Interbike was a great success this year. For those of you who aren’t aware of the event, Interbike is the largest bicycle trade event in North America. It is one of the most important events of the year for retailers, manufacturers, and and other industry folks. Over 1,000 brands are represented and 85% of all business within the cycling industry happens over these three days.

We were there for a couple of reasons. Our first objective was to personally thank all of those who took a risk and supported us last year. We’ve built great relationships with each of our sponsors, and it was great to see them for the first time since returning from Europe.

Special thanks to:

• Wilier – Gianmarco
• Bellwether/Profile Design - Barry
• Gu – Holly
• Cadence – Matt/Mike
• Suunto – Martin

Our second objective was to foster new relationships for the future. We met some great people this year, and we’re really excited about the future. Stay tuned for new sponsor news.

The concept that we call “10 Degrees of Latitude” is one year old today. Hard to believe that one year ago Adam and I brainstormed this idea. The untold story about 10DL is that it was actually Adam’s wife (Amy Hazlett) who came up with the actual name. Adam came up with the idea to do the channel, I wrapped the bike ride around it, and Amy coined the 10 Degrees Latitude idea. My hat is off to Amy, and it’s also off for everyone that has helped us along the way. There are almost too many names to mention…

A rambunctious and awesome shout-out to a few special people:

• Maria from Best Western
• Matt from Cadence Cycling & Multisport
• Darren from Front of the Pack
• Kin-Joe at Vetta
• Barry at Bellwether and Profile Design 
• Greg at ZIPP
• Gianmarco at Wilier
• Martin at Suunto
• Holly at Gu Nutrition
• Rick at Barracuda
• LAS Helmets
• SRAM Components
• Karen at Bodyglide 

Another monstrous shout-out to the crew of 10DL Europe. Without whom we would have done nothing:

• Flora/Laura
• Amy/Joshua/Andrew
• Bob/Michelle
• Tricia/Eva

Looking forward to another great year of 10DL! (our brand is so popular now that it now has an acronym!)

Ride stats today

• 129 miles
• Fins to South Paris; completing 10 Degrees Latitude
• Our most gorgeous bike day yet, a suitable end to an amazing journey
• 0 sheep, 5 buguettes, 2 barets
• 2 huge smiles and cigars at the end

Our journey took us 14 days of biking and 1 day of swimming across the English Channel. This works out to be 1000 miles on bike and 25 miles in the water. It was gorgeous, stunning territory, and the good thing about traveling as we did was that we really got to enjoy the countryside, see the people and smell the smells (most were good).

We have so many people to thank. Our support crew made our adventure possible. Our bike crew (Flora and Bob), our swim crew (Tricia, Amy, Flora, Laura, Dave, Teresa, and the entire Ocean Breeze crew) and our home crew (Michelle, Andrew, Ava and Joshua) were awesome. Our Cadence Cycling coach Mike Kuehn was super supportive. Our sponsors are all amazing people. Everyone treated us so well through the entire journey.

Here are some parting pictures from our final days in Paris. We took our final pictures at the Arc de Triomphe. A fitting end to a stunning journey.

• Cambridge to Canterbury
• 80 miles
• Not much elevation gain
• Even fewer animals
• 20 mile an hour headwind
• 2 sore bums, 4 strong legs, 2 dirty bikes

Today was our last day on the saddle for a while. This last circuit brought us within distance of the gorgeous white cliffs of Dover. From here our swim across the English Channel will begin.

Another mechanical failure… My Speedplay pedal broke in the same exact spot that Adam’s broke. These Speedplay pedals are sure lightweight, but I think the company needs to work on reliability. It is unreasonable to assume riders will replace these $300 pedals every 800 miles. We are now both riding non-Speedplay pedals because there are ZERO local bike dealers that stock Speedplay. Boo.

A shout-out to Cadence Cycling & Multisport, especially Matt (founder), Woody (tech), Brady (coach), Luke (sales) and Mike (coach). These guys run shops in Philadelphia and NYC — and there are rumors of California expansion soon. They replace guesswork with science, and are definitely the Lexus of bike shops. Thank you guys!

1. Never Let Your Tread Wear Out: Replace your tires frequently. With fresher rubber, you’ll have fewer flats and also a better-handling bike.

2. Regularly Inspect Your Tires: Sometimes you’ll come back from a ride with small bits of glass or debris embedded in the outer casing. If you habitually clean this stuff off, it won’t have a chance to work through the tire.

3. Same Goes for Your Chain: Keep it clean and lubed and your bike will shift, and look, better. And if you replace your chain before it gets too worn out, you’ll save the expense of having to fix or replace pricier items like cassettes and chainrings, which suffer increased wear and tear from old chains.

4. Buy a Torque Wrench: Modern bike components are made of expensive materials like carbon and titanium and highly engineered to save weight. But that also means they can be damaged by overtightening. Manufacturers test their products and provide torque recommendations. Make sure you follow them.

5. Find a Good Local Bike Shop and Mechanic, and Be Loyal: The more familiar they become with your bike and your riding style, the more able they’ll be to keep everything working to your liking.

1. Bad bike fit
2. Poor nutrition regimen (racing and training)
3. Bought products based on price/brand.  Paid little attention to catering to my race needs.

Last but not least — pictures from our rest day in Nottingham. We visited the Nottingham Castle, and the local bike shop Freewheel where the head mechanic rebuilt Neal’s bottom bracket and tightened Adam’s rear cassette. Thanks guys!

• Leeds to Nottingham
• 75 miles
• 1800 feet climbed
• 1000 sheep. Some cows. 63 pigs.
• 2 nuclear reactors

Our route took us through Sherwood Forest, which was fun for me. It’s hard not to feel like a kid again riding through Sherwood Forest into Nottingham!

Today was a pretty nice day.  It’s a shame that as we come further south our surroundings are less desolate and the roadways are much more populated.  As a result, we spend more time concentrating and less time enjoying our environment.  Weather today was beautiful.  Winds were calm most of the day, and there was only a 15 minute patch of rain that we unintentionally but fortunately avoided on our lunch break.

To say these last 3 days have been tough would be an understatement.  Mentally, there were a lot of obstacles to overcome.  Physically the back-to-back-to-back days of punishing terrain and distance were difficult.  I can’t tell you how many times over the past several months, I’ve cursed the name of Mike Kuhn, our coach (another link) as I opened the dreaded email that laid out the workout for the day.  “Tell me again why I’m riding 6 hrs today  I just did 4 yesterday.”  Today it’s clear.  This guy isn’t just a sadist. He had a method to his madness.  It was good to finish this segment of the ride and still feel pretty strong (and injury free!)

Tomorrow we’ll rest up and take care of some minor aches and pains and then it’s on to Cambridge.

10% discount All gear except new bikes
15% discount Fitness diagnostics, conditioning programs, and bike fits

Cadence Cycling was founded in 2004 by a Penn graduate, so I think what they’re doing for Penn is pretty cool. I got my road bike at Cadence and it’s sweet. They are the Lexus of bike dealers. They are all about the science of athletics. Go check them out, on Saturday’s (I think) they have free in-house coffee and sweets.

Some marketing copy about these guys: Cadence Cycling & Multisport is not a bike shop. Sure, the world’s most exclusive bike frames line the floor. But world-renowned coaches also train all levels of cyclists and triathletes on state-of-the-art CompuTrainers and Endless Pools®. And athletes with visions of Kona or the Tour undergo VO2 Max and lactate threshold tests. When you walk in, we’re not trying to sell you a bike. We’d rather talk to you about your goals and how we can help you achieve them. Whether that means a new Italian frame, a specialized fitting of your current bike, an individualized coaching program, an on-site strength and conditioning program or one of our other unique services, Cadence will help you evolve as an athlete.

Here’s the discount coupon…

Adam is driving cross-country to Denver on his way to his new home in Denver. He rode today too, in Ohio.

Historically, Vetta has been a big player in commuter-level cycling computers. The V100 HR is a great leap into the world of serious athletes. It is feature rich enough to satisfy your every want and need, yet ease-of-use makes it a fantastic piece of equipment for the weekend warrior.

So lets take a look at the features and how well it works

First Look: Right out of the box I was impressed. Construction quality was solid. It felt substantial and well made as did the accessories. A flip through the manual suggested a very feature-rich device.

Installation was a breeze: Both the speed and cadence transmitters are small and sleek. I also like the fact that cadence is wireless

Put it to the test: One of the most common complaints about the V100 is battery life. The issue is a technical one that’s caused by the unit not turning off when you are done riding. I spoke with Vetta and they assured me that the culprit software issues were fixed early on, but the reputation has stayed out there. So obviously I’ve paid careful attention to this after each ride. To date I haven’t had a bit of trouble with this. At least in my unit, it seems the problem has been fixed.

I’ve had the V100 for several months now and it works great. The heart rate monitor and the cadence have worked perfectly. I love the screen. It’s compact yet it contains a ton of information. The three button-interface is very easy to navigate through at speed. Speed and distance accuracy is nearly perfect. Battery life has not been an issue.

A positive review, with 3 gripes:

• The first is a gripe I have with 95% of the computers on the market so I can’t fault Vetta alone for this. The wireless speed transmitter is not powerful enough to work from the rear wheel. This forces you to install it on the front wheel and therefore becomes useless on an indoor trainer. (Note: the V110 solves this!)
• The manual makes a valiant attempt to be thorough, and in fact, it is thorough. The problem is that it isn’t completely clear. Maybe it’s just me, but it reads as if it was written in a different language and simply copied into some freeware translator software. Another issue is that it doesn’t read smoothly. I was trying to learn how to use the different features and screen modes. I had to read through pages several times to understand certain details. One example – they spend some time discussing the IDS and STP screen mode, but they don’t reveal what IDS and STP stand for until 4 pages letter. (it’s Intermediate Distance and Stopwatch btw).
• Occasionally (maybe 3-4 times) the unit fails to turn on for some reason. I turn the wheel and nothing happens. I press the button on the transmitter. Still nothing. The first time this happened I spent about an hour trying to figure out the problem. I was 30 seconds from throwing the thing away. I took the battery out of the head unit, reinstalled it and it worked perfectly. The next time this happened, I went straight to the battery and fixed the problem right away. This only happens when starting the unit. Once I’m riding, I’ve never had any issues with losing signal. Odd.

Conclusion: The V100HR is a great computer for both serious athletes as well as the weekend warrior. It’s easy to install and easy to use. It has tons of features that work together seamlessly. In my experience it has debunked it’s critics and has been a dependable cyclocomputer.

Everyone wants a healthy lifestyle. There are new trends that help a healthy lifestyle fit into our day-to-day. I put together a list of what I think are THE leading-edge fitness trends; and just for fun I put them to the ABCs. I am involved in most of these trends, but not all (there are 7 that I’m not involved in). I will let you all postulate in the comments which of the ABCs I do not do.

A for Adventure races – like 10 Degrees!
B for Balance training (taichi, yoga and pilates)
C for Creatine
D for Dry-land training for swimmers, or the reverse
E for Eating breakfast – eating early makes you thin at night
F for Fixed-gear bicycles – brakes are for flakes
G for Google map your next run
H for Halfsizes – restaurant portions are twice the FDA recommendation
I for Intense workouts trumping long workouts
J for Juice bars
K for Ketone breath avoidance
L for Lactive threshold (LT) training
M for Mind/body exercise (yoga, tai chi, and qigong)
N for Navy Seal bootcamp-style training
O for Online videoconferencing allows group training at home
P for Power meters for bikes
Q for Quest-based adventures (7 Summits, et al)
R for Recovery drinks
S for Stability balls
T for Thule roof racks to bring your kit with you
U for Underwater MP3 players for swimming/surfing
V for Video analysis packages for bike fits like Dartfish
W for Wrist computers to track workouts
X for Xtreme sports
Y for Yoga
Z for Zucchini

We’ve sang the praises of Cadence Cycling many times before, but in my mind the one thing that sets them apart more than any other retailer I’ve ever come in contact with, is their coaching staff. They have the most impressive collection of brain power and coaching prowess you could imagine. Yet their packages can be dumbed down for a couple of amateurs like us. They do it all, from newbies to pros, and they do it all very well. They get attention/press based on the pro cyclists and triathletes they coach, but it’s much more important to me for them to be able to turn a weekend warrior into a stronger competitor. I found it very convenient that we were located in Philly and have access to this place, but as it turns out, you can establish a coaching relationship and participate in training sessions from anywhere in the world. In early 2008 Cadence will be launching Cadence.tv. It is a completely interactive online training system that allows you to be a part of professionally-coached training sessions either live or On-Demand. If it rolls out as described it could be an awesome training tool. We’re signing up right away, and we will pass on our reviews as soon as possible with the good the bad and the ugly.

We’re really excited that Mike was willing to clear room in his schedule for us. He has an impressive professional resume and has competed and won at the top levels of road racing, mountain bike racing and cyclo-cross. Most important to us is his ability to transfer his knowledge and experience to make us better. He’s done it before, and we’re hoping he can do it again. He’s turned rookies into seasoned vets. He’s turned amateurs into pros, and he’s turned pros into champions. Seriously. We’re stoked.

—

Speed = a measure of the velocity of the bike, measured in mph or kph. Speed is not a good measure of exertion or intensity while cycling because it is greatly affected by opposing forces such as wind, grade, road surface, drafting, gravity (body & bike weight), aerodynamic profile and friction (drivetrain efficiency) as well as power. It is important to remember though, that races are won by the fastest rider, not the rider with the most power. Speed = Power – Opposing Forces (aerodynamic, gravity, rolling resistance) so in the end a rider must optimize this equation by increasing power and decreasing opposing forces as much as possible to produce maximum speed.

Intensity Factor (IF) = the normalized power for a ride with respect to the functional threshold of the rider = NP/FT. Therefore an effort at 100% of threshold should equal an IF of 1.0. If the rider has an IF of over 1.05 for over an hour, their functional threshold may have increased since the last test (or their power meter needs to be calibrated)

Functional Threshold (FT) = the maximum power a rider can produce for a period of 60 minutes. This can be estimated by completing a 60 minute time trial, a 60 minute “race-type effort” with a high normalized power (commonly a difficult criterium or fast group ride), by taking 95% of the power produced in a 20 minute time trial, 90% of the power produced in an 8 minute time trial or by completing a lactate threshold test in the lab.

Normalized Power (NP) = calculated power over a given duration that better takes into account non-steady state efforts. Average power will decrease if there are significant recovery periods during warmup, cooldown or in between efforts but the stress of the ride does not necessarily decrease (think of driving a car… you can average under the speed limit but it doesn’t mean you won’t get a ticket). Therefore, average power is not a good measure of exertion for non steady state efforts such as races, hilly rides and many group rides. Normalized power should reflect the actual intensity of the effort. It is calculated by taking a 30 second rolling average of the power values, taking these values to the 4th power, averaging these values and taking the 4th route of this number. Therefore, when the power spikes very high, these spikes will be given exponential weighting. For example, a criterium may produce an average power of only 160 watts (due to the regular periods of coasting) but the same race might yield a normalized power of 280 watts (due to the many accelerations). Though normalized power is a very good measure of true exertion, because NP works on a 30 second rolling average, rides with power spikes of less than 30 seconds may not be weighted as highly as expected and likewise other rides that contain maximal efforts of 30-60 seconds may be weighted more highly than expected.

Wowza, Adam and I met a lot of people on Friday at the Interbike Trade Show in Las Vegas. We flew there just for the show. I know it is Vegas, but for us there was no gambling, no booze, and no women (besides the occasional “booth model”). There was lots and lots of talking about our expedition called 10 Degrees of Latitude.

We talked to so many people and got so much great feedback and support… that we thought we’d give shoutouts to our best friends from the show.

Bellwether – one big shoutout to our friend Barry who makes the technical clothes that will keep us warm in wet wet Scotland
Cadence Cycle – shoutout to Matt, def the best shop for training and gear on the eastern sea board
Tyr – swim gear for the Channel (and complimentary jelly beans) from Ryan
Fizik – shout out to Brett for talking to us about his amazing saddles
Gu – shout out to Holly who recently joined Gu from Muddy Buddy
Cervelo – entreprenerial company. Nice booth with a wind tunnel and everything, thanks Betsy, Chris and Tom!
Velovie – thank Homayoon! You told us about how you founded this company and what it takes to win in this industry
Specialized – thanks for setting us up with badges Vince!
Rolf – best quote of the show. I say, “Hi I’m Neal”. He says, “Hi I’m Rolf”. I say, “Like Rolf of Rolf”. He says, “Uhm, yes!”.
Slime – shout out to our main-girl Jamie who talked to us about Wharton
Campagnolo – special thanks to Brian for meeting with us after closing hours to talk about his amazing componentry
Wilier – shout out to Gianmarco who lives a few blocks from both Adam and I, let’s get a beer sometime soon
Speedplay – hello to Andy, one of the first companies to give us advice and help us along
Orbea – thanks Steve
BMC – definitely the most physically imposing (and nicest) national sales rep we met.
Powerbar – shout out to Mike McQueeney and the Powerbar team for being so cool and storing our luggage in their booth
Ochsner – hello to Russel and Rudy. Definitely the best training software we saw all show
An extra special  note to Tom Shinkle and Reghan Denny, my uncle and cousin, for the best advice ever!

Want to raise money for an expedition? You have to visit your sport’s trade show!

If you want to raise money for an expedition I suggest attending trade shows like this for four reasons:

1. Face to face meetings with your prospective sponsors inspires huge trust. Makes getting sponsorship more likely.
2. Seeing the gear first hand lets you know which gear you want most
3. Giving your pitch in-person is great practice for giving it on the phone later 
4. Trade shows are fun

We came to raise money and get gear sponsors for 10 Degrees Latitude Europe (July 2008). We made business cards (see contact page) and printed a one-page double-sided flyer. The business cards do a good job of establishing credibility and showing that we aren’t just a couple of schmucks. The flyer summarized our goals, needs and value proposition.

Adam and I spent 14 hours in Vegas. 4 hours at the airport, 2 hours in transit, 2 hours eating, and 6 hours at the conference. It was a PACKED 6 hours. We visited with over 40 companies, most of them together. And it was totally worth it. People responded very well to our goals, had positive things to say, and we already have many verbal commits from the best brands in biking.

As is always the case, we couldn’t have done it without our friends… My cousin Reghan gave us entrance passes (care of our friends at Specialized). Our friend Matt from Cadence Cycles advocated for us with amazing introductions to his favorite manufacturers. Even the people at the concessions counter were on our side (2 for 1 hotdogs).

More to come about our favorite gear from Interbike 2007!

We figured he would know a thing or two about swimming in general. It also happens he had some specific advice for distance swimming training techniques. We came away from the conversation with so much good advice that we thought we would share it with all of you.

Tips from Mike:

1. Keep heart rate below 130 bpm for as long as possible. Endurance training is all about conserving energy. See how long you can keep heart rates below 130, start at 1000 meters, then 2500 meters, then 3000 meters. Keep working up until recovery time is instantaneous.
2. Distance swimmers avoid kicking hard. The distance swimming kick cadence is half the racers kick cadence.
3. Train at least 5 days per week.
4. If you try to just swim for 2 hours straight you’ll die of boredom. It’ll be like banging your head against the wall. Swimming is all about mixing it up. Mix it up with the pull buoy, kickboard. Do sets of 200, 400, or whatever. Mix up strokes and set length. Keep it fresh.
5. Keep rest between sets below 30 seconds, if you need more rest then you are already working too hard and your heart rate is too fast for ideal endurance training
6. Find outdoor swims to train. He recommended Sunkist in Atlantic City to us or swims during the winter in Florida (although this requires travel for us).
7. Pools should be kept between 78 and 83. He has his pool hot because “his boys are fat”. The hotter the water the more you sweat. This struck me, since I don’t feel myself sweating when I swim, but I guess we all do. Makes me think the water is probably pretty close, but I guess there is no sense dwelling on this since I’m going to swim anyway.
8. Distance swimmers typically do 7000 meters daily and 12000 on a double day. 6-7 days per week.

Mike starts and ends every discussion with us by saying “you guys are nuts”. He’s a totally good guy.