Want to stay warm pre-race or post-ride? Then Portland, Oregon based Rumpl has just the Original Puffy blanket for you, with a little National Park flavor thrown in.
A series of six Original Puffy blankets inspired by America’s magnificent national parks. The Collection gives back as a member of 1% for the Planet. Rumpl is proud to support the work of the National Park Foundation, the official nonprofit partner to the National Park Service. Colors and designs inspired by the individual terrains and landmarks of each park. Arches, Joshua Tree, and Yosemite available now. Rocky Mountain, Grand Canyon & Great Smoky Mountains coming soon.
These light, packable blankets offer the perfect balance of warmth, performance (and they’re light weight). The National Park blankets cost $129 and are available on the Rumpl website or wherever Rumpl is sold. For all the details, please click the link.
This is also the first ever cycling event at Rancho Guejito, a 23,000 acre working ranch in the Escondido Area. There will be a fully guided 15-mile, social paced ride suitable for MTB’s or Gravel bikes. The ride, with around 1000 feet of elevation gain, will follow ranch roads through pastures and past ancient oaks, up shaded valleys, and will include rest stops at two historic points of interest including the Maxcy Winery (est.1850’s) and other adobe ruins. . . This adventure will be followed by a delicious catered BBQ by Bar None BBQ and will feature Rancho Guejito Vineyard wines and Rouleur Brewing Company beer. Live music and lots of Old California hospitality included! Tickets are $110 with proceeds going to support SDMBA trail projects and advocacy efforts.
For all the details, and to purchase your ticket please click the link.
Competition in the indoor trainer market is about to get more interesting as Garmin announced today (February 12, 2019) their plans to buy Tacx the Dutch makers of connected indoor training systems and software.
“Tacx brings an entirely new product category to Garmin’s fitness portfolio that expands our reach into the indoor training market,” said Cliff Pemble, Garmin president and CEO. “Together with Tacx, Garmin will offer a seamless, enjoyable and motivating indoor and outdoor experience for cyclists
all year long.”
Totally makes sense, doesn’t it? Might as well keep all our cycling tech in the family, right? Tacx seems pretty happy with the sale as well.
“We are excited to have the support of a technology leader like Garmin,” said Koos Tacx, CEO of Tacx. “With Garmin’s extensive R&D capabilities and global distribution network, we look forward to working together to further enhance our indoor training products and technologies, and bring them to cyclists around the world.”
For the official word from Garmin, please follow the jump.
Last night (February 7, 2019) we were invited to Canyon Bicycles North American headquarters in Carlsbad, California for a day after roll out of SRAM’s new Red eTap AXS group set. You know, the one that retails for $4,600.
After a welcome from Canyon NA CEO Blair Clark SRAM’s marketing mastermind Dave Zimberoff (pictured above) gave an overview of the idea behind the ground-breakingly expensive wireless, customizable, smartphone app-powered group set. Here’s a little of what he said.
“At SRAM we believe that simplicity is always the best philosophy and if we can make something better and simpler then we win. So we’ve done that in this new connected platform,” Zimberoff said. “What we launched yesterday was a new Red eTap AXS enabled group set, a new XS and XO mountain bike enabled group set, and an electronic seat post from Rock Shox called Reverb. So a whole suite of products that are all interwoven they can all connect to one another, there’s a badass app that allows you to customize, personalize, monitor and control things.”
Nothing we heard from Mr. Zimberoff regarding the group sounded “simple.” Cables are “simple.” Wireless protocols? Smart apps that must be individually paired with each piece of the group? Not so much.
Since we didn’t get to do much more than look at it while dodging the occasional drool gob from some of Southern California’s strongest cyclists, we decided to let the guys at GCN explain the complex setup, features, and the rest of the details surrounding a group set that we likely won’t be riding for at least a decade — cha-ching. Enjoy.
Oh, one more thing: mountain bikers, the Reverb AXS dropper post costs $800. So you better start saving all those beer cans. . .
In a story posted on Medium today (February 7, 2019), Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos claims that Bike Magazine’s new parent company American Media (through its tabloid The National Enquirer) has threatened to publish photos of Mr. Bezos’ penis “as well as nine other images” if Mr. Bezos didn’t call the Washington Postoff its investigation of American Media CEO David Pecker’s relationship with Donald Trump, according to a story on the Huffington Post.
Here’s a little of what Mr. Bezos is claiming:
I was made an offer I couldn’t refuse. Or at least that’s what the top people at the National Enquirer thought. I’m glad they thought that, because it emboldened them to put it all in writing. Rather than capitulate to extortion and blackmail, I’ve decided to publish exactly what they sent me, despite the personal cost and embarrassment they threaten. . . They said they had more of my text messages and photos that they would publish if we didn’t stop our investigation.
Usually these stories that have nothing to do with cycling would be well outside our “lane.” But last week’s sale brings it all home to our world. Think about it? This suggests that those left at what once was TEN are now in a not-so-roundabout way working for the Trump Administration. We would imagine this might get some bicycle industry marketing asking themselves, “Do we really want to support Donald Trump by spending advertising and marketing dollars with American Media right now?”
We can say this for certain: if this is how American Media does business, then the people who had their jobs eliminated last week are the lucky ones.
Nate Hills and Lars Romig go risking in Sedona, Arizona. Here’s how Hills explains it:
Overcoming and safely managing risk IS the reward. This makes me feel alive, and I wouldn’t trade these experiences for anything. Lars Romig and I have been riding this type of terrain for years and are able to mitigate the danger as much as possible. We fully accept the risk and respect the reality of our actions. We didn’t do this for the camera, we did this for ourselves. Scenic Sedona has never been ridden quite like this. The infamous “White Line” is the easy part.
Like feeling puckered while at the computer? Click play.
While we were messing around with news that Bike Magazine et. al. was being sold to American Media last Thursday we totally missed the other bicycle media story that went down on January 31, 2019. And that was this: Emerald Events, the owner of the “on hold” Interbike trade show has off-loaded Bicycle Retailer and Industry News to VeloNew’s parent company Pocket Outdoor Media, according to a story on VeloNews.
“Bringing BRAIN into Pocket Outdoor Media is a little piece of history coming full circle,” said Felix Magowan, chairman of Pocket Outdoor Media. “VeloNews helped establish BRAIN in 1992 and this acquisition means we will continue BRAIN’s legacy of authoritative industry coverage,” Magowan said.
Not exactly sure how this will go for Pocket as recent changes in the business landscape seem to suggest that there are neither bicycle retailers, nor bicycle media consumers in general, but good luck with that. Nice to know BRIAN (as they call it) will have a home with a company with at least a sentimental attachment to cycling. For the whole story, please click the link.
When the Garmin HRM Run strap that came with our fenix 5 watch finally failed, we went back to the first heart rate strap that we’d ever worn and it reminded us how nice it is to have something that feels good, and works. Here are a few of the reasons we’re happy to have returned to Wahoo.
Soft, velvety elastic strap that is snug without being too tight.
Front snap closure. Know how cool front closure bras are? How easy they are to open and close? That’s how nice it is using Wahoo’s front snap closure. It connects the circuit and straps it up all at once. No fiddling with a side clip and then sliding into place. No label that’s constantly folded over and scratching up your ribs.
Bluetooth and ANT+ connectivity. This HRM will connect to nearly everything — watches, phones, bike computers…and really what else is there. Use it on the bike with a Garmin 520 for a ride and then pair it up with a smartphone for jogs and hikes. It really is that easy.
Flashing lights to let you know it’s on. This may not seem that important but once something goes wrong it can be difficult to figure out who is to blame in the Bluetooth or ANT+ circle jerk. When the battery is dead the lights won’t flash. Duh. Simple but effective.
Price. Who can complain about $50 bucks. Sure, it doesn’t have built in stride metrics, but who runs anyway and if you do, well, maybe you need a different strap.
If you’d like to join us in HRM heart rate strap comfort, click the link and grab one for yourself.
American Media, the parent corporation of Men’s Journal, Radar, US Weekly and more famously the National Enquirer (you know, the company run by Donald Trump’s friend David Pecker) is reportedly purchasing all the action sporting brands from Bike Magazine’s parent company The Enthusiast Network. Employees were apprently informed today (January 31, 2019) during an all-hands meeting at TEN’s headquarters in Carlsbad, California.
Things may not be looking all that bright for current TEN employees. As one media executive who is not involved with either company told us, “I would assume this is going to be brutal. American Media has tons of debt, so I doubt they’re going to invest in anything. They probably see synergies and cost-cutting as a quick way to shape up the bottom line.”
According to a post on Transworld Motocross’s website (which has since been taken down) that magazine has been shuttered and similar things could be happening at other titles at TEN as well. Here is the entire note from TWMX’s Donn Maeda:
I founded TransWorld Motocross in November of 2000. At the time, the motocross magazine marketplace was crowded and we were the eighth title joining in on the fun. It was an exciting time, paired with my good friend Garth Milan and teamed with Revolution Advertising – a freelance agency that laid out the magazine – we built the foundation for what would become the world’s best-selling motocross magazine within only a matter of months.
It’s hard to cover all the highlights that I’ve enjoyed over the past two decades… there have been too many. We’ve produced over a dozen great motocross movies, successfully launched the largest local race series on the west coast…heck we even had a one-year stint helping produce TransWorld Motocross Japan. Most of all, the memories I treasure most are of all the places I’ve visited and the friends I’ve made. Watching racers I’ve met as mini riders grow up, rise through the ranks, and go on to be champions, has been a privilege…

Today, our parent company was purchased by another media entity that sadly, has no interest in moving forward with TransWorld Motocross, in spite of our overall success and profitability. That said, our magazine, web site, and race series are on hold. I say hold, because the same group of dedicated editors and salesmen who have built this brand alongside me are still committed to creating the same great content. We are actively working on a plan to resume business as usual.
So, as cliché as it sounds, this is not a goodbye…it’s a see ya’ soon!
Oh, and if you’d like to read the official press release from American Media about their purchase, please follow the jump.
With an Instagram post of their Oakland, California store front and the words “We Out” Manifesto Bike Shop is calling it quits. Here’s what they said:
That’s right. After nearly 11 years in business, we are calling it quits. Out last day open will be Thursday, January 31. It has been a good run.
Though we never made it to the shop, it was always good to see what legendary Sacto skateboarder Sam Cunningham and co-founder MacKay Gibbs were up to with the shop. We’re certain they will be missed. Hopefully, Sam will let us know what’s next for him.
In a 
