This year is the year that my triathlon development will move up from Sprint distance to Olympic distance. It seems a fairly logical step, and of course to some of my Ironman friends, it might seem a mere trifle. But what this means, in reality, is that I am going to have to take the events I have done over the last couple of years and DOUBLE them. Actually double. Two times the distance. To be honest, I am trying not to think about it too hard. Continue reading →

It snowed today, despite people insisting Spring is about to begin. I backed out of the long ride I had planned, because I have a quiet affection for my toes, and would hate to see them wither and die on a Wednesday.

I found this twenty minute spin workout on Youtube from GCN and did it a couple of times so I could at least feel as though i had done something useful.

It’s a nice simple workout if you’re training on your own, so I thought I’d share it.

http://youtu.be/gGGvKt8vWho

Here’s an interesting link for you. The Taipei International Cycle Show this week hosted the winners of the International Bike Design Competition. There are a couple of interesting things here which we may or may not see trickling down to our bikes in the next couple of years.

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/winners-of-the-international-bike-design-competition-announced-36767/?CPN=RSS&SOURCE=BRGENHOME Continue reading →

The organisation of this year’s 100th Tour have just released this movie-style trailer. So exciting. All mood music, references to the past glories of the race, and riders gurning impressively. No mention of you-know-who though, which is most satisfying. All Hollywood, but no LA.

Video – 100th Tour de France: Official Trailer

Often people bring in their bikes complaining about a grinding noise, or a crunching in the pedals. A likely diagnosis is that the bearings in the bottom bracket have become a little gunked up. Often, a bit of a clean and a regreasing can do the job, but sometimes – as in this case – it’s going to take a bit more than that… Continue reading →

It’s that time of year when all the professional road cycling teams get together for their first pre-season training and bonding sessions.

As a huge cycling fan, I’m so starved of action that I’m reduced to watching cyclocross on a Belgian website with Dutch commentary. I can’t wait for the road season to start again. To treat my withdrawal symptoms, I’m trawling the web for news of the teams’ pre-season gatherings.

There is much talk of medical testing, kit fitting, bike personalising, as well as putting in a few training miles. But my favourite comes from the Cannondale training camp. This is the new name of the Liquigas team, and their star rider for 2013 will be Tour de France green jersey winner Peter Sagan.

Sagan can sprint like a locomotive, but his first love is pulling the wheelie. Nice to see that he’s giving that £10,000 Cannondale Evo a good work out.

http://instagram.com/p/TP_zezsgGH/

I got a little bit of grief during the Olympics for having a go at what you might call, “the dancing sports.” I absolutely devoured the Olympics, and as well as the sports you’d expect me to enjoy – cycling, athletics, swimming, triathlon – I found myself watching and thoroughly enjoying a huge range of other sports. Continue reading →

According to the Italian press (and why would they lie?), last year Italians bought more bicycles than cars for the first time since the 1960s. When I first read that headline, I did wonder whether that meant the Italians are going bicycle crazy, or if it just meant their car industry is on its arse.

Turns out it’s a bit of both. Continue reading →

I don’t know if it’s just a coincidence, but I seem to have recently been working on a lot of bikes with internal hub gears. It’s probably not a coincidence, because bikes that use these self-contained gear systems are becoming more and more popular these days.

If you don’t know what an internal hub gear is, I can hardly blame you. They’ve only recently come back into fashion, in particular on hybrid bikes and the Brompton-style folding bikes, although they actually date back a long way. Continue reading →