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.

“Where do you guys swim in these competition?” Is the common question you get from outsiders when you tell them that you are competing in a Wintertriathlon. “There is no swimming. Running, Mountainbiking and lastly some Nordic skating!” That’s what you have to do to end a Wintertriathlon.

The closest chance to home to do so is the race in Oberstaufen. The picturesque town in Bavaria is well-known for the race and a small but fine crowd always shows up for the German championships.

It was a warm day today. I decided to wear a short-sleeve shirt for all three disciplines and never had to freeze. Quite crazy during a race that’s supposed to take part on snow solely. The conditions for the first two stages of the race where excellent. Nice and warm as the sun was up and shining bright. After two running laps (around 5k) and four loops on the bike (18k) it was a pretty tough infight throughout the melting snow to finish the 8k Nordic skating leg. No fun to slide around. Pure fighting. Especially when you have a poor skating technique like I do.

Overall a great and fun day. Wintertriathlon is a beautiful and honest multi-sport. Hope I get the chance to return to Oberstaufen next year.

Some pictures at tri2b.com / YouTube / YouTube 2 / YouTube 3 / TriMag

The Junior race during the early stages.

German Champs, Baby!

Winner of the junior race, Johannes Hinterseer, with the quote of the day: “I look like 14 but I’m actually 18!”

Representing!

There is always something new for me in this running game.

I was sure to never miss a start. In Ireland, the country of the notorious late race-start, I was always one of the first runners round the start line. Last Sunday I was the last. I trusted the watch in the changing room. Unfortunately this timepiece wasn’t set accurately. Unlucky.

Spring is here in South-Germany and I decided to jog the first race of the season, the “Weibertreulauf” in Weinsberg. Three race distances were on offer. I wanted to run the half-marathon as part of a long training day. The course is famous for it’s hilly course and so I wanted to get some fast vertical race kilometres in. The day started early as I jogged around a sun soaked and picturesque Weinsberger valley. Spring is here. Love it.

When I came back to get changed for the race I trusted the ancient clock in the changing room and when I jogged down to the start, the race had just begun. Even 30 seconds late is too late. I tried to catch up but the crowd was too huge and I couldn’t overtake on the narrow roads. I sprinted ’til the 1st kilometre mark and had to give up. Back at the race registration I asked to change to the 10k race that was supposed to start 1 hour later. No problem to do so.

I continued my jogging until the 10k race started. With already tired legs I found my rhythm pretty late but was happy with the solid legs on the uphill sections. I still miss the leg-turnover but was pleased with my flat 37 minutes time at the end.

Just a couple of hours before I write this lines my good friend Simone passed away. He lost the fight to cancer. Finally.

People have lost contact with Simone in the last couple of months, as it was very hard to get hold of him. Simo was one of the most committed runners, warmest and smartest human beings I have ever met. Not only the italian and irish running community, which he loved so much, will miss him.

His incredible will-power brought him back not only once. As the disease hit again and again even he couldn’t respond anymore.

I lost a friend. Running lost it’s biggest fan.

Run free “Sumo”.

Crewing for Simo at the 2010 100 km del Passatore

Skin-tight lyrica full-body suits. Bizarre huge sunglasses. Winter-hat’s with Norwegian flags. Faces full off skewer. One has to love that Nordic skating thingy.

After some gentle skidding around with skating skies I decided to actually “race” on them. Well. Kind of contesting I guess. As much as you can “race” after 8-times skating.

The Koasalauf in St.Johann, Austria is a huge one. I did not have a single clue that it is such a biggie. When I saw all the fit looking people beside me in the slopes I got pretty anxious. Close to 2000 people on skies looks like trouble. I was late at the start line and had to wait at the very back. Perhaps a good thing but the passing and uphill queening on the first couple of kilometres was a bit frustrating.

When I finally found my pace after 5 kilometers it was pure racing-pleasure. The final 2 kilometers was a bit of a suffer fest and I was more then staggered when the top guys from the 50k race flew by. Incredible.