Trek World Racing Update

It's been a few weeks since we looked at how the Trek World Racing team was going, and there's been some great results in the mean time.

First up, at the third round of the Cross Country World Cup in Offenburg, Germany, Mathias Fluckiger achieved an excellent result of 6th overall and was a clear winner of the U23 category, further extending his lead in that category. Brother Lukas had a tough race with a mechanical issue and finished in 15th. 

Earlier, in the women's race, Emily Batty had a great start, but got a front flat at the worst possible time, just as she was about to descend one of Offenburg's famous steep chutes. Emily's front wheel caught a root part way down and twisted, catapulting her over the bars. Emily is made of tough stuff, however, and she got back up and made it around the lap to the tech support zone where she got a new wheel before continuing. She ended up in 51st overall and 10h in U23.

Photo courtesy CyclingNews.com

The next World Cup isn't until late July, but meanwhile the riders have been doing some National rounds, with Emily racking up a win in the Canadian National close to home and Lukas getting back on the podium too at the Racer Cup Series in Switzerland:

From the TWR press release:

Meanwhile, on the same day but in Switzerland, Lukas Flueckiger was racing a world class field at the Racer Cup, the Swiss National Series. The night before the race saw a lot of rain, so the course was muddy and slippery. The course had one long uphill on big open dirt road, as well as single track. There was also one long downhill with rocks, wet and slippery roots - extremely technical. Luk chose his Top Fuel with the a prototype Bontrager XR3 mud tires. The riders had 1 startloop and 5 laps to complete. Luk had taken a 3 day break off the bike after the Offenburg World Cup and was fresh and looking forward to the race.

Luk said: "After a solid start, I was in the lead group after the startloop. In the first lap I felt strong and did some attacking in the uphills. On the highest point I was a few seconds in lead. Then on the downhill I had a good run and gained even more time. So, after the first lap I was in lead ahead of (World Champion) Nino Schurter and Florian Vogel. On lap 3 I had a front flat tire, changed the wheel and jumped on the bike just as Nino caught me. I was still in front with him but then Vogel and Jean-Christophe Peraud were coming up fast. Nino did no work because his team mate Vogel was not far behind, but with the wind it was pretty hard to do all the work alone. On the last section Vogel caught us just as Nino attacked. No chance to follow him as I was already too tired from all the lead work before. Vogel won the sprint, Nino 2nd, and I finished 3rd, but happy".

Meanwhile the DH riders have been racking up the frequent flyer miles, and the podiums. The first World Cup was at Maribor in Slovenia. Rain all weekend made for very muddy and slippery conditions, which made race runs a bit of a lottery. All three riders had runs that could've gone better, but stayed positive and headed back to the US for some National level race's. Check an interview with Andrew and Justin from Maribor here.

Firstly was the second round of the Pro GRT series at Plattekill, New York. Backing up from the good results at the first round, Tracey Moseley won the women's race and Andrew Neethling won the men's with Justin Leov joining him on the podium in third.

Photo courtesy VitalMTB.com

The following weekend was the lucrative US Open race. Drawing a field to rival a World Cup, the competition would be close. Showing they are a force to be reckoned with, TWR achieved the same result  as the previous weekend! Two wins and a 3rd! Check out the Vital video with Needles here.

From there it was back to Europe and the second round of the World Cup at the famous Fort William venue in Scotland. It was to be a weekend of ups and downs for the team. On the plus side, the team all qualified well, and overcame previous nerves and intimidation from the rough track. Unfortunately, they couldn't turn those positives into the results they were hoping for. Nevertheless, they are taking positives from it and looking towards the Wheels of Speed event this weekend, and the next World Cup the following weekend.

Also, the second episode of the In Pursuit video series has been released. Check it out here:

Check in later for more news, or follow out Twitter.

Trek Speed Concept Goes Public

For just over a year now, Trek sponsored athletes Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer and Chris Lieto have been seen riding a prototype triathlon and time trial bike. The look of this bike, with it's unique aero tubing and hidden brakes, has has been generating a lot of interest. Now, finally, this bike has been released to the public.

To tie in with the time trial at the recent Tour of California, Trek held a launch for the new bikes, inviting journalists form around the world. These reports are now on line and you can see and read about the bikes for yourselves.

BikeRadar.com

Triathlon.com

FirstOffTheBike.com (including video from the official launch)

Trek president John Burke described the new Speed Concept as the most technologically advanced bike Trek have produced. It uses a revolutionary aero tube shape called Kammtail Virtual Foil to create a frame that beats all others in the wind tunnel. It also means that it is incredibly aerodynamic in cross winds too, which are more likely in 'real world' situations.

For all the details on the bike, see the dedicated web page here.

These bikes are available now through the Trek Project One program that allows you to choose the colour of your bike, along with the wheels, groupset and components. This can result in a truely unique bike that not only looks good, but is the fastest bike out there.

But don't think that these benefits are restricted only to those with loads of money. Later this year Trek will also have available the Speed Concept 7 Series and 2 Series both of which will offer most of the benefits of the 9 Series.

You can also check out an interview with Trek/K•Swiss team triathlete Chris Lieto here, courtesy of FirstOffTheBike.com

Wet weather getting you down?

Well, a lot has happened in the last 2 weeks, so today will be an attempt to catch up on it all. This way you'll have heaps of reading to do and videos to watch over the weekend while it's raining outside. Well, if you are in Sydney at least. For those of you living where it isn't raining, lucky you! And I hope you make the most of it! :-)

First up, when I last updated, the Giro D'Italia and the Tour of California were both underway. Both races saw exciting racing right up until the final stage, with the top 5 riders not giving in and attacking right up until the end. Great stuff to see! In the end, Ivan Basso took the win in the Giro, despite the best efforts of Cadel Evans, and Aussie Mick Rogers took the win in California, denying Team RadioShack rider Levi Leipheimer his 4th consecutive victory, despite his best efforts.




Photo courtesy of VeloNews.com

Despite Basso winning the overall, it was great to see all the other jersey's in the Giro won by Aussies! Cadel took the red points jersey, Matt Lloyd the green climbers jersey and Riche Porte, the young sensation of the race, the white U23 jersey. An excellent race for Australia.

Meanwhile, the build up to the Tour de France is building. Although the exact make up of Lance Armstrong's preparation for the Tour was still undecided recently, he is now competing in the Tour de Luxembourg, finishing in 5th in the very short opening prologue, and currently sitting in 3rd place overall after the first stage. Fellow Team RadioShack riders Gregory Rast and Andreas Kloden are also in the top 10.

The other Trek sponsored road team, Trek-Livestrong U23, also had a win recently with Taylor Phinney winning the U23 Paris-Roubaix for the second year in a row. This is a great result and confirms the talent this young rider has. You can see a video from the race here.

Although denying rumors that he will get called up to Team RadioShack early, no doubt there is a bright future ahead for him.

Photo courtesy CyclingNews.com

That's it for now. I'll have more stories from the world of Trek soon.

MTB Videos Galore!

In case you haven't been following the TBA Twitter feed (over there --->), there have been a few videos 'drop' in the last few days featuring Trek sponsored athletes. Check them out below:

Trek World Racing In Pursuit Episode 1 from Rob Parkin on Vimeo.

Brandon Semenuk mixing up his slopestyle training with his other, petrol powered, pursuits.

Cam McCaul delivering the goods on a newly built step-down gap for a Fox Racing Shox photo shoot. Check out his new bike that he uses! A Trek Scratch with the new Fox 36 180mm travel fork! And check what Cam can do on it too...

Weekend Viewing

So we have reached the end of another week and most people now have two days off to look forward to. Being a cyclist, for me this means two days to ride my bike. This weekend however it means a big race on the calendar. The Dirt Works 100 is a 100km mountain bike race that is now in it’s fifth year. Starting in St. Albans, on the outskirts of Sydney, this race is extremely popular and has become a feature on many Sydney riders calendars. So my friends and I will be camping out on Saturday night to soak in the atmosphere, and to avoid the early morning ferry ride, before racing on Sunday morning. If you’re out there, come and say G’day! Hint: We’ll be in the massive Trek van!

For those who aren’t racing on the weekend and have some time to kill, check out these videos below to get you stoked on riding before you head out.

First up here’s a vid of Trek World Racing DH rider Tracey Moseley doing some winter training. So, when it get’s a little cooler over the next few months, just be thankful you’re not in the UK!

Then we have a vid of RadioShack rider Levi Leipheimer ripping on a bike with thicker tires than his normal ride. For a roadie he can sure rip on the dirt too!

Levi Leipheimer on a Mountain bike from Roger Bartels on Vimeo.

Now here’s a quick interview with Trek World Racing XC rider Emily Batty from the Sea Otter Classic, courtesy of CanadianCyclist.com.

Not to forget a couple of bike reviews. BikeRadar.com recently reviewed the Trek Elite 9.8 hardtail and found it to be an awesome race bike, and even versatile to be a trail bike too. Check one out at your nearest Trek dealer.

More local, the new issue of Australian Mountain Bike magazine is on the shelves and features an Under $3000 trail bike test. The Trek Fuel EX6 is featured and at $2,899 is great value for money, featuring the same frame that was found on last years EX9, with Full Floater, EVO Link and the awesome ABP.

Photo courtesy of DamianBreach.com

That's from me for this week, so I hope the sun is shining on you for the weekend and you can enjoy the trails or the roads, or the BMX track, or the velodrome, or the bike paths or wherever you happen to be riding.

MTB Catch Up

So I’ve been slack in posting some cool stuff that’s been on line in the last few months. So I’ll be endeavouring to catch up over the next couple of days.

Firstly, the northern hemisphere is entering their spring and summer seasons, which means that the racing season is kicking off. Just in time for this, Trek World Racing have launched their new team line up for 2010 with new look kit and bikes.

With the riders already having completed a team camp to dial in set ups on their bikes, they dove straight into racing over the last few weeks, starting with the Sea Otter Classic. Some solid results on the non-traditional tracks saw them settling in.

From Sea Otter the XC riders headed to Europe for the first XC World Cup race, in Dalby Forest, UK, while the gravity riders headed north to Washington State and the first round of the new Pro GRT series in Port Angeles.

At the World Cup, the XC riders had a great start to the season. Lukas Flueckiger finished 8th in the Elite men’s category in a stacked field, while younger brother Mathias will wear the U23 leaders jersey at the second round after dominating that category and finishing 13th overall. New team recruit Emily Batty had a stellar start to her first full World Cup season, finishing in 15th overall and 2nd in U23 women with her closest time gap to the winner at a World Cup race.

Meanwhile the Gravity riders also had a great weekend. Tracey Moseley won the women’s class, while in the men’s Justin Leov finished 2nd, Andrew Neethling was 4th and new junior signing Neko Mulally was 9th.

Look out for them on the podium at the coming race’s and follow the news on their website.

Alongside the race team, Trek recognise that a lot of amazing riding happens away from the race track. So, to support the riders that excel at these non-traditional formats they have started what they call the C3 Project and re-signed Cam McCaul and Brandon Semenuk for another 2 years. These guys will be rocking it at slopestyle comps and in leading freeride movies across the world.

Here’s a couple of samples of their riding:

Cam McCaul:

ChaseLife 13 (99% CMC, 100% SWEET) - More Mountain Bike Videos

Brandon Semenuk:

Brandon Semenuk at the Post Office - More Mountain Bike Videos

For those who want to know a bit more about the amazing bikes these guys ride, check out the recent interview with Trek suspension guru Jose Gonzalez over on Bike Radar. Jose has been instrumental in redesigning the Trek suspension MTB’s, like the new Remedy, and making them some of the best bikes in the world. VitalMTB also posted a video of the Trek suspension R&D lab in California. Check it out here to see where the magic happens.

That’s it for now. More updates coming in the next few days.

Trek Bikes Blitzing the Reviews

Over the last few months Trek bikes have been getting great reviews from sources around the world.

In the December issue of Australian Mountain Bike (AMB) the Remedy 9.8 won the 6-Inch Dream Bike shoot out against the strongest competition. And it's not only AMB who love the Remedy. BikeRadar.com test rode the Remedy 8 recently and gave it 4 1/2 out of 5 saying "The ABP pivot tracks the ground really well, so braking and climbing traction are great...It performs well on descents, and on flatter terrain it’s one of the fastest long-travel bikes around." 

 

AMB have also got a Remedy 8 as a long term test bike, so keep an eye out on their ongoing reviews for it.

Dirt magazine also recently published their 'Dirt 100', their list of the best products of 2010. Included in their list is not only the Remedy 9.9, but the Session 88, as well as several Bontrager products. This is a great rep from one of the gravity MTB scene's leading publications.

Bike magazine also recently published a review of the 2009 Session 88 DH concluding "Nimble and flickable aren’t characteristics normally assigned to a DH rig, but this bike achieves both traits without sacrificing “bombability”—the ability to point and shoot with no regard for personal safety." Even better for 2010, is that the Session 88 frame set is available in Australia. Ask your local Trek dealer about one today.

Towards the end of last year, Trek MTB endurance racer Chris Eatough announced his retirement and the 24 Hours of Moab was to be his last race. Unfortunately Chris fell victim to Swine Flu the week before and was unable to race. But stepping in to his shoes was Trek Racing Co-Op rider Kelly Magelky. The race turned out to be Kelly's break through performance with a very strong ride to finish 2nd. Soon after the race BikeRadar.com ran a 'Pro-Bike' feature on Kelly's Top Fuel 9.8. Check it out here.

 

The great thing about this is that Kelly's bike is nearly 100% stock, like you would buy off the floor. The only thing he changed on it was the grips and the rear tire. He then rode that bike 386kms, climbing 6,630m in the course of 24 hours with no mechanical issues at all. Remarkable. 

Smack bang in the middle between the racey Top Fuel and the all-mountain Remedy is the do-it-all Fuel EX. Guess what? BikeRadar.com also have just reviewed the new 2010 Fuel EX 9.8. Their conclusion? "Race light, mountain tough, superbly balanced and precise for fast and involving riding - and at a great price."

Not to be left out, the road going Trek 6 Series Madone has also been reviewed by BikeRadar.com (do these guys have the best job or what??)

Not only do they sing the praises of the ride of the bike itself, "The ride is simply awesome. The biggest surprise is how comfortable it is...The impressive thing here is that despite this comfort, the Madone is stunningly efficient at going forward." but they also talk about the Project One process, where you can customise your Madone to look exactly like you want it to.

What can you learn from all these great reviews? No matter the bike you are after, Trek product continues to offer class leading performance and you can be confident when buying a Trek, no matter what the style or price level.

Cycling in Major Papers

It's not too often that cycling makes the major national news papers, but today is the exception.

Of course with the Tour Down Under being run, the nations sports writers re-familiarise themselves with the sport of cycling and pen a few words. Today's Sydney Morning Herald has a full spread, including a summary of the TDU so far, a massive article on Lance, and then some smaller articles on Cadel Evan's new team and the possibility of a second Pro-Tour race in Australia.

Next up was the Fin Review, getting in on the action with a large article about the growing popularity of cycling, both as a recreational activity and as a more legitimate form of transport. They refer to the announcement earlier this year from Victorian Roads Minister Tim Pallas, at a launch of a cycling plan, that having more commuters on bikes would relieve pressure on other parts of the transport system. This comment is a healthy contrast to views expressed by former transport ministers. Glad to see the tide may be turning and looking forward to more support for cycling infrastructure.

Of course, bike paths are great, but what if you don't have anywhere to park your bike when you get to work? Or no where to shower and get changed? One of the company's referred to in the Fin Review article is Penny Farthings, makers of the Green Pod, a self contained bike parking and shower/change facility that is designed to fit into the space of a standard car parking space. A great way for companies to make cycling to work more viable for their employees.

See you on the road!

Astana in the News

With the wrapping up of the Astana Team Training Camp on the weekend, there are a few stories in the media about the team, various team members and their chances in next years events.

You can read about Andreas Kloden and his switching from riding for Jan Ullrich a few years ago to now riding for Jan's competitor Armstrong at VeloNews.com.

Then you can read about the wrapping up of the training camp with a climb the 2325m high Teide volcano at CyclingNews.com.

Also on Cyclingnews.com is an Astana team preview talking about their prospects for the 2009 season.

Then, over on our 'sister blog' Up the Road is a bit of a behind the scenes look at the training camp from Ben Coates, Trek US Astana team liason.

Trek Remedy Nails Long Term Test

The much anticipated Trek Remedy is due to hit our shores very soon, just as a long term test of the frame is concluded by Mike "Kakah" Levy from PinkBike.com.

Mike built the bike to be an all-round machine, designed to tackle 6 hour epics in the mountains to hitting the drops, jumps and DH runs of the Canadian bike parks, all without constantly swapping parts around.

What he found was that the Remedy handled all of it better than expected. With quotes like "The Remedy's geometry and suspension come together to make one of the most confidence inspiring 6" travel bikes that I've spent time on" Mike was full of praise for the Trek all-mountain machine.

You can read the review for yourself here and the Remedy 9, Remedy 8 and Remedy 7 will be in stores around the country in January.