Honey Stinger Add Gluten Free Organics

by editors on September 15, 2015

Deb42Bd8-B25B-4148-B11B-97Ee8E61F2Cd.PngHoney Stinger is getting all the buzz words covered in their latest performance fuel offerings. At Interbike the company is bringing out Gluten Free Organic Stinger Waffles and Protein Energy Chews. Yes, you read that right: “gluten free” and “organic.”

“We developed the line of Gluten Free Waffles in response to our most frequent customer request—to meet the nutritional needs of those avoiding gluten in training or dietary restrictions while maintaining the great taste of our original Stinger Waffles,” says Jennifer Shea, Honey Stinger national sales manager. “The addition of the Gluten-Free Waffles and the Protein Energy Chews not only strengthens our roster of nutritious and great-tasting, honey-based foods, they set us apart from all other nutrition brands. Customer and consumer demand for an additional Organic Energy Gel flavor also drove the launch of Mango Orange.”

Wonder if the Honey they use is “free range” honey? For the official word from Honey Stinger, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]

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POC Lights Up Some Clothing

by editors on September 15, 2015

Swedish helmet company POC has partnered with Light Flex Technology to develop cycling clothing that lights up.

Light Flex Technology uses its new printed light technology which can be incorporated into any wearable to increase visibility. The patented technology is lightweight, flexible, washable and easily integrated. Light Flex Technology offers design flexibly since it can be printed in complex shapes and does not compromise comfort or aesthetics.

Not to second guess POC, but if we were designing clothing that lit up we’d probably put the lights on the outlines of the rider so people know what’s ahead of them. This floating blue dot on the cyclist’s lower back seems like it might confuse drivers more than alerting them. For the official word from POC, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]

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Monster Media Rolls Up Spy Giant Ride

by editors on September 14, 2015

Monstermedia

Last month, when news spread that Michael Marckx was stepping down as CEO of Spy eyewear the big question on Southern California competitive cyclists mind was “what will happen to the Spy Ride Giant cycling team?” Well, now we know.

According to a press release sent out today (September 14, 2015) the Spy Giant Ride team has merged with Monster Media Racing to become. . . well, Monster Media Racing. But there’s more: the Monster Media Racing Team will now be owned by and operated by MMR Sports Group, LLC which is, in turn, owned by Chris DeMarchi, Derric Swinfard, Phil Tinstman, and Michael Marckx.


Here’s what they’re saying:

The unification not only marks the most significant cycling team development in the region—the most competitive cycling arena in the country—it also paves the way for the strengthened team to both own the leader boards in all men’s and women’s road categories. In addition, and more importantly, the new team will serve as a marketing and distribution agency for the team’s sponsors across the country, where MMR has plans to launch with seven chapters in 2015 and grow to fifteen chapters by 2016.

“MMR will create opportunities for all stakeholders to enjoy the services and pursuits of the team as a marketing agency,” said Michael Marckx, former president/CEO of SPY and MMR Team Partner. “Our unique program is for both cyclists in pursuit of their athletic dreams and brands seeking new ways of communicating their brand messages while competing in the increasingly challenging cycling marketplace.”

For the official word from Monster Media Racing, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]

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Moab Rocks Race On Moab’s Best Lines

by editors on August 31, 2015

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Is it an enduro for cross country racers or a cross country race for enduro riders? Guess we won’t know until the finish of the TransRockies Race Series’ Moab Rocks three-day stage race scheduled for October 10-12, 2015..

Moab Rocks takes some of the regions best classic and new routes including Klondike, Porcupine Rim and Mag 7 and combines them into a 3-day masterpiece of xc and timed descents in a fully supported format. All this wrapped up in a fun and friendly atmosphere, combining camaraderie and competition.

Sounds like this might be the perfect Moab MTB race. For all the official details, click the link.

[Link: TransRockies Race Series]

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WTB’s New PadLoc Grip System

by editors on August 31, 2015

WTB has given everyone another reason to chop a piece off the end of their bars — the new “no-slip” PadLoc grips.

By removing the rounded end of handlebars – really, is there a reason that bars have unyieldingly remained rounded – we’ve completely eliminated slippage. A 30 degree plane sloping the last inch toward the bar’s outermost edge ensures there’s no room for fore / aft movement. AND it makes PadLoc grips comfortable. Like foolishly easy on your palms, don’t tell your friends they’re so splendidly comfy.

We’re not sure we want to be so committed to a pair of grips that we permanently modify our bars. What if you get the angle wrong? What if you’re in the middle of no where and you need new grips? Then again, we haven’t ridden the PadLoc, so we don’t know.

[Link: WTB]

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GoPro Hero4 Session Gets Small, Too

by editors on July 8, 2015

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GoPro has now pretty much fixed up all the things that bugged us about running a Hero with their new Hero4 Session. This thing is tiny, light, and does exactly what we all want a GoPro to do: bring back the action in living color and up close.

50% smaller and 40% lighter than GoPro’s best-selling HERO4 Black and Silver cameras, HERO4 Session packs GoPro’s Emmy® Award-winning image quality and performance into an exciting new low-profile form factor. HERO4 Session benefits from a durable waterproof design that eliminates the need for a separate housing and features simple one-button control to make capturing immersive photos and video quicker and more convenient than ever before.

The Hero4 Session works with all your GoPro mounts and captures GoPro-quality 1080p60, 720p100 and 1440p30. It will retail for $399.99 starting July 12, 2015. Our only question is, how long is that battery going to last? Anyone? For more info, click the link.

[Link: GoPro]

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Garmin Gets Small With Edge 25

by editors on June 25, 2015

Edge20 25

Lately, it seems like the high end of Garmin’s Edge cycling computers have grown larger and heavier with each release. That’s mostly why we’ve stuck with our trusty Edge 500 far longer than we probably should have. The only downside is that the 500 doesn’t have Bluetooth so we can’t share our rides live with family, and we can’t launch those immediate updates to Garmin Connect (and Strava) like our better equipped, KOM-stealing friends. All that has changed, however, with the release of Garmin’s new Edge 20 and 25 cycling computers. The diminutive new units are being touted as “the world’s smallest GPS cycling computers” and weigh in at only 25 grams.

Water-resistant and weighing only 25g, the Edge 20 and Edge 25’s extremely durable and small design is ideal for travel, training and everyday riding. Their interfaces make it easy to start, save and share activities and both are GPS and GLONASS-enabled, acquiring satellites quickly to track how far, fast and where a user is riding. Both devices feature up to eight hours of battery life.

These units have the basics. No color LCD screens, no power meter stats. And we kind of like it that way. The Edge 20 captures time, distance, speed, total ascent, and location, but doesn’t feature ANT+ nor Bluetooth. That means it cannot connect to any other ANT+ sensors like heart rate, cadence, or speed, nor can it connect to your smart phone. The Edge 25 is a lot like our old 500 except it has ANT+ and Bluetooth meaning it can connect to other sensors and smart phones. The only downside is that it cannot connect and display power meter metrics. Guess Garmin saved that feature for their larger, more expensive units.

The Edge 20 and 25 retail for $129.99 and $169.99. For the official word from Garmin, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]

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Smith Overtake Wins Red Dot Award

by editors on June 25, 2015

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…]

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Buckshot Pro: Speaker, Light, Battery

by editors on June 2, 2015

Buckshot Pro

Aside from our trusty Swiss Army Knife we’ve always considered do-it-all tools to be the master of none. So when we picked up Outdoor Technology’s new Buckshot Pro we were expecting disappointment. Why? Because, really, who puts a Bluetooth speaker, a camp light, a strobe bike light, a flashlight, and a back-up battery for a phone into one device. Sounds ridiculous, right? Well, we were wrong. Turns out this combination of electronic tools is absolutely perfect for biking around the neighborhood, traveling across town, or even taking on the road for an overnight bike camping trip.

The reason we liked the the Buckshot Pro so much is because each individual feature alone made keeping the thing around worthwhile. We used the included strap and took it out for a bike ride to test the speaker. It paired easily with our phone. And while it was pretty difficult to hear anything while traveling above 18 MPH, at cruising speeds, the speaker worked great. And, if we were out past dark, the blinky headlight was enough to light up signs a block down the street. But what we like most about the Buckshot pro is using it in our tent. By hanging it from the ceiling we got bright, yet perfectly diffused light, plus music playback that wasn’t half bad. Later, after turning the light off, we simply unscrewed the light and plugged in our phone to get it charged. We might not take a speaker on a bike trip, but when it’s also a back-up phone battery, and a light it makes sense.

The most ingenious thing about the Buckshot Pro is the way the USB port is utilized. Plug it into the wall and the Buckshot Pro charges. Plug the light in and get four different lighting options: a bright yet diffused camp light, a dimmer mood light, a straight up flashlight, and a blinky cycling light perfect for rolling the streets at night. Plug your phone into the Buckshot and your phone charges. All that and it’s IPX5 water resistant as well.

We found that the Buckshot Pro cleaned up the clutter by keeping several things use all the time together in one compact package.

The Buckshot Pro comes in six colors: black, gray, red, orange, glow, and army green and retails for $79.95. For all the details, click the link.

[Link: Outdoor Technology]

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Fitbit & Strava Agree To Swap Data

by editors on May 12, 2015

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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.

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