We all like to get free stuff, but sometimes, experiences are worth more than any stuff.
This week's freebie is a chance to ride with the powerful women's pro team sponsored by the Vera Bradley Foundation. The VBF team has scheduled a open ride day for March 6th at their Watsonville, CA training camp.
The ride includes food, drink, mechanical support, a post-ride massage, and all kinds of goodies from the Vera Bradley team.
For all the details, and to enter you name in the running for this week's CycleTo freebie, go here.
And speaking of freebies...we received hundreds and hundreds of entries for the BMC pro team bag that we offered as last week's freebie. We even got an entry for a place called Humpty Do, Australia. Seriously...that's a real place!
So who gets the BMC bag? Drumroll, please...you can find the name of the lucky winner here.
We come across all kinds of video content here at CycleTo, and to be honest, much of the stuff we see is pretty awful.
...and then there's the video produced for Rahsaan Bahati, and the Bahati Foundation. It's possibly the most professional production we've seen in a long time. And the message within is equally strong.
On this weekend when much of America is dealing with wicked weather outside, and we can't get out on our bikes, take a few minutes to savor the medium...and the message...in the following CycleTo video.
The breathless headline screamed from the top of a cycling web site - "Head Trauma May End Nydam's Career"
But the reality of Scott Nydam's condition is much more nuanced...and much less specific...than the hyped headline would lead you to believe.
No one...not Nydam, not his doctors, not his BMC team...knows if or when Scott might be racing his bike again.
Here's the situation: Scott will not be racing for his BMC team until mid-2010, at best, due to the lingering effects of multiple head injuries. But he is still a member of the BMC team, participating in all the activities of training camp...except riding a bike.
Scott seems to be taking it all in stride, but as he says in the following CycleTo video, this time off the bike is giving him a chance to step back and assess what is really important in his sport...and his life.
We all need something to get us through the cold days and weeks of winter that lie ahead...here's our contribution.
We're putting all sizes of our black, long sleeve CycleTo jerseys on sale. Our stock of XXS, XS, S and M jerseys are now available at big discounts...30% off the regular price. It's a helluva deal.
And the story on this photo? That's RaeLynn Milley, a SoCal rider, coach, and winner of the black long sleeve CycleTo jersey that we gave away as a recent CycleTo freebie. We shot this photo of RaeLynn at BMC's pre-season camp last week.
The bike in the picture belongs to US champ George Hincapie...sadly, it's not for sale. But if you want your own black CycleTo jersey, you can find all the details here.
The basics of bike racing are pretty simple...ride your bike hard, fast and often, and you'll probably win some races. But there's a whole lot more to BMC pre-season camp than just riding bikes.
For the 2010 BMC pro team, building friendships and trust is just as important as building fitness and endurance.
Strength and conditioning guru Todd Herriott was brought to BMC's pre-season camp to work on the team's off-the-bike fitness. He put the team through drills to build their core strength and increase their flexibility, all in an effort to give BMC every physical advantage this season.
But there's another benefit to Herriott's work. While the guys are working out, they're also working together, building confidence in each other...and just having fun.
For more on Todd Herriott's fitness regimen, go here. And watch BMC's George Hincapie, Cadel Evans, Brent Bookwalter, Jeff Louder, John Murphy and Cole House work and laugh together, in the following CycleTo video.
For the first time in his pro career, American cycling star George Hincapie will have his own name on the front of his jersey.
The entire BMC pro team will be racing the 2010 season in bibs, jerseys and all the accessories from Hincapie Sports, the successful cycling clothing company started by George and his brother Rich.
This is a big deal...a very big deal...for the Hincapie company. With George in the US champ jersey, and teammate Cadel Evans wearing the world champ kit, Hincapie Sports has claimed a first-ever double in the sport.
...and George could not be happier. We talked to Big George at BMC's pre-season camp, in the following CycleTo video.
This is one of the best freebies we've ever offered on CycleTo.
Last week at team training camp, we got our hands on one of the BMC Pro Team's official nylon shoulder bags...and we'll be giving it away to one lucky CycleTo-er this week.
For all the details, and to enter you name in the running for this week's freebie, go here.
You gotta love a pro bike team's training camp. The guys are looser, the access is better, and in general, everybody is affable and available.
World champ Cadel Evans has been known to have his, er, um...moments...with the media, but we found Cadel to be both easy-going and eager to talk at BMC camp in Agoura Hills, CA.
What started out as a video shoot of Cadel and his bike turned into an off-the-cuff conversation with Cadel about both the man and his machine. It's a rare candid moment with Cadel, in the following CycleTo video.
It happens before every pro training session. The riders get all kitted-up, and one of the directors goes over the route and rules of the road for that day's ride.
We eavesdropped on BMC director Mike Sayers as he talked to his troops before a recent ride at their Agoura Hills, CA camp.
Listen closely to Sayers' first suggestion, and also the last very comment, in the following CycleTo video.
The weather gods were smiling down on the royalty of cycling today.
After a week of wind and rain and cold temps, the day dawned sunny and dry for the boys on the BMC pro team at their Agoura Hills, CA training camp.
Fresh from their rides at the Tour Down Under, world champion Cadel Evans and US champ George Hincapie lead the team through an easy 90 minute roll through the countryside northwest of Los Angeles.
Want to see what it looked like? Ride along with BMC, in the following CycleTo photos.
