Dekker dropped from Olympic team

From DutchNews.nl:

Cyclist Thomas Dekker has lost his place in the Dutch Olympic team, reports ANP news service.

The 23-year-old cyclist is out of form and virtually asked to be removed from the team, Olympic coach Egon van Kessel told ANP.

Ouch.

2009 Specialized City Bikes

I find it very heartening to see, when looking through the new 2009 Specialized bikes, that Specialized is not messing around when it comes to offering cyclists & riders a plethora of city-bike options.

One of the collection of models that I particularly noticed was the Vienna collection, specifically the Vienna Deluxe 5 and the Women's Vienna Deluxe 5. It seems to me that the Vienna collection is a quite a nice addition to what was an already great line of bikes from Specialized as they provide riders with a very functional city-bike.



I know that some people may argue that there's not much of a functional difference between, say, the 2009 Specialized CrossTrail and the 2009 Specialized Vienna 2 as it is more than likely that both bikes will be used in many similar situations (e.g., to the farmer's market for some fresh summer tomatoes, to the video store to drop off last night's movie, and to the coffee shop for the morning motivational).

I would argue that however similar the usage of the two different bikes may be, the CrossTrails and the Viennas are different tools for different jobs. It seems to me as if the CrossTrails would be more appropriate for riders who are looking for a versatile sport/fitness bike whereas the Viennas would be more appropriate for riders looking for a sporty city-bike.

I admit that I am splitting bike-usage hairs here. As a certifiable bike-nut, however, this bike-usage hair-splitting has been invaluable for if I didn't split hairs such as these, how would I ever be able to justify to myself and to others the large and growing collection of bikes that I own?

Team Astana Terminates Vladimir Gusev

From Roadcycling.com:

The Astana Cycling Team management has terminated the contract of Russian cyclist Vladimir Gusev due to irregular values.
...
“Vladimir Gusev has been officially notified that he no longer represents Team Astana”, said General Manager Johan Bruyneel. “Though his results do not indicate the use of forbidden substances, Vladimir’s values exceeded the normal parameters established by Dr. Damsgaard and were not compliant with the strict agreement signed by all thirty riders. Our Kazakh sponsors have also been made aware of this decision and are fully supportive.”

There's also a brief bit about it over at l'Equipe but it's in French.

2009 Specialized Langsters

Remember back at the beginning of this month we posted a couple of pictures of some of the 2009 Specialized Langsters?
Well, now we have them all.
Enjoy!



The original Langster.



The Langster Seattle.



The Langster Tokyo.



The Langster Las Vegas.



The Langster San Francisco.



The Langster Monaco.



The Langster New York.



And perhaps the baddest of the bunch, the S-Works Langster.

2009 Specialized Bikes

Here's all the info on the 2009 Specialized bike line.

I told you today was going to be a special day.
We'll try to give you some highlights of the new bikes later on today & into this weekend.

Friday is going to be a very special day

Very special. You might want to wander on back over here tomorrow & check out the party.

Apple & Trek

Trek Bicycle Corporation. Communicating their message:

Trek Bicycle Corporation, a global leader in bicycle design, innovation, and manufacturing, produces and sells a wide range of bicycles to match the needs of virtually every rider. Whether you’re a professional bike racer—like 2008 Giro d’Italia Champion and Trek-athlete Alberto Contador, a recreational rider, or a commuter who uses a bicycle as a daily mode of transportation.
...
Trek Bicycle Corporation, in conjunction with design agency Planet Propaganda, takes designs created in Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator and combines them with video in Final Cut Studio to deliver video podcasts.

You can read the rest of the article & watch a pretty interesting video at the Apple Profiles: Trek link.