Before you might ask. This post is not sponsored!

Nonetheless I would like to give big shout-outs to my good friend Uli and his baby, Gran Fondo New York.

25 days from now on 7.000 cyclist’s from all over the planet will be competing in the 3rd edition of this unique event. Knowing Lidia and Uli, this year’s edition will easily top last years. Again.

Passionate and loyal organizer’s are not the norm these days. One can be 100% sure that the Fluhme household will deliver.

Best of luck if you are already signed up or if you are going to register in the next few days.

George Washington Bridge is waiting for you on Sunday May 19, 2013. Be ready!

There is a gigantic package filled with fanzines in the very, very back of my attic. Somewhere. This box is overflowing with memorials.

I was fascinated with football fanzines – those naive, black-and-white, handmade ‘zines. The only way to get special information “back in the days” was to go and buy the magazines. To get a certain issue you essentially had to travel to one of the few shop’s that were selling or be at a certain bar or stadium. The other option was to send some cash to some address somewhere. Sometimes one received a envelope and sometimes don’t.

I was tempted to throw away my collection several times. Everytime I tried to I found myself, hours later, sitting on the floor reading 15 year old mag’s over and over again.

When I heard of Dom’s “It’s the limit” ‘zine I was instantly hooked and ordered a copy. I wont go into details with the topics. Visit his page. Pay the money. Wait for the envelope to arrive. Get yourself a drink. Enjoy the magic. The Fanzine culture hasn’t lost anything. Paired with running – it is just thrilling and the right medium at the right time. Say’s me. Writing a blog…

If there is somebody around the scene that saw and sold every possible running trend throughout the past decades it must be Rosi and Hans.

Walking in the “Gulyas-Sport” running store in Karlsruhe is like walking into a museum. Black and white race advertisements, awards, shoes and equipment that is older than myself is very hard to oversee.

When Hans and his wife opened the shop they were the first one’s just retailing running gear and shoes in Germany. A lot has happened in the past 36 years. Bulky trainers, lightweight shoes, racing flats or the so-called natural running. The Gulyas household saw and sold it all – with a lot of passion.

Make sure to stop in the Lessingstr.51 on your next visit to Karlsruhe. A unique atmosphere paired with unbeatable knowledge and great products are waiting for you. Maybe for another 30 years and a lot of new trends.

PICTURES

I understand you people are searching for certain well thought out and worthwhile Easter gifts. Don’t look further than the all-new „ Transition & Seat Wrap”.

Did you ever wonder why you take an towel or additional clothes to training? Why bother getting changed after a run? With this remarkable product you don’t even bother.

It seems the creation of useless products we witness at triathlon expos is about to enter the running market. Why bother covering your dirty pants with a 5$ towel when you can spend 40 of your well earned dollars. Just funny but absolutely useless.

Keep it simple!

You don’t really know what It means to wear the “world lightest helmet” until you really feel it. Or not feeling it. The Limar Ultralight+ Road is unreal light.

My model in size L comes in with a weight of 210 gr (size M is 175 gr). During the first couple of rides I regularly had to check if the helmet was still sitting on top of my head.

Other then that there is not much more to say about it. Limar came up with the lightest possible helm solution paired with a crisp design. What more can you ask for at a helmet? Sure! There is one more thing. You want to have it in a special Gran Fondo New York design. Icing on the cake, really.

Nearly for free at GFNY Shop!

Tune of the day: This new Chakuza record is the hook. On repeat since release day. Rad quality music. It has been a while since i was listening to a more complete record. Click HERE and listen but go and buy this piece. Huge work!

“@whityost hopefully we’ll have them shipped out tomorrow. It’s been busy today…”

Recent @asssavers tweets tell the story. The boys in Gothenburg must be pretty hectic today.

Brilliant to see such a small start-up business doing that well. Even outside their initial “single-speed” market. I got given one of the small saver’s a couple of weeks ago and loved it during rainy rides. Just a great, simple idea. Not more to say!

It was just a clever move by Selle San Marco for the Lotto Belisol Team at yesterday’s classic Milano – San Remo. The grueling weather conditions were asking for some new ideas and gimmicks. Adapting such an idea from the “new-skool” cycling world was great.

As Denmark’s Lars Bak was riding in the lead pack he was instantly pushing ass-savers web-sales to an all time high and belgian commentators to wonder.

Grattis!

Pics by K. Ramon & Asssavers

Straight from the presentation of their running shoe collection Skechers got very diverse reviews all along the board. The first range of the “GoRun” series appeared to be thrown on the market way to fast and they were missing a lot of quality and durability in their products.

The attention switched to Skechers again when a certain Olympic silver medal winning US-Marathoner turned out to use the shoes in the US Olympic Marathon trials. Fellow sponsored “Athlete” Britney must have been a happy camper seeing Mebrahtom K. sporting the infamous kicks. It certainly seemed to be a shock to the running community seeing Meb representing the kicks. While wondering around the ISPO-fair in Munich a couple of weeks ago the shoes caught my attention and a couple of days later I received a nice tacky red/lime pair of GoRun 2.

The first thing that clearly sticks out is certainly the color and the weight. To say these shoes look “loud” is an understatement. The weight coming in with 500g for my pair in US 12,5 is pretty light. Also the vigorous thin upper makes the shoe attention-grabbing for every light-weight, minimal nerd.

I am used to train and race in lightweight shoes since years so the GoRun 2 ticks all my “requirement” boxes. Another feature that sticks out is the huge toe box. This could be a problem for some people. I haven’t had any problems, as I prefer the front a bit larger. Another nice feature would be the pretty low front/back drop of the shoe. Well done on that. There is not much of a difference. A good and well thought out feature. The design of the sole is unique as well and worked for me. The grip on a various terrains I ran with the shoe was good. The softness combined with the “bubble-style” does its job on wet trails, light snow and tight corners.

After a test-period of a bit more than two weeks the GoRun 2 leaves a positive impression with me. A well engineered shoe that supports a middle and forefoot running style. Sometimes the sole could have been a bit tighter at the front. When only running forefoot it seems to be a bit too soft.

Looking at the sole after a good bit of road running you can also see that there is a good bit of “wear and tear” up front. Certainly my forefoot running style makes the shoe worn out at certain parts of the sole but seeing so much rubber gone is not normal for me. That certainly goes along with the softness and can be different with anyone else. For a well-trained runner this shoe could be used for  everything from a long distance race to every day training.