My desk is covered with snippets of this and that; articles torn out of magazines, dog-eared pages. All representing things that catch my eye. I thought you might also find some of these of interest.

After a long day in the saddle, do you ever climb into bed only to find you're still pedaling? Maybe your legs just feel that way or maybe they really are making circles. Science in Sport, a UK company, has developed Nocte, a before bed drink just for this situation. The Nocte concept makes perfect sense. There's a lot of recovery going on when you sleep. Nocte is formulated to "help reduce muscle twitching and restless leg syndrome" which may occur because of not enough magnesium in the body. A unique protein complex also aids in muscle repair throughout the night. Visit Nocte's site for more information. Unfortunately, this product appears to be available only in the EU. Sadly, my email inquiries to Science in Sport about US availability were not answered.

If you're looking for a good read, indulge yourself with some wonderful bicycling prose by Sam Walker, who maintains the site, www.bikereader.com. Well worth the visit. Described as "looking moody and windswept" (think pre-Yankees Johnny Damon), Walker has put together a collection of his own elegant writings and those of others as well as photos and graphics. Very impressive. In a recent column in Cycling Plus titled "Give me room to ride", he wrote: "Even if you can't imagine life without a car and only saddle up when high summer days thaw the bike lock and you have to ask the neighbour's kid for a pump to elevate the rims above ground zero, you owe it to your fellow road warriors who, after all, are taking up much less space than that 4x4: please give them a little room to breathe free, to live and to ride." Bookmark his site and go back often.

Fix it. Park Tool's products are found in every shop and shade tree mechanic's tool crib. Now they have an on-line repair guide for cyclists. Just click on the part of the bike that needs attention and you'll find complete instructions. Another neat goodie on their site is a downloadable pdf of a form on which you can record every pertinent statistic about your bike. It will give you a perfect "snapshot" of your machine. Invaluable (what if you need to set up a new bike just like your current bike? what if you want to compare your bike to a bike you're thinking of purchasing?)!

Looking for a clever way to carry a saddle bag? Maybe you have a carbon seat post and don't want to clamp anything to it. Carradice makes a product called the "Bagman" that attaches to the rails of the saddle. It has a retro look about it, but is very functional and adaptable. Peter White Cycles stocks both the rack and the bags.

Any news about trends in the pro peloton is always of interest because it gives us all an idea of where our products may go in the future. Two interesting directions came to the surface during the Spring Classics. First, carbon has not completely taken over the world of bicycle frames! Titanium and aluminum are holding their own. And the popularity of the "compact" frame design also appears to be waning, given the bounty of horizontal top tubes.

Well, that's it from the desktop for now. Stay tuned for more exciting adventures!

Tailwinds,
Georgena
talktous@terrybicycles.com
www.terrybicycles.com