When I was a kid watching the Tour de France in the late Eighties, my rider allegiances often switched with whichever was my favourite jersey design. I would find myself supporting Renault one year, PDM the next, Z-Peugeot the year after that. As with football a few years earlier (and in the very same way as my young children today) I was something of a ... Read More
89 Results for tag Cycling
‘We Were Fought By Men Very Fast’ & Massif Central Exhibitions
Two small (but perfectly formed) exhibitions are on in East London until the end of the month. Both are worth a visit. If I may be so bold as to suggest an itinerary you might chose to visit the first one, Emily Maye‘s photographic exhibition ‘We were Fought by Men Very Fast’, earlier in the day than the display of Massif Central’s ... Read More
In Memoriam – Fabio Casartelli
Francisco Fabio Casatelli – b. 16.08.1970 – d. 18.07.1995 Died – Stage 15 1995 Tour de France Casartelli’s death on the Col de Portet d’Aspet in 1995 was a defining moment for the question of rider safety within the professional sport. The Olympic road-race champion from 1992, who was riding for the Motorola team, fell descending at speed and hit one of the large concrete blocks that line the edge of the ... Read More
Feliz Cumpleaños – Miguel Indurain
Happy Birthday Big Mig. - 16.07.1964 TdF Winner – 1991, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95 Giro d’Italia Winner – 1992, ’93 World Time Trial Champion – 1995 Hour Record Holder – 1994 Olympic Gold Medallist – Time Trial – 1996 A monster of a man compared to most Grand Tour winners, Miguel ‘Big Mig’ Indurain won five Tours on the bounce, hardly pausing for a breather whilst also collecting 2 Giro d’Italia’s, an Hour Record and an Olympic gold medal ... Read More
In Memoriam – Tom Simpson
Tom Simpson – Born Nottinghamshire 30.11.1937 Died – Mont Ventoux. Stage 13 Tour de France – 13.07.1967 Tom Simpson’s death hangs over the Tour de France and British cycling with equally heavy significance. His life and his passing on the baking slopes of Mont Ventoux sums up all that is good and bad about cycling and also highlights the ambiguity that often exists between the two. The sublime talent, the ... Read More
In Memoriam – Francisco Cepeda
Francisco Cepeda Died – Stage 8 Tour de France – 12.07.1935 The first rider to die whilst racing a Tour stage, Cepeda crashed descending the Col du Galibier on Stage 8 from Grenoble to Gap, plunging off a ravine and fracturing his skull.. Reports vary as to whether he died on the way to hospital or a couple of days later. ... Read More
Weapon of Choice – Pinarello Dogma F8 – Test-riding Team Sky’s superbike
So, just how good is a £12,000 bicycle? How much of a difference does all that money make? Last weekend I was given the opportunity to take the brand new Pinarello Dogma F8 – the very same as Team Sky are currently racing (and unfortunately crashing) across Northern France – out for a test ride in the Yorkshire Dales. Despite having a pretty full schedule planned for ... Read More
Graham Watson ‘Eyes on Le Tour’ photography exhibition.
—– STOP PRESS. The Whitecloth Gallery are having a silent auction of the prints shown in this exhibition. Check out the details here WHITECLOTH GALLERY and email liz.miles@whiteclothgallery.com to place your bid. Deadline is noon 21st July. PS – please don’t bid on Sizzling Feet.. I want it! TJP —– Cycling is a sport well suited to written reportage but Graham Watson’s ‘Eyes ... Read More
Yellow Fever – Tour de France Preview
With so much focus in this country on the Grand Départ it has been hard at times to remember that there will be a further 18 days of racing after the world’s biggest cycling cavalcade leaves our shores. I have been as guilty of this as anyone by focussing my thoughts almost entirely on the opening two stages in Yorkshire and the Stage 3 ... Read More
Peak Performance – L’Eroica Britannia - Festival & Ride Report
“Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer fear for the human race” – H.G. Wells For quite some time I have thought that bicycles have semi-magical qualities. Riding one can make you happy when you are otherwise sad and they can make you believe that you are someone else – usually someone far better at riding a bike. They can make ... Read More
Stoller’s Départ – Douglas Cowie & Matthew Shaw
I am lucky to be old enough, and to have arrived in London just in time, to have enjoyed the considerable pleasures of the old Reading Room at the British Museum. The circular space at the centre of the Great Court, which attained almost sacred status to the Capital’s writers of yesteryear, was just about the most evocative place one could imagine to read ... Read More
Happy Birthday – Greg Lemond
Happy Birthday Greg – 26.06.1962 TdF Winner – 1986, ’89, ’90 World Champion 1983, ’89 One of the most popular Tour winners of all time, Greg Lemond’s epic battles with his team mate Bernard Hinault and then with the life-threatening injuries he suffered in a freak shooting incident to come back for his second and third Tour wins are truly the stuff of legend. Boyishly enthusiastic, good-looking and yet determined to bring ... Read More
Portrait of ‘The Cycling Podcast’ – with Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie & Daniel Friebe
It’s just after 3pm on a Tuesday afternoon in Hackney and Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe are looking for a bit of peace and quiet. The trouble is that around the busy East London streets of Broadway Market and London Fields school kids are heaving out onto the hot pavements and the nearby building sites that are sprouting up yet more flats ... Read More
Climbs and Punishment – Book Review – Felix Lowe
For some reason books about epic cycle rides often struggle to maintain sight of the reason behind the particular journey. Caught up with geography, mileage and the inevitable misfortunes that happen along the way, we are quickly left to forget what the point of the epic ride was in the first place. Context is quickly abandoned in place of stories about encounters with mountains, deserts ... Read More
Happy Birthday – Eddy Merckx
Happy Birthday ‘Cannibal’ TdF Winner – 1969, ’70, ‘ 71, ’72, ’74 Giro d’Italia Winner – 1968, ’70, ‘ 72, ’73, ’74 Vuelta a Espana Winner – 1973 World Champion – 1967, ’71, ’74 Paris-Roubaix Winner – 1968, ’70, ’73 Milan-San Remo Winner – 1966, ’67, ’69, ’71, ’72, ’75, ’76 Winner at Tour of Flanders, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Flèche Wallone, Giro di Lombardia World Hour Record 1972 A uncompromising winning machine, Eddy Merckx bestrides professional cycling as an unassailable colossus. His palmares is without compare, his dedication to victory without parallel. Quite simply The Greatest of All ... Read More
Not Folding Under Pressure – The London Nocturne by FACE Partnership
We often hear about the unique element of cycling that says it is the only popular sport where the general public can readily do the same challenges in the very same arenas as their professional heroes. The fact that anyone can take a bike out on the roads used in the world’s biggest races is shown as proof that cycling – more than football, rugby ... Read More
Competition Time – The Cycling Anthology Volume 4
It’s another Jersey Pocket Giveaway! This time I have a copy of the latest Cycling Anthology up for grabs. UK postal addresses only this time I’m afraid though… The Cycling Anthology series is intended to give cycling journalists a greater amount of freedom and expression than they might not otherwise enjoy. Editors Ellis Bacon and Lionel Birnie actively encourage some of the best ... Read More
Yorkshire’s Grand Depart – Interview with Head of Media – Andy Denton
With the Tour de France less than a month away, all cycling eyes are turning to Yorkshire as final preparations are made before some of England’s most green and pleasant land is turned yellow for the couple of crazy days that will be Le Grand Depart. Leading the team charged with communicating the story of Yorkshire’s time in the spotlight is Head of ... Read More
The Tweed Run 2014 – Ride Report
I often find that preparing for a ride is almost as much of a joy as the ride itself. The slightly ceremonial laying-out of bibshorts, jersey, bidon and snacks the night before helps to mentally prepare for the task ahead. The selected attire acclimatises the brain to the likelihood of inclement weather, whilst the amount of food and water required conditions the mind to the ... Read More
Giro d’Italia – Final Roundup
Read The Jersey Pocket’s first three Giro Rest Day Roundups here, here and here. As expected, actually being in Italy during the final week of the Giro affected my ability to follow the race as closely as I could at home. That said, watching some of the stages as they were broadcast live and highlights of others in Italian did give the experience an ... Read More
Giro d’Italia – Rest Day Roundup #3
Read The Jersey Pocket’s first two Giro Rest Day Roundups here and here. We finished our last round-up with the suggestion that we were heading for new territory on the Giro GC and the middle week of the Corsa Rosa eventually provided that, but not before more familiar fare had been dished up. More rain, more crashes, more cautious riding by the top contenders ... Read More
Happy Birthday – Chris Froome
Happy Birthday Chris Froome TdF Winner – 2013 The shortest palmares so far in the birthday series but I don’t think we will be saying that in a few years time. Froome’s rise from the obscurity of racing in Kenya is a worthy backstory to what could be the biggest marquee in the pro ranks over the next decade. A relentlessly driven, relentlessly polite man, ... Read More
Giro d’Italia – Rest Day Roundup #2
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
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
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
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
Happy Birthday – Bradley Wiggins
Happy Birthday Wiggo TdF Winner – 2012 Quadruple Olympic Gold Medallist Six time track World Champion Wiggins’ transition from Olympic track star to TdF winner, and his perceived gentlemanly attitude to racing, won him many French fans in 2012. Back in the UK he was loved for his unconventional podium speeches, his Mod style and for finally winning the Tour for Britain at the 99th edition. A supreme ... Read More
Methods in the Madness – Spring Classics Round-Up
“This be madness, yet there is method in it” – Hamlet And we are done. Bergs have been beaten, cobbles have been conquered, pavé passed and Murs mauled. The Spring Classics season is over and there is a small chance to draw breath and reflect on the tumultuousness before the Grand Tour season comes to rule our lives once more. It has been an undeniably classic ... Read More
The Velo House – Birth of a Cycle Club – Part 3
Read Part I of the VeloHouse story here and Part II here. April 13th 2014. After two years of planning and four months of building, blue skies and Spring sunshine welcomed the opening of The VeloHouse cycle cafe & shop in Tunbridge Wells last weekend. I was more than happy to coincide a visit to the completed project ... Read More
Ronde Van Vlaanderen Cyclo 2014 – Ride Report
About three-quarters of the way up the climb the pain in my lower back reached an entirely new level of awfulness. Each bump in the rough cobblestone farm track rattled up and down the body and treated the kidneys to another set of organ-crunching tremors. It was as though someone was hammering out a staccato rhythm on each side of the base of my spine ... Read More
The Velo House – Birth of a Cycle Club – Part 2
Read Part I of the VeloHouse story here. March 2014. It’s almost nine o’clock in the evening when I get through to Olly Stevens for a catch-up about how things have been progressing at the VeloHouse project in Tunbridge Wells. The face on our video call looks tired but his day is still far from done. With only a few weeks to go until ... Read More
The Ups and Downs of the Round and Round – Track Life
For most there was a carnival-like atmosphere accompanying the return of competitive cycling to the Olympic Velodrome last weekend. The sun shone unseasonably brightly on the crowds who made their way to the fifth and final round of the 2013-2014 Revolution Series and they were also treated to some magnificent racing in the superb building affectionately known as The Pringle. But not everyone left the ... Read More
In Memoriam – Dylan Ellis Judd Smith
Dylan Ellis Judd Smith – 17.02.05 – 16.03.05 Our first child Dylan, died of a Group B Strep infection at 27 days old. He rides with me everyday. www.gbss.org.uk | www.gosh.org ... Read More
Bonne Anniversaire – Louison Bobet
Happy Birthday Zonzon World Champion – 1954 Tour de France Winner - 1953, ’54, ’55 Paris-Roubaix – 1956 Milan-San Remo – 1951 Ronde van Vlaanderen- 1955 Giro de Lombardia – 1951 France’s first post-war cycling hero, the elder and more successful of the two Bobet brothers was also the first rider to win the Tour de France three times in succession. His memory will be eternally wedded to the ‘Casse Desert’ section of the Col d’ ... Read More
Wheels of Steal – Pro-teams suffer spate of stolen equipment
In what is becoming a regular feature of the early and late season races, pro-teams have again suffered a number of large scale equipment thefts in the past weeks. After Garmin’s high profile withdrawal of the Tour Mediterranean in February last year following the loss of 17 bikes from a team truck, 3 World Tour teams have lost significant amounts of bikes, wheels and other items ... Read More
Desert Stormers – Dubai, Qatar & Oman Round-up
Dubai The inaugural Dubai Tour was deemed a success by many commentators and journalists attending the event, and if they meant a triumph of style over substance then they would be entirely correct. We saw many, many pictures of the Burj Khalifa – the worlds tallest building – and almost as many of the Dubai Police Force’s utterly ridiculous fleet of supercars, which include a Bugatti ... Read More
The Sky is Not the Limit – the other British riders in the pro peloton
Team Sky (or Sky Procycling as they were until the start of this season) have undoubtedly changed the way that cycling is perceived in this country. Although they were set up from the start as an internationally rostered team – albeit with a very clear aim of initially achieving success in the Tour de France for a British rider – they were often described as a de ... Read More
The Jersey Pocket Podiums – #4 – Cycling Nicknames
In a sport where written newspaper reports defined the action for the first six decades of it’s existence, nicknames were an important tool for sketching the rider profiles and bringing the faceless coureurs to life in the imagination of the readers. Many nicknames mocked the riders as much as they celebrated them – consider Elefantino, Dr.Teeth, The Dwarf and Clogface – but ... Read More
3D printing – cycling into the future, layer by layer by layer
The Future arrived last week. The postman delivered it to my house just as I was going out for a ride. It is, as far as I know, the first bit of 3D printing that has crossed our threshold but, given the way things are going, it’s unlikely to be the last. I delayed my departure a few moments to fix the new part ... Read More
Bonne Anniversaire – Henri Desgrange
Henri Desgrange – 31.01.1865 – 16.08.1940 Hour Record – 1893 Editor L’Auto newspaper - 1900 – 1940 Creator of Le Tour de France – 1903 Desgrange is rightly seen as the father of the Tour. Latching onto an idea of one of his correspondents – Geo. Lefevre – to help boost circulation, he set his newspaper firmly behind the creation of what quickly became Le Grand Boucle. Famously harsh on the riders of the ... Read More
“Another Fine Mesh” – Pro-cycling clothing debate hots up
Cyclists are often a bit funny about their tan-lines. Cultivating a set of razor-sharp transitions, which switch instantly from the deepest mahogany to a blinding alabaster white, half way along a thigh or bicep is seen as one of the heights of being ‘pro’. Tan-lines like these tell of days in the saddle, not days on the beach. They are worn with more than just ... Read More
Weekly Round Up – Tour Down Under & Tour De San Luis
It’s been a hard week to follow the start of the cycling season from the UK. Races in Australia and Argentina are not so easy to watch live; it either involves getting up at 4.30am and disturbing the rest of your non-cycling life with sleep deprivation to watch the Tour Down Under; or risking your eyesight squinting at a fuzzy web-cam whilst trying to ... Read More
Bonne Anniversaire – Jacques Anquetil
Jacques Anquetil – 08.01.1934 – 18.11.1987 TdF Winner - 1957, ’61, ’62, ’63, ’64 Giro D’Italia Winner – 1960, ’62 Vuelta A Espana – 1963 L-B-L – 1966; Ghent-Wevelgem – 1964 The Hour Record – 1956 The first 5-time winner of the Tour de France, and first winner of all three Grand Tours, Monsieur Chrono was famous (and often maligned) for his reliance on his time-trialling ability to win. He was widely decried as being boring in his professional career. The opposite could be ... Read More
Three is a Magic Number – The Trials of a Balanced Outlook on Life
“Somewhere in the ancient mystic Trinity, you get Three as a magic number” – Bob Dorough, Schoolhouse Rock! Trouble, they say, comes in threes. The way the back half of last year went personally I would have to add in a factor of at least 10 to that figure, but the notion of a Triad of Adversity seems to be a well held adage. Once a couple ... Read More
Cometh The Hour : Cometh The Men?
There has been a lot of talk, and great deal more speculation, recently about The Hour; cycling’s supposed Blue Riband event, which has lain dormant for a few years, bogged down by anachronistic rules and the weight of history. The record has been bettered once since Chris Boardman’s definitive ride of 2000, but by such a large margin (and by a rider with more ... Read More
Dear Santa: Bike Books
Christmas is coming. Obviously we are all hoping for a big dump of snow around the 23rd to get us into the festive spirit, and then a week of glorious winter sun between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day, so that we can get out on our bikes and feel like we have earned some of that mulled wine and chestnuts on our return. ... Read More
SPIN x LCF – Christmas Cycling & Coffee Event
What happens when coffee and cycling come together? Normally it’s just a pacier run on the training ride but occasionally it can conjure up an entire event. SPIN teamed up with LCF (London Coffee Festival) for a free-wheeling, free-grinding, blend of coasting ‘n’ roasting in Shoreditch this weekend. Catching the Christmas mood (and the Christmas trade no doubt) was a big part of the ... Read More
In The Court of the King – An Evening with Sean Kelly
For a man who made a career of letting his legs rather than his mouth do the talking, An Evening with Sean Kelly at Cadence Performance in Crystal Palace this week could easily have been a painful experience for both speaker and audience. Kelly makes no secret of the fact that he is not a natural raconteur but he was most certainly a natural competitor ... Read More
Bonne Anniversaire – Stephen Roche
Happy Birthday Triple Crown Winner Stephen Roche World Champion – 1987 TdF Winner - 1987 Giro D’Italia Winner – 1987 Roche climbed to the very summit of the cycling world when he capped off his Annus Mirabilis with the World Championship win. ... Read More
Headphones, Helmets And Hi-Vis. – Boris is missing the signals in road danger debate
In the capital this week, whilst the Met advised commuting bike riders to wear extra bright clothing in case ‘drivers weren’t wearing their glasses‘, a prominent London cyclist carried out a number of erratic moves during an LBC radio interview, which threaten to put his professional life at serious risk of harm. Bare-headed, dressed in a non-reflective dark suit and clearly wearing headphones throughout, ... Read More
Hit For Six – London’s cyclists reel from spate of deaths
The start of a new week did not bring any respite from the current spate of fatal incidents involving cyclists on London’s road. Five deaths between the 5th and 13th of November has left many cyclists in the Capital in a mixed state of fear and anger. The unwelcome news today that a 60 year old man had been killed by in a collision with ... Read More
Bonne Anniversaire – Bernard Hinault
Happy Birthday Blaireau World Champion – 1980 TdF Winner - 1978, ’79, ’81, ’82, ’85 Giro D’Italia Winner – 1980, ’82, ’85 L-B-L – 1977, ’80; Lombardia – 1979, ’84 Sporting crash-blackened eyes and baring his teeth in that familiar set-jawed snarl, The Badger takes on all-comers and ends up on top again in ’85 ... Read More
Passionista – Interview – Nick Hussey, Vulpine
Cycle clothing brand Vulpine will be making a few big announcements this week. Sounds like a good time for an interview with founder Nick Hussey… Vulpine like to do things differently. Set up in Spring 2012, the brand has quickly become a highly visible part of the UK cycling apparel market, garnering praise for both the design and quality of their garments as well as for ... Read More
The Off Season (or What the Hell Do We Do Now?)
The absence of competitive road cycling from mid October has not really been a big issue for me in the past. As a kid and then as a teenager I only followed the Tour de France and never even considered the fact that cycling had a wider season which waxed and waned around it. The Tour was everything and everything was the Tour. It was ... Read More
The Jersey Pocket Podiums – #3 – Cycling Films
It was the BFI’s Bicycle Film Festival last week and The Armstrong Lie is hitting the screens next month so it seems like a good time for a Jersey Pocket Podium for cycling films: 3rd spot: Breaking Away – Peter Yates – 1979. Capturing the exotic appeal of Continental road racing (as seen through the eyes of a young American) Breaking Away warmly ... Read More
Foreign Starts – Grand Tours on Tour
With both the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia set to start outside of their own borders next year it seems like a good time to have a look at this increasingly regular phenomenon. In 2014 the Giro will spend three days in Ireland during May, visiting both Belfast and Dublin, before Le Tour comes to Yorkshire, Cambridge and London in July. Whilst the ... Read More
The Hour – Michael Hutchinson – Book Review
A seasonal cold is keeping me pretty much off the bike this weekend so here’s another book review for you.. Racing against the clock in any form of time trial is a Race of Truth. How far? How fast? Nothing else matters. Time trialling on the track is an even purer Test. Stripped bare of all the issues of weather, terrain and surface it ... Read More
Ride Report – Unfinished Business – Ride of The Falling Leaves 2013
First up, a confession: I have a bit of ‘previous’ with this ride – I had to abandon half way round last year after suffering from the ongoing effects of some poor meal choices on a trip to Cairo in the preceding days. Having just come back from a potentially equally debilitating trip to some of the more remote parts of Russia this week I was ... Read More
One Steppe at a Time – (Not) Cycling in Moscow
I am in Moscow this week and I’m trying to remember the last occasion I was in such a cycling un-friendly city. It’s got me stumped. I have covered a fair few global miles in my time and cannot readily think of a single place – certainly not another capital city – where I would be less inclined to get my bike out and tootle ... Read More
Book Review – On The Road Bike – Ned Boulting
Reading Ned Boulting’s book, On The Road Bike – The Search For a Nation’s Cycling Soul, about his exploration of the idiosyncratic world of cycling in Britain is, I would imagine, a bit like joining him for a bike ride. Initially there would be plenty of self-deprecation as he painstakingly points out all his likely shortcomings for the selected route or distance. Then there ... Read More
Chasing Rainbows – UCI Road World Championship preview
Now that the Tour of Britain has concluded, all eyes are fully focussed on Tuscany for the UCI World Road Race Championships this week. Racing started today with the Team Time Trial before moving onto the individual time trials in the middle of the week and then culminating with the Blue Riband road race events next weekend. Junior (Men and Women) and U23 (Men only) ... Read More
The Mavericks – Adam Hansen – Seventh Heaven for Grand Tour Glutton
Lotto Bellisol’s Adam Hansen has just completed his seventh straight Grand Tour. Since late 2011 he has ridden the Giro and the Tour twice each and La Vuelta three times – all without a break. He has covered almost 24,000 Grand Tour kilometres in those 2 years and raced an incredible total of 16,059km over 106 days last year alone. In an era of ever increased targeting of races ... Read More
Buen Compleanno – Fausto Coppi
Happy Birthday Fausto Coppi “Il Campionissimo” 1919 – 1960 Giro Winner – 1940, 47, 49, 52, 53; Tour de France Winner – 1949, 52; World Champion 1953 ... Read More
Grand Old Men of the Grand Tours – AKA The Chris Horner problem
“Chris Horner’s recent victory at La Vuelta has made him the oldest winner of a Grand Tour stage ever. At 41 years and 307 days he eclipsed the previous record by some margin to win Stage 3. Horner is one of a few Grand Old Men still riding hard in the hardest of races at what should be long past the dusk of their careers.” I wrote ... Read More
Bonne Anniversaire – Robert Millar
Happy Birthday Robert Millar TdF King of the Mountains 1984 ... Read More
The Jersey Pocket Podiums – #2 – Classic Cycling Jerseys
First Place. Peugeot An all time classic. From Tommy Simpson to Robert Millar, riders wearing the iconic chequered flag jersey have looked the business. It was the first kit I wanted as a kid and I still wear one most weeks. Best matched with plain black shorts and a Peugeot cycling cap – with the peak turned upwards, of course. Second Place. Bic Love the sparseness ... Read More
None More Black – the shifting spectrum of the pro peloton
“It’s like, how much more black could this be? And the answer is none. None more black.” Nigel Tufnell. Spinal Tap. The recent news that Cannondale’s new 2014 kit design will be a mainly black affair has been greeted by cycling’s fashion watchers with barely more than a raised eyebrow. ‘Copying Sky’ is the main criticism that most can muster and, given that ... Read More
Book Review – THE RULES, The Way of the Cycling Disciple – The Velominati
‘The Velominati embrace cycling not just as a pastime or a means of travel, but as a way of life – as obsessed with style, heritage, authenticity and wisdom as with performance. THE RULES is their Bible.’ There is much to cherish in the Velominati’s extended paper copy of their famous online RULES (Sceptre £12.99). At times, there also appears much to scoff at, deride ... Read More
A Bad Case of the Vuelta Blues
“Hi everyone. My name is Howard and I’m a Grand Tour addict. It’s been a week since my last fix.” I’m in France, on holiday, sans WiFi and television. There is a Grand Tour going on and I haven’t got a clue what is happening. It’s the first time I’ve been out of touch with such an event since 2010. ... Read More
Flashback – Ride Report – Ice Cold In Essex – Feb 2013
As I’m off on holiday this week and am doing more sunbathing than writing, here’s a ride report from earlier in the year when things were a wee bit frostier. 23/02/13 Ice Cold in Essex I’d postponed the 7.30am start by three quarters of an hour in the misguided hope that the temperature would somehow be radically improved, but February is February and ... Read More
Every Bike I Have Ever Owned..
1. Red tricycle with white wheels – Got the front wheel caught in a drainhole on our drive one summer day, flipped over the top and scraped the hell out of my 3 year old bare belly. Ouch. And, yes, that is me below… 2. Purple 2 wheeler – solid wheels. Learnt to ride on that one… 3. Raleigh Strika silver – Sadly not the back-pedal brake model.. Loved the fake plastic ‘suspension’ ... Read More
A Hard Day & Night – 24hr TT – Interview with 2013 National Champion Stuart Birnie
Imagine, if you will, climbing onto your bike early on a summery Saturday afternoon and going for a 60 minute solo ride at a pacy 21.5 mph. Sounds good, nice even.. Now imagine staying on your bike, needing to maintain that speed, for another 23 hours straight. Doesn’t sound so good anymore, does it? Imagine how you might be feeling by 10pm on Saturday evening; with darkness ... Read More
Ride Report – London Surrey 100 – A.K.A. Olympic Leg-achy
Sunday 4th August 2013. The Olympic Park, London. A year on from the balmy party evening that became known as “Super Saturday” and the Olympic Park in the East End of London is looking a little less than super. For starters it’s 7am, it’s cloudy and decidedly cool. An enthusiastic PA is trying to rally the 8,000 or so cyclists still being corralled into starting ... Read More
Domestique – Charly Wegelius – Book Review
Most cycling biographies focus on what we have come to believe are the two fundamental cornerstones of pro cycling: the Agony and the Ecstasy; the pain and the victory. Epic suffering (often experienced both on and off the bike) is eventually contrasted with transcendental glory as the subject overcomes adversity to achieve their goal. The format is repeated in any number of books for any ... Read More
Tour de France – Final Roundup – nothing artificial about this race (except the ‘fireworks’)
In the end the promised finale fireworks never came. Not from the top of the Arc de Triomphe after the evening stage on Sunday, where we given a projected feu artifice lightshow instead of some actual gunpowder explosions (the whole show was greeted with polite bemusement rather than rapture in our house), and not from the last few days of racing either where the assumption ... Read More
Tour de France – Stage 15 Roundup – Bang, Froome, straight to the Moon.
The second rest day of the Tour de France marks, for us armchair followers at least, the beginning of the end. Sure, those guys on the bikes still have a mind-bending amount of cycling to do, but if the 3 weeks of the Tour was condensed into just one stage (like when TV scientists cram the whole of Earth’s existence into just one year and ... Read More
Tour de France – Stage 9 roundup – “Cycling, Bloody Hell!”
As Alex Ferguson sort of once said: “Cycling, Bloody Hell!” Or as Johnny Rotten didn’t quite say once either: “Ever get the feeling you’ve been treated?” What an epic weekend! The Pyrenees were meant to play second fiddle to the Alps this year; only two stages and none of the hoo-ha of Mt Ventoux or Alpe d’Huez. I’ll tell you what ... Read More
Ride Report – The Sweet Smell of Success
It was the pre-ride cup of tea that set off my reveries this morning. Or rather, more specifically, it was the lack of a readily available teabag that got me thinking about childhood smells just before I left the house and which gave a theme for my ride today. I’m not really one for coffee so I always have a cup of tea before ... Read More
Yorkshire’s Grand Depart – Countdown commencement
A year from today, July 5th 2014, the Tour de France will roll out from Leeds – it’s most Northerly, and perhaps least likely starting point ever. Last December Yorkshire won the bid to host the 2014 Grand Depart, beating competition from much more apparently obvious choices such as Florence, Berlin and Barcelona (as well as the less immediately obvious choice of Venice…. Hello? Canals?). Succesfully ... Read More
Tour de France – Day 4 roundup – Full Banana and Peas
So Corsica is done and La Grande Boucle is back on the mainland. Not that anyone should have cause to regret the three days offshore. We have been treated to sumptuous scenery, occaisonal high farce, and none too shabby racing.. Plus all the press pundits’ expectations and predictions have had to be tossed overboard on the ferry journey to Nice.. Nice. No wins for CVNDSH ... Read More
Howies Slipstream Longsleeve Jersey
The marketing blurb describing the new Slipstream jerseys from Howies say that they have differing knit patterns across the seamless panels which make up the form-fitting torso and sleeves, giving invisible ventilation where it’s most needed. I put the theory to the test by taking the long sleeve version out on a really hot summer day… & ... Read More
It Begins.. Tour de France 2013 Preview
They say that “Good things come to those who wait.” And we have waited. Oh yes, we’ve waited. We’ve waited through the Olympics, through the Vuelta, through the off season and then we’ve waited some more through the Tours of Down Under, Qatar and Oman. We’ve waited through the Classics and the Giro – though they were much more diverting than the ... Read More
When In Rain
I really enjoyed cycling in the rain that shrouded our morning route out into Kent yesterday. It was a light, misty rain; the sort where the smell of the wet leaves hits you harder than the raindrops themselves. I get a completely different feeling about being part of the landscape when it’s raining. Whether cycling through country lanes or just walking in the park, ... Read More
Blaming the Tools
Frayed brake and gear cables are the bane of my bike maintenance life. I’ve lost count of how many times a five minute task has turned into a two day ordeal after a cable end has frayed during initial cutting, meaning that re-threading through the outer is impossible without going back to the bike shop for another replacement. I’ve blamed nearly everything; ... Read More
Father’s Day
My kids must love me. Not only did they go off for a sleepover last Saturday night, allowing me some bike tinkering time on Father’s Day morning, when they returned they gave me this rather beautiful Paul Smith wallet. I’m not sure how they managed that on a combined pocket money of £6 a week but let’s gloss over that for now (thanks ... Read More
Reinventing the Wheel – Loopwheels
On the face of it ‘Reinventing the Wheel’ is the paradigm of a redundant endeavour. Taking a three-thousand year old invention – arguably the most important invention in the entire history of mankind’s development – and making it anew would be incredibly difficult to be novel or to be seen as worthwhile. But those particular facts haven’t deterred Sam Pearce from having a go, nor ... Read More