Each week we try to find a theme for our Week in Review, but with 52 of these scheduled per year, somedays it is a bit more challenging than others. And then we remembered that Trek Factory Racing had signed a new triathlete for the 2016 season – Tim Reed. In 2015 Tim was a four-time IM70.3 champion and is looking to Trek to up his game for the 2016 season. Better yet, they shared a photo of him on Instagram for us all to …well, “admire.”

Now that we’ve had the chance to see Tim in all his glory (and also his Trek Speed Concept complete with Bontrager Aeolus wheels), we can get on with the Week in Review.

Oh, but we actually do have one more thing. If you want all the AeroGeeks out there admire your awesomeness – check out our new Awesome AeroGeeks gallery on Facebook.  For those who are new to AeroGeeks.com, one of our favorite ways to showcase our readers has always been our Readers’ Rides album on Facebook. You can check out our entire Readers’ Rides collection at http://on.fb.me/12jEqE3. Awesome AeroGeeks is for you to share the most important piece of equipment you have – you! We are looking to see you being awesome in the pool, on the bike, and on the run. If you want to share a picture, just tweet us at @AeroGeeks, Facebook message us, get us on Instagram, or email us at info@AeroGeeks.com.

This Week’s Posts

Monday – Zipp 808 Firecrest – Review

Wednesday – XLAB Gear Box Kit – Review

Friday – Perfect Pushup Elite – Review

nuun and Challenged Athletes Foundation Team Up

We love to see it when companies we love step up and do the right thing. This week nuun announced a partnership with the Challenged Athletes Foundation as an official sponsor for CAF’s Elite Paratriathlon Team. nuun is the official hydration sponsor of the team and will provide financial, product, and educational support for their journey to the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games in Brazil. The CAF Elite Paratriathlon Team provides comprehensive support for some of the top U.S. paratriathletes with the ultimate goal of racing at Paratriathlon’s debut in the Rio 2016 Paralympics.

CAF provides unparalleled athletic opportunities that lead to success in sports and in life for physically challenged individuals. nuun, the #1 selling sports drink product in sports specialty retail, has commitment to positive change in the world, specifically through athlete support. This partnership is an alignment of values and initiatives that has been created to make a difference and drive awareness for athletes with physical challenges.

Today’s Plan

It’s that time of year again – time to start picking out your races for the new season. And for those looking to line up training specific to those races, check out Today’s Plan. By working closely with event promoters, Today’s Plan adds specific events to their database that a rider can then choose as their target event. The target event information, combined with specific input from the rider about their experience, availability for training, goals, and equipment allows the clever Today’s Plan algorithm to design a customized training plan, unique to every rider’s personal goals.

While Today’s Plan is still fairly new, it already integrates with nearly every device cyclists use. This includes power meters, heart rate monitors, and indoor trainers from market leaders such as Garmin, Wahoo Fitness, CycleOps, SRM, and many others. Today’s Plan allows riders to easily understand baseline performance and improvement by producing powerful and customizable data sets.

“Our vision for Today’s Plan has always been to offer intelligent training systems for riders of all levels to produce highly specific and custom-tailored training plans,” said Ben Bowley, Managing Director of Today’s Plan. “We not only produce custom training plans, but we can structure them around specific events, and I think any event organizer recognizes that having cyclists show up who are well trained produces a better event for all. We’re looking forward to building a strong database of North American events over the next few months.” 

Current Reviews

Shimano SH-TR9 Tri Shoe

Velcro strap facing in or out? We see the pros and cons for both options, but we still prefer ours to face out to avoid any chance of the strap making contact the crank. Unfortunately Shimano went the other direction, but hopefully a little trimming will solve that problem for us.

Look Keo Max Blade

Our multisport editor swapped from the Keo Max to the Keo Max Blade a few weeks ago. And since then, she has commented that everything feels much more solid from engagement at stoplights through the entirety of the pedal stroke. That’s a pretty good start to the review process in our opinion.

Pioneer Power Meter

We have actually had the Pioneer Power Meter for a while, but unfortunately we had a few hiccups getting everything running (riding?) smoothly. On the plus side, we’re finally good to go now and have started routinely training with it. For the moment, we are currently paired to a Garmin 510, but we also have a Pioneer SGX-CA500 that will be making an appearance, as well.

Cycliq Fly6

It’s been over a year since our first ride with the Fly6. Since then it’s been a faithful companion on almost every ride. Stay tuned for our Final Thoughts as we wrap up our time with it.