Bike Hugger 

Bikes from Redline, Raleigh, Kona, Giant, Ridley are all available at the Northwest Cyclocross Expo tomorrow at South SeaTac Park.

This is not only a celebration of everything cyclocross, it’s an opportunity for riders to look at equipment, talk to manufacturers, and meet racers.

Our Cyclocross coverage will start in September with the first races and full coverage on the Hub. See our Cyclocross Tips page and tags for more. We’re back racing Single Speed in 10 and staying the course!

Uploaded by Hugger Industries | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

The good folks at Swobo made me spit out my high-end sports nutrition supplement today with a posting about an ad for Optigen that features not only Team Astana’s powerful formation, but the, uh, powerful formation of one of the race fans. Click through for the decidedly NSFW image. (Well, I guess it’s safe for work if you work at a nudist colony or porn theater.)

Thanks to @danielberlinger for bringing this to my attention. (Heh, that’s a pun.)

I’m a huge fan of SRAM. That’s likely seeming like an odd way to start a review of Shimano’s electronic Di2 shift system, but I think it’s a rather important contextual point. In the last fifteen years of riding bikes I’d always had Shimano guts doing the heavy work, be it mountain bike groups (like the first XTR, which I still have) or on the road (where I’ve ridden everything from Tiagra to Dura-Ace) I started as a hard-core Shimano rider.

When SRAM’s Force group came along I was smitten. While Shimano parts had always been top-notch, there was something about SRAM’s Force that really spoke to me. The Double-Tap shifting system fit my riding style and there was a crispness to the shifting that I felt was more agile than the then-standard 7800 series Dura Ace.

By the time that 7900 came along I was already riding with SRAM Red on my bike, and participating in an unprecedented campaign to lighten my ride thanks to the lower gram count of the grouppo. I was (except when testing bikes) perfectly content to ride SRAM into the sunset.

Our Summer Merino Wool Ts are on sale now for $59.00 in limited quantities. We are selling and shipping them directly from Hugga HQ.

The Summer Wool T is best used for apres cycling and everyday wear. It’s lightweight in cooler colors for warmer weather. The T is made for us by Ibex with their best wool and looks hella hugga good in our white logo and blue. The tech specs are

• 18.5 Micron Merino wool, 150 g/m2 (lightest weight)
• Semi-fit, Machine washable
• White Screen Bike Hugger Logo and made in USA.

Order Summer Wool Ts

Order directly from Hugga HQ with Paypal. When you do, bells ring, lights flash, and we all run around saying, an order came in, what do we do?!! Eventually we fill the order and high five as it goes out.

Shopping Cart

Mens Sizes

•  Add Mens Medium, Sea Melange to cart. $59.00
  
•  Add Mens Large, Sea Melange to cart. $59.00
  
•  Add Mens X-Large, Sea Melange to cart. $59.00
  

Womens Sizing

•  Add Womens X-Small, Ice Blue to cart. $59.00
  
•  Add Womens Small, Ice Blue to cart. $59.00
  
•  Add Womens Medium, Ice Blue to cart. $59.00
  
•  Add Womens Large, Ice Blue to cart. $59.00
  

Sizing

Men chest sizes:

• Small 36-38”
• Medium 39-41”
• Large 42-45”
• X-large 46-48”

Women shirt size fits:

• Small 4-6
• Medium 8-10”
• Large 12-14”

Shipping

The Summer Wool Ts ship from Hugga HQ via USPS Priority Mail. The first T costs $5.00 to ship and $2.00 for each additional T added to the shopping cart.

Taxes

Washington Residents pay sales tax. It’s calculated upon checkout.

Questions?

Does the massive awesomeness of the T have you confused? Wonder why a T would cost $59.00 (cause it’s Merino wool)? Please ask questions in the comment section below and we’ll figure it out together.

I had a dream last night and when I woke up, this was all I could think of.

KarlOnSea tweeted a photo of a Byron Bike with a Bike Hugger Buddy Flap – don’t know why that bike says Lord Byron on it, but like it ALOT.

Bonus for the buddy flaps!

As a big fan of Hutchinson Tubeless Tires, I’m thrilled to see the continued march toward standardization as more and more companies adopt the 2-way clincher/tubeless rim system.

Current we’re riding a set of Hutch tubeless on a pair of super-smooth Fulcrum wheels (a full review coming soon) but these Campy Eurus (as in “they cost a ton of Euros”) will come in the 2-way flavor, and weigh in at about 1500 grams. That’s not the lightest set in the tubeless mix, but it does certainly have more Campy graphics than any other wheelset.

The band “Bicycle” rode from New York to Seattle in 1995. They did? We need a where are they now for these guys.

Uploaded by Adventure Cycling Association | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

An Oliver Twist delivery service.

Uploaded by fixedgear | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

With the temperatures getting into the hundreds here in Seattle, we’re following up on our post from yesterday on what to wear in the heat. This post will focus on hot weather riding tips. Last night, we raced at the local Tuesday Night Worlds and I had the “hot, go hard heaves” issue. Fully hydrated, rested, and ate right – it was just like 120 degrees on the track and I was near puking. Hugga was Hella Hot and just stayed on the wheels. Post ride I drank water, ate well, and chilled.

You may not race your bike in this heat, but just the same you can get yourself into trouble.

Hydration, Heatstroke, Bonk

We’ll avoid the pedantic local-news-type tips on the need to drink water, you know that. For cycling, your urine should be clear before the ride and if you stop sweating or get the chills during, it’s likely you’ve overheated. Best thing to do is stop, get into the shade, and drink water. We avoid sugary drinks in the heat. Drink one a few hours before or after, but during can get you stomach cramps right quick. We also eat light on the hottest days.

If you’re not riding more than 2 hours, you’ll have plenty of calories in your system.

You’ll hear Phil and Paul say this during le Tour, about how the stomach reacts to the heat especially when you drink super cold water or a lot of it. We just sip and frequently.

If you bonk (no more energy) get yourself to 7-11 for a Coke.There’s a reason the pros do that in le Tour and it has saved us several times. Don’t know chemically why it works so well, probably just all the sugar, but Coca-Cola has magical bonk recovery powers.