Innehållsförteckning för Issue 4 2020 från Bicycling

CYCLING’S UNDERDOG P.32 Before a ride…what happened to my taste buds? As I got older, I started to develop an affinity for beets. They taste like the planet. I’ve found that beet juice made me feel like the blood was flowing through my body better. During a ride I need REAL FOOD. Any real food. I absolutely despise gels and super-processed foods. ALSO: I focus on intermittent fasting once race season arrives (Aprilish). I eat from 12 to 8 p.m., and fast the rest of the time. I think this prepares my body for longer space between meals.…

SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR DID YOU EVEN RIDE IF IT’S NOT ON INSTAGRAM? PRODUCTS I’M USING RIGHT NOW 1 / Tenspeed Hero Collage Jersey $160 Like your favorite party dress, this jersey feels deserving of extraspecial rides. 2 / Giro Empire ACCW Shoes $210 Laces give this shoe a custom fit with a breathable upper for ventilation on hot days. 3 / Bobo’s Peanut Butter & Jelly Stuff’d Oat Bites $27 for 30 I forget to eat before most rides, so I throw these jam-filled bites into my jersey pocket on my way out the door. WHAT RIDING MEANS TO ME RIGHT NOW A way to keep my mental health in check as we navigate these uncertain times. ON THE BUCKET LIST Race on an indoor wooden velodrome. Listen Up Riding…

BY THE SECOND week of March, it was apparent that sports couldn’t continue as normal—couldn’t continue at all—during the coronavirus pandemic. But for pro cycling, the warning signs came earlier. As Italy struggled with mounting cases, race organizers called off the highly anticipated Strade Bianche. Meanwhile, Paris-Nice continued with a thinned peloton and an ever-increasing set of restrictions until the promoter, ASO, called a halt one stage shy of the planned finish. The dominoes fell quickly after that, with country after country restricting movement and canceling races. The Classics, Giro d’Italia, and Tokyo Olympics were rescheduled or called off, even as the ASO scrambled for a way to hold a delayed Tour de France in August. The result is unprecedented in living memory: Unless the world makes a dramatic recovery…

Not All Lenses Are Equal. We Tested 10 to See the Difference Sunglasses come in a range of prices and styles, so to gauge their quality, we passed a laser through their lenses to hit a crosshair. It’s a voluntary test developed by ANSI that some brands use to show optical correctness. For our test of 10 pairs, we embedded a laser pointer within the right eye of a Styrofoam headform, then placed each pair of glasses on the head. The shape or quality of the lens can cause the beam to hit off-target, so we measured that distance, called prismatic deviation. At our test distance of 12 feet, the laser could deviate by about ¾ inches laterally and ⅜ inches vertically. Flatter glasses like the Oakley Sutro Eyeshade create…

1 Classic Roadie GIRO AGILIS MIPS $90 The new Agilis MIPS is a lightweight, full-coverage helmet ideal for riding on roads—smooth, gravel, fire, and otherwise. A polycarbonate outer shell is fused to the protective EPS foam liner to save weight and increase durability, and a whopping 32 vents will no doubt move plenty of air across your noggin. Midride fit adjustments are easy with a twist of the Roc Loc 5.5 MIPS system’s small integrated dial. This low-profile lid comes in seven colors. OAKLEY SUTRO ORIGINS COLLECTION $166 Oversize sunglasses are hot again—this exact model often finds itself on the faces of pro racers in the peloton. We love these Sutro shades for their bold statement and, more important, wide-lens coverage and protection, especially when charging over gritty, dusty gravel.…

GRAVEL BIKES P.80 My worst day on the bike was in 2014. I was involved in a very traumatic crash on a group ride that resulted in a Flight for Life to Denver, followed by immediate surgery and years of recovery. I broke my jaw in two places; had severe lacerations in my chin; my upper lip had to be sewn back on; had multiple dental issues, with root canals and braces; and shattered my pinky finger—seven surgeries total. BUT ALSO: Ultimately I feel grateful to be alive and still riding my bike! And I am much more empathetic to anyone who experiences trauma.…

When I began riding—not counting the time as a child but starting from when I discovered a life’s passion, in 1981 in my junior year of high school—I was desperate and eager and nuts to inhale the lore of cycling so I could immediately align my life with the sacred tenets that had always been true and always would be. Like: 19mm tires were the fastest. And: Cycling greatness looked like Bernard Hinault, powerful and intense. If this greatness was of such a supreme degree that no one could possibly question its existence, it could go way beyond any bounds and look like bespectacled Laurent Fignon or wide grinning Greg LeMond. In 1984, at the Los Angeles Olympics, one of the biggest stars—not just in cycling but of the whole games—was…

BEFORE YOU WHIP out your credit card to buy the latest aero wheels in an attempt to take the lead on a local Strava segment, consider this: Those aero-savings numbers that accompany the bikes and equipment you buy are determined for elite racers, not you and me. Aerodynamic benefits are real, but the questions we all need to ask before making a purchase are “For whom?” and “To what extent?” Brands often present a product’s aero savings in an “X watts saved at 40 to 50km/h (25 to 31mph) format.” That’s really fast. To understand why brands use those speeds and not numbers more relevant to the average riders among us, I asked some of the leading industry experts in aerodynamics research to explain. Perhaps the most obvious reason brands…

Many people who ride a lot know what it’s like to sit on the wheel of someone like Leo Rodgers—someone you can trust to pick a good line and call out obstacles and do his or her share of the work and probably drop your ass if they wanted to. Someone who emanates delight. Someone who sits on a bike like that’s where they belong, their upper body still and relaxed as the miles click by. It feels at this point both necessary and a bit superfluous to mention that Leo Rodgers is a tall black man with long hair and one leg. There is no pedal or crank-arm on the left side of his All-City bike; his left pant leg is neatly knotted a few inches below the hip.…

PRICE: $11,000 / WEIGHT: 14.5 LB (L) AT FIRST GLANCE, the 2021 Giant TCR Advanced SL 0 Disc might not appear much different than its predecessor—after all, it retains the same sloping top tube (a hallmark of Giant road bikes) and integrated seatpost. But a closer look reveals that this ninthgeneration TCR is completely new. The biggest change? This latest version is much more aero. Its main triangle has new shapes that aid airf low and, thus, increase aerodynamics. The head tube, down tube, seat tube, and integrated seatpost (ISP) are in the shape of what Giant engineers call a truncated ellipse (meaning the trailing edge has been cut off), a term some other brands refer to as a truncated airfoil. You’ll see similar shapes on the Specialized Tarmac, Cannondale…

CONTRIBUTING WRITER LIFELONG STUDENT OF THE RIDE PRODUCTS I’M USING RIGHT NOW 1 / Ibis Ripley From $2,833 I’ve loved past Ibises, so I closed my eyes and purchased without ever test-riding, and I’ve not regretted it. 2 / Smoove Chain Lube $15 A wax-based lube that offers most of the benefits (cleaner, less wear) of wax without the obsessive cleaning/cooking. 3 / Pearl Izumi PRO Barrier Jacket $165 A wonderfully light, packable rain shell that offers the trim, flap-free fit I’ve sought for years. ONE RIDER WHO INSPIRES ME Arleigh Greenwald, owner of Bike Shop Girl Family Cyclery in Denver. She focuses on family cycling and helps people make riding a part of their everyday lives. She makes Denver a better place to live and ride. ON THE BUCKET…

AUTHOR THERE’S A REASON cycling is a go to exercise for injury rehab: It’s low-impact, non weight-bearing, and easy on the joints. But anyone who’s ever cranked out a century or saddled up for a gravel event knows those same joints that cycling spares are also the ones that can flare up when put to the challenge of multihour (or multiday) rides. That’s true for even seasoned riders. In a 2019 international study published in the journal PLOS One, researchers found that over a 12-month span, 63 percent of 739 longtime cyclists said they had experienced some kind of pain while riding. But just because aches are common doesn’t mean you should suffer. Here are the top pain points according to that study, and how to keep the hurt at…

WHEN DID WE move to Amsterdam? I thought to myself while rolling along my favorite, usually sparsely traveled rail trail, giving wide berth to families of five, teenage siblings, couples on cruisers, and single riders of all ages atop two wheels. My typically quiet back roads resembled something of a small-town L’Eroica as lone riders spun along on skinny-tubed steel bikes with leather saddles and down-tube shifters. But I wasn’t in the Netherlands or some cool retro-inspired race. I was in the very current, increasingly frightening modern reality framed by the COVID-19 pandemic. People were using these bikes—new and old—to stay healthy, sane, and connected to the outdoors during extraordinarily isolating times. And we have our local bike shops to thank. Let’s be clear. We haven’t always been so grateful…

You’ve worked hard for a body that gets nods of approval at your annual physical. As difficult as it is to think about the circumstances that would lead to donating your organs, your cycling fitness makes you an ideal candidate. If you’re on the fence about signing up (or haven’t gotten around to it), here’s why being a cyclist increases your chances to help people if the worst happens. 1 YOUR HEART IS STRONG. Anuj Shah, MD, an interventional cardiologist based in New Jersey, says he can occasionally tell if a donor was an endurance athlete because of the languid way it will beat when he does an ultrasound assessment to see if it’s a potential match for his patient. 2 YOUR LIVER IS TOP-NOTCH. Regular exercise keeps your liver…

THE BLACK BIBS PRO SUMMER JERSEY $65 If you buy one jersey for hot weather riding, let it be the Black Bibs Pro Summer. It’s one of the lightest we’ve tested, with a comfortable fit that’s more snug than a standard jersey but not as tight as a race cut. Sleeves and side panels are made from a slightly transparent and surprisingly durable material the company calls MITI Kite. The textured fabric across the chest and back is heavier than the sleeves and side panels, less transparent, and dries fast on summer days. Wear this jersey once and you’ll never want to don the standardweight kind again. SHIMANO SH-R X800 SHOE $250 Shimano’s newest gravel shoe is crazy light, weighing a scant 540 grams for a size 41, and the…