Via a THIS LINK on Mapmyfitness.com, you can get a free sample of Febreze’s new “sport” odor eliminator.  Seeing as how odors don’t like to wash out of synthetics or armpits, I’m hopeful.    Like the rest of the Febreze product line, there’s no actual technical explanation of how this works or what, in fact, “X-Sweat Technology” is or how it removes odors that soaking and repeated washings won’t…which is annoying for us technical types, but the proof is in the pudding, and I’ll report back on whether it works when we get our free sample in.

For the first time in 13 years, an American cyclist won a Gold at the UCI Track World Championships.  Taylor Phinney, the 18-year-old son of Olympic gold medalist Connie Carpenter-Phinney and Tour de France stage winner Davis Phinney, won Gold in the Individual Pursuit.

Phinney only took up track cycling about 17 months ago, but he broke his own U.S. record this past weekend with a 4:15:160 during a qualifying round.  His winning time during the finals was 4:17:631, besting Jack Bobridge (Australia) and Dominique Cornu (Belgium) who finished in 2nd and 3rd with times of 4:20:091 and 4:22:347 respectively.

The last American rider to take gold was Marty Nothstein who onw the Keiren Title in 1996.  Photo from Cycling News’ Flickr stream…check it out, they’ve got some good ones, and interviews on their website.

DT Swiss sent us a preview of their 2010 new products, all to be unveiled at Sea Otter in a couple of weeks.  So, for now, all we have are these lo-res images and teasers, but we can make a few predictions:

Their current XRC 1250 mountain bike wheelset has carbon rims, uses ceramic bearings and weighs 580g (f) and 650g (r), uses bladed spokes and only standard QR.  From the pic, it’s tough to tell if the 1350 will have bladed spokes…the other wheels at this level do, but they’re very small blades.  It will have far more axle width and mounting options, likely with minimal weight gain.  Their current 1450 wheelset only gains 30g from the QR to 15mm thru axle on the front.  Lastly, they’ll likely be available in both 6-bolt IS and CenterLock versions like their other wheels.

The EXC 1550 looks exciting…400g for a rim is freakin’ light even for an XC specific model, and this claims to be All Mountain worthy.

Hit “more’ to see the other new items, including an all-carbon suspension fork weighing just 1250g, a new shock and carbon road wheels…

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The Raleigh Public Record reported earlier this month that the Raleigh City Council approved a comprehensive bicycle plan calling for almost 450 miles of greenways and bicycle lanes. It also includes two dozen priority projects to make the city more bicycle friendly.

The 838 comments received on the plan exceeded input received on similar plans from both Durham and Mecklenburg County (Charlotte). One of the most stressed items was cyclist-motorist education, and key recommendations were presented to local bicycle clubs, commuters and advocacy group 1304bikes.org.

You can view the entire Powerpoint on their website to see the Comprehensive Plan Presentation.

Found this video put together by Gazzetto della Sport via Sporthill.tv with a course fly-by for the upcoming Giro d’Italia.  The event starts in the North of Italy, touches into Austria, Switzerland and France, then finishes outside of Milan for the first time since 1989.  It starts with a 20.5k team time trial and finishes 3395.5k later after crossing six mountain top finishes.

During some pre-ride recon, Lance Armstrong had this to say about the Stage 12 individual time trial: “Giro TT is wicked hard. Never, ever flat and 62 kms. Doubtful for riding the tt bike as well. And the descents…?? Insane..”

Click “more” to see the current teams list for this year’s race, which happens to be the 100th anniversary of the legendary bicycle race.

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There’s a point to this, so bear with me for a couple of paragraphs: A mere three days after having a brace pinned to his collarbone, Lance was back on the bike for some light spinning.

Armstrong says that the pain won’t stop him from racing as planned this year, which includes the upcoming (May 9) Giro d’Italia.  True to his “Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever” motto, Washington Post writer Sally Jenkins theorizes that the pain is a motivator, that Armstrong uses it to push himself harder and make the experience more real.  Undoubtedly, the pain will be very real when he’s making the climb on San Martino di Castrozza, the Tour’s first mountain top stage finish.

Then, she ties it in with an analogy that perpetuates the differences between him and mere mortals, though I would argue it’s aimed at non-cycling mortals:  Where many people look for the quick, easy path to achieve their goals (wealth…hello financial crisis, health…crash diets, etc.), Armstrong uses the pain as a cleansing and clarifying force. So do I. And so should you.

The time on my bike is when I get my best thinking done.  Riding has become a routine enough activity that I don’t have to think about pedaling, braking or turning, leaving my gray matter free to ponder the bigger things in life or solve life’s little problems, or occasionally yell at jerks in their cars.  The result is that I’m more able to live in the moment and appreciate what’s going on in the here and now.

And when I feel like pushing it with some sprints or intervals or hills climbs, which are done purely for fun and to go fast…I would hardly call what I do “training”…the pain in my quads is indeed clarifying and quite gratifying.

Why?  Because I know, like Lance said, that it’s temporary.  And I know it’ll make me better.  And I know that when it’s gone I’m fortunate enough to have a relatively pain-free life (lower back occasionally excluded).  Yes, there’s $4,000/month debt from a previous business venture that didn’t work out.  Yes, there’s the constant clutter from a 4- and 1-year olds’ daily mayhem.  And yes, the dishes are seemingly always piled on the counter.  If I focused on those things, I’d be miserable constantly.  But everyone’s healthy, the messes can be cleaned and eventually the debt will be paid off.

So, what’s the point?  Ride hard, ride fast and focus on the fun…and enjoy the pain that comes with that.  Because, like 99% of the things in your life, it’s temporary.

Photo: AP (V.R. Caivano)

As of today (March 28), Saxo Bank Cycling Team, which includes Bjarne Riis, Fabian Cancellara and brothers Frank and Andy Schleck have switched to SRAM Red from Shimano Dura-Ace.

After a period of test-riding, Team Director Bjarne Riis, renowned for his selectiveness, has asked SRAM to assist in swapping Saxo Bank’s entire fleet of bikes to RED. 

“SRAM RED is proven reliable, remains the lightest gruppo available, and delivers perfect ergonomics. SRAM has demonstrated impressive product development, great quality and intense focus, just like our team. We are looking forward to racing with SRAM”, says Riis. 

Earlier this year, the team switched from Cervelo after seven seasons to Specialized.

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There’s a bike in this commercial.  It’s mildly amusing. That’s good enough for us.

Just got this shipment in today, and after talking with Mark at Kinetic Koffee about it, we’re the first people outside of their roasting plant to see these new labels.  We even beat them to the punch…Mark said he was going to post up via TwitPic this morning, but I guess he got too busy roasting.  The new labels should start hitting retail on Monday.

Not pictured is their new-for-2009 roast, the Kama Sumatra, a smooth, dark roast.

In the meantime, check out our interview with Mark for some good coffee reading.

The Redlands Classic started its 25th running on Thursday with a prologue Time Trial with Stage 1′s Circuit Race today, a Criterium on Saturday and Road Race on Sunday.  The event’s size and stature have grown over the years, starting as a way to bring some life into the city.  Now, it’s a major fixture on the U.S. Road Racing calendar and draws riders from teams like Rock Racing, Team Type 1, Ouch/Maxxis and Jelly Belly.

Past winners include Christian Vandevelde, Jonathan Vaughters, Chris Horner, Tom Danielson and Chris Wherry, who launched promising careers in Redlands, each eventually shooting to the sport’s biggest stages in Europe.

Every top American cyclist, except Tour de France champions Greg LeMond and Lance Armstrong, have raced on the roads of Redlands since 1985.

Poster by Tracy Holmes Fine Art.

These “lucky” souls have wormed their way into free entries to the Breck Epic this July.  In exchange for the opportunity to race themselves into the ground each day, they’ll have to blog about it once they’re off the bike each day. The winners are:

Team Dicky, aka Rich Dillen, Charlotte, NC (read our interview with him here.)

Jen Hanks, Salt Lake City, UT

Tomi McMillar, Carlisle, PA

Heather Szabo and Mary Monroe, Lafayette and Durango, CO

ESPN had this session video from Windells in the Portland area (Sandy, OR) showing off the new place to be for BMX when the weather is crappy.  It looks like they basically just started letting people ride their bikes on the existing skate park ramps, but there’s no BMX info on Windell’s website yet to yield the 411.  

Besides BMX, they have camps for skating, snowboarding and skiing so the little grommets can get away for some peace and quiet with their parents always harpin’ on them.