We Noticed: Diamondback, Zwift
This week we noticed a yummy version of the new Diamondback Podium road bike, a new challenging Zwift course (noticed by Tony Vienneau), the loaded Island House Invitational Triathlon, the Specialized Audax cycling shoes, and the Sahmurai Sword repair kit.
Diamondback Podium cookie edition
Diamondback just released the new Podium road bike and Phil Gaimon (Optum Pro Cycling team presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies) who is rumored to have a major sweet tooth, was presented with a special cookie edition of that Podium bike at the Amgen Tour of California. He quickly took bite out of it, but that is actually not recommended. At the end of the season the Optum Health team and Diamondback will donate the bike to the UnitedHealthcare Children’s Foundation (UHCCF) for a future charity auction. In addition to the Optum team, the Wattie Ink squad also rides these Podium road bikes when they are not racing or training on the Serios triathlon bike. Diamondback is owned by the Accell Group, which owns Raleigh, LaPierre, Redline and Seattle Bike Supply and it appears that Diamondback is going to sell the bikes consumer direct – thus possibly beating Canyon to the punch in North America.
MSRP: $2,700 (non cookie paint) Podium E'tape.
Zwift Watopia course
To commemorate over 1 Million miles ridden on Jarvis Island, Zwift released their second virtual course, the Island of Watopia. It is a 9.1 km course with over 100 meters of elevation gain and a max grade of nearly 12%. Watopia is located on Te Anu, a small island situated next to Naunongo in the Solomon Islands, and the large footprint gives lots of room for Zwift to develop additional virtual courses. Zwift has implemented a number of other updates since the first look at Zwift that has improved the user experience. The mobile app for iOS and Android is now available (and free), KOM jerseys for men and women, and they are organizing the ever-popular weekend social rides (WSR) with tour professionals.
Zwift continues to improve the reality of the user experience by improving speed algorithms and the controlled resistance for those with smart trainers. Zwift now also flags users who may have inflated power readings or are suspected of cheating. This was one of the biggest complaints amongst the Zwift crowd.
MSRP: n/a
Island House Invitational Triathlon
On November 8, 2015 some of the finest triathletes in the world will go head to head in the Bahamas at the Island House Invitational Triathlon. Gwen Jorgensen, Lisa Norden, Tim Don, Ben Hoffman, Leanda Cave, Luke McKenzie, Heather Wurtele, Trevor Wurtele, Rachel Joyce, Leon Griffin, Barrett Brandon, and Lauren Brandon are the first pros confirmed and several wild card invitation will still be send out with the goals to include the 2015 Ironman, 70.3, and ITU World Champions. And although the 2015 Challenge Bahrain details have not been made public, the organizers of the Island House Tri said that they wanted to make sure that there is no conflict. I know now what I will be doing on November 8, and you are put on notice too.
MSRP: priceless
Specialized Audax road shoes
According to Specialized this new Audax shoe was inspired by the European sport of randonneuring, and strikes a balance of comfort and efficiency. It is also an attention getter and comes in 7 different colorways, 2 different widths and a ton of sizes. It features a Body Geometry™ sole and footbed and the uppers are crafted from Micromatrix™ synthetic leather with perforated venting, and most importantly – they feel and look great.
MSRP: $250
Sahmurai Sword
If you ride a mountain bike with tubeless tires you know that fixing a flat is not an easy exercise and German Stefan Sahm came up with the Sahmurai Sword a miniature too to deal with the dilemma. But instead of I telling you how it works, we let Stefan Sahm explain the details.
MSRP: 350 ZAR ($28)
