Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Tuesday Shorts

1. Fantastic racing is on in Italy. Catch all the action of the Giro on the 'Downtube' to your right.



(Man, Pantani sings like wow... where can I buy an album? Or can I 'pirate' a cd, no pun intended?)


2. Public demand for the "coffee cup" look was overwhelming. I brought it back. If you're a cycling nerd and like to learn or waste/kill clock, don't come here without coffee. You'll get a little more cozy each time (or something is wrong with me).


3. Robert Riley Product Design Enterprises sells DIY (Do-It-Yourself) engineering plans to make your own Ground Hugger recumbent.


Plans may be purchased as CAD drawings in electronic format (dxf format on 3-1/2-inch disks), as large 24 x 36-inch prints on bond paper, or in a set containing both CAD and printed drawings. This is probably a nice way to get into hobby bicycle building.


4. A nice graphic here. The bicycle is the most popular mode of transportation in the world. Have you caught the fever?

Courtesy : Number 27


5. Now if you have some 7000 dollars to spare, you can buy this special portable hypoxic tent from CAT Altitude Systems. Ofcourse, if you're not a pro (Levi has one of this himself), I advise you to save your money. I won't say I'm suspicious of LHTL protocols since I haven't tried them but from what I read, most of the research studies surrounding altitude training is ambiguous at best (and there's so many of them that you can go to a public health library and check some of them out yourself).


Recently, Scientific American had it that mountain climbing kills brain cells (Into Thin Air : Mountain Climbing Kills Brain Cells , April 2008). Do you see any connections?


6. A not so bad look at the Orbea production factory.




7. I'm moving from Buffalo to Olean NY. I'm excited about working for D-R, and this area of Cattaraugus County is really beautiful. While it could be true that not a lot is 'going-on' here, this place must really be awesome for cycling and generally, all kinds of outdoor sports! Very small town America type, and can get very country with the beautiful Alleghany forest (biggest in NY) right in my backyard. The altitudes here are not so bad and there are some awesome climbs around I hear. My new home is a good 1200 feet higher than where I used to live in Buffalo. I can't wait to go out there and ride some!



8. Finally, a reader pointed me to pictures showing a Mavic-R-Sys failure at the Cat 4/5 Pace Bend Race in Texas early this year. I was hunting for these pictures. For a while, the album was apparently closed to external parties. Now it is open. The slide show is well arranged and you can see exactly how the crash took place and what really happened to those carbon spokes.
Compare those pics with a recent post I had on the R-Sys spoke failures. Picture courtesy to Running Dave.


Now please ride strong, for the sake of this blog.

6 comments:

Fritz said...

Dramatic photos from the spoke failure. The guy in the red did well staying up; too bad about the dude in the white and pink who looks like he hit that metal post!

thePig said...

Really like the cycling poster. I would not have guessed that there are more bikes than cars.

Spumoni said...

Ron - I hope your move to Olean goes well. Years ago there used to be a wonderful three day stage race called the Olean Enchanted Mountains Stage Race. The road race incorporated some very steep climbs, including one that ended at a small airport on a plateau. Enjoy the riding,

Spumoni

Ron said...

Spumoni - Thank you for the well wishes. I have heard of that race. Do they still have it going on? I haven't heard a lot about racing in Olean. Seems like all the racers have 'retired'...Im trying to get in touch with some.

Edwin said...

So how are you liking your new place?

Ed said...

Sounds like a great place to live.