Specialized Mantacage

Riding the Great Divide Mountain Bike route this past summer gave me a whole new appreciation for bottle cages. I began the ride with three different bottle cage models, and by the time I hit the border in Antelope Wells, New Mexico, only one bottle cage survived.

The Specialized Mantacage was the sole survivor, which stood up against 2,754 miles of gravel and washboard dirt roads, not to mention a few thousand miles leading into the ride. Pretty impressive for an aluminum cage that tips the scales at a scant 45 grams. Specialized uses a unique Manta Ray-esque wing design to cradle the bottle, which provides quite a bit of surface area for making some secure welds between the base plate and the wings of the bottle cage.

Another cool feature of this bottle cage is that you can spread or contract the wings to accommodate bottles of different sizes. On many occasions I had to spread the wings out to grip a larger 1-liter bottle of Mountain Dew Code Red, while on fewer occasions I brought the wings back in to squeeze down on a smaller bottle of orange juice.

The cages are priced at $12, and can either be purchased through your local Specialized dealer, or direct from Specialized online.

--

Grab a free issue of Adventure Cyclist magazineTOURING GEAR & TIPS is written by Joshua Tack of Adventure Cycling's member services department. It appears weekly, highlighting technical aspects of bicycle touring and advice to help better prepare you for the journey ahead. Look for Josh's Fine Tuned column in Adventure Cyclist magazine as well.

Source: http://blog.adventurecycling.org/2013/01/specialized-mantacage.html

cycling exercise

TdF Stage 4 ? Shoot Out at Mur-de-Bretagne

Many thought that today?s 173-km (107.5-mile) 4th Stage going from Lorient to the short but steep ramp up the Mur-de-Bretagne had Philippe Gilbert?s name written all over it. This is exactly the type of course that the current dominant Belgium national champion has built his reputation on. And given his latest form, winning just about [...]

Source: http://www.teamradioshack.us/tdf-stage-4-%e2%80%93-shoot-out-at-mur-de-bretagne/

assos cycling

Johan Bruyneel Sums Up the Tour de Crash

In a post-race interview with Eurosport after Thursday?s Stage 12, Team RadioShack?s Director Johan Bruyneel summed up the frustration and disappointment felt by the entire team and its fans with the numerous calamities that have befallen the group so far at this year?s Tour de France. With the months of preparation and hard work every [...]

Source: http://www.teamradioshack.us/johan-bruyneel-sums-up-the-tour-de-crash/

cycling gear

Share the Joy Winners for 2012

As 2012 drew to a close, so did our 2012 Share the Joy program. This program encourages members to share Adventure Cycling Association with their friends and cycling buddies, and also awards fabulous prizes throughout the year. Here is a recap of the 2012 winners and their prizes:
In addition to these monthly winners, we draw a big winner at the close of the year for a new bike. This year's bike winner was John Christensen, an 8-year member from Idaho Falls, ID. John has a Rapid 1 bicycle from Giant coming his way.

Congratulations to all of our winners and thank you for sharing the inspiration with others!


If you want to get in on the action in 2013, visit the contest page to learn about all of the ways you can enter to win. This year's prize donors include Ortlieb, Old Man Mountain, and more. The grand prize is a Sojourn touring bike from Raleigh.

All of our prizes were generously donated by these businesses because they believe in the mission of Adventure Cycling and support the work that we do. Please consider supporting these great sponsors as you gear up for the 2013 touring season. Many of these brands can be found in the Adventure Cycling Cyclosource store.

--

MEMBERSHIP HIGHLIGHTS is typically posted every other Friday by Amy Corbin, Membership and Marketing Coordinator. Membership Highlights spotlights the various benefits of membership,our accomplishments thanks to member support, and even interviews with some of our most passionate and dedicated members, both individual and organizational.

Source: http://blog.adventurecycling.org/2013/01/share-joy-winners-for-2012.html

british cycling

Tour de Suisse ? Levi Leipheimer Laughs Last

The 9-Day, 1,245.9-kilometer (774+ mile) 75th edition of the Tour de Suisse is now in the record books. Traveling through some truly beautiful country, great old cities, serious alpine climbs, 3 countries, and numerous tricky switchbacks and tight turns, Team RadioShack?s members had not been setting many headlines. Sure there were some excellent performances, Andreas [...]

Source: http://www.teamradioshack.us/tour-de-suisse-levi-leipheimer-laughs-last/

cycling gear uk

Is Addison Lee good for London cyclist?

At this stage I have to say RIP to all those who have lost there lives cycling on the UK roads at the hands of motorist. The Addison Lee debate seems to be the topic of the moment, its either the boss of Addison Lee  John Griffin is a genius or and absolute idiot. Griffin's original article had stirred up heated debate on the internet as it suggested that cyclists in London willingingly took their lives into their own hands by riding on roads. He said that cyclists should be properly trained and pay for using roads, summing up the article with "It is time for us to say to cyclists 'You want to join our gang, get trained and pay up'. I have come to the conclusion that he is a genius he is getting loads of free advertising when you think cab firm the 1st name that you will think of now will be Addison Lee. He has been in the printed press on the radio, Twitter, Facebook and now even I find my self-writing about John Griffin and Addison Lee. He is also good for cyclist and has highlighted the fact that cyclist need to stick together as we seem to be gaining more power in transport discussions in the city, we even have the London mayoral candidates fighting over or vote it is important that cycling stays free and free from the involvement of big business. It does not matter what John Griffin says about cyclist he is only a cab firm who wants to use the bus lanes and has been clever in the way he has diverted the attention of that topic and on to cycling and cyclist. What worry?s me if he get his way it would mean all cab firms and independent cab drivers will want to be able to use the bus lanes putting more cyclist in danger, a bus lane is like a secondary bike lane where as a cyclist.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Cyclingchatcouk/~3/oLK8BsgvSg0/

winter cycling gear