The three shapes are based onFi’zi:k’s ‘Spine Concept’ fitting system which approaches saddle suitability based on the riders flexibility – it’s three fit’s are Snake, Chameleon & Bull – the Snake being the most flexible rider, Chameleon in the middle & Bull being the least. This determines how much a rider is likely to move around on the saddle when riding, their hip movements and the comfort level they need.

SNAKES – You use the entire length of the saddle. Your body flexs easily and naturally to accommodate changing positions. Compression of your ‘undercarriage’  is not an issue for you as your weight is supported by the sit bones…

Suitable saddles - Arione

Riders that are snakes – Mark Cavendish, Thor Hushovd, Ivan Basso, Heinrich Haussler, Christian Vande Velde

CHAMELEONS – You are not as restricted to saddle shape. For optimum comfort and performance you flex instinctively to manage the body’s weight

Suitable saddles - Antares

Riders that are Chameleons – Cadel Evans, Alessandro Ballan, Lars Boom, David Millar, Vincenzo Nibali, Johan VanSummeren, David Zabriskie

BULLS - You make one major adjustment on the bike by dramatically rotating the pelvis forward and then sit in the pocket of the saddle. Your sit bones interface with the rear part of the saddle increasing pressure. Your find relief in the pocket of the saddle.

Suitable saddles – Aliante

Riders that are Bulls – Philippe Gilbert, Mark Renshaw, Tony Martin

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COMPETITION

Our friends at Fi’zi:k have kindly sent us one of each team saddle to give to our lucky blog readers, each week we will be asking you a different question about Fi’zi:k saddles all you have to do is leave your answer as a comment below to enter the competition (comments will not be shown below to ensure the comp is fair!)

Question 1. 

The choice of Team Liquigas, the leader of which is 201o Giro d’Italia winner Ivan Basso, is the Fi’zi:k Arione CX - what weight is the team issue Arione saddle?

need a clue? Check out the saddle HERE 

competition ends 5pm (GMT) 25th May 2012

Check out the full range of Fi’zi:k Team Edition saddles HERE

So, more frames and bikes? Yup. And there’s more to come. we’re getting through the constantly growing ranges of bikes and framesets sharpish to show you what’s fresh for this summer.

Like Dedacciai’s….

And Cinelli’s…

and Pinarello’s.…

Mmm, lovely. Definitely a leaning toward Italy this week in the studio.

But, Lance was right, it’s not all about the bike. Sometimes it’s nice to squeeze in some Oakleys too. And I imagine he’d be pretty chuffed they were yellow and black ones.

Always nice to get in some team kit too, and we think the Team Sky clothing is up there with the best of them in the peloton aesthetic.

Now, I’m not a huge fan of trains (I’m a car person), but the Eurostar just makes so much sense – anyone that’s tried getting 20kg of camera gear on a plane as hand luggage will understand that last sentiment perfectly.

More to follow later but here’s a snapshot of a couple of days in Belgium that included a tour of the modern HQ, assembly and paint facility, and team ride out on pro tour bikes with the lovely guys at Ridley, and the worst traffic jam I have ever seen, in central Brussels at home time. – goodness me, it was like a scene from ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ (without the apocalyptic flooding – that seemed to have been held for when we popped back out of the tunnel back at Folkstone).

Here’s a couple of snaps from the Ridley HQ. Cycling culture obviously flowing through the place on every surface and in every corner.

Now that’s what I call wallpaper…

Winners on every wall…

Nice wheels…

Fork travel…

The meticulous masking of frames prior to painting…

And the finished article. Shiny, red, fast, mmmmmm.

This week’s cake of choice….naturally got to be Belgian Waffles. – Sadly no evidence remains to photograph.

Until….

Gus

Stage 11

Assisi – Montecatini Terme

255km (flat-ish, long & windy)

Stage 11 was a monster – not because of huge steep Italian climbs of terrible weather conditions (both frequent occurrences in the Giro) but due to it’s sheer length -at 255km it’s far longer than your average tough as hell sportive & being mostly flat it was a hard day in the saddle, a strong headwind doing the riders no favours. As seems to be the way with sprint stages in the 2012 Giro d’Italia the final corner would be the deciding factor more than rider fitness or team tactics. A crash just before the uphill sprint to the finish took out most of the bunch with just Roberto Ferrari of Androni, Cavendish, Chicchi & Vaitkus left to contest the sprint, Cavendish simply did not have it in him on the final straight when Vaitkus led his early attack & Ferrari (of stage 3 infamy) executed a perfectly timed finish line dash. GC remained unchanged but due to Goss‘ absence in the sprint Cavendish took the Sprinters Red Jersey.

Stage 12

Seravezza – Sestri Levante

155km (medium Mountains)

Breaks are a funny thing – there is at least one on almost every stage of a grand tour, 99% of the time they don’t work – when it’s the whole might of around 200 riders against a small group they are ultimately doomed, the larger group can share the work out & keep the pace high – smaller groups will tire quicker and slow down tactically to try & weaken opponents in the break, the peloton knows how much they can afford to ‘let the break go’ before it endangers the GC & generally controls this well.

Stage 12 was not one of those days.

With a fairly fast start, averaging over 55kph it was difficult for a break to form early on but a group of seven riders saw the opportunity as the bunch approached the first climb of the day, in that group were Sandy Casar of FDJ, Lars Bak of Lotto Belisol, Andrey Amador of Movistar as well as Santaromita, Bakelants, Mazzanti & Golas who manage to stretch their advantage on the peloton to 7 minutes – not an unusual gap for a break but today it was one that would stick.

The group grew to 9 with Androni’s Jackson Rodriguez & Kaizer bridging the gap – on the second last climb Golas tried his luck at a solo escape & managed to summit alone however the next climb saw him caught and then dropped.

Casar then led the push on the final climb to the line, but cat & mouse games between the riders saw their advantage drop – eventually Lars Bak decided to make his move & charged forward, gaining a whole 11 seconds on his fellow escapees – the main pack coming in at 3:34 down led by Juan Antonio Flecha of Team SKY.

The GC remained mostly unchanged though if Casar had given an extra dig at the end he could easily have take the Maglia Rosa from Joaquim Rodriguez.

Stage 13

Savona – Cervere

121km (mostly downhill!)

Despite today’s stage starting on the coast – after a brief 4th cat climb it spends the rest of the day descending towards the north of Italy. Sprint finish is expected but it could be one for an underdog as bigger teams reserve their strength approaching the mountains & two weeks in the saddle take their toll…

Last Call to enter Wiggle Magnificat Jubilee sportive, voted best endurance sportive by Cycling Weekly, on Sunday 3rd June at Newbury racecourse. Take part and experience a great day of cycling . Make savings on your entry and use 25WIGGLECAT code

Choose from four main ride distances:

127mile MagnifiCat with 2800m ascent
81mile InterCat with 1700m ascent
51mile CommuniCat with 900m ascent
26 mile Breeze LadyCat with 300m ascent – Ladies only

Plus : Free 2.5 mile multi-lap recreational ride for your family to enjoy and cycle.

All finishers will receive a special Jubilee medal to commemorate the event.

We will be taking entries on the day

127 / 81 mile: £30.00
51 mile £25.00
26 mile: £15.00

Don’t delay anymore – to enter / and for details www.cyclegb.co.uk

We want you to ride your challenge, enjoy your success, relax and enjoy the cycling activities, and experience a really great day of cycling for family and friends.

See you there!

Ken and Barbara Robson

Wiggle Magnificat Organisers

For an insight into the track, catch up on our International Marketing Manager’s blog :)

Don’t forget that you can attend the event suited and booted thanks to the official Wiggle Magnificat kit!

68

What a fantastic race Mallorca Ironman70.3 is, made all the better by witnessing Emma-Kate defend her title in true style (despite all the blood and gore!). It was the first 70.3 event I have participated in and after my rather negative TriStar Cannes experience from a few weeks ago, I was blown away by the true level of professionalism applied. It’s a brilliant race and I will be back!

I arrived onto the Island early Thursday afternoon and immediately headed out on the Felt time trial bike to do the climb and descent to familiarise myself with the tricky parts. I’m quite proud of my descending skills honed over the past four years of training in the Maritime Alps, but I have never descended on a TT bike. It was a very accurate description applied to the bike course by the organisers “challenging but not impossible”.

The beach start made a nice change and as the women age groupers were going off as one group after the pros I got to see Lidders take the plunge. I believe she led from the gun and didn’t look back! I enjoyed the swim, the water was so clear and some ‘high knee’ running for the last 50m got the blood flowing back into the legs. Transition at this race was a whopping 550m long and they claim to have the longest transition of any European race.

The bike was always going to be interesting as I haven’t managed to get my position right on the new Felt TT bike and bad weather meant I was doing a lot of indoor training rather than testing it on the open road. I could feel that I was not pushing out the power like I normally do and was slipping back down the field as we hit the climb, places I didn’t really make up again once we hit the flats. By about halfway I was very uncomfortable and by 75km I was seeing stars if I lifted my head into the correct aero position. Needless to say I am visiting Freespeed early next week for a bike fit!

Off the bike and onto the very slow lap one of three of the run course, it took me 30 minutes to shake off the pain from the bike and start running at my race pace. By this stage it was HOT and with some of the course in the full sun it was a tough one. The only criticism I have is that there needed to be an extra aid station on the run, especially as things got busier as the men’s age groups hit the run. Despite the difficult conditions there was a real camaraderie and amazing support from the crowd. Each person had their first name and a flag of the country they were representing. A group of Aussies spotted me on my first lap and gave me a real boost each time I went past. It helps so much!

The run was a 7km loop with some of the course two ways so I got to see Emma-Kate storming to victory on her final lap. In her blog she talks about how much she suffered on the run, from the outside she looked like the true professional she is, cool, calm and running at a pace I can only dream of!

Coach Terry always tells me to run the first and last KM of the course and to do the first and last 5km of the bike course the day before a race. I simply ran out of time on Friday, or more accurately wasn’t organised enough so I had a quick look and thought I would be OK. I spotted a fellow age grouper 50m ahead of me in what I thought was the final  200m of the run so I accelerated, caught up and kept running, and running, and running with Terry’s wise words ringing in my ears! The finish line was a little further than expected, a great lesson learnt. Listen to the coach!

Lots of things learnt ahead of UK70.3 in a few weeks and a solid 5 day training block coming up in Nice to (fingers crossed) get some warm weather training in. I was out this morning in full winter gear including skull cap! I would love to hear your comments on the race if you were also racing in Mallorca so leave them below.

You can also follow me on twitter.

Happy training.

Cx

Here is a brief round-up of who won what & which competitions are still live… Best of luck!

LIVE

Giro d’Italia Santini Maglia Rosa 

Win a GIRO d’ITALIA SANTINI Maglia Rosa (leaders jersey) signed by the eventual 2012 winner (that’s right we will get them to sign it the day they get the trophy!) you can also win one of 3 Santini 2012 Maglia Rosa jerseys and one 0f 21 pairs of Santini socks – click the image below to enter…

COMING SOON…

Fi’zi:k Team Edition Saddle competition

Learn about Fi’zi:k’s involvement in the ProTour – which teams are using which of their saddles & you could win your very own Team Edition Saddle & Bartape – Will be live on the blog by 18/05

Topeak 20th Aniversary competition

to celebrat Topeak‘s 20th year of innovation in the bike industry they released a special edition ‘link meister’ which is possibly the best chain tool ever made! One lucky blog reader will be in with the chance to win one… coming soon…

You just missed…

SARIS GRAN FONDO 2 bike rack blog competition

http://blog.wiggle.com/2012/04/27/saris-gran-fondo-bike-rack/

Winner – Robert Schnell –  Canada

GARMIN EDGE 800 RT to win Twitter competition

https://twitter.com/#!/wigglebikeshop

Winner- Bernard Morrison – UK

Civitavecchia -Assisi

186km

Medium Mountains

Wow, what a difference a stage makes – to the GC that is – the previous day’s failed attack by Katusha’s Vuelta KOM winner Rodriguez showed how hungry he was to claw his way up the GC but his victory in Assisi was something else. Taking off in the last 500m to distance himself from Hesjedal, who had until that point managed to stay at the front for the whole sharp climb up to the ancient town, Joaquim then managed to drop Astana’s Tiralongo (who had gone waaaay to early), Colnago’s Pozzivivo &  the rest of the bunch – with only Huzarski from NetApp & Visconti of Movistar coming close to keeping up with his pace.

The added stage win time bonus for Rodriguez meant that Garmin Barracuda‘s Canadian rider lost his leaders jersey.

The rest of the stage had been fairly uneventful – though Cavendish managed to pick up an extra sprint point on Orica GreenEdge’s Matt Goss.

Stage 11

Assisi – MonteCatini Termine

255km (mostly flat)

With just the small matter of a 3rd cat minor climb in the middle this largely downhill stage is long & fast & expected to end in a sprint – barring any last km crashes Cavendish is primed for this stage & could take the points jersey too, expect no change in the Maglia Rosa for a while, once Rodriguez has it he is unlikely to let it go without a fight!

The last 4 weeks for me have been really good and lots of exciting things happening.

Things have been very hectic with the race team as always but we have had some good success with many podiums.

The Verenti has now been superceded by the brand new, uber sexy Felt F4 courtesy of Wiggle.

Being a total anorak and quite a bobble-hatter when it comes to design and engineering you can imagine my joy when the Felt arrived. The carbon frame is just a thing of beauty. The build quality is second to none and the weight of the bike is staggeringly light! Every aspect of this bike is simply awesome, from the carbon crank set to the carbon seat post and the gear shift is as smooth as a Rolls Royce but as quick as a Ferrari… just a total joy to ride! Can you tell I like it?!

Needless to say I’ve been racking the miles up on it over the last few weeks with my normal 12 mile route at lunch and throwing the occasional 30 mile ride in when I get a spare couple of hours or a weekend off.

I’ll also be taking it to Germany next week to the Nurburgring 24 hours to do a couple of laps around the track – it’s going to be tough with the elevation change there but will be invaluable to look at the track at a slower speed!

I also had my first downhill experience this month at Cwm Carn, I thoroughly enjoyed it and lived to tell the tale! It’s definitely something that I will be doing more of and have ordered a spanking new Felt full suspension bike from Wiggle as the one I was on the other week just wasn’t up to the job!

This week I’m off to Germany to contest the Nurburgring 24 hour event. Since my last blog, things have changed a little.

Originally I was looking at entering a Ginetta through my team and running the car but after a few phone calls and great offers I’m now competing it in a brand spanking new Jaguar XF. I’m really excited for this opportunity and will be looking to make the most of it and bag a class win.

Typically in a 24 hour race there would be 4 drivers but in our team there are only 3… so we’ve all got a busy race ahead of us. It’s going to be very physically and mentally demanding! I’ll be sure to be taking my High5 product with me to keep me performing as well as possible. Fitness here will be key – in these in style of races consistency is paramount and being fit is the secret to being consistent, this is where the bike riding will really help me out.

Thankfully my other 2 team mates are very quick and have a lot of Nurburgring experience – the latter is very important to me as whilst being quick is a good thing, the nurburgring is notoriously un forgiving and difficult to learn. With no run-off there is no room for error so we all need to go into the event with a level head and an intimate knowledge of the circuit.

I’ve already done this event once before but it was 2008 so I’ve been practicing on the driving simulator and now know all 114 corners like the back of my hand!

I’ll be taking the video camera with me to the event and doing a video blog from there so watch this space!!!

San Giorgio nel Sannio – Frosinone

166km (flat-ish)

Yesterday’s stage looked set to be a standard sprint stage – however what a route map doesn’t quite convey is how tough some small hills & narrow roads can be. the usual break got away early on but was reeled in by the 30k to go mark mostly down to the hard work of Garmin Barracuda making sure Ryder Hesjedal stayed in the Maglia Rosa. The intermediate sprint was hotly contested with Cavendish managing to descrease the lead Goss had built up in the points competition from 10 to 4. Hesjedal & team mate Jack Bauer managed to narrowly avoid catastrophe when Ryder’s long sleeve jersey (that he was removing at the time) caught in Bauer‘s rear brake!

As the roads got tighter and more technical a surprise move from Katusha’s Joaquin Rodriguez saw him attack presumably in the hope of gaining some GC time & a sprint bonus - unremarkably his efforts were in vain as both Garmin & Sky managed to shut him down, as the bunch approached the final corner – which was a tight left hander extremely close to the finish line, Cav & Goss had managed to position themselves perfectly for a head to head battle – Pippo Pozzato was also up at the front – hungry for a Giro victory. The corner was to be the deciding factor in the stage, Goss taking it wide, only to be rear ended by Farnese’s Pozzato who seemingly couldn’t decide on his line – behind them the efforts to avoid the crash resulted in slow motion carnage as Cavendish was put over his bars onto the barrier. Ahead of this Movistar’s Francisco Ventoso managed to out-gun Androni’s Felline & Radioshack’s Nizzolo. The only major injury of the day was Pozzato – who has abandoned the race due to a broken wrist.

Stage 10

Civitavecchia- Assisi

186km

Medium Mountains (with a sting in the tail!)

Today we see a return to slightly hillier terrain, though there are no major peaks on this route it does gain over 400m in altitude over it’s 186km. The deciding factor on the stage is the final steep kick up to the finish line in Assisi – a 6km nasty surprise with two climbs of up to 15% in gradient. If a breakaway hits it with enough time to spare expect the lightest of climbers to get a win – chances are any break will be caught just before the climb & someone like Tiralongo or Pozzovivo could take it – it could be another day when the leaders jersey changes hands…

A few weeks have passed since I ran my first marathon down in Brighton on the 15th April thanks to Wiggle. I have had a chance to reflect on the race, assess how effective my preparation and training was and identify areas where I can improve for next time.

With only a few weeks to prepare, I quickly came to realise that I wouldn’t have enough time to do all the training required to be fully marathon ready. As I mentioned in my first blog, running had been a big part of my day-to-day routine and I had done a number of half marathons, so I felt that I had a decent foundation of training. I had a couple of weeks to build on that foundation so I increased the distance and duration of my training runs at the same time as making frequent visits to the gym to work on my core and leg strength.

Before I knew it though, it was time to start thinking about tapering my running and factoring in rest as a part of my training program. It was great to be able to scale back on the exercise and relax in the week prior to the race but in the back of my mind I knew that there had been a gap in my training and that I hadn’t been able to attain the ideal fitness levels. I knew I’d struggle physically so in that final week I placed a great deal of emphasis on preparing myself mentally and carefully planning my race. I got a selection of High 5 gels to take with me as well as a running belt and lots of great advice from friends as to how to approach the race. I felt as ready as I ever would.

One piece of advice I would give to anyone who is planning on doing the Brighton Marathon in the future: stay in Brighton. The race began at 9am on a Sunday morning so for me, waking up in London, this meant a 5.00am start! I had cereal, toast and an apple for breakfast before leaving the house at 5.45am. Two busses later and I just about had time to buy a coffee and get on the train to Brighton. It was on the train that I conducted my final preparations and gathered my thoughts for the race.

I got to Preston Park at about 8.40am and just about had enough time to hand in my bag, go to the toilet and do some stretches before the start of the race. Those twenty minutes flashed by in a nervous blur and, before I knew it, I was running.

My plan was to try and hold back as much as possible in the early phases of the race so that I wouldn’t wear myself out too early. This plan failed!

The race began with a lap of the park on roads that were fairly wide; perfect for overtaking and running uninhibited. This, coupled with my excitement, meant that my plan to hold back went out the window and I breezed through the first half of the race passing the halfway point at around 1 hour and 44 minutes (only a little slower than my best half marathon time).

As expected, this less-than-cautious start took its toll later on in the race, though later than I’d expected. I felt good up until the 17 or 18 mile marker. There had been a range of scenery to enjoy and the support had been incredible with families and charity representatives cheering the runners on. There were regular and well-stocked drink stations with excellent water pouches from IconiqDrinks as well as bottles of Powerade. The atmosphere had been great and the run had been enjoyable. Then everything changed.

After 19 miles, the route went out into the industrial areas to the west and the support dwindled and the scenery became obscured by machines, warehouses and piles of scrap. It may have been my imagination but it felt as though dark clouds gathered overhead at that point and that we were entering some kind of nightmare. Sure enough, at about 20 miles, it was confirmed by a big banner overhead, which read “The Road To Hell.”

The next four miles were very hard. I wasn’t out of breath anymore because my legs couldn’t move quick enough. I was dragging myself around the course by that stage. While the first half of the race had seen me doing 8 minute miles… by that point it was nearly 10. I remained determined not to stop and I was still keeping an eye on my time. Maths became more and more difficult but I was still on course for a decent time so I pressed on and my mental strength kept me going.

The sun came out as I left “The Road To Hell” portion of the course (again, that might be my imagination). The road became flat and as we ran along the seafront to the finish line, the number of supporters increased and the atmosphere was incredible. Those cheering people really helped push me along for those final few miles and, by the 25 mile marker, I was running again and enjoying it.

Crossing the finish line was an incredible feeling. There was a wave of euphoria, aided by the uplifting noise of the crowd, followed by a real emotional sense of achievement. This was all quickly replaced by pain that spread all over my body. My legs were like rocks and I could hardly walk but it was good pain. I had earned it and it was even more worth while when I looked at my time. I had been aiming for under 4 hours… I managed to finish in 3 hours, 39 minutes and 52 seconds.

That pain stayed with me for days afterwards. Going down the stairs was the hardest thing. By the following weekend, I’d still not fully recovered but I managed to make it into town to support those running in the London Marathon and dare I say it, I was a little jealous of them. Brighton was my first marathon, but I daresay it won’t be the last…