Meet the world’s first 100 percent 40-cell wetsuit…Read More

TYR�s booth at Interbike this year is wrapped in Matrix-esque graphics including words that make you feel like there�s something they don�t want you to know.

And it�s true. Well, kinda.

This is all you’re going to see of TYR’s top-secret, uber-exclusive high-end wetsuit until Spring 2012. The company is keeping their new Hurricane Freak of Nature, due for a limited release in November, shrouded in mystery. (Unless of course you manage to catch Rinny, Andy Potts, or Chrissie Wellington at a wetsuit-legal race in the next few months.)

We were led upstairs into a closed-off room to feast our eyes upon a locked silver briefcase. So why all the fuss? Inside rested a 100 percent 40-cell nano scs Yamamoto neoprene suit�one the swimwear company says displays unprecedented progress in wetsuit design.* The latest addition to the series, the “Freak,” as we’re affectionately calling it around here, is the next step in the Hurricane line. “This pushes the envelope beyond the Cat 5,” said Jarrett Bockler of TYR, referring to their current top-shelf model. “We want this to be an experience like that of owning a Ferrari.” And with a retail price of $1,200, it better be.

The suit’s got a .17 specific gravity (check back while I go get my physics degree) which promises to keep you more properly positioned in the water, elevation panels in the chest, core, and front of thigh, and V-GCP flex panels to help with the catch. Andy Potts has reportedly called the expanded range of motion zones (ROM zones) “otherworldly effective.”

And TYR’s thought of everything (save for a trip to join Potts for a one-on-one training camp). The suit comes with a matching cap only available to Freak owners (sure to make you the coolest kid at Masters), a wetsuit care kit, a unique serial number that comes with all sorts of goodies, and a chance (yes, only a Willy Wonka Golden Ticket-esque chance) for an Ironman New York slot.

All the gadgets and gizmos aside, we can’t wait to get our hands on this gold-lined baby and see just what it can do.