Innehållsförteckning för August 25, 2022 från Cycling Weekly

I’ve ridden up big mountains, done time trials and even not come last for the town-sign sprint, but nothing will ever beat the satisfaction of finally figuring out what that creaky noise coming from my bike was. The latest saga has been going on for months. Having all the mechanical finesse of Edward Scissorhands, my first port of call was simply to try and make it someone else’s problem by taking it to the local bike shop. There, for a very competitive sum, they regreased the bottom bracket and assured me it’d be fine. The next day I annoyed my club-mate for about four hours. What followed was me swinging between trying to ignore it, hoping it’d sort itself out and having brainwave after brainwave over what it could be.…

Dan Bigham did not just narrowly break Victor Campenaerts’ Hour record distance last Friday, he obliterated it, going further than he had gone in training, further even than he thought he could. The time trial and pursuit specialist from Staffordshire covered 55.548km in his hour on the track at the Tissot Velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland, which was almost 500m more than Campenaerts covered in 2019 – 55.089km – or almost two whole laps of the track. It was more than enough for Bigham to become the sixth Briton to hold the Hour record, beating the British record of 54.723km that he set in October last year. While it is still short of the 56.375km set by Chris Boardman in 1996 (in the subsequently banned ‘Superman’ position), Bigham now holds the…

hris Fennell (The Independent Pedaler-Nopinz) is looking to continue his dominance of the domestic time trial scene by taking his fourth national title of 2022 at the National 10-Mile Championship this weekend. As he looks to put failure to finish the National 100 behind him – the 26-year-old was hindered by a nightmare journey to the event after his car broke down resulting in him pulling out after 80 miles – Fennell is the favourite and will be last rider to take to the start line. Aaron Hudson-Tyreman, The Independent Pedaler-Nopinz team owner, is confident Fennell’s experience at the ‘100’ champs won’t be a problem and points to the fact he has won 14 out of the last 14 time trials he has finished. “Chris can very quickly move on…

Good luck getting that to work and justifying the costs and overheads for very little benefit. They might need to wheel out that big red bus and stick a few numbers on the side of it telling us how it will save us billions! Joe Hilfery The stupidest idea I’ve heard in a long time. Totally impractical, unenforceable and unnecessary. It’s just been floated to please some anti-cycling voters. It will never happen. Gary Rowing-Parker It’s one of my life goals to get flashed by a speed camera when out on my bike. If it ever happens I’ll frame the letter and gladly pay the fine. Geoff Bowers How aerodynamic with [the license plates] will it be? Asking for a friend, obviously. Pete Cruden If speed limits are going to…

Enve entered the frame game last year with the Custom Road, a high-end bespoke bike that was made to measure in the USA for a suitably premium price upwards of $7,000 for the frameset only. A year on it has unveiled the Enve Melee, which is a monocoque frame that comes in stock sizes, is made ‘overseas’ at Enve’s Far East facility and is marginally more affordable but still costs $5,500/£5,300. In US currency that’s exactly the same price as the Specialized S-Works Aethos (in the UK the Aethos is cheaper at £4,450) and more expensive than the Colnago C68 (£5,069.95). And whereas the Custom Road was available in a myriad of different colours and finishes, including full custom paint, the Melee comes in just one colour – Damascus (silver).…

We’ve all experienced the desperate attempts to catch a race after you’ve been dropped, or get back to a group ride that went a bit feral. There are a number of things to bear in mind. The guys in front will crack eventually. There may be more of them than there are of you, they may be more talented and motivated, but they’ll have to slow down soon, and when they do you’ll be right here, 2km behind, ready to pounce. Twenty-first place (or whatever) is pretty good really, and clearly better than 22nd. Imagine having to go home to your family and friends and say you were 22nd. That would be humiliating. You’ve got to get home somehow, and the chances are it’s in the same direction as the…

Full steam ahead Jumbo-Visma’s team time trial riders would have enjoyed an extra-deep coffee-scented breath as they crossed Utrecht’s Gele Brug (yellow bridge) on stage one of the Vuelta a España last Friday. The bridge is situated just above the Douwe Egberts coffee HQ, and the aroma fills the area. With the Vuelta’s opening weekend in the Netherlands, Jumbo were racing on home soil and rose to the occasion, covering the 23.3km city parcours in 24.40 to win the stage and place Robert Gesink into the GC lead.…

As every professional athlete knows, preparation is the key, down to every small detail: rest, diet and the right balance of training. Get that right and the results will come. If Euan Macleod was in charge of pre-race meals at Wiv-SunGod, rider Jim Brown explains, the results of what has been the team’s most successful season to date might have been different. “Macleod is a funny guy, he’s always on form. He’s hilarious and I’ve got so many good stories involving him,” Brown says. “I remember once he was making himself an omelette; most people would whisk their eggs but not him. He put them in a blender along with some ham and made the most disgusting pink coloured thing I’ve ever seen!” Brown adds. Reflecting on this season, his…

An issue with tubeless tyres on road bikes is that the sealant doesn’t perform so well under high inflation pressures. Pirelli addresses that with its P Zero sealant. The sealant, which shares the same name as the Italian brand’s line of road tyres, uses a formula specifically created for thin-walled tubeless and TLR tyres as well as tubulars run at higher pressures. Its properties also means the P Zero sealant won’t coagulate if CO2 is used to inflate the tyre – a bonus for riders who favour cartridges over a traditional pump. There’s also a Cinturato and Scorpion sealant for gravel and off-road, designed to work with a range of pressures, from 15psi to 100psi. While the P Zero formula contains both ammonia and latex, presumably to aid its high-pressure…

This ‘cut and shut’ photograph – you can see in the middle of the image where the track seems to include a corner of sorts – shows a big field of riders on the 665m outdoor track in Berlin. The race was part of German Emperor Wilhelm II’s silver jubilee celebrations but sadly we know very little about it apart from that. Perhaps the most notable thing about the image is the size of the crowd, and the fact that almost every one of them is wearing a hat. This track had originally been built to host the Olympic Games in 1916, due to be hosted in Berlin, but the outbreak of the First World War meant the Games was cancelled for the first time in its short 20-year history.…

Almost two years on from his last Grand Tour victory, Sam Bennett of Bora-Hansgrohe made a golden start to the Vuelta a España last weekend, winning two consecutive stages. It was a near-perfect start to the race for the Irishman, who has endured a difficult 18 months due to injury and an apparent lack of confidence, but looks close to his best once again. Stage two saw Bennett accelerate cleanly to the line in Utrecht, pipping Trek-Segafredo’s Mads Pedersen to take just his second win of the season. “I’m on my way back, I’m close, but I think this Vuelta will definitely be the key to bring me back to my top level,” he said after his first victory. “Here I’ll have that hard racing, be able to go deep,…

The UCI Continental status of British team Ribble-Weldtite is in doubt for next season as the rising costs of running a squad at this level have become prohibitive. Founded in 2017 as Ribble, before Weldtite joined as joint title sponsor at the beginning of 2020, the team has been registered with the UCI since 2019 and is a key pillar of the British cycling scene, winning on road and track at home and abroad. John Archibald and James Shaw have both moved on from the team to pro contracts as they punched above their weight when racing in Europe. General manager Tom Timothy was quick to point out that the situation they find themselves in isn’t through the lack of support from his two main sponsors Ribble and Weldtite. “It…

ELINOR BARKER Why we should ask pro riders about parenthood “How do you juggle your career with parenthood?” is an interview question that gives me mixed emotions. As Lizzie Deignan pointed out during an interview during her first pregnancy, her husband Phillip, also a professional cyclist at the time, had never been asked the same question. And yet it’s only because of this question that I came across Lizzie’s interview at all, whilst in early pregnancy myself and searching for answers for questions I wasn’t ready to ask. The information was invaluable to me and helped prepare me for what was to come from a female perspective, but I couldn’t help but notice that none of this was available for my partner Casper. Each year there are a handful of…

As I haul myself up the steepening slopes of Cowleaze, towards the southeastern corner of the Isle of Wight, I’m pleased to note that I am going a bit faster than the last time I went up here. Then, I was the lead-out man for my mate George, drilling it on the lower slopes of the climb before pulling over and almost coming to a halt. As George came round and rode away to improve the Strava KOM he already held, I caught my breath, then crawled to the top, where he was waiting. I’m riding solo now, and still getting nowhere near his KOM time, but that’s not the notable part – he thinks there’s a good chance that he’ll still have it after Sunday 11 September. That’s the…

Marking a distinct leap forward in Garmin’s cycling computer line-up, the Edge 1040 Solar is arguably the most comprehensive update since the launch of the Edge 1030 way back in 2017. Headline changes include a massive refresh to the user interface, improved GPS accuracy, a new ‘Power Guide’ pacing function with ‘Real-time Stamina Insights’, and – of course – that headturning solar recharge functionality. It’s clear that Garmin believes its strengths in a competitive market lie in the sheer amount of tech it has to offer. So let’s dig down into all those new features and see whether they can justify the £629.99 price tag and reaffirm Garmin’s place as one of the leading brands of cycling head units. User interface One gripe from Garmin head unit users is that…

As much as we love cycling, our favoured way to keep fit, few of us are able to spend as much time on our bikes as we’d ideally like. Work, family life, holidays – there are always commitments threatening to kick cycling off the calendar. But time away from our bikes doesn’t need to be time neglecting our bodies. You can continue to maintain your health, fitness and cycling performance while going about your day-to-day life – and here are 16 cost-free, quick and easy ways to do just that… 1 TUCK YOUR TUMMY This is a core exercise you can do anytime, anywhere without anyone knowing you’re doing it. The transverse abdominis (TA) is the innermost sheet of muscles in your abdomen. Engaging your TA is simple: tense your stomach,…

What’s been a big change since you started? When I was younger, I used to do some pretty stupid stuff in terms of weight loss, such as trying to eat just fruit all day. You can get caught up in the idea, especially as an U23, that you need to climb well, that you need to be smaller, lighter. A lot of guys have a similar experience with under-fuelling. Even now, I have to make sure that I eat enough because, on easier days, I’m prone to thinking I can postpone the next meal. How has your training changed with the move from Ineos to EF? Ineos are renowned in the peloton for their big belief in volume and hours, in building a big foundation. That means you’re constantly doing…

Paul Sherwen, out of the saddle, attacking the field at a wet edition of Paris-Nice graced the cover this week, but his memorable exploits had actually come on the descents. Perhaps in training for the Poggio in the upcoming Milan-San Remo, Sherwen had attacked on stage six to Mandelieu-La Napoule, just along the coast from Cannes. “For the second day in succession Paul Sherwen found the fearsome descent to the Mediterranean held no terrors for him. The rest were shouting ‘amateur’ at him as he came down at what they thought was reckless speeds. But Sherwen had full confidence in his bike which he said was so good it could have descended by itself.” No disc brakes or dropper posts needed. Sherwen didn’t factor in the results, but was a…