Review of Triathlon Wetsuit Demo

Last October I posted a video we did with fitness model Karena Dawn demonstrating our preferred method of putting on and taking off a wetsuit. I figured since everyone is really starting to get into the swing of things this spring I'd bring it back for an encore.

Enjoy!

If you would like to embed this video in your own site, visit this link to get the code.

Cheers!

Team Dominance

TOSHIBA-Santo Pro Cycling Team presented by Herbalife

Dominate the Gainesville Georgia Cup

I wanted to send out congratulations to the guys of TOSHIBA-Santo Pro Cycling Team presented by Herbalife for an amazing show in Georgia. Check out their podcast reports on the main page. Below are the stage results and all other race reports can be found here.

Time Trial, 14 k

1. John Murphy, HealthNet presented by Maxxis, 18:48.7

2. Frank Travieso, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 19:07.4

3. Chris Butler, Hincapie-Barkley Devo, 19:25.2

4. Bobby Sweeting, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 19:25.5

6. Dan Vaillancourt, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 19:50.4

7. Alex Hagman, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 19:54.3

10. Mark Hekman, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 19:57.8

Road Race, 82 miles

1. Chris Klem, MyogenesisNutrition.com
2. Frank Travieso, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife
3. Alex Hagman, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife
4. Mark Hekman, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife
5. Tommy Nankervis, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife

Criterium, 60 laps

1. Mark Hekman, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife
2. Oscar Henao, Clinica Union
3. Frank Travieso, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife
4. Bobby Sweeting, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife

Overall

1. Frank Travieso, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife
2. Mark Hekman, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife
3. Bobby Sweeting, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife
6. Alex Hagman, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife
8. Dan Vaillancourt, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by

Way to go guys!

Rocket Bottle Featured In Bicycling Magazine

The May 08 Issue of Bicycling Magazine has included a review of our Rocket Bottle. The section on page 102 is titled "You CAN Buy Speed" and is within the 2008 Spring Triathlon Guide in that issue. You can take a look for yourself here. And for those of you who already own our water bottles, Bicycling has a link for you to add your own reader review. Very cool!

Lucky for us this issue should sell a little better than others (mostly to women) for the simple fact that Patrick Dempsey is on the cover and is interviewed within. We'll take the extra exposure.

If you just want to cut to the chase, here is what Bicycling had to say about our bottle...

Rocket Science
Rocket Bottle
MSRP: $10

Issue: May 2008 Page: BI102
Editorial Review

Forget those goofy aero-shaped bottles; Rocket Science's round, 21-ounce bottle uses the same dimples found on golf balls--and some aero race wheels--to reduce drag. Quick science lesson: As air flows over the bottle, it separates; the turbulence in its wake causes drag. Delay the separation with dimples, and voila: less drag. How much time will you save? Rocket Science tested the bottle with aero guru John Cobb, who found a quarter-pound drag reduction, or about a 53-second savings over 40K, at 30 miles per hour. At just $10 it's worth a try.

Rocket XP Wetsuit Review

The March Issue of Triathlete Magazine had our Rocket XP Wetsuit reviewed and I wanted to re-hash the comments made about our suit. But first, I want to clarify some of our technology so that you may better understand how different our suits really are from the rest.

Brad Culp is the tech editor for Triathlete Magazine and is great to work with. You really have to appreciate a person who is constantly having products thrown at him to test and write about.

Marcin set out to design our Rocket XP from the ground up. First, we spent more time and money designing and perfecting the welded seam so that there would be no chafing threads on the inside of the suit. Marcin was able to find and build our suits without losing the stretchiness at all these panel junctions. It is the most stretchy welded seams I have ever felt.

Next we looked at the neoprene. Again Marcin stepped up and sought out materials from other industries and figured out a way to laminate Yamamoto's super low drag SCS coating onto a non-neoprene material on the inside of the BLT panels in the legs of our Rocket XP to make them 55% more buoyant than standard neoprene and 30% more buoyant than 5mm of the top of the line available to the industry!

The SCS coating Yamamoto uses on their top end neoprene is the gold standard for low drag neoprene surfaces. How we make our Rocket XP even faster and lower drag than that is with the utilization of the "v" shaped vortex generators on the lower back of our suit (see picture below). We are the first in the industry to use this technique. It is because Marcin has a background in aerospace engineering that we have and are able to apply his knowledge to make groundbreaking products. It also helps that he has been a competitive swimmer and triathlete, thus giving him a good base to try and figure out how to make things better.

Before quoting the review, I would like to post the comments made to me by Brad via email immediately after he tested our wetsuit. The timing of getting our wetsuit to him couldn't have been better because ours was the very last one for him to test, so he knew how it could compare to everything else. I also spoke to him right before testing so I could point out for him to pay specific attention to the special buoyancy panels in the legs (the ones I mentioned are 30% more buoyant than 5mm of the top of the line).

Here is what Brad had to say:
"Both Jay and I noticed the leg panels the minute I threw it on -- very nice touch. I like the very low-key arm catch panels too. Some wetsuit makers use these elaborate designs on the catch panel and all it does is cause you to carry a lot of air into the water -- very nice work!"

Triathlete Magazine March 08 Review
"Darren Zielinski at Rocket Science Sports assured us that the seamless design makes the Rocket XP the toughest wetsuit on the market. We took that as meaning we had an open invitation to beat the crap out of the suit, and we did. The suit truly stood up to the test. Aside from being able to withstand any amount of tugging and pulling without splitting, the seamless suit fits extremely well and optimizes range of motion through the arms and shoulders."

Cheers!

Rocket Bottle On Tri-Talk.com

So maybe I've been a bit busy with the daily hustle and bustle of things. One indication might be that I just found out in the last few days that our Rocket Bottle was a featured topic of discussion on Tri-Talk.com episode #59 last month.

While most people recognize John Cobb's name and expertise in the field of aerodynamics and cycling, and he has generously given us some additional information about our Rocket Bottle performance (he gets to play in wind tunnels more frequently than we do), I just wanted to point out that the person who designed our bottle, Marcin Sochacki, was classically trained in aerospace engineering and knew on paper before ever making a sample that this idea would work. Marcin is what makes our company "Rocket Science".

So when you see something that has our logo on it and it has some amazing technical breakthrough in it's design, remember, it's from Marcin Sochacki, also known as M. Sochacki
Designs which you will be seeing and hearing more about in time to come.

Cheers!

Rocket Bag Arrival!

I wanted to let everyone know that our Rocket Bags have arrived at our warehouse. Our staff is very busy packing and shipping all those that have been ordered. So if you've ordered yours, you will see it soon! Cheers!

First Cover

This month marks the beginning of a new era, the era of Rocket Science Sports. Be it an indication of our growing popularity and acceptance as an up and coming brand to be reckoned with, or lucky fluke that our brand stands front and center on the cover of Runner Triathlete News, I think there is only one thing to say.

Here we come!

Photo by Lance Phegley