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Galveston Gear: Digging Deeper   Bookmark and Share
images by Nick Salazar   •   Apr 4, 2012   •   hits 35,583

The always-interesting TJ Tollakson seems to be refining his aerobar setup. His elbow supports, which used to be a combination of a jock cup and soccer shin guards, now appear to be a single-piece of custom-molded carbon fiber. They're bolted onto some standard P-clamps made by Profile Design. Given the size of these things, I'll bet they're very comfortable to ride in.
 
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TriRig has already showcased two large galleries from the Lonestar 70.3 in Galveston, Texas. But as usual, some of the most interesting stories about gear are hidden in the fine details. So I went back into our image files and dug up some of the small bits and pieces that I thought were particularly noteworthy and blew them up for you to see firsthand.


Up first, we'll be looking at a few details of Lance Armstrong's rig.

Before we get going on the bike, how cool is this? Lance's racing suit is custom-printed with a tiny checkerboard of black and white versions of his flag icon. That same icon appears on his disc wheel.

Lance's front end has a single-bend extension with 30-degrees of rise, a couple gels taped to the bars, and a flask for concentrated liquid nutrition. No BTA bottle though. Personally, we recommend all athletes use a BTA bottle - they're simple, convenient, and a great way to remind you to hydrate. Funny enough, Lance complained that his hydration was insufficient at the Lonestar 70.3 - maybe he needs to get a BTA bottle going!

Lance rode a custom-painted Giro Selector helmet and Oakley Radar XL shades.

In this shot, you can see the telltale spoke pattern of Lance's Carbonsports Lightweight disc.

Stephane Poulat was still on his P4, despite being one of the few athletes at Cervelo's launch to be shown riding a P5. Here he's riding the old, discontinued Easton Attack TT bar (one of my favorite bars). It's tough to see, but he has a standard bottle and cage tucked neatly between his arms, and uses the P4's integrated bottle for extra fluid. Nice choice!

Here's a full shot of Poulat's setup. Not too shabby.

Of course, it would be wrong not to feature the setup of race winner and All-American Hero Tim O'Donnell. Tim has two bottles - one on the downtube, and a BTA bottle up front. Personally, I think he should move the downtube bottle, maybe put it behind the saddle, Lieto-style.

Now this is quite interesting. Tim's E-118 has an integrated aerobar setup, but he's running a standard aerobar in there instead. Argon's official word is that you aren't supposed to use anything but the integrated bar, but I don't know if they had to make Tim some custom hardware, or if the E-118's existing hardware will actually work, and Argon's prohibition is merely precatory. Overall, the E-118 is a decent machine, but I really dislike the nasty loop of exposed cable on the integrated brake, and wish manufacturers would steer clear of doing that, especially on integrated components where it can't be changed.

Scott had a couple athletes riding its new Split helmet, including Sebastian Kienle, who rode it to the fastest bike split in the Split. Marino Vanhoenacker rode the Split as well, but took off the integrated visor so he could wear his Oakleys. Visors are unequivocally the better option, as they provide unfettered visibility and won't slide down your nose no matter how sweaty you get. Many athletes will continue to wear shades, however, especially when sponsorship dollars are involved.

The always-interesting TJ Tollakson seems to be refining his aerobar setup. His elbow supports, which used to be a combination of a jock cup and soccer shin guards, now appear to be a single-piece of custom-molded carbon fiber. They're bolted onto some standard P-clamps made by Profile Design. Given the size of these things, I'll bet they're very comfortable to ride in.

TJ also looks to be using a custom BTA bottle. The thing appears to be refillable, and has a straw. It probably functions similarly to the Speedfil A2, although I think its refill mechanism is a little more rudimentary (pop lid off, fill bottle, replace lid).





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