Trek Top Fuel 9.9 On Test At Cyclingnews

"Cost issues aside, hardcore racers will be hard pressed to find a more complete and purpose-built pure cross-country competition package than the Trek Top Fuel 9.9 SSL. We'd agree that the seven-large-plus price tag is far too much for most people to swallow though but thankfully the somewhat more sensible US$4949.99 Top Fuel 9.8 provides nearly all of the performance with a bit of extra weight and without the novel two-ring crankset and even less expensive aluminum models are available, too.

Regardless, one shouldn't pigeonhole the Top Fuel 9.9 SSL as only a race bike. Slap on a wider low-rise bar, an 11-34T cassette and some fatter rubber and you've got a decent trail bike for smooth riders that value a superlight rig.

In fact, we may do just that come the first weekend in August assuming Trek don't mind that we hold on to our tester a bit longer. The Laramie Enduro is a 111km (69mi)-long race held on varying terrain with 2,600m (8,600') of climbing - all of it at elevations above 2300m (7,500'). Call us crazy, but we're thinking a slightly tweaked Top Fuel 9.9 SSL might be an excellent tool for the job." Clicky for full test

Trek World Racing At Madrid World Cup

Here's the official blurb..........

Today in Madrid saw the return of Liam Killeen after a back injury kept him from racing the last two rounds of the World Cup. Treatment for the injury has been steadily addressing the issue but Liam still has some way to go. Today he conceded that he felt better than he did in South Africa, but that his overall fitness was down due to the time lost on the bike in recent weeks. Despite this, and being held up by a crash on lap 1 that lost him 30 places, Liam climbed steadily through the field to finished 19th. The result was well earned; a big step in the right direction. Liam will take the next few weeks off from racing to focus on his fitness and training at home in preparation for Rounds 5 and 6 in Canada in July. 

Lukas Flueckiger had a great start and was with the lead group but bad luck on lap one with a rear puncture meant he needed to stop for a replacement wheel, returning into the race at 65th place. By lap 3 Lukas was turning in excellent lap times and pulling back 10 riders each lap; getting as high as 22nd place, with 2 laps to go, when he suffered yet another rear puncture. The Madrid course is held in a city park and it's strewn with debris ranging from bottle caps to broken glass, and Lukas can only put this result of 40th down to incredibly bad luck. There is no question he had the legs and speed today. 

Mathias had a much better start today and never left the top 30. At one point with 3 laps to go, all three riders were in the 22nd to 27th range and were progressing forward. Mathias' speed was there, and despite being more of a climber than a power rider on the flats, he held his own today and was once again on the podium for being 3rd in the Under 23 category. 

Liam said: "I had a really good start and was up to maybe 20th or so, but then there was a big pile up and I got stuck behind the mess and lost around 30 places. I think I was in 60th or so on lap one. After that I just focused on my rhythm and getting some passing done. I felt good today but I'm obviously still missing the level of fitness needed to mix with the top 10, so I'll be focusing on that in the coming weeks to be sure to be up there come Round 6 at Mont-Sainte-Anne." 

Mathias said: "This is not the best course for me, because it's so fast. There are a couple of short steep climbs and I liked those, but I'm just happy to have stayed in the top 30 today on a track that isn't really great for me. My legs were OK, but not 100%. Overall I'm quite happy with the result today." 

Lukas said: "Aagh, this is so disappointing. I put in so much work in the last two weeks for this race and then it comes down to some stupid bad luck with punctures. After the first puncture it took me about a lap to calm down and get on with racing again, because I was so angry about the puncture. But once I got in my rhythm again, I felt good and was passing quite a few guys. Then the next puncture. Crazy. I finished 8th here before and I really wanted to improve on that, so I'm feeling pretty upset about it." 

Lisbon Downtown 2009

While the XC team were at the latest round of the World Cup in Madrid the gravity side of Trek World Racing spent the weekend ripping up the streets of Lisbon at the annual Lisbon Downtown Race.
Both guys finished inside the top 10, another great weekend for TWR!

1 Steve Peat (GBr) Santa Cruz Syndicate      1.38.281
2 Mick Hannah (Aus) GT Bicycles        0.00.185
3 Greg Minnaar (RSA) Santa Cruz Syndicate     0.01.733
4 Emanuel Pombo (Por) Liberty / Run&Bike Specialized  0.02.245
5 Roger Gonzalez (Spa) Valnord / Commencal     0.02.361
6 Andrew Neethling (RSA) Trek World Racing     0.03.763
7 Paulo Domingues (Por) Biciplus       0.03.873
8 Marc Beaumont (GBr) GT Bicycles       0.04.030
9 Thibaut Ruffin (Fra) Commencal - Riding Addiction   0.04.341
10 Justin Leov (NZl) Trek World Racing      0.04.494
11 Luis Ferreira (Por) Ventana Garcia Sports    0.05.158
12 Helder Padilha (Por) Team Baeta / Nvauto     0.05.885
13 Daniel Wolfe (Irl)          0.06.258
14 Marco Fidalgo (Por) Team Berg Sport Zone     0.06.511
15 Josh Bryceland (GBr) Santa Cruz Syndicate    0.06.968
16 Joel Ferreira (Por) Infobtt.Com / No Tubes    0.07.082
17 Claudio Loureiro (Por) Team Bike Zone / Scott / A.D.A 0.07.108
18 Renato Ventura (Por) Team Berg Sport Zone    0.07.216
19 Daniel Pombo (Por) Liberty / Run&Bike Specialized  0.07.429
20 Filip Polc (Svk) Ms Evil Racing       0.07.433

Trek World Racing At Vallnord World Cup

Vallnord was a great one for Trek World Racing with the first mens World Cup podium for the team, Justin Leov took a fantastic 5th in the mens while Tracy Moseley continued her strong season with a 3rd in the womens race.

Women's Results

1.   Sabrina Jonnier (FRA) – 2m 41.58secs 
2.   Emmeline Ragot (FRA) – 2m 45.45secs 
3.   Tracy Moseley (Trek World Racing) – 2m 45.47secs 
4.   Celine Gros (FRA) – 2m 47.77secs 
5.   Nicole Myriam (FRA) – 2m 48.41secs 

Women's Standings
1.   Sabrina Jonnier (FRA) – 642 pts 
2.   Tracy Moseley (Trek World Racing) – 640 pts 
3.   Emmeline Ragot (FRA) – 525 pts 
4.   Nicole Myriam (FRA) – 372 pts 
5.   Fionn Griffiths (GBR) – 300 pts 

Men's Results
1.   Steve Peat (GBR) – 2m 22.05secs 
2.   Gee Atherton (GBR) – 2m 22.07secs 
3.   Greg Minnaar (RSA) – 2m 23.46secs 
4.   Mick Hannah (AUS) – 2m 23.71secs 
5.   Justin Leov (Trek World Racing) – 2m 23.93secs 
26. Andrew Neethling (Trek World Racing) – 2m 27.52secs 

Men's Standings 
1.   Steve Peat (GBR) – 645pts 
2.   Greg Minnaar (RSA) – 518 pts 
3.   Mick Hannah (AUS) – 512 pts 
4.   Gee Atherton (GBR) – 482 pts 
5.   Sam Hill (AUS) – 427 pts 
6.   Justin Leov (Trek World Racing ) – 316 pts 
7.   Brendan Fairclough (GBR) – 295 pts 
8.   Andrew Neethling (Trek World Racing) – 254 pts 

Team Standings 
1.   Santa Cruz Syndicate – 239 pts 
2.   Trek World Racing – 225 pts 
3.   GT Bicycles – 142 pts 
4.   Maxxis Rocky Mountain – 138 pts 
5.   Monster Specialized – 119 pts

Check out the TWR bikes

Stumbled across this on Youtube, been thre a month or so now and I am sure you have seen no shortage of shots of the team bikes since then but nice to get a video runthrough.

Twittering Trek

It's no secret that Lance Armstrong loves a bit of Twittering on a daily basis, but it isn't just the skinny tyred Trek World that love to keep everyone updated with their every move. Here is a small handful of Twittering Trek folk to add to your list.
Trek MTB
Trek Race Teams
Gary Fisher
Trek Travel

Hungry for more? Carlton Reid, Editor of Bikebiz has a handy list together of bicycle Tweeters, more than you could ever need. Check it out here.

Cheer the leader, save the world.

Okay, so paraphrasing isn't my forté, but you get the idea. 1 World 2 Wheels is an advocacy program backed by Trek in the US. Although the program hasn't reached these shores yet, I figured it would be irresponsible not to promote this particular part as it has global appeal- go by bike, and tell someone about it. The ticker will count your miles if you go to the website and tell it how many miles you'll ride in a week.

With Bike Week just around the corner, now is the time to prepare. Bike To The Future!

Trek World Racing At La Bresse World Cup

The guys at Trek World Racing just posted the video from the latest round of the UCI World Cup series at La Bresse in France. Tracy Moseley came 2nd, Andrew Neethling 8th and Justin Leov 10th.

Reset Films Trailer

The Trek wielding, Alpine Bikes sponsored folks at Dirtschool enlisted the help of Reset Films when it came to making their recent "how to" DVDs. The guys at Reset have been busy over the winter filming for the follow up to last years video "Home", check out the sneak preview below.