Happy Monday

Twin Falls Training Camp

So. Christmas has been and gone. You're feeling a little overindulged/ uninspired/ haven't had time to ride your bike over the holidays/ all of the above. This is where our fun little training camp comes in! 

Join us for a relaxing, fun weekend of leisurely training rides in the NSW Southern Highlands, where you will discover some of the best roads for riding this country has to offer. We will stay at Brad McGee's purpose built property, Twin Falls, in the Fitzroy Falls National Park. 

You'll be training with me, Benny K, and we'll look after the rest. Accommodation, meals, mechanic, support car for our rides, all sorted. After our rides we will relax, eat, drink and maybe enjoy a little Mountain biking for anyone who is keen. More information available on our facebook page. Look forward to seeing you there! 

Fitzroy Falls

Cabins at Twin Falls

Fitzroy Falls National Park

Bush track to the cabins

Pool at Fitzroy Falls for post-ride swims

Ben Kersten (aka Benny K/ training partner for the weekend)

Wear Your Helmets, Kids

Christmas Wish List

Wondering what to buy your cycling-mad friend, brother, sister, dad or mum for Christmas this year? Take your pick from one of these gift ideas.

Attractive, lycra-free bike clothing makes commuting and social riding less of a fashion ordeal. Muxu only launched last year, but have already made an impact with a range of appealing and practical gear. Their jeans are anatomically designed for cycling with a seamless crotch and reflective print inside the pedalling leg. Made from Japanese denim with a stretch blend for cycling performance and comfort. $155 from muxu.cc

Michaux Club Cycling Handbag. Fashion handbag incorporating water-resistant fabric and reflective detailing. Removable anti-sway strap keeps the bag in position while riding. Range of fabrics available. Hand made in London. Price on application from themichauxclub@hotmail.co.uk

Roberts Bespoke Bike. There is a revival of interest in hand built, bespoke steel frames, which offer unrivalled comfort and durability. Roberts has a very wide range of styles and options, and reasonable prices (for what you get). Complete Roberts bespoke bikes start at £2000, via robertscycles.co.uk

CycleOps Trainer. 

If you or your loved cycling one have to train for so many hours a week, a trainer can be a sensible way to put in the miles in the warm and dry.CycleOps have a range of widely acclaimed products. This is the entry model, Cyclops Wind, $195 from Chainreactioncycles.com

SKS CT-Worx Multitool. Unlike most multi-tools, this includes a spanner and tyre levers, so you’re less likely to be stuck by the side of the road, cursing the one essential piece of kit you’ve forgotten. Take a spare tube, and be ready for anything. $25 from Chainreactioncycles.com

Rapha Long Sleeve City Riding Jersey Rapha have pioneered the use of merino wool - soft, insulating, breathable and odour free - in cycling gear, which combines fantastic performance with elegant contemporary looks. This 100% merino jersey works all year round: on its own in summer, or as a mid layer in winter. Available in purple (pictured), navy or Moroccan blue. $190 from rapha.cc

Bakfiets Cargo Bike. Do you know anyone with a large number of deliveries to complete over the Christmas period? Perhaps someone of a more spacious build, who could do with the exercise? Get them a cargo bike, the urban transport of the moment. There are many available, but Dutch design Bakfiets are a classic. Great for children, dogs and shopping. Imported into Australia by Schmadzie.

The Tour Is Won on the Alpe. Jean-Paul Vespini Cycling books are booming, especially, as the assistant in a well-stocked bike shop where I was browsing recently explained, ‘the big ones with pictures’. The Tour is Won on the Alpe, an acclaimed history of this ascent in the Tour de France, and the heart-bursting battles it has provoked, is so packed with evocative photos as to persuade the most pudding-stuffed armchair cyclist to set off for Alpe d’Huez. $21.95 from Amazon.com

via guardian.co.uk

Yippee. We're Excited.

GreenEDGE Granted WorldTour License 

GreenEDGE Cycling is proud to announce that the UCI has approved its license application for WorldTour status. On the basis of the documentation submitted to the UCI License Commission, GreenEDGE has been granted a UCI World Tour license for the 2012-2013 period. This announcement gives Australia its first team in the WorldTour with a roster of 30 riders competing from 2012.

“This is a key moment for Australian cycling and we are proud to enter the WorldTour with a new and extremely motivated project,” says team founder Gerry Ryan. “I am convinced that we will bring great moments and a lot of passion to the sport with this team. I’d like to use this opportunity to congratulate the entire team and all of our partners with this important, historical step.”

Eighteen teams have been granted UCI WorldTour status. These teams will be eligible to compete in all WorldTour events.

“This is a team built for the future and we are obviously thrilled to have the license in place,” says General Manager Shayne Bannan. “We have been confident all along during the process, but at the same time humble towards the criteria you need to meet in order to get the final approval. We are currently busy with our first team camp and everything is coming together for a great debut year in the WorldTour. We’re young team with big ambitions about giving back to the sport and create excitement both in Australia and across the globe. Cycling has grown immensely over the last years and we are happy to be an integrated part of that positive development.”

via greenedgecycling.com

Benefits Of A Bicycle

All the reasons we need.

Product Review: Wattbike

Wattbike is the latest partner of our training lab, iProCycling. Check out this review of Wattbike via Guardian UK. We love it, not surprised to hear they do too.

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Wattbike: feels like a road bike, used by the pros

The hi-tech stationary bike has been a big hit with top British cyclists. Maxton Walker tries it out

Max Walker tries out the Elite Wattbike Photograph: guardian.co.uk

"It won't kill you, I promise," says Wattbike's Matt Moran, introducing me to the sleek lines of his company's hi-tech exercise bike at a swanky south London gym. OK, it has some zippy-looking red-and-white stripes, but what's so special about it? The answer is simple: it's what the professionals use. Developed by British Cycling and Wattbike, it has been a big hit with top British cyclists since development began in 2002.

It has, says Moran, been carefully designed to feel exactly like a road bike (I'm surprised to learn that's not the case with most stationary bikes). But the killer app is the software, which users can download free from the company's website. It gives an incredibly detailed breakdown of your cycling technique. There is, says Moran, a surprising amount of ignorance about good cycling technique, even among top cyclists, and the bike is designed to help anyone to improve their cycling, and train more effectively.

I strap on a heart-rate monitor, hop on and start cycling, doing a standard 20-minute warm-up, starting at a cadence of 90 revs per minute and gradually upping the pace. It feels very fast to me, but, says Moran is what I should be aiming for on the road. "I do have trouble with my knees," I admit. He shrugs as if to say he's not surprised. After about 10 minutes the sweat is pouring off. "People using it at home have to put a towel underneath to stop the carpet rotting," says Moran.

I can immediately see what he means: the flywheel-driven action feels very natural (people can fit their own saddles and pedals). But I'm bamboozled by the whirling blobs appearing on his laptop that is hooked up to the bike. In fact they show the points where I'm exerting the most pressure on the pedals. I'm producing a figure-eight shape, typical of cyclists with dreadful technique, meaning I'm getting almost no force at the top and bottom of the revolution. What I should be aiming for now is a "peanut" showing that I'm exerting a more steady amount of pressure. The top cyclists produce a "sausage" profile. I snigger. "Yes," says Moran wearily. "We get a lot of that, as you can imagine."

 Elite Wattbike : The ideal 'sausage' shape that a top cyclists produce, showing good constant output Photograph: guardian.co.uk

After my exhausting "warm-up", we do a three-minute "test" with me pedalling at a sustainable level (in my case at about 100 rpm) using the best technique I can. If I was going to embark on a long-term programme, the computer would then spit out my heart-rate training zones and a profile of my technique, and then I would use the website to set up a tailored programme.

Moran says the company works hard at its presence on Twitter and Facebook. (Apparently people like posting the results of their workout on Twitter.) Former footballer Lee Dixon tweets about it a lot (the company doesn't pay for personal endorsements) and Moran reckons Wattbike has shifted several bikes on his recommendation alone. I'm assuming that well-off middle-aged blokes are his biggest market but he says that although he doesn't have exact figures, his guess is that about 40% of customers are women, and it's particularly popular with triathletes.

At £1,995, though, they're not for the casual user, although you can also rent them directly from the company at £60 a month, and they're becoming more common in gyms. Moran also says that if people want to try one, they should contact the company directly, which will try to help them track one down to try in their neighbourhood.

I liked it at lot, although admittedly having an expert on hand helped. And although I'm probably not quite ready to fork out a couple of grand, I would certainly use one if it was in my gym. Maybe I need to. As I stagger off the saddle, Moran sizes me up. "Perhaps I should have pushed you harder at the end," he says. "But I was worried by how much you were sweating during the warm-up."