Innehållsförteckning för Issue 54 från Cyclist Australia

After a two-and-a-half-year wait, on the weekend of 2-3 October we were treated to not one, but two epic editions of Paris-Roubaix. Both the men’s and women’s races had the added challenge of muddy, slippery cobbles, making for edge-of-your-seat viewing as racers fought to stay upright on surfaces more suited to Disney on Ice than bike riding. And both races were compelling – but in different ways. On the Saturday, the women’s race saw Lizzie Deignan strike out alone with 80km to go. For the next couple of hours she was forced to defend a narrow lead while skidding around like she was riding a broken shopping trolley, bleeding from her hands, and with the world’s greatest-ever rider, Marianne Vos, chasing like a demon two minutes behind. The next day,…

When the whole bike world was talking about the release of Shimano’s Dura-Ace R9200, the series’ updated wheels barely had a look-in. It was all ‘semi-wireless this’ and ‘12-speed that’. It almost seems like Shimano needs to rethink its new parts bulk drop strategy, because these wheels deserve a lot more fanfare. Let’s get this out of the way first: Shimano tells us the C36, C50 and C60 are all lighter, wider and more aerodynamic than anything that has come before them. Good to hear they’re on trend. And speaking of trend, the decals are all comparatively muted compared with Shimano’s carbon wheels of old. It’s another design feature we’ve been seeing across the industry lately, and it’s a good one. Each of the rims in the R9270 series have…

Sandy feet, dirty paws and muddy bikes – the RoadShower allows you the convenience of pressurised water on your next gritty gravel adventure in the middle of nowhere. It attaches to your vehicle or trailer and the sun heats up the water in the strong aluminium tank while you’re out riding, so you can enjoy a warm shower or wash down your gear no matter where you drive. The RoadShower is re-pressurised with a hand or electric air pump, and the stock unit includes a flexible hose with a spray nozzle and brass water fittings. Additional shower head attachments and fitments are available for dual water access and convenience. The RoadShower will be available in Australia and New Zealand in Small (15 Litres) and Medium (26 Litres). Arriving early 2022.…

Aerodynamic helmets are nothing new, but it’s only in the past decade that they’ve become a realistic option for the everyday cyclist. Prior to Mark Cavendish riding to victory in the 2011 World Championships with a plastic cover on his S-Works Prevail, the only truly ‘aero’ helmets were those worn by time-triallists. For the rest of us, their silly looks and general unwieldiness far outweighed any potential performance gains. Fast-forward to today and aero-optimised lids make up a sizeable segment of the road helmet market. Every major manufacturer now offers at least one aero road option alongside its traditional vented helmets. But what are the benefits, and is it worth making the switch if you’re not Mark Cavendish? ‘A well-designed aero road helmet will provide a measurable reduction in aerodynamic…

Jens Zemke is the tall, silver-haired sports director who has been driving team cars and deciding on team tactics for more than a decade. Having worked with the Cervélo Test Team, the HTC-High Road women’s team, MTNQhubeka and Dimension Data, next year will be Zemke’s sixth season with Bora-Hansgrohe. But the change from 2021 to 2022 will be more radical than in any of the German sports director’s previous switches of team. ‘It will be like pushing the reset button,’ he says. Ten riders are joining Bora-Hansgrohe, but an equally or even more significant fact is that one is leaving. And not just any one. It was a huge surprise when Peter Sagan joined the German team at the same time as Zemke in 2017. Then the biggest star of…

‘This was June 2010,’ writes Mark Cavendish in his second autobiography At Speed. ‘The Tour was three weeks away and I was a mess. Lonely, miserable, out of form, unpopular with journalists, fellow riders and even fans, after the highs of the previous two years I’d somehow fallen into a pit of despair. I had three weeks to crawl out.’ To say the first six months of the 2010 season were difficult for Cavendish is an understatement. Twelve months earlier he had wracked up 13 individual wins including Milan-San Remo before the Tour’s Grand Depart. In 2010 his tally stood at three. But it wasn’t just the lack of victories that troubled the sprinter – there was plenty of controversy as well. Cavendish’s pre-season had been impacted by agonising abscesses…

There really is no such thing as a do-it-all exercise – the human body is just too complicated for that – but the Turkish Get Up might be the nearest thing you’ll find to one. It promotes strength, stability, coordination and mobility. It works core muscles and stabilisers in the back, shoulders, hips, glutes… hell, it works almost all muscles. ‘If you look at it carefully, it combines nearly all the basic human movement patterns into one exercise,’ says Will Newton, endurance sports coach. ‘There’s a push movement, a hinge movement when you raise your hips into a bridge, and the last part is a one-legged squat. ‘It’s a great test for mobility and when I first started doing it I found it was great for fixing my shoulders. I…

One hundred and fifty clicks east-north-east of where you’re standing, 3,630m above the sea and 2,400 times larger than a football pitch, the Rhone Glacier’s reach across Switzerland and France can’t be overstated. It’s the reason for the river to your left, and the reason 1,700 cubic metres of water flows into the Mediterranean Sea, 813km away, every second. In front of you is a much smaller man-made entity, half silhouetted, half glinting under the climbing sun. This is the UCI’s headquarters on the banks of the Rhône River in Aigle, Switzerland, and its reach across the cycling world cannot be overstated either. It would certainly explain the architecture, impenetrable and metallic, a drawbridge leading to its mouth as if a villain’s lair. Whether David Lappartient rides his BMX around…

Strange to think, but back in 1883 cycling power resided in Great Britain with the National Cyclists’ Union, whose championships conferred unofficial world status. But by the end of the century the NCU had made itself unpopular over rule nitpicking, and so Henry Sturmey, editor of The Cyclist (no relation) and latterly one half of the eponymous hub gears, sought to establish a new governing body, the International Cycling Association. The ICA too encountered problems when Great Britain argued for multiple team entries (England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland) to the new World Championships. This put Continental and New World noses out of joint and led to the French, Italian, Belgian, Swiss and US federations setting up their own governing body in Paris on 14 April 1900: the Union Cycliste Internationale,…

Here’s a shoe you’ll want to wrap around your foot. Like all Shimano products, these second-tier shoes employ technology and design concepts from the flagship product in the range. In this case, the S-Phyre. Seamless midsole and upper improves comfort, while surround wrapping provides what Shimano promises to be a ‘glove-like fit’. It also makes the RC702 look like the S-Phyre, which is a bonus. If it’s anything like hundreds of Shimano’s shoes that came before it, the RC702 will be super comfy with benchmark performance and stiffness for the price point. Shimano Australia is opting to bring in white only at this stage. It’s a personal decision, but one we at Cyclist love, especially with the black heel and fade through. The graphics are on point.…

Cyc: Could you tell us a bit about Bontrager’s history and its relationship with Trek? AS: Bontrager Cycles was founded in Santa Cruz, California in 1980 by Keith Bontrager. His background was in motocross before he became interested in the newly emerging sport of mountain biking. Keith is a physicist by training and a natural inventor and tinkerer at heart. He built his first mountain biking frame in that same year and became a pioneer of the sport and developed some of the first lightweight yet durable mountain bike components. Trek acquired Bontrager in 1995. Keith was able to join the team and share his considerable knowledge in the development of new products going forward. Cyc: Does Keith still have a say in the design of products that bear his…

The collar of my blue jersey couldn’t feel any more white as I zip it up. We’ve parked at the Boonah Memorial Park, just off the main road through this small country town in the Scenic Rim Region, about an hour’s drive south of Brisbane. A number of vehicles rumble along the street behind us, slowly, as my ride companion Matt and I get set for the route ahead. It’s as if each driver and their working dog in the tray stare in synchronised movement – a skill developed by years of working the land. Or just from years of perfecting their country look for the tourists who flock to the region. Boonah and surrounds sit within Yuggera Ugarapul country on the western side of the Scenic Rim, and it’s…

Mike had a 2022 Trek Checkpoint SL 6 for this ride. It’s an updated design with a longer reach (in amongst other geometry changes) that provides stability on gravel roads, matched with immense tyre clearance and mounts for just about anything you could imagine. While the frame has nifty in-tube storage, we also used two Bontrager frame bags to carry spares, snacks, sun cream – and even a sports towel just in case we came across the right creek for a dip. We could have fit five bottles onto the bike but opted for two. The SRAM Rival AXS 12-speed groupset worked a treat, with a 440% gear range offering plenty of options whether it was spinning up a climb or rolling turns on the flat. The Bontrager tubeless 40mm…

Notoriously irregular, and therefore difficult to pace, Hautacam sets out its stall early There are no statues on Hautacam. Its summit is devoid of monuments to past victors or the stories written on its slopes. That’s not to say there haven’t been spectacular feats of climbing during its five appearances in the Tour de France; it’s just that all bar one lives in infamy rather than legend. This dead-end road, set for its sixth Tour appearance in the 2022 race, is surrounded by climbs that have etched themselves into the glorious history of the Tour. To the south lies the Tourmalet with its summit statue of Octave Lapize; to the east, Pla d’Adet is adorned with a plaque to Raymond Poulidor; while 15km down the road is Luz Ardiden, which…

To download this route scan the QR code below. Starting at the UCI headquarters in Aigle in the canton of Vaud, ride south along the bike path edging the Rhône for 7.5km, turning left at the bridge over the motorway and joining the road at Route de Placettes. Turn left onto Route de la Torme, then after a low stone bridge fork right and briefly continue parallel to the train tracks before taking the next left through the vineyards. Follow signs to Bex, then onto Route de Gryon. From here you’re into mountains and onto the Col de la Croix and it’s a case of taking the road up, following signs to Les Diablerets. At Les Diablerets follow the Route du Pillon road (the next col) past Glacier 3000 and…

First appearing a decade ago, the Giant Revolt led by example, bringing greater off-road capability to gravel bikes. In the new model, Giant has taken another step in that same direction. Capability and adaptability have been the drivers of change for the Revolt. Giant has increased the reach and dropped the bottom bracket height for greater stability, steepened the head angle to maintain agility, and created a ton more clearance for wide tyres. This includes an adjustable dropout to clear 700x53mm rubber! There are options to fit a 30.9mm dropper post, and you can fit no less than four bidons on the frame, and two on the fork. What’s really cool is the flip-chip dropout, which can extend the chainstay by 10mm for greater tyre clearance, while also having subtle…

Planning an escape from the city sprawl for your next bike tour? If you’re travelling by car, rooftop tents allow for a quick set-up, meaning you can spend more time riding and less time setting up camp. Plus, no sticks and stones poking into your backside as you roll over. The Thule Tepui Foothill two-person rooftop tent accommodates one side of the vehicle’s roof, meaning there’s still room for your bike on top. Need more sleeping space? Try the Tepui Explorer Autana 3-person ($3,999), which comes with an extended canopy entrance with removable annex.…

Trek has released its new Voda water bottle line with options for every ride and rider. The highlight is the Voda Ice, featuring an insulation layer that keeps water cold for twice as long as a traditional bottle. The layer is form-fitted, so capacity isn’t sacrificed to make room for insulation, as evidenced by the 830mL size. The no-drop grip ring makes it easy to hold even when wet, and the Flow Top cap with push-pull closure locks down to prevent leaks when moving while providing easy-squeeze access when open. Elsewhere in the range, the Voda Flow borrows the high-end features of the Voda Ice without the insulation layer and comes in 620mL and 770mL capacities. The classic Voda bottles receive a refresh with new cap design featuring a built-in…

The view from inside the peloton All eyes were on the Belgian team as the World Championships descended on Flanders. A week after Wout van Aert and Remco Evenepoel stood either side of Filippo Ganna (who else?) on the time-trial podium, the same duo was part of the home team widely expected to put on a show in the road race. Unfortunately for them, the French team refused to stick to the script. Once his teammates had made the hilly race as hard as possible, defending champion Julian Alaphilippe made a decisive move on the climb of Sint Antoniusberg with 21km remaining after two earlier softeners. The 29-year-old showman then soloed to a magnificent win in Leuven to secure a second successive year in the rainbow stripes amid boos from…

Get stronger, get faster It doesn’t matter how informed your training is, or how monkish your diet, because there is one indisputable fact: your metabolism slows dramatically once you hit your twenties – by around 10% each decade, they say. Or does it? Researchers at the Pennington Biomedical Research Centre in Louisiana, USA, think not. In a study involving more than 6,000 people from 29 countries, varying in age from eight days to 95 years old, researchers concluded that metabolic rate (in the loosest terms, the speed at which we burn calories at rest) changes little from 20 to 60 years old. ‘Fat-free mass–adjusted expenditure [metabolic rate] accelerates rapidly in neonates to ~50% above adult values at ~1 year; declines slowly to adult levels by ~20 years; remains stable in…

We used the new Wahoo Elemnt Bolt GPS bike computer on our Scenic Rim Big Ride, and were thoroughly impressed by the improvements the market-leading brand has introduced in the latest generation. The Bolt arrives in the same compact and aerodynamically optimised package we became accustomed to in the first-gen device, but with a few key differences ranging from obvious to subtle. Let’s start with the obvious: the new Wahoo Elemnt Bolt has a colour screen. And we don’t mean the eight-colour screen of the larger Elemnt Roam, but rather a 64-colour, high-contrast screen offering incredible detail on maps and colour-coded zones on the training data pages. As Wahoo puts it, ‘An updated user interface offers customisable, colour-highlighted fields to make it simple to focus on specific data metrics. An…

TRAVEL We started and finished in Boonah, which is just over an hour from the centre of Brisbane, but closer to 90 minutes from the Gold Coast. ACCOMMODATION Cyclist drove up for the day, but there are loads of options for farmstays and Airbnbs in the Scenic Rim region. There are a couple of hotels right in Boonah, and you could even stay in rooms right above the front bar at the Australian Hotel for the full experience. FOOD AND DRINK Don’t bank on a whole lot on the route, but there are cafes and a supermarket in Boonah, plus a campground near Lake Maroon where you can choose bait or ice cream. Otherwise, make tracks for Scenic Rim Brewery in Mount Alford, which has a range of cafe snacks…

If you build it, they will come. As the crowds filtered into Velodrome Andre-Petrieux to await the arrival of the first edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes, the (misquoted) words from the movie Field of Dreams rang as true for cycling as they did for baseball on the screen. For 125 years the Queen of the Classics had been withheld from the women’s peloton, its rich history of mud and pain being written only by the men. Yet this year, on 2 October, children in the stands were finally able to witness women competing on the fabled cobblestones of cycling’s most celebrated one-day race. Before the race, a young girl was seen riding on the five-star Carrefour de l’Arbre sector, testing out the pave for herself. The promotion and inspiration of women’s…

If time permits and you fancy something a little different during your stay, this area of Switzerland also offers up some excellent mixed-terrain riding, and this route out of Villars-sur-Ollon is an ideal morning freshener and is negotiable on a road bike despite its gravel sections. Start on the Col de la Croix road but after 5km fork right towards Coufin and climb on towards the village of Taveyanne. From here it’s the kind of unpaved roads you’d expect to find in Tuscany, so take this dusty climb up to a height of 1,755m, culminating in the ski town of Les Chaux. Then it’s a fast, sinuous descent on the road back to Villars-sur-Ollon. Given its proximity and length, the gravel sections of this ride could be shoehorned into the…

It’s finally here – all hail Shimano Dura-Ace 9200. But what’s new besides its semi-wireless nature? From the top (take a deep breath)… Lever hoods point inwards slightly, offer 4.6mm longer reach, are slightly taller and shift buttons are longer and wider spaced. Shifting is a claimed 58% faster at the rear, 45% faster at the front; the front mech has a 33% smaller frontal area; the groupset is now 12-speed; brake pads are 10% further from the rotor to reduce noise, and lever control offers 13% more modulation; the dual-sided power meter accuracy has improved from +/-2% to +/-1.5%; the disc rotors and chain are now shared with Shimano’s toptier mountain bike group, XTR; brake bleeding is possible without removing the calliper from the frame thanks to a new…