Boulder Colo. - Alpha Q/True Temper, makers of super premium carbon forks, bars and stems ridden to victory by countless racers, has joined CrossVegas as a supporting sponsor. The international caliber cyclocross race takes place September 24th in Las Vegas during the Interbike tradeshow.

Vince DiMarino, Sales and Business Development Manager, announced the partnership and described the reasons behind the Memphis, Tenn. based company’s decision as ‘a natural extension of our love of competition. Cyclocross is a rapidly growing part of our business, and we want to be part of the spectacle that CrossVegas brings to thousands of Interbike attendees.”

Alpha Q will present the Wheelers and Dealers race, a cyclocross race for bicycle industry members with categories that include: retailer, manufacturer, importer, media, distributor and advocacy. The 30-minute race starts a full evening of racing and fun at the Desert Breeze Soccer Complex in west Las Vegas, a short distance from the famous “Vegas Strip.”

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The last race of the day at the tenth Carrera de San Rafael provided hot racing under the stars. Bernard Van Ulden (Jelly Belly) held off Scott Zwizanski (Bissell Pro Cycling) and two chase groups yesterday to earn the victory salute in front of thousands of cowbell-clanging fans lining the course in downtown San Rafael, California. Fabrice Dubost (Webcor Alto Velo) won the three-up sprint for the third spot on the podium.

A field of about ninety riders lined up for the Pro/1/2 Men’s race, a 90-minute twilight criterium raced on a one-kilometer course over an eight-block radius. The action started soon after the cannon went off at 8pm.

8-times Canadian Champion and 3-times Olympian Eric Wohlberg (Symmetrics) launched a attack with Van Ulden immediately on his wheel.

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This year’s race marked the 10-year anniversary for the Carrera de San Rafael, a criterium bicycle race circling an eight-block radius in downtown San Rafael, California. Racing began in the afternoon with amateur categories and continued until the pros battled it out as the sun went down.

Proman dominated the race early on.

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A strong team from Spain that included big favorites such as Oscar Friere, Carlos Sastre, Alejandro Valverde, and Alberto Contador came in as a heavy weight team. Missing from that list was Samuel Sanchez, who was overlooked by the world and takes gold!

Provisional Results
1. Samuel Sanchez (Spain)
2.Davide Rebellin (Italy)
3. Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland)
4. Alexandr Kolobnev (Russia)
5. Andy Schleck (Luxembourg)
6. Michael Rogers (Australia)

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By Mark Deterline

Women’s cycling: It is time
In Disney’s animated classic, The Lion King, the sovereign’s most trusted advisor could sense when the moment had come to anoint the king’s successor. “It is time,” he would declare, leading to a solemn assembly in which the Dauphin – or Dauphine! – Would be anointed. All the animals would assemble at Pride Rock, the kingdom’s hallowed ground, for the ceremony. It heralded the coming of a new age, and of a new order, built respectfully upon the one before it.

Marin County is that kind of hallowed ground for cyclists around the world; a real-life land of legend and tradition. Its sacred landmark, Mount Tamalpais, is every bit as mystical and magical as a Disney invention, looming above the countryside and often crowned itself by a wreath of fog floating in from the headlands’ rugged coast. Marin’s fertile soil has nurtured a passion for Continental road cycling for decades, finally inspiring some to seek the freedom of off-road riding in a sort of free-love version of the sport in the 70’s, which – to make a long and intriguing story very short – ultimately contributed to the birth of the mountain bike.

Like snowboarding infused skiing and the ski industry with new life and innovation in the 80’s and 90’s, so has mountain biking stoked the fires of road cycling and racing in the US, as well cyclocross, triathlon and track racing. In fact, there is enormous crossover between the disciplines: one of this year’s Tour de France favorites is a former World Cup mountain bike champion, Aussie Cadel Evans.

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Blackburn Trakstand Fluid Trainer Pro Review by Gary Lee

Like Blackburn’s Mag Trainer, the Trakstand Fluid Trainer is well constructed and also comes fully assembled right out of the box so you can immediately jump on the trainer. It is an affordable foray into the more popular fluid trainer ranks that won’t break the bank. And like some of the more expensive trainers Blackburn’s Fluid Trainer folds flat to about a slim 6 inches for easy storage under the bed or in the closet.

Setting up the bike on the trainer is fairly straightforward. You have to set the width of the adjusting knobs to fit the width of the rear of the bike and use the lock rings to lock them in place. And with the locking rings set you can easily return the bike to the trainer without much worry about how tight it needs to be simply by loosening only one side when you set up the bike.

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SRAM Rival Pro Review - By Steve Cooper

Component Weights as listed on SRAM website

• DoubleTap shifter/brake levers: 340 grams
• Rear Derailleur: 188 grams
• Front Derailleur: 102 grams (band clamp version tested)
• Compact Crankset with BB: 830 grams
• Brakeset: 287 grams/pair
• MSRP: $899

The temptation to introduce melodramatic themes into a SRAM Rival review is great. There’s the classic road group rivalry between Shimano and Campy, with SRAM, the plucky upstart, ratcheting up tensions as it jumps into the fray. For colorful metaphors you could draw comparisons with major religions, game platforms, and even burger joints. But this is a review focusing on function, not the fancy; it’s practical stuff, so let’s get down to it.

SRAM unveiled their first complete road component groups, Force and Rival, at the Sea Otter Classic in spring of 2006. New terminology was introduced to the road cyclist’s lexicon such as DoubleTap shifters, 1:1 Exact Actuation and OpenGlide cassettes. The product launch was well managed, well hyped and made plenty of buzz in the cycling press and in the race community. Following the success of Force and Rival, in spring 2007 SRAM announced Red, an evolutionary step beyond Force that was clearly a shot at Dura Ace and Record. Ultimately, over the last two and half years, SRAM has pried loose a strangle hold maintained by the road bike industry’s two dominating forces behind road components. And that opening has sparked many comparisons between the entrenched and the untried.

As SRAM’s entry point into their family of road components, Rival is graced with many of the important new features in their more expensive bits but at a bargain price. List price for the front and rear derailleurs, shifters, brake set, crankset, bottom bracket, chain and cassette lists around $1000 USD, with deeply discounted deals for those willing to hunt around. At Rival’s affordable price point, you could build-up a race-ready crit or cross bike that could be ridden “no-regrets aggressive” in even the sketchiest pack.

For our review, we selected a 50/34 compact crankset in 175 with a 12-26 OG-1070 cassette and a PC-1070 HollowPin chain.

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Riders and Staff Offset Over 155,000 Pounds of Carbon Emissions

Team TIBCO aims not only to win races, but also to set a positive example of environmental sustainability. As part of Team TIBCO’s Blue Planet Campaign, racers and staff contributed a substantial portion of prize earnings to reduce the team’s carbon footprint this season. The team worked with Elemental Action LLC to track emissions and to purchase offsets from Clif Bar’s Cool Tags program, which supports clean energy projects that curb carbon emissions and combat climate change.

To date, the team has offset over 155,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, over three quarters of the team’s total carbon footprint for the season, or the equivalent of removing 17 cars from the road for an entire year.

TIBCO’s Head Mechanic Steven Sperling sees the team’s environmental initiative as a natural fit. “It seems pretty silly when you think of how much gas we use to follow a bike race, or to get from each race to the next, so offsetting our emissions just makes sense.”

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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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Canadian triathletes to ride Blue’s latest multisport bike following its Olympic debut

Norcross, Georgia – Blue Competition Cycles announced they are sponsoring the Canadian husband and wife triathlon team of Heather and Trevor Wurtele. Heather made a big splash on June 22, 2008 when she came from relative obscurity to dominate the Ford Ironman Coeur d’Alene with a winning margin of more than 11 minutes and taking the fastest bike split by more than 10 minutes. On the same day, Trevor Wurtele placed second at Lifesport Victoria International Half Iron. In 2007, he placed first in the 25-29 age group at the 2007 Ironman Canada. Heather turned professional in 2007 and Trevor in 2008.

“We are very pleased to sponsor Trevor and Heather as they continue what can only be described as an incredible first year as professionals,” said Chance Regina of Blue Competition Cycles. “As amazing as Heather’s bike split at Coeur d’Alene was, we know she’ll ride even faster at the Hawaii Ironman on our new full carbon multisport bike, the TriadTM . We have Heather and Trevor working in the A2 wind tunnel to optimize their riding positions,” Regina concluded.

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