Pro Bikes, in Studio

In the span of about five hours, the Triathlete magazine house—the staff fortress housing our crew—had some pretty esteemed guests when we took in six bikes as part of our Pro Bike Studio shoot—it's essentially the same Pro Bike feature we run every month in the mag, but under beautiful studio lighting and the sharp focus of Triathlete staffer John Segesta, who, again, killed it with unbelievable shots.

In our second year doing this select shoot, I've managed to convince a few pro athletes a pretty tall order: to trust me to take their Saturday battle ax away from their condos for a couple hours. And it baffles our staff that these athletes would trust me with their rides. I feel like I've earned a level of trust with a lot of the athletes, and its a true honor to get to baby their bikes for our shoot, literally carrying them off the ground—I wouldn't want to be responsible for a glass shard in anyone's tires, and I didn't take the job lightly, loading and unloading with the care and brusque defense of Brinks guard in front of First National.

Which athletes' bikes? Ain't sayin. And sorry, no pics yet. We're keeping the list close to vest, but you can find out and see 'em in our April Bike Buyers Special Issue. I can tell you we had in our house today bikes belonging to this year's winners at the Roth Challenge, Ironman Canada and Ironman Lanzarote, as well as the steeds of two past Hawaii Ironman champs. There were some custom paintjobs with gold foil leaf decor, there was one bike, easily the most expensive on the pier Sunday, with a total value close to $20,000. I've earned a level of respect with most of the pros to the point that they'll let me take their Saturday battle ax, their bike, away for about two hours.

We'll be on the pier again Friday as athletes check in their bikes, capturing some more of the pros to check out not only their rigs but their fits, angles, accoutrements and little adornments of inspiration.

Speaking of adornments, I'll leave you with one more hint about one of our studio-shot bikes: this athlete's bike has a sticker with a caricature of a girl (whom he says is his girlfriend) and the words "Hawaii Express," the name of his hometown bike shop. Discuss. Yeah, its an obscure one, but maybe there's someone pretty tuned in. If someone nails it, I'll let you know.

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[Mark]

Ain-Alar Juhanson