BikeRumor.com

OK, not really, but that headline sure is catchy… What Ironman has really done is licensed their name to a new mattress by Spring Air and T3 Recovery.

Designed by T3 Athletic Recovery Products, the mattress uses Energia foam technology “reduces motion transfer and average stress on key pressure points, allowing major muscle groups and core stabilizers to relax and repair.” The densities can be customized to your sleeping style, and it’s made of an environmentally friendly material. It claims to sleep cooler than memory foam type products…which is good, because memory foam doesn’t really breathe, making your skin very warm. T3 was founded by a triathlete with the goal of making products that allow better rest and recovery.

The new sleepsets debut in February at the Las Vegas Furniture market (thanks a lot Vegas, you stole our thunder), which is perhaps why there’s nothing about this mattress on Spring Air’s website.  Read the press release here.

Ceepo, a Japanese bicycle manufacturer, is now the official bicycle of Ironman Triathlon.  Starting in the Spring, they’ll have an Ironman-branded Venom (shown above without the IM decals), followed by an Ironman Katana model in the Summer.  Ceepo was founded in 2002 with the goal of producing high end carbon fiber tri bikes that weren’t compromised by “road” bike foundations…they only make bikes for triathletes.  The sponsorship/licensing deal is a multiyear agreement. Read the full press release here.

In 2009, Team Type 1 is expanding to include a triathlon team, a developmental squad, a women’s professional squad and two teams for the Race Across America (RAAM): Team Type 1 and Team Type 2. The athletes with diabetes in these programs serve as examples that diabetes can be controlled through diet, exercise and the use of the best treatment and technology available today.

Team Type 1 is the only professional cycling team in the world with a mission to instill hope and inspiration for people around the world affected by diabetes. It was created in 2004 by two racers with Type 1 diabetes, Phil Southerland and Joe Eldridge. The pair led the squad to back-to-back victories in the Race Across America (RAAM) in 2006 and 2007 before joining Fabio Calabria and Timothy Hargrave as two of four professional riders with Type 1 diabetes on the roster in 2008.

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VeloPress recently released the 2nd edition of Weight Training for Cyclists, which includes updated pictures and exercises developed specifically for improving your riding.  We asked coauthor Ken Doyle to pick three exercises, one each for core, arms and legs, that would have the most impact on your riding.  Ken is USCF licensed coach and an exercise physiologist certified by the National Athletic Trainers Association and the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

Of course, there are a lot more in the 224 pages of the book, and I’m not advocating that you focus on just these three, but if you’re pressed for time, click the “more” button to get FREE printable pages of Ken’s top three picks…

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NiteFlux is an Australian brand of bicycle lights, offering a full range for commuters to racers.  We tested the Photon 4 Commuter light, which is the starting point for their line.

All NiteFlux lights are crafted from Aluminum Alloy, black anodized with laser etched logos.  Inside, all of their lights have an electronic brain that controls the power to protect against total discharge, alert you when the battery is too low and keep “Constant Wattage” going to the light.  This last bit is helpful when the battery starts getting low…it keeps the light at full brightness. Instead of dimming, it’ll blink every few seconds to let you know you have a limited amount of time to get where you’re going.

We’ve got about two solid months of night riding and commuting with the light, and we’re extremely impressed.  For a straight up Commuter light, you’d be hard pressed to find a better light that has so many mounting options, has a lot of upgrade options and is so darn bright!

Even if you’re looking for a racing or mountain bike light, read this review, because the technology and features in the Photon are the same for their higher end lights. If you’re into 24 hour racing…you’ll like being able to piggyback chargers to reduce charge time to just 2 hours!  Check out video, pics and the full review when you read “more“…

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RaceDay Wheels is a bicycle wheel rental program that uses Zipp wheels exclusively.  Let’s say you’ve got a big race coming up and you want to put some speedy hoops on your bike to make the most of all your training…just rent any Zipp wheelset you want, from 404s to 808s to 1080s and disc wheels and more.

What if you don’t need to rent wheels, you just want a really good deal on some Zipps?  RaceDay replaces their rental wheels every year, which means there’s a lot of inventory (about 120 wheelsets!) to get rid of at the end of the year.  Guess what…it’s the end of the year.

I spoke with Marc Lees, founder of RaceDay Wheels and former pro triathlete about what kind of deals he’s got, how he came up with the idea and other details on the business.  Read “more” to see how you can score a sweet set of Zipps…

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Feather Brakes is a relative newcomer to the bicycle industry, but their founder, Bob Barnett has a history of breaking ground in everything from  Powerboats to Offroad Racing to Indy Racing before helping set some standards in DH mountain bike parts.  He helped pioneer the Mr. Dirt-USA downhill chainguides, which led to the three-bolt standard widely used today.  We met their rep, Ken, at Interbike and were really impressed with the look and feel of the product, so we arranged for a demo set to review.

I’ve been running the Feather Brakes road calipers for a little over a month, and the initial impressions are overwhelmingly positive.  With a claimed weight of 199g (ours actually weighed LESS than that!), they’re on par with Zero Gravity in terms of weight…but what about performance?

Read “more” for the full review and see why these should be your next brakes, price be damned…

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SpinPower bicycle lubes, cleaners and degreasers is a line environmentally responsible, biodegradable, non-toxic, super green bike care products.  On top of all that, they smell really, really nice and they have some great foaming cleaners that stick to the dirty parts and help really keep the cleaner where it needs to be rather than just dripping right off.

The products are manufactured by Prudent Enviro Products (PEP), which is local to us here in Greensboro, NC.  PEP has been private label manufacturing lubes, cleaners and other products for several mail order companies and brands for years and recently launched their own brand.  Besides the bike care goods, they also have an HR electrode gel and bottle/hydration pack sanitizer.

This review is Part 1 because we’ve only had a chance to test a few of the products, which is good for editorial purposes, because to try to review the full line would be a bit much.  To start, we’re reviewing the Foaming Degreaser Cleaner, Foaming Bike Cleaner, Bike Envy Silicone Polish and Natural Chain Lube, which is formulated with renewable vegetable oils.

Read “more” for pics and to see why this Foaming Degreaser is the best cleaner I’ve ever used…

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The Nautica Malibu Triathlon is asking the Malibu city council next week to let their event permanently switch to a two-day event.  The 22-year-old event has historically been a one day, “classic” length triathlon, but this they added an Olympic distance tri on the Saturday prior to the main event.  Local residents grumbled through the traffic disruptions, but they are arguing that the two-day event creates too much havoc.  Triathlon organizers say the event raises hundred of thousands for local charities and brings money into the local economy.  Full story here.

Gore Ride On cables used to enjoy a premium position in the mind, if for no other reason than the cost and “cool” factor…but that was five-plus years ago.  I had a set on my mountain bike, but to be honest, I don’t remember how they performed, it’s been so long.  One of the issues with the original cables was the teflon coating frayed too easily during set up, leading to further degradation of the coating over time.

At Interbike this year, they released their new fully-sealed system after being off the market for a few years.  We’ve got a set of the derailleur cables that we’ll be doing a long-term mountain bike test with over the winter, which gets good and wet here in NC.  In the meantime, read “more” to see what’s in the box, what’s new and how they’ve improved… 

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The Greensboro Fat Tire Society / Velo Club will be having their Christmas Party on Friday, Dec. 12, and it’s open to all, members and non-members alike.  Food and drinks will be served, just bring a new, unwrapped toy for donation to the Salvation Army.  7pm at the old Ed McKay’s behind Cycles de Oro.

If your club is having a holiday party, email us and we’ll post it (you can include a club logo on this form).

Now that inside Triathlon is owned by Triathlete Magazine’s publisher, there wasn’t much need for both of them to continue competing for advertiser’s dollars in basically identical formats.  So, debuting this month is iT’s new bi-monthly publication that focuses on the images and stories of the sport rather than current news, tech and training features.  Dan Empfield praises its thick-papered, rich colory goodness in his Slowtwitch.com op-ed, which you can read here.

iT’s website is offering a free 2009 calendar if you subscribe now.

Ironman competitor Matt Miller will be the face of Avon’s forthcoming Ironman collection.

The men’s fragrance is a fusion of citrus and spices spiked with rich woods. Top notes of ginger, lime and violet mingle with mid notes of nutmeg, rain mist accord and vetiver, and are grounded in a base of patchouli, cedarwood, wiliwood accord and tree moss.

Sounds like a good mix to me…I’m not a fan of the Driven (Derek Jeter) or Unscripted (Patrick Dempsey), both of which are Avon products.  My mom sells Avon, so we’ll see when she gets some samples in, because I know you are all just dying to hear my thoughts on this.

The fragrance launches globally in April 2009. The U.S. launch will follow in May 2009.  The collection will include the fragrance, an after shave and an anti-perspirant.

Danskin will celebrate their 20th anniversary of the series in 2009, making it the largest and longest running multisport event in the world.  Open to females ages 14 and up, the series will consist of 8 events from May through September next year, racing in and around:

Orlando FL 
Austin, TX
LA Metro, CA
Denver, CO 
ChicagoLand
New England
Seattle, WA 
NYC/Sandy Hook, NJ

Dates will be set soon, and more than 25,000 women of all ages and backgrounds are expected to compete next year.  Each event is a sprint distance: 0.75k swim, 20k bike and 5k run.  More info on the series is available on their website.

Selle Royal has announced a new range of saddles designed to ergonomically fit both men and women.

In developing the saddles, the company worked with Prof. Bayen from the University of Brussels, who concluded that to ensure the feeding of oxygen to the pudendal nerves and arteries, male saddles should be endued with a 35 mm wide canal.  Female saddles needed a smaller canal of 25 mm to avoid strong compression or squeezing of the centre.

A broad surface around the cavern of this saddle balances the pressure on both sides of the pressure discharge area where external pudendal tissues support parts of the weight.

Shown above is the men’s athletic model, below the womens.  These weigh 440g and 435g respectively, so even being called the “athletic” models, their weight puts them more in the range of comfort saddles.

You can see the difference in channel widths between the men’s and women’s models.  Surprisingly, the Men’s “Moderate”, with more padding, is the lightest at 420g.  Read “more” for pics of the other models and more details…

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