Innehållsförteckning för December 8, 2016 från Cycling Weekly

My friend rode into a tree the other day racing round his back garden. Thankfully he was able to continue — his bark was worse than his bike. Pete Young “I’ve really had it with my dog: he’ll chase anyone on a bicycle.” “So what are you going to do — leave him at the dog’s home? Give him away? Sell him?” “No, nothing that drastic. I think I’ll just confiscate his bike.” Geoff Kay Driving one winter’s day, I spotted my mate chest-high in snow. I shouted to offer him a lift but he said: “No thanks, I’m on the bike.” Gareth Thomas Since things turned sour with my wife a fortnight ago, I’ve taken to riding 50 miles a day to clear my head. I’m now 700 miles…

When LeMond introduced the Revolution turbo-trainer in 2010, its wheel off, directdrive design looked almost gimmicky. Fast forward to the present day and almost every indoor trainer brand has at least one direct-drive design in its range. So will we see all future trainers going in this direction? Traditionally, turbo-trainers rely on friction generated between the rear tyre and a roller, allowing you to ‘ride’ indoors. The roller is usually connected to a resistance unit and mounted within a frame designed to lift the rear wheel from the floor. Direct-drive trainers, however, do away with the rear wheel entirely. Most enable a standard cassette to be fitted to the drive unit so the trainer is connected directly via the chain. And herein lays the benefits of the system. Trainers utilise…

How we score 10 - Superb, best in its class and we couldn’t fault it 9 - Excellent, a slight change and it would be perfect 8 - Brilliant, we’d happily buy it 7 - Solid, but there’s better out there 6 - Pretty good, but not quite hitting the mark 5 - OK, nothing wrong with it, but nothing special 4 - A few niggles let this down 3 - Disappointing 2 - Poor, approach with caution 1 - Terrible, do not buy this product What? Water-resistant softshells came to prominence in the 2013 Milan-San Remo, when many of the riders could be seen adopting a well-fitted black jacket to combat the foul weather. That jacket was the Castelli Gabba, a product deemed so good, many pros wore it…

Never stand when you can sit and never sit when you can lie down” is an oft-quoted saying in elite cycling, and it’s one that sums up how seriously pro riders take the business of recovery. But while those of us with regular jobs can only dream of such licensed laziness — good luck telling your boss you need to spend more time reclining — we can borrow at least some of the pros’ tips and tricks for bouncing back from training or racing. After a hard session on the bike, your body gets to work repairing damaged muscle-fibres, replenishing spent glycogen, restoring hormonal balance and upregulating the cellular energy systems that power your riding. To do this it needs the right nutritional building blocks at the right time, and…

This season’s National Trophy Series under-23 winner, Billy Harding, powered to victory in the North of England Championships in York to continue a rich vein of form for the 20-year-old from Bradford. Riding for Oldfield-Paul Milnes RT, he was seventh in the same race 12 months ago but has had a strong 2016 and led virtually from start to finish, crossing the line 33 seconds ahead of early puncture victim Paul Oldham (Hope Factory Racing). And in the women’s race world under-23 champion Evie Richards (100% ME) was a convincing winner at the York Sport circuit. Alex Forrester (Zepnat RT) took full advantage of a slip by rival Joe Griffiths within sight of the line to win the South of England Championships by just three seconds, while junior ace Emily…

Riders on One Pro Cycling are having to renegotiate their contracts for the 2017 season after the team decided to step down to Continental level from next year. Riders signed Pro-Continental deals for next season but a funding shortfall — which One Pro attribute to the withdrawal of Factor Bikes, which is supplying WorldTour team Ag2r La Mondiale next year — has resulted in them having to demote themselves to a Continental licence. It therefore means riders who committed to race for the British team in 2017 are now in the process of finalising contracts for next season and Cycling Weekly understands that some riders are exploring other options. However, with most teams having confirmed their roster and budget, few have space for additional personnel. Matt Prior, the CEO of…

A nation expects… not in the way that the nation expects as the England football team approach a crunch match in the World Cup. In that scenario we all know the nation doesn’t really expect anything — except maybe tears at bedtime. But this is cycling. We’re in Rio, it’s Tuesday, August 16, 2016, and Jason Kenny is just about to start the keirin final. Again. A nation, watching back home, is riveted. A nation definitely expects. But Kenny himself? He’s just chilled. “It wouldn’t have been the end of the world if it hadn’t gone my way — it’s just racing isn’t it,” he grins, reflecting on a moment that for almost anyone else, fans included, could never in that moment have been described as ‘just racing’. “It’s very…

Dirty Fast chain treatment £30 Watt Shop offers a service where it will specially treat your chain to make it more efficient in order to help you go faster. Optimising a chain in this way involves stripping it in three ultrasonic baths, before coating it in paraffin wax, PTFE and MoS2. The final treatment is a fine dusting of PTFE powder to reduce further friction. The result is about a 1 - 1.5 per cent saving on your power output, which roughly translates to about 3-5 watts. This may not sound like much, but as a general rule of thumb, 10 watts is considered to be approximately 16 seconds in a 10-mile TT at 30mph. The treatment lasts for roughly 400km of dry riding and is best suited to races…

Anna van der Breggen’s highest-profile success may be her 2016 Olympic road race gold, but it was the Dutchwoman’s exploits in 2015 that saw her emerge from the shadow of compatriot and Rabo-Liv team-mate Marianne Vos. The 26-year-old won at Flèche Wallonne, the Giro Rosa and La Course. The week detailed below saw van der Breggen hone her pre-Olympics form with the men’s Rabo Development team, before finishing the week training with her boyfriend in the Vosges Mountains. T 1hr recovery ride I travelled with my boyfriend to France, where we would do another block. I had a rest day [while travelling], but we did a small recovery ride of one hour. It is nice when you get out of the car or off a plane to do an hour.…

Six-time Ghent Six-Day winner Iljo Keisse has said it would be an “honour” to partner Sir Bradley Wiggins at the event next year, and confirmed they have spoken about teaming up if Wiggins decides to continue riding. The Belgian finished second to Wiggins and Mark Cavendish at this year’s event, in what was meant to be the 2012 Tour de France victor’s final race before retirement, though Wiggins has since hinted he will carry on racing in 2017. The duo met up after the race in Ghent three weeks ago at a bar owned by Keisse’s father in the city, where they said they would like to ride together. “It would be an honour to ride with him,” Keisse told Cycling Weekly, at the Revolution Series in London last weekend,…

Despite having two high-profile title sponsors who have committed for three years, new team Bike Channel-Canyon are aiming to go under the radar next season with a long-term aim of being one of the best UCI Continental squads in Europe by 2019. The 24-hour cycling broadcaster will share title sponsorship with the German direct-sales bike manufacturer for the team owned and run by Tim Elverson, formerly sports director at the folding Pedal Heaven team. “We know what budgets other teams have and we are well under it. I am always looking to be better than what our budget suggests,” Elverson, who raced motocross and jet-skiing at international level in the 1990s, told CW. “Next season our calendar will be largely UK-dominated, with a few European races, but in 2019 we’d…

His name, at present, probably rings little more than a distant bell. But there is a strong possibility that before long Edmund Bradbury will become a regular presence within these pages and perhaps even a name uttered by the likes of Messrs Liggett, Boulting and Kirby. The 23-year-old from Richmond upon Thames now stands firmly on the middle rung of the three-tier ladder to cycling stardom — and, as expected, he’s already forged a solid foundation from which to flourish and ascend to the pinnacle of the sport. Growing up in Banstead, Surrey, Bradbury has been fortunate enough to have the spiky, berg-esque inclines and the leafy lanes of the local hills at his beck and call, and a quick Strava surf unveils a host of KoMs he’s amassed in…

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of riding in North Yorkshire, it’s highly likely you’ve tackled the roads used for the Tour De Yorkshire. But according to The Struggle organiser, Matt Mannakee, you’ve been missing out on some of the region’s most spectacular and untouched scenery. 108 miles 2,877 metres ascent Why ride it? Taking in seven of North Yorkshire’s killer climbs, the Struggle certainly lives up to its name. 108 miles in this neck of the woods is a serious day out and something to aspire to. You also get a free action photo (don’t hold back on the gurning) to boot. Where is it? The Struggle starts and finishes just outside the beautiful World Heritage Site of Harrogate, Yorkshire, just 15 miles north of Leeds. The large loop…

In the far north of Scotland, hidden on the eastern shore, lies a wild and forgotten road just waiting for its next victim. Travelling through the silent beauty of Glen Loth, linking the A9 with the Strath of Kildonan, this isn’t a road for your best tyres; it’s ROUGH! It ramps up right away, bending out of view past a glut of signs warning of potential snow drifts, general danger and, of course, cattle grids. This initial test is short-lived but will hurt the legs before relenting then descending briefly to the base of the bulk of the climbing. Crossing a small stone bridge you begin to rise towards the hills ahead. The surface is broken and overgrown with huge patches of grass, a process no doubt helped by the…

There are surely no other cycling components still in production whose design has remained largely unchanged for nearly a century and a half. The B17 was one of the earliest bicycle saddles made by John Boultbee Brooks. The story goes that Brooks, the son of a Birmingham horse tack manufacturer, started using his velocipede to get to work after his horse died. Finding its wooden perch uncomfortable, he fashioned something much better, already having the skill and the materials at his disposal. Perhaps this is cycling’s earliest technology cross-pollination. That was 1878 and by 1882 Brooks had filed his first saddle patent, with the B17 appearing in the 1888 catalogue — the oldest in the Brooks company’s archive. Three years later Brooks placed an advert in issue number one of…