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.

Matt in the breakaway in Switzerland (4th from front)

Unlike many amateur events the Triathlon World Championships are a draft legal event. This allows riders to form bunches and ride the bike leg much more like a road race then a time trial. As a result team tactics can really come in to play with riders working for their team mates (and opponents) to get themselves in a good position for th run leg.

Everyone at Lifecycle wishes Matt all the best for the weekend racing and we will update you with all the results as soon as they come to hand. 

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.

In the gallery you will also find heaps of great photos from shop rides, the Winter Warmer and events like the Avanti classic. Check it out now.

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.

To celebrate Sauser's win on the Epic we have a special team offer for anyone buying an Epic bike before the end of August who mentions this story. Not only will you take home your brand new Epic bicycle we will also include a free Specialized jersey and Specialized Decibel helmet so you can follow in Christoph's winning ways.  This is a great offer for anyone doing the Flight Centre Epic marathon event this weekend as there is no better bike for an event like this then a Specialized Epic.

Carbon S-Works Epic, in store now. 

FULL STORY ON SAUSER'S WIN

August 13, 2007. Morgan Hill Ca.  31-year-old Swiss star Christoph  Sauser captured his first World Marathon title this weekend in Verviers Belgium “The feeling of being World Champion is indescribable,” said Sauser after the finish of the nearly four-and-a-half hour race. “There were tears in my eyes when I crossed the line.”  Since 1999 the man from Windigen has been Mr.Consistant, with 11 World Cup wins, 2 overall World Cup titles and an Olympic medal. However a world championship title is the one goal that had eluded him.
 
From the start of the race Sauser knew that he was on good form. “Right for the beginning I had it right away,” said Sauser. The race was decided after front runner Ralf Naf experienced a technical problem that took him out of the lead group. Naf’s demise was the signal for Sauser to distance himself from the rest of the field and he ultimately went on to win by over five minutes.
 
Sauser, a known equipment freak, was full of praise for his Epic bike that carried him to victory “The bike was so good on a day where it was really challenged. The course took us from dry to dirt, to dry to dirt over-and-over again. Still, the Epic rose above it all,” said Sauser after the finish. “Although, most riders opted for a mud tire my Specialized Fast Trak SLK’s were the perfect. They felt so light and responsive. I am so happy with the way my Epic performed—I know for sure that nobody had a better bike than the Epic.”  
 
From here Sauser begins his preparation for the World Championships in Fort William Scotland September 4th-9th.
 

At the start of the year I had seen the Canadian race stint on some of the other girls program thinking how I’d like it to be included in my calendar and somehow feeling that I’d end up there anyway.  So it was no surprise when I was offered a spot for the Canadian races, my instincts were telling me it was thing to do. So off I trotted to Canada. 

During the Canadian races the AIS team was unlucky enough to be introduced to a peloton, which included the Cuban National Team who we had never raced or even seen before!!!!  Yup, scary stuff and when you put these girls in with the Russian National Team you’re bound to see fireworks!  In a nutshell the Cubans ride like they own the roads and rule the peloton and they love to disrespectfully chop every other rider to pieces to get where they want to go.  This of course meant there were some really sketchy times and it caused no end of fights and abuse and some really close calls with the bitumen. 

On nearly every day of racing, the Cubans would get into some sort of fight, usually with the Russians and more than once it finished with girls from either country slapping and hitting each other somewhere within the peloton.  In these instances the Cubans would look directly across at the Russians, swing their arms all around the place slapping the Russians.  While this was happening the rest of the field would be cringing and holding their breath to see if the Cuban, who was not looking were she was riding would fall or ride into the wheel in front.  There were a few close calls but the Cubans always managed to stay upright by leaning, like crazy, on the rider next to them or by doing some sort of mental swervey manoeuvre to stay upright herself but cause no end of chaos behind!  They were nutters both on and off the bikes! 

At dinner they would eat like an army, get three deserts and take home packs as well.  They pushed into dinner line ups but when they took on Carla Ryan and myself one night in the desert line we couldn’t hold back.   Every day these Cubans pushily stole wheels from everyone but enough was enough, as the Cuban tried to jump the dessert line, I moved my body to block out the Cuban and said  `this is desert we’re talking about here Cuban! You can have the wheel in bike races (cause I’m scared you’ll bring me down) but not desert!’  Yup, I put her in her place!

Canada ended up being a good call for my racing as I continued to improve and have strong racing till the end.  In our last tour, Tour de Prince Edward Island, the racing was aggressive and encouragingly breaks were lasting.  I covered attacks, made attacks until finally in the second last stage, a 96.5k road race, I bridged a gap to a solo Russian.  At this stage there was 3 k to go, I was 9^th on GC* and quite close behind  to the 8^th placed rider.  A time gap would work well for me and a 1st or 2nd placing would be even better.  I made it to the Russian fairly quickly and we worked together for the final 3k.  She used me up in the last kilometre but I slowed a little to recover towards the end.  Luckily the Russian sprinted a little early into a big head wind and I managed to sit in a little and jump over her at the last second for my first ever international win!

It felt great! 

*General Classification

After Holland we travelled to Belgium where we’d spend the next ten days recovering and training before Fleche Wallone, another `classic’ race on the calendar.  We arrived at our new accommodation in the pitch dark and were horrified to find it atop a big berg along a 1.5 km long, rough dirt road.  Yes, we were not to be done with the rough roads just yet and once again my butt wasn’t going to appreciate this one!

So while most of my body (!) was given a much needed rest it seems my mind would not. I was looking at the ten day race break with a little apprehension.  Ten days off competition meant recovery rides after the Dutch races, some solid training days in between some more easy days prior to Fleche.  It meant a fair bit of recovery and since it looked like we were in the middle of nowhere, it appeared there would be nothing much to do.   Time to get home sick!!!

Fortunately, though, the next ten days proved to be pretty awesome.  We spent some quality time exploring Huy, which is the town where Fleche Wallone finishes. We somehow stumbled upon every single chocolate shop in the place (who would have thought)! Even though we were thoroughly impressed by the chocolate shops, Huy also housed many other attractions to explore. We went through the scary fort overlooking Huy, checked out the town’s gothic cathedral and spent some quality time at the cafés in the main square.  One of the great things about Belgium, apart from the chocolate, is definitely the beer and I have to admit that I did try a few of their fruit beers including raspberry and cherry beer. Cherry (Kreik) beer came out as the winner and if you ever find yourself in Belgium the Kriek beer is definitely worth sampling!

During our time in Belgium we also took a day trip to Brugg, a really old and beautiful city on the west side of Belgium. On the way home, we also briefly dropped in to Brussels for a quick bit of power shopping. Awesome shopping!!!  Amongst all of this I also spent spare time during our ten days off by reading, messing around on the computer, and watching DVD’s.  It all sounds very nice and it certainly was as we were barracked up in a large family holiday house in the hills.  We cooked some great meals with the supervision of our soignney (Soignneur) and temporary mother Berthy (Berty) while our coach Dave Short and mechanic Stew made sure we had a toasty fires to keep the house warm and roast our marshmallows on each night!

Race day came around quickly and all of a sudden we found ourselves going through the normal pre race routine.  Sign on, line up at the start for a half hour and then the gun goes off.  The race started in a rather relaxed fashion and I found it was a lot easier to move around the packs compared to the Dutch races. Fleche Wallone is an awesome race as the course is happening from the start. Riders are constantly climbing, descending, cornering and weaving in and out of towns throughout the Wallone region of Belgium.  There is always something going down on the course so the 105km is especially quick. Fleche is a strange race as it’s shorter than most and while the terrain appears relatively ok I think it is actually a lot harder than initially expected.  It drains your legs and for most riders it jumps up to bite you at some stage.  It certainly seemed to bite me and take a big chunk, as after 75k I found myself blowing to pieces on the third last climb. 

After exploding to pieces somewhere in Wallone I found myself in the second pack and pedalled the remaining 30 k before coming upon the talked up Mur de Huy, the famous climb Fleche Wallone finishes on each year (not as bad as Mt O’Reilly Brisbanites!!!).

 The Huy is around 1km long and its most vicious part is around halfway up when you go through a step left and then right hand turn.  It’s easiest to stick to the longest line through the corners and once this section is completed the Huy keeps climbing for a much longer draggier section.  A lot of riders start this climb a little quick but generally blow up just past the turns.  It’s best to restrain yourself and conserve energy, as there’s more time to be gained or lost in the second section of the climb.  The Huy is great to ride up. Not only is it a legendary climb but on race there was a huge crowd lining the entire climb.  Everyone is drinking beer and cheering you on as you struggle up the climb and no doubt pull all sorts of faces!  Luckily they’ve got their beer goggles on!