Gianmarco Cilli, who operates Wilier US, was calmly pleased to tell us that the “Cento Uno” (101) will be the bike of Alessandro Ballan in 2009. This is a new frame from Wilier that represents the leading thinking in bicycle innovation today. We were impressed with what we saw.

According to Harry Ault of Wilier, “the frame has become quite a spectacle at this year’s Interbike.” We can see why, the curved top tube carries through to a continuous curve around the seatstays and the beefy chainstays. This is elegant and carries the stresses better. The 101 uses “46Ton” carbon, the world’s strongest, most resilient fiber.

The frame integrates several elements to create stiff parsimony and reduce weight.

• The rear triangle is now more fully integrated. Chainstays and seatstays are unified as a single (monocoque) unit. They are asymmetrical, with the drive side chainstay lowered to prevent chain slap. Instead of conventional joining of the chain and seatstays at a sharp angle, the angle has been “softened” to dampen and dissipate road surface impacts and vibrations. The drive side chainstay also has a textured alloy sleeve for protection.
• Taking the integration one step further, the 101 includes a new integrated bottom bracket shell. Bearings are now installed directly into the frame. This design does away with the need for externally-mounted bearing cups and integrates seamlessly with the most popular cranksets.

The Cento Uno is sold as a frame, fork and headset package for $4300. Six sizes from XS to XXL are available and the bike will come in 5 color schemes. 2 years of crash replacement are included with the frame.

Like I said, we were impressed.

The Wilier Cento Uno "101"

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.

On September 26 Adam and Neal will be at the Interbike Trade Show in Las Vegas. With over 1,000 of the top brands and nearly 23,000 attendees from over 60 countries, Interbike is the largest bicycle trade show in the world. We’ll be there to deepen relationships with existing sponsors and establish new relationships with innovative companies that are interested in getting involved in our adventure race.

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.

• 80 miles
• Ingelmunster, Belgium to Fin, France
• Gorgeous countryside, 15 mph headwind
• 4 baguettes in rear pockets, 3 weddings, 7 barets

Holy smokes was it blowing out there today, but we pushed through. The French countryside was gorgeous, which made it easier. We started in Belgium and crossed the border into France during our ride. Belgium was industrial. France was filled with agrarian villages … and WEDDINGS.

Just by chance, we got to be a part of three French wedding motorcades. The cars were decorated and driving the same speed as we were biking. Everyone was happy and honking. We said “Bonjour” with our best frenchy accents. It was awesome.

Here are some pictures from the day. Time for us to rest up now, tomorrow is a 130 mile day.

This blog post is dedicated to our friends at Zipp Speed Weaponry, especially our friend Greg Kopecky, Sponsorship Coordinator. Our bicycles have a 808 rear wheel, and 404 front wheel. This configuration is becoming the sine qua non for triathletes worldwide. The aerodynamic dimples in the carbon rim are the same as golf balls and race cars.

A shout-out to Best Western Hotel Les Beaux Arts in downtown Compiegne, France. Special thanks to managers Talvay and Ouidade for making us feel so at home. The rooms were the biggest we’ve had yet and the location was right along our route and on the river. Best Western Hotel Les Beaux Arts. +33 3 44922626. 33 Cours Guynemer, Compiègne, France.

14 hours 23 minutes

We made it! Everyone helped! It was awesome!

It was a gorgeous day for a swim from England to France. The middle map pretty well tells the story of our relay swim across the English Channel. We started the morning off strong on Shakespeare Beach and finished the day cold and weary just as the sun was dipping below the ocean horizon. Aches, pains, cold, and sea sickness took their toll, but they all disappeared as I walked up on the shores of France. Stay tuned for a longer trip log with more color. For now we are working through all these wonderfully supportive emails from loved ones and sponsors. Thanks for your warm vibes, we felt them in the cold channel!

A shout-out to Suunto, especially our friend Martin Schamboeck, Sports Marketing Manager. Adam swam with a T6 and Neal swam with a Core. Whether we’re defending presidents (as Adam has) or climbing Everest (as Neal has), Suunto is on our wrists. They also have this really cool software that we used during our bike rides to chart heart rate, speed and distance.

In this blog post we wanted to give a SHOUT-OUT to all the folks out there who are reading us:

• Katie/Holly/Greg/Matt/Marie & all our sponsors who make our adventures possible
• AlexF/Mark/AmyF/Amber/DavidH/Karah & all our athlete friends
• Jim/Betty/Karen/Jessie/Isaac/Tom/Chris and the rest of my wonderful family
• Mark/Tina, Chad/Kylie, Tim/Megan & so many of Adam’s/Amy’s close friends and family
• Lindy/Ben/Jac/Dan/Anthony/Carla/Jonathan & all our bullish Wharton Friends
• Paul/Chad/Steve/Bruce/Barney/Richard and the highly valued Powerset gang (now MSFT)
• Joe/Mike/Maggie/Wendy/Tracy & everyone else in Edina, Minnesota
• Camile, Isaac/Nicole and so many other of my friends from Chaska, Minnesota
• Brandon/LateralLine
• And of course Zoe (with the two dots) who is busily greening our world so 10 Degrees Latitude can continue for centuries more.

Thanks for your support and warm vibes. Stay tuned.

• Newcastle to Leeds
• 90 miles
• 5100 feet climbed
• 4000 sheep; 200 cows; 7 horses

The winds were strong early on, but eased after a few hours.  We fought a similar terrain profile as yesterday for the first 30 miles, but the middle 30 miles of our route was on a highway with more consistent grading and low winds.  We spent a lot of the time riding in the emergency lane, which, despite the heavy traffic, turned out to be ok.  We didn’t get to enjoy our surroundings, but we spent nearly the whole time above 20 miles an hour.  So that was a mental victory we needed after the last day and a half.

These have been heavy endurance days for us.  Our support team has been great.  They insisted on meeting up with us more often today.  I think it was as much to gauge our mental state as physical.  There’s no way we could succeed without them.

Thanks for all of the emails of support from sponsors, friends, and family.

A shout-out to LAS Helmets, especially Alex Perez, Sales Manager. Three factors went into our selection of LAS for our helmets. They are light, aero and aerated. Ohh, and cool looking, gotta have that! The aluminum upper ventilator shovels air into the helmet and adds an extra layer of protection for our noggins.


Another shout-out to the Best Western Merrion Hotel, especially the manager Mark Wakeley who made us feel so at home. This hotel is smack-dab in the center of the city and the breakfast bar is delicious.

The last 3 days has been nuts. The smartest thing we did was to plan in a prep day here in the north of Scotland. The trip from the states was not without its challenges. Several times I thought that all of the planning was going to go out the window at the hand of US Air. Never the less, 36 hours later, we arrived! This is an endurance event isn’t it? Why shouldn’t the trip over have a little endurance aspect to it as well??

Wish us luck. We’ll talk to you all tomorrow.

A shout-out to Betty Hill Hotel, especially Gordon Carr and his family who operate this family run hotel. Our first 2 nights in Scotland have been spent at this wonderful B&B, known as much for their restaurant as their lodging. They’ve been great and very supportive. We took up most of their front entry way putting our bikes together, and spent the rest of the day making final route preps, communicating with sponsors and loved ones. The lodge was filled with people here to fish and enjoy countryside. The locally sourced food is delicious and the common areas have breathtaking views of this northern sea-side paradise.

In mid/late December we finally got everything sorted out with a great sponsor – Gu Sports. We met one of their superstars, Holly Bennett at Interbike, and she’s been nothing but fantastic ever since. I have been a fan of Gu energy gels since I first started in triathlons almost 10 years ago, so Neal and I made a concerted effort at the trade show to seek them out and try and get them onboard. Gu has been extremely generous to us, and we couldn’t be happier to have them as a sponsor. Most people know them for their gels, but you have to try the GU2O. It’s got a much lighter and less syrupy flavor than Gatorade or Powerade, which is why I like it. It goes down much easier during a long workout. I’m normally a lemon-lime guy, but to be honest, not so much with GU2O. Although it’s growing on me. Right now Raspberry is what gets me through.

What’s your brand/flavor of choice? Post a comment and let us know!

These guys make everything you need to outfit a cyclist from head to toe in good weather and bad. As with any equipment we use we will give a full review to you as soon as we can. All reviews will be completely unbiased regardless of any partnerships or sponsorship agreements. What good is a review if we can’t give it to you straight?

Grass Roots Appeal: Our idea from the outset was to build a business plan around this event that would leverage our backgrounds and the unique and exciting nature of the endeavor to garner interest from multi-sport enthusiasts. Our ability to effectively reach a specific demographic in a new and interesting way was the key to opening the door with many  companies. The most common feedback has been that big sponsorship does not sell bikes/equipment. They sell equipment when the “regular athlete” sees other “regular athletes” riding their bikes or using their equipment. When they met us face-to-face, we were able to demonstrate our ability/appeal to sell their product to their target market. Companies see thousands of similar proposals each year. What set us apart to the point where they were willing to commit? We were not just another team of pro athletes, looking for a handout. We talked with them about their companies and engaged them in business conversations. We talked about how to add value to their company.

We’ve got a lot in the cooker right now, and we’re hoping to have some great news in the coming days and weeks.  We’ll keep you posted.  Now I have to get off my butt and get to the pool again to try and clear all the sludge from my muscles.

Everything about this trek is moving in fast forward. We are in the final stages of securing our pilot boats. These are the boats that will drive next to us during the swim. Although we are not allowed to touch the boats at any time, they are there to protect and feed us. They are extremely excited to be a part of 10 degrees. For those of you who are new to the swimming world, the English Channel swim requires the services of a pilot boat. Weather and tides can be a killer, and a good pilot is crucial to navigating both. Many say that a successful swim is 25% your ability, 75% pilot’s ability.

This is the most innovative idea we saw. A belt driven chain. Lower weight, less grime, and feasibly less expensive components. Check it out:

Your can read more about it here.

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 are headed to Las Vegas to attend the world’s largest bicycle trade show. The conference is called Interbike.These trade shows are amazing, 22,000 attendees, 9000 brands, all under one roof. They are a critical event for those seeking sponsorship (like us) and a lot of fun too.

Both of us are going. We will be in Las Vegas for about 18 hours, so it’s all about the time management.

Goals
1. Find a bike frame sponsor.
2. Lay groundwork to raise $30,000.
3. Meet some nice people.

Wish us luck!