Innehållsförteckning för September 14, 2017 från Cycling Weekly

Chris Froome’s Grand Tour double is a feat that will go down in the annals of cycling as one of the sport’s standout achievements. The chances are it won’t be repeated for decades. Unmatched in the current era of cycling, it’s a brace of results that continues to move him further up the all-time standings list. There are some that continue to question Sky’s performances, perhaps not surprising following the revelations of the previous year, but Froome’s consistency and continued lack of even the faintest whiff of a scandal is slowly turning the focus of Grand Tour coverage away from doping and back to the racing. And there could be one final crowning glory for him this season if he can retain his focus. The Worlds TT course in Bergen…

Wenallt Hive Chamois Cream Marion Dunn is a beekeeper based in West Wales who has developed a range of cosmetic products. This chamois cream, which includes beeswax, is perfect for taking the sting out of those potholed roads. Price: £9.50/100g Contact: www.wenallthive.wales Review: October Met Trenta The new Trenta gets Met’s 3K carbon technology, in which the EPS density has been reduced by 20 per cent. Met claims the Trenta is four per cent faster than the Manta. It lands in December. Price: £TBA Contact: www.met-helmets.com Review: December CeramicSpeed UFO Drip coating The Danish company’s new lube turns to a solid on the chain so it doesn’t pick up grit from the road. It also lowers chain friction, saving a measurable number of watts and even saves pulley wheel wear.…

Cat-3 rider James Ward, 23, says Strava helps keep him fresh while building form As a Strava Premium member, I make use of the Fitness and Freshness tool, using my heart rate monitor. When I upload a ride with HR data, I can see just how hard I’ve pushed and get a visual representation of my fatigue levels and how they’re projected to change. This allows me to make sure I train hard but also rest at the appropriate time so I can peak for key events during the year. It’s not an infallible tool, but it certainly helps with ride planning. Once you know your fitness and fatigue, you can work out your form. It’s kept me riding every day since April.…

This may seem odd, but gut health is one of my favourite topics. What’s exciting about this arguably gruesome subject — to me, at least, as a cyclist and nutritionist — is that researchers keep finding new ways in which the gut affects our health and performance. From the obvious effects on digesting food and general health, to surprising implications for how we feel psychologically, the gut matters more than you might think when it comes to your cycling performance. Cyclists and other endurance athletes regularly complain of gastrointestinal distress, and there are many good reasons why — as well as many effective solutions and preventative measures. Here are 11 ways in which your gut may be affecting your cycling… 1 Digestion and exercise don’t mix Exercise reduces gut function,…

1 Berry Bush Never too steep, the gradient is a maximum of six per cent, but at two and a half miles it drags on and on. Luckily the desolate beauty is enough to distract you. 2 Witchy Knowe/ Swire Heat trapped in a bowl created by the hill combines to make this 3km climb a real challenge. Ramping up as you approach the top, the gradient exceeds 12 per cent in places. 3 Paddy Slacks The three-kilometre Paddy Slacks is the final climb of the Tour o’ the Borders. However, it only exceeds five per cent in the opening metres, and its shallow gradient makes it the easiest of the day’s climbs, so go for it. NAIL IT 4 Wall of Talla Approaching along the shores of the Megget…

doctorhutch_cycling@timeinc.com Back in 1949, in the bleak post-war days of ration books and austerity, one of my illustrious predecessors in this magazine became disillusioned with the way cycling had changed from the 1930s. Rex Coley wrote his column under the name ‘Ragged Staff’. His beef was that cyclists had stopped going on proper adventures. Instead they were increasingly concerned with going on runs to local cafes, trying to beat their friends up local hills, and most regrettable of all, racing. So he started the Cape Wrath Fellowship. If you rode to Cape Wrath — the remote headland at the very top left-hand corner of Scotland where the Atlantic meets the North Sea — Coley would send you a certificate, a badge and a personal letter of congratulations. I have always…

Time trial inspires unofficial nickname The Tour of Britain’s stage five time trial had been dubbed by several riders — with a tongue firmly placed in cheek — the Club 10 World Championships due to its length and the field of riders present. It seemed the country’s premier stage race had tipped its hat to the most British tradition of blasting down a dual carriageway before feasting on cake in a village hall or a lay-by. But the similarity to the British cycling scene’s long-standing passion was in fact less homage than happy coincidence. “It was more by luck than design…,” said SweetSpot race director Mick Bennett. “We wanted a total road closure and I’ve got to be honest with you it just fell right in our laps that it…

What “A hard, strong grey or bluish grey alloy of iron with carbon and usually other elements, used as a structural material and in manufacturing.” That’s the Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of steel. In every application it’s considered to be cold and hard, but uniquely the people who build bicycles out of it are likely to define it much more warmly, emotively, even poetically until you could easily be forgiven for thinking steel was something living and breathing. “I always think steel has a life of its own,” concurs Tony Woodrup of Woodrup Cycles. “You’re getting that feel from it. And you can always tell a steel bike — it looks like a proper bike.” More practically, steel bikes are easily built with custom geometry and fittings, easily repaired, strong…

■ To get the most from Strava’s fitness functions, you need to record all your rides consistently for at least six weeks. ■ Recording heart rate and power data on Strava turns the app into a highly informative training aid that can chart your progress and help plan future training. ■ Data is generated using either your Suffer Score (based on HR data) or Training Load (based on power) or combination of both. ■ Strava’s fitness measurements are all based on scientific research, allowing you to analyse your data in an-easy-tounderstand way. The model was originally developed by Dr Eric Banister in 1975 and later applied by Dr Andy Coggan. ■ A simple way of thinking of your form i.e. how well you are likely to perform in an event,…

How does cycling affect the gut? During strenuous exercise, blood moves away from the gut, so it doesn’t get the oxygen it needs. In extreme cases such as in ultra-endurance athletes, this can lead to ischaemia, where the gut cells start to die. Even in less extreme exercise, there is some damage to the gut. There seems to be a disparity between official guidelines and research surrounding leaky gut, where certain substances leak through into the bloodstream? Leaky gut is quite a new area, and because it’s a consequence of something else — e.g. stressors — it’s not something we can directly treat. We treat it by removing the stressors and knowing that if you do, for example, extreme exercise, you’re going to have these gut consequences. It’s important not…

CW: What’s the best piece of training advice you’ve ever been given? RO: The harder your training is, the easier your downtime should be. CW: What’s your favourite training session? RO: My favourite is probably a session where we come in as a rolling line with the three team sprinters. It’s fast and you’re practising your changes, so you’re all drilled for race day. I like team efforts because you can come off the track and chat about it and see where you can improve. CW: And what’s the worst? RO: We do these sessions in the lab over at the Manchester Institute of Health and Performance where we do long intervals with short recoveries, holding a certain power and cadence. I don’t enjoy those too much! CW: Which is…

Ninety per cent of marshalling a race consists of alerting people to the fact that something is happening by your very presence. In this respect it is an almost perfect job, in that it consists of wearing a hi-vis tabard and just standing there. However, the remaining 10 per cent of the job is the problem. A lot of it consists of answering one of two stupid questions. At a small race the question will be, “Hey, bud, what’s going on?” delivered with varying levels of aggression, more often than not by someone who has parked a car on the racing line at the worst possible moment. Resist the temptation to point to the words ‘Cycle Race Marshal’ on your tabard and suggest they work it out for themselves. At…

Peter Cossins Cycling Weekly news writer Sixth, seventh and somewhere outside the top 16. The positions might read like the places obtained by a second-rank sprinter in bunch finishes, but are actually Chris Froome’s in the Sports Personality of the Year ranking following his three Tour de France victories prior to this season. A decade ago, this lack of recognition could have been seen as illustrating road cycling’s lowly status within British sport. However, Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins were elected SPOTY in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Froome’s best finish in the BBC’s annual sporting popularity contest came the following season, when he won the Tour for the first time and earned 5.2 per cent of the public vote. Having become the first rider in history to win the Tour…

“There should be a rule that you’re not allowed to use the phrase ‘these days’ until you’re at least 35 years old” You see a lot of graphic stuff on TV these days. What I mean is: I’m 23 years old and as far as I’m aware TV has always illustrated the world’s gruesome happenings but people who wear their glasses at the end of their noses or tuck their shirts into their underwear tell me it wasn’t always this way. In fact, before we get going, I have this to say: there should be a rule that you’re not allowed to use the phrase “these days” until you’re at least 35 years old. Upon turning 35 you can celebrate exiting the “18-34 year olds” bracket that YouGov seems determined…

STAR LETTER The rise of Lycrism I fear that a new schism is developing to run alongside racism, sexism et al. I call it Lycrism. As a keen road cyclist and mountain biker I am both saddened and troubled by what seems to be an increase in examples of bad driving, in particular, aggressive driving towards Lycra-clad road cyclists. It doesn’t seem to happen when I ride my mtb on the road. Just this week my partner and I were run off the road by a driver coming towards us who made no effort to break or move over and then, when past us, rolled down his window and put one finger in the air. My concern is that the road in question is a quiet country lane that has…

Updated, tubeless and disc brake-specific versions of Zipp’s NSW and Firecrest wheels are the headline new products that the US company unveiled at Eurobike this month. Currently the NSW and Firecrest lines are available in a series of depths starting with the shallow 202, sequentially increasing in depth with the 303, 404 and 808. All of these depths will now be available with tubeless-ready, disc brakespecific rims. Previously only the 303 Firecrest was offered tubeless. Being disc brake-specific means that Zipp’s signature dimples — said to enhance aerodynamics — now extend across the whole wheel rim, in contrast to rim-brake rims where the dimples ended at the brake track. According to Zipp engineer Michael Hall: “Zipp’s sole mission is to make athletes faster.” Hall believes this is not as simple…

It's easy to get hung up on Strava's crowns, trophies and leader boards, but there is more to the app than online grandstanding. With a little investment — ideally you need to be a Premium member — you can use Strava to develop your training. One of the concerns raised in our recent feature on Strava (CW, August 10) was that a preoccupation with segment times and KOMs can lead riders unwittingly into overtraining. The desire to nail segments and earn kudos by posting long or fast rides can induce fatigue and actually harm long-term performance. That said, Strava can be a force for good: the app offers functions that can curb self-defeating instincts and instead benefit your training. Strava’s Fitness and Freshness chart allows you to track your fitness,…

Chris Hoy recently sparked controversy by writing in GQ magazine that Mamils [middle-aged men in Lycra] “look as ridiculous as an overweight football fan wearing the shirt of his favourite club for a pub five-a-side game”. Hoy later apologised, but the matter isn’t settled; Mamils are continually given a hard time in the popular press. Do they deserve this flak? Aren’t they just ordinary men trying to enjoy their free time? We recently published research examining the psychological impact on serious recreational cyclists aged 34-52 — typical Mamils — of cycling in groups in the countryside. This study focused on ‘green cycling’ — general exercise in a natural environment (distinct from training or racing). We wanted to examine the reasons why professional males with limited free time choose to spend…

■ Train smart. Junk miles don’t make you slower but do make you more tired, and they’re also bad for your gut. ■ Train your gut. Use the same nutrition in training as you will in your race, especially in the couple of weeks before the event. ■ Eat lots of fibre, soluble and insoluble. Soluble fibre is found in oats, bananas, beans, carrots etc. Insoluble fibre is found in wholemeal bread, nuts and seeds. ■ Reduce sweeteners. Sweeteners such as xylitol and stevia (often found in recovery powders) are bad for gut bacteria and can cause diarrhoea. ■ Sleep well and keep other stressors to a minimum. If training particularly hard, plan your sessions during times of otherwise low stress, allowing plenty of time for recovery. ■ Mix glucose…

54 MILES 1 German Wall Nicknamed as a nod to the WW2 German POWs held here who built the brick wall on the hill. A testing climb but the views from the summit made it all worthwhile. 2 Beeston Castle We skirted past this wonderful English Heritage site. Also displaying Bronze Age items excavated from the site, the ruins of this medieval stronghold are a popular family destination. 3 Chester Cycle Paths Nearing the end we were given a taster of the excellent network of cycle tracks that crisscross the city, helping commuters and social cyclists bypass the traffic through the city centre. Favourite cafe Just a stone’s throw from the city walls, the cafe easily seats club riders and the general public on a Saturday morning. “We’ve lots of…