Steve Larsen passed away Tuesday of an apparent heart attack at the age of 39 after collapsing during a track running workout.  Medical attention was provided immediately, but they were unable to resuscitate him.  He leaves behind a wife and five children.

While most of his recent athletic accomplishments were focused on Triathlon, Steve Larsen got his start in pro cycling with the legendary Motorola squad before becoming one of the top pro mountain bike racers in the world during the 90s.  Following his cycling-centric career, he moved to Triathlon and immediately became a threat to the established leaders because of his crushing bike leg performances.

Later, he moved to the business side of things with an equity ownership in Steve Larsen Properties (real estate brokerage) and Worldtri.com (online tri goods retailer).  He competed until the end, most recently placing 83rd in the Pro Men’s field at the 2009 Sea Otter Classic.  Dan Empfield posted a very nice story on Larsen yesterday on SlowTwitch.com.

As of this posting, Lance Armstrong is on course for about an hour with about 35 minutes to go, and current GC leader Danilo Di Luca is at about 14 minutes, with a while to go.  I just saw a rider get handed a feed bag, pull a water bottle and snack out, then dump the bag….during a time trial!!!…that’s a first for me.

Click here to start watching now on UniversalSports.com.  Thank goodness they picked up the slack from Versus for this tour!

According to BikeBiz, a container of Iron Horse bicycles was seized by forwarding agents Genesis, possibly in an attempt to collect monies owed to them by Iron Horse America.  Or, maybe they just got caught up in all the recent pirate excitement.

Anyway, U.S. bike shops are warned against buying any Iron Horse bikes from Genesis until the matter is resolved.  From my personal experience, you don’t want to get into buying property that’s in bankruptcy dispute…you could end up having to return it and not get any of your money back.  At the very least, the UK Iron Horse distributor, Jim Walker & Co., recommends you speak to your attorney before buying anything from the pirates, er, I mean forwarding agent.

Norco Bicycles is recalling about 3,700 mountain bike frames due to the risk of the frame cracking and separating. The recalled bicycle frames include the following model year and model names:

• 2007 Team DH
• 2008 Team DH, Aline Park, Aline, Atomik, Shore 1,2,3
• 2009 Atomik (without gussets).

All colors are included in the recall and the model name is printed on a decal on the top tube of each frame/bike. Norco has received one report of a rider who fractured their collar bone after falling from the bicycle.

All owners should immediately stop using the bicycle frame and contact a local Norco dealer or Norco directly for information regarding this recall and frame repair. Norco can be reached at (800) 663-8916 between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday PT or via e-mail at recall@norco.com.

Levi Leipheimer, the reigning and three-time Amgen Tour of California champion, is the instigator and patron of a new fundraising cycling event, Levi Leipheimer’s King Ridge GranFondo, on October 3 in Sonoma County. The primary beneficiary of the ride will be the Tour of California.

Levi Leipheimer, a resident of Santa Rosa, Calif., said, “This King Ridge GranFondo is the perfect way to show everyone what myself and many of the best cycling teams in the world have known for years: Sonoma County is a cycling heaven! There’s nothing I enjoy more than showing off my training grounds to other cycling enthusiasts and sharing that passion for the bike.”

Three different ride options, one of which includes the stunningly beautiful King Ridge Road, will take place in the golden light of fall in Sonoma County. The turning leaves, soft vineyards, tranquil valleys, and spectacular views of the rugged Sonoma coastline create an ambience of romance and adventure as participants pedal through some of the most glorious cycling country in the USA.

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Photo by DAMIEN MEYER/AFP/Getty Images

The 2009 Giro d’Italia returned Tuesday after Monday’s rest day. Everyone was in good form including Antler Man, who showed up cheering on Levi Leipheimer. Leipheimer is still in 4th place over all after stages 10 and 11. Tuesday’s stage 10 was 262 km (about 163 miles) and had a few big climbs. Including a short but stout climb right before the finish with an average grade of 6.2% and a maximum of 12%. After each stage we watch as the statistical favorites earn their odds and we are reminded of who we cannot overlook. 

The overall leader so far, Danilo Di Luca showed us again why he is wearing the pink jersey by winning stage 10. It was no small effort on his part; but he clearly had the right combination of fearlessness on the descents, careful analysis of the course prior the the race, and the narrow focus of winning the Giro. As Di Luca put it, “Stage wins are only a consequence of my overall target.” We’re only half way through the Giro so it’s still anybody’s race. 

Lance Armstrong had good rides Tuesday and Wednesday reminding us that he’s not to be counted out. Armstrong finished only 29 seconds behind 1st place Danilo Di Luca on Tuesday, and after today’s stage 11, Armstrong has moved from 25th to 16th place overall. Armstrong has a way of punishing people on the mountain stages, and with the third week of the Giro being in the mountains, it’s more than possible for him to make up the 5min 28sec’s he lacks on Di Luca. 

Click ‘more’ for overall standings and a link to Thursday’s time trial.

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From Myles at BikePure: For most of the cycling world in May, the Giro is the focus. Italy’s grand tour capturing our interest with a superstar line up, the espresso glitz and fresh bar tape every day. This not biking to most of us. We may have saved up for a bike that looks like Sastra’s, yet it never gets used in just the same manner. We love the ‘other’ sport where you clean your own chain, fix your own wheel and tackle a climb, that might not be a 25km alpine assent, just somehow feels like it.

The FBD RÁS is somewhere in-between. The fantastic 8-day stage race around Ireland is one of a kind. Where national first and second Cat riders get to race against Tour De France stage winners and world pursuit champions. What other sport could a weekend pitch and putter play against Tiger Woods?

And it is all down to race organizer Dermot Dignam. A decent, grey haired, man you expect to be someone’s popular uncle; collects together a team of volunteers and runs a top class UCI 2.2 race on a shoe string. Recently, in Philly, the organizers needed an ‘extra’ $500,000 to run the one day event. Dignam runs a race over 1,000 miles with 160 riders and 500 of a crew on a fraction of that, because it’s the RAS. The event is not just a bike race; it is a mystical week with old friends, who form a family. Some of the men and women, who take a week’s holiday to help him, without pay, have been coming here for 25 years. The motorcycle marshals, the route planners, the finish crews all do it for no money AND there is a waiting list to be part of it. Such is the draw of the event and it is this passion that bleeds into the race, at every well-marshaled corner.

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From The Greensboro Fat Tire Society: We will be conducting trail work days on Saturday May 23 and June 6th which is National Trails Day. Blue Heron is our newest trail under construction by Fat Tire volunteers like you. The trail head starts on North Church St. just across from the Reedy Fork trail head. We hope to see you there!

We will be posting details on meeting location and time for this Saturday on www.biketriad.com or for questions; contact Mark Gatehouse 332-5479 or Dale Holder 681-4968

Do you have your own trail work days and mountain bike clubs?  Send your upcoming events to us here and we’ll post them!

From the shop: This Saturday, Revolution Cycles NC will be hosting our official name change party!

Firstly… There will be a store wide sale! Everything will be marked down with some items being on mega-closeout! And I mean “I don’t know? what would you give me for it?” kind of closeout. I’ll be dragging out a ton of stuff from our warehouse and sincerely asking you all to help me do some belated Spring Cleaning. From the bling, to the norm, to the esoteric, to the “one man’s junk is another’s treasure”… there will be alot of…umm…stuff. So come help us clear it out.

Secondly… There will be an Assault on Mt. Caraway bike ride with a few route options. The offical Caraway ride will be about 60 miles, minimum, with an 80 mile option climbing Dave’s Mtn as well.
But here’s the deal… At the top of Caraway, there will be a few KING OF THE MOUTAIN primes. First rider to the summit gets a Cane Creek 110 headset! valued at $140! Second place will get a blingin’ prize as well! The other primes will be available to ANYONE who makes it to the summit! Crest the summit and your name will go in a drawing. So maybe you weren’t the fastest… that’s a tough little hill and you deserve the chance at a damn prime too, right?
Sadly, shorter than 60 and we can’t ride to Caraway. But there will be a nice scenic route out on the east side of town for those looking for a nice 20-50 mile jaunt.
The ride will roll out around 1:00pm from the shop parking lot. Please park behind on the adjacent street, or across the street in the neighborhood. That way we keep the lot free for the festivities afterward.

Which gets us to Thirdly… By the time we roll back in to the shop, Greg from Taqueria El Azteca will be cooking some burgers, chicken, and other goodies (fret not…veggie folks will be accounted for). Please BYOB, just in case.
New deal… $10 bucks gets you into the ride and cookout!  Can’t make the ride?  Come on out for the food and the deals!

Bikerumor.com Review: Teko’s TekoPOLY cycling socks are made from 100% recycled plastic water bottles, making them just about the greenest choice when it comes to athletic footwear.  We passed out four pair to our reviewers, which included mountain bikers and triathletes, and put them through their paces…literally.

Teko takes a lot of pains to get solid green cred, making minimal impact on the planet with such manufacturing and sourcing practices as:

• 100% wind powered
• U.S. knitting (in North Carolina!  Hooray!)
• Recycled materials for packaging
• TekoPOLY polyester is 100% recycled (65% post-industrial waste / 35% post-consumer…ie. bottles)

Their recycling and manufacturing process yields polyester yarn that they claim is equivalent to virgin polyester produced from petroleum, but doesn’t use a single drop of new oil to make.  They say it wicks well, is super supple and prevents chafing.  Based on our tests, we agree completely.  They performed exceptionally well, are very comfortable, and we highly recommend them.  In fact, there’s only one tiny thing we can say bad about them, but it’s minor.

Read ‘more’ for the full review…

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A day after the Storck demo day at Clemmons Bicycle, the traveling tour heads to Greensboro, NC.

From Revolution Cycles: This Thursday, May 21st, Revolution Cycles NC/Friendly Bike will be hosting a STORCK demo in conjunction with Ian’s Roaming Ride.

Marcus Storck is nothing less than obsessed with creating the finest carbon frames out there, and this is a great chance to see the fruits of that obsession first hand. 

The Storck folks will be showing up at the shop around 4:30 pm and hanging out with us until the ride departs at 6:00pm. We’ll do a nice loop that will allow folks to get a feel for some of the bike’s finer features.

Team Vanderkitten/Storck rider and Maxim model Liz Hatch/Roubaix Girl will be there to answer questions and sign jerseys. (Okay, okay… I completely made that up. Sorry. That would be something though…)

The demo fleet will include size runs of the Fascenario 0.7, Fenomalist Absolutist 0.9, Scenario C1.2 and  Vision light framesets. And I guarantee they’ll all be completely tricked out, so if you’ve been wanting to try out a SRAM RED group, or some of the new DURA ACE, this is your chance. We hope to see a bunch of folks out. The weather looks perfect. Let’s go ride!

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Storck demo van is rolling around the country to major events, filling in the gaps with stops like these at local shops.  Hit ‘more’ to see the official list to see if they’ll be in your area, then call your local shop to get them to host a demo in your neighborhood…

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…and the first ever Avid Chainless Challenge!

FROM SRAM: Since 2006, the small college town of Ashland, Oregon, set in the picturesque mountains of Southern Oregon, has been host to some of the best All-Mountain racing in the North America. With the huge success of events like the Downieville Classic, “All-Mountain” racing is taking-off and bringing with it a vibe not felt since the early days of mountain bike racing.

From the top of Mt. Ashland to the downtown area, the Ashland 12 Mile Super D course reflects what the name implies, 12 miles of Super  Downhill. This means mostly downhill with just enough climbing to cough-up a lung or two. Suited for a 5 to 6 inch “All-Mountain Weapon” the bike has to be light enough to slog up a 400 feet of climbing and tough enough to handle 10 plus miles of white knuckled downhill. Past contenders claim, “it’s a true test of rider and equipment”.

For the last three years All-Mountain legend Mark Weir has owned the event, posting a record time of 35 minutes 22 seconds. This year he’ll be defending his winning streak against veterans like Eric Carter (GT) local favorite Nathan Riddle (Fluidride), and a slew of first timers including: 2008 Downieville Classic winner Ross Schnell (TREK, crankbrothers, Oakley), 2000 Downhill World Champ Myles Rockwell (SRAM, Giant, Mavic), All-Ride honch and all around great guy Kirt Voreis (Santa Cruz Syndicate/All-Ride), and finding time between her hectic World Cup XC schedule Suburu Gary Fisher’s, Willow Koerber.

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