Thanks to X-tri.com i found this :
First look at 2010 Kestrel bike, no details yet but they did say this :
While not final in design just yet, we are certain this will make it’s debut in Kona where Kestrel will make it official to athletes. By the way… it will be UCI legal.
Interesting
Its not everyday that you get some sweet new SWAG…today i got my pressie from Suunto. I have been with these boys for about 3 years now and love their stuff.
But it is the first time i am getting to use the T6, as i have been using the T3 and T3c for the last few years.
My first impression is that its not as chunky as it looks and not as heavy either, i have worn it around the whole day and havent noticed it there much, ok, it is RED but then there are only 20 of these in South Africa so you got to love the LTD edition factor.
This is what the cyclingnews review had as its final sentence after testing it :
Overall the t6c is an excellent training tool for those that just aren’t totally ready to make the jump into the power meter pool. It’s markedly less expensive than any direct power meter currently on the market yet still provides usable guidelines for the quality of a workout and the effectiveness of recovery time, while also doubling as a wristwatch, too. All in all a very solid unit worth considering.
He was one of my favourite athletes because he was a tech head and loved to hammer the bike like i do. Below is his press release :
A press release states that Danish pro triathlete Torbjørn Sindballe has retired from triathlon, effective immediately.
During Wildflower Triathlon in early May the Danish powerhouse ended his race hyperventilating in T2 after a very uncharacteristic bike ride, during which he faded down the field with a drastically dropping heart rate and heavy fatigue. The Dane has known about an abnormal heart valve since 2005 and has had regular checkups to ensure he was safe to race. After the incident in California, he has gone through extensive testing and evaluation with Danish experts. After considering their advice, Torbjørn Sindballe has decided to stop his career immediately.
“The past months have been an emotional rollercoaster for my family and I,” Sindballe said. “Going from world-class competition in the toughest sport in the world to fearing a heart surgery in the near future at the same time as your second child is born is an extreme experience. My wife, family, friends and sponsors have been a tremendous support in this process and the doctors have been outstanding in their evaluations. Based on the situation, I feel good about the decision and can look back on an amazing career in an amazing sport.
“I am going to miss the lifestyle and the intense excitement of training and racing,” he adds. “Of course I’m sad that I will not get to see the impact of the big changes in my training we have made this year and that I will not be able to compete for the crown in Kona. On the other hand I am very proud of what I have achieved. Two ITU Long distance World Champs and a podium in Kona, where I am really not suited to race, is something I will carry with me forever. I have learnt so much and feel very privileged.
Sindballe continues: “There are so many people who have devoted their expertise, insight and inspiration to me and to them I will be forever thankful. I have met countless truly amazing people in this sport and will never forget the time I have had with them. So many people have inspired me in my career and I hope I can give back in the coming years, helping people realize their dreams in sport, family and worklife.”
Torbjørn is sponsored by ECCO, Argon 18, Craft, Zipp, Sram, Oakley, Bell, HighFive and Xterra wetsuits.
Torbjorn Sindballe a.k.a. Thunderbear
The radical Specialized S-Works time trial bike that Saxo Bank’s Fabian Cancellara has been piloting over the past few months – to great success, we might add – is now officially called the Shiv and it will be available for public consumption in 2010, albeit in “incredibly limited quantities”.
Key features include the in-line level top tube and integrated stem, the enormous forward bulkhead section with the fully enclosed front brake built-in, the almost nonexistent gaps between adjacent components, carefully configured internally routed cables, special shaping around the top of the seat stays, the bottom bracket-located rear brake, and an especially slippery fully integrated aero bar setup.
In spite of the forward section’s visual mass, it is its relative bulk and width that actually helps it achieve better drag figures at more realistic yaw angles more typically seen during a real world time trial. Naturally, Specialized claims impressive aero figures for the Shiv: just 513g of drag at 0 degrees yaw relative to the current Transition’s 582g; 443g vs. 626g at 15 degrees on the non-driveside; and just 386g vs. 596g at 15 degrees on the driveside – roughly the same as what the non-UCI legal GT Superbike achieved in the ‘96 and ‘00 Olympics with its downsized front wheel, no top tube, and the limited componentry associated with its pursuit role.
In fact, Specialized is so confident in the Shiv’s aerodynamics that it is openly challenging any other bicycle company to best the bike’s performance in the wind tunnel (any takers?).
Aerodynamics is only part of the equation however and according to Specialized, the Shiv is also one of the most confident-handling machines around owing to its near-Tarmac SL2 rigidity figures: 89.1 Nm/degree for the front triangle vs. 92.5 – or roughly 30 percent better than its nearest competitor, claims Specialized.
The front end is especially stout. Though the tapered 1″-to-1 1/8″ carbon steerer tube isn’t all that solid on its own, the forward bulkhead is firmly bolted to the fork at both the top of the steerer and at the crown for a fully boxed-in structure and the larger lower bearing also allows for a broader down tube. The top tube is rather broad as well and down below, the Shiv boasts heaping amounts of carbon fiber around the bottom bracket area. Both the chain stays and seat stays are also imposingly sizeable and in fact, very little about the Shiv’s shaping even remotely suggests the idea of ’spindly’.
As if that weren’t already enough, the Shiv is light to boot: claimed frame weight is around 1,300g and a complete bike with a Zipp Sub-9 carbon tubular rear disc and 1080 deep-section front wheel, FACT integrated carbon crank and a SRAM Red group is just 7.6kg (16.8lb).
Explicit UCI approval is still in progress but Specialized adamantly insists the bike is ‘UCI-compliant’ and it has already been used in competition at both the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de Suisse – cross your fingers.
Specialized will offer the Shiv in four frame sizes, all measured using the easier-to-interpret X-Y ’stack and reach’ system that is quickly gaining favor through the industry. As Shiv is intended as a pure road time trial machine, Transition will remain in the lineup as a more versatile TT/Tri rig and will even gain three sizes for a new total of six.
Shiv pricing is still to be determined but the ‘extremely expensive’ descriptor will almost assuredly apply.
I am not a huge fan of TREK and especially not their TT bikes but i must say the very first time i saw Alberto Contador on it i thought it was very nice. Its got a killer spray job to start with but more importantly a few clever bits and pieces.
This weekend we saw Chris Lieto riding on one and i am loving it more and more. TREK SA though aren’t bringing in any TT bikes for the 2010 season and i recently heard that they not even going to bring in road bikes. Sign of the times maybe or sign of there being a huge choice of bikes for the consumer.
She is one of my favourite cyclists of all time and the funny thing is not a lot of you will know who she is.
Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli (Rhone Alpes) claimed the French women’s national time trial title today in Saint Brieuc. Averaging 41.85km/h over the 23.5km course Ciprelli-Longo finished 33 seconds ahead of professional teammate Edwidge Pitel and Marina Jaunatre (Vienne Futuroscope).
For Ciprelli-Longo, 50, the win adds an incredible 56th national title.
She kicks ass so hard and so has done so for so long, its incredible.
Most shoe companies going Light Weight these days, going back to the thinking that if a area is weak, don’t support it, make it stronger. Lighter less supportive shoes develop your weak area more. And of course you need to take baby steps in doing so.
100g seems to be the magical number that shoe companies try and get to when they say light weight, but most end up around 150g odd. Here is a sneak pic of the new Zoot Ultra Speeds, got it from Marc Price at Troisport who apart of the agency for ZOOT in SA, we have seen a few athletes testing them out in the last few races in Europe and should see them soon in SA. So watch this space and don’t be scared to get lighter shoes to train in and definitely race in
Never Stop Tweaking
This sentence comes up a lot with me in different fields of my life. How bad do you want it ? How much are you prepared to give up or sacrifice for it ? How far are you willing to push to get it ?
I think that the athlete who wants it the most on the day gets it, he might not be the most talented, the fastest or the most experienced but the hungry athlete often walks away with a win.
This i think is true in life as well, we are all out there trying to find the bigger picture and some of us have endured a lot in order to try and get there, we have sacrificed and worked hard and although some of us may never get to the end of the rainbow its the journey in trying that will enrich our lives.
So here is to you, the warrior, the person who wont give up, wont surrender.
This picture sums up what i am trying to say, these guys came down to the line, the guy on the right had a 7min lead off the bike and lost the race by 2sec , after 4hrs of racing to the man on the left who is the Current world Champion.
So keep up the good fight and remember, never give up, the next corner could be the finish line.
I think it would look something like this. This is our new Limited edition Whasp Exo Skelton Cycling kit with a Spiderman feel to it. We are running a Limited number of 30 sets for JULY with a Tour de France yellow jersey inspiration thrown in.
If you want to get a set, email me at collinallin@mweb.co.za
Already there are only 21 sets left.
Its finally here Vet Chem, its Dischems new pet range.
Its started with conditioning tablets and you can get for small dog, big dog, puppies, kittens, cats..
There will be more coming, so watch this space.
For store info you can go to www.dischem.co.za
Written by Regina Brett, 90-years-old, of “The Plain Dealer,” Cleveland, Ohio.) To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me… It’s the most-requested column I’ve ever written. My odometer rolled-over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:
1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
6. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
7. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
8. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.
9. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
10. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful
Its taken me a long time and its finally here.
Picture doesnt do it justice as its actually a green fade and not yellow as in the picture but you will get the look and feel from this.
Its all vinyl so can be taken off at anytime. I have put a new simple minimilist TT front end, Profile CSX extentions on a Zipp Bull bar with Sram levers and brakes, no tape or anything, so its naked.
Sram red on rest of bike, so its a really smooth fast ride.
The boys at Felt have sponsored Tanielle Mandy with this racing beauty. I must say at first glance its a very impressive bike and very well spec’d too. It’s a Alu frame with carbon rear stays which should make for a comfy ride with less vibration coming off the road up towards the saddle.
The front end is Profile Cobra TT bars and has FSA crankset. A really nice TT saddle sits on top of a carbon aero seatpost which you can use in 2 positions depending on how aggressive you want to ride.
Aero carbon fork the front to complete the package. The wheels are a in-house brand and impressed me the most, they have a aero profile and bladed spokes and a lot lighter than i would of thought by looking at them.
The only downside were the brakes which were unbranded but not bad looking and not bad brakes so doesnt really make much of a difference.
This bike really does look and feel the part and all of this for R18 999.99 amazing value in today’s market. Definitely worth a look at if your in the market for a TT bike. This spray job is a 2008 colour so the colour will be different for the 2009 model, but its one HOT looking bike.
Its not often that you get a bunch of people who will walk the extra mile for you. I am the first to moan about how bad service is in this country. That’s why once i find a person who becomes a friend i stay with them.
Sean Levy of PI Printers in just that sort of a guy. Nothing is too much for him and his staff to handle and no job is too big or too small and everybody walks away feeling like they are his biggest client.
Every person i have sent there has been very happy with the product, price and service that they have received.
So if you need anything in the Print media from Point of sale, Stickers, Branding, business cards or anything else like that give this man a call.
Sean Levy-Personalized Image Printers
011 786 3737 or go to their website www.piprinters.com
I went to watch the Terminator on friday night at monte casino and who was there……
THE HOFF..he was on stage singing, was a classic moment and i even got to take a picture of his car from nightrider, KIT in the flesh.
