Innehållsförteckning för October 24, 2019 från Cycling Weekly

The clocks are set to go back next week and as they do, winter really draws in. But you don’t need me to tell you that, your lights are probably fixed on your bike already. If they’re not, I hope you’ve at least checked the batteries are still taking a charge. (You really don’t want to learn this just before you set off for home as I once did a few years ago.) Now we’re rushing headlong into this dark, cold time of year you’ll no doubt be inundated with messaging about the number of days to go until Christmas. I am not going to insult you by joining in. I don’t know what it is, I don’t want to know what it is and anyway, I’m sure a CW…

My first coach told me that everyone has a tin of beans. Some people have a big tin of beans, some people a small one. His lesson was that while you can (and should) train to increase the size of your tin, you can also train to improve your tin-opening technique. You will know the kind of rider who has a huge tin but can only shake their beans out one at a time. Or the opposite, and my favourite to watch: a huge-tin rider who grabs that ring pull and empties out a colossal amount of beans all in one go, leaving themselves with an empty and clean tin, having somehow managed to scrape the sauce out as well. Control of your tin opener is a super-important trait for…

Pro road rider Ed Laverack completed his preparations for the National Hill-Climb Championships by slicing nine seconds from the old course record on his way to an impressive victory in the Bristol South CC climb at Burrington in Somerset on Sunday. The 25-year-old SwiftCarbon rider from Llanelli clocked 6-41 for the two-mile course, setting a new power personal best for good measure. “I was really pleased with how it went, it bodes well for next weekend,” he said. “It was quite a shallow climb so it was hard for me because I’m quite light at the moment, but I got a new power PB.” Seven days earlier in the Welsh Championships on The Tumble, Laverack had to settle for second behind reigning national champion Andrew Feather, with pacing issues the…

Sunweb want focus on safety Team Sunweb has called for cycling to ‘focus on safety’ following a horrific crash suffered by their development rider Edo Mas. The-19-year-old was believed to be in collision with a car that had entered the route of the Piccolo Lombardia. “We can’t put enough emphasis on rider safety. There’s no secret the world’s getting busier, the sport is also getting bigger,” said Sunweb DS Matt Winston. “Organisers and the UCI need to really focus in the coming years on how we really make courses safe.” 2 minutes of drafting. Dutch rider Nils Eekhoff will go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in a bid to get his Worlds DQ overturned. The U23 rider triumphed in the road race only to be disqualified 20 minutes…

I was privileged to be present at the New Wimbledon Theatre for An Evening with Sir Bradley Wiggins on Sunday October 6. The final show of his “Tour of Britain”, I thought he and Matt Barbet took us through a roller coaster emotional ride — from the difficult and occasionally violent upbringing in Kilburn, to the massively mixed feelings he had during 2012 when winning the Tour de France and Olympic TT. Sir Brad’s insight into the demands required to reach world class sporting level, while not a surprise, was fascinating — and overtly anti-family. Fortunately, the colonic irrigation marginal gain didn’t work! It was also nice to hear of his admiration for the achievements of Chris Froome; the friction of the 2012 Tour now judged from a more mature…

If you’re serious about riding, you need a serious light and with CatEye’s AMPP series, lumens are just the start. Having created the first bicycle light in 1964, and the first bike light using white LEDs in 2001, the leader in lens and reflector technology now brings cyclists an impressive new range of rechargeable lights. The AMPP series offers compact and robust designs, superior beam patterns and reliability on or off-road — value that can literally be seen. This is the brightest range CatEye has ever produced. Wide beam patterns, enhanced peripheral vision and greater side-on visibility are just some of the features of the fully weather-resistant AMPP lights. Add to this, long run times, rapid charging and quick and easy mounting, and you’re ready to ride whatever the light…

Speaking to me on a brief break from her hectic duties as a witness care unit supervisor in Kent Police, Emma Lewis kicks off our interview with a frank statement about her less-than-athletic early life. “I’d always been a chunky child but I just got bigger and bigger as a teenager,” she says. “Towards the end of university, I bought a size 18 pair of denim shorts and remember feeling horrified. I knew I had to make a change.” After joining Weight Watchers along with her mum and aunt, Lewis lost three-and-a-half stone within six months. It was a sign of the discipline and commitment that would become a hallmark of the next decade of her life. Now 28, she weighs just 64kg — having lost 23kg since her student…

Tour of Guangxi (Oct 17-22) On stage two, British sprinter Dan McLay won his second race of the season, edging Pascal Ackermann and Matteo Trentin in China. McLay, 27, is leaving EF Education First in the off-season for Arkéa-Samsic. Kermiscross Ardooie (Oct 17) Tom Pidcock (Trinity Racing) was just 12 seconds shy of winning his first cyclo-cross race of the season, narrowly finishing second to Belgian Gianni Vermeersch (Corendon-Circus). Telenet Superprestige round two (Oct 19) Pidcock transferred his form to the Superprestige in Boom, recording his first ever elite podium in the series. The 20-year-old was third, behind winner Toon Aerts and his Telenet-Fidea Lions team-mate Quinten Hermans. Japan Cup (Oct 20) Bauke Mollema repeated his 2015 triumph, the Trek-Segafredo man beating EF Education First’s Michael Woods by one second…

On a recent ride, I devoted most of 10 minutes to chasing down a rider I’d spotted in the distance on a long, draggy climb. At first I thought it was a friend of mine, one who’d take being caught and passed very badly. As time wore on, I realised it wasn’t him. It was a young lad on a hybrid, going like a train. A little later I realised it was a middle-aged bloke on a mountain bike. And a bit after that, as my pulse maxed out, I noticed he was on a e-bike. So I’m going to have to ask all e-bike riders to wear jerseys with a large, clear battery icon on them. I can’t afford for this sort of thing to keep happening.…

National Madison championships (October 26) Katie Archibald and Elinor Barker became national champions 12 months ago, but Anna Docherty — the winner in 2017 alongside Pfeiffer Georgi — is aiming to take back the crown. Ethan Hayter is seeking a third national title in the discipline. National omnium championships (October 27) Also being held at Derby’s velodrome, Hayter, Fred Wright, Ethan Vernon and Harry Tanfield are among the favourites in the men’s race. Laura Kenny edged Katie Archibald and Elinor Barker in the 2018 women’s championships. Beringen (October 26) The fourth round of the eight-race series, Britain’s Anna Kay has enjoyed a good start to the competition, recording a third, fourth and sixth place so far. Eli Iserbyt and Toon Aerts are the favourites in the men’s race. National Trophy…

Egan Bernal has said he does not yet know if he will ride the 2020 Tour de France. The decision will be made by his Ineos team, which has a roster stacked with Grand Tour winners next year. In sentiments that have been echoed by Ineos riders over the past couple of years, as their top riders compete for the leadership role at the Tour, the 22-year-old says his primary concern is doing what is best for the team as a whole. “I will not make the decision [to ride the Tour] for fear of not being leader,” Bernal told Spanish newspaper AS, “I will do it with the team. Nor was I the leader in the last edition and I won.” His last point is a valid one. In…

About a month before your race, sit down with a big piece of paper and write down all the worries you have about it. Don’t hold back. They don’t have to be rational or even likely — but nothing you are worried about should be left unstated. Consider each issue and work through preventative measures, interventions that would preclude that scenario — additional training, a skill to master, a mental approach to take, nutrition to nail, etc. Not every scenario can be prevented or controlled, so work on contingencies. We call this ‘If, then’ planning — if something does happen, you’ll have a pre-planned ‘then’; you won’t waste time panicking or trying to work out what to do — you’ll already have the steps set out in your mind.…

Psychologist and former ultra racer Aaron Hudson-Tyreman is founder of The Independent Pedaler cycling cafe, near Canterbury — sponsor of Emma Lewis “Emma was introduced to me by [time triallist] Chris Fennell a few years ago as a young woman who was showing well in races in Kent but struggling for support. I liked her attitude and personality, as it fitted with my ethos of being a modern athlete. “I decided to throw my all behind a women’s team while also sponsoring Chris, and I wanted us to work together without excuses and with a huge smile for being lucky enough to love doing this sport — Emma exemplifies that.”…

In 2004, I built myself a fixed-wheel bike — a fixie, if you prefer. In 2004 a fixed bike was not so much unfashionable as a-fashionable. They were entirely outside the normal world of cycling. It was like going to work in a bowler hat — not fashionable, not unfashionable, just deviant. It had the advantage that you could leave it unlocked outside a shop, because in the event of an attempt to steal it you’d find it abandoned a few yards away, while the confused thief attempted to hobble away with severely bruised ankles. Yet within a few years every idiot in London was riding a fixie, ideally with the bars cut down to under a foot, the better to ride between buses. The upshot was that my nice…

GOLD Women’s team pursuit – Katie Archibald, Laura Kenny, Ellie Dickinson, Neah Evans Women’s scratch – Emily Nelson SILVER Women’s Madison - Katie Archibald, Laura Kenny Women’s omnium – Laura Kenny Women’s elimination – Emily Nelson Men’s team sprint – Jason Kenny, Ryan Owens, Jack Carlin BRONZE Women’s individual pursuit – Katie Archibald Men’s team pursuit – Ethan Hayter, Charlie Tanfield, Ed Clancy, Ollie Wood Men’s omnium – Ollie Wood…

The Dave Rayner Fund has received a “fantastic boost” after the organisation was recently granted charitable status. Established in 1995, the fund has helped young riders, including Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), with financial support that allows them to race in Europe in pursuit of a professional cycling career. Other riders who have benefitted through the organisation’s work include Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Ineos), Hannah Barnes (Canyon-SRAM) and EF Education sports director Tom Southam. The Dave Rayner Fund has now been granted charitable status by the Charity Commission and will change its name to The Rayner Foundation. As a charity, the foundation will receive greater public recognition plus financial benefits including Gift Aid, tax exemptions and access to funding for charities. Founding member of the fund and the team manager for the…

Many of the pieces of tech we use in day-to-day life, such as GPS, were originally designed for the military. A recent transfer from military to civilian life are the Raptor Augmented Reality smart-glasses. These glasses incorporate technology originally developed for fighter jet helmets so they project high-res, real-time information including turn-by-turn navigation, time, distance, speed, heart rate, cadence and power. Instead of looking down at gadgets, the information is collated for you and visible just by moving your eyes; your vision should stay clearer. Iyal Ovadia from Everysight, the company behind the glasses, says the concept is taken directly from the tech used by pilots in the military. “We took knowhow from the military and shrunk it down so it fits inside glasses rather than helmets and costs £550…

TIME TRIALS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20 National Closed Circuit Championship (Thruxton motor circuit, Hampshire): Men: 1. Chris Fennell (The Independent Pedaler) 21.47 2. K. Buckley (Nuun-Sigma Sport) 22.27 3. A. Franklin (Team Huub) 22.41 4. B. Harwood (Team Bottrill) 22.48 5. F. Wilkinson (Team HUUB) 22.57 6. M. Smith (Drag2zero) 22.58 =7. T. McEvoy (Giant Helston) 23.04 =7. J. Wingfield (Team Signum) 23.04 9. J. Gates (RAF CA) 23.08 10. G. Evans (Team Bottrill) 23.11 Women: 1. Joscelin Lowden (The Independent Pedaler) 24.22 2. E. Meakin (The Independent Pedaler) 25.07 3. M. Dickerson (Storey Racing) 25.53 4. S. Storey (Storey Racing) 25.56 5. A. Carpenter (a3crg) 26.00 6. A. Bosma (Team LDN) 26.03 =7. J. Rhodes-Jones (AeroCoach) 26.12 =7. J. George (Torelli) 26.12 9. A. Bowler (AS Test Team) 26.29 10.…

Whenever a misfortune — a crash, a mechanical, a nutritional unhappiness — befalls a mate, there are two ways to respond. You can be sympathetic. Or you can be sympathetic and wise. In this instance, wisdom is easy to demonstrate since it is retrospective. This is not only the easiest variety of wisdom, it’s the most fun. In the event of a crash, as you console them, be sure to explain how such an event wouldn’t have happened to you because you’d have braked earlier, or would have known that bit of asphalt was going to lack grip, or would have seen that bit of gravel, or would have had the foresight (yes, that’s foresight in hindsight) to bail out early and go through the gate rather than hit the…