PRESS RELEASE: The ASA Action Sports World Tour, one of the industry’s oldest and most elite action sports circuits, will make its first ever stop in Minneapolis, Minnesota. On April 25th the ASA World Tour will debut at Target Center with a one-day competition featuring the world’s top skateboard, BMX and Freestyle Motocross (FMX) pros. As the second stop on the 2009 Tour, the event offers a chance for the competing athletes to gain the valuable ranking points necessary for qualification into the season-ending Action Sports World Championships and for fans in the Twin Cities to see these amazing aerial artists live for the first time.

Tickets to the ASA Action Sports World Tour’s Minneapolis stop go on sale Saturday, February 21st at 10:00 a.m. via all Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com or Target Center’s Box Office, or call 651-989-5151 to charge tickets by phone. Advance ticket prices are $22 for adult tickets, $10 for children’s tickets and $60 for premium floor seating, which give fans an up close and personal view of all of the action and a private meet-and-greet. Each ticket includes seats for all contests – Skateboard Vert, Big-Air BMX Triple Jump and FMX performances – as well as a full concert from a top alternative rock group that will be announced on February 19th.

(more…)

Fans lined up ten deep in some places along the 15-mile individual time trial route in Solvang to welcome world-class cyclists from 17 professional teams for the critical Stage 6 individual time trial of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California. After completing the longest day of the race yesterday, the riders were faced with a course that was dominated by Levi Leipheimer (USA) of Astana for the third consecutive year. Besting four-time U.S. National Individual Time Trial Champion David Zabriskie (USA) of Garmin-Slipstream by eight seconds, Leipheimer further built on his overall lead in the 2009 race to 36 seconds and will wear the Amgen Leader Jersey going into Stage 7 tomorrow.

Moving into second and third overall were Zabriskie and three-time individual time trial world champion Michael Rogers (AUS) of Team Columbia-Highroad, respectively.

“This is the fourth year for the Amgen Tour of California and every year this stage is important,” said Leipheimer. “The overall race this year has been tougher. We’ve had one more day before the time trial and we’ve had some bad weather; the race is split up this year. Of course we have two hard days to come, but today has made the biggest difference.”

(more…)

After suffering a broken clavicle and scapula in a crash in Wednesday’s stage of Tour of California, Kirchen will undergo surgery on Friday in California before heading back to Europe next week. Kirchen should be able to return well trained and ready to race the 2009 Tour de France.

Courtesy of Scott USA, the image above is supposedly of one of the Tour of California spectators remarking “That guy’s faster than my motorcycle!“, concerning Mark Cavendish’s finishing speed.  Cavendish rides for Scott.  Now that’s news you can use…

Yeah, we got a little behind in posting these…so here’s a combo recap:

STAGE 6 TOP 5:
1) Levi Leipheimer (USA), Astana
2) David Zabriskie (USA), Garmin-Slipstream
3) Gustav Larsson (SWE), Team Saxo Bank
4) Michael Rogers (AUS), Team Columbia-High Road
5) Jens Voigt (GER), Team Saxo Bank

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION OVERALL:
1) Levi Leipheimer (USA), Astana
2) David Zabriskie (USA), Garmin-Slipstream
3) Michael Rogers (AUS), Team Columbia-High Road
4) Jens Voigt (GER), Team Saxo Bank
5) Thomas Lövkvist (SWE), Team Columbia-High Road

STAGE 6 JERSEY WINNERS:
Amgen Race Leader Jersey- Levi Leipheimer (USA), Astana
Amgen’s Breakaway from Cancer Most Courageous Rider Jersey- George Hincapie (USA), Team Columbia-High Road)
Herbalife Sprint Jersey- Mark Cavendish (GBR), Team Columbia-High Road
Rabobank Best Young Rider Jersey- Robert Gesink (NED), Rabobank
California Travel & Tourism Commission King of the Mountain (KOM) Jersey- Francisco Mancebo (ESP), Rock Racing

Read “more” for Stage 5 results and stories from stages 5…

(more…)

Back by popular demand, Kona’s Shoot the Ride Photo Contest returns for its second year. If you’re a Kona fan, or bike fanatic in general, this is your chance to submit your best amateur photographs. Once the images are in, we’ll put them through the Kona ringer to see if they’ve got what it takes to emerge victorious.

The contest parameters are pretty loose. Beauty shot, some sort of bike connection, however distant or obvious, and that’s it. Friends on bikes, non-friends on bikes, family on bikes, dogs on bikes, you on a bike, chicks on bikes … you get the picture?

(more…)

This year’s NBDA Regional Super Seminars debuted in Austin, Phoenix and Tampa–and make their final stop in SoCal’s Anaheim, CA on Feb 24, 2009.   Dealers have participated this season in sessions covering the latest in leadership management, service department profitability, how advocacy can better you community and your bottom line and NBDA’s top initiatives. 

The upcoming seminar in Anaheim will be held at the Doubletree Hotel Anaheim/Orange County from 8:30am – 4:30 pm. Each NBDA member may bring two attendees free of charge. Additional attendees and non-members are encouraged to participate, and may do so for only $50 per person. Continental breakfast and lunch is included at each of the one-day events.  More event details can be found atNBDA’s regional seminar page online.

From Moots: We’re loading up the Moots Sprinter Van and traveling to Indianapolis, Indiana for the North American Handmade Bicycle Show Feb 27th – March 1st. Below you’ll find a sampling of what we’re bringing to the show.

Gristle YBB Race Bike. This sleek 96er features the new inset headset oversized Chris King technology and is decked out with a mix of Shimano’s new XTR and a Stans/DT Swiss wheelset. The Gristle’s large front wheel provides all the advantages of a regular 29er, easily rolling over obstacles and hooking up nicely under hard cornering, while the smaller 26″ rear is quick to accelerate to top speed. Our signature YBB 1 1/8” pivotless soft tail makes for a lightweight, efficient and easy to maintain ride. Stop by the booth and have a look, ‘cause once this bike hits the trail, it’s destined for the front of the pack! Available in stock and custom sizes.  (Editor’s note: This bike isn’t finished yet…we asked for a pic, so if you make it to the show, you’ll be one of the first people to see it…)

Read “more” to see the rest of the bikes and things they’ll be bringing, or click here to see most of these items from our Interbike 2008 post of Moots’ booth…

(more…)

TransRockies, one of the largest and longest running mountain bike stage races, just announced they’ll offer a shorter 3-day stage race event for 2009.  Dubbed the TR3, it’ll run concurrently with the first three days of the standard 7-day duo race.

Event director Aaron McConnel was quoted in VeloNews as saying that every year “we are asked about oslo riders and shorter versions of the race, adn this year we felt like we had a great opportunity to bring something new to the event.”

Limited to 300 riders, the TR3 will feature three categories: Open Men, Open Women, Masters 40+ Men.

Cost is about $400 US until May 1, when prices go up by about $100. Meals, camping and hot showers are extra. Registration for the August 9-15 event is open now.

Click on the image to enlarge.

MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) students have put together this contraption for developing countries that don’t have reliable (or any) access to electricity to help them efficiently wash their clothes without polluting the lakes or streams they typically use.  They claim it can be built locally, which will create jobs, and the end result helps the people save time, too.

An earlier version of this design won first prize at an MIT IDEAS competition in 2005, and the design has been steadily improved to be lighter, more durable and easier to ship.  Read the full story here.

Up until this point, the only way to get a pair of the new TIOGA POWERBLOCK tires was to purchase a complete 2009 REDLINE Flight bike; which were the first bikes to be spec’d with this modern-day treaded tire.

But as of right now, the top-end S-Spec PowerBlock in sizes 20×2.1, 20×1.95, 20×1.75 and 20×1.60, as well as the standard PowerBlock in sizes – 20×1 1/8, 20 x 1 3/8 and cruiser sizes in 24 x 1.75 and 24 x 2.10 are available thru any Dealer who orders their gear from Seattle Bike Supply.

Development of the Tioga POWERBLOCK started in winter 2007, and a key part to the tire’s design was disecting vital input from the Factory Redline team – who were the first riders to try out the prototype tread design. When going in to the project, the goal was not only to come up with a modern-day tire that grips the harder packed track surfaces and asphault berms, but a tread designed to retain or increase rider momentum depending on rider input.

(more…)

Sampson Sports is pleased to announce they are now including a set of the top rated SwissStop brake pads now with both the Stratics and Stratics SL brake sets, and will also contiune to include a full set of the Sampson composite pads for use with carbon rims.

Sampson said the SwissStop pads provide excellent all-around brake performance, and have the added advantage of low abrasion on soft alloy rims from Campagnolo and Fulcrum, among others. The 260g per set Stratics brakes will still retail for $199, and the super-light 240g. Stratics SL’s price is also unchanged at $299, even though Sampson is now including about $75 worth of special compound brake pads.

(Editor’s note:  Anyone know what SwissStop’s website is??  Second Note: Thanks for the comment…the missing link has been found!)

Just in case the recovered stolen bike isn’t up to ship shape, Trek sent in a replica with the inscription “Lance, ride this one like YOU stole it.”

The recovered bike, found in Sacramento on Wednesday, appears to be in good condition according to Police Sgt. Norma Leong, with complete tires and wheels.  Read the news story here. To watch the VIDEO, read “more”…it starts playing automatically, so we placed it after the break…

(more…)