What do you get when you combine an obscure speed contest, some scrap aerospace material, and one very obsessed California engineer? A bike that can push 80 miles per hour. Behold the Cutting Edge II, a nine-foot, 42-pound recumbent ride that may be the most efficient human-powered machine ever built.


Developed over the past nine years by UC Berkeley engineering grad Matt Weaver, 35, the superbike combines a shell molded from carbon fiber intended for use on a fighter jet (defense contractor Hexcel donated the material), hand-lathed wheels, and componentry Weaver machined himself. A digital periscope gives a view of the road, while a liquid-cooled helmet and seat keep things chill.


Weaver set the U.S. speed-cycling record in 2001, when he pedaled another visionary contraption 78 miles per hour.


Next up? He expects to be the first person ever to crank 56 miles in a single hour, laying claim to the $25,000 Dempsey-MacCready prize, established in 1999 for anyone able to accomplish the feat. (The purse would cover less than 10 percent of his development costs.) All it will take, he says, is an “immaculate, unfettered hour.”

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The new rule for performance swimwear: More is less—less drag, less turbulence, and less time to the finish line. At this summer’s Athens Games, 75 percent of all swimmers will get hydro-dynamic in full-body and cutoff suits. The superhero getups are competition legal—they made their Olympic debut at Sydney in 2000—and several will be available by the end of summer for triathletes, masters swimmers, or anyone looking to make waves at their local pool.

performance swimwear

MAN IN FULL: Olympic gold medalist Ian Thorpe gets his grooves on in the Adidas JetConcept.

Amanda Beard

Amanda Beard

ADIDAS introduced its full-body swimsuits in 1998, and Australian torpedo Ian Thorpe later used one to win five medals in the Sydney Games. This summer, Thorpe is sporting the latest design, the JETCONCEPT, which utilizes long grooves, modeled on the channels in airplane wings, to move water more efficiently over the body. ($350, mail order only; 800-448-1796, )

You’d think the horizontal ridges at the core of TYR’s sleeveless AQUA SHIFT line would slow you down, but the company claims they harness turbulence and reduce resistance by 10 percent. Separate arm bands, banned from Olympic competition, increase your pulling power. ($220; optional bands, $30; 800-252-7878, )

SPEEDO worked with researchers at London’s Natural History Museum to develop the FASTSKIN FSII, which will be worn by breast-stroke Olympian Amanda Beard, and most of her teammates, in Athens. The textured fabric mimics the drag-cheating efficiency of sharkskin. Available in steel-gray and—feeling frisky?—leopard print, models are tailored to each stroke. ($350; 800-547-8770, )

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Eddy Merckx (Belgium)

Tour de France Eddy Merckx

Age: 59
Tour Wins: 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974
Wore Yellow: 96 days
Nobody devoured more foes than Eddy Merckx. Perhaps the greatest cyclist ever, “the Cannibal”—a six-foot, 165-pound powerhouse—was uniquely lethal in all disciplines, from time trials to mountain stages. In 13 years, Merckx won an astonishing 476 pro races (402 more than Lance Armstrong), taking not just five Tours de France but also five Giros d’Italia and seven Milan–San Remos. Since 1980 he’s headed the Belgium-based Eddy Merckx company, which builds racing bikes favored by pros like his 31-year-old son Axel. Why didn’t you win six? “My career was about winning as many races as possible—not about winning as many Tours de France as possible.” Is that a dig at Lance’s near-total focus on the Tour? “Not at all! We’re from different cycling generations. I was the best of mine, and he is the best of his.” Will Lance win again? “Of course. And it will be sweet revenge. When he fell sick, Cofidis [Armstrong’s former team] cut his contract and pushed him out the door. It was scandalous.”

Tour de France Bernard Hinault

Bernard Hinault (France)

Age: 49
Tour Wins: 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1985
Wore Yellow: 78 days
Bernard Hinault wasn’t quite as flamboyant as France’s other five-time winner, the late Jacques Anquetil—who reportedly swigged champagne from his water bottle during one Tour—but he always got the job done. Nicknamed “the Badger” for his tenacity, the five-eight, 149-pound Hinault scored 28 stage wins in eight Tours de France, a figure second only to Eddy Merckx’s 34. He retired in 1986 and became a farmer in his native Brittany. What’s replaced cycling in your life? “Chickens! I hung my bike on the wall, and that’s where it’s stayed.” Will Lance prevail in 2004? “I give him a one-in-two chance. My advice: Think of it as the Tour—not your sixth Tour. If you race for a record, you’ll have problems.” What about critics who say cancer medicines boosted Armstrong’s endurance? “To those assholes I say, I wish you just one thing: that you have the same sickness, that you have one foot in the grave. Then you’ll see how much you’ll want to do what you love, and do it to its maximum.”

Tour de France Miguel Indurain

Miguel Indurain (Spain)

Age: 39
Tour Wins: 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995
Wore Yellow: 60 days
Miguel Indurain reigned so completely over the Tour that he won five in a row, becoming the first (and, until Lance, only) rider to accomplish the feat. In the process, “Big Mig” established himself as Spain’s greatest sportsman—a star whose determination was exceeded only by his shyness. (Teammates said he spoke mostly with his shoulders.) Renowned for his imposing size (six-two, 176 pounds), Indurain possessed an extraordinary lung capacity, a resting heart rate—28 beats per minute—that would qualify most humans as dead, and monster talent, especially in time trials. The farmer’s son from the Spanish village of Villava retired in 1997 and now lives in nearby Pamplona. You lost the Tour at age 32. Is 32-year-old Lance Armstrong over the hill? “He’s at an age where there’s a limit to your athletic performance—but he can still have good years. And he’s very motivated.” You’ve said you like to keep things in perspective—that the Tour is only a bicycle race. Still, do you ever wish you’d tried to snag it one last time? “I did try to win a sixth, but it was not to be.” Do you want Lance to win? “I want the best rider to win.”

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