With their 20-inch wheels, there's not denying that folding bikes look a little funny. There's also no denying, however, how practical they are, be it for urban dwellers with little storage space or world travelers who like to roll through their final destinations without paying exorbitant baggage fees for normal size bikes (often around $300 round-trip these days).
The only catch? Even the best folding bikes compromised on performance, ease of repair, or sex appeal—or, in many cases, all three. Which is why we were so pleasantly surprised when we started test riding Tern's new Verge X10 (above). The bike initially caught our eye at Outdoor Retailer this past summer, but we finally got an opportunity to actually put one through the paces. The verdict: Bravo. It rides like a real bike.
Here's a video we've already posted on our tumblr (visit it for more videos) and facebook page, but it deserves another call out. Yes, it's 11-minutes long, but it involves a high altitude collision, a life-threatening struggle, and a surprise ending. So watch the entire thing.
*This title has been changed after a press release from the ASP.
Due to a calculation error, the ASP prematurely awarded Kelly Slater his 11th title. They have since apologized and offered the following explanation:
OCEAN BEACH, San Francisco/California (Friday, November 4, 2011) – The ASP has admitted that, due to a calculation error within its rankings’ system, the 2011 ASP World Title has yet to be officially decided and that Kelly Slater (USA), 39, was prematurely awarded his 11th ASP World Title on Tuesday.
“Our rankings’ system is designed to split tie-breaks based off of seed points,” Renato Hickel, ASP World Tour Manager, said. “Kelly (Slater) and Owen (Wright) tied at best nine of 11 results, so we went to best eight of 11 results and the system gave it to Kelly based off his higher seed position. We were operating under that assumption and created the ASP World Title scenarios based off of that. This was a mistake. In the end, we’re responsible for this and should be held accountable. We apologize to our fans, the surfers and to Owen and Kelly.”
Moving forward, Slater must win one more heat, either at the Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco or at the following event at Pipeline in Hawaii to confirm his 2011 ASP World Title. For Wright to remain in the hunt, he must win both the Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco and the following event at Pipeline in Hawaii.
REVISED 2011 ASP WORLD TITLE SCENARIOS: - If Kelly wins either Round 4 or 5 (one more heat win) in San Francisco, he will confirm his 2011 ASP World Title. - If Kelly fails to win another heat in San Francisco, Owen must win this event to send the 2011 ASP World Title race to Hawaii. - If the race goes to Hawaii, Kelly must advance out of one heat to confirm his 2011 ASP World Title. If Kelly fails to advance through a heat at Pipeline, Owen must also win this event to stay in the 2011 ASP World Title Race. - If Kelly fails to advance out of another heat this season, and Owen wins in San Francisco and Pipeline, the two will tie at best of nine, eight, seven, etc. events, and the 2011 ASP World Title will be decided in a “Surf Off”.
Old Post Below:
After becoming the first man to win 11 ASP World Titles in the waters of San Francisco's Ocean Beach yesterday, 39-year-old Kelly Slater is already looking forward to his next decade of surfing.
“Part of it is people always talk about my age and you know I’m 39, almost 40, and to me that’s literally just a number. You can prove people wrong and stay super healthy," says Slater. "I don’t see why at 50 I can’t be in better shape than I am now. If anything I’d like to try to represent that to people. I eat well and I talk about it and I walk the walk and it shows in my ability physically.”
Slater won his first title in 1992 and won his last title before this one in 2010. Slater's latest title came a year to the day after the death of friend and competitor Andy Irons.
Last May, while most normal high school students were out breaking curfew or killing time until summer, 17-year-old Alec Loorz from Oak View, California, had other plans: He was suing the federal government for global warming.
His lawsuit is part of a nationwide surge of youth-led litigation, filed in every state, arguing that the atmosphere is part of the public trust and that the government has an ethical responsibility to protect it for present and future generations. It’s a bold move, especially since the so-called Public Trust Doctrine has never been used to protect something as invisible and intangible as the air we breathe and the atmosphere we live in. And never by plaintiffs who are too young to vote.
“The kids living today are the ones who have the most to lose,” says Julia Olson, executive program director for Our Children’s Trust, a nonprofit that’s helping spearhead the iMatter legal campaign in partnership with Alec’s organization, Kids Vs. Global Warming, and is releasing mini documentaries each month about the youth plaintiffs to raise awareness of the eco blitz. The federal case seeks to compel agencies to adopt a climate recovery plan by capping carbon emissions by 2012 and then reducing them by 6 percent a year starting in 2013, to put us on a trajectory to reach 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 2100. "This is the minimum that Jim Hansen and other climate scientists say we need to get to a stable climate,” Olson says.
Like just about everybody else on the planet who skis or bikes, we've been using GoPros for several years. Naturally, when the company told us they were about to unveil a new one, we were interested. While the HD Hero 2 looks just like the old one, and costs the same amount ($299), GoPro made improvements across the board. Most notable is a faster image processor, which lets you slow down action and shoot in slow-motion (60fps in a respectable 720p and 30fps in 1080p). It also can take higher resolution stills. Whereas the old one could only capture 5 MP stills, the new one now goes up to 11. There's also a cool new feature that allows you to shoot 10 photos a second in "burst" mode. Alternatively, you can also set it to take a single photo every half second to create a time-lapse montage. Also of note: the new lens can now capture full 170 degree wide-angle video and the camera now comes with a mini-HDMI port and a 3.5mm external stereo microphone jack. (Watch the video below to see the results of these improvements.)
