As usual for the Lifecycle weekend away rides the main topic of conversation is about the weather. Never has a ride day dawned sunny and clear with the prospect of a light tailwind! So true to form at departure time of 0630hrs the ride team was huddled under the awning at the back of the shop waiting for a downpour to ease. Prior to this the early departing Wombles had made the most of the opportunity and left before the heavens opened. It looked like being a long wet day!

2008 looks to be the year of the 29er mountain bike with more big wheeled MTBs on the market then ever before.

Until recently most mountain bikes had 26" wheels but a few years ago smaller companies started experimenting with bigger 29" diameter wheels. The theory was that a bigger wheel rolls faster and rolls over more bumps making it the perfect choice for cross country riding and endurance riding.

Spring Challenge

250km In two days
Join us for a full weekend of riding.

Saturday 24-25th November.

Leaving 0630 from the Lifecycle car park.

We will depart Lifecycle and head south to Logan Village via Woodridge.  From Logan Village we
continue south to Tamborine Village and then take a left turn towards Canungra.   Once at Canungra the
steady climb to O'Reillys National Park begins and continues for 30km before a final sharp pinch in the last
0.5km helps greet you to the finish of the climb.  

It seems every second person we spoke to in the shop last week was taking part in the Brisbane to Gold Coast 100km ride over the weekend. With over 5000 participants this is hardly a surprise. As such we would like to congratulate all our customers who took part, particularly those of you who had never done this distance before.

The new 2008 Specialized MTB range is already arriving in store and are turning quite a few heads. The effort that Specialized have been putting into research and design of the past few years has really paid off with this great range of bikes.

Last year Specialized made headlines with the ground breaking new Enduro featuring their own in house suspension front and rear. 2008 sees Specialized shock technology on the Enduro, Stumpjumper and Epic ranges.

Lifecycle's Matt Hopper will be competing for the Australian team in the Triathlon World Championships in Hamburg this weekend.

Matt runs to a 5th place finish in Switzerland

Matt is hoping for a good personal result in this event which is an important build up for the 2008 Olympic games. Matt will be hoping to capitilise on his current good form and recent 5th place finish in Geneva.

Recently we were emailed this photo of Tim Harris winning the Elite B category of the Grafton to Coffs Harbour in a solo breakaway. This was a great effort by Tim and one of those rare occasions where the breakaway keeps away from the pack.

We always love seeing photos of you riding and racing in the Lifecycle kit. So if you, like Tim, have won a race or achieved a personal milestone in Lifecycle kit why not drop us an email with a photo so we can post it in the Lifecycle gallery.

We now have the brand new Specialized 2D helmets in stock at Lifecycle.

These ultralight weight helmets have been developed for the world's top riders to deliver the ultimate in weight, comfort and ventilation. The innovative design use two different densities of foam joined in a co-molding process to balance the strength and weight requirements of a modern helmet.

You may all ready have seen this helmet during the Tour de France on teams such as Milram, Astana and of course Predicto-Lotto and second place finisher Cadel Evans.

Specialized bikes have added another World Championship to their trophy case with Christoph Sauser taking the World Marathon title in Verviers Belgium. Sauser rode to victory on his Specialized S-Works Epic dual suspension Mountain Bike.

The Specialized Epic has been the choice of endurance mountain bikers for a number of years. With the unique brain shock Specialized are able to provide hardtail like pedaling in sprints and on flat sections but still give you suspension over the rough stuff. The special inertia valve switches the shock between locked out and fully active so quickly you barely notice the transition.