Luke Bell won the 2008 Spirit of Racine triathlon and showed that he is clearly coming back into form. Kelly Handel took the women’s title as she ran away from her competition in the final half marathon.

Greg Bennett won his fourth consecutive NYC triathlon on Sunday July 20th, while Liz Blatchford took her first. NYC was the second stop on the Lifetime Fitness series.

Francisco Pontano (ESP) won the 2008 Ironman Lake Placid despite the hard raining condition. Caitlin Shea-Kenney (USA) was the surprise winner in the women’s race thanks in part to her amazing sub 3 hour marathon.

Ivan Rana (ESP) won the final ITU World Cup prior to the Olympics and narrowly held off Kris Gemmell (NZL) and Sven Riederer (SUI). Nicola Spirig (SUI) was victorious in the women’s race and lead Carole Peon (FRA) and Samantha Warriner (NZL) across the line.

Argentinian Eduardo Sturla won Ironman Brazil earlier this year and is now completely focused on Ironman Hawaii. Sturla finished 13th in Kona when he won Ironman Brazil in 2001, and is eager to move up even higher in Hawaii later this year.

Last year I wrote a series of articles about the most underserved segment of the handlebar market. I described the state of the shorty bar, offered some opinions, and reported on the best current product. Here’s an updated version of that article.

“Why am I uncomfortable on my bike?” Do you have occasion to ask this? We endeavor to find the answer in our series on the subject. Our first installment focused on contact points. This is the second and final installment.

A sudden weather change with sub freezing temperatures caught the participants at the 8th Annual International Zugspitz Extrem-Berglauf by surprise and 2 runners ended up dead seemingly from exposure and exhaustion.

Ronnie Schildknecht (SUI) won the 2008 Ironman Switzerland thanks in part to his 4:27:43 bike split. In the women’s race it was Sybille Matter (SUI) who proved to be too strong for her competition.

Oscar Galindez (BRA) used a monster bike split to capture the 2008 Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island. Lisa Bentley (CAN) had to chase down long time leader Andrea Fisher (USA) to win the women’s race.

Marino Vanhoenacker (BEL) dominated the 2008 Ironman Austria and thus grabbed his consecutive 3rd Ironman Austria title. The women’s crown was taken by Sandra Wallenhorst (GER) who briefly held the fastest time at the Iron distance with her time of 8:47:25.

Ironman Australia winner Patrick Vernay (NCL) won the 2008 Quelle Challenge Roth and held of a host of tough challengers. Yvonne Van Vlerken (NED) managed a new world best time of 8:45:48 enroute to her win in the women’s race.

Simon Whitfield broke away with 400m to go and Emma Snowsill ran away from everyone out of T2 as each claimed first place at the 2008 Lifetime Fitness Triathlon.

We recently introduced you to the life story of Andreas Niedrig, and today we bring you the interview with the enigmatic German athlete, husband, father, motivator and former junkie. Part 2 of 2.

Our series on how to put on a successful race continues with race registration, both pre-race and the requirements for registration at the race venue.

2007 Ironman World Champion Chris McCormack (AUS) broke the course record as he won the 2008 Ironman European Championships in Frankfurt, Germany. Chrissie Wellington (GBR) broke the women’s course record and proved again that she is for real as she took another Ironman title.

Part four of Jay Prasuhn’s latest and greatest from le Tour. New and custom shades from Oakley, Bell’s new lid, FSA goes asymmetric, white is the new black, and more…

Daniel Unger (GER) won the 2008 ITU World Cup in Hamburg, Germany and thus repeated his victory on the course where he earned the World Championship title in 2007. Jan Frodeno (GER) finished second and Oliver Freeman (GBR) third.

Jay checks in with even more photos from behind the ropes at the 2008 Tour de France. Snapshots of Ridley’s new Noah road bike, which looks to challenge Cervelo’s Soloist and Felt’s new AR1 in the aero-road bike category, along with more of the latest from this year’s tour.

Jay Prasuhn checks in with more of the latest tech from the 2008 Tour de France. Pictures of new saddles from Fizik, the new Giant TT bike, and more as we report live from the Continent.

Cid Cardoso Jr is the owner, founder and president of Inside Out Sports and in addition to raising a family has raced over 20 Ironman races to date. The Brazilian born North Carolina resident is also a fantastic trail runner.

Absent the shackles of an office and desk, I opted to grab the laptop and camera, hit the road and make a visit to France to catch the start of the Tour de France, with the debut, a road stage instead of a prologue, taking place Saturday in the Brittany coast town of Brest. My mission while here: cruise the team trucks, take a look for prototypes, debuts and other soon-to-hit-the-market goods.

We don’t have Brett Favre and Tiki Barber to play on our fantasy football teams anymore. But we do have Christophe Moreau and George Hincapie. Announcing the first, or at least the best, and certainly the biggest, fantasy TdF pool.

Aquaman’s new Cell Gold wetsuit mixes classic Aquaman features with a new rubber from Yamamoto. We put the suit to the test, trying to discover if the folks at Aquaman were able to put the midas touch on what Aquaman USA’s Emmanuel Millet’s calls their “cadillac” suit.