Trek at Paris-Roubaix

Paris-Roubaix, for you non-cyclists, is the most famous one-day cycling race. It's a big deal in the world of cycling and because many miles of the race wind over ancient cobblestones the bike and equipment manufacturers like to brag about how well their equipment performs. The cobblestones are vicious on equipment. Anyway, on this morning's Cycling News web site the big story was regarding the cool and high-tech gear that Trek Bikes had put together for American racer George Hincapie (read the article here). The article, which was really just a press release/marketing job for Trek, claimed that Hincapie's bike benefited from, "Trek's performance advantage technology". What exactly would that be, I wonder? Trek also pointed out that the fork, although a stock item for Trek was a part of the very special, "prototype for Roubaix". Trek still has sway over the cycling industry because of seven long years of controlling access to Lance Armstrong, which allows them the opportunity to get headlines in the cycling world. I think that sometimes this aura of invincibility can get the better of people and companies. Here's a picture of the bike from before the race;



During one of the cobbled sections Hincapie's fork actual snapped in two, leaving the handlebars useless and Hincapie with no place to go but face first onto the stones. This is (thankfully) a rare but catastrophic event. No handlebars equals no balance and no control. At 25 mph this tends to be a problem. The result for Hincapie was missing an opportunity to win the race he prizes above all others, and a trip to the surgeon to fix his shoulder. See the after picture here, and note the handlebars askew from their usual location.



The point of all of this? Brag about your cool, high-tech stuff after the event. And maybe some more testing before big events. You'll like like an idiot otherwise. Are you listening Trek?

I could go on about how Trek has become soft in the belly after seven long years of riding on Lance Armstrong's coattails but I'll spare you my rant and simply make this prediction; hard times are about to befall Trek, how the management of this privately owned company deals with it will make or break the company. In five years time, world domination (with respect to bikes) or swallowed up by a large multi-national.