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The prototype mountain bike combined all of the industry’s latest fads: Big wheels, carbon, a seat mast, integrated headset and BB30.

Titus showed a prototype titanium IsoGrid 29er. This is the first mountain bike it built using IsoGrid technology and is currently still undergoing testing.

The Power Clamp by Foes was the best ‘gee wiz’ item I saw at Sea Otter — one I’d love to have, though. It’s an industrial quality bike stand with a pneumatic clamp. Step on the foot pedal and the clamp opens or closes. The Power Clamp costs $995 for the basic stand that bolts to the floor or a Park Shop stand base and is set to run off of an existing compressor.

SwissStop has developed one of the best brake pad compounds for carbon rims with its Yellow King compound. The manufacturer didn’t show any new compounds, but it did show a new Campagnolo compatible pad shape. The new shape has deeper grooves to clear debris from the rim more efficiently. The new shape is available in all three of SwissStop’s compounds.

Besides the white powder-coated magnesium arms, the new brakes have best in class features for the wide-profile ’cross brake segment. They have both mechanically adjustable toe-in and a straddle stop mounted barrel adjuster. I’m absolutely stoked to race on a set of these this fall.

Besides the R960, TRP showed its Euro X Mag brake. The brake first appeared last year as a prototype but it will be available to consumers for this ’cross season. TRP also reminded us that Sven Nys rode its brakes at the world championships last year and will continue to use them in the coming season.

The brakes are available in red and black. They’re first forged then they receive a heavy dose of post machining to shave as much material as possible. The brakes come stock with SwissStop’s black pads for alloy rims and TRP’s own carbon compound pads.

TRP had new dual-pivot brakes on display for the road called the R960. It is claimed to be 40 grams lighter than Shimano’s Dura-Ace and only 10-grams heavier than Zero Gravity; keep in mind the Zero G brake has a single pivot.

The 2008 Tour de Georgia couldn’t have ended better for Team High Road on Sunday, as Kiwi sprinter Greg Henderson won the final stage and Belarusian Kanstantin Sivtsov secured his overall race lead by four seconds ahead of Slipstream-Chipotle’s Trent Lowe.

Graham Watson shares some images from the 2008 Liège-Bastogne-Liège, which saw Spaniard Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) take a second victory ahead of Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) and Frank Schleck (CSC).

A new climb with 20km to go lived up to expectations, breaking Liège-Bastogne-Liège wide open, but Alejandro Valverde relied on tactical savvy and his fiery finish-line punch to win La Doyenne for the second time in three years Sunday. After working into the decisive four-man move, Spain’s “Green Bullet” collaborated with Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) to fend off searing attacks from the Schleck brothers on the Saint-Nicolas climb with 5.5km to go only to relegate the Italian to bridesmaid status with his winning sprint.

Two years ago, Liam Killeen was just a small step away from joining the top ranks of cross-country mountain biking. After years of slow but steady improvement, Killeen had a breakthrough 2006, winning the Commonwealth Games and the Sea Otter Classic, and regularly duking it out with Julien Absalon, Jose Hermida and the other big dogs of the World Cup. The 25-year-old Brit, known for his shy, quiet demeanor, was riding a wave of newfound confidence.

It was standing room only in Germany’s Black Forest, as a crowd of some 17,000 crowded the 5.1km Offenburg mountain-bike course to catch a glimpse of the second World Cup of 2008. Reigning world and World Cup champs Julien Absaslon (Orbea) and Irina Kalentieva (Ergon-Topeak) did not disappoint the fans, as each rode consistent efforts to repeat their respective victories from 2007.

Gregorio Vega (Team Tecos) won his second consecutive stage of La Vuelta de Bisbee on Saturday morning, then finished eighth in the afternoon’s time trial to hold a 21-second lead going into Sunday’s final stage, the Tombstone Road Race. In women’s racing, Marisa Russell (Procon-FNBA) won the Sulphur Springs Road Race and Kelly McDonald (Touchstone Climbing) the Warren Time Trial; McDonald took the yellow jersey from Chloe Forsman (Luna).

A View From L'Alpe du Huez

Despite a recently diagnosed injury that has kept him in near-constant pain, Rock Racing’s Rahsaan Bahati roared across the line at the Athens Twilight Criterium to capture his first major victory of the 2008 season. In a race that featured a relentless pace throughout in front of thousands in downtown Athens, Georgia, Bahati was able to beat a charging field to the line with enough time to lift his arms to the sky in tribute to a fallen friend.

Casey Gibson shares his images from an epic day that saw Kanstantin Sivtsov take a big win in front of the race favorites.

“In professional cycling, success is all about picking battles you can win," said Frank Overton, who coaches Health Net-Maxxis rider Frank Pipp, who is competing in the Tour de Georgia this week. On Saturday's stage 6, which ended with the brutal Brasstown Bald climb, the numbers don't lie, Overton said. "The men who can make greater than 6.3 watts/kg choose to come to the front of the race on the winner-take-all Brasstown Bald. They knew they could climb that fast and therefore they conserved their precious energy in four previous stages for one climb.

First of all, it's pronounced “Sweets-off.” If you can't get the last name, you can go with “Koste,” which is short for Kanstantin. But whatever you call him, Kanstantin Sivtsov left his stamp on American racing Saturday with a commanding win atop Brasstop Bald. The stage win, which also moved him into the leader's jersey by four seconds over Slipstream-Chipotle's Trent Lowe, has put him on the map for many cycling fans.

Former two-time winner Paolo Bettini has played down his chances of a third victory in the prestigious one-day classic Liege-Bastogne-Liege this Sunday. The reigning world and Olympic champion will saddle up as the Quick Step team's biggest hope of winning the 261km race but the Italian could be forgiven if he winces with pain on several of the 12 punishing climbs. Bettini is still recovering from arm and rib injuries sustained in a heavy crash at the Tour of the Basque country earlier this month, a setback which he says could have left him off a lot worse.

The addition of a punishing climb at the end of the Liege-Bastogne-Liege classic is willing on-form Australian Cadel Evans to grab what would be his biggest one-day victory to date. The world's oldest one-day race is held over 261 km on Sunday, with 12 climbs of varying length and difficulty set to test the climbers, but also the 'punchers' who can keep pace with the specialists on the steep ramps during the one-day races.