2 years, have been denying the existence of a carbon pedal prototype when I asked them about it:

WHAT'S THIS?!?!?!

Peter, you're the only one who's been honest with me. :)

Interbike 2010 Guide - new stuff from Dirty Vegas

Photo courtesy Interbike.com

I described Interbike on my facebook status as one of my favorite events in my least favorite city. I love Interbike and reconnecting with old friends; but from the second the plane touches down in Vegas, I can't wait to leave! I just feel like I need to take a shower after being there. It's an interesting dichotomy.

So, that said - Interbike was a pretty good show this year; in spite of noticeably lower attendance and fewer vendors. (I think I actually walked the whole show floor this year - a first in 8 years of attending the show.) The "down" economy only seemed to dampen the turnout; because there was still plenty of innovation present. New wheels (including the one I've been waiting 2 years for; the WH-7850-C50-CL) and Ultegra 6700 from Shimano; Reynolds new carbon clincher rim and lower price points; Sram XX; Zipp's 101 aluminum aero clincher (a new personal favorite); all sorts of new clothing and shoe ideas; and of course - plenty of super light carbon frames.

The 2009 Vuelta a Espania is on Universal

Much like the Giro d'Italia this year, the third Grand Tour of the season can be found at Universal Sports, a subsidiary of NBC. I'll probably be catching it online, as they don't seem to be giving it a lot of TV time. Versus does a great job with the Tour and I love how thourough they are. But, it's also great to see some others getting interested. And with a company as seemingly well capitalized as NBC and their parent company GE vying for cycling broadcasting rights, you have to wonder how much Versus is paying for their contract and how long they'll be able to maintain their exclusivity.

Universal's hom page for the Vuelta can be found at: http://www.universalsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=23000&ATCLID=204770092

Of course, there is always VeloNews' live text coverage which I also enjoy. This is a great option for those who sit at a computer all day at work and can't look like they're just watching videos... Go here: http://velonews.com/live

Enjoy the race!
Matt.

First Impressions - New Ultegra 6700

Head's up!Photo courtesy bikeradar.com

Here's a quick first-ride review on the new generation of Ultegra from bikeradar.com

Link: First Ride: Shimano Ultegra 6700 Review

With Dura Ace 7900 moving decidedly up-market to compete with Sram Red and Campagnolo Super Record, it looks as though Shimano is positioning Ultegra 6700 as the new high-end group for the "rest of us" with nearly Dura Ace weight and performance (shades of which we saw with the Ultegra SL remake a couple years ago), I think you'll be seeing a lot more 6700 groups on the local race circuit because of it's affordability with very little performance penalty.

I look to get my hands on 6700 at Interbike this September - 2 months away!

More to come after Interbike!

Climbing tips, tricks, and advice.

Again, bikeradar.com comes up with a gem of an article. If you're not making this website a part of your regular cycling-related web-surfing you are missing out on some seriously cool stuff.

Link to the article:

Technique: Hill climbing made easy

The title makes a big promise - one which is difficult if not impossible to deliver on. Especially when you consider that the conventional wisdom among experienced cyclists is that climbing never gets easier; it's just that some are able to suffer at a higher rate of speed. None-the-less, there is some value in the information within.

Online fraud in the bike industry. Again...

I don't recall the last time I heard of this happening to customers of a locally owned independent bike shop:

*********************
Story: bikeportland.org

Fraud hits local customers of online retailer Nashbar

Northeast Portland resident Gabriel Tiller is sort of a bicycle renaissance man. He has won a national tall-bike jousting competition, taken top prize at the Zoobomb Century, earned a spot on the gravity-biking podium at the Maryhill Festival of Speed, he likes to do bike touring, and he has recently taken to mountain biking.

The Truth About Tire Pressure

Part of a series I'm calling Tires 101 with lots of great info to consider when looking for new tires.

When it comes to the pavement; more pressure is better.

Right?

Nope. And for several reasons. First, a higher pressure tire is harder to control, is actually a little slower, and rides less comfortably, meaning your feel worse and weaker at the end of a ride. Second, its not as safe. I'll touch on each of these respectively.

Mountain bikers and the cyclo-cross world figured this out a long time ago. Why is it that the road world has taken so long to grasp this concept? Well, I would bet that consumer demand plays a part in this. Somewhere along the line we got it in our heads that more tire pressure capacity makes a better, faster tire and so the tire manufacturers keep pushing the envelope.

So, why is this wrong? Like I said, the off-roaders figured this out early.

Always be prepared!

No, this isn't the big update I was talking about. And, no, that's not a picture of me - but I imagine the frustration level of that rider and myself earlier today were somewhat similar as I stood on the side of River Road between St. Paul and Newberg, Oregon after 2 hours of fighting headwinds (Avg. heart rate: 168; time in upper zone: 1:32:38). Oh, and this was my second flat of the day! The first one happened about 7 minutes into the ride!

So, many of you who may be my regular customers have heard me talk about what I carry every time I ride. (Spare tube, patches, tire levers, combo CO2/mini-pump, 2 full CO2 cartridges, multi-tool, tire boot material.) Well, today, I needed everything; including something more!

Missing the Giro d'Italia?

No Giro on Versus this year. Bummer.

But, if you have highspeed internet and the opportunity - you can still watch live racing (without commercials in some cases!). Thanks to my buddy Brandon at the Beaverton Bike Gallery for the head's-up on this one.

Head over to steephill.tv. They've re-configured their homepage to accomodate all the Giro traffic they're getting - but if you click the front-and-center photo (the one that looks like Alberto Contador stage-diving off the podium...) it will take you to their Giro homepage. There's a link for "Live Coverage" at the bottom left of the Contador photo on that page. Clicking there will take you to a page that has a bunch of different streaming options for the live video feed.

I've bounced around between the RAI Italian feed and the Universal English-language feed. The feeds labeled "unrestricted" have no commercials.

I'll also usually open up VeloNews.com's live text updates as I enjoy some of the witty commentary by Andrew Hood.

By the way...come back early next week for a BIG NEWS UPDATE. Changes are on the horizon.

Thanks for dropping by.

Matt.

Wacky April Fool's Day Stories

April 1 always seems to be a day for big news in the cycling industry. VeloNews and Cyclingnews get the scoop on exclusive stories with preposterous accusations, controversial regulations, or just plain infuriating content. And if you believe them - this is your day. Here's this year's content:

VeloNews (velonews.com)
-Armstrong Sharpens Sprint
The give-away here is the photo of the German Track cyclists' legs and the claim that Armstrong has been consulting with German coaches for similar results before the Tour [de France].

-LanceNews.com
A spinoff of the above story; and mentioned in other stories on the website - not a serious endeavour.

-Lennard Zinn
All I have to say is: Really, Lennard? You expected us to buy that? Really?

-New UCI Eyewear Regs
Again, pretty transparent story (and certainly not distortion free) - along with the accompanying "question" on the Explainer's article.

Unfortunately the story about a Valverde ban is real - unfortunate that the riders don't ever seem to learn that they can't beat the new tests. And, to be entirely honest, I'm still trying to figure out whether the story about Theo Bos is real or not. If it's fake - it's well done!

Cyclingnews (cyclingnews.com)
Much like last year; the CN crew based their story around far-fetched carbon fiber componentry. However, with how far composite materials are being pushed in the bike industry - one of these days the story is going to be believeable. Definitely visit the website associated with the story: http://www.carboncopycomponents.com/

All in all, the stories are in good fun. I enjoy rooting them out every year. Nice work, guys!

Matt.