Contador checking out his new TT bike with the ‘Leap’ frog sticker already onboard (see arrow).

While absorbing every moment of the final minutes of today’s epic time trial on the 30-something inch tv screen here in Chicago at SRAM’s HQ, I noticed that the French cameraman shot a quick close-up of the white frog graphic on Alberto Contador’s top tube while he was racing, for us at SRAM it was awesome. What was that frog you ask?

That frog, known as Leap, is featured in all of SRAM’s road marketing. Leap was born from the technology inside our shifters, known as DoubleTap. DoubleTap features a dual pawl system where they actually leapfrog each other as you shift. It’s what makes both up and down shifting with one lever possible.

Anyway, thinking back to April of 2006, when SRAM road componentry was lauched, I never could have imagined how far Leap would actually leap. But there he was, on camera, in the world’s biggest cycling event, on the race leader’s bike, and eventual winner of the stage, along with his SRAM RED gruppo. I think the sticker was placed by SRAM’s Sponsorship and Tech liason, Alex Wassmann, when he was helping with the build of Alberto’s bike. Nice work, AW.

What an incredible leap, Leap.