Chrissie Wellington, the new Empress of Kona, shrugs off a flat, smashes the field, and weeps with joy.

Although the Ford Ironman World Championships and any other triathlon isn’t only about the bike, we still want to share what kind of bikes the top 15 pro women rode in Kona.

What kind of bikes were the top 15 pro men riding at the Ford Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii? Slowtwitch took a few images of the men and their machines.

Not if you’re Chrissie W, who might still be standing on the side of a wind-blasted Kona Coast road but for Rebecca Keat. Here’s Andy Potts’ tale of camaraderie.

Competitor Group, Inc. (CGI), that growing aggregation of premier endurance brands powered by private equity, will temporarily shrink by one brand.

The 2008 Ford Ironman World Championships are now in the books and here are a few images from the exciting day.

The rematch between “Macca” and “Crowie” fizzled, and Wellington’s duel with the 8:45 and 8:47 Iron record setters was made briefly interesting by ten interminable roadside minutes.

Last year, Chrissie Wellington was an unkown dark horse and her shocking victory was the biggest upset in Kona history. hius year, it will be the biggest upset in Kona history if she doesn’t win.

The athletes had 5 hours today to check in their bikes into the bike pen on the pier. Slowtwitch was there to capture some images of the athletes and their bikes.

Outguessing Madame Pele on Ironman Day is a fool’s errand. But here we go again.

After a whirlwind tour of the bike industry’s annual “Big Show,” I came away with a feeling that there is a lot of boring stuff being made today, but also a few gems. For every needle in the haystack, though, it was a reminder that innovation is a live and well in the cycling world.

Injuries left the most reliable racer at Kona (2nd, 5th, 4th from 2003 through 2005) off the map. While virtually nobody knows it, Rutger is back and he’s dangerous

With only 2 days left until the Ironman World Championships you can surely feel the anticipation getting bigger. The racers of course are maybe a bit more nervous and those who get to watch the event appear super excited.

The expo at Ironman Hawaii had its first full day today and it is quite a big larger than ever before. There are actually quite a few companies present who had never been in the official Ironman expo in Hawaii before. Plus it is a great place to run into various pros and industry folks.

Presaging the global cooling that will follow centuries of global warming, mild temperatures caused by airborne volcanic ash blocking the sun’s rays greeted parade participants.

Photos of random apres-parade rendezvous with notables and others are also displayed herein.

Canadian ITU swim-star Jill Savege tests out Nineteen’s premier women’s specific suit in the famed waters of Penticton’s Okanagan Lake while putting aside any cultural favoritism in the name of women’s liberation (from ill-fitting wetsuits).

There are still 4 days to go until the 2008 Ironman Hawaii, but the venues are already busy as if the race where tomorrow. We went down to the swim start this morning and checked out the action there.

Some people think Potts can, like Luc van Lierde in 1996, win in his debut at Kona. Other people wonder if the tall, talented former University of Michigan NCAA swimmer is serious – or if this is just a scouting expedition.

Time off leaves America’s latest two-time Hawaii winner recharged, relaxed and reinvigorated. But the Kona dream will have to wait another year.

Richie Cunningham beat a stellar field at the 2008 Ironman Longhorn 70.3 in Austin, Texas and Lisa Bentley nabbed the women’s title. Five-time World Champion Simon Lessing finished 4th in his final pro race.

Greg Bennett held off Kona bound Andy Potts and a slew of ITU studs to capture the 2008 Toyota US Open Triathlon in Dallas, Texas. In the women’s race, Under 23 World Champion Lisa Norden of Sweden outran 2007 US Open Champion Sarah Haskins of the U.S. for the win.

The 5-time World Champion who bestrode the world of triathlon in the 1990s like a Colossus, will race his last race as a pro at Austin 70.3

2008 has been a very magical year for Stephen Bayliss with Ironman wins in South Africa and UK, and a bunch of other very fine results. He is currently getting ready for Kona and has even bigger plans for late November.

There is probably a fine, long German word that aptly describes the social, cultural and industrial phenomenon that is Interbike. Part of that word should include kitschig which, according to those whom I rely upon for such transliteration, means smarmy, though there seems not be an exact German word for this.

Smarmy, because the trade show takes place in Las Vegas, the only place in the world where gold chains, side burns, white patent leather shoes and Sansabelt pants can be pulled off and, in the right context, might even be cool.

Another part of that long German word must include fahrrad because, at some point, an attendee must turn his attention to the upcoming season’s bikes. The end-users of such bikes and associated goods likewise want to see what’s new.

To that end, we present a few more Tim Carlson photos of what we saw at this year’s kitschigerfahrradkongress.