Giant TCX Advanced Pro 2

July 21, 2021

Have you been curious about trying your hand in the cyclocross world? Hop aboard the #cxtrain with the Giant TCX Advanced Pro 2! This cyclocross racing machine features a super light carbon frame that’s handcrafted with an aggressive race geometry. Not many people know that Giant builds bikes for major brands including Trek, Scott, Santa Cruz, and Colnago. While they might not have the “cool” factor of other brands, their manufacturing capabilities lead the charge in the industry!

MY20TCXADVPro2_ColorA

The Pro Advanced 2 comes stock with a SRAM Rival 1 drivetrain and hydraulic disk brakes, which is the Shimano equivalent to 105. The TCX Advanced Pro 2 is a high performance package at a sub $3500 price point. For those looking to get into cyclocross, this would be a great jump start. 

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Unmotivated? Stressed? How to Maintain Cycling Fitness During COVID 19 

May 28, 2020

The weather is warm and inviting. The days are longer. It’s almost June – the beginning of another season of cycling along the Front Range.

Yet, do you find yourself lacking the motivation to ride? Could it be you miss your riding buddies? Or that the trails are packed with people making it hard to ride and ride with social distancing in place?  

No doubt these unprecedented times have taken their toll on motivation to get out and ride. Without races and events and group rides to inspire training, it makes it a little harder to reach that upper range in high-intensity workouts. Even if you are getting out for rides, maybe you’re cutting them short or worse, beating yourself up for losing fitness.  

The aim during these challenging times is to find a healthy balance between riding and managing other factors like stress and anxieties of the day. So, how do you find that balance?  A good first step is to give up beating yourself up for missed rides.  The post, Missing training – Adjusting the plan, suggest a few options for recalibrating your weekly training schedule.  The big take away is the mindset. “Often remind yourself of the big picture. It’s easy to beat yourself up over missed training, but if you have been steady with training, give yourself a break. Gaining fitness doesn’t happen in one or two days and losing fitness doesn’t happen in one or two days. It takes months of steady training to gain good fitness. A few days missed or logging a few less hours than planned for a week is a small blip on the radar.”  

Another piece of encouragement comes from the post, Will I Lose Fitness During Quarantine? which emphasizes that doing something is infinitely better than doing nothing and that while many athletes have been facing limitations on their training, your fitness might not be as dire as you think.  That’s encouraging, right?

A way to spark that hope and re-ignite your motivation for riding might be to Experiment With Different Bike Parts to Keep Training Motivation High. Mix up your routine and ride different bikes on different days. Mondays might be your mountain bike. Tuesdays your cross bike. Wednesdays you ride your road bike and so on.  Experiment with new bike parts. Swap out your saddle or add some new grips. If experimentation isn’t your thing, then at least replace worn out bike parts or catch deals on bike close-outs, bike parts and components. Or, maybe training just isn’t in the cards for you right now.  That’s okay. You can still ride! Swap your car ride for an easy bike commute. Any of these activities help to extend the fitness gains you’ve made and will also help reduce the anxieties and stress accompanied by the pandemic.  

Given all that is occurring in our world right now, it’s natural to feel frustrated, anxious, confused, and even well. What’s not needed is more self-imposed judgment for not riding or not riding as frequently as you would like. Let that go. Instead, use this time to reconnect with your bikes and the love of cycling that you have. Let that fuel your motivation for training and hopefully soon we’ll all be able to ride together and cherish more profoundly our cycling events and races and group rides.  

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Plan Ahead! Small Business Day is Coming – Why it Matters to You and to Peak Cycles Bicycle Shop 

November 14, 2019

The holidays are coming! And much like a stage race, there are three days of holiday shopping worth noting. An important one might be missed. And that is Small Business Saturday. Nestled in between Black Friday and Cyber Monday is Small Business Saturday. Small Business Saturday is one day every year set aside to support small businesses across the entire United States. The event was started by American Express in 2010 and is celebrated on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. 

There may be some obvious reasons why Small Business Saturday is important, as in personalized customer service, product diversity, and overall just supporting a local business.  But the reasons to support small, local businesses goes beyond that. Specific to Peak Cycles Bicycle Shop, your purchases go a long way from just keeping the mechanics busy and the shop bringing in bike parts, and cycling gear.  Your support enables us to host community events like the Bike Safety Talk with the Cycling Lawyer, offer Bicycle Demo Days, and contribute to the national races that come through Golden like the Colorado Classic.  Your purchases encourage us to give back to the community as in co-hosting the Staunton Blizzard Fat Bike Race each year. More so, your purchasing dollars extend to our youth through Peak Cycles Bicycle Shop’s support of a variety of race teams. Over the years we have been proud sponsors of The School of Mines cycling team, Golden High School cycling team, Twin Peaks Racing, The Colorado Collective, and Tough Girl Cycling Team. Not to mention the BikeParts.com Racing team too! 

With all that said, our customers benefit too. Sure you have access to new road bikes, mountain bikes, fat bikes, and cyclocross bikes.  And yes, you can even take bikes out for demos and we’re happy to share where the best road and mountain bike trails are for dialing in trialing the demo bikes.  But most importantly, by investing in our local shop, you are investing in a cycling community.  A community in which you ride, live and play in. One that supports healthy, active living for people of all ages.  

The holidays are about expressing our appreciation of others and the meaning they bring to our lives.  We’re grateful for our wonderful customers. And, we invite you to join us to Shop Small on November 30th for Small Business Saturday. Your purchases make a huge difference to us and our community.  

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Spice Up Your Cycling Life with Cyclocross Racing

September 26, 2019

As a cyclist, do you want to get fitter? Faster? Stronger? And do you want to have a ton of fun while doing that? Well, if you haven’t already, you might want to introduce cyclocross into your cycling regime. Cyclocross racing is super fun and it can dramatically improve your bike handling skills, while also maintaining fitness intensity over transitional months and through the winter period. Sounds good, right? It is! 

Cyclocross is a wonderful way for road cyclists and mountain bike athletes to extend their competitive seasons and get a head-start on training for next season. The intensity of cyclocross racing provides a training stimulus that’s very difficult to replicate with standard interval training during the fall and winter, especially as the temperatures fall and athletes turn primarily to indoor cycling.  As the season is just now getting underway, what do you need to know? 

How To Get Started 
If you are new to the sport, a formal clinic can be a great way to get acclimated to the sport while making some racing friends. Attending a clinic can help improve your technical skills and help you confidently navigate your first cross race.  You can get a better idea during the clinic as to whether you want to try racing on your mountain bike.  Chances are that after doing a race or two, you will want to purchase a cyclocross bike. It is THAT addicting!  And, lucky for you, we have cyclocross bikes online at bikeparts.com.

How to Train
Another thing to consider when starting out is how to train for a cyclocross race.  A good plan is to structure your cyclocross training week.   For specific training targets, the post, Preparing for Cyclocross Season, shares more on what you need to include in your training plan. Yet overall, a structured cyclocross training plan includes these elements: transitioning from the previous race season; running; race intensity workouts including some drills to gain confidence in your bike handling skills and cornering. A bonus is to include practicing starts, dismounts, remounts, shouldering, cornering, and riding through different conditions, as in, mud and sand. All play an important factor in racing efficiently.  

What To Bring To A Cyclocross Race
As for race day, your needs for a cyclocross race will be different from what you would pack for a road race or mountain bike event. We have a compressive packing list to make it super easy for you to remember because there is a LOT to bring to a race, as in a variety of cycling apparel, cycling accessories, extra bike parts, and wheel sets  You will want the checklist so get it here: What To Bring To A Cyclocross Race? One item that is not on that list that is a treasured piece of equipment is the Feedback Sports Omnium Portable Trainer. It’s the perfect bicycle tool to have for warming up before a race and cooling down after the race. The trainer is lightweight, portable, and quiet so it functions well at home as an everyday trainer during the winter months too.  Fortunately, it’s on sale now! 

So, now that you are motivated, skilled, and have your gear bag ready, it’s time to race cross.  Here’s a recap: If you are new to cyclocross, check out our cyclocross bikes online at bikeparts.com.  Dial-in the best bike parts and tire choice for the type of racing you plan to do.  Finally, don’t forget to register for an upcoming cross race! Bring on the cowbell! 

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12 Reasons Why You Want to Race Cross This Season

September 22, 2016

Cyclocross at BikeParts.comCross season begins in the early fall and runs through the end of December. You know, the time of year that those of us who live in places that get real, bona fide winters want to hang up our bikes and hibernate under down blankets. But In Colorado, we don’t do that because it’s cross season and cross is worth going out in the cold for.  Fortunately, the cooler temps and bad weather has escaped us so far; however soon on the horizon, cyclocross racers will be greeted with mud, cold, and nastier racing conditions.  Makes for more fun, right?  Absolutely! 

Cyclocross is a wonderful way for road cyclists and mountain bikers to extend their competitive seasons and get a head-start on training for next season. The intensity of cyclocross racing provides a training stimulus that’s very difficult to replicate with standard interval training during the fall and winter, especially as the temperatures fall and athletes turn primarily to indoor cycling.  

  1. Cyclocross promotes silky smooth pedaling 
  2. Cyclocross develops your strength and power 
  3. Cyclocross improves your bike handling skills 
  4. Cyclocross teaches you race techniques
  5. Cyclocross reduces off-season weight gain 
  6. Cyclocross toughens you up to fair better in inclement riding conditions
  7. Cyclocross improves seasonal motivation 
  8. Cyclocross offers a full body workout
  9. Cyclocross maintains current fitness and can improve fitness 
  10. Cyclocross offers a mental break from your current cycling regimen and training focus
  11. Cyclocross provides high intensity training 
  12. Cyclocross means getting to purchase a new cyclocross bike, cyclocross tires, and an assortment of new bike parts! 

A final reason to race cyclocross is because it is exhilarating FUN! Whether you are a veteran of cyclocross or a newbie, check out our cyclocross bikes online at bikeparts.com.  Dial in the best bike parts and cycling accessories.  Get help with your bike fit and setup and be sure to have all the right cycling apparel you need for a successful cyclocross season.  

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