This cyclo-cross season I’m very fortunate to have support from Giro and Mavic thanks to Outdoor Gear Canada and Dave Shirley. Dave and OGC set me up with some great equipment that completes my set of racing and training tools for the 2008 – 2009 cyclo-cross season.

This season my skull is protected with the Giro Monza helmet. I’ve got a small head. This makes finding a helmet very challenging. I’ve tried many makes and models of helmets. I can now safely say that the Giro Monza fits! It really fits – I don’t have to add extra padding, mess around with the chin straps – I just really put it on and I’m good to go. The added benefit is that since the helmet fits – i don’t have to deal with the “bouncing helmet” syndrome that used to happen. Thanks OGC!

Glasses. Everyone has their favorite pair of racing glasses. I must admit that until this season I didn’t really worry about glasses. Primarily because I had trouble finding glasses that would fit with my small head and helmet issue. Enter the Giro Havik Compact glasses. These glasses are designed to fit with the Giro helmets. Perfect. I’m wearing the size small Giro Havik Compact glasses and they fit perfectly with my Giro helmet. These glasses stay on, they don’t slip, and most importantly they integrate nicely with the straps and fit system of the Giro helmets. I typically use the clear lense in my glasses, and have found that even the clear lense helps to sharpen images and make the lines, obstacles, ruts, and mud pop out more and be more viewable.

What is the one piece of gear besides the frame that bike racers love to talk about? Wheels. The all-important wheels. This season, I’m super lucky to be racing on Mavic wheels. I’ve got a complete set of tubular rims hanging in my garage. I have two sets of new wheels for racing on this season – the deep-dish Mavic Carbones and a pair of Mavic Kysrium SL tubular rims. The Mavic Carbones are super smooth – they seem to almost float through the sand and mud. The Mavic Kysrium SL wheels are the work-horse of cyclo-cross racing wheels. Look at any top racer’s bike set-up and there is pretty good chance that these wheels will be on the bike. Durable. Strong. Smooth. Mavic wheels are definitely my first choice on race and training days. Thanks to OGC for settng me up with these wheels.