Someone once told me that my bad luck when it came to getting punctures was God’s way of punishing me for past sins. Obviously they were catholic and, while I hold no truck with superstition, I often wonder why it is that it’s always me pulling up by the side of the road to curse and grapple tyre levers with numb fingers.
Clearly, my tyre replacement skills have never really been up there with the best. The last sportive I did I had three flats in quick succession all because of pinched inner tubes or from not cleaning debris from the tyre properly. With such bad luck and poor bike maintenance skills, the thought of solid tyres that don’t puncture has always been particularly appealing to me.
Read MoreChris Boardman appeared at the London Bike Show last week with some exciting news about his new performance centre which will be opening in Evesham, Worcestershire at the end of the year. The facility will include a wind tunnel, activity area and physiology testing suite that will be accessible to all cyclists whether they’re Olympians, Paralympians or club riders.
oardman explained that this was the realisation of a seven-year project and that, “I don’t really do excited but this is really exciting! I’m really looking forward to it.” The idea had been conceived all those years ago when he sat down for a curry with an aerodynamic scientist and, together, they hatched the plan. By the end of this year, you will be able to hire out the facility by the hour at “a very reasonable price” giving everyday riders the opportunity to benefit from high-end technology normally reserved for elite athletes. “It’s going to be revolutionary,” he said.
Read MoreDespite retiring from cycling four years ago, Sir Chris Hoy remains a busy man. He’s been racing cars at Le Mans, has launched various clothing lines and last week was on half term duty talking to dozens of children and their parents at The Festival Hall in London. No, he hasn’t become a children’s entertainer, but was there to tell us all about his series of illustrated fiction books, Flying Fergus.
Read MoreWhen Ride Velo first came across Gareth Llewhellin’s bold prints we were blown away. Made from coloured printing inks and rollers, they celebrate and feature some of the iconic cycling jerseys of the past : Bianchi, Peugeot, Molteni and Brooklyn. He also showcases some of the Spring Classics in poster form such as Paris-Roubaix, not forgetting images for all three Grand Tours.
His images reveal an understanding and passion for cycling’s great heritage and this, combined with a certain rawness, make for some stunning pictures that we think we’re all going to be seeing a lot more of.
Read MoreWith Paris-Nice just a couple of weeks away, Ride Velo met up with legendary multiple winner of The Race to the Sun, Sean Kelly. The former champion also made his name conquering the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix and beating, not only the opposition, but the worst of the appalling weather that usually accompanies the toughest rides of the year. But was it just the luck of the Irish?
Read MoreWhen Paul Darby opened up an ancient and battered suitcase discovered in the garage of a distant relative he had no idea that delving into his family’s history would result in the re-establishment of one of the oldest cycling clubs in the country. Especially as he didn’t even own a bike.
Balham Cycling Club, first established in 1878 survived two world wars and outlived four reigning monarchs only to peter out in the late 1970s. After a 38 year hiatus, however, one cold Sunday morning in January of this year, 16 hardy South London cyclists set out from Sainsbury’s car park in Balham for a ride around Richmond Park. The club was reborn.
Read MoreWhen the cyclo-cross world championships took place in Luxembourg a couple of weeks ago, there was one notable absence from the list of starters: there was no Sven Nys, the legend of the sport who had dominated it for the best part of two decades. With two world championships, seven world cups and over 140 competitive victories to his name, he’s widely regarded as one of the greatest cyclo-cross racers of his generation and of all time.
Read MoreBradley Wiggins’ new career as a celebrity TV personality took off yesterday and nearly crash landed within moments of his first appearance on The Jump, Channel 4’s winter sports competition for retired athletes, reality TV stars and ex-models.
Read MoreRide Velo were lucky enough to be invited to Brompton’s classy flagship store in Covent Garden on Thursday for the launch of their Unseen City photography exhibition. Displaying some of the best of urban photography, it showcases finalists and runners up from a competition launched last year that encouraged Brompton riders to portray the hidden and unseen gems of city life from around the world.
Read MoreA theatre company from Nottingham embarks on a national tour of its show Ventoux this month. Depicting the famous duel between Marco Pantani and Lance Armstrong in the 2000 Tour de France, it dramatises their rivalry as well as weaving in their history of doping.
Read More60 Minutes, the American current affairs programme, broadcast a report on mechanical doping in professional cycling last night. CBS reporter Mark Whitaker went to Hungary to meet Istvan Varjas the inventor of a discreet motor that he believes is being used in races like the Tour de France. Former Tour winner Greg Lemond, Lance Armstrong’s teammate at US Postal, Tyler Hamilton, and doping controller at the Tour, Jean Pierre Verdis, were also interviewed.
Read MoreNot many people can say that they’ve cycled from Lands End to John O’Groats. Aaron Puzey did it in his free time…sort of. In fact he never left the front room of his house as his was a virtual reality expedition across the length of Britain on his exercise bike.
Hailing from Australia but now living in Dundee where he works in video game development, Aaron found that he was getting bored during his daily work out routine on the indoor bike. “To be honest I’m someone who finds exercising quite boring. I just cannot be bothered and I found staring at the wall as I pedalled away mind-numbing.”
Read MoreIt’s been 22 years since the Tour de France was won on a steel bike. But because of the great advances made in recent years, might we see steel overcome carbon in the world’s greatest bike race soon? For many it would hark back to a romantic and nostalgic era of the likes of Hinault and Merckx winning great races on elegant, beautiful bikes that offered both comfort and durability. Sam Lawson of Genesis Bikes thinks that, “We’re not a million miles off.”
Read MoreOlympic gold medalist Nicole Cooke held nothing back when she gave evidence to MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee on Tuesday. British Cycling, Team Sky and UKAD all came in for a roasting from the former winner of the 2006 Grande Boucle, the women’s Tour de France.
She described cycling as “a sport run by men for men” and that the attempts to combat doping were being conducted by “the wrong people, fighting the wrong war, in the wrong way, with the wrong tools.”
Read MoreThe old adage, “It never gets any easier, you just get faster,” is no truer than in the niche world of competitive hill climbing. Joe Norledge from Bristol is one of those masochists who loves to take part in these lung busting, lactate inducing events that take place at the end of the cycling season. For 2016 he thought he’d go even faster if he did it on a fixed gear bike.
Read MoreDave Flitcroft’s prints of cyclists and tandem riders evoke the feelings of freedom and joy one gets from cycling through the countryside, coupled with a romantic yearning for lanes dappled by sunlight and overcrowded with wild flowers. Like many artists before him he is also inspired by the aesthetics of the bike and his images capture the beauty and elegance of this beautiful invention.
Read MoreCycling Tips announced the winners of its Mark Gunter Photographer of the Year Awards today. The competition was launched in memory of Mark Gunter, a professional photographer who sadly died after a brave fight with cancer last year. Proceeds from the competition go towards oesophageal cancer research and setting up an educational trust fund for Mark’s young son. See some of the shortlisted entries and winners here...
Read MoreMaggie Dewhurst, a cycle courier from South London, will be going to work this week knowing that she is now entitled to holiday pay, sick pay and the right to a basic national wage. She won her tribunal case against her employer, City Sprint, in what could turn out to be a far-reaching judgement benefiting not just fellow cycle couriers, but other workers in the ‘gig’ economy.
Read MoreSummer’s past is a distant memory in these dark January months, yet summer’s future remains beyond reach. Despair not, however, if you want to catch sight of some proper road bike racing in sunny climes. January 17th sees the first UCI world Tour event of the season as the professional peloton roll out of Adelaide for the Tour Down Under.
Read MoreWinter miles make summer smiles, as the cycling saying goes. But as post-Christmas apathy sets in, along with an expanding waistline, motivation wanes. Adding bad weather and shorter days into the mix, getting out on the bike becomes less and less attractive. 'Tis the season of the turbo trainer...
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