The Smith Overtake (currently our favorite race helmet) just won a 2015 Red Dot Award which is a pretty big deal.
Following the phenomenal success of the Forefront all-mountain helmet, the brand was recently honored again for its holistic approach to product design with the prestigious international 2015 Red Dot Award for the new Overtake cycling helmet. With almost 5,000 entries from 56 countries, the Red Dot Award – bestowed by the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen in Essen, Germany – is the largest and most recognized product competition in the world.
Good to know we have an award winning helmet, especially one made with a material that absorbs 30% more energy than traditional EPS foam helmets. For the official word from Smith, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Popular fitness tracking device manufacturer Fitbit today announced a partnership with Strava in a deal that has the two companies giving users the ability to automatically share their fitness data between the two ecosystems.
Once users connect their Fitbit and Strava accounts any activity logged on Fitbit will be posted to Strava and any activity posted to Strava will end up on a user’s Fitbit timeline.
This comes as a welcome surprise to Fitbit Surge GPS watch owners who only last month got the ability to easily track bicycle rides on their devices. On the launch of the new bike feature many Fitbit Surge users felt that tracking a bike ride without being able to post it to Strava defeated the whole purpose of tracking the ride in the first place. That appears to no longer be a problem.
Strava already syncs with many GPS enabled devices and now a legion of Fitbit users will have to opportunity to see their activities tracked and ranked against Strava’s competitive disciples.
The only downside is for those who like keeping their two fitness timelines separate. Some use Fitbit for tracking casual activities like walking, sleeping, and dietary intake while saving Strava as a record of serious training efforts. Once the two apps are connected users will no longer have the ability to keep the two timelines apart.
In the end Strava gets a whole new set of compatible devices and Fitbit gets access to loads of location based fitness data while the users get a smoother way to combine their activity tracking timelines.
We’re not the biggest fans of major label bicycle magazine “columnists.” Their boring “had a great thought on my last ride” stories are dull, boring, redundant, say the same thing over and over, are repetitive, and terribly boring. That said, Bike Magazine’s “web monkey” Vernon Felton has pulled together a nice piece on the politics of riding bikes in “wilderness” areas. It’s too long (of course), but it covers most all the angles in the battle for wilderness access by mountain bikers. You should read it.
Here is Felton’s conclusion:
Screw this ban on mountain biking. If you feel the same way, let your representative in congress know about it. Speak up. You see, while I respect IMBA and the hell of a lot that they actually do for mountain biking, here is where I disagree with the organization: I think we mountain bikers have numbers on our side. I’m willing to wager that the vast majority of Americans, know nothing about this ban on mountain bikes and wouldn’t approve of it if they did. So be vocal. Push. That’s what worked for the people who got us kicked out of the wilderness in the first place. Let’s give it a try ourselves for a change.
Our position for years has been: if horses are allowed, we’re allowed. We ignore the signs. And so far that’s only resulted in occasional reprimands (even in Yosemite, gasp). But it would be nice if we could finally get the law on our side. . . for once.
Members of the Smith mountain bike team (including Joey Schusler, Lars Sternberg, Mike Hopkins, Rosara Joseph, Alex “KrunkShox” McGuinnis, and Carolynn Romaine) were reportedly sent to New Zealand to explore the south island, ride single track, destroy an RV, forge storms, and have run-ins with the local law. What was captured in this three part video series reveals a glimpse into their life on the road, though we’re not exactly sure what it means to “forge” a storm. Guess you’ll have to watch and find out.
This little clip from “Hecklers’ Corner” at the Crankworx Rotorua, New Zealand sums up pretty much everything we don’t understand about enduro racing (well, the knee pads make sense). But, we will say one thing: it looks fun to watch.
Garmin announced today (April 16, 2015) that they are upgrading their power tracking pedals the Vector and Vector S to the Vector 2 and Vector 2S.
Vector 2’s dual-sensing pedal-based power meter measures cadence, total power, left/right balance and displays cycling dynamics, revolutionary metrics that provide feedback to cyclists on their position and pedal form. With cycling dynamics users can tailor their training around specific weaknesses and strengths by viewing exactly where they are generating power throughout the pedal stroke. Cyclists can also view where force is being applied on the pedal itself to ensure proper cleat position, as well as when and how long they were seated versus standing during a ride to gauge position effectiveness.
The new Vector pedals also make transferring the power meters from bike to bike, much easier. Those who already own Vector pedals, don’t worry. There is an economic upgrade path that will get you rolling on the latest for $149.99 or less. And that sounds great. Now, if only they had a MTB pedal we’d be all set.
What better way to check out Fox’s new All Mountain/Trail Collection than throwing it on Cam McCaul and Kirt Voreis and letting them rip their way through a couple trails.
Once you start paying attention to your ankle wear it’s hard to go back to basics. Suddenly that plain black pair of team socks you’ve been wearing overtime looks a bit boring when you head out for a ride. Take a tip from the world of cyclocross racing and show some individual style with a stylish pair of socks.
While you may be able to pick up a bright pair from your LBS—and we encourage you to do so—when you want a truly special pair you may have to search a little harder. We’re making it easy for you with our favorite picks from The Athletic, Ten Speed Hero, Sock Guy, injinji, and Stance below the jump. [click to continue…]
Like many cyclists we carry our phone, a couple Alexander Hamilton’s, and an expired ID in a faded, greasy ziplock baggie. Sure, this makes it easy to flash our ID while cycling onto tightly secured military installations, and keeps our phone mostly dry from sweat, but on the class front it is sadly lacking. It looks more like something a meth-head would carry, not svelte, clean cycling machines like all of us. Well, Bellroy has a solution for all of us. It’s called the Elements Phone Pocket. And it works a little like this:
All-weather leather and a water-resistant zip mean your valuables will remain protected from any sudden downpours, or other elemental surprises. Internal organization helps segment your iPhone, cash, cards, a key and more, avoiding the awkward rummaging around that comes with other all-in-one wallets.
It’s organized protection, in a single pocket.
All that for $99. It is likely just the ride wallet you’ve been looking for. For more info click the link.
Before running out and grabbing a new kit with your favorite sponsors’ logos plastered all over it, please take a minute to cruise the newest offerings from the Chicago based Ten Speed Hero crew.
