Aero Sunglasses are a thing, Western States Magic, the King Does It, and Big Deals 💰

👋 Good morning and happy Friday! Welcome to the Front Pack newsletter, your source for all things endurance. Click here for the web edition.

Over the weekend, athletes took to Happy Valley, home of Penn State University to tackle Ironman 70.3 Pennsylvania Happy Valley. In its second year, the event’s become known for two things – 1) a brutal cycling course and 2) an amazing community that supports the athletes. After reading this article, it put what I’m doing into perspective. When negative thoughts creep into my head, I always find bright spots that highlight the backing of others is a powerful thing.

“Honestly, it’s such a fun experience because all the racers are so excited — (they have) huge smiles on their faces,” she said. “If you’re there at the end, you get to see them start and finish. You’re really proud for them.”

With Front Pack, we’re looking forward to providing a community that is proud of you and helps you push beyond anything you ever thought was imaginable; from your first 5K to an Ironman and beyond.

As always, thanks for subscribing and god bless, America. 🇺🇸

Stay moving…✌🏼 – Scott

Headlines

🏃 Magic at Western States: It was Katie Schide (USA) and Jim Walmsley (USA) who took the wins at the famed 100 mile race. Walmsley won for a fourth time but it wasn’t always easy. Him and Rod Favard battled back-and-forth alternating the lead as late as mile 85. For Schide, and American living in Paris, she’d later admit this win was a two-year commitment to her goal. Schide would cross the finish line with the 2nd fastest time in the event’s 51-year history. Read more…

🚴 The King: He did it. Sir Mark Cavendish broke the all-time record for most stage wins at the Tour de France with 35 after winning stage 5 on Wednesday. At 39 years young, Cav had been tied with the legendary Eddy Merckx since 2021. Read more…

Meanwhile

🚴 The Grueling World of Professional Cycling: Photographer Kristof Ramon’s new book, The Art of Suffering looks back at some of his most beautiful photos and the stories behind them. A great coffee table read for any cycling fan. Read more…

🏊🚴🏃 Suffer Fest: The suck doesn’t just happen to you, but pro’s go through the same lows during an Ironman. Eight professional triathletes break down which race and leg almost broke them. Read more…

🏃 A New Champ Blazes the Colorado Trail: Kyle Curtain dominated the Colorado Trail, setting a new record for fastest supported running going east-to-west. I love there are records for each direction but this is damn impressible as the Trail gains something around 90,000 feet of vertical and passes as high as 13,271 feet as it traces through some of Colorado’s biggest and most remote mountain ranges.. Curtain ran the trail in 6 days, 15 hours, and 8 minutes. Read more…

🏃 Race Walking Granny: Michelle Rohl at 58-years-old captured the hearts of fans at the historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, by securing a bronze medal in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Track & Field for race walking. Rohl, the oldest competitor at this year’s trials, finished the 12.4-mile race in an hour and 42 minutes. Anything is possible! Read more…

🏊🚴🏃 Hell Month: Is what the PTO World #1 ranked athlete, Sam Long is calling July as he gets ready for the London T100 (July 27). Living in Arizona, “The Big Unit” plans to use the suffering heat as a psychological tool to prepare him now and for future events, saying he wants to become a “hardened” athlete. Read more…

🏃 Remember Lolo Jones: At 41, the three-time Olympian is still fighting for an Olympic spot in the 100-Meter Hurdles, making it to the next round of the trials. Remarkable considering she suffered a hamstring tear just four weeks ago. Read more…

🏃The Case for Drop Bags: Most races longer than 50k, or timed events lasting longer than approximately 8 hours, allow racers to have one or more drop bags. Here are a few tips to help you take full advantage of drop bags. Read more…

🚴 Week 1: Best of the Tour (so far)

Everything you may have missed Tour related.

The Tour started last weekend and its completely understandable if you’re not up to date on everything happening. After all, it’s only the first week. So let us get you up to speed.

NERD ALERT – TIRES: If you cycle and don’t nerd out about tires, do you even ride, bro? I spent countless hours debating my tire size for Unbound Gravel so I can only imagine what pro’s are thinking ahead of each Tour stage. With that, I give you the ‘what are pros riding on’ at the Tour list. Spoiler alert, it’s no surprise to see the Continental Grand Prix 5000 is the favorite among teams. But my favorite tire, the Vittoria Corsa Pro comes in a close second. But check out what sizes everybody likes, I was surprised to see 26 mm with tubes. Read more…

These Glasses (SMH): First it was the new aero mushroom helmets, now it’s the dawn of aero glasses. If you want to look like a bird, these glasses are for you. Read more…

The Best New Tech: Trek, Canyon, Pinarello, Giant, and Colnago all launched new bikes…because why not. Additionally, Ceramicspeed launched a new oversized pulley, Team EF and POC have a new air helmet, the Karoo 3 is being used. Read more…

EF pulls off Yellow Jersey Heist: I’m a big fan of the story within the story so after stage 3, it was cool to read how EF was able to capture the yellow jersey away from Tadej Pogacar. Granted it took a crash with only a few km’s left in teh race to do it, but that’s sports. Read more…

The Beauty of Cycling: It came down to a bunch sprint finish but it was Biniam Girmay who walked away with the Stage 3 win. The first black African to win a Tour stage, he said – Ever since I started cycling, I’ve always been dreaming to be part of the Tour de France – but now, I can’t believe it, to win the Tour de France in my second year in a big bunch sprint, for me it is unbelievable. Read more…

💰 Deals & Steals

💰💰💰 Refuel with RAW’s 4th of July sale: BUY ONE GET ONE 50% off: I’ve been using RAW Endurance since late last year and it’s my absolute favorite fuel for working out. Hell. It’s going to be fueling my entire Ironman Lake Placid race in a few weeks. To be exact, I’m taking in 32 scoops throughout the bike. 🤪 It’s also run by genuine people and one of the best endurance coaches in the world. PLUS. They recently launched a sodium line (RAW Replenish) that’s cheaper than LMNT and is the same amount of sodium. So yea. Great deals happening through July 7. Use code: SBALDWINUSA

💰 The Art of Suffering: Capturing the brutal beauty of road cycling – $39 $50: Highlighted above, this coffee table book captures the brutality of professional road cycling and the stories behind the images.

💰 Sharper Image FLY 01 High-Velocity Fitness Fan – $94 $99: It’s hot here in TX and I’ve been looking to upgrade my fan setup because what I have ain’t it. Check out this Sharper Image fitness fan that moves 2,300 feet of air per minute.

💰 Stationary Fitness Desk – $119 $129: This is the bike desk I have and love it. I used to use an empty Wahoo trainer box stacked on top of another box. This allows me to move it (rollers) and hold my laptop, cellphone and nutrition in one place.

Training Tips

Because training is life.

Bottles on Bottles on Bottles: Yea I know, tires above and now bottles. What a giant loser I am. But we’re in the middle of the summer so hydrating is hugely important. What if somebody tested a lot of bottles and gave their thoughts about each. Read more…

Paris Olympic Build: Go It Alone (Episode 9): I’m always fascinated with what elite level athletes do for training. Follow Clayton Young as he builds up to the Olympics.

We Did A Triathlon In The Cheapest Kit Possible: An utterly ridiculous video but one that did make me lolz. Yes, you can do a triathlon on the cheap.

Rewatchables

Content for long training days inside or just everyday life.

2024 Western States 100 Recap Show: Sit down with Brett Hornig from Conversational Pace, Dani Moreno from the Subhub Podcast, and the Singletrack team as they recap the 2024 Western States 100.

This is Crit Racing: We’ve covered the American crit scene in the past so let’s take a look at the UK crit scene. Following the Ribble Rebellion team as they face the highs and lows of pro crit racing as they target the National Championship title.

The Tour Tapes / Episode 1: Follow the UAE Team Emirates as they roll into Italy and prepare for the 2024 Tour de France.

🗣️ Quotes

Same, Tadej. Same.