In addition to fantastic specials on 2011 stock, we also have a range of demo bikes on sale like the Orbea Orca featured above!  Come in and chat to the team!

The Eurobike Award provides the retail trade as well as
consumers a sense of orientation on a widely spread
market. It reveals what is innovative and functional.

This year, Cannondale took Gold with the SuperSix
EVO Ultimate in the category of road bikes.

An internationally renowned jury of experts, who evaluated
the participating products in criteria’s like efficiency,
stability, degree of innovation and design quality
concludes:

"An extremely lightweight bike without bells and whistles.
A brilliant frame technology – done simple and clean.
Even though this bike stands for a high degree of
innovation, it offers value for money as well."

The incredibly moist Torq bar is based on a simple list of ingredients that includes oats, raisins, maltodextrin, fructose syrup, apricot and puffed rice. This makes for a low fat, high carb, easy-to-chew bar with very little aftertaste or stickiness. It also includes a small supplement of ribose (which aids cell and muscle tissue renewal), but at just 50mg per bar this probably won’t benefit performance that much. However, the vitamin and mineral mixture will provide 30-80% of RDA of 13 nutrients.

We tried the tangy apricot, which tasted lovely and is perfect for just before and after training. Other original flavours in the range include pineapple and ginger, raspberry and apple, and banana. If you find other bars taste a bit like sawdust or the flavours are a bit bland, then Torq is a very good alternative.

220 Triathlon Magazine Rating - 8

(Review courtesy of 220 Triathlon magazine)

More info....

Torq chewy energy bar with Ribose and high in complex carbohydrates. Ribose is a natural sugar which research has shown can boost cellular recovery after exercise.  Torq bars are flavoured with fairly traded fruits. No artificial colours, flavours or preservatives, suitable for vegans

Nutritional information per 65g bar (values may vary slightly by flavour) -

    Energy - 209kcal
    Protein - 2.5g
    Carbohydrate - 46.2g
    Fat - 1.37g
    Fibre - 3.8g
    Sodium - 32mg

Available at Fusion Cycles $4

The new coffee shop next door to Fusion is now open!  Larder 2 will be open on Saturdays for post ride breakfasts as well as throughout the week!  Matt says the Bacon and Egg rolls are to die for!

Course Content:

1. How to change a flat tyre and tips to do it fast

2. What to do to maintain your bike after riding in the wet

3. General maintenance to prolong the life of your bike parts

4. Bike servicing – how often, what your bike will need

Bike Maintenance course is FREE and will be held at Fusion Cycles 68 Commercial Rd, Newstead. This course is a demonstration workshop, no bike needed. Click here to register by email.

Craig Mackie, Team Fusion at Kingscliff Triathlon Sept 11

It was an awesome weekend at the Kingscliff Triathlon Festival on September 10-11.  30+ social riders took on the 62km Fusion Tweed Valley ride on the Saturday.  Team Fusion won the Mens Teams race in the Triathlon on Sunday, Kristy Harnett won the 25-29 Womens category and Briarna Mackie placed 4th in the Women's Open! Great work Team!!

For images of Kingscliff Triathlon, click here.

Greg Shaw, Australian Institute of Sport Dietitian and Fusion Enews contributer, is coming up to Brisbane to host this session for Fusion customers.

When: Tuesday 15 November 6pm
Where: Albert Bishop Park, Nundah
Cost: $250

The “Race Fluid analysis” will consist of a 1 hour performance simulation.  You will be asked to fill in a brief questionnaire about your current nutrition practices and you wil be asked to replicate your race nutrition practices during the race simulation. Your Sweat rate, nutrition and fluid ingestion rates, and your sweat electrolyte concentrations will be measured.  In the days after the session you will be provided with a detailed analysis of your fluid losses, fluid requirements, sweat electrolyte composition, and race fluid/nutrition recommendations based on the information collected.

To book in for this session, please click here.

See Greg's article at the end of this enews for details on the importance of getting race nutrition and hydration right!

Name: Joanna McCosker
Age: 39
Occupation: Specialist Nurse, Royal Children's Hospital

How did you get into cycling? My bucket list has a triathalon on it, so I decided the cycle leg was problematic as I didn't have a bike!   Three years ago I bought a bike whilst on holiday at the coast.  Thankfully my gorgeous friend Michelle Mewing (Tom's wife) has been my BFF and a great mentor to "learn" how to ride and to train.  So many river loops....

What brought you to Fusion Cycles?  Not what but WHO! Tom and Michelle Mewing.  Now I'm a loyal customer and who wouldn't be without the great one on one service the boys (and girls) provide.

What do you ride and how often?  My brand new bike - Cannondale Supersix - and loving it!  If it was legal to leave your young children at home then I would ride more often, but thankfully I have a windtrainer.... I get out for at least 2, maybe 3 long rides each week, and the rest is on the trainer.

What are your cycling goals?  Very simple goals at this stage, but a) to hit the hills hard and not die in the a@#e. b) not to get hit by a car  c) to keep up with Michelle (LOL)

The Fusion Workshop books up quickly before Noosa Tri.  Avoid disappointment - book in now 3252 9997 or Click here to email.

I met with a client on Saturday whom I saved $340pm ($4,080pa) and with those savings he is buying himself a jet ski. In reality a free jet ski from meeting with me...

This got me thinking about the nice bikes at Fusion and I thought people could already have the money to purchase them sitting in an expensive home loan.

I mean really, who knows the interest rate on their home? If they do, how do they know if it is competitive?

For a free home loan assessment, call Tom Mewing on 0403 768 768.  It could mean a new bike!

The Fusion Climbing and Descending Super Session was very popular and due to demand, one session turned into 3 sessions!  Adam Gill and Craig Mackie coached 35 attendees up and down Mt Cootha over the last 2 weekends.  Thanks Adam and Craig.  Below is a training session to build your climbing strength and speed.

Climbing Session
It is easier to maintain momentum than it is to constantly build momentum.  There are times when we need to get out of the saddle to produce more power and maintain our momentum. When the gradient on the climb increases, our speed and momentum decreases.  The session below is designed to condition ourselves to getting in and out of the saddle. When we want to climb fast and efficiently, we will only get out of the saddle when needed.
Key things to remember:
• Use 1 gear harder than normal when completing your “in and out” of saddle session
• Slow down; try not to ride fast as your heart rate will natural increase by repeatedly getting in and out of saddle.
• Stay relaxed; avoid pulling on handle bars to get out of saddle. Use your legs simular to walking up stairs
• Keep a gentle gaze 5 to 10m up the road.
Your Training session :
Pick a climb with a gradient 4% to 6% which you can ride consistently for 10mins.
• Complete 10 to 15mins on the flat using an easy gear to warm up
• Complete 5mins gradually building your effort up to 80% of your maximum
• On the climb complete 1mins 45sec in your saddle with an easy gear and stay around 80% of your maximum
• On the climb complete 15sec out of your saddle with an easy gear and stay around 80% of your maximum
• Repeat set 2 times before a 1min recovery. Use an easy gear and try and reduce your effort to 70% of your maximum.
• Repeat twice
• Descend and repeat set.
To make the session harder you can reduce your time in the saddle by 1 min each week. EG 45sec in saddle with 15sec out of saddle.

Good Luck!
Adam Gill, Level 2 Cycling Coach, Cycling Science.

Sun Oct 9 Brisbane to Gold Coast 100km Charity Ride, Southbank. Entries close tonight at midnight.  Click here for more info.  Click here to ride with the Fusion 25km+ group. 

Sat Oct 29 Noosa Criterium, Noosa.  Fusion Team rider Toby Hood will be competing in the Noosa Criterium.  The Fusion tent will be up along Noosa Parade. Join us there to cheer Toby on!

Sun Oct 30 Noosa Triathlon, Noosa.  The Fusion tent will be up along Noosa Parade to cheer all the Fusion individual and team competitors.  Join us there.

Tue Nov 15 Fusion Super Session 2, Race Fluid Analysis, 6pm Nundah.  $250 Click here for more info.

Sun Nov 20 Brisbane to Caloundra 100km Charity Ride.  Starting at Hendra and raising funds for Muscular Dystrophy, this ride is supported by our local councillor, David McLachlan.  The organisers need 30 riders to make this ride viable.  Click here for more info.

As the mercury rises and opportunities to race increase it is important to ensure your race nutrition is under control.  Despite sports nutrition being ruled by guidelines and formulas, in essence individualising race nutrition based on YOUR physiological requirements, intolerances, and basic likes and dislikes will provide the ultimate advantage. There are two major components to race nutrition: energy delivery and maintaining hydration status. As with any thing you do to enhance racing, training your body for nutrition is critical to ensuring all goes well on race day.

Knowing your fluid requirements

A simple way of working out a hydration plan to minimise the effects of dehydration is to undertake a “Race fluid analysis”.  This is a comprehensive testing session that determines your sweat rate, sweat electrolyte concentration and provides you with a comprehensive plan to minimise the effects of dehydration.  Many people have heard about the 2% dehydration studies which showed, in the lab, when a person breached the 2% fluid loss (based on change in body weight) performance declined.  We now know that outside of the lab in the real world this is highly situational and a range of other factors come into play (eg individual sweat rate, sweat electrolyte composition, ambient temperature, humidity, level of athlete, heat acclimatisation, and other environmental factors like cloud cover). Knowing your individual fluid requirements and ensuring the composition of the fluid consumed is sufficient to match your sweat composition will enable you to maximise performance.  A “Race fluid analysis” comprises a training session that acts as a race simulation.  During this simulation sweat samples are collected, fluid losses are measured and typical race nutrition intake is recorded. From this session you are provided with a comprehensive analysis of your sweat losses, your electrolyte requirements (sodium, potassium, magnesium) and recommendations for race nutrition based on your current race nutrition practices. This allows you to then adjust your intake based on the information collected and will ensure your race fluid and sport food intake is optimised to enhance performance.

Training the system for race day

Recently a ground breaking study showed that the body is a highly adaptable piece of machinery. They found that your training diet has a profound impact on your race nutrition capabilities. If you are someone who rarely consumes carbohydrate sources during training, in a race when you use carbohydrate, they will not be optimally utilised.  On the other hand if you train regularly with carbohydrate sources and then race without using them at appropriate rates, your body will go looking for them and if it doesn’t get them, it can have significant performance impact.  This means that training has just as much impact on your bodies absorptive system and metabolism as it does on your physiology (like VO2max, Lactate threshold, or maximum heart rate).

What does all this mean?

People are now undertaking tests to better understand their physiology, using power meters, heart rate monitors and training logs to ensure they are training their body optimally.  All this can be in vain if on race day  the body doesn’t receive the right nutrients in the right amounts.  Undertaking a detailed analysis of YOUR “Race fluid analysis” is a simple way to ensure nutrition isn’t the limiting factor in your performance.    

Greg Shaw
Sports Dietitian
AIS Sports Nutrition
Australian Institute of Sport