How Commited Are You?

...Or should you be commited! It'll be January first in a couple weeks, time for new years resolutions and all that stuff. If you belong to a gym it'll be so crowded you'll have to wait to get on a machine. Me, can't stand working out indoors, unless it's a pool.

ARE YOU COMMITED???

Time for the January Winter Ride Off, presented by the Midwest Cycling Community. What's this you ask? Welp, I stole the idea from Paddy, our north of the border brutha, who stole it from someone else. Paddy's rules rule. Read below.

Scoring rubric is as follows:

1. Each ride--on or off road--is worth 70 points, minus the lowest recorded windchill during the ride.Example 1: the windchill is 25 degrees. To get your score, you subtract 25 from 70: the base score for that ride is 55. Example 2: the windchill is minus 10 degrees. 70 minus -10 = 80 points.The colder it is the more points you score.Example 3: there is no windchill; then take the lowest temperature: 70 minus 62 = 8 points. If it gets warmer than 70, then enjoy, but no points will be awarded (or subtracted) for the ride.

2. To get your total points, you multiple the base score by the number of hours ridden.Example: Base score is 55; time ridden 2.5 hours. total score = 137.5 points. Let's keep it simple: if you ride for 2 hours and 20 minutes, you round to 2.25 hours, 2:10 goes to 2.25 hours; 2:25 goes to 2.5 hours. In other words, round to the nearest quarter hour.

3. If you convince two or more other idiots to ride with you, add 10 social points to your total points.Example: 50 base score x 3 hours =150 points + 10 social points =160 total points for the ride.

4. If you ride a single speed/fixed gear bike, add ten suffer points. (Or, if you are a nutcase like Paul and insist on suffering mightily, but don't have a SS--yet, get in one gear like 32 x 16 and stay there for the whole ride. No shifting, no, no, no!)Example: 50 base score x 3 hours =150 points + 10 social points + 10 suffer points = 170 total points for the ride.

5. No more than four rides per week may count. Submit your best four. (MOD note: sorry communters, one way = one ride)

6. Running or crosscountry skiing outdoors also counts. Same formula as above.

7. Indoor spinning, weightlifting, roller riding, swimming, etc. do not count. Be a sissy, if you must, but don't expect to be rewarded for it.

So here's how we're doing it Nebraska stylee. All may enter, just e-mail me at mark(at)trekomaha(dot)com and say you want to enter. Write "January Winter Ride Off" in the subject line. Starting January 1st, E-mail your weekly points total to me each Sunday night. Weekly and cummulative results will be posted on the Trek Omaha website and Highgear website.

Awards? Heck yeah there's awards!

1st Place - Pearl Izumi Amfib gloves ($65 value)
2nd Place - Pearl Izumi Amfib botties ($45 value)
3rd Place - Nike Winter riding cap ($25 value)

Awards ceremony will be the first Friday of February. Must be present to win. Details to follow.

I had 279 points last week. Get out and ride!!!

Road Test: Rollin' on Five-O's

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce Aeolus, god of wind. We've been staring at these beauty's for a couple of weeks now. Today, I took it upon myself to take them out for their maiden test ride. But before I give you the low down, lets back up a bit.

The Aeolus wheel was designed and built with one purpose, to help Lance win his 7th Tour. You can read up on them here. The details read like a who's who of speed weaponery.

The Rim: TREK born, OCLV 110gsm carbon. 50mm (5.0) or 65mm (6.5) rim depth. Handmade in Waterloo, Wisconsin, then shipped off to Steve HED in Minnesota for the aero treatment.

The Hub and Spoke: DT Hugi, light, strong, durable. Swiss precision at it's finest.

The Story: A 1700 gram pair of jet turbines for your bike, and at a mere $2200, they're millions of dollars cheaper than a Lear!

Now, back to the ride. Our demo pair is that of the 5.0 kind. They immediately made my Madone 5.5 look like a pro level, staight out of the peloton speed machine. That alone made me feel faster than I've felt in a decade. As I cruised out to the Omaha Trace, the first thing I felt was a definite increase in wheel stiffness and acceleration. What came next was a surprise. These were the smoothest wheels I think I've ever ridden. And when I say smooth, I mean compliant over bumps and road irregularities. Road vibration seemed to disappear.

I was hard pressed to find anything negative surrounding these fine hoops, but I did seem to get blown around a bit more than with my Race Lite's, but that's to be expected with a deep dish rim. Nothing a few more miles of adapting couldn't take care of. Did I mention the 5 year warranty? Yep, that's right, all Bontrager wheels have a industry best 5 year warranty. How's that for security? All this and they sound like an F-18 Hornet whiring down the road, love that carbon wheel sound!

Want to test out some Bontrager wheels yourself? Come in and check out our selection of Bontrager test ride wheelsets.

A Faster Toy

Dan picked up his custom Project One Trek TTX 9.9 the other day. OCLV carbon frame, full Dura-Ace drivetrain, carbon Bontrager components throughout and a performance analysis bike fit to top it all off. All this makes for the ultimate speed weapon. Watch for Dan tearing up the tarmac on both his rides!

Great Gifts for Everyone!

Come check out our selection of BMX race bikes. The racing may be done for the winter but you can get ready for next season with HARO Minis, Juniors and Experts. Models start as low as $275 and come with our exclusive 1 year service agreement and free 30 day tune-up, a $170 value. Buy now and take advantage of our special 10% accessory credit on all new bike purchases

For your cyclist that has everything, check out our new clothing line, TWIN SIX. These are some of the coolest t-shirt and sock designs we've seen. Jerseys are still a couple months away but you can stay warm and look cool in some new Twin Six wool socks. Socks start at $10, Tee's at $22

Light Up the Night

For just $159.99 you can find your way home with this new Nightrider Newt. At 227 grams it is one of the lightest lights on the market. It will run for 3 hours on high and 6 hours on low and produces a clean whiter light.

Just like Charlie, even though its small, it packs a lot of punch.