Just got this from POC, who will be setting up special radar-equipped speed zones at the Mountain States Cup and Eastern States Cup mountain bike races this summer. It’s not your traffic speed zone, either…they’re encouraging you to go fast:

“Armed with an on-course radar gun at each event, DH racers will be clocked at a designated POC Speed Zone area during each MSC and ESC contest. The top two speeds clocked (one male and one female) at each race will be awarded POC prizes, including VPD 2.0 body armor, full face Cortex Flow and enduro Trabec helmets, goggles or apparel. At the conclusion of the season, the rider with the fastest recorded POC Speed Zone result will take home the grand prize POC package including body armor, gloves, helmet and apparel.”

UPDATE: Open to Amateurs only, Pros aren’t eligible. Sweet!

The first race is this weekend, full schedule at the links above.

In a fashion that’s become a sort of tradition lately, Trek is honoring another one of their star athletes with a custom paint job just before a big event. In this case, the bike honors the people’s favorite of Jens Voigt, offering him a custom painted Trek Madone for Jens to use in the Amgen Tour of California, which starts Sunday.

Everyone’s favorite hard man is known for riding a child’s bike to avoid elimination from the tour and for his many catch phrases such as “shut up legs.”  If you haven’t checked out that link yet, to the Jens Voigt Army Soundboard, you should. It’s a good time. It should come as no surprise then that “shut up legs” would be emblazoned across the top tube, along with a few special touches harking to Jens’ long career racing bikes like “100 crashes, 11 broken bones, 25 screws or pins, 1300 kg of pasta eaten.” We’re not sure if that last one is true, but we’ll take his word for it.

Check out the rest of the bike, along with the complete word from Trek after the break.

(more…)

We’ve all been there. You go to shift, and the chain pops off the ring straight to the frame. If you’re lucky, you can simply pull over, stop, and put the chain back on with your hands with only a bit of chain lube on your gloves or fingers as evidence. If you’re unlucky, the chain can cause damage to the paint, or worse yet get jammed in the frame digging into the actual frame material. Sometimes no matter how perfectly your front derailleur is adjusted, if you hit that bump just right in conjunction with shifting it can cause your chain to derail from the front rings.

Not surprisingly, chain spotters (or chain catchers/keepers) have become fairly popular. Current designs are light, work well, and are unobtrusive. However, most designs for braze-on derailleurs require you to adjust the derailleur and the chain spotter at the same time, all while tightening down the bolt. Sram has taken the design a step further and not only separated the adjustment of the derailleur from the adjustment of the chain spotter, but also managed to make the actual chain spotter adjustment easier as well.

Better yet, as of June 1, it will be available a la carte, meaning you don’t have to purchase an entire Red group just to get one.

More on the Sram Chain Spotter after the break.

(more…)

Three-time Tour of California champion and Olympic bronze medalist Levi Leipheimer would like to invite you, cycling loving friends everywhere, and fellow athletes to join him for a 30 minute webcast on Monday, May 7 at 4 p.m. EST / 1 p.m. PST.

Levi will answer your questions on everything from the ToCA to his recent car-bike accident to his Olympic dreams.  Tweet your questions through the Twitter hash tag #AskTeamCLIFBar, chat them directly into the webcast or post them directly to CLIF Bar’s Facebook page prior to or during the webcast.

Wondering how to tune in? There’s no sign-up needed to watch: click ‘more’ to find out! (more…)

Photo courtesy of Micheal Gill

I’ve been making the trip up to Cleveland for quite a few years in order to ride at the incredible Rays MTB park throughout the cold winter months. However, now it looks like cyclists will have another reason to make the trip to Cleveland, but this time it will be for riding in the nicer months of the year to ride the all new Fast Track Cycling Velodrome! Fast Track Cycling Inc, a 501 (3)(c) non-profit, has been fundraising for years and thanks to a $50,000 grant from The Cleveland Foundation, it has finally met it’s capital needs to start building. The photo above is from the ground breaking/ribbon cutting ceremony that was held yesterday and signals the start of construction. Fast Track Cycling hopes to have the the track, which is being built by Michigan based V-Worldwide, finished for the grand opening on June 16, 2012.

Get the story on the soon to be Velodrome after the break.

(more…)

The Bontrager-LIVESTRONG Cycling Team has launched a new website that compiles all the social media streams of its riders and adds “unfiltered” blog posts, race reports and Strava uploads into a buffet of racing and personal info.

The goal? An inside look at the young, presumably up-and-coming riders in the peloton. Click through for full PR…

(more…)

I don’t like watching other cyclists crash but this video, this one held me transfixed. Apparently, racing elbow to elbow in a peleton (especially in a Cat 4) can be just as dangerous as racing downhill bikes.

According to the YouTube poster, the first rider to crash was up and walking after the incident, but was taken to the hospital afterwards just in case.

Tucked deep into the Yeti team lair was a one of a kind prize. Hidden within  a row of impressive steeds was the prototype team issue frame that Jared Graves will be rampaging down the notoriously non-technical Sea Otter Downhill course.  Two years ago, in 2010, Jared captured the podium abroad a 4″ travel Yeti 4x frame. The course has several peddly sections and the little bike enabled him to carry speed better throughout the course.

Sadly, Yeti claims they have no plans to mass produce this frame or revamp their existing 4″ travel 4x bike.  So check past the break and drool over yet another bike you’ll never own.

(more…)

Earlier today, photos of Brendan Fairclough’s new 4x race rig were released, and many sharp eyed commenters enviously noted the brand new Shimano Saint components adorning his bike. Some of the items were spotted before and had the expected trickle down from XTR and XT, plus a few surprises…and we’d love to show them to you, but apparently there’s an embargo floating around that we were just made aware of.

So, if you were lucky enough to catch the images, you already know too much. If you didn’t, you’ll know a lot more when we get all the official specs and details tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon. Stay tuned…

(photo originally found on Dirt Rag, but they’ve pulled the other images, too)

When you’re done hunting eggs (or before you get started depending on time zone), Check out the Paris-Roubaix live on Universal Sports. It’s presented by Competitive Cyclist, who’s offering a 20% discount on apparel and accessories to go along with it (use code PRTF20). They’re showing the Tour of the Basque Country now online and on air, too.

On the dirt, London Olympic 2012 organizers have decided to make the cross country mountain bike course a little tougher following feedback from athletes racing last year’s test event. A few parts will be widened to allow more passing opportunities, the main switchback climb has been lengthened and a new small climb has been built for the start. The latter will only be used on the first lap. Total climbing per 4.7km (2.92 mile) lap is now 172 meters, and some of the course has been made more technically challenging.

The Santa Cruz Mountain Bike Festival, a free two day event, will be raging between April 14-15th. Come out rain or shine and test ride bikes from a variety of manufacturers, enjoy the beer garden (stocked with local brews), and enjoy or compete in the various races and events.

Bikes from Ibis, Niner, Pivot, Rocky Mountain, Santa Cruz, Giant, Specialized, and Cannondale will be on hand. Take them out on the famous post office dirt jumps, around the newly revamped pump track, or for a spin through the forest of Nicene Marks. In addition, shuttle rides to the top of Nicene Marks will be available, as well as the Camp of Champions gravity bag.

Events include the first legally sanctioned enduro race through Demo Forest (rumor has it a certain DH bike is named after this network of tacky technical trails). As well as a dirt jump jam featuring some of the biggest names in the world of freeride.

The event is hosted by the Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz (MBoSC). This group of dedicated volunteers has made great strides towards legalizing and maintaining trail networks, and raising funds for the establishment of new features and bike parks. The proceeds from the festival go directly towards furthering their mission.

For more information, check past the break

(more…)

Just in case you haven’t seen them already, here’s pics of Fabian Cancellara’s broken collarbone before and after surgery. He fell in a feed zone during the 2012 Tour of Flanders and did a real doozy on the bone. Video and the rest of the PR when you click on through…

PRESS RELEASE: Fabian Cancellara spoke with the press today in the Crossklinik in Basel, Switzerland, where he underwent surgical treatment following his crash in the Tour of Flanders last Sunday.

At the start of the press conference, team doctor Andreas Gösele explained to the press how the four-part fracture of Cancellara’s right collarbone (picture above) was treated and what the next steps are. Gösele: “My colleague, doctor Farkas, used a clavicle pin to put the bone together. It’s a procedure where we insert a pin in the clavicle itself, instead of using a plate and a lot of screws to keep the bone together. This procedure is a lot more natural and doesn’t affect the strength of the bone once the device is removed. The pin will be removed once the fracture is completely healed, at the very earliest in six weeks time. But this is really a small routine operation.”

(more…)