Is Amazon good for triathletes, a triathlete’s local bike shop, the manufacturers, and the rest of triathlon’s stakeholders? The answer is no; yes; and whether you’re talking now or in the future.

This is the story of one man doing his part to honor a fellow athlete. It is a story I heard almost entirely by coincidence. And once I heard it, I felt compelled to share it with the readers of slowtwitch.

Lance Armstrong’s decision to forgo arbitration is a surprise, as Armstrong has a fantastic legal team and USADA would still have several legal hurdles to overcome, including the 8-year statute of limitations.

We take a close look at the MCipollini bike ridden by none other than the man himself. While Mario no longer races professionally, both he and his bike still look quite fast.

Challenge Family announced today what appears to be a long distance triathlon coup — the expansion of its global series of triathlons to North America with a 2013 Challenge Penticton race.

Peter the Great Reid and his three Ironman World Championships had been happy to quit professional triathlon and enjoy life as a Canadian bush pilot. So what drew him back to a Penticton alliance with the Challenge group?

The morph from Ironman Canada to Challenge Penticton isn’t, legally speaking, necessarily a done deal. WTC is not giving up on Penticton without a fight that could get nasty.

Annett Finger from Germany won the 2012 Norseman Extreme Triathlon in a course record time of 12:17:04 despite gunning for the record from the previous year. We had a few words with this upcoming Pro.

This week we noticed a stunning Timo Bracht bike ride, the world’s fastest jogger, the Skora Base shoes, the FlipLoc Aero Garmin mount, the Kona Epic Camp and Kennedy Donnelly.

Barry Siff climbs about the Good Ship HITS. New running series, new pricing structure, new personnel have positioned the organization to take a fresh run at becoming a nationally known brand.

Consider this your official PSA on valve extenders. We describe the ins and outs, and show how this oft frustrating piece of equipment really can be your friend.

In the immediate wake of two-time winner Chris McCormack and three-time champion Craig Alexander, 2011 runner-up Pete Jacobs has the game – if healthy – to follow fellow Aussies atop the podium at Kona.

C.S. Lewis once said, “A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.” This fictional depiction of a high school XC runner passes Lewis’ test

Ironman France champion Frederik Van Lierde reports from Font Romeu, an increasingly popular training spot in the French Pyrenees.

Elite Triathlon Academy resident Luke Farkas recently grabbed the title at the USA Triathlon Junior National Championships and has his sights now set on Auckland, New Zealand where the Worlds will take place in October.

Joe Gambles ran away from Leon Griffin with a race-best 1:13:31 half marathon and Heather Wurtele’s race-fastest bike trumped Caitlin Snow’s race-best run to take top honors at Ironman 70.3 Timberman.

Stephen Bayliss of Great Britain defended his title and Martina Dogana of Italy overtook Carrie Lester of Australia on the run to win a race shortened to half Iron distance because of scorching temperatures.

In this race roundup update we cover 70.3 Yeppoon, 70.3 Steelhead and Ironman Mont-Tremblant. Tim Reed, Lisa Marangon, Daniel Bretscher, Jessica Jacobs, Romain Guillaume and Jessie Donavan were among the winners today.

Jan Raphael closed out his day with a 2:45:44 run to take the inaugural Ironman Sweden in 8:04:01. Åsa Lundström prevented a German podium sweep with her win and made the Swedish audience quite happy.

A male in his 50s died during the swim leg of USA Triathlon’s Age Group Olympic distance triathlon.

Brian Duffy topped Drew Scott by 36 seconds and Haley Chura edged Catherine Sterling by 37 seconds to win the men’s and women’s overall titles at the USA Triathlon Olympic Distance Age Group Nationals.

Full Circle, the crew behind the documentary-style video at Ironman Texas, is back with another video, this time of the Ironman US Championships in New York, NY

Four guys in a rental car cruise one 56 mile loop of the soon-to-be-famous Ironman Lake Tahoe bike course.

We take a look at the bikes of triathlon star, Sarah Haskins. She is sponsored by Fuji, and rides their Altamira for drafting races, and the D6 for non-drafting.