Dirk Bockel has finished 3rd and 2nd in Abu Dhabi and maybe the 3rd time will be the charm. Today we take a look at his 2012 Team Leopard Trek Speed Concept.

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for protecting and promoting public health with ultimate oversight of food and drugs, and of particular interest for this article, the nutritional supplement industry. Their regulatory control covers two main areas: product safety and accurate product labeling. This article summarizes some of what goes on behind the scenes to keep consumer products safer.

The 2012 Abu Dhabi International Triathlon is almost upon us and we collected a few impressions as athletes are getting primed and ready for the big day.

This is the fruit of an ‘Aha!’ moment that I admire, and that drives me crazy because I didn’t think of it. This is so simple. It already exists in MTB levers. I could not make the mental leap. Bad Slowman.

I like the smaller, scenic races these days. Upcoming is a special race for certain of those of us in the Southwest. It’s part of an eclectic aggregation of races Life Time Fitness is acquiring or building.

These shoes run great, but there’s more to it. They felt so comfortable I started wearing them to my job in my running and triathlon store. I always get tired feet. But not in these.

We all like to be seen in traffic and we might be all maybe a bit more enthusiastic about lights if we only did not have to deal with batteries or dynamos. The solution might be Magnic Light.

Henrik Oftedal won the Norseman Extreme Triathlon in 2010 and is currently getting ready for the 2012 edition – Norwegian style. What do we mean by that? Well, have a look.

Conrad Stoltz opened the 2012 season in earnest and earned his 5th XTERRA South Africa Championship title. For fellow South African Carla Van Huyssteen this win was her first big win on home soil.

Earlier this year the Winter Triathlon European Cup took place in Lygna, Norway and Kristian Monsen and Borghild Løvset took the wins.

WTC and Competitor Group are back in the acquisition mode, and if the first six weeks of 2012 is a sing of things to come, marquis events of all distances, all around the world, may be acquisition targets.

Two lady MOPers new to triathlon took the male pros and vet AGers to the woodshed during the Challenge Cairns Sessions Challenge. Stand in front of caf0 or MistressK and they’ll roll over you.

Mike Egan lives just outside of Philadelphia, PA and he is this week’s random age grouper. The man known as Eganski has been racing mostly on the road the last few years but hopes to hit the tri scene hard again this year.

For this issue of What We Have Noticed we look at the Nike Flyknit sneakers, the Rumba VanDam GO watch, the 2012 NAHBS show, a Richard Sachs photo book and a book about Schadenfreude.

Mirinda Carfrae spent seven years with coach Siri Lindley and in that span Carfrae won Ironman 70.3 and Ironman world titles and dominated 70.3 racing. Recently they announced a split marked by mutual affection and respect.

Winning 70.3 Panama allowed Canadian Pro Angela Naeth to start the 2012 season with a bang. Naeth then went straight to the wind tunnel with Pearl Izumi and now is getting ready for the Abu Dhabi Triathlon.

Cancer sucks. No, wait: cancer REALLY sucks. Most of us perceive cancer as a gruesome condition that slowly degrades health and dignity. Though enormous advances in cancer therapy have been made in the last 30 years, the best option remains: just don’t get it.

At the recent Team Timex camp in NY, Erin Kummer was inducted into the Timex Multisport Hall of Fame, but the outgoing Boulder, CO resident has quite a bit more going on for herself.

Pearl Izumi brought triathletes Cam Dye, Tim DeBoom, Jesse Thomas, Angela Naeth, Flora Duffy and Caitlin Snow to the wind tunnel for camp Aero Project.

Pete Jacobs held off a hard charging Mitchell Robbins to win the TriHusky II Long Course event. Rebecca Hoschke ran down Laura Siddall to take the women’s title.

Faris Al-Sultan of the Germany and the United Arab Emirates and Lucie Zelenkova of the Czech Republic won the inaugural Ironman 70.3 Sri Lanka by comfortable margins in steaming hot weather.

Mark Allen, Scott Tinley, Scott Molina, three members of the sport’s Original Big Four, will be joined by Sally Edwards, Ethel Autorino and Bob Babbitt in USAT’s 2012 Hall of Fame class

Cervelo co-founder and president Phil White sits with Slowtwitch to talk about the 16-year journey from a bright idea to acquisition, on the day he hands the front door keys to PON Holdings.

The prestigious Abu Dhabi International Triathlon field on March 3 features another incredible starter field, included are a few very interesting first time starters. One thing is for sure, the race promises to be interesting.