The Tour is in its final stages and it has been one of the most exciting and evenly matched Tours in a while. With Schleck and Contador battling it out tonight on the Col du Tourmalet, a hilltop finish that soars to 2, 115m. It is a backdrop to a rivalry, atavistic of Lemond and Fignon or Armstrong and Ulrich. Will it come down to the final time-trial like tours past? And what about the dark horses; Sammy Sanchez and Dennis Menchov?

Our Tour sale is also in its final days extending to this weekend, the Avanti Cadent 1.0 a steal at $1,999 and the Avanti Quantum 1.0 at $2,199. Every Avanti bike is is reduced and a great deal of the Specialized Bikes as well. If you have not come in to the store to check our full selection of bikes then don’t leave it too late, as the Sale ends soon.

Quantum 1.0

Cadent 1.0 TDF special

Le Tour de France is arguably the most grueling sporting event in the world. Here at Lifecycle we’re welcoming it with a great BIG SALE. You can save over $1000 on a selection of great road bikes, as well as hybrids and flat-bar road bikes. If it’s a bike and we sell it, we’ll give you the best deal around; We can find the perfect bike for you.

For the first time EVER! We’ve got a special 2010 Tour de France edition Cadent (below). An incredible carbon bike for $1999. Limited stock so get in fast.

So be inspired, by the superhuman efforts of Cadel, Contador and the Schleks. Coverage starts at 2:00 am Sunday morning. The prologue should be inspiring and an all out power fest. Why don’t you get in on the action and buy yourself a new carbon bike? After all those late nights/early mornings, you will have earned it.

You’re invited to the Lifecycle Winter Warmer – 250km ride over two days.

Saturday 7^th August 2010           – Brisbane to Maleny

Sunday 8^th August 2010             – Maleny to Brisbane

Staying overnight at the picturesque Tranquil Park Mountain Resort Maleny.

www.tranquilpark.com.au

Total Tour Price – $125 includes full support vehicle, lunch on arrival, accommodation and breakfast.

The Details…

The Winter Warmer is a day ride from Brisbane to Maleny staying overnight and returning the next day. It starts at the Lifecycle shop car park and goes to the beautiful Tranquil Park  Mountain Resort at Maleny. The ride route starts from Lifecycle and travels to Samford, Dayboro, ascends Mt Mee and stops at Woodford for lunch. After re-fueling at Woodford we head to Peachester, ascend the Peachester climb and turn left onto the notorious Maleny Stanley River Road. A steep 900metre section of about 15-20% lies 12km from the hotel.  Be prepared to suffer or hopefully make your fellow riders suffer!!  The ride to Maleny finishes  with  11km of tough undulations until you arrive at Tranquil Park with a view of the beautiful Glasshouse Mountains.

The ride back  on Sunday follows some of the oldest and most picturesque roads in South East Queensland. We’ll descend the Maleny range through green farmland into Peachester then follow the base of the Glasshouse Mountains onto Elimbah before heading to Wamuran for a  lunch stop. The route from there follows some nice, quiet back roads behind Caboolture and Morayfield. The final stretch takes us through Bray Park and Albany Creek before arriving at Lifecycle with a total of 250km, over two days, under the belt.

Very Limited spaces are available so don’t hesitate in contacting us to register your name.

How to Book

Don’t miss this chance to reserve a place on this exciting annual event. A non-refundable minimum deposit of $50 is due by July 10^th 2010 with all remaining monies due to be paid in full prior to July 31st 2010. We can accept payments in the form of cash, cheque, major credit card or direct bank deposit. Please make all cheques payable to Lifecycle. Please contact us for our bank account details for any direct deposits.

We hope to see you there!

You will have all heard about the Brissie to the Bay ride that raises money for MS QLD. It is organised to support MS Qld in all the great work they are doing helping families who are affected by MS.

As a group we are doing our bit to raise funds, please click one this link for the Lifecycle Brissie to Bay team and enter via this site. This way we can all see who will be there, and who to look out for. invite all your friends who are interested in helping to check out the site. Lets see how much we can raise to help this great cause.

Some quick facts about MS you may not know…

• MS is a progressive disease of the nervous system, for which there is no cure.
• More women than men have MS, with a ratio of 2 men to 3 women affected.
• MS is the most common disease of the central nervous system in young adults.
• Sclerosis means scars, these are the plaques or lesions in the brain and spinal cord.
• In MS, the protective myelin covering of the nerve fibres in the central nervous system is damaged.
• MS is not contagious.
• Diagnosis of MS is generally between 20 and 40 years of age, although onset may be earlier.
• Life span is not significantly affected by MS.
• There are a wide range of symptoms. Fatigue is one of the most common.
• There is no drug that can cure MS, but treatments are now available which can modify the course of the disease.
• Many of the symptoms of MS can be successfully managed and treated.

So here’s the deal, and they are pretty good deals. (I’m not lying!)  Specialized is giving us some really good discounts on most of their 2010 bikes, which means if your looking for a new Specialized, right now is the best possible time to buy. The stock is limited, so just give us a call and we will let you know what is available. Already some of these have sold out in some models and sizes.

(Below is just one of the examples of the incredible savings on Specialized bikes)
The Specialized Roll 1 was: $1199 now: $799

The bikes on sale are as follow:

Allez
Sport was: $1199 now: $999
Comp was: $2599 now: $1999

Amira
Expert was: $5299 now: $4299
Comp was: $4449 now: $3449

Bighit4
1 was: $2999 now: $1999
2 was: $3499 now: $2499
3 was: $3999 now: $2799

Carmel
3 was: $699 now: $550
4 was: $799 now: $599

Dolce
was: $1299 now: $999
Sport was: $1499 now: $1199
Comp was: $2799 now: $2150

Enduro
Expert was: $5999 now: $4199
Pro was: $6999 now: $4999

Epic
FSR comp  now: $2999
FSR expert now: $3499
Comp  now: $3999
Carbon comp was: $5999 now: $4799

Era
Comp HT now: $2799

Live
1 was: $1099 now: $699

Myka
was: $699 now: $599
Comp was: $849 now: $699
Elite was: $1499 now: $1199

P1
am was: $799 now: $699
long was: $1499 now: $1099

Rock Hopper
Expert was: $1499 now: $1199
Comp was: $2499 now: $1899
Pro was: $2999 now: $2199

Roll
1 was: $1199 now: $799
2 was: $1699 now: $1299

Roubaix
Comp was: $4399 now: $3399
Expert was: $5199 now: $4499
Pro was: $7999 now: $6499
SW was: $1099 now: $8499

Ruby
Expert was: $5299 now: $4250
Pro now: $5150
SW now: $8999

Sirrus
was: $799 now: $649
Sport was: $999 now: $899
Elite was: $1499 now: $1199
Comp was: $1999 now: $1499

Stump Jumper
Elite was: $4999 now: $3599

Tarmac
Elite was: $3499 now: $2899
Pro was: $7999 now: $6499
SW was: $12799 now: $10999

Transition
Expert was: $5999 now: $4499
SW was: $10999 now: $7700

Tricross
Comp was: $3490 now: $2650

FSR XC
Pro was: $2999 now: $2399

We have many of these bikes instore but not all. Stock is limited at these prices and selling fast!

It’s been an exciting week in the world of professional cycling, Aussies have been scoring big in both the Giro and the Tour of California. From Richie Porte donning the maglia rosa to Michael Rogers fighting it out in the final time trial and keeping a firm grasp on the golden jersey. With the racing we have seen leading up to the big one, this years Tour de France is shaping up to be one of the greatest we’ve seen in a long while.

The Specialized bikes have been performing well in the both the time trial and the classics. The Shiv that Porte rode to victory in the Tour of Romandie will give him the edge in stage 16, a grueling hilly time trial after 15 days in the saddle. Going up against the likes of Brad Wiggins, it will be a stage to watch.

It is stocktake time and we are keen to talk deals on 2007 models.

Find out more on our specials page. 

Jack, Alex and myself have been spending our time planning for the upcoming 24hour Mountain Bike Challenge on the 21st and 22nd of April. Held at the Kooralbyn Hotel Resort the 24hour has become an annual highlight for many on the Queensland Mountain Bike calendar.

While my training has purely revolved around practising getting up at odd hours of the night (my 13 week old son Hamish has been helping me with this) and basically zero miles on the bike I thought I would pick the brains of my team mates to give you our Lifecycle 24 hour tips.

Tip 1: Pack Extra

If you are planning to do a 24 hour event you really can't be to prepared. A lot can happen in a 24 hour period, rain, hail, shine, you don't know what the weather will do. Therefore we suggest you pack a few changes of cycling gear. You might not think you need it but if it is raining we can guarantee you won't want to put your wet cycling gear back on that has been sitting out all night. If you are planning to ride in the same knicks and jersey all night at least take a bunch of socks. A fresh pair of socks can seem like the ultimate luxury to the sleep deprived mountain biker.

Tip 2: Fuel Up

Keeping the energy levels up over a 24 hour race is no easy task. They key we've found is to take a variety of foods as it is hard to know what your body will crave a 3am in the morning. Energy Gels and Energy Bars are a great choice as you can get them on the fly. Have them on your bike or in your Jersey pocket ready to go so you don't have to hunt for them in a sleep deprived state at 2am. We also reccomend taking a good supply of "real food": biscuits, fruit, pasta, whatever takes your fancy. Our favourite is my Mother's famous fruitcake: tasty, filling and packed with energy. 

Tip 3: The Right Bike

Actually there is no one "right bike" for a 24 hour though there are some things that help. A lightweight cross country rig is the way to go, sure we've seen plenty of guys whip out laps on their freeride rigs but 18 hours in you know they are cursing those extra kilos on the climbs. Jack, Alex and myself are all running quite different rigs for the event. I'm riding my all time favourite MTB the full supsension Stumpjumper FSR, this bike pedals well and has a plush five inches of travel that keeps you feeling fresh at 2am. Alex has choosen an Avanti Aggressor, with top quality SRAM X9 running gear, Fox Fork and Avid Juicy 7 brakes. Alex know he has qualiy parts that won't let him down. As you would expect Jack will be riding something different, a fully rigid Salsa El Mariachi 29er. A 29er is a mountain bike with 29inch tyres rather then the usual 26inch. Basically think of the advantages 700c wheels give you on the road and apply the same theory off road. Should be a light, quick bike. 

Tip 4: Good Lights

Well duh! Of course you need good lights but aren't some of them a pretty darn expensive? Well next time you are in store ask us about doing a pre-24hour deal on some nice re-charceable lights, we have some great pricing on Cygo-Lights that might make things a bit easier on the hip pocket. Also don't forget a rear tail light, even if you are so fast you don't think anyone will catch you it is a race rule that you must have one, so don't forget.

Hope everyone has a great time at the event. If you see Jack, Alex or myself out there make sure you come and say hello.

Tim Mullaly

It rains so little these days that it always comes as a pleasant suprise when the heavens do finally open. One problem with having such infrequent wet weather in Brisbane is that when it does arrive we often don't have the proper gear to keep us on the bike.

Are you staring out the window at the rain instead of training? 

Because we would hate to see you use this little bit of welcome rain to skip your training we've decided to share Lifecycle's top five tips for wet weather riding:

1) Get a clear plastic rain jacket. These lightweight rain jackets will fold up small enough to fit in your jersey pocket so you don't have to worry about where to stash it when the weather does clear up. At around $49 they are affordable, which is nice as it doens't rain that much in Queensland.

2) Newspaper. Looking for a way to dry your wet riding shoes so you can head out again tomorrow? Try stuffing them full of newspaper over night. The paper soaks up the moisture leaving them dry and snug the next day. Newspaper down the front of the jersey is also a great way of keeping warm when the temperature drops later in the year.

3) Buy a home trainer. If the rain is just to heavy to head out in or you don't feel confident riding in the wet then perhaps you should consider setting up a home trainer. There are a few different types available though we would suggest a magnet or fluid trainer that runs of the rear tyre. MTB riders can get a rim drive model so they don't have to take off their knobby tyres. Both versions of the popular Minoura 500 trainer retail for under $300 and always sell like hotcakes in the wet weather.

4) Get a tool tub. One bad thing about being caught in the rain is that your mobile, wallet, power bars, mini tool and any other bits and pieces you may be carrying get soaked. Companies like BBB sell screw top tool tubs that go in your second water bottle cage and help keep your valuables dry.

5) Get a weather proof hat for the cafe. We all know that the post ride cafe or bakery stop is key to a good ride so don't miss out because of the rain. Get yourself a special wet weather hat like Blair's (see below) and stay dry off the bike.

Blair gets ready to head down to the cafe in his rain proof hat.

The Lifecycle crew would like to welcome Matt Hopper to the team. A professional triathlete competing on the ITU world circuit Matt brings a wealth of triathlon and cycling knowledge to the showroom floor at Lifecycle. An all round nice guy and one of the fittest buggers we know Matt has slotted right in with the rest of the staff.

Matt has has been clocking up top results for a number of years now since turning pro after winning the 200 Australian Age Group championship. He is looking forward to big things in 2007 having secured himself an AIS scholarship for the coming season. Matt puts in some serious time training before and after work and is the type of driven individual who gives 100% to everything he does. We are sure he has a fantasic season in store.

While Matt's results and pro credentials may impress many, it is the fact that he was prepared to tackle the cleaning in the Lifecycle staff kitchen during his first week that has won over the rest of the Lifecycle team. This difficult and time consuming task has only been previously completed by a few select individuals and is a true sign of a real champion.