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Hello everyone and welcome to the ninth Boure newsletter. Winter is upon us and the Holidays are here. As we all struggle to maintain that slim climber's physique while enjoying the food and company of friends and family, we would like to take a few minutes of your time to say thank you for supporting Boure over the years and especially over this last year. Whether you are rejoicing in the re-election of President Bush or wondering if you have the strength to get through the next four years, we hope you will take some time this holiday season to enjoy your loved ones and the sport which has brought us all together. Cycling is a wonderful sport that can be enjoyed individually or together. We hope that you share it with the people to whom you wish good health and happiness.
Snow has begun to fall in and around Durango. We have brought out our "winter" bikes with fenders, bullet proof tires and room for layers upon layers of clothes. Drew hasn't missed a day of commuting yet, except for that day he devoted to keeping his better-half's car well-lubed and problem free. Wade is scheduling his winter training around the Arizona series (El Tour de Tucson, Casa Grande Century and the El Tour de Phoenix) and plans to tackle the Snowdown Roller races in January. Jacque is planning a trip to visit her daughter over the holidays and Laverne is due to deliver the newest member of the family at the end of December. Ned is trying to keep his calorie intake and output balanced so that he doesn't become the incredible shrinking man. In the two years Wade has worked here, Ned has dropped by hundreds of times and has never been without food and drink, for himself.
As always we encourage one and all to write with suggestions or comments regarding this newsletter.
1. A quick bit of advice on indoor training tires,
2. Holiday specials at Boure,
3. A new winter outfit for the serious winter cyclist,
4. How to help us make sure we meet your needs.
1. Our good friend, known cycling stud and tire guru, Brett Hahn, is the National Sales Manager of Bike Mine, the Oklahoma City based company that represents world renowned Continental tires in North America, among their cycling wares.
As winter is upon most of us in the Northern Hemisphere, Wade recently asked Brett for his recommendation on indoor cycling tires. Was there a reason to change tires for use on a trainer or on rollers? Brett's response to Wade may help Boure customers to get better value from their winter training regimen.
Today's tires utilize specific compounds designed for improved traction under various conditions, extended mileage, and even to add color to your tires. Continental tires use an activated silica compound that reduces rolling resistance and helps give superb traction for cornering under both wet and dry conditions. This compound can heat excessively when used on a stationary trainer due to the small contact point and the relatively high friction caused by resistance trainers. In this case, the silica compound can over heat and breakdown and is not the best choice for this application. Instead, a compound with a higher carbon black content and no silica will hold up better and likely outlast the silica compound tire. In the Continental world, this means a less expensive tire as the silica tires are more expensive. If you need to identify your tires, simply look for an ALL black tread and one that has no mention of silica in its list of features (unfortunately tires containing silica can also be black).
Continental sells several models that use our natural rubber, non-silica compound. These would include: the Ultra Sport (previously Sport 1000), Ultra 2000, Ultra Gatorskin, and Grand Prix. The more expensive Ultra 3000, Grand Prix 3000, Grand Prix 4-Season, GP Supersonic and TPS Attack/Force all have the ASC silica compound. (all of Continental's tubulars use the ASC compound)
This is one of the few incidences in cycling where the best solution is less expensive than the alternatives. Happy Indoor Cycling!
2. We have a variety of specials at Boure to fit your cycling gift needs. See them now on our Web Specials Page. We tried to pick a broad spectrum to cover a variety of budgets, but we won't turn you in if you decide to buy just for yourself. Why not? Who deserves a gift more than you do?
3. Through the years we have become moderately famous for our Nordic Ski and Cyclocross suits. This year we did some bizarre genetic combinations to combine them for a winter cycling suit and voilá, the Elite Thermo Cycling Suit was born, and you can see it at by Clicking Here. We have been surprised by the excellent reception so far of this combination of our Elite Thermo bib tights with the popular thermal stretch long sleeve top. If you are serious about keeping those holiday pounds off, this just might be the ticket to a winter of warmth and comfort. Please don't tell the cloning police!
4. This year we hope you are aware that Christmas is on a Saturday. For the slower among you, that is the second Saturday from now. This means that the procrastinators among you can have last minute items delivered on the day before Christmas (yippee!). We are happy to help you get any of our Boure items delivered with time to spare or last minute. Remember that we use either UPS (over a pound = 1 big or 2 or more items) or Priority mail (under a pound = one item or two small items) for our free Internet shipping. Since UPS has a staggered delivery schedule, we will start to run into timing issues on December 16th, after which the zones furthest from Durango will no longer have delivery time to meet your Christmas needs. Priority mail does not guaranty delivery times and seems to slow dramatically as we get close to the BIG day. I say all this so we can help you plan and meet your delivery goals. Please let us know if your purchase is for Christmas so we can advise you if an expedited service will be required.
5. Okay, one last thing, since you've read down this far, you may be in luck. We got a few skull caps in from Italy a couple weeks back. Those of you who had preordered did very well, they are all gone again, save one. The first person to call in and talk to us to order one, get's it. Messages don't count! Good luck!
Again, all of us here at Boure wish you the very best in this Holiday Season and for the coming year. Please let us know how we can help make your cycling more fun and comfortable,
Ned, Drew, Wade, Laverne and Jacque |
