Jens Voigt Breaks Hour Record

   Uh, spoilers ahead. So everyone knows Jens Voigt is a badass. No one is arguing that. Colorado was lucky enough to host his last professional road race, The 2014 USA Pro Challenge where he took 28th. He was also voted most combative on stages 4 and 7. 

   In fact, if you look him up in Google image search, it suggest 'suffering' as an additional tag:

Suffering indeed!

   He's been at the top of the riding game for the last 20 years, with wins sprinkled throughout his career. Be it the Tour de France, Tour of California, the aforementioned Pro Challenge, he is a staple at big road races. What's left for a guy with this kind of career? Enter the hour record.

   The hour record is a track event in which a rider sees how far they can ride in one hour. Sounds simple right? Wrong! The hour is one of the most prestigious events in cycling and the past record holders are guys Eddy Merckx. On Sept 18, Jens gave it an effort at a velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland. The event was broadcast on YouTube as well.

Here's the details of his ride:

• Jens was riding a specially built Trek bike with newly allowed aero bars.
• He was running a manly 55x14 gear ratio
• He rode 51.115 kilometers, or 31.76 miles
• Since it was an hour, it's an easy conversion, he was averaging 31 miles an hour
• He completed 205 laps

The bike

   He beat the previous record of 49.700. It was super exciting to see him go out on such a high note. The velodrome was going nuts, the fans are going nuts, what a way to bring a career to a close!

GO JENS!

Look 795 Aerolight

   Look bicycles isn't shy when it comes to cool technologies. You may remember the super cool stem I wrote about a while back. 

   The Look AeroLight is no exception. It's packed with fun bits of tech to make you faster on the road. Here are a couple pieces of technology I found particularly awesome: 

1. Integrated fork and brake - The brake on this bike has been fully integrated into the fork leg. Here's a few pictures:

Side shot

Cut away

   This is a pretty cool technology as it harkens back to the vee brakes of BMX and mountain bike days past. 

   The proper name for this is the linear pull brake, and they had a brief popularity on cross bikes between the center pull brake and disc brake. Lots of power for a cable operated rim brake, good power modulation and feel. And when integrated into the fork leg, very low drag. 

2. Full carbon one piece crank - Look claims that this crank has a combination of weight and strength above 2 piece cranks. This crank gets installed by some wiggling anyone with experience with a 1 piece BMX crank is familiar with. 

Spindle close up

Shot from Look's site

   This crank uses the same technology that carbon frames take advantage of: carbon layup and construction that builds strength into areas where you really need it. This crank has added strength to resist pedaling forces and efficiently transfer power form the pedals to the chain. 

   There are some other cool things, such as adjustable stem, DI2 compatibility and vibration absorbing seat post. All this adds up to a pretty cutting edge bike. It's too new to get a good reaction from testers but we can assume that this Look rocks! 

eBay Users That Make You Want to Scream

  So I have this XO shifter on eBay right now:

(After price change)

And this guy asks me to drop the price a bit. Not a lot, just $5. I'm ready for this thing to go so yes, lets drop it.

User: Could you accept 40 buy it now? Please let me know.

Me: Sure, I'll repost it at $40 buy it now when the current auction expires (3 days). 

User: but you can stop the auction because nobody has bet or you can add a best offer option to the auction, let me know to send my offer and you accept it

Me: Done, better hurry before someone else buys it!

User: no man thanks that is a left i need the right.

   The second picture in the auction man!

2 freakin' speeds!

   I don't even know what to say!

Friday WTF: BMX Weirdness Edition

   How hard is it to jam a pedal through the top of the fork?

Not that hard, apparently. How do you even undo this? Remove the pedal I guess, then inspect that fork for damage! 

Campy Fanboy Edition

   A simple image search will show you that Campagnolo riders are nothing if not loyal. 

Various Campy tattoos

   Lets take a look at belt buckles, the true measure of any fan of something. How much can you spend on a genuine Campagnolo belt buckle? First is this fairly basic brass/bronze affair. Price: $60

"I like Campy."

   Any rider worth his weight in red anodized spoke nipples easily has a $60 belt buckle budget. Next is a little more creative. As a bonus, it even has two Italian words on it, increasing street 'cred 15% easily. Price: $118

"I love Campy."

   That's nice, but I want something that really says, "I'm a whore I really like Campagnolo". Enter the $200, gold plated buckle:

"I want to have Tullio Campagnolo's children."

   Just remember, your bike is only as fast as it's engine. And that engine is much faster sporting a $200 gold plated belt buckle. 

Friday WTF: Danger Edition

   Nothing says complete trust like riding passenger on a tandem while going over a huge jump: