BIKERUMOR.com REVIEW: Hydrapak’s Gel-Bot is a tall waterbottle that combines a standard waterbottle with a gel-loading cylinder and a dual-valve spout.  It allows you to load up to two gel packs (3.2oz) into the cylinder and have 24oz of fluid in the bottle.

I’ve used it on road and mountain bike rides, and it works flawlessly.  Perhaps too good, you don’t realize how fast you can suck down two gel packs until you have them locked and loaded in a quick dispensing unit!  It’s perfect on fast group rides when the pace is unrelenting and it’s all you can do to grab a bottle on your way to the back of the paceline.  Some of our group rides as so fast and furious that there’s simply no way I’m digging around in a jersey pocket for a gel, riding one-handed long enough to tear the top off, holding the gel pack between my teeth while I stuff the tab under my shorts leg then squeeze the goo into my mouth.  It just isn’t happening.  But the Gel-Bot saves the day because all you have to do is squeeze.

In fact, the only thing I didn’t like is it makes me feel a little dirty…which I’ll explain after the break…

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More photos of the bike after the break…

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Taking advantage of the recent flurry of interest in 3D in the UK, Boardman Bikes debuts what it believes to be the first 3-D YouTube video.  Dubbed Commute, it’s also available in normal 2-D (shown after the break) in HD.

It comes up as shown above designed for the red/blue 3D glasses, but YouTube has a conversion for other types of 3D glasses, just click on the video to watch on their site and a pop-up will ask if you want to change the settings.  If you don’t have glasses yet, just bookmark and come back to it, or use that clever little email button below and email it to yourself to save for later.  Brilliant!

Hit ‘more’ to watch the 2D version…

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FROM SLIPSTREAM SPORTS: Team Garmin-Slipstream, the elite American professional cycling team dedicated to ethical sporting and developing the next generation of cycling champions, announced today that it will become Team Garmin-Transitions with the addition of Transitions Optical as a new sponsor of the team. Transitions Optical is world’s leading manufacturer of adaptive eyewear, offering the most advanced photochromic technology in the widest selection of spectacle lenses such as Transitions lenses as well as Transitions SOLFX® sun wear. From the mountains of the Grand Tours to the cobbles of the Classics, Team Garmin-Transitions athletes will wear Transitions® lenses as they race and train around the globe in various lighting conditions.

“The riders of this team have set the standard for ethical competition while racing and training with the best technology available,” said Brett Craig, President of Transitions Optical. “As we looked to replicate the success of our PGA relationship in North America with a similar relationship in Europe; cycling, and specifically Team Garmin, was the perfect fit for our organization. We share similar goals rooted in innovation and ethics and we are proud to join this elite squad as it continues to build on past success.”

Transitions® technology is ideally suited to the sport of cycling. The athletes of Team Garmin-Transitions are competing over hundreds of kilometers per day and continuously going through different lighting conditions. Training and racing with Transitions® lenses provides the team a true technological advantage that will increase visually acuity, reduce visual fatigue and have a profound effect on riders’ response times during decisive moments of racing.

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BIKERUMOR.com REVIEW: We actually received Global Ride’s DVD’s in early Summer, but we procrastinated and kept riding outdoors.  Now that it’s dark by the time the work is done, and in some parts there’s snow on the ground, we’ve put these things in the DVD player and put them to the test.

Global Ride’s Hawaii Rides DVD set is a collection of three cycling workouts followed by three different cross training routines that tie into the spin session on that disc.  Each cycling workout follows different scenic roads through Hawaii, offering a visual distraction from the sometimes (usually) boring time spent on the trainer and, if you’re like me, they help keep you focused on riding hard enough.  My mind tends to wander, resulting in slower, easier spinning until I snap to.  With the Global Ride training DVDs, you have three different coach “tracks” to choose from on each DVD, so you’re reminded to pedal harder, faster or whatever the specific workout requires.

Three of us tried one DVD each.  If you typically spend a lot of time on the trainer in the winter, check out what our three testers have to say about the DVD’s after the break…

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Our friend Evan riding down the staircase at El Carreton after one of our monthly burrito bike rides.

To see more Pics Of The Day, click here.

If you’d like to submit a picture for our Pic Of The Day, click here.

From Kona’s UK guy comes this find, a Kona Stinky 2-4 built up for Laurie Greenland, a young buck that’s tearing up the downhill scene before he’s even old enough to really race!  Via DirtMountainBike.com, Laurie’s dad had this to say:

Laurie’s bike was built by Psyclewerx who sponsored him last season and even tho he’s a titch and the only rider on 24″ wheels this bike got him to the podium at every round of Taff, all but 1 round of Caersws cup, English champs and his first and only national. He’s going to be officially old enough to race next year and probably moving up to 26″ wheels.

Extreme.com has a short interview with Danny Macaskill about how he got started and the upcoming appearance on Big Time, airing December 6 on Extreme TV.

Speaking of an interview with DM, we’re working on our own Q&A with him, look for that sometime in December, too!

Happy Thanksgiving to our readers stateside!

“Rawland Ride 2009-22” by GnatLikesBikes. Check out Gnat’s blog here.

To see more Pics Of The Day, click here.

If you’d like to submit a picture for our Pic Of The Day, click here.

The UCI has registered 17 teams for 2010, including Astana, however this does not guarantee the team will receive a renewed ProTour license.

The registration is separate from the licensing, and is more aligned with a team having filed the appropriate paperwork.  Astana has an uphill battle to receive their license.  The UCI is requiring them to obtain a bank guarantee in order to move forward, a requirement intended to prevent the fiasco the team encountered this year when it was unable to pay its riders’ salaries for an extended period of time.

Despite this, VeloNews is reporting that Oscar Pereiro has stated he’ll be racing for Astana in 2010, but there is no official word from the team yet.  He has also received offers from Xacobeo-Galicia and Quick Step, but told Radio Galega he signed an agreement with Astana for one year, adding “It’s going to be an important team.”

Pereiro and Caisse d’Epargne parted ways mid-year after Periero was unable to finish the Tour de France and didn’t start the Vuelta a España as planned.

Hit ‘more’ to see the current 17 teams registered with the UCI…

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Vholdr, makers of the Contour HD wearable camcorder, is giving away a Diamondback cruiser, Avenir tools and some video camera accessories of their own.  Prizes are divvied up amongst the top five mountain bike videos uploaded to their site and tagged with ‘mtb’ on or before November 30, 2009.

Contest details here.

VeloNews photo editor Brad Kaminski’s picture (left) helped Mellow Johnny’s store manager Ted Arnold determine that one of the team bikes was stolen following a break in on Sunday.

The team is using part of the building for their U.S. service shop, and someone broke in and stole the Trek Equinox TTX SSL time trial bicycle ridden by team member Ryan Baumann during the 2009 season.  The bike has custom-painted Bontrager aero bars and has Baumann’s name on the top tube. It has a Bontrager Aeolus 90 front wheel and a Zipp disc rear. It’s worth roughly $10,000 and is owned by Trek Bicycle.

Follow the store on Twitter to help them recover it, or call store manager Craig Staley at (512) 473-0222 with any info.