Here is a video from Bicycling Magazine by Executive Editor Bill Strickland.

Last night I swam in black glass. We jumped into the San Francisco Bay ocean water after dark. It was so darn peaceful as the light of the Ghirardelli Chocholate Factory shone across the black glassy water. These are the nights that can make any workday worth living. It was a wonderful cold water training swim. My buddy Dave joined us for the apres-swim sauna then we all went back to a French place and talked about adventures past and adventures future. These are the days worth remembering.

Adam has been training these days too in Denver, where the temperatures have dropped down at night to the 40s, so I suspect most of his training has been on the Wilier cycles (shameless plug, sorry, but we love these guys).

Hope everyone’s training is going awesome. Take care.

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"

• Wilier – Cento Uno
• Bellwether – Brilliant new line for 2009
• Cervelo – P4
• Gu – Roctane!
• Giro – New 2009 Helmets
• LAS – New 2009 Helmets
• Colagno – CX-1 Frame
• Garmin – 705 (officially launches in January)
• Wilier – Cento Crono Tri Bike (officially launched June ’08)
• Cytomax – Functional Beverages such as MuscleMilk
• Zipp – 404′s/808′s/1080′s redesigned for 2009 (even FASTER!

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

• Edinburgh to  Newcastle
• 110 miles
• 6875 feet climbed
• Winds: 15 mph sustained, gusting to 35 mph
• 6500 sheep; 1200 cows

Tough Roads; Tough Weather. Today turned into quite a late day. We looked at the altitude profile last night, and it looked like a tame day compared with the rest of our days in Scotland. Although our tallest peaks were much lower than in the Highlands, the constant undulation, led to a ‘climb total’ significantly greater than that of any previous day. This together with the high winds, made for slow speeds and a very long day in the saddle. (nearly 1.5 times as long as my last century ride)

A shout-out to Willier, especially Gianmarco Cilli, General Manager of WIllier North America. Willier is among the best frame makers in the world. Team Lampre (best in Italy) is currently riding Willier up mountains in the Tour de France. The tight carbon weave in their frames is simultaneously forgiving enough on the rough Scottish roads, yet stiff enough to climb the Scottish highlands. Even after a long 110 mile ride, as we had today, the Willier frame keeps us wanting more.


Another shout-out to the Best Western Roker Hotel in New Castle, especially reservation managers Kavita and Jill. This hotel is beach side on the North Sea with a great billiard room and restaurant. Some of us dipped our feet in the North Sea before pedaling on down the coast.

For our training here in Philadelphia these bikes have been seeing a lot more action now that the weather is sunny and warm. The river in the background is the same river that we swim.

[UPDATE] Friday April 25, At day break today we took the bikes out for a 50-mile ride. On the way back we watched a guy get struck by a car on his Kuota carbon. The guy’s shoulder and his anodized Fulcrum wheelset bore the brunt of the impact. We helped him collect his stuff and check his wheel. He was OK and biked away from the accident. Close call that one.

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!