Indholdsfortegnelse for January - February 2017 i Bicycling

A COUPLE OF SPRINGS AGO, I found out I could get some time with Eddy Merckx during a business trip to Belgium that I was taking with Peter Flax (who was BICYCLING’s editor at the time). I knew exactly what I wanted to do. For about as long as I’d known who Merckx is (by which I mean not just the unprecedented and still unmatched 525 victories that include all three Grand Tours and cycling’s five Monuments, but also the voraciousness and dominance that made him into The Cannibal and bestowed upon him the accolade of being the world’s greatestever bicycle racer), I’d heard of a mysterious guide to cycling called The Eddy Merckx Alphabet Book. There was no Google back then, just wise old cyclists I met who’d reference…

1 YOU SEE YOUR BIKE Thanks to your brain’s ability to remember pleasure, just catching a glimpse of your bike can make you happy. Recalling how awesome you felt the last time you got out lights up a section of your brain that’s responsible for, among other things, regulating emotions and behavior. Thinking about a great ride stimulates the same brain cells that are activated when you’re pedaling, says John Ratey, MD, associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Of course, not every moment of every ride is bliss (looking at you, 18 percent grade). Luckily, exercise produces mood-boosting, painkilling chemicals called endorphins, which your body learns to crave. An article published in the journal Social Research suggests that it’s possible to desire a reward, such as a…

STRAWBERRYORANGE FRUIT LEATHER INGREDIENTS ▸ 3 cups fresh, hulled strawberries (about 1 pound) ▸ 1 to 2 Tbsp. honey or agave nectar ▸ 2 to 3 tsp. fresh orange juice 1 Preheat oven to 180°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet or jelly roll pan with a 16½×11½-inch silicone baking mat. 2 Puree the strawberries in a blender or food processor until completely smooth. (There will be strawberry seeds throughout, but you don’t want chunks of berry.) Add the sweetener and orange juice and process to combine. Adjust sweetener to taste. 3 Pour the puree onto the prepared baking sheet and spread to a ⅛-inch thickness, leaving about a ½-inch border. Do not thin out the edges. Keep them a little thicker than the interior. 4 Transfer to the oven and…

THIS CANYON is emblematic of something pretty cool happening to road bikes right now. A new kind of bike is emerging that offers most of the speed of a race bike, with much more comfort, more sedate handling, and a more upright riding position—without taking it too far and watering down the fun. With disc brakes and clearance for big tires, these bikes deliver better braking, better traction and control, and handling that inspires more confidence on a wider range of surfaces. We think these bikes—the Endurace and similar models like the BMC Roadmachine and the latest version of the Specialized Roubaix—are a big win for most riders. The name Endurace is a portmanteau of endurance and race. From the endurance category comes the clearance for up to 33mm-wide tires…

KEY BW Box wrench CT Chain tool FH Flat head HW Hex wrench OW Open wrench PH Phillips head PW Pedal wrench SW Spoke wrench TL Tire levers TW Torque wrench Park Tool I-Beam Mini Fold-up IB-1 This ultracompact tool may not get you out of every road- or trailside jam, but it has everything you need to tighten, tweak, and make quick adjustments on the fly, including a flat-blade screwdriver and a variety of commonly used hex wrenches, so you can swap your pedals without carrying a separate tool—perfect for someone like me, who likes to travel and ride light. —SELENE YEAGER Price $27 Weight 87g Features FH, HW (3–6, 8) Topeak Alien II Besides having the works, this tool’s best feature is its ability to be divided into…

Winter takes many forms depending on where you live, but what’s constant is the dark—even balmy Florida gets just 10 and a half hours of daylight a day in December. For cyclists, the solution has long been to train indoors. That used to mean punishing yourself in a cold basement or garage away from light, fresh air, and stimulus of any kind. No more. An explosion of technology the past five years has remade what it means to ride inside, from trainers with a realistic ride feel to interactive, game-like apps. And there’s a genuine fitness benefit: Studies indicate that indoor cycling is often higher intensity than riding outside (perhaps because you focus on the work rather than the scenery). And you’re more efficient: You’re never coasting and never stopped…

2017 North American Handmade Bicycle Show March 10-12 Salt Lake City, UT BATTAGLIN COMBINES HERITAGE AND PERFORMANCE IN A CLASSIC STEEL RIDE Battaglin Cicli has been creating some of the world's finest bicycles for more than thirty years. Since the beginning, the Italian builder’s main goal has been to draw on the experience of founder Giovanni Battaglin to deliver high-performance technology that can benefit every kind of cyclist, from a top-level athlete to an occasional rider. THE POWER+ IS A MODERN, RACING, STEEL FRAME BUILT TO SMOOTH OUT ANY ROAD SURFACE, FOR A GREAT TIME IN THE SADDLE Battaglin won the Giro-Vuelta double in 1981, and draws on his racing experience to design highperformance road and mountain bikes that combine the latest technology and unique designs. The results are bikes…

THE BELL ON THE SHOP door trills as the customer pushes it open. Inside, he’s welcomed by a gravelly but friendly voice. That’s Pete. He’s the head mechanic and a great salesperson, and we’ve known each other for years. Pete has a good read on how to guide a potential buyer to the right bike, a quality I admire each time I sit at the counter with a coffee and watch him work. “How’s it going?” says Pete. “Can I help you with something?” The customer is looking for a new bike, an upgrade from his 10-year-old Trek. “Did you have a type in mind, any particular needs?” A road race bike, something to ride on the Sunday Derby and in the Thursday night crits—our local weekly fast group rides.…

IN A MARKET SEEMINGLY saturated with bespoke frames and builders ready to cater to your every whim (and charge a commensurate price tag), Mike DeSalvo is a bit different. Sure, DeSalvo builds custom titanium and steel bikes—he’s been doing so for more than 15 years, and teaches TIG welding at the United Bicycle Institute near his workshop in Ashland, Oregon. But with the DeSalvo Builder Special he’s also come up with what I’d call an “off-the-rack custom” model. This steel road bike costs $3,650 complete. Each frame is made to order, and you pick details like bar size and gearing. Small adjustments to seat-, top-, and head-tube lengths are also free. Choose from level or sloping top tubes and one of 10 colors with hand-lettered DeSalvo logos. An extra $175…

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I learned to ride when I was 9 so I could join my dad and sister on RAGBRAI, an annual tour across Iowa. But weeks before the event, I crashed and broke my arm, so I rode the tour on a Bike-A-Long trailer bike attached to my dad’s bike. We agreed that we wouldn’t walk any hills. One day during the event Dad’s derailleur broke, leaving him unable to pedal. But I refused to get off the bike—I wasn’t walking! He’d run the bike to the cusp of each climb, then coast down while I sat firmly in the saddle, pedaling as hard as I could. To this day, when the weather gets harsh and the hills become steep, it’s the determination and stubbornness my dad instilled in me that…

DO Prestretch the tubular prior to applying glue: Put the tire on the rim, inflate to 120 psi, and wait 24 hours. This will make it easier to install. Wear gloves when working with acetone or other rim cleaners, and make sure the area is well ventilated. “Once I was doing it for eight hours and woke up the next morning with a headache,” Smith says. “I thought, I shouldn’t have drunk so much… Wait! I wasn’t drinking—I was breathing glue fumes.” Be patient. Let the tubular adhesive cure as long as you can—Smith waits 24 hours—so you get a strong bond. Don’t rush a process that you’re relying on to keep you upright. DON’T Apply too much glue. Use a thin layer on the rim and base tape of the…

THE BULL ELK APPEARS ON THE RIDGELINE like a prehistoric apparition and grazes the hillside, lean muscles rippling under tawny skin. He’s as tall at the shoulder as many adult humans, and absurd with antlers. Teo Biele crouches under a piñon pine 273 yards away, compound bow ready but not drawn. He’s a tower of man with a fluff of ponytail pulled through the rear of his hunting cap, a full suit of camouflage, and one pant leg tucked into a greasesmudged, bright white tube sock. At his side is Crystal, the miniature gray poodle he has trained as a hunting dog. His bike is stashed in waist-high yellow grass a little to the south. In the rising warmth of this September morning in New Mexico’s Gila National Forest, Teo…

AS A GADGETRY MINIMALIST, I WAS initially skeptical of the Wahoo Elemnt. Wahoo touts the Elemnt as the most connected bike computer on the market. It has on-board GPS, and ANT+, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi connectivity let it talk to most heart rate, cadence, and power sensors. It wirelessly syncs with programs such as Strava and TrainingPeaks, and setup _ takes place almost entirely on your iPhone or Android. But I was wary of how difficult it might be to set it up and get it going. True, initial configuration took a couple of extra steps, including downloading the free Wahoo Fitness app and inputting various credentials. But then all that connectivity started to pay off. Setting up my displays using my phone was faster than scrolling through menus on a…

AS A LONGTIME bike tester, I am often asked the same two questions, in this order: “What bike should I buy?” and “What’s your favorite bike?” Almost everyone expects me to answer the latter with some kind of carbon race bike or superlight, long-travel mountain rager. So they’re all surprised when I tell them that it’s my long-tail cargo bike. Other than the first bicycle I had as a kid—a Schwinn Scrambler—no other bike has changed my life like the cargo bike has. I use it to run every errand around town and even to transport construction supplies. (I’ll never forget the look on the faces of the hardware store employees as I rode off with two 60-pound bags of cement on the back.) Unless the weather is really bad,…

OUR ONGOING MISSION TO GIVE YOU A MILLION WAYS TO RIDE BETTER—ONE VOICE AT A TIME MY OFFICE IS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF MANHATTAN—a half-hour walk but a seven-minute bike ride. I ride to work year-round because the process clears my head so much, and all over the city on the weekends. In traffic, I make myself part of the flow by being tuned into my surroundings and understanding how to make drivers aware of me. MY BIGGEST CONCERN IS BEING DOORED, so I ride close to a door’s-length from parked cars. I scan left to right, watching traffic to spot taillights, which means a car is slowing or stopped. At the same time, as I pass parked cars, I try to see if a car is on or…