Thunder Bear talks about a career with great highs – including an Ironman Hawaii bike record, a third place finish in Kona and an ITU long course World title — and heart valve troubles which prompted retirement at 32.

Today’s grab bag of interesting items includes a powerful pump from Blackburn, a tiny radio called NanoTalk, new brake pads from Zipp, an intriguing t-shirt from Headline Shirts and a waterproof camera from Canon.

The so-called shorty bar remains, in triathlon, the largest market served by no mature, ready-to-ride, product. 3T moves the ball much further forward with its new Zefiro.

Torbjørn Sindballe, the fierce-riding Dane known as Thunderbear to the triathlon world, must call it a career although still in his prime. A crowd favorite, the Danish Xpress can no longer ignore a congenital heart problem.

In a study just released, trace amounts of steroid ingestion can trigger a positive drug test, illustrating the ease by which athletes can end up on the wrong side of anti-drug programs.

You’ve waited, you’ve wanted, so without further ado, here it is: a static fit system for generating rider coordinates. We’ll describe it to you, and then tell you why you shouldn’t use it.

Will the high-adrenaline, fast-twitch, sprint format charms of Team Triathlon win the hearts and minds of the IOC? If the action at West Des Moines is any indicator, triathlon might have another Olympic event.

In a reverse of the usual form, super-biker David Thompson lost ground on the bike but took his third Philly title in a row with his run; Rebeccah Wassner held off Canadian Kerry Spearing by 38 seconds for her third straight win in the City of Brotherly Love

Marcel Zamora Perez won the the very tough 2009 Ironman France in a course record time of 8:30:06. Tine Deckers ran down 22-year old Christel Robin late in the race to take the title also in a course record time.

Amy Marsh held off fellow Austin triathlete Kelly Williamson and Paul Matthews topped fellow Aussies Leon Griffin and Simon Thompson to win Buffalo Springs Lake 70.3

Emmas Incorporated repeat Washington DC 1-2 domination; Emma Moffatt jumps to the head of the class with a 93-second margin of victory over Olympic champ and training partner Emma Snowsill and takes home $200,000 in West Des Moines.

Simon Whitfield gets $200,000 revenge for Olympic sprint loss, takes razor thin margin win over Kahlefeldt, Frodeno, Gemmell, Shoemaker, Gomez in six-man finishing sprint at Hy-Vee $1 million Elite Cup in West Des Moines

Just three and a half months ago, Sarah Haskins underwent surgery to repair damage to a nerve in her foot damaged when her ankle snapped on a crack in the pavement in a 2007 World Cup in Lisbon. Recovering fast, Haskins finished 5th and 4th in two World Championship Series races.

We introduce you to a nice co2 inflator from Portland Design Works, tri shoes from Louis Garneau, laceless racing flats from Zoot, a funky Tech T from Death Row Velo and some appropriate buttons for the current economic times.

The first Dextro Energy World Championships Series Round 3 in Washington DC drew an Olympic-quality field to dive into the Potomac, ride past the Washington Monument and run up Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol. Photos by Timothy Carlson.

After undergoing her first two major operations to cut out the cancer at the cost of her legendary Xterra career and her swift leg power, Jamie Whitmore tackles the odds and starts to rebuild her life without a sense of limits

On May 19th blueseventy got the stunning news that none of their 11 submitted swim skins to FINA were approved, but on June 21st they were informed that all is kosher now. We talked to blueseventy CEO Steve Nicholls.

Specialized and Trek each have a bike school for retailers, joining Serotta and perhaps soon other bike makers. How do you know when the point of a school is education or whether it’s just marketing?

Three new seatposts are on the market in 2009, adding flexibility to the positional options available to those riding certain Orbea, Quintana Roo and Kuota bikes.

Francisco Pontano won the 2009 Ford Ironman Coeur D’Alene with a very balanced swim, bike and run. Tyler Stewart won her first Ironman title as she rocked to a win in the women’s race in a time of 9:23:21.

Emma Moffatt overcame an American bike breakaway and topped fellow Emma and training partner Snowsill with a race-best run 34:24 run to win the Dextro Energy ITU World Championship triathlon in Washington, DC.

Great Britain’s 21-year-old phenom Alistair Brownlee won his second straight Dextro Energy World Championship Series triathlon in Washington DC Sunday thanks to a five-man bike breakaway and a sixth-best run.

Luke McKenzie took a commanding win at the 2009 Ironman Japan in a time of 8:28:31. The women’s race was won by Nicole Klingler in a time of 9:52:52.

On a sweltering hot day in the heart of Arkansas, Americans Josiah Middaugh and Shonny Vanlandingham grabbed the XTERRA South Central Cup titles and held off previous winners Dan Hugo and Melanie McQuaid.