It’s usually a good evening when we end up at Look No Mum Hands at the end of the day. It was extra special this Tuesday night as the bright and talented Doug and Lucy Bairner, founders of LUMO, were there too. They were lighting up Old Street with a Kickstarter campaign as they launch three new products to their line.
For those of you that don’t know, LUMO have been around for over a year now, designing and manufacturing some very special urban cycling wear. Their ‘pub test’ (would I wear this down the boozer?) has resulted in some great looking practical clothes that look cool, work well on the bike and are visible at night time. They achieve this by hiding strips of LED lights within the seams that are invisible unless switched on via a hidden rechargeable USB battery pack.
Read More"If you’re a tiger you may be a slightly ageing tiger, but you’re still a tiger. The thing is, the stopwatch doesn’t care what age you are. And the power meter doesn’t care what age you are. That speed track doesn’t care what age you are. I want to go and break the world land speed record."
So starts David Street’s inspiring, moving, uncomfortable and revealing documentary on Graeme Obree’s emotional and physically draining journey. Of course, this being Graeme Obree, he doesn’t want to just to break the record. He intends to smash it and from within an extraordinary homemade contraption that will travel ridiculous speeds with its rider’s chin just inches away from the tarmac of a Nevada desert road.
Read MoreAccording to the Mindfulness charity Mind With Heart, when the mind wanders, 42% of people find it a negative experience. Weirdly though, the wandering mind is what many people report is one of most positive benefits of cycling – the chance to think through your problems, clear your head of clutter and have some ‘me’ time. Cyclists probably make up a large proportion of the 58% in that statistic. But not all cyclists.
What’s this got to do with the book ‘Messengers” by Julian Sayarer? “City Tales From A London Bicycle Courier” states the book cover. The blurb promises: ”With a bicycle the one constant that seems to make sense of everything else, Messengers is a two-wheeled portrait of everyday life in a modern city at the start of the twenty-first century.”
Read MoreThis year’s Vuelta has been one of the most entertaining for years: the red jersey was passed round the peloton like a hot potato in the first few days, some of the uphill finishes have been both fascinating and torturous to watch and we’ve seen the breakaway win through on half a dozen occasions. While the spectators have been enthralled, it’s no secret that there’s been some grumbling from the riders about the tough parcours being set. And with two of the teams taking part, folding at the end of the season, there are some serious questions being asked about the future and sustainability of pro cycling.
Take a look at IAM for instance. The Swiss team was set up in 2013 as a Professional Continental level team and moved up to the world tour in 2015 having raced as a wild card in the 2014 Tour de France. Michael Thétaz, the team’s owner, announced in May that they had failed to secure a sponsor signalling the end of a ‘beautiful adventure.’ Having reached the top flight of the World Tour the only way they could have continued as a team was to take a step down back to Continental level. IAM will no longer exist at the end of this season.
Read MoreWe were excited at the prospect of meeting Ian Cleverly. After all he’s the managing editor of what many regard as the best cycling magazine on the planet. Yes, excited and not just a little bit intrigued because, from what we understood, he doesn’t immediately fit the bill of a typical Rouleur reader: a punk who played in a 1980’s band called King Trigger; a self confessed technophobe who turns his nose up at Garmin computers and Strava data; a Cyclo Cross fanatic and lover of the aesthetics of steel framed bikes.
Rouleur started up in 2006 when founder, Guy Andrews, came up with the idea of a cycling magazine that offered a bit more than “fitness specials, pictures of bunch sprints and road tests of £1000 bikes.” The vision was to produce a beautiful magazine with serious writing in it for the discerning cyclist. It fitted in perfectly with Rapha’s philosophy at the time and Simon Mottram (Rapha’s CEO) put his backing behind it.
Read MoreTomorrow sees the Tour of Britain set off from Glasgow to Port Douglas on the first of eight stages that cross Scotland, the Lake District, Cheshire, Wales, South West England and a finale on the streets of the Capital on 11th September. No less than eight medalists from Rio’s Olympics are taking part, 21 teams, 11 of which are UCI outfits: this is now a highly rated, prestigious and important race in its own right that attracts some of the best cyclists in the world.
It’s come a long way from its humble origins when, in 1945, a group of disgruntled cyclists who’d been banned by the National Cyclists Union set up the Victory Cycling Marathon to celebrate the end of the war. A stage race from Brighton to Glasgow, it was, by all accounts, a disorganised shambles with riders sleeping in barns and sheds in between stages. That first race was very much a French affair: 6 of the top ten finishers were Frenchmen as was its winner, Robert Batot. But it was also hugely popular with as many as 20,000 spectators watching the race set off.
Read MoreOur appetite for images of riders in the Grand Tours and Classics knows no bounds: the stage winner, arms aloft in victory; a GC contender crashing out; the look of determination, pain and sacrifice of the climber. Every day these pictures are shared around the world on Facebook, Twitter, websites and millions of copies of old style newspaper print.
We caught up with Dutch photographer George Deswijzen, a freelancer who has worked on the Tour de France, Amstel Gold Race, Fleche Wallon and Liege-Bastogne-Liege to mention but a few of the races he has covered. He tells us what it's like amid the chaos and excitement of a Grand Tour, how to capture that moment on camera that tells the story of the day and what it’s like to ride pillion on a motorbike during a race. He also offers some interesting and unexpected future career advice for fellow Dutchman Tom Dumoulin as well as some considered thoughts on rider safety.
Read MoreFormer pro cyclist and National Champion, Maurice Burton, was assaulted while out riding his bike yesterday. A bank holiday Monday ride through picturesque Kent villages ended up with the De Ver Cycles owner in hospital after a motorist pulled 60-year old Burton off his bike in an unprovoked attack.
The pretty village of Downe, home to Charles Darwin, is on a popular route for club rides and tensions often arise between motorists and road cyclists but the police rarely have to intervene.
Read MoreWhat does a professional bike racer do when he retires? David Millar went into commentating for ITV, some like Bjarne Riis end up as directeur sportif, while Chris Hoy is trying his hand at racing cars at Le Mans. So we were intrigued to meet Marc Lotz, formerly of Dutch team Rabobank who had recently returned from an 18-month tour of Africa, not on a bike, but in a converted fire engine!
Marc took part in the Tour de France five times as a domestique for his team. He also won the prestigious Haut Var in France and came second in the Brabantse Pijl. As a professional for Rabobank from 1997 to 2004, then a year with Quickstep, he also rode la Vuelta a España as well as countless other races in Europe
Read MoreThe long, hot summer is coming to an end - this weekend's Bank Holiday marks the turn towards autumn with glorious mellow weather and shorter days. It's back to work for most of us and time to get organised and be visible on our commutes again.
Ride Velo picked up a the military inspired Bermondsey backpack from Lumo at Spin London back in May. Lumo, of course, is famous for its innovative illuminated cycle wear but its products stand up to scrutiny even without the super effective built-in flashing lights.
Read MoreAs La Vuelta a España rolled out yesterday for its 71st edition with a 27.8 km time trial, don’t be fooled into thinking that this Grand Tour is inferior to either the Tour de France or Giro d’Italia. Often relegated to a status as the third best, expect thrills, great bike racing and massive climbs that will test the mettle of the best riders in the world.
Despite being the youngest of the grand tours, La Vuelta is still a ‘Grand Tour’ with a fascinating history and heritage to rival France’s and Italy’s stories of heroism and romance. It’s produced some wonderful bike racing, rivalries and upsets that began 80 years ago and continue into the modern age of professional cycling.
Read MoreA couple of years ago Cycling Weekly conducted a survey of its readership which revealed that the average cyclist is 43 years old, 5 foot 10 inches in height and 12 stone. At the time I fitted the profile almost exactly and could identify with the many challenges facing such a typical rider: young whipper snappers tearing past me up hills, struggling to find the time to ride with work and family commitments and the occasional creaking bones.
However, there is another problem for this age bracket, and one that I find myself increasingly suffering from: long sightedness which makes it impossible to read a Garmin, Strava data or Google map without fishing around in the back pocket for a pair of reading glasses.
Read MoreLake Como may well be known for its celebrity mansions nestling on the shores of its tranquil waters, but for a cyclist, this part of Italy holds a particular draw. Because if you go to Bellagio just along from George Clooney’s lakeside retreat, there is a famous climb from Como’s shores to the Madonna del Ghisallo, a beautiful chapel dedicated to famous cyclists of the past as well as a modern state of the art museum.
Read MoreIt was love at first sight when we saw our first titanium Passoni road bike. So we just had to interview Passoni MD Matteo Cassina to find out how his passion for Passoni started with shopping for his dream frame and ending up with him buying the company: there’s something about Passoni that fuels those emotions. And finally this August, we made it to Monza, to the church of the god of cycling, to the bike factory or atelier, as they like to call it, that has no equal.
Read MoreThere aren’t many good novels about cycling. While millions of words of print have been devoted to its rich heritage and past, it’s strange that few writers have been able to capture the essence of the bike and our love for it in fiction. Ventoux by Bert Waggendorp goes some way to address that balance - at last a beautifully rich story with cycling at its heart.
Read MoreEveryone’s heard of Silicon Valley, right: that centre around which the world’s most influential and forward thinking high tech companies congregate, collaborate and compete? Well, Belgium has created its very own ‘Bike Valley’ on the edge of its border with Holland and Germany to emulate America's business hub. When Ride Velo popped over for Eroica Limburg earlier this month, we just had to go there to take a look.
Read MoreIf you watched John Degenkolb, Warren Barguil and Tom Dumoulin of Team Giant Alpecin on the Tour de France this year, you may have noticed a difference in the team kit they were wearing. Their special edition July white kit symbolised a new start after a terrible pre season training accident which saw their key team members badly injured and unable to compete for months afterwards. Look even more closely, however, and you may notice that their shorts, although still the traditional black, feature a mesh design that claims to protect the riders if they find themselves skidding across the tarmac.
Read MoreWith the Olympic Games in Rio just a couple of weeks away, Team GB's most prolific medal winner, Sir Chris Hoy, predicts an impressive haul of 8-10 golds for our talented road and track cyclists. But Hoy, talking at the News International Building in London last week, revealed that it's four wheels, not two, that are currently the centre of his attention.
Read MoreHas watching the Tour de France inspired you to try some of the iconic climbs that the pros race up almost effortlessly? Maybe you've already attempted some of the better known ascent such as Alpe d'Huez and the Tourmalet? Tomorrow sees the publication of The Cyclist's Bucket List - A Road Bike Journal - a beautifully illustrated notebook with ideas to inspire you - from the Etape du Tour to climbing the Col de Aubisquel - and challenges such as taking part in a bunch sprint.
Read MoreOn 13th July 1967, on the 13th stage of that year’s Tour de France, the British rider Tommy Simpson was climbing the dreaded Mont Ventoux when he started to veer from side to side of the road. Insisting that he be “put back on my bike” he continued until he was 1.5 km from the summit when he finally collapsed still clipped into his pedals, and died. A mixture of amphetamines and alcohol were later found in his bloodstream causing heat exhaustion and dehydration. Tomorrow will see this year’s tour pass the memorial which marks that spot where the brave Tommy breathed his last gasp and pedalled his final stroke.
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