Indholdsfortegnelse for April 25, 2024 i Cycling Weekly

If your workplace is anything like ours, talk of AI and how it will change your way of life will have been a hot topic of conversation in recent months. As the technology evolves and is built into more and more software there is no doubt it will become ever more present, especially in the media. But I can assure you that CW is still written, designed, and edited by living, breathing humans. I did ask ChatGPT to write a 235 word editorial for a cycling magazine; the result reassured me my job is safe. For now. But we are using AI. Adobe has built it into its Photoshop program to help designers adjust images. Image adjustment has been happening for decades, first in lightrooms during a photograph’s development process,…

It’s the most brutal race of the year – 29.2km of the worst cobbles northern France has to offer, over 17 agonising sectors, starting in Denain and finishing in the iconic Roubaix velodrome. For the men, it’s referred to as a Sunday in Hell, but for us, hell comes a day early. I have raced all four Paris-Roubaix Femmes, each with very different conditions and very different outcomes. From a muddy slip and slide to a dry, dusty edition, and solo victory to unexpected breakaway win, our short history has covered a lot. This year again brought new circumstances with a surprise April heatwave of 25°C, as well as high winds, making it a very fast, nervous race. I have learnt a lot about how to tackle the cobbles over…

1955 Born in South London 1972 Wins Junior Devil national title 1973 Wins Junior Sprint 1974 Selected for Commonwealth Games, New Zealand 1974 Wins White Hope Sprint and three-mile race at the Good Friday Meeting 1974 Wins 20km scratch National title at Leicester 1975 Races in Ghent for the first time 1975 Beats world champions Daniel Morelon and Nels Fredborg at Trinidad Invitational 1975 Wins Golden Wheel and scratch at the Good Friday Meeting 1975 Wins National title in team pursuit, silver in the Madison 1976 Second at Ghent Amateur 6, wins Silber Adler in Cologne 1977 Turns professional, wins Ghent omnium with Paul Medhurst against Gerrie Knetemann, Rik Van Linden 1977-1983 Competes in 56 six-day races, including 16 during the 1980-81 season alone 1984 Sustains career-ending injury at the…

GoCycle, known for its innovative electric bikes, surprises with the launch of the GoCycle Mini, a children’s balance bike with advanced features. Despite its diminutive size, the Mini still incorporates the brand’s signature technology such as side-mounted Pitstop wheels, a single-side front fork, and a carbon chassis, making it one of the lightest balance bikes at 2.6kg (5.7lb). It offers an adjustable riding position, akin to GoCycle’s e-bikes, ensuring comfort and adaptability as your child grows. Inspired by automotive design, the Mini’s ‘Vgonomic’ seatpost adds comfort and longevity. “THE GOCYCLE MINI IS A CHILDREN’S BALANCE BIKE WITH ADVANCED FEATURES” Priced at just under £400, the Mini targets parents seeking products with a longer lifespan that will stay the course as their kids grow. With only 500 units initially available, pre-orders…

Three psychological cycling takeaways from sports psychologist Noel Brick POSITIVE MARKER Write down on your water bottle a positive statement that resonates with you. Are you riding for charity? A bucket list event? Losing weight? Whatever it is, write a little mantra that motivates you on your bottle. Or write your cycling goals on a Post-It on the fridge door. Seeing it should keep you on track. THREE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER As your race edges closer, focus on three key areas to give you confidence. It could be a specific ride or more general preparation. We sometimes detach preparation from confidence. We’ve done all this prep but are nervous. Anchor confidence from specific things you’ve done. Eating well, fewer pints on a Friday, strength work. Take confidence from what…

I have been recovering from a slight cough of late. It kept me off the bike for a week or so, and the only saving grace was I’d cleaned my bike immediately before being struck down so it had been sitting in my bike store spotless for a whole seven days, which is a victory of sorts. But last week I felt like it was time for a reasonably gentle reintroduction to riding. So I decided I’d ride to Hertfordshire and visit a friend. It was about 20 miles each way, with a readymade excuse to take it nice and easy, a tailwind for the trip home, and free coffee and snacks at the midway point. I’m betting you could not look me in the eye and say you’ve ever…

I have a few pairs of shorts, from various manufacturers, with perfectly usable Lycra but with chamois pads that have deteriorated into lumpy and uncomfortable masses. In the normal course of things they would be binned, but I want to be more environmentally friendly and seeing the eye-watering prices of new shorts, I’ve been searching for pad replacement services, or at least a company selling replacement pads that can be sewn in at home or by a local business. So far no luck. I can’t be the only person wanting to keep perfectly serviceable garments going for the sake of reducing unnecessary waste. Maybe there’s an article in the making on this subject, it could boost the success of British small businesses trying to reach a wider audience. Ed -…

Maurice Burton was paired with Paul Medhurst in his first professional six-day, landing in the middle of a simmering grudge match between Eddy Merckx and Freddy Maertens. In the previous six-day at Munich, Merckx went hard and early, gaining eight laps. His tactics riled Maertens. Maertens sought revenge at Ghent. He had won eight stages at the Tour in 1976, 13 stages and the overall at the 1977 Vuelta and seven stages at the 1977 Giro. At the Kuipke velodrome, he started with an eye-watering 60 seconds for the Madison 1km time trial. Burton remembers it vividly: “He just smashed people to pieces. We did a 60km Madison in one hour, 12 minutes. I was absolutely wasted after that.” Merckx and Sercu won the overall, two laps up on Danny…

Your thighs are burning, your calves are aching and your lower back is creaking like the proverbial rusty gate – don’t you just love what cycling does to your body? Or should we say, your mind? Where do you actually feel that pain? It might stem from your peripheral nerves but it’s your brain that interprets and reacts. As many of you will know from the psychological arc endured on long days in the saddle, cycling success – be it completing or competing – is as much about what happens up top as it is about what happens below. The mysterious nature of pain affects all cyclists across the board, from the apprehensive commuter heading out into the rain, to the elite racer seeking Tour de France glory. It’s why,…

There’s no certainty in this world except death, taxes and – for us cyclists – torturous VO2max sessions. There’s no escaping the fact that top-end work, however deeply unpleasant it might be, is a training essential. Usually completed sparingly towards the latter part of a training block, VO2max workouts turbo-charge your performance, giving you a potentially race-winning edge on the big day. But before we start dreaming of podium positions, we’ve got to actually complete these intervals in a way that yields the greatest possible dividends. Here’s how to approach those dreaded red blocks of work… In layman’s terms, VO2max intervals are short bursts of very hard work (approximately 106-120% of your FTP, or Zone 5), which stimulate adaptations that enable you to tolerate so-called oxygen debt, climb better and ride…

Stevie Williams said that finding “consistency” was central to his improved form in 2024, which has seen him take three WorldTour wins, including victory at Flèche Wallonne last Wednesday. On an incredibly grim day in the Ardennes, the Welshman became the first male British winner of the hilly Classic, battling through hail, snow and rain to triumph on the Mur de Huy. Inclement conditions meant that four teams did not finish with a single rider at all, and just 44 riders completed the final ascent of the Mur. Being Welsh, Williams was in his element, and took the biggest result of his career to date. “Half the battle with me is just trying to get consistency,” he said. “If you look at 2019, 2020, 2021, there were a lot of…

GB’s full Olympic complement The Great Britain Cycling Team will compete in all track events at this summer’s Paris Olympics for the first time since London 2012, after qualifying a full complement of up to 16 riders. Fourteen GB riders, seven per gender, will head to Paris. The squad will also be allowed to use one male and one female athlete from another cycling discipline, such as road, mountain bike or BMX, meaning up to 16 athletes will ride on the track. Shackley retires Young Scottish rider Anna Shackley has been forced to retire from cycling due to a cardiac arrhythmia, her team announced last week. The SD Worx-Protime rider was third in the U23s at last year’s Worlds. “To say I’m devastated would be a huge understatement,” Shackley wrote…

IdIdn’t get a single puncture during this test so I’d have to score all the tyres equally on that front. I didn’t fall off my bike either, so grip levels on all the tyres are adequate, for me at least. Despite grouping them under ‘endurance’, I think they actually fit into three categories. The GP5000s and Schwalbe Ones offer the best performance, with very little given away to their summer siblings. I would happily fit either to my summer bike. The Schwalbe has more volume for a given size and holds air better, while the Continental felt slightly quicker. Bonus points to the GP5000 for the reflective sidewalls. The next category contains the Vittoria Rubino and Goodyear Vector, which both balanced protection and durability with decent performance in a more…

Performance psychologist Simon Marshall on why morning rides are more fruitful than evening outings When it comes to self-control, early mornings are almost always better for exercise. Neuroscientists and cognitive psychologists have discovered that most of us find it harder to take on a challenge later in the day. It’s because the part of your brain responsible for self-control (the anterior cingulate cortex) tires just like a muscle. Your emotional reserves to tackle a challenge and tolerate discomfort are eroded throughout the day because you’re constantly resisting temptation, stifling emotion and otherwise exerting self-restraint. Often you don’t realise you’re doing it. When evening arrives, most of us have simply become too tired to put up a fight. We default to the easiest option. This is why thinking about the large…

TIME TRIALS SUN, APR 21 CTT Classic Series round three 39 (Great Witley, Worcestershire): 1. Ben Goodwin (Fibrax Fenwicks-Wrexham CC) 1:37.57 2. K. Buchanan (Solihull CC) 1:52.23 3. E. Copeland (Ludlow Brewery RT) 1:52.57 4. P. Gleave (Congleton CC) 1:54.39 5. D. Whitehouse-Smith (Army Cycling) 1:56.43 6. J. Mould (Army Cycling) 1:58.08 Women: 1. Kelly Murphy (Doltcini O’Shea Cycle Division) 1:49.24 2. K. Parton (Team Bottrill) 1:54.52 3. L. Hart (FTP Fulfil the Potential RT) 1:59.32 Road bikes: 1. James Pearce (Solihull CC) 1:42.51 2. M. Lovatt (Congleton CC) 1:43.03 3. K. Norris (360VRT) 1:43.30 Women: Louise Hart (Fulfil the Potential) 1:59.32 Bournemouth Jubilee Wheelers 42km (Wool, Dorset): 1. Elliott Colyer (University of Exeter CC) 59.12 2. B. Wheeler (Poole Wheelers CC) 1:01.09 3. T. Nancarrow (Poole Wheelers CC) 1:01.25 4.…

Dear Doc – a few years ago, a friend of mine went on a charity ride near Cork in Ireland, as part of a VIP package organised by his company who’d supported the event. He’d only recently started cycling, though he was pretty fit from running. Afterwards, he mentioned to one of the organisers that he’d been impressed by a middle-aged local man on the ride. “He was really strong, and just had a sort of confidence on the bike. Is he a local farmer or something? He was at least as good as me.” “That was Sean Kelly,” said the organiser. “If he was riding when he was younger he could have been pretty good,” said my mate, still none the wiser. “Yes. Yes, maybe he could have,” said…