Keeping it Aero, Head Injuries, the Pebble, and Elite Women

A few articles have popped up across the series of tubes pertaining to velo culture, news, and updates that the LCBC team has found interesting.

Keeping it Aero

Aerodynamics is here to stay. Although the attention to and incorporation of aerodynamic designs and considerations in cycling have been slow to progress compared to other sports, the topic is now a hot issue and will likely drive cycling technology over the next few years.

VeloNews posted an article about the topic and the slow acceptance of aerodynamic qualities in gear by the pro peloton. There is a plethora of additional information, both on technical and laymen levels, of why aerodynamics plays a huge factor in road cycling, and since some of our racers tote formal technical training on the subject, LCBC looks forward to the further development of aerodynamic qualities as more companies invest in this area of research.

Head Injuries

Another interesting article by VeloNews was posted about USA Cycling discussing head injury protocol during races and the appropriate actions cyclists, teams, and on-hand physicians should be performing post-crash. This has always been a touchy subject, since often times we'll see racers crash and then immediately scramble to get back on their bike without any consideration of potential short or long-term damages that just occurred. No official rules have been implemented, but we won't be surprised when some additional rigor is applied to address this issue at races.


The Pebble


Not directly related to cycling, but really interesting, TechCrunch posted up an article about the Pebble smart watch, which destroyed their KickStarter fundraising goal (raising $1M in 28 hours, with only a $100k goal) and is quite an interesting product with an application towards cycling. The Pebble is a good looking e-paper watch for the iPhone or Android that syncs via bluetooth. Phone information is displayed on the watch based on customized applications, including phone calls, text messages, emails, and music, also including controls and action buttons customized for the applications. The creator is an avid cyclist and found it tedious always stopping to check his phone for various reasons. There is an array of applications from cycling to golf, with endless opportunities as more apps are created. Since we have several tech geeks out there, this is another fun little toy to check out!



Elite Women

And finally, thank you CyclingNews for giving all of us a little cycling eye candy and hope for women's cycling with an article about Ferrand Prevot, an elite French woman cyclist who not only crushes the field at the age of 20, but also has become our new cycling crush (although we're sure she would also crush us on the road too). She has her sights set for the Olympics and we look forward to watching her performance.