Polar insulated bottle:
Slight difference from regular bottle.Insulating fair to medium.

Crank Brothers"Candies"spd pedals:
Comfort,easy release,good floaty feel,clipping in takes some extra effort on these.

Innovations Intelligent Head Road Bike Mini Pump:
The only good thing about this little turd is you can also use the cheaper non-threaded co2 cartridges.
If you use the manual pump,and pump till hell freezes over,you may hit 60lbs.The manual pump is only good to seat the tire before using the co2 option.I,ll "regift" this nasty thing to a cyclist I hate.
Bought a 12" Blackburn mini pump in which the duel action chamber hits 130lb easily.No need for $5 co2 cartridges on this bike.

Specialized Armadillo Elites. Seem a little heavier than my old Roubaix's, but still make for a damn nice (and hopefully flat-free) ride. Great handling, good speed.

Oh, and a pair of Tao Tacx cages. And new Keo cleats.

Damn. I spent some money this week.

Sidi Genius 5.5 shoes.

Amazingly comfortable and well built. I'm sold on carbon soles. I noticed an immediate difference in stiffness over my old flexy bottom dollar shimano shoes. My spin is smoother and feet are more comfortable. Worth ever cent.

Also my new LBS is amazing. J-town Bike in Juno Beach, FL. They put a new set of cleats on the shoes while I waited. Recommended a new position after looking at my old shoes which was actually more comfortable. The guy also gave me a insulated bottle for free when I went to add it to the purchase. Definitely buying a new bike there sometime in the next year.

Did my first race on the new Ridley Noah...this bike is a kick arse crit weapon. It took me a few laps to get used to how fast this bike changes direction..a little input and you are there. Super still and really responds to pedal input. I'm now thinking of selling my LOOK 595 frameset and buying a Ridley Helium...

what size are you???

The LOOK is a med, 54.5 TT the Ridley is a sm, 54.5 TT as well.

funny how sizing varies across continents... several asian bike companies have their 55cm bikes marked as 'Large', in 'Benelux' a 54.5 is 'Small.'

The free water bottle scheme is working. Exxxxcelllent...

I just picked up some Louis Garneau shorts. Very comfy.

I found frequent washing of the gloves and letting them air dry works wonders. In the summer when I am sweathing a lot, I rinse them with water about every 2 or three rides. I just squeeze them under running water for a minute or two, then let them air dry. So far they are dry by the next day.Nice looking gloves BTW

Switched to a Kore i-beam seatpost and an SDG I-Fly i-beam saddle. The advertising is no lie; these things are light and highly adjustable. The only drawback is that the cost of them being highly adjustable is that they're not easily adjustable. Or maybe I just have to get used to the new way of adjusting.

How are those working for you? I got a couple of cheapies when I ordered my last set of PR3's through PBK. Like the look of them, but they seem a little loose with the supplied bottles ("brentz"?). Also, my Specialized bottles no longer fit (way too loose). Anyone have any preferred bottle brands that work well with Tacx cages and fit a little more securely?

Speedplay says the Zeros are incompatible with Mavic shoes due to a non standard curvature. Can you take a pic of the sole with cleat from the side and at an angle?

My Mavic Fury MTB shoes are really comfy and want to get a road set but the speedplay issue is holding me back

From the looks of Mitch,s new "21"avatar he will be reviewing various Grog at the Close Quaters Pub.

Chamois cream. That stuff actually does work. I had a couple of samples from a ride I did a few month back, and for some unknown reason to me I tried it out the other day. The one complain I do have about my bibs is that when they become saturated with sweat or when they get wet, the pad slips and slides a lot becoming very uncomfortable. Just put a very thin layer of this stuff on me (not the chamois) and all of the sudden the pad and bib fabric felt like it all of the sudden got integrated/blended with my skin into one. Very impressed, and I am not one to get impressed easily.

Chorus 11 Sp Compact crank:

This thing is nice. Very nice, but you can't expect any less from Campagnolo. It simply works and works very very well. The only thing about it is that you should use the Record cups because they are the ones with the seals for the Record and Chorus bearings on the cranks. The Super Record bearings (CULT) are ceramic and sealed, so the Super Record cups need not to have a seal for them. Learned that after I bought them.

Vittoria Corsa EVO tubular tires (320 TPI):

Bought the 21 mm ones. Very very nice supple ride. I have been riding the Continental Competition and Veloflex Carbons. The Veloflex are still my favorite for ride feel. They are so supple that when I first put them on I keep looking at the rear tire for the first few rides because it almost feels as if I have a flat. The Vittoria has a bit more grip than the Veloflex and is close in the feel of suppleness, but not entirely there. Certainly light years ahead of the Continental though, which I am not getting anymore after I run through the ones I have here. Vittorias are also cheaper than the Veloflex and seem to be a bit more available too in most places. Their main downside is that they DO NOT have removable valve cores, which you must have if you like to pre-load them with Stan's No Tube liquid latex.

I will try their Pave 24 mm too.

After busting 3 Tacx cages this season alone I have called it quits. All three times the little tab on the bottom of the cage that is mounted on my seat tube is what failed.

Funny. Mine are going on their fourth season with no problems to speak of. I switched to CamelBak bottles this year, and the cages stretched so much the bottles fit in nicely.

I've started using my Tacx cages a little more now without issue (so far). Funny thing, I received some more Specialized bottles with my Williams wheels recently and they seem to fit pretty well.

I just got some e-motion rollers yesterday. I'm not a very experienced rider and had not considered rollers before looking into these. Expensive, but it was very easy to get started and the workmanship and engineering on them is really, really impressive. Upon close inspection after arrival, it is obvious why these things are $800. I'm actually suprised they can manufacture these in the US and make any real money at that price. Are they worth the premium over regular rollers for the typical user? I don't know. For me, if it gets me to spend more time riding when the weather is bad, it's money well spent.

I did have two 'crashes' starting out, but after that, all smooth sailing. I was able to get out of the saddle, watch TV while riding, etc. on the first night and rode for about an hour straight. I'm not sure how well I would have done with regular rollers, but I know I would have been going off the side many times if the little wheels were not there. One thing I can say for certain, the rollers are much more enjoyable than a stationary trainer and feel very similar to riding on the road.

Replaced a 5 year old fizik saddle with a new fizik Arione about 4 weeks ago. Very nice saddle and a big improvement.

Replaced my 9 year old Northwave Evolution shoes with new pair of Northwave Aerlite SBS shoes...very nice shoes.

ISM Adamo road saddle excellent choise for my tri setup! Heaven under chamois..

Speedplay X/2 pedals need no praise from me i guess

Mine do.

Assos F13 S5 bibs:

I had been holding out on getting these as I have several of the S3 that are right under 3 years old and look/feel just like new despite using each at least once a week. The S5 are more expensive than the S3 ever were, even when you get them from the UK or the german guy on ebay. I had also read several reviews stating the pad was significantly thinner and not as comfortable as the S3. For me the main beauty of the Assos bibs has not been the pad but rather the compression and fit. The new S5 feel as if they have the same fit, and I did not feel much of a difference in comfort from the different pad. At first the pad fell the same thickness, but after a few minutes on the bike one can tell it is certainly thinner. Not worse or better, just thinner.

The material the panels and the straps are made out of is completely different to the S3, which seems to have pretty much the same material throughout. The straps fell a bit softer and looser than the S3, but fit nicely.

My biggest let down and disappointment with the S5 come from the compression. Although it has a significant amount, more so than most bibs on the market, it is nowhere near as what the S3 had. These feel almost like something between the previous generation Unos bibs and the S3. Very very poor in my opinion. Having said that, they do have a small benefit. The front area where the genitals would be against has a bit more room, so my jewels don't fit so constricted and tightly caged. Again, this is due to the same degree of compression as the previous generation S3.

I'll have to take a few more rides in these to have a final judgement on the comfort level of the pad/compression. The previous opinion is based on a single 42 mile ride.

Giro Ionos
Just bought one yesterday from the shop in Livestrong colors (because that's what we had, and sometihng like $30 goes to Livestrong) to replace my very tired, and overcrashed Specialized S-Works.

I expect to use it just for racing cross and saving the winter training for helmets that are a bit larger for a winter hat. I'm also expecting to get a Giro Prolight when they're availible in the spring.
I really like this helmet, just riding down the street at 15 mph, I noticed the venting was much better than the Specialized. The only thing I didn't like was the weight of the helmet. At just under 300g, it's a full 75g heavier than the Specialized, and I noticed that my head kept dropping a little bit. I wasn't tired or strained, but the helmet was noticeably heavier.

Anyways, I like it, and it should serve it's purpose until I get the Prolight, and for the price I got it for, I won't be complaining.


::EDIT:: I rode it tonight in a practice cross race. Near the end it started getting a little chilly, and I literally got a brain freeze. This thing is like Ram Air.