ROAD magazine reviewed the new EFS Kona-Mocha liquid shot in the July 2012 issue and had this to say:
http://www.firstendurance.com/2012/06/efs-kona-mocha-liquid-shot-awarded-highest-marks/
This doesn’t surprise me at all! EFS Liquid Shot has been my go-to for years and the new Kona-Mocha flavour is absolutely the best!
I’ve been a long-time fan of the Finis Swimp3. I’ve evaluated many of the swimming music solutions out there, and found that I come back, without fail, to the Swimp3.
Earlier this year Finis released the Swimp3.2. I thought: cool 2x the storage = more music (hurray)! But really didn’t give it a lot more thought than that. I had my Swimp3 and couldn’t see buying v2 just for more storage. Well after several hundred (maybe thousand) hours my v1 gave it up and I needed to upgrade. Time do go for the Swimp3.2.
I’m happy to say, that Finis has made the best even better! Read on.
The profile is the same. The colours are updated. The interface is the same. 2x the memory. Same bone induction sound that, in my opinion beats everything else on the market. The Swimp3.2 still suffers from one of my only beefs with the device: how the wires come out of the earpieces is a bit fragile and prone to wear and damage over time (how both of my v1’s have died). One definite improvement is the USB plug and cover:
The V1 uses an o-ring and completely removable hard plastic cover (white). The V1 suffers here in 2 ways: the o-ring can dry out over time allowing for a poor seal and the cap is easily lost. The V2 has improved on this design: the cover is rubber, the whole cover is a water seal and it is attached so you can’t lose it. The wires on the V2 are also supported by some of the rubber housing cover, which hopefully improves their durability a bit.
For what it’s worth: when I’m traveling with my swimp3’s I put them in an old extra hardshell glasses case. 1 pair of swimp3’s fit nicely and the case protects the cables from snags and prevents accidental powering on of the swimp3 in your swim bag.
Years ago when I was a wannabe-roadie I’d built myself a pretty nice bike (for the day) out of a Bianchi frame and a full set of 2nd-hand Campi Chorus. I loved that bike and rode it like a boss. Until one day it was stolen from my garage where it was u-locked to a beam in the garage. The thieves actually cut through the beam took the bike and my unicycle that was also in the garage. It was a sad day.
Insurance paid to replace the bike (less my deductible) but at the time, it was near impossible to find street bikes in Toronto. Mountain bikes were all the rage: hard-tail, no suspension, rock hoppers. I made the mistake of following the trend and got a bike that I hated. It was slow, heavy, and poorly fit. I tried over the years to “fix” it: different stems, seats, wheels, saddle… nothing helped. Eventually I ditched it and wrote of mountain biking as “not for me”.
Last fall I ran a 1/2 marathon trail run and really enjoyed it. Loved it in fact! Podiumed (3rd in my age-group). It got me thinking about Xterra racing, but the spectre of trail riding and my bad memories played on my mind. Still the curiosity was there…
This weekend I had the opportunity to play with a Scapin Oraklo 29er.
Wow! This is not the mountain bike experience that I remembered at all. 1st I had it out for a short shake-out on the road. Checking my cleats, saddle height, and just generally getting used to the bike and suspension. On flat roads I had this bike up to over 40 km/h. The stiffness and responsiveness of this bike is something that really caught me off guard: more than once on the roads, accelerating away from an intersection in a fairly big gear, I was popping the front wheel off the ground.
After tuning the bike a bit to fit and adjusting the suspension to my weight, we took it for a 25 k trail ride. Nothing too technical, because it’s all new skills for me, but we did manage some offroad, some easy trail, some road, even a little non-trail (by mistake) exploration. Beyond my timidness of being on a loaner bike and not having any experience with trail riding, this ride was great fun. There was nothing that I could throw at this bike that it didn’t seem completely able and comfortable to handle – I’m sure it is able to do much more than I’m currently comfortable attempting 😉
I can’t say that I’m any kind of mountain bike expert, but this Scapin Oraklo was super-fun. Definitely a ride that I’d consider for addition to my stable if I were to get serious about offroad and/or xterra racing.
The folks at Blacksmith Cycle are the North American distributors for Scapin. If you’re interested in more info on this brand, this bike, or others they carry, please reach out to them. They’ll treat you right! Tell them Rick send you 🙂
Vote here: Sports – CBC.ca.
How do you say Ass-Kicking in German? | Blacksmith Cycle.
I can personally attest to the quality of Storck bikes. I absolutely love my Aero2is.
The folks at Blacksmith will treat you right. Check this bike out for sure!
June 8-10th I organized an Ironman Mont Tremblant Training camp. It was a “ruffing it” style event where people were generally on their own for meals and accommodations. The majority of us were camping at Camping Boreal, but some, in light of the terrible weather when we arrived on Friday, chose to find a nearby motel and rough-it a little less 🙂
Pedal power – The Big Picture – Boston.com.
Some nice cycling images to start your day.
Pretty good description (linked in article) of swimming at CSS and why you want to, and a nice link to an app to calculate your CSS pace and how to set your Tempo Trainer.
via swimsmooth. Thanks guys!
Newest batch of bites recipe follows. These are pretty darned tasty.
Process as usual: 1/2 dates and all other ingredients and process course chop, then add remainder of dates and process until a “dough” ball forms.
Press ball down on parchment lined cookie sheet and roll to consistent 4-5mm thickness. This batch I baked for about 10 minutes at 425 the edges started to get dark (almost burnt toast colour). Remove from oven and tip onto mesh cooling tray. I then put the batch back into the cooling oven to continue drying for 15-20 minutes (with the oven off, just residual heat). I then removed the slab from the oven and cut into 30 bites.
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