This Week's Freebie - Bigger and Better...and Bars!
Written by Bob Cullinan
Tuesday, 09 March 2010
We're making some changes to our always-popular freebies here are CycleTo...and we think you'll like what we're doing.
Starting this week, we're offering bigger, better freebies. And we'll be keeping each freebie up on CycleTo for a longer period of time, to give more people a shot at winning free stuff.
First up...one of the new WCS Alloy Curve Bars from Ritchey Design. You can see all the details, and sign-up for this bigger, better freebie, here.
OK, pop quiz...which pro cyclist won the most races last year? Cavendish? Contador? Cadel?
Nope.
The pro with the most wins was German champion, and HTC-Columbia star Ina-Yoko Teutenberg. She won an astounding 24 races in 2009.
Ina opened her 2010 season with back-to-back victories at California's Merco Cycling Classic this past weekend, wining the downtown Merced Criterium on Saturday and the Foothills road race on Sunday.
She opened up a gap on the field after the first of three laps in the road race and held that gap for nearly 30km, but it all came down to a final sprint. Teutenberg out-kicked Peanut Butter and Company's Shelley Evans to the line, with Kelly Benjamin of the Colavita-Baci team in third.
We caught up with Ina after her road race triumph. She talks about winning in America, defending in Flanders, and assesses her overall early-season fitness, in the following CycleTo video.
This Week's Freebie - Signed George Hincapie Photo
Written by Bob Cullinan
Monday, 01 March 2010
We have another one-of-a-kind freebie for you this week.
At the recent BMC training camp in SoCal, we photographed US road champ George Hincapie while he was out on a ride in his full-on championship kit. With a bit of help from BMC's US press officer Sean Weide, we were able to get one of our photos printed before the boys broke camp...and George personally signed it for us, to give away to one lucky CycleTo-er this week.
For all the details, and to sign-up for this week's CycleTo freebie, go here.
Happy Anniversary, CycleTo! It's Time for an Upgrade
Written by Bob Cullinan
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
This week marks the second anniversary of the launch of CycleTo, and we're doing some work to improve the technology behind the site.
Over the next few days, we'll be upgrading our servers and databases. When we're finished, you'll see all the same great content that you expect on CycleTo, and things will be working much more efficiently on the back-end.
You may experience short outages while we're migrating and upgrading, but don't worry...the interruptions will be temporary, and you should be able to access all the stories, photos and videos ASAP.
Thanks for hangin' with us.
Women to Race Tour of CA Course in Sacramento
Written by Bob Cullinan
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
The on-again, off-again women's race at the 2010 Tour of California is on again.
Officials at event promoter Project Sport announced today that on Sunday, May 16th, prior to the finish of Stage 1 of the Tour of California, a series of criterium races will be held on the 1.4 mile finishing circuit around the California state capitol.
The Sacramento Grand Prix will begin at 10:15am with a men's Pro/1/2 criterium, followed by the women's Pro/1/2 crit at 11:25am. Award ceremonies for both races are set for 12:25p.
The big boys of the Tour of California will start in Nevada City on the morning of the 16th, and they're expected to finish in Sacramento between 2:30 and 3:00pm.
This Week's Freebie - K-Edge Chain Catcher
Monday, 22 February 2010
This week's freebie solves a problem that we've all faced...how do you keep the chain from falling off when you shift into the small ring?
World and Olympic champion Kristin Armstrong has come up with a perfect solution...the K-Edge chain catcher. It's a small metal arm that attaches to your bike and keeps the chain from slipping off the small ring.
Kristin used it with confidence at the 2008 Olympics...and it could keep you from DNF-ing in your next big race. For all the info on the K-Edge, and to sign-up for this week's CycleTo freebie, go here.
Two years ago, she was a virtual unknown...now, she's she flying around the world to race her bike.
Alison Starnes rode her very first race in February of 2008, competing as a Cat 4 in the Cherry Pie criterium in Napa, CA. Since then, she's risen rapidly up the racing ladder, competing in some of the biggest events in America and Europe.
Starnes' spring schedule will see her cicle the world in the next few months, with pro races near her home in California, and across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
The season officially starts next week for Starnes. She gives us the low-down on her upcoming world tour, in the following CycleTo video.
He was a ground breaker in France...he hit bottom back in the USA...and he's found redemption in Rwanda.
Jonathan "Jock" Boyer was the first American to ever race the Tour de France, way back in 1981. But more than 20 years after that triumph, he spent a year in jail in America after a conviction on a sexual offense.
Boyer went on to win the "solo enduro" division of the Race Across American in 2006, but he found his real salvation thanks to his friend Tom Ritchey. The founder of the Ritchey bicycle components company convinced Boyer to travel to Africa, and get involved with Project Rwanda.
Today, Jock Boyer is the coach of the Rwandan national cycling team, and an advocate for cycling across the African continent. We talked to Jock at the Interbike show in Las Vegas, and as he says in the following CycleTo video, he was initially very reluctant to go to Rwanda.
You know him from the bicycle components that bear his name. Stems, bars, wheels, seat posts and more, are emblazoned with the Ritchey logo.
But behind the logo, there's a real guy...on a real mission.
Tom Ritchey made his name...and his fortune...as a maker of high-quality bike parts. He started making bits and pieces for the godfathers of mountain biking in NorCal in the 1970s, and built that into a road, cross and mountain bike component company.
Then, on a 2005 trip to far-away Rwanda, his life changed...and in the process, he changed a country, too.
We talked at length with Ritchey about Project Rwanda at the 2009 Interbike show in Las Vegas. The time is now right to show you that interview, in its entirety. Take a few minutes, sit back and savor what Tom has to say about his life, his work and finding meaning in it all...in the following CycleTo video.
This week we mark a major milestone here at CycleTo...this is our 100th weekly CycleTo freebie!
To honor this momentous occasion, we wanted to do something special. So this week, we're giving you a shot at a truly unique freebie...an 8x10 color photograph, personally signed for CycleTo by BMC's World Champion Cadel Evans.
How cool is that?
For all the details, and to sign up for our 100th freebie, go here.
