Read The Jersey Pocket’s first Giro Rest Day Roundup here. Having flown 2,500km down to the Mediterranean, the gruppo might have been forgiven for thinking that they had left the poor weather behind in Ireland, along with a great deal of good feeling and a fair few hangovers. In fact they were in for a set of rude, and often painful, shocks when the ... Read More
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Going West – Tour of California Round-up
“Go West, young man, go West and grow up with the country” – Horace Greeley Read The Jersey Pocket Tour of California preview here. On the surface of things there is a lot that it could be easy to be disparaging about in the Tour of California. The irony-laden fact that the race is sponsored by the makers of EPO has been covered many times before, ... Read More
Pantani:The Accidental Death of a Cyclist – Film Review
The new Marco Pantani film had its premiere in London’s West-End this week. I went along to see the film and also spoke with director James Erskine about it. – Often alone on the mountain climbs upon which he made his name. Ultimately alone in the Rimini hotel room where he died ten years ago, aged just 34. Always, it seems, alone in ... Read More
Giro d’Italia – Rest Day Roundup #1
So, four days in and the Giro entourage finally hit Italian soil this morning. A massive transfer of cargo planes and charter flights took place last night and today to transfer the 196 continuing riders, probably twice as many support staff and countless more media personnel to the decidedly drier climes of sunny Puglia. Something like 500 bikes and a couple of ... Read More
Best of the West – Tour of California Preview
Until very recently the Tour of California has mainly been the preserve of US based racers and US teams. Taking time out to fly the States for a week-long race in May has not often been high on the priority list for European racers and the list of previous winners reflects the US-centricness of the event. Only 7 of the 24 available podium places have been taken ... Read More
London’s Big Bike Weekend – Space For Cycling ‘Big Ride’ & The Tweed Run
This coming Saturday (May 17th) Central London will be turned into a pedaller’s paradise as two big events take over the streets of the capital for a few precious hours. The London Cycling Campaign’s Space For Cycling Big Ride hopes to attract 10,000 cyclists of all ages and backgrounds to Hyde Park from 11am for a short, closed-road spin through Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly ... Read More
In Memoriam – Wouter Weylandt
Wouter Weylandt - 27.09.1984 - 09.05.2011 Winner – Stage 3 Giro d’Italia 2010 Died – Stage 3 giro d’Italia 2011 The fourth rider to die during the long history of the Giro, Weylandt crashed heavily descending the Passo del Bocco whilst riding for the Leopard-Trek team, dying instantly. The following day’s stage was neutralised in his honour. His daughter Alizee was born 4 months after his death. ... Read More
Giro d’Italia Preview – Whatever happened to all the heroes?
“Whatever happened to all the heroes? All the Shakespeareos?” – The Stranglers: No More Heroes With the Giro d’Italia starting in Belfast on Friday, and the inaugural Women’s Tour of Britain breaking new ground in England this week, there are probably more top-level cyclists currently on UK soil than for many, many a year. But whilst the Women’s Tour has attracted the& ... Read More
The Shattered Peloton – Book Review – Graham Healy
It’s not often that someone tells you that you are the very first person to have bought their book, but that’s the message I got when I followed a twitter link recently and bought an E-copy of “The Shattered Peloton – The Devastating Impact of World War I on the Tour De France” by Graham Healy (Breakaway Books £7.76 Amazon, £4.90 Kindle edition). Armed with such ... Read More
Bespoked 2014 – The UK Hand-Built Bike Show
The organiser’s decision to relocate the 2014 edition of the Bespoked Bristol show to the Lee Valley Velodrome in London gave me the opportunity to visit for the first time. Now in it’s fourth year, and just known as Bespoked, I was impressed with both the size of the show and the range and quality of the bikes on display. Here are a few ... Read More