1. Prince McQuaid keeps room open for donations : According to reports, the immaculate cycling chief McQuaid has said that in the future, the UCI "may deal differently" with a donation like Armstrong's. But he insisted that it depends heavily on donations from all riders and teams to support its annual $6.4 million anti-doping budget. Wow! This must happen only in cycling. Please audit this organization as soon as possible. The sooner the better.
2. The subject of Armstrong surely divides opinions. The latest Facebook groups that have come up to gather support for each of their causes are "Petition To Drop The Federal Investigation of Lance Armstrong" and "Petition To Investigate Lance Armstrong For Fraud". The bottom-line logic of the pages are something like this. One has it that investigating Lance Armstrong is a complete and utter waste of taxpayer money and that he should be let "free" because of the things he has done for the cancer initiative. The other writes that using taxpayer money to investigate fraud on such a massive scale is a non-issue, and interestingly, is also in support of the research on cancer so that definitive links can be established between drug abuse and cancer. Both sound equally reasonable.
3. Jeff Novitzky fanpage : Meanwhile, what appears to be a psuedo Jeff Novitzky is fast becoming a celebrity on Facebook as well. He must be the modern day manifestation of all our childhood fantasies about steadfast, no-tables-unturned, mission oriented crime busting.
4. Is the Cobra trying his venom already? This is the second time Riccardo Ricco has fooled us. Here, it was Quickstep. A few days later, it is now a Dutch team. I don't trust him. I think he's still lying and will surely ride for the Reptile Rescue Committee of Italy instead. Hey, that's just me.
5. Are modern bikes faster? This was the interesting question posed by an article published in the summer edition of the Bicycle Quarterly where an analysis of the impact of lightweight bicycles was done. According to those who read it, the authors of the article looked at bicycle improvements on racing speeds over the last 100 years. They then compared the trend-line of speed increases in the TdF to medium distance running and arrived at the conclusion that bicycle improvements such as lightweight tubing and derailleurs really didn't have that much of an impact. They also make a few comments on the impact of doping on the two sports. I haven't read it but it must be some food for thought. Besides, the editors of the magazine seem to be avid cyclists with PhD's. If someone is nice enough to share this article with me, we can discuss it. 6. Side Mounted Pedals : Recently, I was shown the side mounted pedals by inventor Steve Lubanski. While his pedals have been around for quite some time, it is only recently that I noticed it. It seems to me that you can get your seatpost lower with the pedals, thus lowering your center of gravity. It also appears to me that your crank length will closely match your true crank length since there is no vector addition due to the stack height offset. But will 2-3 cm of pedal stack height reduction really make that much of a big difference? Physiologically, validation could be best done with a bio-mechanical as well as power output and oxygen cost study. I might write more about this later. The subject has interested me.
What do you think? Got anything to share? Write in!
1. The doping saga continues : The truth is out there. TREK and Lemond have been subpoenaed this past week! The NY Daily News is at the height of their game, reporting on the minute-by-minute news in the doping drama with great finesse. Yesterday, the German newspaper Sueddeutsche had published mindblowing details of an interview with Lemond. Among the things Lemond told journalist Andreas Burkert was that Armstrong had vowed to pay $300,000 to an "active member" of procycling if the latter went public and lied that Lemond used illegal EPO to win stages. He also told the paper that he had first heard of the secret "double donations" to the UCI through a mechanic within U.S Postal. The first page of that interview has been translated to English here. NYDN has also ran a summary of what was exchanged.
2. Vino inspires emotion : Yesterday, I happened to put together a small biography on Vinokourov, the breadth of the work sourced from Daniel Coyle and English translations from www.Gva.be. Some commented in and called me a 'selective hater", others had some other names for me. Still others continued to judge Vino as a remorseless doper. Most, however, liked the post. I loved the variety in the discussion it brought. If you have stories to share about Vino, please chime in there and add to it in the comments section.
3. NYTimes goes behind the Livestrong money machine : Many consider Lance Armstrong a failure this year, both on the racing and personal integrity front. But Juliet Macur wrote recently about the second team of people he has got to give that much needed boost to his PR image. The Livestrong camp (a charitable fund that has very high overhead costs, no special news to Charity Watch) is busy at work hawking wrist bands and merchandize for a good cause, so they say. These are young adults recruited and paid by Nike to go around driving in black cars and trucks commercializing cancer. Meanwhile, Armstrong continues his magnificent Global Cancer Awareness by making direct 180 turns after he finishes a stage to flee for the shelter of his team bus. While you ponder what's going on, did you know that FRS energy, the health drink company which he has a stake in, donates a gracious dime (10 cents) to LAF for every $40 dollar CASE of cans sold? The fact that people think the drink outright sucks must not be helping either.
4. Should Alberto demand his gift back? : Let's see. Among the minority of people who've been having major women's issues with Contador attacking on Friday is a whining Johann Bruyneel, who recently pocketed nice gifts from the Spanish champion too. Here's what he said, even stamping his authority on it by claiming "I know what I'm talking about." This comes in stark contrast to other people's opinions that Contador is a changed rider this year tactically.
Keep in mind that the flawed "coach, champion, legend" has no business interfering with Astana's affairs any longer nor has any idea what the team had been planning for Friday in their own privacy. Sure, he's entitled to his opinion but what is equally clear is that he still manages to hug tight like a pillow his puerile discontent for Contador from last year's Tour. Funny fact- Vino has no problems with Contador, thank you sir for your concern. The biggest irony of all this is that the nutcase manager has nothing whatsoever to say about his team's failure to help Levi climb up the GC. That such self-inflated garbage about another team's rider should come from a sore loser makes many want to simply vomit.
5. Power calculation from Tour stages : Frédéric Portoleau has a page put up where he has power estimates of various top riders from this year's Tour. According to him, Andy Schleck climbed the ascent to Avoriaz in 33min 12s, expending some 417W of power. That gives a power/weight ratio of 6.1 W/kg. Alberto put down 415W of power, making his power to weight ratio some 6.8 W/kg. Certainly seems way off the charts, so I'm not sure how reliable all this data is.
6. Most important Tour stage : The most important Tour stage could likely be today, as the riders ascend the second highest pass in the Pyrenees. Steephill has a preview of the course and a video of the steep east side of the climb which will be climbed today.
7. A small perspective of La Marmotte : Fancy doing the La Marmotte cyclosportive anytime? Our friend Will over at Cycling Challenge shows it was done :
8. Rating Climbs : Speaking of climbing and famous climbs, Will has also written a post on Podium Cafe, rating the different climbs in this year's Tour based on the formula from www.climbbybike.com. Below is the result of his work :
Meanwhile, reader and engineering blogger Dan Connelly loves to go out and explore the science of whatever he can get his hands on cycling related. He thinks that the climbbybike rating formula is flawed in several respects and his latest endeavor is to try and formulate a different non-linear equation based on some criteria.
If you guys are climbing a lot this summer, make sure you also read John Summerson's Guide to Climbing series. You can also read up on what the standard is for climbing bragging rights, something I explored in the past. So unless you're climbing and meeting the bragging rights standard, please don't bother bragging about anything whatsoever on your Facebook and Myspace pages.
The true punchline of my blog is "cross-pollinating velo buzz". I'm going to continue the Cycling Shorts option - provide you short pollinations with a summary and opinion and you decide if you want to click on it and read further, agree or disagree with me. Hopefully, these links as they have passed through my bandwidth filter will be quality material.
1. Stage 3 cobbles could be a big decider : Chris Horner wrote in his Team Radioshack diary yesterday that on the day of the recon of the cobbled stage 3, he was putting forth some 475 Watts of power according to the beloved SRM. To his astonishment, he noticed Lance Armstrong go flying by him like he was standing still, that in his own words. Contador on the other hand, said he respects the cobbles, he doesn't fear it. His riding partner Van Petegam could also have gone overexcited and released wattage numbers for the ride but chose to not disclose it. Meanwhile, a father and son duo managed to go check out the fuss around the cobbled stage. I felt the little kid was flying, making his dad look still.
2. WSJ not a ragbag tabloid: Cycling Weekly argues for the validity of the Wall Street Journal article today. They write that not only is the WSJ a credible news source and not the rag bag tabloid people make it out to be, but that times, dates, places and multiple sources that are well listed in chilling detail making the case a strong one. Three U.S postal riders have confirmed already. A host of other former U.S postal riders had been caught or suspended for doping and to say Bruyneel & Armstrong never knew anything about this is not going to be believed by intelligent people anymore. Meanwhile, other news sources have begun to play around with the strip club part as headlines. But I think it is significant because a) cocaine was involved, b) behavior was displayed before his divorce and may explain why Kristin decided to move on and c) a source who was close to Armstrong back then told me that he had close knowledge of it and strongly disapproved of him cheating on his wife and kids.
3. Timing Of Interview : Others are claiming that Landis waiting for the TDF to start to make this revelation makes his account even more suspect. An argument can be made that it was in late May that he confessed to doping through his email and implicated Armstrong in it. Soon after, IOC and WADA demanded more 'concrete' proof from him to consider any of the things he said. So is it really out of the ordinary that he took over a month to gather the facts from his training diaries, talk to his lawyers from Wilson Goodrich and Rosati, and make arrangements with the newspaper of his choice? I think it would have been more awkward if he chose to reveal this on Christmas Eve later this year.
4. How much did Landis make from WSJ? Quite possibly nothing. Former pro and confessed doper Joe Papp supports the theory. "The WSJ didn't pay me", he told me, and he wouldn't ask them to either. "Just doesn't happen in proper journalism in the USA". Another source told me that "the Wall Street Journal--even under Murdoch's stewardship--does NOT pay its sources. Ever." What is interesting is that media boss Rupert Murdoch, who is indirectly involved in professional cycling via Team Sky, has not hesitated to have this article published. Did Team Radioshack try to get a court injunction to stop its publishing so it could "go away"? Unsurprising tactic, if true.
5. MadFiber Full Carbon Wheel Criticized : Ric Hjertberg of WheelSmith fame is branching out to new ideas. He's now taken an aerospace engineer from Kansas University onboard to develop "Madfiber", a $2500 full carbon fiber wheelset with carbon spokes. To create spoke tension on these "no weight limit" wheels, the spokes are first bonded directly to the rims and the flanges and then pushed to the edge of the hub to create tension. Meanwhile, another respected engineer Jobst Brandt told me that the whole idea of a non-heat absorbing rim is nuts. He saw a collapsed carbon fiber wheel in Italy and did not like the stress problems in the spokes. "I think he is more into the art of the wheels than function in manufacture, building and performance," he remarked. Yes, carbon fiber's strength to weight ratio is off the chart but I do have to consider Jobst' comments. How well do people know carbon fiber anyway? The engineers behind the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner, built with 50% carbon composites, can't even accurately predict how the structure will behave in the event of a crash. Other experienced engineers remain uneasy in-spite of the fancy imagery their computers show them. The material's true value can be overrated when kept in context with its price.
In one post in October last year, I described how the cycling trade works and posed some vital questions of what would happen at the lowest levels of the business chain in the economic turmoil. Click here to read it if you missed it.
So is the bike biz really recession proof or is it a myth? Well, you decide. Meanwhile, I've been wanting to pass on these industry related pollination to you for a while now. Consider this a followup to the post I linked above. Lets see who didn't make it and read some other capturing news of these trying times.
1. A large French mutual bank named Groupe Caisse d’Épargne (popular team sponsor) suffered hundreds of millions worth of dollar losses due to bad bets on derivatives linked to the direction of the CAC-40, the French equivalent of the Dow Jones industrial average. Competitive Cyclist described the implosion of the global economy on race sponsorship.
2. Take a look at the NBDA U.S Bicycle Industry statistics. Do you spot a trend is declining sales? Keep this thought in mind. Explore point 5 below.
3. China is the largest bicycle manufacturer in the world. But the whole economic situation also hit home in China hard. According to sources, the Chinese central government no longer considers the bicycle industry as priority. Great! Is this how you bolster economic growth? For all those of you who visited China (eg James, Bicycle Design) and wondered where all the bicycles went, well - looks like you have a couple of idiots sitting in big positions up there.
4. In stark contrast to the shameful Chinese, Taiwanese manufacturers only seem to be heavily investing in cycling's future. Taiwan’s 22-member A-Team, a consortium of suppliers, is continuing to make improvements in R&D, quality control, employee training, marketing and just-in-time delivery. Oh and if this is any interesting to you : FSA recently bought and installed an $80,000 X-ray machine so two employees could check every single hollow-arm carbon-crank it sells. “It’s 100 percent quality control,” said Douglas Chiang, the company’s managing director. Impressive! So are we going to see some high quality products from FSA in stores?
5. BRAIN wrote in August last year that "between January 2001 and January 2008, the number of specialty bike retailers fell from 6,259 to 4,394, which equals an average attrition of 266 storefronts per year. Beginning in 2006, these numbers include specialty ski shops, camping and outdoor shops that sell bikes." Researcher Jay Towley, of Gluskin Towley group, tries to explain these statistics. Good read.
6. Burke, President of TREK, had a perspective on the economy last year. Was his cautioning statements about second and third-tier suppliers a form of fear mongering?
7. Rivendell bike hates the strong Yen/weak dollar combo. At the time they wrote it, it was 105 Yen to a buck. They remarked that such a scenario is "nervous time, edgy time, bad mood, grumpy silence time."
8. Slowtwitch wrote about the nearing demise of Blackwell Research, a bicycle wheel and component company. Blackwell products always had a cult following, it seems, and their small brand status made it difficult for them to push for more space in retail stores. So is this why its Product Designer, John Cobb, decided to go solo and start his own saddle business (Cobb Cycling)?
10. In Bike Hugger's Huggacast 51, Jeremy Sycip, a custom builder, and Rod Jewett, president of Bianchi USA, talked about the effects of rising petrol prices and the shakey economy on the bike industry. Again, this video was made in about the middle of 2008. So do these two individuals still hold the same perspectives now, a half year later?
11. The owner of Worksman Cycles talks in this video about the hard realities of keeping business alive in bad economic times.
12. Jonny Cycles LLC closed their business, blaming most of it on the economy. Check out this revelation from Jon, the owner :
"Like most other bicycle related businesses I usually see a big slow down from fall to early in the year (usually Feb). Typically I get 5 or 6 orders in the winter months and it picks up again in the spring. This winter I took in one order. Add to that several people dropping off the list (most due to loss of employment) and my waiting list has shrunk considerably. I'm a bit of a pessimist and I really don't trust the economy to rebound by this summer. My lease is up in April. The last place I want to be is dead in the water mid summer with no orders and no frames to build while incurring huge debt trying to pay all the bills. With the waiting list at its lowest point ever it seemed like the perfect time to opt out to me."
13. Switchback Cyclery, another bike shop, had to close down due to declining sales. Sad.
14. Yale Bike shop, yet another shop near the Yale campus in New Haven CT, sold off all inventory and closed their shops. So how bad is it when you don't know how to manage in times of a crisis? Hear it from the shop owner himself :
“I’m not a business man,” Feiner admitted. “I’m just a bike rider who opened a bicycle shop in a town that really needed bike culture. I’m learning lessons as I go. This was definitely the biggest one.”
15. In perhaps the strangest news in this pollination, Wells Fargo started screwing around with Team Evomo for not using their corporate credit card more often! Some donkeys really want others to be in debt! What a joke! Wells Fargo, you officially suck in my books.
16. This just in. On March 2 2009, the Iron Horse Bicycle Company filed for bankruptcy. According to this report, East Coast Cycle Supply was formed on Feb. 1, the day after the group of employees in IH was fired as the company went belly up. Iron Horse Bicycle Company went into bankruptcy on March 2 when three of its primary Asian suppliers filed a petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy relief in an attempt to recoup more than $5 million allegedly owed to them by Iron Horse.
17. High Gear Cyclery in Longmont, Colorado calls it quits after almost 23 years of service. According to owner Buzz Feldman, the economy had "battered" them and he had no choice but to liquidate.
19. Looks like due to the economy and people's financial situations, high end cycling is losing ground in Manhattan.
20. Bike Europe reports that during the first quarter of 2009, the bike industry was hit pretty hard. Check it out.
21. Finally, can anything be learned out of Clif Bar's successful startup in the 90's in a recession? Read this.
Do you have news to submit for bike shop closures, or good news or any other perspectives to share on staying alive in the bad economy? As a consumer, what will you do? Continue your high spending cycling life or will you be happier keeping your wallet in your pants? Join the discussion!
Hope you all had a good weekend. Well, here's some pollinations for this week, straight from the C to the O to the Z to the Y!
1. SAUDI OIL ON 60 MINUTES (WARNING : P is for PLENTY!) : The first part of last week's CBS 60 minutes explored the Saudi Oil kingdom, and their push to produce more oil in the era of the Obama Presidency. It was a jaw breaking revelation of the Kingdom's oil resources and technology, like something out of a Star Wars movie. The low oil prices you're seeing now will climb back up since its not stable at this point. Realistically, this important commodity is very necessary for the development of the modern world, of countries, economies and their people. However, that should not deter anyone from exploring and developing alternative, cleaner sources of energy which I believe is one of the biggest engineering challenges of our times. Oil by itself has been and is doing plenty of damage to the world on its evil side.
2. COMPANIES GOING 'BUST' : According to the story on Finanical Times yesterday, 62000 companies will go out of business next year. This, when compared to last year's 28,000 and this year's 42,000 seems like a dangerous linear trend. It'll be interesting to see if bicycle businesses are truly recession proof or will they join the long list of the jobless. We already saw what happened to RevoPower, in a previous post on this blog.
3. FEM ON HEADTUBE :
This isn't modern art but a depiction of the loading on a bicycle headtube during front brake activation. It'd be nice if there was a legend and some more things to make it look sensible. Courtesy : Rational Engineering
4. SOUND FROM WIND FOR BIKE MUSIC :
Korean designer Joseph Kim, in a new concept, imagines two tube like channels on the handlebars that create music by controlling the amount of wind that blows through them. Interesting. Look here for more information.
5. BICYCLE PLANNING GUIDANCE FROM WISCONSIN : I was fortunate enough to fall on an lengthy bicycle planning guide from the transportation guys in Wisconsin, courtesy of National Transportation Library (NTL). It could make for interesting reading, especially for those of you interesting in some transportation engineering for our good old two wheelers. Click here to read.
The NTL also houses other free literature, like the latest 2008 reports on the National Survey of Bicyclist and Pedestrian Attitudes and Behavior. See a snipshot below, and to check out all the reports , click here.
6. SEN. JOHN KERRY TEACHES BICYCLE SAFETY :
Yup, that's definitely the way to go about it!
7. BICYCLE DESIGN FOR THE MILITARY :
How do you design bicycles and accessories for the men and women serving on the front lines, in the rough conditions that they encounter? Ease of maintenance, portability, and sturdiness could never bang on your doors here louder. Enter bikes for the Light Bicycle Infantry (LBI) that are rugged, all terrain, and electric and mountain bikes in nature.
Here's a video on bicycle tools accessories for the military :
1. INTERNATIONAL TERROR IN INDIA : Very disturbing news across the globe, and my condolences to everyone involved. The virgin-seeking brothers of Muhammad have struck again, this time in a dramatic fashion. In an opportunistic move, taking advantage of intelligence failures and maritime security loopholes, a dozen fearless Islamic fundamentalists got off a speedboat with bags of RDX explosives, automatic weapons and ammunitions. Parting into teams, they then headed into multiple locations in the financial center of India, spraying bullets into streets, killing hundreds of people commando style and then seizing two major hotels in the city and a third Jewish center with many hostages in hand. With 125 dead, the hostage situation is still unfolding as I write, and a fierce and chilling gun battle ensues between terrorists and the government's National Security Guard. Citizens of India, America, UK, Australia, Italy, Germany etc are among the dead.
A Limited List of Victims (Google Docs, via Twitter. Can You Imagine? Twitter being used extensively in a terror crisis?? Amazing! It shows how powerful blogging can be.)
2. SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH FROM FORK MODIFICATIONS : Fox has put out a statement on its website for all Fox Shox users against misapplication of its forks. Its pretty interesting. The bottom line is that, in the name of saving money, don't modify forks or use them for the wrong applications. Here's the opening part of their statement : It has come to the attention of FOX Racing Shox that certain individuals and / or entities are modifying FOX forks to accommodate mountain bike wheel sizes other than those having 26 inch nominal diameter. One such modification includes removing material from the lower leg cross bridge in order to fit a 29 inch tire in the fork. Such modification will ultimately separate the lower fork legs at the cross bridge (i.e. the weakened cross bridge will fracture) and may cause bicycle instability and crash that result in SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH.
3. SHIMANO DI2 WINS 2009 IF DESIGN AWARD : First, it was Popular Mechanics handing them the "Best of What's New 2008" innovation award. Now Shimano's electronic shifting technology has further diversified itself by bagging the prestigious IF Design Award 2009 in the 'Leisure/Lifestyle' category. The basis for the award was upon its innovation, functionality and design level. I wonder what SRAM and Campagnolo are thinking now. Read more on this story here.
4. VINTAGE SHELBY BICYCLE AD : Shelby bikes was made well before my time. But here's an interesting graphic ad showing shocks inside their head tubes.
5. USACYCLING LICENSES ON SALE ON DEC 1 : Get your hands on one for next season. Just one reminder. They are bumping up their insurance surcharges. Check it out.
6. BOBBY JULICH EXPLAINS THE PRO CYCLING BUSINESS : If you're a talented rider but don't know a nut about the pro cycling business, then retired pro Bobby J. is taking it upon himself to explain it briefly. He reveals how cycling contracts work, what the first salaries are like, the "free agent" market, and his personal experiences on rest and relaxation off the bike. He also admits that getting back into training after the break wasn't always easy. Read his Nov 19 column here.
1. In their book Lean Thinking : Banish Waste & Create Wealth In Your Corporation, authors James P. Womack and Daniel Jones provide a 3-4 page case study on traditional bicycle production and then write on how lean thinking can be applied to make value flow in better ways. It starts off with historic ways of order-taking, design and production and tie together some new techniques to create a lean bicycle production process. You can read most of it here electronically on a Google Books preview.
2. It has been only a few months since Cycleops released their new "Pro" line of bicycle trainers, and there's already a voluntary recall on all of them, as of last week. The problem child on the design seems to be their yellow skewer clamp or lock ring that comes out loose while in operation. Read below :
A better look :
So while you may train indoors like a total badass, you may also go flying out and over your setup due to the vibrational forces involved in hard efforts.
3. If you like digging into old Time Magazine articles, here's one from way back in 1971 on an apparent bicycle shortage in the U.S! Demand was super high, but retailers & bike companies were unable to keep up. I wonder if we can learn anything from history...
4. Weightweenies had a post on a Campagnolo Bora rear wheel damage :
How it happened, from the rider : "I had to brake hard for a crash in front of me and I also had to steer. Because of that my tube came loose from my rim and I hit the asphalt on my rim instead of on my tube. On the photo's you can see that the sides of the rimbed are damaged. The damage that you see on the photo's is the only damage to the rim. There are no visible cracks or whatsoever. Also the rim is still completly true."
Its terrible that we keep seeing more of these incidents, particularly when the price of replacement may be a steep cry. Now I had written two similar posts on this issue sometime back so I give them to you for further reading :
5. Most of you may have easily missed this news, so I bring it to you again. At Eurobike 2008 in Friedrichshafen Germany, there was a Taiwanese bicycle manufacturer called Asia Seiko who presented a really lightweight frame, using some interesting frame materials. The buzzwords for the combo makeup is TeXtreme® spread tow fabrics and TeXero® UD tape, developed by a Swedish company called Oxeon. The tape weaving process is patented technology which was discovered back in 1995 by Dr. Nandan Khokar at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. You can read more about this frame here, and about Oxeon's patented taping process here.
If anyone has any more interesting updates about the frame, let me know.
Asia Seiko's one piece Fight Weapon frame, made with 80gsm (areal weight) TeXtreme carbon fabric, claiming to reduce the overall weight and increase stiffness.
6. A Competition In The Works : Last but certainly not the least, I've been thinking about running a small competition on this blog. I haven't done so yet, so this will mean I'll have to plan something with a small, yet a nice prize for the winner. I have some ideas going in my head to make it a little wild and unique, and it may come online anytime now so keep your eyes open and keep checking the blog.
Its been a while since I have brought some good cross-pollination, so here are some interesting stories for this week to delve into. I also call them cycling 'shorts'. No stink, and no charge, ok?
1. 23&ME PERSONAL GENOME SERVICE : I'm an avid reader of the Time Magazine. For those who didn't hear, the publication has named the 23&Me Personal Genome Service as 2008 Invention of the Year.
This is a revolutionary product that brings personal genotyping to the masses. 23andMe is dedicated to helping individuals understand their own genetic information through DNA analysis technologies and web-based interactive tools. 23andMe analyzes your DNA using a genotyping chip. The chip used is an Illumina HumanHap550+ Genotyping BeadChip . 23andMe has also added a customized set of SNPs to the chip. The company's Personal Genome Service informs customers how markers in their genomes affect their propensity for over 90 health conditions and inherited traits, traces customers' genetic roots back to the origin of the human species, and allows customers to compare their genomes to those of family and friends who are also 23andMe participants.
Here's my curiosity :Can this tool be used to answer the question whether a person has the genetic potential and talent to be a competitive athlete close to pro ranking? That goes even for top rank cycling. No seriously, if you found out that you didn't have the genes to be up there at the cream level, you would be better off not working your butt off trying, correct? And could this be used by coaches to identify cycling talent at a young age, by looking at a person's athletic genome map?
What do you think?Scary technology or does it have potential?
But think about it. While these robots may have taken years of R&D to produce tiny baby steps on a bicycle, they still cannot approach the learning capacities and control mechanisms of the human brain.
3. OHM PERSONAL ENERGY DEVICE FOR CYCLISTS : The title of this design may sound misleading since it isn't something you eat, drink or dope with.
The Ohm device targets cyclists, relying on magnets and a dynamo to store up power which can be used to power up your portable electronics including cell phones and MP3 players. Ohm magnets are hooked up to bicycle wheel spokes, where the N42 neodymium magnets offer an optimal balance of durability and magnet strength (see Neodymium). As the user cycles, the wheel spokes will turn and start inducing current in the Ohm which is subsequently stored in an internal 1200 mAh lithium ion battery. Once you've arrived at your destination, the Ohm can be removed and used to juice up your exhausted gadget. It takes around an hour of cycling to fully charge a cell phone.
4. CYCLOCOMPUTER CAN'T COMPUTE HIGH SPEEDS : This video shows how your bicycle speedometer is useless close to and beyond 99mph (hardly a matter of concern since you'll never reach those speeds in your lifetime riding)
5. BUYING STOCK IN SCHWINN? This is for all you budding investors. Would buying stock in Schwinn or other bicycle companies who appear to be doing well in the financial crisis be a wise decision? Find out, and comment here.
6. SMP PEDAL DESIGN
Here's the interesting website of possibly the only side mounting bicycle pedal in the world. I'm very interested to know whether Pasadena Bicycle Manufacturing still exists today. And what about this pedal? I certainly haven't seen any in the market. Does any one have any info to share with us?
7. MY ENTRY TO "COMMUTER BICYCLE FOR THE MASSES" COMPETITION :Bicycle Design has a commuter bike design competition up. While I think that there can be further innovative design ideas to make cycling safer and more fun, for something like a bicycle - I don't think there can be ONE "Perfect" bicycle design that will fit everyone's satisfaction. Its kind of like saying, design one perfect car for everyone. That stuff didn't happen, and won't.
Perfection is highly individual. It is a biased idea. To make everyone's preference be the same model of bicycle, you need to change their mindset, or brainwash them. I think this will be a good juncture to point out that I'd not only design the bike, but will also design the perfect commuter so they can stop whining!
But yes, you can always build a better mousetrap, why not?
So James, here is my contribution to the design challenge.
My "blue ocean" design philosophy is pretty educative in nature : "First teach the new bicycle rider about what he or she needs in a bicycle through an involving exercise."
Just think about the number of other advantages and simplicity this "ground breaking" design affords (no pun intended).
1) Top notch aerodynamics 2) Full body workout for ass, abs and tree trunk triceps 3) No need of brakes or absurdly heavy steel tubing to make an overall lighter design, which ultimately translates to higher power to weight ratio since the denominator in that ratio is now 25 pounds lighter. No need of fenders too, since the rider is now fending for himself. 4) Dynamic wheelbase feature makes adjusting possible on front and rear contact points for a more tighter or comfortable ride 5) Adaptive stiffness - Flexy when you're relaxed, rigid when you're having a stiff neck. 6) Low center of gravity for drag reduction and cornering efficiency 7) Additional rear thrust possible during a bad stomach day 8) Excellent cooling offered by splashing dirt water on body, or when launched in the air by road bump 9) Custom design? Oh hell yeah, this is as custom as it can get!! 10) All the above features will make the vast "blue ocean" of non-cyclists better appreciate a bicycle design suited for them. For instance, the rider in this case can go home and evaluate exactly where they had muscle aches and body sores to help choose a suitable and equivalent mechanical component to do the same job (instead of them)
Okay Cannondale. Now hurry up and ship me my prize.
8. MYTH BUSTERS PROVE DRAFTING ADVANTAGES : Stupidity aside, here's some known facts. Drafting saves you energy and its not a myth. Well, The Mythbusters also went ahead and proved it in one of their episodes on Discovery Channel.
Remember this scene from the movie Breaking Away?
The Mythbusters did the same thing, validating the physical advantages to bicycle drafting by monitoring a heartbeat sensor. With all the cool instrumentation these guys can come up with, I'm surprised there wasn't a single power meter around! Powertap & SRM, you guys need to seriously bring your prices down!
Atleast that's what TREK's Indian distributorswere gleefully doing early this year. If that was the intention, then I find the thinking somewhat flawed. I agree that cycling is definitely one of the solutions to a more environmentally sustainable world, but marketing a 3000 dollar bike in a developing country is not the best of answers to get people onto bikes. It perhaps would have made more sense if they stepped foot into that country with more cheaper, yet decent quality options for the people at large.
And how can a racing bike with extreme geometry for a single person compete with a really low cost vehicular solution for the entire family? This part makes no sense to me. I assume TREK thinks Indians are stupid and may settle for this idea.
2. WOMEN PUT OFF BY HELMET HAIR : Women are three times less likely to cycle than men because they are put off by "helmet hair" and getting sweaty, a survey said on UK's Independant. Apart from safety concerns riding in traffic, add appearance issues to the list of reasons for people not taking to biking. Is this something helmet designers should work on, or simply something women should quit worrying about? Any ladies here are welcome to drop a comment.
3. PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE TOUR DE FRANCE : Put doping aside for a moment and check this short photo essay of the Tour de France from Magnum Photos. The background music and colorful narration by Danish poet Jørgen Leth explores the history, poetry and beauty behind the greatest of the Grand Tours through 60 years of photographs. 5 stars!
4. CUSTOM SILK BICYCLE TIES
How would you fancy extending your cycling lifestyle into your workplace, by wearing an actual custom made bicycle tie? Donald Trump suitings definitely won't have this in their collection, but you can find it on this website.
Says the seller :
All of my ties are made from either a beautiful shantung or dupioni silk. Dupioni is a richly textured silk fabric created from the irregular silk thread formed when two or more silkworms spun entangled cocoons. This silk thread is naturally slubby, uneven and fibrous. When it is woven, these characteristics are evident in the fabric's surface qualities. This gives dupioni silk its uniquely organic, natural charm. Shantung is very similar to dupioni, but it has a smoother, sleeker surface quality with a more refined and less raw look and hardly any slubbiness.
All ties are made completely from scratch, by me. (They are NOT purchased pre-sewn and then printed). Each tie is individually screen printed with a bicylce design. The image is printed using an acrylic permanent textile ink and the print has been heat-set.
5. BOB'S FREAK CYCLING ACCIDENT :
This story comes to us courtesy of Ride-Strong, with a short narrative and some gruesome pictures. What happened to this cyclist that day lends some new meanings to the idea of a freak accident!
"He was on a ride last week after the storm the weekend before last. The guy he was riding behind ran over a large branch which kicked up and impaled Bob’s leg when he ran into it. The EMT’s had to cut the ends of the branch off to get him in the ambulance."
I did two things. I screamed ouch, and I'm still scratching my head. Hey Bob, we all hope you heal and recover soon!
6. BAKFIET VS XTRACYCLE : The Austin Bike blog has an interesting comparison of two cargo bikes - the immensely popular Xtracycle with the Bakfiet, a bike based on the Danish Long John design. Click here to find out which one emerged winner, atleast according to the author's experience.
7. FOLLOWUP ON MY POST "ARE BICYCLE INDUSTRIES HEADING TO POTENTIAL TURMOIL" : There was a very good turnout of comments to this post, and I found readers arguing intelligently for both sides of the issue. Note that two well known industry insiders by the names of Tim Jackson (who is one of the prime members of Masi Bicycle's marketing team) and Carlton Reid (we all know him) also happened to express their views. You can read the post with the comments here. Tim has also followed up with a post spreading hope to the bicycle industry in these financially trying times the world is going through.
Expect some whackier posts in the coming days. But first, Bird of Prey :
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