I could imagine this handlebar being more aero, and more safe, at the same time. It’s going to be interesting to see this develop. Here’s our Forum thread on this bar.

Roka Pro Swim Paddles

Finally! Paddles I like.

I swim in Roka’s goggles, though I could swim in TYR or Speedo or Zoggs and I’d be happy. Its wetsuits are at the top of the heap. Roka’s jammer is my favorite. But that doesn’t capture what’s different about this company.

Roka continually makes products that have been reimagined. As with De Soto, Roka consistently makes products with the athlete in mind, and also with a sense of style. But there’s an industrial design quality to Roka that goes beyond. Let’s talk about this paddle.

First, the Roka Pro Swim Paddle comes in 3 sizes. That’s not news. Speedo’s Power Paddles come in 4 sizes. TYR’s Catalyst comes in 5 sizes. Roka’s have a bunch of holes through which to put the straps. The Catalyst also offers this, but I don’t like the configuration options as much (and the Catalyst 2 is a bit flexy). I like Finis’ products, as well as its paddles, but a Finis product almost always has a rather severe technique requirement. Its Agility paddle literally cannot be used without employing early vertical forearm. Using a Finis paddle is like spending a week with someone who is on a plant-based-only diet: really good for you, just, prepare yourself for that and know what you’re getting into.

Roka’s paddles also have an intriguing strap system. Rather than surgical tubing, these straps are flat where they bend around your fingers and wrist, but round and corrugated where they press into the holes in the paddle. Like XTENEX elastic laces. What you see above is how they come: 2 paddles and 4 straps.

$25. Nice job on these.

Cruzee Balance Bike

I found out a couple of months ago what a balance bike is. Apparently if you have children you know about these already. Our next door neighbor here at The Compound, Mark Montgomery (aka Monty on our Reader Forum, and the guy who everybody stays with when they come to camps here at The Compound) has three children. The two youngest are Morgan and Jesse (the oldest is Wyatt). The two younger outlaws are fraternal twins, boy and girl, just about to turn two.

They each got a Cruzee Balance Bike for Christmas. A principal in Cruzee happens to be a Slowtwitcher. These bikes are, I’m taken to understand it, basically maintenance free, rustproof, lifetime warranty, and immune to flats. I own no bike that boasts this set of features.

Reader Forum enhancements

Okay, we didn’t just notice them. We want you to notice them. First are your default settings. When you’re logged into our forum you’ll see a “Welcome [Username]” notice at the very top, with a drop-down menu. In that menu is Profile Settings. Choose that, and you’ll see some options. Choose “Display Settings” and then you can select to either view your search results as “threads” or “posts.” You’re selecting your default here. You can always choose to either return threads or posts in “Advanced Search.”

Also note that we’re slowly aggregating what amounts to a FAQ of the most important threads on various subjects. The problem with Slowtwitch isn’t that there is not enough information. It’s the opposite. How do you know where to find what you’re looking for?

You’ll find HOT FORUM TOPICS in a couple of places on the forum, near the top, hard to miss. If you click that blue bar it’s a drop down menu. As of this writing there is one category: Injury and Illness. Below this are several sub-categories: Atrial Fibrillation; High Hamstring Tendinopathy; Mad Calf Disease; Iliac Arterial Endofibrosis; and so forth. Underneath each of these sub-categories sits a list of the most important discussions on these topics. As time permits we will expand these to cover training, racing, selecting and working on equipment. We'll keep going until we've built it out, then adding and subtracting threads to keep this relevant and useful.