The Tour de France wraps up this weekend, but it can live on as art. Chicago-based NOMO maybe a long way from Chicago but since 2010 has produced a large (24×32-inch) offset print in a limited edition of 250 prints that are signed, numbered and shipped rolled in a cardboard tube.
The 2012 edition, which includes the course of this year’s event along with team rosters is now available for pre-order.
Watching the Tour de France this week, we’ve seen some incredible crashes. As of this past weekend we’ve even seen Tour winner Bradley Wiggins and other riders suffer from burns that occurred when fans running with flares ran too close to the riders.
While burns and road rash are unfortunate wounds while riding this tough endurance race, Team Sky has a tool in its arsenal to help provide relief and heal faster. It’s a wound dressing system from Systagenix. Continue reading Team Sky Uses Adaptic Touch Wound Dressing
From The Guardian: London 2012 Olympics: How athletes use technology to win medals
Ever since the first ancient Greek chipped away at a lump of stone to give it the smooth, aerodynamic properties of a discus, sportsmen and engineers have been looking at ways to enhance performance – while some of those denied medals have been crying foul. Continue reading Weekend Reading List (7.7.2012): Olympic Tech, Basketball Missile Tracking, Sagan Dances, Running Adventure
The Tour de France is underway and while it doesn’t appear likely that Thomas Voeckler will be able to see himself back in the yellow jersey as he did last year, he should at least be very comfortable in his Team Europcar Professional Cycling Team kit made by Louis Garneau.
It is features coldblack Carbon Ion, which reflects heat and helps cool the rider. And while the team wears green and black the fabric can cool riders as effectively as if the clothing was white. The coldblack treatment further offers increased UV protection, which is good for anyone who is going to be out on the road for five or six hours a day.
This works by utilizing embedded carbon fibers, which also help to reduce the overall weight of the jersey, and prevent electric charges from settling on the body, thus avoiding a negative reaction on muscular contractility. The carbon fibers also accelerate the movement of humidity through evaporation.
And this jersey might help Voeckler make up lost time as well, as it is the first to feature Speedtech fabric, which has a dimpled mesh construction that reduces aerodynamic drag and is designed to improve aerodynamics for speeds ranging from 15 to 45 mph. On the roads of France this clothing should have the team looking and feeling good.
From Gizmodo: The Best Bike Lock
Leave a bicycle locked up on the street, and a pro with the right tool can spring it faster than you can buy a Slurpee. We’re not bike thieves—not even close—and we were able to slice through cheap locks with $20 bolt cutters and a hacksaw, on our first try. Continue reading Weekend Reading List (6.30.2012): Battle of the Locks, Tracking Slams, Tour Preview, Tour Winning Bikes
Title sponsors are big business in the world of sports, and this is very apparent in the world of professional cycling. This week Slipstream Sports, which had been competing in professional cycling races including the Tour de France as Gamrin-Barracuda will become Garmin Sharp.
While Barracuda Networks will continue as an important co-title sponsor, and team materials as well as the website will refer to the team as Gamrin-Sharp-Barracuda, the official UCI-registered name of the team will be Garmin-Sharp (GRS).
TV and electronics maker Sharp is celebrating its 100 years in 2012 so we see this as a fitting way to draw some international attention. Continue reading Name Games: Slipstream Sports and Garmin Joined by Sharp
This week the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (RTC) announced that the RTC 2012 Viva Bike Vegas Gran Fondo Pinarello Presented by Vector Media will include a 102-mile century ride in addition to the 17-mile, 75-mile and 122-mile Gran Fondo. The Sept. 22 event, which will take place the day after Interbike concludes will see five-time Tour de France champion and two-time Giro d’Italia winner Miguel Indurain join the ride. Video and course maps after the jump
This week we received the Polar RCX5 Tour de France GPS heart rate monitor, the “Official Tour de France Training Computer.” The box pretty much sums up our immediate first impressions, “Yellow is Everything.” Unlike other heart rate watches this one doesn’t try to go low key – it goes straight for yellow.
While it will likely take a lot more than the RCX5 on your wrist to get in yellow, it certainly could help you train better. Over the years we’ve tested a fair share of heart rate monitors and this one is also more than just clock, calorie counter and pulse meter in a flashy package. Continue reading First Impressions: Polar RCX5 Tour de France GPS
The Tour de France is still just over two months away, but yellow products are popping up with cycling tie-ins. Polar is offering a limited edition Polar RCX5 Tour de France training computer. Continue reading Polar Offers Limited Edition Tour de France Training Computer
If you’ve watched a mountain stage of the Tour de France you’ve probably seen David Mayer, but then again it could be anyone inside that water bottle costume. While Mayer is owner and designer of the Clean Bottle – the water bottle that unscrews from the bottom as well as top for better cleaning— he still actually “suits up” and runs along cyclists dressed as large bottle.
But in addition to being the guy in the suit, Dave is quite the innovator and he spoke to KineticShift to tell us what’s he working on next – and it isn’t another suit. Check out video of Dave
This week the British Team Sky Pro Cycling announced that it has extended its agreement with TrainingPeaks to be the official supplier of training software for the 2012.This will allow Team Sky to continue to collect and monitor heart rate and power from each individual rider during training and racing, and utilize it in TrainingPeaks by team coaches and staff. Riders can futher adjust their own training program and regiment based on the fitness trends shown in the software.
It will be interesting to see how it helps Olympic gold medalist Bradley Wiggins, who will likely be racing in the London Olympics this summer, as well as current world champion and 2011 Tour de France green jersey winner Mark Cavendish this season. With both hoping for a potentially “golden” summer we’re sure they’ll be spending a lot of time using this data. While it probably is not as much time as they spend on the bike, but still enough to show that software is indeed changing the way athletes train; and that is helping the way they perform.
Touring around the U.S. to see all of the MLB stadiums, NFL stadiums or college stadiums is certainly not a new concept. For years people have been making a pilgrimage to these houses of sporting worship, but most do not even get to step on the playing field of their heroes. Cycling is on of those sports that fans can actually ride on the same “playing field” as the pros if they are willing to guide themselves, learn enough of the local language to communicate with the locals and unfortunately battle traffic. Knowing that fans want to ride on the same course as the pros, numerous touring companies have cropped up offering cyclists to opportunity to ride the famous courses of their heroes. Sometimes even on the same day as the pro race, just hours in front of the peleton, and be fully supported with guide services, food and accommodations. Seeing an opportunity of their own to diversify their business, the bike company Cervélo, has teamed up with the touring company, Butterfield & Robinson Management Inc., to create the Cervélo Pro Travel Experience.
