Here's an update on MIT Cycling Team.  A team of six riders traveled to Colorado Springs, CO at the beginning of the month to compete in the Collegiate National Track Championships.  This was the first time that they sent both a full men's team and a full women's team.  After three days of racing, and head-to-head competition with DePauw University, the team came away with a first place for the Division II Team Omnium!  The full story and photos are on their website (http://cycling-club.scripts.mit.edu/blog/?p=11) and (http://cycling-club.scripts.mit.edu/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=12).

Also, for the team's accomplishments during the last year, MIT has been recently ranked as the top Division II collegiate cycling team in the nation!

LUNA Pro Triathlete Tyler Stewart Hosts an Indoor Trainer Session, Raffle, and Silent Auction to Raise Money for the Northern California Cancer Center 

San Francisco, CA - Sept 29, 2008  Tyler Stewart, the newest member of the LUNA Pro Triathlon Team, recently completed a unique indoor cycling session as part of her efforts to raise money for the Northern California Cancer Center through the Janus Charity Challenge. Held at Endurance Performance Training Centers (PTC) in San Francisco, participants paid $447.59 to ride with Stewart on a simulation of the Kona course for 4 hours, 47 minutes and 59 seconds - her world-record Ironman bike split time.  Tyler used the event as a vehicle to raise money for the Norther California Cancer Center, as well as a chance to get in valuable training in the weeks leading up to Ironman World Championships in Hawaii.

Here's Tyler's recap of the exciting event.

(You can also click on this link to see a video of the last few minutes of the ride)

What takes 4 hours, 47 minutes and 59 seconds?  On November 3, 2007, it was the amount of time I took riding my way into the record books for the fastest female Ironman bike split of all time at Ironman Florida.  On September 6, 2008, it was the amount of time a very special group of people ranging in age from early twenties to early sixties, sat on their bikes on indoor trainers to raise money for the Northern California Cancer Center.  Both were brutal but one made me feel like I was making a difference and had so much more meaning for me.

Let me back up a bit.  My stepdad, Don was diagnosed with lung cancer in August 2006 and in March 2007 was told he had one year to live.  He is still with us and still comes to all my races and uses his very spare breaths to yell and encourage me as I race.  In fact, Don covered every inch of the race course that day at Ironman Florida cheering me on every step of the way - except, of course, during the swim but since Don was a college swimmer I would have loved to have him out there with me!

While sitting at the awards ceremony for Ironman Florida, my husband Johnny, my friend Diane Henry and I sat there in awe as the top fundraisers in the Janus Charity Challenge took the stage.  I quickly decided that I wanted to spend the 2008 season raising money for Don while he was still alive, as a tribute to him and the 1,500 Americans that die every day from cancer.  I qualified for Kona at Ironman Florida and after learning more about the Janus Charity Challenge program, it seemed like a no brainer to me. Next up was picking the right charity and after exploring several organizations we settled on the Northern California Cancer Center which is dedicated not only to preventing cancer but also improving the quality of life for those living with cancer.

As you might imagine, I'm a fairly competitive person so once I decided I was going to do this, I wanted to raise as much money as possible.  But asking people for money - particularly in this economy - is hard. In addition to the normal letter writing to friends and local businesses we wanted to have a big event and one of the first ideas that came up was to hold an indoor cycling class at Endurance Performance Training Centers for 4:47.59.  People immediately thought this was a crazy idea.  The average person wasn't built to sit on the trainer for that long, and did I mention that we decided people would have to pay $447.59 for their "seat" in the class?  Hey, you have to do something a little crazy in order to generate energy and convince people that it's worthy of the dollars leaving their checking account. 

On September 6th, we held the event at the San Francisco location of my sponsor, Endurance PTC, a 4:47.59 indoor ride while watching Racermate's Ironman Hawaii bike course on the big screen.  The room was packed, the energy level was high and the sweat was pouring: 19 people, 19 bikes, 38 water bottles, 57 towels, 19 LUNA sport visors, and plenty of individual canisters of chamois butter.  Charlie Livermore, founder of Endurance PTC, my coach Matt Dixon and I all split duties orchestrating the ride.  I know you are wondering by now if I actually rode with the class. Of course I did!  We watched the Kona course before us, Charlie helped us with technique work on our pedal stroke, Matt talked about nutrition and fueling, his experiences coaching me and even did a little blood lactate testing on the group.  I taught the class and turned the music louder as I encouraged this group to stay on their bikes and commit to something that was larger than the 4:47.59 they would spend on their bikes.

I have to say I was so impressed with how everyone did.  No one complained, everyone suffered and everyone ended with a smile.  Whether they were smiling about being done, about what they had accomplished or about how much chamois butter they used I'll never know.  However, I was asked by several people if I would make this a yearly event since they had "missed out" so I'd call that a success.  I'd also call it a success that the 4:47.59 class raised more than $8,500 for the Northern California Cancer Center. 

After the ride was completed the party, which included a raffle and silent auction, got started.  I have to admit that when I first committed to raising money for the Northern California Cancer Center I was afraid of failure which I think is probably pretty normal. As the event got closer I wondered if my sponsors would be willing to donate anything or if I could even get enough people to come to the event to make it a success.

I called each of my sponsors and told them about my event and asked for their help and the response was unbelievable.  I called Clif Bar and asked if they could spare some nutrition for the ride. Eric Walle sent boxes of nutrition, visors and water bottles for everyone. Beyond product support, the Clif Bar Foundation also stepped in with a $5,000 donation - I was amazed and so thankful for the support.  They are a company that really practices what they preach and I couldn't ask for a more supportive sponsor. I called David Cathcart at Powertap and asked if he could donate something for the event. Two days later a fully built up Mavic wheel with a 2.4 wireless Powertap was sent to my door.  I called Orbea and asked if they could help and Tony Karlins sent over two bikes that we used as the grand prizes for our raffle.  Everyone I called and asked not only sent me what I asked for, but went above and beyond and sent more items and donated more money. 

Throughout the night we had over 150 people come through the doors, we raffled over 75 prizes, had a silent auction with another 25 prizes and at the end of the night we had raised over $25,000.  So much for me being worried about my event being a success!

I can't imagine doing this event without the help of Clif Bar, the LUNA Pro Team, Powertap, Orbea, Endurance Performance Training Centers, my friend Diane Henry, my coach Matt Dixon and of course my husband Johnny and my stepdad Don.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!  Now I can only hope that we continue to raise more money on my way to Kona, that my race in Kona will go as well as the event, that Don will fight as hard as the people that took the class, and we will all win this war against cancer.  Together we can all make a difference!

LUNA Pro Triathlete Tyler Stewart Hosts an Indoor Trainer Session, Raffle, and Silent Auction to Raise Money for the Northern California Cancer Center 

San Francisco, CA - Sept 29, 2008  Tyler Stewart, the newest member of the LUNA Pro Triathlon Team, recently completed a unique indoor cycling session as part of her efforts to raise money for the Northern California Cancer Center through the Janus Charity Challenge. Held at Endurance Performance Training Centers (PTC) in San Francisco, participants paid $447.59 to ride with Stewart on a simulation of the Kona course for 4 hours, 47 minutes and 59 seconds - her world-record Ironman bike split time.  Tyler used the event as a vehicle to raise money for the Norther California Cancer Center, as well as a chance to get in valuable training in the weeks leading up to Ironman World Championships in Hawaii.

Here's Tyler's recap of the exciting event.

(You can also click on this link to see a video of the last few minutes of the ride)

What takes 4 hours, 47 minutes and 59 seconds?  On November 3, 2007, it was the amount of time I took riding my way into the record books for the fastest female Ironman bike split of all time at Ironman Florida.  On September 6, 2008, it was the amount of time a very special group of people ranging in age from early twenties to early sixties, sat on their bikes on indoor trainers to raise money for the Northern California Cancer Center.  Both were brutal but one made me feel like I was making a difference and had so much more meaning for me.

Let me back up a bit.  My stepdad, Don was diagnosed with lung cancer in August 2006 and in March 2007 was told he had one year to live.  He is still with us and still comes to all my races and uses his very spare breaths to yell and encourage me as I race.  In fact, Don covered every inch of the race course that day at Ironman Florida cheering me on every step of the way - except, of course, during the swim but since Don was a college swimmer I would have loved to have him out there with me!

While sitting at the awards ceremony for Ironman Florida, my husband Johnny, my friend Diane Henry and I sat there in awe as the top fundraisers in the Janus Charity Challenge took the stage.  I quickly decided that I wanted to spend the 2008 season raising money for Don while he was still alive, as a tribute to him and the 1,500 Americans that die every day from cancer.  I qualified for Kona at Ironman Florida and after learning more about the Janus Charity Challenge program, it seemed like a no brainer to me. Next up was picking the right charity and after exploring several organizations we settled on the Northern California Cancer Center which is dedicated not only to preventing cancer but also improving the quality of life for those living with cancer.

As you might imagine, I'm a fairly competitive person so once I decided I was going to do this, I wanted to raise as much money as possible.  But asking people for money - particularly in this economy - is hard. In addition to the normal letter writing to friends and local businesses we wanted to have a big event and one of the first ideas that came up was to hold an indoor cycling class at Endurance Performance Training Centers for 4:47.59.  People immediately thought this was a crazy idea.  The average person wasn't built to sit on the trainer for that long, and did I mention that we decided people would have to pay $447.59 for their "seat" in the class?  Hey, you have to do something a little crazy in order to generate energy and convince people that it's worthy of the dollars leaving their checking account. 

On September 6th, we held the event at the San Francisco location of my sponsor, Endurance PTC, a 4:47.59 indoor ride while watching Racermate's Ironman Hawaii bike course on the big screen.  The room was packed, the energy level was high and the sweat was pouring: 19 people, 19 bikes, 38 water bottles, 57 towels, 19 LUNA sport visors, and plenty of individual canisters of chamois butter.  Charlie Livermore, founder of Endurance PTC, my coach Matt Dixon and I all split duties orchestrating the ride.  I know you are wondering by now if I actually rode with the class. Of course I did!  We watched the Kona course before us, Charlie helped us with technique work on our pedal stroke, Matt talked about nutrition and fueling, his experiences coaching me and even did a little blood lactate testing on the group.  I taught the class and turned the music louder as I encouraged this group to stay on their bikes and commit to something that was larger than the 4:47.59 they would spend on their bikes.

I have to say I was so impressed with how everyone did.  No one complained, everyone suffered and everyone ended with a smile.  Whether they were smiling about being done, about what they had accomplished or about how much chamois butter they used I'll never know.  However, I was asked by several people if I would make this a yearly event since they had "missed out" so I'd call that a success.  I'd also call it a success that the 4:47.59 class raised more than $8,500 for the Northern California Cancer Center. 

After the ride was completed the party, which included a raffle and silent auction, got started.  I have to admit that when I first committed to raising money for the Northern California Cancer Center I was afraid of failure which I think is probably pretty normal. As the event got closer I wondered if my sponsors would be willing to donate anything or if I could even get enough people to come to the event to make it a success.

I called each of my sponsors and told them about my event and asked for their help and the response was unbelievable.  I called Clif Bar and asked if they could spare some nutrition for the ride. Eric Walle sent boxes of nutrition, visors and water bottles for everyone. Beyond product support, the Clif Bar Foundation also stepped in with a $5,000 donation - I was amazed and so thankful for the support.  They are a company that really practices what they preach and I couldn't ask for a more supportive sponsor. I called David Cathcart at Powertap and asked if he could donate something for the event. Two days later a fully built up Mavic wheel with a 2.4 wireless Powertap was sent to my door.  I called Orbea and asked if they could help and Tony Karlins sent over two bikes that we used as the grand prizes for our raffle.  Everyone I called and asked not only sent me what I asked for, but went above and beyond and sent more items and donated more money. 

Throughout the night we had over 150 people come through the doors, we raffled over 75 prizes, had a silent auction with another 25 prizes and at the end of the night we had raised over $25,000.  So much for me being worried about my event being a success!

I can't imagine doing this event without the help of Clif Bar, the LUNA Pro Team, Powertap, Orbea, Endurance Performance Training Centers, my friend Diane Henry, my coach Matt Dixon and of course my husband Johnny and my stepdad Don.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!  Now I can only hope that we continue to raise more money on my way to Kona, that my race in Kona will go as well as the event, that Don will fight as hard as the people that took the class, and we will all win this war against cancer.  Together we can all make a difference!

I was at Interbike last week showing off two new products we will be releasing in 2009.  A lot of people came by our booth to check out our new PathFinder Series which is a line of cycling computers with a built-in commuter headlight.   The best part is that it is cheaper than buying a light and a computer separately. 

The other product we revealed at the show is called CycloWatch.  It is a HRM that can be mounted on the bike and used as a cycling computer.  This is our first product that uses ANT+Sport.  This is a communication protocol that is being adopted by many of the major players in the industry.  Using this technology, we will be releasing a new top-of-the-line computer in 2009.  Trust me, you guys are going to wowed by this computer once you see what it can do. 

Drop us a comment or message.  I look forward to hearing from all you Vetta fans out there.