Review - X-Lab Gorilla Cage

Below is a guest post by ZenTri friend and Coach Matthew Bates.  Thanks, Matty B!

Anyone who has tried a seat-mounted rear water bottle holder has probably experienced the "Ejecting Bottles" and has felt the first hand frustration. While I considered going "Al-Sultan" on the problem, I just couldn't pull off the speedo.

I have tried different angles of mounting the cages and have tried every water bottle cage from $5-$50. The final straw came in my 70.3 when I ejected a very important nutrition bottle that exploded it's contents on impact with the asphalt. Now it was personal.

It seems obvious now that the company who makes my rear water bottle holder would make the best cages to match, but it took much heartache to get here. The X-lab Gorilla Cage has been the most dependable and reliable cage I have ever used. The company claims the secret is, "The cage has over 2X the gripping force of conventional carbon cages due to the 6 high shouldered carbon gripping fingers, tall retention tab at the top and thicker carbon".

I have ridden over train tracks, seriously bumpy roads (IronBaby - Thanks, Brett), and everything that would ever eject and bottle and nothing happened! I have talked friends out of using duct tape, Livestrong bracelets and old inner tubes to keep the bottles from ejecting, and they all have never looked back (literally).

At a measly 38 grams they won't add much weight at all to your bike, although the $50 price tag can be a bit high; but is worth every penny!

Pros: Holds bottles and won't let go Look cool on the bike

Cons: Price

Welcome to the Off-Season!

 

If you're a tri-geek dwelling in the Northern Hemisphere, it's getting be time to put away all that lube (bike chain and otherwise) and cogitate about other endeavours.  It's off-season time!

Taking a break from the sport of kings, and let's not forget triathlon, let's your body recover and rest up for next year.  The continuous pounding you give yourself isn't good in the long-term.  You need a break.

One common mistake a lot of triathletes make is to go from triathlon training right into run training for marthons and other big events.  It's fine to switch gears, but put it in nuetral first for a few weeks before getting all crazy with the Phidippides dreams.

Practicing Zen, we find that one of the hardest things to do is let go.  Once you are into something, it is hard to see the world from the outside.  If you could view your world from the outside, the outside you would say something profound like, "Chill out, dude."

What would you like to do over the off-season?  Leave your thoughts (and any loose change) in the comments!

Podcast - IronBaby 2011

Click Here to Listen to the Show!

Join in as friends and I knock out a totally self-supported 140.6 mile ultra triathlon!  We raised almost $2,000 for Mikey; a local kid in need of surgery for Hirschsprung's Disease.  Along with audio from the swim, bike, and run, we captured some great videos below - 

And remember, you can still donate!  Go to the Ironbaby page to find out more!

Click here to listen!

Lazer Tardis Helmet Review

Below is a guest post by ZenTri friend and Coach Matthew Bates.  Thanks, Matty B!

I decided to try the Tardiz Aero Helmet after my old aero helmet was busted while moving houses, so I was very excited based on all the features that Lazer packed into their helmet.  Racing with an aero helmet is the cheapest time you can shave off your race, meaning that for how much money you spend you can save the most seconds off your bike. Some experts have even said that an aero helmet will shave as much time off your bike split as aero wheels and for 1/5^th the price!

Unboxing the helmet is a dream as it come in very cozy foam cut box that you can use for future storage. Instantly you are struck with the venting, great design and loads of technology in this helmet. The venting includes 3 front and 3 back vents for great heat dispersion here in Texas. The rear dimples are meant to improve the aerodynamics even when you can’t hold that perfect TT position for the entire race. Whether that works or not, I will leave up to you.

The two most interesting feature to me are Lazer’s Rollsys and the Aquavent. The Rollsys is Lazer's way of having the helmet grab onto your head and keep it steady. This system is amazing and features the wheel pictured on the outside of the helmet for easy and reliable adjustment. The Aquavent is a thing of beauty here in Texas. It is a big open port on the top of the helmet that lets you pour cold water in the hot and it disperses the water evenly throughout the helmet. It works amazingly well! I used it on a hot summer day and was borderline shivering after 5 minutes. Another nice feature is the magnetic helmet buckle that made my last transition super smooth. The only hitch is it’s sometimes a bit hard to unbuckle it properly, so make sure to practice before your next big race.

After about ten rides in the helmet I can truly say that it will be in the permanent collection. It fits relatively well, it is super quiet and every feature works just as advertised.  I can’t make any wide claims about it shaving time off my bike rides, but I can say that it sure does make me look a lot faster! My biggest complaint is that Lazer’s sizing only comes in two sizes: XS-M or L-XL. I think that my perfect size is somewhere in between as the XS-M rides a bit high and the L-XL is far too big. Other than that, this helmet is an amazing speed demon that for the money is easily worth every penny!

Pros:

• Fast looking
• Great design
• Rollsys makes fit perfect and easy to adjust
• Aquavent is perfect for hot weather

Cons:

• Sizing can be difficult for some
• Magnetic buckle takes practice

Price $180

IronBaby 2011 a Success!

Just a quick note that IronBaby 2011 was a huge success and we will have more updates on Wednesday.  As of right now, we raised over $1,800 for Mikey!  Lots of videos, pictures and an entire podcast coming very soon!