Bike company junkets to the Dolomites, Alp d’Huez, or Tuscany are fine. Orbea Travel offers something additive to the junket experience: an abject fear of the distance and terrain. Bravo.

Joel Filliol has been the Canadian Olympic coach and more recently served as the head coach for British Triathlon. He surprisingly left that position earlier this year and we chatted with him to see what he is up to these days.

Elite triathlete Tenille Hoogland combined a burning desire to improve her run with an abiding love for the Kenyan way of life and sport – and a desire to share an adventure with her inspiring brother

Kiwi James Cotter had a very good season in 2010 but has been plagued with injuries recently. He resides in the US most of the time but the soft spoken Pro is currently back in New Zealand for 3 months.

Clayton Fettell led the Sunsmart Ironman Western Australia for most of the day and ended up with second place. While that might be a bummer to some, this young Aussie saw it as a sign of greater things to come.

I don’t wear glasses when I ride. Ever. That established, an Assos Zhego sports glass arrived a few days before my scheduled departure for a week of mountain biking in Morocco. I took it along.

This week’s random age grouper hails from Germany and we actually had to hurry to get this interview done before the year is over. While this might be the first time Markus is featured here, it might not be the last time.

About 10 days ago Timo Bracht added another title to his already impressive resume with the win at the Sunsmart Ironman Western Australia. He talked to slowtwitch about that race, Kona and his plans for the future.

The Cervelo P5 is coming indeed and we will be there to get all the details you could possibly want. We also noticed the PocketToolX Mako bike tool, the Rappstar World Bicycle Relief Fundraiser Polo and a very cool Bento Box.

Some prime snaps of renowned German triathlon photographer Michael Rauschendorfer up close and personal with the enduring heroes of the triathlon game.

Simon Whitfield won Gold at the 2000 Olympic games in Sydney, Australia, and added Silver to his collection at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. The affable Canadian will represent his country one more time in London.

Michael Rauschendorfer has become one of triathlon’s premier photographers. You might have seen him in Kona, Lanzarote, or Abu Dhabi. Now hear what he’s thinking behind that fisheye lens.

Callum Millward edged Cameron Brown by 27 seconds and Samantha Warriner used a race-best bike to top Gina Crawford to win the men’s and women’s titles at the Taupo Half Ironman

This week’s random age grouper is Matthew Rose, an athlete and coach from Atlanta, Georgia who had multiple random encounters with the slowtwitch editor-in-chief during this year’s Kona week.

With the 2011 Ironman World Championship airing on NBC this weekend we noticed their preview video. We also came across a new VW commercial featuring Ben Hoffman.

Timo Bracht passed Clayton Fettell with 10k to go and Michelle Bremer took the lead in the first 40k of the bike to win the men’s and women’s titles at Ironman Western Australia.

Michael Raelert of Germany outran a flock of tough Australian men and Melissa Rollison of Australia continued her winning streak at the Asia-Pacific 70.3 Championship at Laguna Phuket

This week we noticed the TYR Hurricane Freak of Nature wetsuit, the Rapha Embrocation, the Arcteryx Trino jacket, a Bespoke doormat, a Zippo hand warmer, interesting cufflinks and a bike versus blades battle.

Buoyed and buffeted by gale force side- and tailwinds halfway through the Day 3 double marathon, Alexandre Ribeiro won his 5th Ultraman title and Amber Monforte her second straight. Photo Gallery by Timothy Carlson

Andrea MacIntosh is a Canadian athlete who did Ironman New Zealand this year, but will mostly focus on XTERRA events in 2012. She is our randomly selected age grouper this week.

The Austrian newspaper Kurier reported today that an independent commission announced the ban of Austrian Pro and current XTERRA World Champion Michael Weiss for 2 years until November 2013.

The second day of Ultraman is a 171.4-mile bike from Volcanoes National Park to Hawi via Hilo, Waimea and an ascent and a windswept descent of the Kohalas. Photo Gallery by Timothy Carlson

Ultraman starts with a 10 kilometer swim from Kailua pier to Keauhou, and finishes with a 90-mile bike to Volcanoes National Monument. Photo Gallery by Timothy Carlson.

Updates to Jordan Rapp’s Ironman Arizona Charity Challenge including more prizes from Fast Freddie Rodriguez, Ted King, Paul Phillips of Competitive Image, Specialized Bicycles, and Personal Best Nutrition. Also a special video on the impact these bicycles have in the field.