Paula Tesoriero

Paula Tesoriero is a name you may not have heard of before and I have to say, I could write all I know about Paula on the back of a postage stamp with a carpenters pencil, but I do know this, shes a lawyer, a vegan and an incredibly focused and professional athlete.

Paula is currently training in the warmer climate of Western Australia for an optimal build-up for her track cycling events at the Paralympics in August 2008.

Paula had some great results at the World Champs last year with silver medals in both the 500m TT and the 3000m Individual Pursuit. She also set a world record in the 500 metres TT at the Oceanias in Sydney in Feb 08. She races in the LC3 category.

Her coach Simon Crumpton has started a blog here so we can hopefully keep up with whats happening in Beijing.

Anyone wanting to support Paula by purchasing a T-shirt should get in touch with her husband Chris on this email address (on the T-shirt graphic).

http://en.beijing2008.cn/
http://www.paralympics.org.nz/
http://www.paralympic.org/release/Main_Sections_Menu/

Paula on the TV 09/07/08

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Whats new?

Check out this exciting Paris Roubaix story from Clinton Avery. Clinton started life as a gear breaking MTBer, but his physical attributes scream "Classics rider". I met Clinton's mum at a coaching forum a while back. She wasnt happy that the roadie dogs had stolen her MTBing son away from her, but she must be very proud all the same. This is one hard core biking family. Video of the finish!

Once described as "Crazy Mountain biking hippies" the Kennett bros are always up for a new challenge. Someone planted a crazy idea in Simons brain called the Great Divide. A 4000km journey from Canada to Mexico. Simon has attacked this event with the kind of meticulous planning that surrounds all Kennett bro outings. Follow it on Simons blog here.

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Ayup lights (08 roadie kit)

Here are some first impressions on the new ayup LED lights I got over a month ago. I am ashamed to admit that I have done only one off-road ride with them. The rest of the time they have been gainfully used like this:

• Hanging out the washing late at night.
• Blasting the neighbours retinas while he smugly sits in his spa pool late at night while I am out hanging out the damn washing!
• Blasting the retinas out of anyone silly enough to stick their head over the divider in my office.
• Using them for illuminating the engine bay in our car while changing the oil.
• Feeding the chickens late at night
  
• Commuting the 2kms back and forward from my work to my house!

So far the tiny 6 hour battery still hasnt run out of its 1st charge.

I have shown my roadie 08 kit (which is effectively just half of the MTB 08 kit), to 3 different guys at work, and they have all been impressed enough to buy kits, one the 08 MTB, one the 08 Enduro, and another guy a headband with a single set for running.

I think its the overall package that sells them. Incredibly light, simple robust construction, with long burn times and cheap pricing. The lithium ion polymer batteries are cheaper than anything I have seen before. All the bits are purchasable separately, but its probably cheaper to get one of their kits that seem to have about 2 spare of everything.

What are they like in the real world? My kit is awesome on the road, and pretty damn good off road, but I think for total confidence a full two-light kit would be the way to go for serious off-roading. Thats 1 set on the helmet, and 1 set on the bars.

I did notice in my only forary in the dirt that the light was very flat with no shadows, I am not sure if this is an LED thing, or because they were mounted on the helmet. I'd like to see how it compares to my workmate's two-light kits or try off -roading with the lights on the bar, its a 10 second job to change from helmet to bar.
More details here: http://www.ayup.com.au

Thinking of building your own LED light set, you could do worse than this link:
http://www.instructables.com/group/danpowerled

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