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Tech News – May 9, 2003
Edited by Paul Mirtschin
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Weird science at the Moonride 24 hour race
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A 24-hour race is the last place you would expect a bunch of scientists to be found, but at this weekends Cateye Moonride 24-hour race the lab coats will be everywhere.
Scientists from the Auckland University of Technology Sports Performance Centre will be conducting tests on iRULE riders Sonia Foote and Saul Britton to determine just what the body goes through during an endurance event.
The Moonride experiment is the brainchild of Daryl Foy, CEO of New Zealand-based online mountain bike and adventure race clothing retailer iRULE.
Kim Swanwick, an Exercise Physiologist, and Joe McQuillan, a Strength and Conditioning Provider, will conduct tests on Foote and Britton and record the levels of blood lactate, blood glucose, rate of perceived exertion, weight, caloric consumption and heart rate during 12 and 24 hours of riding respectively.
Mr Swanwick said he hoped the experiment would shed some light on the body's physiological responses during endurance racing.
"Because of a lack of research within the area, little is known about the physiological responses of blood lactate, blood glucose, heart rate and weight during endurance racing," said Mr Swanwick. "It's expected that blood lactate will rise at the onset of racing and plateau over both the 12- and 24-hour race period.
Data collected during the race will be analysed and used to establish a training program for the athletes in the coming months.
A Polar S710 heart rate monitor will be used for recording the riders heart rate, with sampling times every five seconds, while blood tests will be recorded each lap.
Britton told Cyclingnews "Having such highly regarded physiologists doing the testing I have no doubt that I will come away from the exercise with some very in depth information. With my racing so far all my training has been a bit hit or miss; I have the basic fitness principles fairly sorted but as to specifics for endurance MTB... nobody really knows... except obviously Tinker (Juarez) and (Chris) Ettough, and they're not telling!"
"Once we get the results back, both Sonia and I will be able to structure our training much more specifically towards 24-hr MTB racing. I'm looking forward to talking with the physiologists and listening to their suggestions to see how close, or far away, I've been to 'doing it right'. My goal for this season is victory at the Canberra 24-hour, everything I do this year is focused on winning that race."
Levi's cranking
PowerCranks' CEO Frank Day reports that Rabobank’s Levi Leipheimer will soon start training on his PowerCranks system as he prepares for this year's Tour de France. Leipheimer is the latest addition to the list of elite cyclists who have or do train with PowerCranks, including Mario Aerts, Paolo Bettini, Cadel Evans, Stefano Garzelli, Johan Museeuw, and many others, according to Day. What are Power Cranks? See our New Arrivals from March 19 this year and look for a review in coming weeks.
Cannondale finalises Chapter 11 sale to Pegasus
By Jeff Jones
The Cannondale company has completed the sales of the assets of its bicycle and motorsports divisions to affiliates of Pegasus Partners II, L.P. (Pegasus). Cannondale filed for Chapter 11 protection in late January following mounting losses incurred by its motorsports division.
In future, the bicycle business will be incorporated as the Cannondale Bicycle Corporation. Dan Alloway and Scott Montgomery will continue as senior executives of the Company as Vice President of Sales and Vice President of Marketing, respectively. In addition, the Company is recruiting a Chief Financial Officer and a Chief Operating Officer to bring additional stability to the business. Company founder Joe Montgomery will be a consultant to the Company.
In an official statement, VP of Marketing Scott Montgomery said "We're extremely happy to have concluded the Chapter 11 process so quickly. We were in Chapter 11 for less than 100 days, but we've been a successful part of the bike industry for 32 years. We are back to our roots and it feels good to bring renewed focus to the bicycle business."
The company added that its products are still selling well, and it has a "very strong line planned for 2004."
As part of the acquisition, Pegasus plans to sell Cannondale's motorsports assets, but doesn't plan any other major changes. "Cannondale's difficulties were not related to its bicycle business," said Pegasus partner David Uri. "The problems came from its motorsports effort. The bicycle division has remained profitable, which is a stunning accomplishment given the burden and distraction that motorsports imposed."
"We have no desire to disrupt a winning formula," continued Uri. "As we've said before, our job now is to support and supplement the existing Cannondale team to allow them to concentrate on what they do best - designing, manufacturing and marketing lightweight, high-performance bicycles for the specialty retail market."
New telescoping seat post from Titec
In an attempt to make life easier for owners of mountain bikes with interrupted seat-tubes, Titec is to produce a telescoping seatpost.
The first release for the telescoping seat-post with be the "Knock 'Scoper", and will be available in 28.6, 30.0, 30.9 and 31.6 mm diameters. It will feature Titec's "Hawk" clamp and will be 410mm long when completely extended, or 250mm when fully compressed.
Titec is also due to release a freeride based seatpost based on its new multi-bolt "Pyro" clamp.
Cooking with Michael and Dede
United States Postal Service rider Michael Barry and T-Mobile's Dede Dement, along with friends Matt Hansen and Chris Mathias, are currently putting together a collection of recipes, to be released as a book titled "Feet on the Pedals, Hands in the Kitchen".
The book will include a collection of Michael and Dede's favourite recipes, along with stories and anecdotes from Michael and Dede, collected from years of racing, travelling and eating.
Helmets are Us
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With the UCI ruling that all riders are to wear helmets, Bell has announced the list of teams who will wear their helmets this season.
American Tyler Hamilton and his Danish CSC team head the list of Division I squads using Bell helmets, along with Credit Agricole (France) and Team Fakta (Denmark), while US domestic teams 7-Up/Maxxis, Health Net and the Diet Rite women's team will also use Bell helmets.
"We've got a really good mix of high profile international and US-based teams," said Bell Sports Marketing Coordinator Dan O'Connor. "That should translate into a good presence for us in everything from the Classics to the Grand Tours to the best races stateside."
Team CSC will wear the Team CSC Ghisallo road helmet, as well as the new Bell Meteor time trial fairing.
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