...all above two wheels...: Starcrossed after Montreal

I woke up early this morning and there is laundry to be folded, so I figured this would be a perfect time to write up an update on the upcoming weekend and last week's show.

This weekend Drew, Tyler Trace, and I are all heading down to Seattle for a weekend of racing starting with Starcrossed. Starcrossed takes place in the dark (women's race at 7pm, men's race at 8pm). It is the first major North American UCI race of the year and has some fast names. The next day follows with Rad Racing's North American Cyclocross Trophy which historically has had a daunting run-up. We'll see what happens this year!

As for the past week, Montreal was a ton of fun. The booth looked great with quite a few pro-tour bikes, a Naked bike from Sam Whittingham, Geoff Kabush's bike, and Thomas Vanderham's bike.

Last year's unveiling of Dura Ace 7900 and Di2 (the electronic Dura Ace) would have been tough to beat, so the booth went back to basics. The latest and greatest was the introduction of Ultegra 6700, now with most of the features of Dura ace 7900 but without the pricetag. The group looks clean and feels great (there were a couple bikes set up for test riding). Other notable new items in the Shimano booth included some sweet looking, 1800 gram UST wheels that retail for around $650CAD, several new pairs of shoes, and a new road spd/sport touring pedal called the A600--lighter than XTR this pedal is Ultegra worthy but mountain bike shoe compatible.