The team got a nice mention on the Campy Only blog. Riding Campagnolo attracts attention – especially when it’s an amateur team on the blingy, wonderful Italian stuff.

Check out the article here.

Ten Speed Drive recently teamed up with Sabertec, a company that specializes in vehicle emissions reduction technologies. Sabertec is providing their Blade product to team vehicles for the race season.

The timing was perfect for Ten Speed Drive – they were just getting ready for a block of big races, and a whole bunch of driving in between. Just before heading out for the Boise Twilight Crit, they installed a Blade onto the team van. After Boise, it was an 8-hour drive to a charity criterium in Vancouver, Washington, a 3 1/2 hour drive to Bend, Oregon for the Cascade Classic stage race and National Championship road and time trial events, and a return trip to Portland.

Central to Ten Speed Drive’s mission is its efforts to “Go Green and Kick the CO2 Habit.” Sabertec’s Blade is the ideal tool to help in this endeavor. The Blade is an inexpensive add-on that installs over the end of a vehicle’s tail pipe. Its primary purpose is to filter out pollutants from the exhaust. Laboratory studies have shown a decrease in CO2 emissions by as much as 12% as well as a decrease in particulate material emissions. The Blade also increases a vehicle’s fuel economy – reported by Sabertec to be as much as 30+% for smaller 4-cylinder vehicles.

“Working with Sabertec and their Blade product is ideal for us,” said Ten Speed Drive team member Josh Liberles. “Unfortunately, long drives to the country’s biggest events is an inherent part of bike racing. The Blade is an inexpensive, easy way for us to decrease the pollution we create, improve fuel efficiency, and, overall, save the team money.”

Follow the links to learn more about Sabertec and how you can Blade Your Ride!
Blade Your Ride: http://bladeyourride.com/index.html
Sabertec: http://www.sabertec.org/index.html

I had an 8-mile bike trip today that I really enjoyed. It was a slow cruise from my house to Autozone, on my commuter, with a worn-out car battery stuffed in one of my pannier bags. I figured that I’ve taken my car to bring bikes in need of repair to bike shops enough times before — it was high time that I did more of the reverse.

It wasn’t like it was a difficult excursion — but it was something that I normally would have done by car. That’s one more trip by bike, one less by car, and — hopefully — will set a pattern for future similar journeys. The transition away from the vehicle is all about baby steps. Just look at initiatives like the Clif Bar 2-Mile Challenge , the similar One-Mile Solution proposal , and the budding Ten Trip Challenge . Clif Bar encourages frequenting local establishments and walking or biking to get there; One-Mile Solution advocates replacing one car trip per week; and participants in the Ten Trip Challenge try to minimize car journeys to 10 per month. Curious about how practical this would be to do in your neighborhood? Walk Score is a super-cool site that attempts to quantify just how ped-friendly the area around any given address is. My house rates a reasonable 69 out of 100 — but if you included bikeability, I’ve got just about everything close by. Move over a couple of blocks and the score jumps to 90.

When you hear yourself making excuses about it being too cold/wet/hot/whatever to ride, or you don’t know how the heck you’d carry something “so heavy” on your bike, remember that it’s all relative. Need inspiration? Check out Icebike for info on people riding through the winter… in Alaska! And for some cool snippets of people hauling lotsa gear, StreetFilms has several videos of Bike Moves, like this one below, that are pretty impressive.

I own a car which I drive very infrequently. Although I’ve contemplated giving it up and transitioning to a Zipcar car-sharing membership, my bike racing and pet ownership (no un-crated pets allowed with Zipcar) make this a little tough. So, I keep my almost 40mpg crapbox 1990 Civic, throw a Sabertec Blade on the muffler (more on that in a future post), and, along with the rest of my race team , try to downscale by one trip at a time.

Photo via Flickr by owenstache .

Water bottles aren’t typically the most exciting bike accessory. They serve a crucial function (lugging your liquids), but “exciting?” Not so much.

The director of my road team came across BioGreen Bottles at Interbike, the bicycle industry’s tradeshow. I subsequently contacted the company to demo some of their bottles to see what all of the hub-bub was about. The bottles come in a variety of shapes and sizes and look pretty much identical to the industry’s benchmark standard: the Specialized Big Mouth.

BioGreen and Specialized share a nice, wide screw-top that allows for easy cleaning and plenty of room to add scoops of drink mix. The style, form, function, and price of the two offerings are all very similar. So, what’s the big deal? BioBatch.

California Springs, the parent company of BioGreen, has developed a proprietary additive, BioBatch, which when combine with regular old #4 plastic makes their bottles 100% biodegradable. When placed in compost or a landfill, the bottles start breaking down in about six weeks and completely biodegrade in as little as 18 months. According to company spokesperson Mary Bielemeyer, “With the addition of BioBatch, the end products are non-toxic and do not leach into water. There’s no BPA or DHEA, and the broken down components are actually beneficial to a landfill.” [emphasis added]

The bottles will last just as long as a traditional bottle. But, when disposed of at the end of its life-cycle, nutrient-rich humus and methane gas are the sole remaining components. Although methane can be a greenhouse gas, it can also be harnessed for power production in intelligently setup landfills.

The company manufacturers their bottles right here in the U.S. – Santa Fe Springs, California. Most of the bottles contain 20% recycled content, but they’re experimenting with a 90% recycled bottle currently available in black (I tried one of these — function was identical to the other offerings).

According to Bielemeyer, the #4 plastic used in these bottles is easy to recycle, often via curbside pickup. Recycling is still a better alternative to throwing the bottle away but, inevitably, some will end up in the trash. It’s nice to know that, unlike the vast majority of our plastic world, any traces of these used-up bottles will soon vanish.

As you can imagine, water bottles are just the beginning for BioBatch. As consumers become more eco-savvy, plastics have taken on an increasingly bad rap. Reducing the use of plastic of any type is a plus for the planet, but some items — bike water bottles being a prime example — work best when made from a reusable plastic. Look for more BioBatch products to hit the shelves soon.

So, yeah… I’m excited by these water bottles — and really glad that my team will be working with BioGreen for 2009 and supporting their cause.

BioGreen in Summary…

• Great function with wide screw-top
• Competitive cost
• Reusable, Recyclable, Biodegradable
• Made in USA according to California’s
  environmental standards
• BHP/DHEA free
• Buy Them HERE – Wide Mouth DuoFlow Lid (26-Ounce)
• Buy them HERE – Wide Mouth DuoFlow Lid (20-Ounce)
• Buy them HERE – Sport Bottle with Extra Wide Mouth and DuoFlow Lid with Tether (32-Ounce )
• Buy them HERE – Easy Hold Sport Bottle with Wide Mouth and DuoFlow Lid (30-Ounce)

It’s the presidential inauguration day here in the U.S. and in addition to the historic buzz in the air are predictions for gridlocked traffic and overcrowded Metro trains around Washington D.C. The Washington Area Bicycle Association (WABA) has a transportation solution we can get behind: Our friend, the bicycle.

WABA has arranged for free bicycle valet parking with stations to the north and south of the inauguration venue. No lock will be required as volunteers will watch over the fleet of bikes. Pedalers will receive commemorative valet claim tickets. Let’s hope this is a harbringer of a national support for cycling to come.

The city’s new SmartBike-DC program will also have self-service rental bikes available throughout the city. As this video from DC’s NBC affiliate shows, this is just the latest effort in Washington’s mission to reinvent the city as a bike-friendly one.

Via the AP. Photo via flickr by Sam Felder and by thepostalservice.

You likely know by now that central to the Ten Speed Drive / Ellsworth mission is decreasing our environmental impact. Well, turns out skiing/snowboarding – with its long schleps to mountains, snow-making, lift-running, etc. – has some of the same environmental drawbacks that bike racing can. But, what if pedal-power helped to lessen the weekend ski warrior’s load?

Three pro snowboarders – Louie Fountain, Scotty Wittlake, and Travis Parker – were toying with the idea of biking from Portland up to Mt Hood with their gear strapped to their backs. It’s about a one hundred mile ride with some good climbing at the end and, odds are good, worsening weather as they go up. Really, it started off as a joke.

Once Louie’s brother, Joseph (JT) got wind of it, the joke became both a reality and the subject of a cool documentary film project. Before the group knew it, they were off on an 850+ mile pedal-powered adventure to ski resorts in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho in their own, custom-made, four-man Bikecar!

Here’s a quick clip of the lead-up process. This shows the test-drive - Eventually the car donned an exterior shell and a bit of a more finished look.

So, next time you’re thinking about wimping out on your next ride due to weather, remember these snowboarders, get some tips on proper clothing selections and layering from the heart of Alaska (where else?), and keep on pedaling.

For more on Bikecar, visit their website and check out this (pdf link) feature article in Snowboarder magazine.

Take the Stairs!

OK, so the video below is just a commercial (for a Canadian food company I’ve never heard of) and a bit over the top but the message is spot on. I found this clip on my friend Colleen’s fabulous blog, Ride Blessed (if you haven’t visited her blog, by the way, I highly recommend it!).

Check it out:

While people often look for magic pills and solutions to their increasingly flabby bodies and deteriorating health, a ski buddy of mine once summed up her view of the solution very succinctly: Move more, eat less.

Sure, there’s a lot more to it than that; food choices and the timing of meals can provide major benefits. But, have you ever been to a gym and watched people circle the parking lot to find the spot closest to the entrance, then take the escalator or elevator once inside? All of the little, lazy choices we make throughout a day add up.

Here’s another ad, this one by River City Bicycles, that “drives” the point home:

The messages are in keeping with Ten Speed Drive / Ellsworth’s mission. As we look to lessen the team’s environmental impact and support bicycle advocacy, we will incorporate the bike into our lives, not just our training.

Bikes+Sport+Transport=Ten Speed Drive Racing!

Photo via flickr by travelling.steve

To demonstrate just how important aerodynamics are to a cyclist, let’s get technical for a second: The relationship between speed and wind resistance is an exponential one. In other words, to double your bike speed, you’d have to overcome EIGHT TIMES more wind resistance! On a flat road, between 70 and 90% of a rider’s energy goes into overcoming aerodynamic drag — and the percentage goes up as speed increases.
Coach Rick Crawford penned a really cool article about The Evolution of Aero. He focuses on time trial bike setups — where the racers compete one at a time, there’s no drafting, and being “slippery” through the wind is of paramount importance.
A great position that your body can’t handle is useless:

When I finished, my entire backside was wrecked from my mid-lower back all the way to the back of my knees. My neck was cramping. When I tried to dismount the bike, my right glute seized up in a cramp so painful that I just dropped straight to the ground and writhed in agony. I was a mess. My time did not reflect the suffering I had just gone through…

… it was evident that my body was not trained to the radical aero position that this funny-bike put me in. I could not maintain the power I was putting out, and my muscles led a rebellion against me. I was way lower and more forward than I was accustomed to and while I was more aero, my muscles were not conditioned to this position. It was a tough lesson to learn, but simple enough to fix.

As I learned the hard way, aerodynamics is not enough by itself… cooperation from the body is critical. That cooperation is earned through training (emphasis added).

One of my very favorite stories to come through the blogosphere this past year was about aerodynamics… but it had nothing to do with bikes. Mike Turner took a stock 1992 Honda Civic hatchback with original body and engine, added some Bondo and hardware store modifications, and turned it into a vehicle capable of 95 mpg at 65 mph and smoothly hitting 100mph. It was all done by making the car more aerodynamic!

Although this story is about an old car, the principle for cyclists is the same: take the same chassis and engine (i.e. you and your bike), get into a more aerodynamic position, and you will go LOTS faster. However, as Crawford’s article points out, you have to train your body to reach a low-profile position and still be able to generate power once you get there.

What’s the message here?

• To have the best in-season ever, make good use of your offseason, by working on:
• Your Flexibility
• Your core strength
• Bike Position
• And be specific, target any weaknesses you might have noticed over you past season
• Think about getting yourself a professional bike fit. Figure out a position that you can strive for as you continue to work on flexibility as well as an immediate, in-between position that’s comfortable.

Photo via flickr by Swoo.

Josh L. works for Cyclo-CLUB.com and uses their workouts for his training program. Specifically to target core strength and flexibility.

Reprinted, with permission, from Cyclo-CLUB.com

When most people watched Michael Phelps tear the roof off of the Beijing Olympics, they focused on his incredible athletic prowess and drive. And maybe his super-cut torso too. Exercise researchers such as Dr. Joyner noticed something else, too. As he told the NY Times, “I have never seen anyone so relaxed in the water.”

Athletes need to walk a fine line between “getting amped” for an event and staying relaxed. Adrenaline can increase performance, but nervous energy and tension will make you slow. As a cyclist, efficiency is the name of the game. We want as much energy as possible pushing into the pedals and propelling us forwards.

Clenched hands, rounded shoulders, gritted teeth and excessively moving your upper body side-to-side are all energy wasters. These little things all add up and will rob a cyclist of performance as well as potentially lead to physical discomfort.

Although some athletes are naturally more chilled out and “in the zone,” relaxation is something that can be learned. It’s a bit of a catch-22 tough: push the body to its limit while staying loose and limber.

From the NY Times:

It is a trait that is often underappreciated, coaches and athletic trainers say. Yet it can make the difference between doing your best and not doing well, between feeling dragged down or soaring. Coaches search for better ways to teach it. And many athletes, including some of the world’s best, work on it constantly. An ability to relax while pushing hard, exercise researchers say, is one reason why winners win…

One of his tricks is to have athletes concentrate on relaxing their eyes. “If they’re wide eyed, they’re tense,” Mr. Hart said. “I tell runners to run sleepy eyed. It’s like pouring a soothing oil over the body.” As the eyes relax, the face starts to relax, the jaw relaxes and then, Mr. Hart said, he tells runners to let the feeling spread through the shoulders and arms.

Some tips for staying relaxed:

• “Check in” with your body. Unclench your hands and keep a light grip on your handlebars. Let your arms absorb shock rather than keeping them engaged and rigid.

• Let your jaw hang a little rather than gritting your teeth.

• Lengthen your back and neck rather than rounding. Imagine a string pulling the top of your head out long.

• Breathing techniques while waiting to start an event are amazing relaxation tools! Try Lungs in 5′ and Cyclo-BREATH.

• Keep your body limber with the variety of CLUB workouts. Release in 5′, Loose in 5′, and Cyclo-ZEN Recovery Yoga, and Myofascial Release are great places to start.

Photo via flickr by sagicel

What do you do when your new adopted hometown cycling community has a sick love affair with cyclocross? Well, you dive right in of course!

The scene in Portland, Oregon is beyond belief. In New Mexico, we were accustomed to decent ‘cross races having maybe 100 participants total in all categories. As the second biggest US cross destination, New England would see maybe 5 or 600 at the biggest UCI events. The inaugural 2008 Cross Crusade? 1,300! Every field was huge, most notably ALL of the womens fields (a rarity- which is awesome!) Singlespeed categories are very popular, and there’s even room for some more, um, extreme categories. Like unicylces (or “unicross”).

Cyclocross Portland-style was just what the doctor ordered to rekindle my racing spirits. The sheer exuberance of the boisterous crowd, the good-natured support and cheering from all sides throughout the race, and a positive vibe untouched by any other sport has gotten me excited to be a bike racer once again. I’m ready to embrace the gray skies and frequent drizzles, learn how to keep my desert-accustomed body as dry as possible in sloppy conditions, and discover the secrets of careening down off-camber descents into 180 degree turns towards the barriers on peanut-butter-mud without falling. Every darned lap!

Want to get a feel for the Cyclocross scene for yourself? Grab the nearest cowbell and check out one of my now-favorite websites, pdxcross.com (responsible for the two shots posted here). The slide shows are black-and-white artistic documents that capture the amazing energy and vibe of the races. Open a Belgian trippel, mist yourself with a spray bottle for ambiance, make some noise, and enjoy.

Portions reprinted, with permission, from Josh’s write-up for Cyclo-CLUB.com. Photo courtesy of PDXCross.com.