Innehållsförteckning för Issue 60 från Cyclist Australia

Zéfal Profil Max FP65 Z-Switch floor pump

The Profil Max FP65 Z-Switch is the latest floor pump from French accessories specialist Zéfal, and although it sits at the top of the brand’s range it doesn’t include any newfangled features like tubeless compressor chambers or Bluetooth pressure gauges. Instead, it focuses on doing everything that a classic floor pump should do, and doing it well. Zé fal says the base provides a stable footprint and uses a specific composite that dissipates the vibrations and high temperatures caused by pumping air at high pressure, while the barrel is made from anodised aluminium, which has been given a classy, brushed titanium-esque finish. The wooden handle is turned from sustainably sourced beech from French forests, and the large gauge claims an accuracy of +/-1% up to a maximum inflation pressure of…

FSA K-Wing AGX Carbon gravel handlebar

Before elite road bikes came with carbon, integrated aero handlebars, FSA was the product of choice for countless pros over many years. Its variety of shapes meant there was something for all tastes, and it’s great to see FSA continue to grow its stable. Its AGX Carbon handlebar is the perfect solution for those looking for a premium and reliable gravel set-up. The AGX was designed with comfort in mind, sculpting contact areas on the hoods and drops for maximum ergonomics. It has a relatively shallow 115mm drop and 76mm reach for all widths, which impressively range from 40-48cm, and also features a 5mm rise and flared drops for that authentic gravel look and extra stability when the going gets rough. The handlebar sits within FSA’s AGX (Adventure, Gravel, Cyclocross)…

Brooks Scape bags

Brooks is a name many readers will know for producing their iconic leather saddles, popular with touring riders and people into the British period drama aesthetic. Its latest range of bags proves the UK company can maintain its traditional feel even with a modern design and materials. The Scape seat bag and Scape handlebar roll have unique set-ups, where a holster remains on the bike, leaving just a dry bag with all your equipment in it to be attached or removed as required. As the name suggests, the dry bag is waterproof and the seat bag has an air pressure valve so you can squeeze in more items than you thought possible. The Scape feed bag, meanwhile, is a neat little unit to sit on your handlebars and face you,…

Top Gong

It was a spring to remember for sports fans in Australia. The post-pandemic revelry has meant big events and moments are finally back in the mainstream for everyone to enjoy. For the passionate and the passers-by, all were impressed by the world’s best road cyclists who descended on Wollongong for the UCI Road World Championships. Race organisers say more than 200,000 people attended events across the week-long festival of bike racing, with more than 100,000 attending the final event, the Men’s Elite Road Race. It was beamed into 70 nations, millions of fans experiencing our country from their loungerooms. They also had a rare glimpse into life as a cycling fan in Australia – bleary eyes, late-night snacks and disturbed sleep patterns. UCI President, David Lappartient, said: ‘The experience was…

5 min

Q&A Alison McCormack

Cyc: Hey Alison, tell us a bit about yourself. Alison McCormack: I come to Bicycle Network with significant executive and commercial experience in Australian and international organisations and have served many senior leadership roles in government and commercial organisations. Most recently, at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), as Head of Commercial, I oversaw retail operations, festivals, event management, and hospitality services and served as Chief Financial Officer. I’m also a qualified accountant! But, most importantly, I’ve always loved bike riding and helping people get on the bike. I’ve volunteered and spent many years leading women’s bike riding groups along Beach Road to start their own bike riding journey. To take on the role as CEO of Bicycle Network and be able to combine my working experience with…

7 min

Compressive ideas

The concept has been around for an age, but is there any truth in the claim that compression clothing positively impacts performance and recovery? It’s the question posed by researchers of the 2021 scoping review entitled ‘Putting the Squeeze on Compression Garments’, published in Sports Medicine. The review analysed 183 studies and results were mixed. In the ‘yes’ camp, studies did back up the idea that compression clothing has an impact on ‘muscle oscillatory properties’. So as an example, a pair of compression socks worn by a runner will diminish the vibration ripples through the muscles as the foot strikes the floor, with the inference being this reduces microtrauma and hence helps prevent injury and fatigue. However, there was then a lack of evidence that this had a knock-on effect…

12 rules of fat loss

1 BE REALISTIC Aim to lose no more than 1kg per week. ‘Anywhere between 0.5kg and 1kg is fine, but no more than that – weight loss needs to be sensible and sustainable,’ says sports nutritionist Mayur Ranchordas. ‘It’s not a race.’ The key is to strike the right ‘negative energy balance’. That is – you guessed it – to consume fewer calories than you burn. 2 STRIKE THE RIGHT BALANCE Aim to eat around 500 calories less per day than your total energy expenditure. ‘Counting calories can seem like a chore but you’ll do it if you’re serious, and while the calorie expenditure figures on gadgets such as power meters and sports watches can overestimate by 10-20 per cent, they’re still useful if you bear that in mind,’ says Ranchordas. The…

5 min

The riders’ racks

Thule was kind enough to provide the boys with its OutWay Platform bike rack system for this trip. Esjay, whose car the rack was mounted to, was a big fan. ‘The OutWay was super easy to put on,’ he said. ‘I just bought a new car and hadn’t installed roof racks or a tow ball yet, so I was happy to see that no existing mounting points were needed to get it on. Getting the bikes on and off was really easy too, and doesn’t require any clambering onto seats and whatnot to reach the roof, which is a plus for shorter riders. Once on, the bikes were really secure with no unnerving rattling or bouncing. And the rack’s positioning means you can mount the bikes without blocking your number…

How we did it

TRAVEL By car, Yass is easily accessible from Sydney, and only a stone’s throw from Canberra; you could even hit the best parts of this loop starting and finishing in the nation’s capital, if you were so inclined. Given prior time constraints, we Sydneysiders got the whole thing done in around 24 hours; knocking off at 4pm, we drove straight down the Hume and were at the pub in Yass by dinnertime. Post-ride, we drove back the same way and made it home well before dark. ACCOMMODATION We stayed the night in the cheap and cheerful rooms above the Australian Hotel in Yass. If all you need is a bed, this is a decent option, but be warned that it seems like the place to be in town on weekend…

Girmay on…

…Biscoff spread ‘Especially this year, I was going crazy for it. Even before leaving for Asmara, I had to buy four or five pots in Belgium. Even my wife is crazy for it. If there is no Biscoff in the morning, it’s not good!’ …interviews ‘Do I like them? No. I really like to speak with friends, even to meet new people, but in interviews you have to be careful how you answer and think about what you say. I started doing a lot this year – in all my life, I’d never done interviews before, even in Asmara.’ …Eritrean fan favourites ‘Eritreans are more fans of Peter Sagan, still now. We like to watch a sprint stage, that’s why we’re fans of him and Cavendish. Also Froomey we like…

Click and print

Translating the work of a designer directly into reality has never been easier or more cost-effective. Three-dimensional printing is a relatively recent innovation but it is being used more and more by the cycling industry to create entirely new products or to save money on short runs of expensive parts. The technology is allowing framebuilders such as Melbourne’s Bastion Cycles and the UK’s Sturdy Cycles to create hi-tech designs way beyond those generally associated with artisan builders, and elsewhere has helped apply new structures to the likes of saddles and chamois pads. ‘The cycling industry very rarely develops its own technology,’ says Tom Sturdy, whose beautifully made titanium bikes include extensive use of printed parts. ‘Although, weirdly, bikes are often used as a showcase for technologies.’ Three-dimensional printing, or additive…

9 min

Two for the road

Back in January 1986, two cycling adventurers sat down in a London boozer to brainstorm ideas for their next project. Cousins Nick and Dick Crane had recently ridden bikes around the crater of Kilimanjaro and wanted to top that with something even more audacious. They came up with a plan to cycle to the most remote place on Earth, which they calculated to be a spot in a desert in north-west China, 5,000km away from the nearest ocean. They would eventually cycle to ‘the Pole of Inaccessibility’ from the Bay of Bengal, crossing the Himalayas, Tibetan plateau and Gobi Desert in 58 days (including four days detained by Chinese police) and accumulating 26,680 metres of ascent. At the time, ‘adventure cycling’ was highly competitive. Their main rival was another Nick…

10 min

Uphill battle

The benefits of lightness when riding uphill have been appreciated since time immemorial, and by now we all know how valuable aero gear can be at saving time on the flat. But in between there must be a crossover, so where is it and what can it tell us about optimising our equipment choices? ‘It’s an interesting question,’ says renowned aerodynamicist Simon Smart of Drag2Zero, consultant to WorldTour teams and here to provide his expert insight. ‘I get asked about this a lot. The aero effect is quite small at climbing speeds and most of your work is against gravity. On the other hand, when you consider total system weight, including the rider, the extra weight of the aero setup isn’t that much either.’ It’s often cited that aero trips…

8 min

Captured in time

• Bourlon was so far ahead of the race schedule that the announcer hadn’t yet arrived at the finish to call his win. • How did Bourlon fuel his breakaway? ‘A little rum and sugar water. No dangerous or prohibited products!’ • Two days before the stage, the commissaires missed Bourlon at the finish and didn’t count him. He was annoyed and had to lodge a protest. The day after his win, he passed in front of them and enquired, ‘Have you seen me this time?’ • It’s unlikely, but not impossible, that Bourlon’s record will ever be broken. The UCI has a stage limit of 240km, although up to 260km is permissible by special request.…

How we did it

TRAVEL Carcassonne has its own small airport or you can fly to the much larger and better connected Toulouse-Blagnac, an hour up the A61. From the finish in Bagnères-de-Luchon, it’s 90 minutes back to Toulouse airport. Trains are also an option. ACCOMMODATION Cyclist stayed in an Ibis Budget (ibis.accor.com) in Carcassonne the night before the start, which was basic but comfortable. After the ride we drove back to my guesthouse in Villelongue (escapetothepyrenees.com), which is extremely comfortable, superbly situated and expertly managed. Although I may be biased. THANKS Thanks to Terry for impeccable support car driving, photographer Alex for mucking in with everything, and to my partner Kitt for looking after our baby on her own so I can go play on bikes. Thanks also to Factor for a big…

Ruled by numbers

Mont Caro in Catalonia is a brutal climb. But that’s a purely subjective description, so here are the numbers: 13km at an average gradient of 9.9%. And when I tackled it one day, those statistics tempered my attitude towards the mountain before I had even left home. Of course, even if I’d resisted the opportunity to Google its gradient, contours and profile in advance, I still wouldn’t have escaped the numbers – there are signposts at regular intervals telling you your current elevation and the gradient of the next kilometre. I suppose I could have ignored these and concentrated on the spectacular views of the rugged peaks towering above me or the coastal plain shimmering in the distance below. But every kilometre – roughly every 10 minutes – I’d find…

3 min

Ace in the hole

For the past few years the Trek Madone has been considered among the best aero road bikes at balancing aerodynamic efficiency with comfort. This was thanks to the inclusion of the IsoSpeed decoupler system, which Trek first introduced to the bike in 2015 and which has appeared in various forms on updated Madones ever since. Until now. The latest model has been given an aggressive overhaul to become a claimed 300g lighter and save the rider up to 19 watts at 45kmh compared to the last generation. Trek says this is the fastest bike it has ever made, even though a size 56cm Madone SLR 9 claims a weight of just 7.1kg. To achieve that, Trek has ditched the IsoSpeed and replaced it with a new system called IsoFlow. IsoFlow…

Shimano S-Phyre RC903 road shoe

The component giant’s previous performance road shoe, the S-Phyre 902 released in 2020, altered the fit of the popular S-Phyre RC9 line. While it was a hit with many riders, for some long-time fans the changes to the upper made its grip too tight and its toe box too narrow. That’s why it hasn’t taken long for the follow-up, the S-Phyre RC903, to be released, and you’ve probably already seen them being sported by pros such as Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic and Romain Bardet throughout 2022. With previous feedback in mind, Shimano has once again revised the fit, this time to restore what made the RC9 such a huge success in the first place. It has done this through a more flexible upper, now made from a microfibre…

It’s what’s inside that counts

When it comes to riding tubeless tyres, there are two camps. The first is filled with those who can’t be bothered with the perceived hassle of tyres that are challenging to fit, require messy sealant and can’t be repaired on the roadside. The second proudly proclaim tubeless’s superior comfort, puncture improbability and low rolling resistance. Foam inserts could change the game for the naysayers, and Vittoria looks to have the jump on the market; indeed, Tubolight is the only brand within cooee of the Italian tyre maker. But what are they? And how could they transform your opinion of riding tubeless? Used by WorldTour teams including Lotto-Soudal, EF Education-EasyPost and Team DSM, Vittoria’s Air-Liner Road is a single-piece foam insert that fits into a tubeless tyre. It’s not unlike a…

3 min

Lún Hyper 45 wheels

Everything is going up except your wages,’ repeated the opposition ahead of the 2022 election. If Albo and his colleagues were as into cycling as one former PM (famous for riding a Hillbrick and eating onions) he may have added the caveat: ‘Everything is going up except your wages and carbon wheels.’ The 46mm deep front, 54mm rear Hyper 45 wheels from Lún, the in-house wheel brand of Chinese outfit Winspace, will cost you a little over $2,000, depending on the strength of the Aussie dollar (and including free shipping). I heard good things from bloggers and internet engineers alike, so wanted to try this wheelset, which tips the scale at a fraction over 1,300 grams and rolls on ceramic bearings. Out of the box Firstly, I was impressed with…

2 min

Q&A Mads Pedersen

Cyclist: Danish cycling is thriving right now. What do you put that down to? Mads Pedersen: The whole support chain we had from a young age, with local clubs who made cycling fun for us when we were kids; the national team who started to work with us when we were about 15 years old; and the junior and Continental teams afterwards. It’s really paying off right now and showing the skills of Danish cyclists to the whole world. Cyc: How has that translated into the way the Danish national team works? MP: If you take a big country like Italy, some riders won’t see each other until they are at under-23 level. But in Denmark, we’ve been racing against each other every weekend since a really young age, and…

6 min

SUBSCRIBE AND WIN! $2,200 WORTH OF PRIZES THANKS TO YAKIMA!

Yakima has been a pioneer of cargo and gear management solutions since 1979 and the newly released StageTwo Bike carrier is leading the charge when it comes to innovative features on a tray style rack. The StageTwo is built to carry your valuable steeds anywhere you need to go, securely and in style. From road to mountain, gravel to kids the StrongArm hook quickly secures your bike with no frame contact. The stadium seating tiered architecture increases ground clearance on rutted trails or steep driveways. While the offset tray design further minimises bike-to-bike interference and maximises functionality. For more information visit yakima.com.au HOW TO WIN For your chance to win one of two Yakima StageTwo Bike Carriers, subscribe to Cyclist magazine (6 issues or 12 issues) at subscribe.cyclist.com.au and simply…

The sleep equation

There is nothing in the known universe that joins the dots between health, recovery and performance as comprehensively as sleep. It is vital and irreplaceable. No facsimile or pharmaceutical has yet been found that yields the same tangible dividend of spending a full third of our lives unplugged from the world. In the words of one of the world’s foremost sleep experts, Dr Charles Samuels, medical director of the Centre for Sleep & Human Performance in Calgary, Canada, ‘Sleep is the foundation of passive human recovery. End of story.’ Fun fact: the states of unconsciousness and sleep are not the same. For example, there is no benefit from being anaesthetised for surgery, where your mental and physical systems are placed into highly managed deep-freeze to stop you feeling pain or…

Yass Please

As cyclists, we’re creatures of habit: the same meeting time, the same rides, with the same faces. This type of riding scratches the itch, but it’s not completely satisfying. So if your regular morning rides are getting stale, and you’re sick of the same views every day, there’s nothing better than expanding your horizons and riding somewhere new. But what if you only have 24 hours to spare? As many have discovered over the last few years, gravel is the answer. Chances are, even if you live in the middle of a metropolitan centre, as I do, there are spectacular unsealed roads – blissfully free from traffic – only two or three hours’ drive from your front door. So, a couple of mates and I put together a plan: drive…

12 min

The writer’s computer

The new Wahoo Elemnt Roam is everything you want in a bike computer. It’s the brand’s most powerful and accurate device yet, and thanks to excellent smart navigation is perfect for adventure riding. As a long-time user of Wahoo products (my Elemnt from 2018 is also still going strong) I was impressed by the colour screen, which shined brightly even in direct sunlight, as well as the extremely long battery life. Rolling back into Yass at the end of the day, it was still nearly 80% full. Button placement is intuitive, navigating between pages is super fast, and the massive 32GB memory means you’re unlikely to have to delete anything off the device, ever. I also liked that the Roam came stock with an integrated out-front mount, which looked very…

A star is born

The beatific smile on the face of Biniam Girmay as he crossed the finish line to win at Wevelgem and Jesi were the moments of the cycling year. So much had precipitated those wins, so many difficult times, so many calls to answer the question: how much do you want this? The groundwork was laid back in Eritrea, only it wasn’t just about hitting the right power zones at altitude, riding up 40km ascents past camels and baboons. Every evening Girmay would journey to an internet cafe, upload his TrainingPeaks data and chat over a shaky connection with his coach. Even now, when we meet in a Brussels coffee shop, the suitcase in the corner tells of Girmay’s return from the Canadian embassy in Paris after having to arrange a…

10 min

Muro di Sormano

We have a lot sharkskin suits and permanently had a cigarette hanging from his bottom lip, Torriani was by anyone’s measure the Godfather of cycling in a country where the sport is close to a religion. Sole organiser of all the races run by newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport from 1949 to 1989, he quite simply transformed the sport on Italian shores. He took the Giro d’Italia to parts of the country it had only dreamed of reaching, for example Venice’s Piazza San Marco, while introducing climbs and crowning legends – who doesn’t revere the Passo di Gavia and Passo dello Stelvio? The Sormano is the equivalent of performing 15 minutes of non-stop one-legged squats Torriani tinkered with the route of Milan-San Remo, adding the now infamous Poggio in 1960 and…

6 min

Three technologies that changed cycling

Carbon fibre construction While inventors, including Thomas Edison, experimented with creating carbon fibre, it wasn’t until the 1960s that the UK Ministry of Defence was able to patent a reliable process for making these high-strength fibres. Once formed into shape, carbon fibre’s first application was in military jet engines. With much of the technology closely guarded, it took several decades for anyone to consider using the material to produce bicycles. Global Positioning System (GPS) The terms GPS and bike computer are now almost interchangeable. However the technology wasn’t developed to help riders compete for KoMs. Instead it was created by the US Department of Defense to help track battlefield assets. A constellation of satellites provide geolocation and time information to a receiver, allowing you to locate yourself anywhere on Earth.…

Nick Sanders

Before Nick Sanders discovered the power of PR - in one case reporting for BBC Radio Manchester from the back of a tandem piloted by his girlfriend (pictured) – his goals were more modest. In 1981, aged 23, he set off to ride around the world without a sponsor or plans to set any records. But during a stopover in Hawaii he found a copy of the Guinness Book of Records and read that the fastest time for cycling around the world was 143 days. ‘I could either hang at the beach and kick back or, by doubling my normal daily average to 215 miles a day it would be possible to cross America in 13 days and beat the record by more than 10 days.’ He opted for the…

Equipment

Aero setup Bike BMC Timemachine 01 Two, 56cm, 8.18kg (7.90kg stock) Wheels Zipp 808 Firecrest Helmet Giro Eclipse Spherical, 308g Glasses SunGod Airas, 33g Speedsuit Le Col x McLaren Project Aero, 189g Socks Rule 28, 56g Shoes Suplest Aero, EU45, 626g Total kit weight 1,212g Total equipment weight 9.39kg Total weight (inc 74kg rider) 83.39kg, (2.7% heavier than lightweight setup) Lightweight setup Bike Specialized S-Works Aethos, 56cm, 6.19kg Helmet Poc Ventral Lite, 210g Glasses Poc Elicit, 23g Jersey Assos Equipe RSR Superléger S9, 90g Bibshort Assos Equipe RSR Superléger S9, 129g Socks Assos RS Superléger, 30g Shoes Giro Empire SLX II, 45, 498g Total kit weight 980g Total equipment weight 7.17kg Total weight inc 74kg rider 81.17kg…

Chasing the break

To download this route go to komoot.com/tour/810776430 or scan the QR code. From Carcassonne follow the D118 – there are smaller roads you could use but it’s quiet and fast – through Limoux and Couiza to Quillan. Turn right onto the D117 for the first climb and follow it for 55km. At 107km, turn left onto the D618 to Tarascon-sur-Ariège. After passing through the town, go north briefly on the N20 then pick up the D618 again, taking you over the Col de Port, past Saint Girons, over the Portet d’Aspet and Col d’Ares, and down to Fronsac. Take the D125 south to the finish at Bagnères-de-Luchon.…

NETWORK NEWS

RAPID ROLLOUT OF BIKE LANES ON ST KILDA RD After many years of waiting, things are moving swiftly with the delivery of fully separated bike lanes on St Kilda Rd, Melbourne. The $30.5M project will completely remake the boulevard from Linlithgow Ave at the Arts Centre to Charnwood Ave south of St Kilda Junction. Stage 1, between Linlithgow and Dorcas St, is ready to go. Stage 2, between Toorak Rd and Union St, is now underway and will be completed by early 2023. IT’S ALL ABOUT BIKES IN WOLLONGONG! There’s plenty of bike-related news coming out of Wollongong. The city was officially awarded the UCI Bike City label in September; a title bestowed to only 19 other cities around the world. In October, the NSW Government granted $1.5 million in…

Prospex Speedtimer Solar Chronograph collection

The 1969 introduction of the Seiko Speedtimer was an important milestone in the history of the chronograph. It was one of the world’s first automatic chronographs and featured Calibre 6139, whose precision in elapsed time measurement signified a real advance in the history of the automatic wristwatch. Today, the newest generation of Speedtimer chronographs welcomes a series of three new creations – the SSC911P1, SSC913P1 and SSC915P1 – whose designs embody the spirit of the original series but with the added convenience, reliability and accuracy of solar technology. All three watches are powered by Seiko’s solar Calibre V192 which offers a 60-minute chronograph, a 24-hour sub dial and, when fully charged, operates for up to six months without being exposed to light. These three solar chronographs bring the high specifications…

Wahoo Kickr indoor trainer

Believe it or not, Wahoo has just introduced the sixth generation of its esteemed Kickr trainer on the 10th anniversary of its introduction to the market. How time flies when you’re on the turbo. In years past such a sentence may have been intended sarcastically, but such is the level of immersion and engagement you can achieve during indoor training these days that it has never been more enjoyable. Wahoo says the rider experience should improve even more with its latest update. The Kickr has become the first trainer on the market to gain Wi-Fi connectivity, which offers greater data transfer speed and stability compared to using Bluetooth or ANT+, ‘helping solve most drop-out issues and delivering on-screen stats over 65% faster than before’. The new Kickr also benefits from…

Kask Protone Icon helmet

After eight years protecting the heads of Team Sky/Ineos Grenadiers, Kask has redesigned its popular Protone helmet. The differences may be hard to spot but Kask promises better ventilation, ergonomics and aerodynamics, as well as increased protection against rotational impact – all with a more modern look. According to Kask, the helmet has been aggressively sculpted to better channel air, which provides more ventilation and improved aerodynamics. Despite this, it’s still stronger than its predecessor, providing better protection for your scone when you hit the deck. The new Protone Icon has been developed in accordance with the Kask Rotational Impact WG11 Test, an internal protocol adopted by Kask which measures the performance of the helmets against rotational impacts. Thankfully, while testing, we didn’t encounter the need for the WG11 tech…

One for the road

Back in issue 57 I gave my take on the use of dropper posts on road bikes, one of the most progressive adoptions of mountain bike technology road riding has seen to date. My open-mindedness towards that means my willingness to embrace 1x gearing on the road should come as no surprise. It is one of the appropriations from MTB that is only getting more viable as road groupsets and frame design develop further. When 1x first emerged in around 2015 I appreciated several aspects of the concept, but it was evident that the compromises were too great for it to be accepted straight away. All three main groupset makers were at 11-speed cassettes at the time and only Sram offered a complete groupset solution with its Force 1x. A…

My standout moments of 2022

He may have missed out on the Tour de France, but 2022 will still be a memorable year for Tadej Pogačar, who began the season with a win at Strade Bianche in March and ended it with victory at Il Lombardia in October. Indeed, so dominant was Pogačar that he won more WorldTour races than Astana, Movistar, Lotto Soudal, EF Education-EasyPost, AG2R-Citroën and Cofidis combined. But it was the rare sight of him cracking that stands out as one of my cardinal moments covering all the major races for Eurosport. These, for me, are the five highlights of the 2022 pro season… Mohorič masterclass on the Poggio The most exhilarating three minutes of the season came courtesy of Matej Mohorič’s daredevil descent of the Poggio. Not even Pogačar was prepared…

The return of the trade teams

‘Will the Tour de France once again become an event where competitors will no longer be grouped according to their nationality or region, but instead be hired by their usual bosses, teams and sponsors?’ pondered Serge Lange in the pages of the Gazette de Lausanne on 29th September 1961. ‘We’ve been talking about it for a very long time. According to a colleague, it’s done: the return of commercial teams to the Tour in 1962 is an established fact.’ In the late 1920s Henri Desgrange had grown disillusioned with his race, frustrated with riders on opposing trade teams colluding. He’d tweaked the race format to try to limit such practices – setting teams off separately on flat stages in 1928 and 1929 – but to little avail. So for 1930,…

5 min

Seed capital

We know we’re supposed to be a cycling magazine, but if you haven’t read it, Christopher McDougall’s Born To Run is a fascinating book about… running. In it McDougall examines the Tarahumara, a secretive Native Mexican tribe possessed of superhuman running abilities. Spreading themselves over the Mexican high sierras and canyons, Tarahumara routinely run up to 320km in one go to communicate, hunt and transport things. Their primary pastime is rarajipari, where a wooden ball is kicked and chased in a game that can last from hours to days. These feats are all performed wearing minimal shoes called huaraches, a kind of sandal with soles cut from leather or old car tyres and laces of leather or hemp. McDougall was entranced by the footwear and the Tarahumara’s uncanny ability not…

2 min

Follow in Cyclist’s wheel tracks

To see our route on Strava, scan the QR code above. Starting in the middle of Yass (on Comur Street), ride about a kilometre south-east and take the right hand fork onto Warroo Road. At the roundabout, bear right onto Grand Junction Road which quickly becomes Wee Jasper Road. Stay on this for the next 35km, over hill and dale; at 19km you will descend to Taemas Bridge over the Murrumbidgee River, and enjoy a gentle climb afterwards, staying on Wee Jasper Road all the while. At 37km, turn left onto Sawyers Gully Road, where the gravel begins. Enjoy the lush scenery and literally count sheep until you reach Mountain Creek Road at 54km, which you will briefly join before diverting onto Glenrock Road. At just over 62km, you will…

By the numbers

1831 The year of colonial settlement in the Wee Jasper area. Of course, the area’s history goes back a lot further than that – these are the traditional lands of the Ngunnawal people. 1,536 Metres of elevation gain on this Big Ride. It’s not a massive number but it’s perfect for a day trip. 33 Kilometres of gravel on this route. We were expecting a little more, but what it lacked in quantity it more than made up for in quality. 2 Crossings over the Taemas Bridge, which spans the Murrumbidgee River. This was particularly exciting for our two-wheeled correspondent, who rarely sees his name on a sign (or anywhere for that matter). 1 Magpie swooping – a remarkably low number for this time of year. No cable ties were…

Making history

2000 Born on 2 April in Asmara, Eritrea 2018 Wins the African Continental Junior Road Race, time-trial and team time-trial titles with Eritrea. Beats Remco Evenepoel to a stage of leading Belgian junior race, Aubel-Thimister-Stavelot 2019 Takes his first pro win as an 18-year-old at the Tropicale Amissa Bongo race in Gabon, outsprinting André Greipel, and wins a Tour du Rwanda stage. Finishes fifth on a Tour de l’Avenir mountain stage 2020 Turns pro with second-tier French team Nippo Delko One Provence. Wins two stages at the Tropicale Amissa Bongo as well as second at the Trofeo Laigueglia and Tour du Doubs 2021 Misses three months as his Delko team suffers financial problems. Signs for Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert and wins Classic Grand Besançon Doubs. Finishes second in the U23 World Road Race…

Keeping the wheels turning

Klas Johansson is a mechanic at Belgian team Lotto Soudal. Like many of the WorldTour’s backroom staff, in a former life the Swede was in the spotlight himself during a respectable racing career. He won his national championships in 1993 – a race won by Paris-Roubaix winner Magnus Backstedt in 2007 – and was on the precipice of riding onto the global stage. But life conspired for a different outcome, and although still chiselled and youthful-looking – only the creases in his forehead give away his 55 years – Johansson finds himself at his ninth Tour de France as a mechanic, wrench in oil-stained hand. ‘I’ve been a mechanic since 2009. I started with women’s teams and the national team before moving to the WorldTour and Garmin [now EF Education-EasyPost].…

11 min

Three technologies that might change cycling

Digital integration Wireless connectivity means many components are now capable of communicating with each other, and there’s still plenty of scope for integrating electronics into bicycle design. For example, your bike computer could control your gears, or your e-bike motor could alert your phone when it needs servicing. There’s also the potential to build displays and processors directly into your bike frame. Battery technology Whether providing electricity to motors that shift your gears or to a motor that drives your entire bike, the miniaturisation of battery technology is making more design choices possible. One area that could push this further is the development of structural batteries that use carbon fibre to combine functional mechanical properties with the ability to store electrical energy. Could your frame one day store power for…

Nick Crane

The key to Nick and Dick Crane’s epic 58-day ride to ‘The Pole of Inaccessibility’ was ‘marginal gains’ and travelling as light as possible. The knee-length salopettes they wore at the start in Bangladesh (pictured) would be worn ‘all day, every day… except where we washed the salopettes properly and walked around in Gore-Tex over trousers and thermal tops all day.’ The rest of the kit they each carried, as listed in their 1987 book, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, included: one pair of BHS pants; two balaclavas; chopped-down chopsticks; plastic teaspoon (5 ml), holes drilled in handle; and a compass – ‘we flicked off the retaining band and carried only the oil-filled centre, thus we could find north and from there estimate other angles.’…

The Greatest Escape

The town of Carcassonne in the south of France is deserted at this early hour. It’s almost as if the streets are closed in expectation of the Tour de France passing through, but the only person on a bike is me, and the only race is the one I have created for myself as I clip in and set off. With nothing but empty tarmac ahead, I’m soon out the other side of Carcassonne and heading south at speed. The terrain is fast-rolling – the Pyrenees wear their foothills like a delicate perfume – but after 21km the high mountains come into view. This road, the D118, is small enough to be quiet but big enough to be smooth and quick. The prevailing easterly gives me a cross-tailwind, which helps…

11 min

Give us a break

BRADLEY WIGGINS AT THE 2007 TOUR DE FRANCE Stage 6, 2007 Tour de France, 199.5km, Semur-en-Auxois to Bourg-en-Bresse Making his second Tour appearance, Wiggins attacked 2km into the stage on a roasting hot day. At the time, it was seen as a tribute to Tom Simpson on the 40th anniversary of his death, although it was actually intended as a birthday gift to his wife and he only later discovered the significance of the date. Wiggins rode alone for 190km, but was caught with 7km to go, any chances he had dashed by a headwind. TONY MARTIN’S NEAR MISS AT THE VUELTA, 2013 Stage 6, 2013 Vuelta a España, 175km from Guijuelo to Caceres Martin broke away because he wanted a big training day ahead of the Time-Trial World Championships.…

Giant Propel

The advantage of aerodynamic efficiency is undeniable, but often that extra speed comes at the cost of other desirable attributes. In a road bike that can mean higher weight, reduced comfort and, although their bulky forms might not make it obvious, aero profiles can be worse in the stiffness stakes. The need for integrated everything makes setup and adjustment a practical pain too. The Giant Propel has long been a fast bike but this latest iteration attempts to make it fast without the usual drawbacks. The Propel claims to be around 6 watts more efficient than before at 40kmh, while the frameset is 9.2% stiffer, 85% more compliant at the saddle and 225g lighter. Elsewhere, the cockpit design is simpler and better looking than the brutalist assembly of the previous…

Canyon Ultimate CF SLX 8

Bikes are getting better. Claims of ‘more aero, stiffer and lighter’ are frequently laughed off as marketing speak but they are, more often than not, true. However, as aero bikes are getting lighter and more comfortable, and lightweight bikes stiffer and more aero, can companies keep upselling separate high-performance bikes? Canyon thinks so, which is why it has just released the fifth generation of the Ultimate. The Ultimate has traditionally been Canyon’s lightweight climber’s bike, but the latest updates see it adopting more features from the company’s aero racer, the Aeroad, which begs the question: why not just buy an Aeroad? The answer, says Canyon, is that the Ultimate isn’t just a climber’s bike, it is a ‘classic road bike’. ‘We had big discussions as to whether we still needed…