BikeRumor.com

PRESS RELEASE: World Champion Greg Minnaar is teaming up with Gene Hamilton of BetterRide for a three day downhill mountain bike camp at Bootleg Canyon in Boulder City, NV. This is an amazing opportunity to learn from one of the most experienced coaches in the sport and one of the fastest racers in the world, Greg Minnaar. Sign up soon as this camp limited to 12 riders to ensure the optimal athlete coach ratio and the Minnaar camp in Bootleg last year sold out in 6 days!

Designed for downhill racers and riders, this Downhill Camp focuses on the core skills that the pros BetterRide coached pros use, mental preparation and FUN.

When: April 2-4, 2010
Where: Bootleg Canyon, Boulder City, NV
Who: 12 lucky racers
Cost: $749.00 (the best investment you will ever make in your riding/racing)

About Greg Minnaar: Hailing from Pietermaritzburg, South Africa Greg is simply one of the best downhill racers in the world. Greg is the 2003 UCI World Champion and has won the World Cup Overall Downhill title in 2001, 2005 and 2008. He has been coaching his own “Big Air” Downhill Camps since 2002 and this is his fifth camp working with
BetterRide.

The steering can be twitchy, but nonetheless, it's addictive

Bored at work? Got a spare five minutes at lunch? Then have a spin on FlashRacingOnline’s mountain bike simulation game, which can be played here. 

I recommend turning the volume down unless you’re a fan of bombing down hills to a repetitive arcade beat.  Personally, I prefer a bit of Blue Oyster Cult or The Cure, but each to their own, I suppose.

If your boss catches you playing during working hours, we’re not to blame! If they happen to be a cyclist, perhaps pass on the link to the many other bike games featured.

It’s been 24 days of eating and drinking nothing with any added sugar (save for bread and a little ketchup, as explained in Part 2).  Many of you have questioned why.  Why would someone who’s active and fit worry about cutting out extra sugar from their diet?

The short answer is, because I want to be as awesome as possible.  Like most athletes, I’ve developed a sense of quasi-invincibility, thinking that all this exercise is improving my body and leading to a longer, better life.  Like many of you, the longer I’ve ridden, the more keenly aware I’ve become of how nutrition affects performance.  For me, that also led to an increased interest in nutrition for overall better health.

I used to think that because I rode hard or hit the gym, I could eat whatever I wanted in quantities that happily distressed my gait upon exiting dollar-taco-Tuesdays. But, the more I’ve read, the more I’ve started altering my diet to improve my health, and sugar’s been on my mind for quite some time.

Now, I’m not diabetic.  In fact, according to the blood work done for a recent life insurance policy, I’m not even anywhere near pre-diabetic.  In fact, I’m in pretty darn good health overall.  So why cut out added sugar if things seem to be going swell?

There are three main reasons why, and they may just convince you to cut a lot of sugar from your diet, too.  Fair warning: Ignorance is bliss, but it won’t do your health much good.  Here we go…

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Freelap’s timing poles and watch let you time yourself on hot laps, downhill runs and anything else you can think of.  The poles are placed at the start and finish of your run and will automatically start and stop the timing on the watch, giving you accurate, hands-free timing.

According to Dirt MountainBike Magazine, some mountain bike parks are even considering permanently installed systems, so all you have to do is roll up with your own watch.  MSRP is £160 for the watch and £92 each for the poles (shown), with other sensor options available.

Of course, we all know there’s no such thing as a free lap… get watches for several of your buddies and the smack talking can finally be backed up, with frosty beverage penalties paid for by the loser.  Yes, kiddies, despite what current “everyone’s a winner” gradeschool propaganda may have taught you, there are losers.  Freelap proves it.

James Mattis, a member of the California Giant-Specialized cycling team, developed the DrugSearch app after seeing what his wife, Katheryn Curi-Mattis, was going through as a member of the the Webcor Builders cycling team and part of the US Anti-Doping Agency’s out-of-competition testing program.

The free app offers easy access to the WADA’s full banned substance list, including items that are banned year-round and those only banned during competition.  It also lists banned methods, such as gene or blood doping, sample manipulation, etc.

The app is ad supported, so you’ll see little links, but it’s a small price to pay for such a cool gadget. Download from iTunes here.

Oh the weather outside is frightful,
and you’re looking at your trainer feeling spiteful,
but since you’ve no place to go,
watch The Sufferfest so your workout doesn’t blow.

The Sufferfest’s Fight Club is their second training video (we also reviewed The Downward Spiral, their first vid) and, like the first, it makes indoor trainer workouts almost fun.  The video is largely from races, in this case time trialing with the pros, among other things, and the music is great.  Pretty much all the kudos we heaped upon them in the first review apply to Fight Club, too.

That said, we thought Downward Spiral was a little better, but since you need variety in your workouts, that’s like saying the Ferrari Maranello is nice, but it’s no 458 Italia.  Both certainly get the job done, both are awesome, but one’s clearly a little better.  However, since we’re talking about something that costs less than $10 each, you can splurge on both and still spend less than what some other (lesser) trainer videos cost.

Read the full review after the break…

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The folks over at Ergon are giving away one entry to the Original Growler in Gunnison, Colorado, a 64 mile mountain bike race which seems to be pretty popular, as it is sold out and organizers are no longer taking names for the wait list. The contest winner will also recieve a training plan for the event from LW Coaching, along with a set of Ergon grips.

To enter, they are asking for video submissions of one minute or less to Ergon’s Facebook page, telling them “how Ergon has made you a better rider and/or enhanced your riding experience.”

Full details on how to enter on their blog.

Here’s another workout from Graeme Street, the man behind Cyclo-Core and Cyclo-Club training.  I’ve tried these, and the “hold” part is pure misery.  There’s also some core and upper body in here, just for fun.  Tell Human Resources you need a stability ball at your desk for “back health” reasons and you could do this on your employer’s time…they’d be none the wiser.

MapMyRide+ has an updated version with several new features added, including the ability to Tweet and Share your ride via Twitter and Facebook.

The updated app lets you track your workout metrics in realtime using the phone’s GPS, then save and upload them.  It stores the most recent 10 workouts in the app and lets you edit and view them from the iPhone, and all workouts are saved to your MapMyRide training log.

It also geo-tags your photos taken from within the app, and it has voice feedback to keep you on schedule with your programmed workouts.  It even has embedded iPod controls so you can listen to your music while running the app.

The app and more info is available through iTunes here.

We got this “press release” in yesterday, and it’s basically a promotional piece for BetterRide, a series of training camps for mountain bikers.  Normally, we’d pass on publishing something like this in favor of videos of monkeys riding a bike and such, but it’s actually sorta interesting.  Take it for what it’s worth:

PRESS RELEASE: What Does Downieville Classic winner, Singlespeed World Champion and Trek Factory racer Ross Schnell do in the off-season?!  Improve his skills with a clinic from Gene Hamilton of BetterRide.net!

Why did a rider this advanced take a coaching session from Gene Hamilton?  Well, after the session Gene asked Ross, “well was that worth the money and time?” Ross’s answer, “Yes, I learned more today than in the last 10-11 years of just riding” (in a rushed 3.5 hour lesson, BetterRide camps are 19-22 hours over 3 days!).  If this surprises you it shouldn’t, Ross had no formal skills coaching before this lesson.  There are no skilled sports that are mastered by just doing the sport.  In ski racing, tennis, golf, martial arts, etc. the best athletes spend less than 20% of their training time actually doing the sport, the other 80% is spent doing structured drills to master the core, fundamental skills of the sport.

If many of the top mountain bike racers in the US* have learned more in their clinic and/or 3 day camp with BetterRide than in their entire career before the camp, don’t you think you could learn a thing or two?  If you would like to create your best season yet do what these racers and over 1,200 passionate riders have done and invest in your future with skills coaching from BetterRide.

Hit “more” to see U.S. training camp tour locations..

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Performance Bike may not know it yet, but it’s got something every self-respecting tech geek cyclist is going to want now that the iPad is official.

For $15, you can put your laptop or e-tablet on their Book Caddy and catch up on Bikerumor reading, or go old skool and look at printed paper while it still exists.

For a decidedly non-cyclist’s take on this, click here.  Thanks to UglyYeti for the tip!

Pedalbrain, the iPhone app and hardware kit that lets you upload and download training and ride data in real time, as well as see where your Pedalbrain-equipped teammates or riding buddies are, has just leaked that they are going to offer a version with a built-in battery.

The case will house a battery that will give you up to 6 hours of use with GPS, Data, ANT+ and Bluetooth running.  That means you can sync it with your power meter, heart rate monitor and speed/cadence sensors AND use Bluetooth headsets, too.

Not sure what this thing is?  Check our original post and followup post for more info.

Taco Bell is to Diets what Milli Vanilli was to music?

Bike Carson is introducing it’s Ride-On Diet in response to Taco Bell’s Drive-Thru Diet.

After checking out the Taco Bell website, Jeff Moser of Bike Carson was surprised to find out that Taco Bell (in the fine print) doesn’t really claim that The Drive-Thru Diet is really a diet. Hmmm, could Taco Bell be pulling our overweight legs?  I’m wondering what the FTC has to say about this…

Check out the article to read more about the Ride-On diet and why Taco Bell should make this campaign go the way of New Coke.

Graeme Street, founder of Cyclo-Club and Cyclo-Core, has agreed to provide some training vids for us on a regular basis starting with Cyclo-LOOSE IN 5′ Stretching Routine.

Stretching is something many of us seem to forget or just ignore, but it can make a massive difference in your performance and comfort on the bike.  This video has a quick (5 minutes), simple and effective workout to enhance your recovery and flexibility that you can probably cram in while you’re waiting for the foam on your recovery drink to settle.

You can do the first bit of this in your office chair and if you’re stuck pushing a rodent around your desk all day or driving a lot, you’ll immediately feel better.  More to come.

Check out his website for 90+ cycling specific workouts, training systems, bootcamps, and proven cycling results.

epicRIDES is a series of training videos shot on location and on ride at some of the most epic road rides in the U.S. and Canada.

Besides the pretty scenery (shown in widescreen, but not HD), there are a lot of in video bonuses that maximize the workout and extraneous info that adds to their value.  On screen, there’s a full featured dashboard showing the current point in your ride, actual elevation, target exertion level and more.  They offer downloadable PowerProfiles that can be loaded into some Saris CycleOps trainers and spin bikes, and some folks have input the elevation profile to their Computrainers to simulate the ride, too.

Outside of the video, they have full route maps available for download and through MapMyRide, so you can find and ride them if you’re ever in the area.  They currently have four DVDs available with rides in Tucson, AZ (Mt. Lemmon & Saguaro East), Bar Harbor, ME (Acadia National Park) and Vermont (Green Mountain).  The Rouge Roubaix (Louisiana) is coming soon.

Check out a promo/intro video for the Acadia vid after the break…

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