Dicsovery Team's Secret Weapon

Discovery Channel Cycling Team has an ace up their sleeve for this Paris-Roubaix. Most teams will modify their bikes to some degree to withstand the brutal beating the bike's and rider's will take from 258 kilometers of French roadways, 55 K of which are over cobble stones. Most will ride steel frames or maybe carbon to suck up some of the bumps. Also, many will ride on larger tires swapping out the 20's for 25's if not 28's even. Tire pressure will be another important aspect of the set up as too much pressure will make the ride misserable more bumpy and too little will cause a pinch. Some teams may even opt to ride a cyclo-cross bike if it's going to be really wet and muddy.

So, back to Team Disco. Looks like Trek has a new set up where as there is a rubber bushing in the rear stay and in between the fork and headset. The secret really isn't a secret since you can read about the technology at Trek. It's called S.P.A. which stands for Suspension, Performance, Advantage. There are 3 different bushings; soft, firm, and extra firm.

If you happen to catch the action on OLNtv this weekend, it's on at 2 PM Sunday, pacific time, you might just get to see them in action. Other then that... check out the pics below. Ok, maybe not so I'll post links instead; it seems that Blogger has been having server problems and the tool I use to upload pics to the site seems to be taking a hit.

Rear

Front