Innehållsförteckning för January 6, 2022 från Cycling Weekly

Happy New Year everyone, I hope you had an enjoyable break over Christmas and New Year and got in a bit of riding. I went into the period full of optimism. I wasn’t about to complete Rapha’s Festive 500 or cram in loads of big rides, but I was confident of getting out, or jumping on the turbo, and keeping my fitness up. After all, without seven to eight hours of work each day I’d have loads of spare time, right? This all came crashing down around me mid-morning on Christmas Eve when it suddenly dawned on me what was really coming up. A Christmas with two young children – one of whom has a birthday at this time of year – meant I’ve never been so busy. And I’ve…

WOMEN Amira Mellor (Team Spectra) National Trophy series leader at the time of going to press, Amira Mellor had an excellent start to the series, winning three of the first four rounds. The 24-year-old Yorkshirewoman was fourth at the fifth and most recent race at Kent’s Cyclopark, where she retook the lead she briefly lost after missing round three in favour of international duties. This saw her compete in two World Cup races, at Zonhoven and Overijse, where she was 35th and 29th respectively. Zoe Bäckstedt (Bäckstedt Cycling) Zoe Bäckstedt is still a junior but she has ridden elite World Cup races this season and will be riding the U23 race at Ardingly. Crowned junior European cross champion at Col du Vam in November, Bäckstedt also won the junior World…

Bigham joins Ineos Grenadiers Ineos Grenadiers have confirmed that Dan Bigham will be joining their technical staff as race engineer for the 2022 season. The British WorldTour squad has added Bigham to its staff team listings. Bigham’s British Cycling rider profile now lists his team as Ineos Grenadiers; however, he is not listed on the rider section of the team’s website as of yet. Quick Step Alpha Vinyl premiers 2022 kit Quick Step Alpha Vinyl have released their kit for the 2022 season, the first under a new partnership deal with Castelli. The Italian brand will supply the Belgian super team’s kit until the 2024 season, having moved over from Ineos Grenadiers. The new jersey has less blue than last season’s effort, and is reminiscent of what the team wore…

A non-fungible token is a digital asset that uses blockchain technology to authenticate proof of ownership. For example, a digital file such as a photograph could be copied and shared infinite times but an NFT is the unique, original file. The lack of interchangeability – or fungibility – of such an asset is what sets them apart from a cryptocurrency. It’s like a piece of art compared with a £50 note. NFTs have huge possibilities and were subject to a surge of interest in 2021, with artists, musicians and sports stars creating various digital files ranging from artwork and albums to digital trading cards. Like cryptocurrencies, NFTs are currently unregulated, can be highly volatile assets, and can generate significant carbon emissions.…

1 The slow death of the rim brake When Pinarello’s new Dogma F was launched in 2021, perhaps for the first time ever there was general surprise that there were both disc and rim versions. With the demise of the rim brake continuing in all quarters, both consumers and industry expected the new team bike to be disc only, in line with Ineos Grenadiers gradually migrating to discs – even in Paris-Roubaix, as we saw. Fausto Pinarello says he likes to give riders the choice, but Pinarello’s own figures reveal that it expects 80 per cent of sales of the new Dogma F to be the disc-brake version and it seems likely that this will be the last rim-braking Dogma. Even Giant, the world’s biggest bicycle company, only offers the…

Simon Smythe, tech writer When I reviewed four £5K bikes earlier this year - the Specialized Tarmac SL7, the Scott Addict, the Giant TCR and the BMC Teammachine - my fitness was at a higher level, partly due to riding them up Leith Hill repeatedly, so despite the R5’s ability on climbs, which based on feel was head and shoulders above those bikes, I can’t boast any Strava segment-busting stats. Having said that, there were only a few seconds in it on the uphill segments, and this bike absolutely killed it on the descents – the faster the better.…

Typically, failure to achieve a goal results from a lack of specificity and a lack of accountability. Use the SMART acronym to set your goals. Specific: What is the specific thing that you want to achieve? A specific time, a particular race, a record over a certain distance? How might equipment, weather, elevation or other people factor into this? Measurable: What is the current time? Can you use online pace, weather and course data to help you here? What other metrics can you track? Can you set intermediate time goals? Achievable (or agreed): What is a realistic goal for you, given your other life priorities? What is enough to challenge you without setting yourself up to fail? Relevant: How is this target going to bring you closer to what you…

A mechanic friend got in touch to tell me about a rider who’d come into the shop recently. His time trial bike had been making a creaking noise, which he’d diagnosed as coming from the seatpost clamp. So he’d snugged up the clamp. This had not helped. So he’d tightened it a bit more. And a bit more. The creaking continued. Then, one creaky day, he rode over a pothole with a bang. The strained bolt snapped, and the seatpost slammed down into the frame, smashing outwards through the wheel cut-out at the back of the seat tube. Very gingerly, he set out to ride what was left of his bike home. The bottom bracket still creaked.…

Blockchain is a technology, like electricity or the internal combustion engine. A blockchain is a decentralised electronic ledger distributed across a number of computers. This ledger acts as authentication of a digital thing. Blockchains prevent the duplication of a digital file. For example, your bank keeps a record of the £10 you put in your account and validates that the £10 is yours. A blockchain is the unalterable ledger that validates a digital asset, thus allowing digital currency to exist. There are lots of blockchains but all work in a similar way. Their benefit is that they hugely reduce transaction costs, lending them applications in banking, supply chains, digital security and identities. Above all they enable digital systems of value, of which cryptocurrencies and NFTs are examples.…

ONE UP Cervélo R5 Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 £11,699 The top two of the four R5 builds – Dura-Ace Di2 and SRAM Red eTap AXS – share the same price. Having said that, we’d consider the SRAM bike to be the flagship since it has a power meter chainset – making the ‘one up’ the Shimano bike. Wheels and finishing kit are the same across all R5 builds, but with the two range-toppers you get a CeramicSpeed BB. ONE DOWN Cervélo R5 Shimano Ultegra Di2 £8,299 If you lived in the US this would be the ‘one up’, since SRAM is unsurprisingly cheaper across the Pond. It makes more sense the British way: the Ultegra spec doesn’t come with a power meter chainset, whereas the SRAM one does. Finishing kit and…

You can’t get away from the fact that cycling is a power-to-weight-based sport. Your weight makes a difference, in either direction. A lightweight climber is unlikely to win a pan-flat time trial. A tall, muscular sprinter is unlikely to win a queen mountain stage. For any cyclist wishing to optimise their nutrition, here are some top tips for goal-setting around nutrition. Plan ahead: You plan training sessions in advance – your nutrition is no less important. Timing matters: When you eat may be as important as what you eat. Research shows that your metabolism has a circadian rhythm and how it burns food changes throughout the day, especially for those of us who exercise regularly. Fuel your training suitably for the work scheduled. Be mindful in your eating: Rate your…

So we’ve made it through all the tweets and Instagram posts about new kit. I’m trying my best to remember which riders have gone to what teams – I was relieved about Mark Cavendish agreeing a contract with Quick Step, but only because at least I still know where he is, and if I ever make it to another live bike race I’ll know which bus to stand forlornly outside with a notepad. But some of my thoughts are with those who retired. I’ll be looking for André Greipel and Tony Martin till the end of the year, and the thought of bike racing without Anna van der Breggen is just plain odd. Last year seemed like a big year for retirements. So, as the January training camps get under…

I know that CW has mentioned Denia in Spain a few times over the years, but unless you have been there it is difficult to appreciate just how good it is for winter cycling. Our group has been going out there for the last 17 years in Jan/Feb and the pro teams seem to have followed us. Back in 2005 it was unusual to see a top team in the area; now it seems as though nearly all of them are here. Most of the teams stay in Calpe because that is where there are sufficient large hotels. Denia has more varied riding though. Flat, undulating, hilly – it’s your choice every day and the area gets the best weather in Western Europe in January. As Brian Holm said to…

A cryptocurrency is a medium of exchange based on blockchain technology. The first was Bitcoin, which was created in 2009 and remains the biggest, although there are now thousands of currencies. Cryptocurrency exchanges allow customers to trade cryptocurrencies for other assets like traditional fiat currencies or other cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies underpin a lot of practical uses of blockchain technology. Any transaction of a digital asset requires validation of the decentralised ledger, and this requires computing power. Using your computing power for this validation is called ‘mining’ and you are rewarded for it in the form of digital currency. This does have downsides. Computers need electricity and an estimate of the carbon footprint of Bitcoin, the least energy efficient cryptocurrency, was calculated recently to be 57 million tonnes of CO2 a year,…

The pictures you see on these pages were discovered in Cycling Weekly’s archive only last year. We think they may have become mixed up with the archive of a sister publication and were only found in an office move. The pictures were taken on glass plates, which given their size is 3.5 inches by 4.75 inches, gives a very crisp and clear detailed image. Plus, they don’t age as easily as film so they keep their quality. Even in the 1950s they were losing their appeal as a method of photography so it seems likely the photographer knew he was about to document a very historic record-breaking ride.…

Omicron is powerless against our optimism – we’re forecasting 2022 to be a blessed return to cycling normality! So it’s time to set some momentous, motivating goals. Deena Blacking explains how Welcome to 2022. Yes, this is the first Cycling Weekly of the new year. Whether or not you buy into setting new year’s resolutions, you can’t get away from the fact that this is the time of year when cyclists set new goals – and with good reason. Goal-setting is a common trait among the best performers across all sports. The Christmas break provided a chance to switch off and relax. Before you get back into the full swing of work and training, now is the time to make the most of the mental and physical pause in our…

Physiological: Increase FTP; increase maximum power output for a given duration; improve total time on a particular distance; increase leg strength (for climbing). Technical: Increase cadence; improve out-of-the-saddle climbing; improve cornering and braking; develop balance and coordination, including riding no-handed. Tactical: Improve positioning in a bunch race; improving the timing of attacks. Psychological: Improve self-talk during training and racing; devote time to meditation and focus. Nutrition: Improve macronutrient balance; improve timing and quality of nutrient intake; reduce alcohol intake. Recovery: Increase average nightly sleeping time.…