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com : Bikes - Tech - Bike Fit - Dealers - About Us - Contact June 2008

- Perfect positioning with Juteau-Cantin - Franois Parisien with Team R.A.C.E. Pro - The Plutonium, at home on any road - Sam McGlone Wins the Ironman 70.3 of Hawaii - Twenty years ago, Seoul was the place and Gervais Rioux was there

Perfect positioning with Juteau-Cantin

The days of plumb-line fiddling are over! For the buyer, purchasing a bicycle involves many decisions, most of which revolve around personal preferences. Of all the choices to be made, choosing the correct frame size might seem one of the most "objective", but this is often not quite the case, particularly when body measurements are inaccurately assessed. These same measurements then have to be validated when transposed to the bike at delivery. Today, as more and more riders seek the perfect position down to the millimeter, there seems to be no really effective means for establishing accurate data. In this respect, Juteau-Cantin tools, exclusively distributed by Argon 18, offer effective, practical solutions that combine accuracy and an elegant simplicity. Hand made in Canada, they are the result of years of bike-shop experience in fitting riders of all kinds to bikes of all kinds, fulfilling both the shop's and the customer's needs. Of the range of tools available, two in particular stand out as "must-haves" for any shop: The Measuring Station Built of steel and hardwood, this device easily and accurately establishes the customer's height and inseam, tibia, forearm and foot length. It comes with data file cards to be completed for each customer and, importantly, a very complete manual that lists the frame geometries for more than thirty popular bike brands. The Platform

Hand made in Canada by Philippe Juteau

This positioning tool offers a very stable working surface. The cyclist can mount the bike and participate in establishing the optimal position in complete safety. The Platform system includes long steel squares that facilitate a reliable determination of reference points, such as saddle setback and angle, stem length and height as well as handlebar dimensions.

To learn more about these tools, visit the "Positioning Tools" page on the Argon 18 website. Juteau-Cantin tools, perfect positioning made easy.

The Measuring Station

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Franois Parisien with Team R.A.C.E. Pro

The Platform

2005 Canadian road champ now rides on a Gallium

The rumor about the transfer of ex-Canadian road champion Franois Parisien had spread last week. But since June 1st the situation is official: Franois has joined the ranks of Team R.A.C.E. pro and for the remaining of the season, he will race on the Gallium. By joining Steve Bauer's squad, Franois is assured to take the start at the important races in Philly that will take place in the coming days (the Lehigh Valley Classic, the Reading Classic and the Philadelphia International Championship). He will then race at the Tour de la Beauce before going back in Beauce for the Canadian road Championship a month later. His ultimate goal is to secure a spot on the Canadian National team going to the Olympics.

Franois decided to use a XS Gallium

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The Plutonium
At home on any road With an eye on emerging market trends, last year Argon 18 decided to subject one of its road models to a complete makeover, turning it into a high-performance commuter bike. We refer, of course, to the

Plutonium. This unique machine has been redesigned expressly to facilitate "the daily travel to and from a person's workplace and home", as Wikipedia defines "commuting". But this bike offers much more. The new Plutonium is a more versatile machine, when compared to the Krypton or Gallium models, which are real thoroughbreds specifically designed for road training and racing. Apart from its lean and clean lines, what distinguishes the Plutonium? Well, the AFS geometry has been tweaked, with a longer wheelbase yielding greater stability and a taller head tube for a more upright position. The frameset incorporates the threaded eyelets required for mounting a rack and panniers and the 700 X 28 tires offer durability, comfort and control on rural gravel roads as well as bumpy pavement downtown. Day trippers, take note. Add to this a smart mix of components including Shimano 105 shift levers, a Shimano Ultegra ten-speed derailleurs and a FSA Gossamer compact crankset and you have a bike that performs on any kind of road; that's the Plutonium.

Longer wheelbase for greater stability

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Sam McGlone Wins the Ironman 70.3 of Hawaii

"May is my favorite time of year" Last weekend Samantha McGlone won the Ironman 70.3 of Hawaii for a second time in a row. Race analysts and athletes present at the race were agreeing that Sam looked very comfortable during the race. So we asked her about her training during the month of May. "May is my favorite time of year - the days are getting longer and the weather is finally warming up. Also the long training block of winter is coming to an end and the racing is starting. That means more race specific preparation. Some of my favorite workouts include long bricks at race intensity. I often do two bricks each week. The typical Brick workout is Bike-Run combo. I like to do a longer ride (2-3 hours) with intervals at 1/2 Ironman race

intensity, then follow it up with a 30-45 minute run at 1/2 marathon pace. The specificity of the long brick prepares me for a hard race better than any other workout. The other Brick workout I do in the week is a Swim-Bike brick. Many people neglect this transition but I find it almost harder to go from swim-bike than to bike-run. Since all the blood is being sent to your arms in the water, it is tough to transfer to a legs dominate sport like cycling. To practice this, I will do a 45km swim workout with a 2-3k race pace main set (such as 20 x 100 or 3 x 800) followed immediately by an intense 90 minute ride including hills repeats or harder intervals. These workouts combined with a thorough warm-up on race morning helps prepare my body for the intense transitions on race day.
Samantha with her E-112

Happy training and racing!" Samantha McGlone Top 5 of the Ironman 70.3 of Hawaii: 1. Samantha McGlone (Can) 4:30:38 2. Tyler Stewart (USA) 4:34:21 3. Kate Bevilaqua (Aus) 4:35:03 4. Alison Fitch (Aus) 4:36:16 5. Gina Kehr (USA) 4:57:46

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Twenty years ago, Seoul was the place and Gervais Rioux was there
A cycling entrepreneur remembers the Games of '88 By Bruno Paradis This summer, for two intense and crazy weeks, all eyes will turn to Beijing as the Chinese capital hosts the summer Olympic Games. Twenty years ago, another Asian city, Seoul, Korea became the locus of the world's attention, as it presented the XXIV Summer Olympics. Gervais Rioux was there representing Canada in the cycling road race. With this Gervais Rioux, on a Argon 18, summer's games looming just ahead, Gervais took a moment to share his during his last racing season recollection of events in Seoul. Memories of an Olympian. Bruno Paradis: Gervais, let's go back to 1988 for a moment. What was your reaction to news that you had been chosen to represent Canada at the Games? Gervais Rioux: Well, above all, I felt hugely satisfied; it felt like a mission accomplished, in a sense. I was 28 years old then, and had nurtured my Olympic dream all those years, ever since I had been a teenager and now it was finally coming true. I remember attending the road race at the Montreal

Gervais Rioux with Steve Bauer

Olympics in 1976. On that day, something clicked for me, I knew that's what I wanted to do. So, yes, Seoul was important to me, absolutely, and all the more so that I had missed the Games in Los Angeles. In 1983, I'd had an excellent season, so logically, I had reason to expect to be selected for the Olympic team, but I crashed early in '84, which led to lingering injuries and.anyway, all that to say that my dream was postponed. B.P.: At the time, you were probably the country's most experienced rider. Did you nevertheless feel some sort of pressure or anxiety following the announcement of your presence on the team? Did you feel a need to change your training program? G.R.: In terms of training, I had planned to hit a second peak in September, so yes, in that sense, my season had been planned around Seoul. At any rate, I had won one of the two selection races in late July or early August, so it was a little too late to change much in my training by then, with the Games slated for September. Also, I was familiar with the Canadian selection process; I had already represented Canada at seven or eight World Championships and at the Commonwealth Games twice. That was useful experience. B.P.: Nervousness didn't seem to affect you. You didn't feel nervous, there at the start line, surrounded by all those international riders? What comes to mind when you think of that moment today? G.R.: The nerves would kick in maybe ten minutes before the gun, no sooner. On the line, yes, I was anxious to get going! In Seoul, though, we had a plan from the start and I remember discussing this with Ken Reid and Gatan Boucher, the team director, telling them that I was going to attack early. B.P.: Which you did. G.R.: Oh yeah! Since the course presented no particular challenge, a very active, dynamic race was to be expected, so, as planned, I attacked about thirty kilometers into the race. We had a good group in the break, working well together and we rode a little over a hundred kilometers off the front, culminating with about 3'30'' on the bunch. They caught us about thirty km from the finish, but I wasn't quite done with my plan, so I jumped in with the counter-attack, in a group of nine this time, but these guys were not working well together. At one point, someone attacked and I thought that since I'd just spent the day in a race-long break working hard, it wasn't my job to get on the front and work at that point in the race. Well, this break was caught too and in the end, Olaf Ludwig won. B.P.: Today, twenty years later, you have bikes of your own design that are going to Beijing. How does it feel to know that athletes are going to represent their respective countries riding your bikes?

G.R.: Oh, pride, great pride! In Beijing, we'll have Lauren Groves, who is shooting for a podium spot and perhaps Carolyn Murray, if all goes to plan; both will be on our bikes. Samantha McGlone was riding an Argon 18 in Athens. These athletes put their trust in our bikes, they rely on them to accomplish their inspiring performances and they represent our company. Quite a bit of teamwork was required to get to this point and all of this shows just how far Argon 18 has come since its inception. Remember, too, that Argon 18 has been ridden to a number of Canadian Championship titles and has three Triathlon World Championships under its belt, not to mention the many international victories in cycling and triathlon both. And we're just getting started.