When Astana’s Alberto Contador rides into Paris today, he’ll not only be riding in with the coveted Maillot Jaune, but he’ll also be riding in on these special Alberto Contador Look Keo 2 Max Carbon Pedals.

No official word yet, on whether these will go into production or not, but would you rock yellow pedals?

More pics….

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Mankato, MN –Team TIBCO’s national road and criterium champion Brooke Miller earned a hard-fought 3rd place in Stage 5 of the Nature Valley Grand Prix Saturday, the notoriously difficult Mankato Road Race.

In what Team TIBCO directeur sportif Jeff Corbett described as a “bizarre day,” Miller took her podium spot out of a break of six riders that formed about 90km into the 134km stage. The break benefited from a game of chicken in the peloton, with Team Type 1, which missed the break, looking to race leader Kristen Armstrong (Cervelo Test Team) to chase, while Armstrong waited for TT1 to start the chase to protect 2nd overall Alison Powers.

The game went on long enough for the break to open a gap that neared four minutes at its largest, before Armstrong finally started to give chase, with Miller the birtual race leader on the road.

“Even when they hit the finishing circuits with 12km to go, the gap was still out over three minutes,” Corbett said.

The finishing circuits – four trips around a 3km circuit including about 1.6km of climbing that averaged 14% - proved decisive. Alexis Rhodes (Webcor), who had attacked at the same time as Miller to establish the break, rode off solo, dropping Miller and Dotsie Bausch (Jazz Apple).

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Los Altos, California – Team TIBCO is proud to announce that they will be helping Art Doyle’s Spokes and Pedals in Hudson, Wisconsin, celebrate its 25th anniversary on June 9th. The visit is in conjunction with the team’s participation in the Nature Valley Grand Prix, June 10-14 in and around the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.

Art’s is a long-time retailer of LOOK bikes, which Team TIBCO has ridden to great success already in 2009, as well as in 2008.

“We’re really excited to help Art’s celebrate their 25th anniversary,” said Amber Rais, one of Team TIBCO’s leaders, and one of five riders from the team who will participate in the event. She will be joined by teammates Meredith Miller, Lauren Tamayo, Katharine Carroll and Julie Beveridge.

“LOOK has been one of our top sponsors, and events like this one are a great way to show our appreciation to LOOK and their top retailers,” Rais added.

The riders will be giving a short presentation about the team and its history, and how people can use cycling with proper nutrition to get into shape and lead healthier lives. The riders will also talk a bit about their own backgrounds, accomplishments and goals with Team TIBCO. Riders will then take questions, mingle with attendees and sign autographs.

Though an RSVP is not required to attend, the first 20 people who do RSVP to art@spokesandpedals.com will receive a FREE pair of Team TIBCO socks. The first 100 attendees who pick up a bottle of water (one per person please) at the event will be eligible for a drawing for two autographed Team TIBCO jerseys. There will be a raffle number on the bottle. Refreshments will be served, so the store’s management is encouraging people to RSVP to help in planning the event.

Event Details:
When: June 9, 2009, 6:00 – 7:45 p.m.
Where: Art Doyle’s Spokes and Pedals, 607 2nd St., Hudson, WI
Why: To celebrate Art’s 25th anniversary

Photo (c) Wil Matthews Photography

Asheville, N.C. – Team TIBCO’s Lauren Tamayo recently took her new Look 596 Time Trial bike to the A2 Wind Tunnel to dial in her position ahead of the Nature Valley Grand Prix.

“Every year we try to take a step forward in Lauren’s progression, and this year it’s the one percent things,” notes Mike Tamayo, Lauren’s husband and manager. Mike is also the directeur sportif for the OUCH Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis. “That’s where A2 comes into play. You can’t just go get tested right before the season starts. You have to test and then adapt and then test again as the season progresses.”

So the Tamayos made the drive from their base in Asheville, N.C. to the Charlotte area to test Lauren’s new TT machine.

“The new Look 596 is incredibly aerodynamic and light,” Lauren Tamayo said. It’s a truly fast machine and I want to get as much out of it as possible. That’s why I wanted to take it to A2, to get my position perfect for the rest of this season, and looking ahead to 2010 and beyond.

“Mike Giraud at the A2 Wind Tunnel was a big help in the testing,” she continued. “And I’ve got a good team around me to help with my development, including Mike and our Team TIBCO director, Jeff Corbett, who’s also my nutritionist.”

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San Jose, CA – LOOK, the innovation leader in clipless pedals and carbon fiber frames, is pleased to introduce the LOOK 585 Trade Up Program. Designed to get cycling enthusiasts onto the legendary 585, this program offers consumers a $500 credit towards the purchase of a 2009 LOOK 585 frame when they bring in their existing frame from any manufacturer.

Featuring advanced carbon fiber technology, the LOOK 585 is the ultimate multipurpose frame. Weighing just 900g., the 585 is one of the most balanced frames in it’s category, straddling the ideal blend of stiffness and all day comfort and compliance.

The LOOK the 585 Trade Up Program is available at participating LOOK dealers through June 30, 2009. A complete list of dealers can be found on the LOOK site: www.lookcycle-usa.com. The credit can be used towards the purchase of a LOOK 585 Origin, Optimum, Ultra or Elle.

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By Thien Dinh

Look Cycles USA will be rolling out a new pedal fitting process this year, called the Keo Cleat Fit System. Developed in-house by Look’s own Pedal Product Manager Fred Roudergues, the system aims to help cyclists select the best cleat based on angular float and also to correctly position the cleat on the shoe.

The first step in the process is to setup the cleats properly on the rider’s shoes. This is done by having the cyclist stand up against a wall and measuring the ball of his/her foot in relation to the wall and then translating that onto the shoe. Once the cleats are installed properly, the fitter will setup the cyclists bike on a trainer with specially equipped Keo pedals that will be used to measures and analyzes each complete cycle of the pedal stroke. The cyclist will pedal 3 mins at a regular cadence of 60-90 RPM while the system measures values for both position and amplitude. The position value will help the fitter determine the best position on the shoe for the cleat, while the amplitude value will help the fitter determine which Keo cleat will best suit the cyclist. The process is done twice to get an average value for position, which the fitter will then use to correct the positioning of the cleat.

Once the fitter determines the best angular position for the cleat on the shoe, the fitter will use a special angular measuring tool that will reposition the cleat in the optimum position on the shoe. The cyclists will then cycle another 3 mins to verfiy that the adjustments are correct and that the cleats fall within range of the optimum position. Depending on the amplitude values recorded during the fit, the fitter may swap out the cyclist’s cleat. Look offers three different cleats depending on desired float.

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Back in July at the Look 2009 launch, Ming Tan of Look Cycles USA introduced us to the new 2009 Tri/TT 596. Riden by Thor Hushovd during this years Tour de France, the new state of the art bike was developed in Nevers at Looks worldwide headquarters and is the first Look frame to use carbon nanotubes. Not far from Nevers is the famous F1 Magny Cours Wind Tunnel (yes, the same wind tunnel many F1 and Lemans cars are tested at), and according to Look the only wind tunnel able to run tests with spinning wheels. Look took to this tunnel to develop the 596, and during their time there, developed several iterations of what would eventually become the 596. One of the major designs they worked on was the gap between the rear wheel and the seat tube. What most bike manufacturers have adopted, is a fairly tight gap, but Look found that design caused a lot of turbulence in the area behind the seat tube and ran counter to the ultimate goal of cheating the wind. So engineers actually added more space to give the spinning air somewhere to go. A radically different direction, but not completely unfounded, as many Lemans race cars have louvered fenders to reduce pressure in their wheel wells. Time will tell what design ultimately wins out…

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Stage 10 Results
1 Sébastien Hinault (Fra) Crédit Agricole - 3.22.21
2 Lloyd Mondory (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
3 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) Silence - Lotto
4 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank
5 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step
6 Koldo Fernandez De Larrea (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
7 Alexandre Usov (Blr) AG2R La Mondiale
8 Xavier Florencio Cabre (Spa) Bouygues Telecom
9 Juan José Haedo (Arg) Team CSC - Saxo Bank
10 Nikita Eskov (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems

General classification after stage 10
1 Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi - 36.46.17
2 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana - 0.11
3 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana - 0.32
4 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne - 1.00
5 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC - Saxo Bank - 1.38
6 Ezequiel Mosquera Miguez (Spa) Xacobeo Galicia - 2.10
7 Igor Anton Hernandez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi - 2.23
8 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne - 2.32
9 Jurgen Van Goolen (Bel) Team CSC - Saxo Bank - 2.54
10 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank - 3.22

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LOOK CYCLE USA, in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, has initiated a voluntary recall and upgrade program isolated to KEO chromoly axle models manufactured prior to January 2006.

KEO MODELS AFFECTED

• Specified models manufactured Jan 2004 – Dec 2005
• KEO Classic
• KEO Sprint (Red and Graphite)
• KEO Carbon Chromoly/Chromoly Ironman
• KeO HM Chromoly/Chromoly Ironman

KEO MODELS NOT AFFECTED

• KEO Carbon Ti (All production dates)
• KEO HM Ti (All production dates)
• All KEO models manufactured Jan 2006 – Present
• Please note: If you own any Ti axle KEO pedal model or any chromoly axle KEO pedal model manufactured January 2006 or later, you are not affected by this voluntary recall in any way.

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• Compact Geometry
• Taller Head Tube
• Slightly Shorter Sloping Top Tube
• “X Design” Stays
• 1100 grams (medium)
• 5 Sizes - XS, S, M, L, XL
• Available in 2 colors (Black & Red, shown or Black & White)
• Frameset MSRP: $1999
• Full Rival Bike MSRP: $2499
• Full Ultegra SL Bike MSRP: $2999

LOOK Cycles showed off the new 566 to media recently, a new entry level road bike from the French boutique cycling brand. The new frame features tube to tube carbon technology, which is one of the more affordable and simple ways to build a carbon frame. The bike is going to be manufactured in Asia, but the design and testing was done all in house at LOOK’s headquarters in Nevers, France.

The 566 is built for comfort, a bike that a rider can ride all day and not get beat up on, but at the same time remains efficient. Lateral efficiency is key in keeping the frame from flexing and making sure all power input from the rider is not lost in frame flexing, but rather going toward forward movement. The key also though is to make sure it’s vertically compliant as well, making the bike comfortable.

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