What A difference A Day Makes

A wet me arriving home from today's ride

It was only yesterday I ran a 17km circuit through beautiful late autumn sun. Although it was pretty cold, not more than 6 or 7c, it made for such a nice start to Saturday morning.

Fast forward to this morning and after much deliberation including a number of should we, shouldn't we texts and calls between James and I we did end up going out on a 3 hour ride. It pissed it down most of the time, alternating between fairly heavy rain through to typical English drizzle.

Although I wore neoprene over shoes and had on baselayer, arm warmers, leg warmers, jersey, rain jacket, cap and gloves I still turned up on the door step at the end of the ride cold and looking like the proverbial drowned rat. I'm glad we did it though. It showed true grit and determination to not let the weather stop us, even if I do say so myself.

Specter, Marginalized Workforce, NYC

This is from Specter's series 'celebrating our cities' marginalized workforce'. Click here to see more.

Planet Rock

It's been a long time since I've featured any music related videos here. I suppose the main reason for this is because this blog isn't about music, it's about cycling and very occasionally running. However, as only a select few of you new until now, I used to be a DJ. That's right I used to spin vinyl on the 1's and 2's. My DJ'ing career, although lengthy, was only really a part time interest, but it did see me start off on pirate radio in my home town of Nottingham back in 1990. Then followed many years of DJ'ing, on and off, in clubs and venues in both Nottingham and London. Although the genres of music I like these days vary immensely, back in the day, I was predominantly a hip hop DJ with a bit of rare groove, funk and jazz styles thrown in.

Back to music videos, I've been racking my brain to find cycling related music videos to play and apart from the obvious choices such as Queen's - Bicycle Race, Kraftwerk's Tour de France of which I sort of played a bit of here and Style Council's My Ever Changing Moods which I did post, I haven't been able to think of any video's I've wanted to post until now.

Released in 1982 Afrika Bambaataa's Planet Rock was one of the first, if not the first, electro track that got me into the whole hip hop genre. It was 1984, two years after the track was released when I heard it for the first time. It was so new and fresh that it took my brain a while to adjust to this new and exciting futuristic music I was listening too, a bit like when at the age of six my aunty played me The Sex Pistol's Pretty Vacant, although that time the music just sounded like noise, albeit interesting noise, to my young ears and I quickly reverted back to listening to The Wombles Greatest Hits. I digress.

The main melody of Planet Rock is sampled from the title track of Kraftwerk's 1977 Trans Europe Express album which was released five years prior to Tour de France. That folks is the best link I can give between Planet Rock and anything to do with cycling. Poor I know but who cares, I just wanted half a reason to play this tune and to put on record my belief that Kraftwerk are one of the most influential music groups of the past 30 years. I mean without Kraftwerk, there would arguably have been no Afrika Bambaataa or electro or techno and dance music would sound different to the way it does now.

Enough of my rambling. Please press play on the video below to listen to a track that still sends a tingle down my back all these years later. Party people, get funky!

Danny MacAskill's Car Commercial

Remember watching Danny MacAskill's Inspired video? Well the lad from Edinburgh has rightfully been given the recognition he deserves by being featured in this Dutch advertisement for VW. Skills to pay the bills! Indeed.

Custom Lowriders

Every so often I come across really cool alternative bikes that I think deserve to be profiled. A case in point is this pair of fresh custom lowriders. Hailing from Canada Jason Battersby fabricated both bikes with the help of his father. I think you'll agree both rides look pimped. You can check out more images of these bikes here. Or check other design concepts from Jason over at jbdesign.

Tequila Sunrise - A fiberglass body over an all steel frame. The bike was all hand built at home in my garage, painted my father and myself. I also pinstriped the bike myself.

Eye Candy - All steel construction, all of the aluminum parts were hand made (no CNC), painted by my father and myself, this bike won best bicycle in class at the 2007 Toronto Speedorama.

London To Cambridge

If I'm a good boy Santa is going to bring me a Garmin Edge 305 for Christmas. Until then I'll continue taping route directions to my handlebars like the one above that I used to help guide me from London to my friends house in Cambridge last Saturday. The distance should have been a tad under 100km. However, shortly after passing the little village of Brent Pelham I got myself completely and utterly lost. The next 45 minutes or so was spent cycling up and down and round and round hilly farmland into a head wind (YES THERE ARE BLOODY HILLS IN ESSEX AND CAMBRIDGESHIRE).

Having not cycled much over the last few weeks and convinced I was about to succumb to the dreaded hunger knock (which I didn't) I managed to put myself back on route. Looking at google maps I can see I added a giant u-shape to what should have been a fairly straight line north from London. It's difficult to tell how much distance I added to my ride but I'll put it at around the 20km mark bumping my total distance for Saturday up to around 120km.

Although I did get lost using the above route it's only because I should have included more detail between Brent Pelham and Ickleton. With added detail to help navigate through this section the ride would be very good for those who like quiet country roads. Once out of London and into the heart of the Essex and Cambridgeshire countryside I was riding sections of the route for 5 minutes at a time without seeing a single car! That's pretty good going for UK standards.

I think between now and my getting an Edge 305 I'll stick to routes that I know.

Power-To-Weight Ratio

An exhausted and skeletal looking Bradley Wiggins at the finish of Paris - Roubaix 2009

Browsing through the cycling magazines a few days back I came across this rather shocking image of Bradley Wiggins at the finish of the 2009 Paris - Roubaix. What shocks me most is how thin his legs look. He looks skeletal and anorexic.

The story of how Wiggins shed 6kg and focused on the road to become only the second Brit to finish fourth (the first being Robert Millar back in 1984) in the Tour de France has been told on many occasions and I won't repeat it here.

But looking at the above image the idea of power-to-weight ratio popped into my mind and that is what got me thinking about him. It's amazing to think he could loose so much weight (almost to the point where if his body fat had dipped below 4% his body would have started eating into his muscle) without loosing any of his power.

What is power-to-weight ratio and how does it work?

A reduction in body weight has a substantial effect on your ability to ride or run up a hill. Gravity is the culprit. Gravity is the force that pulls you back down to earth when you jump. Without it you’d fly off into outer space. Gravity is also at work as you ascend a hill, and the more you weigh, the greater the gravitational force is pulling you downward. In order to counteract the force of gravity, you need to generate enough of an opposing force to propel the weight you’re carrying up and over a hill. The fact is, a lighter-weight cyclist or triathlete zipping past you on the hill is not only overtaking you, he or she is probably having to generate less power in the process. The bottom line is that your faster competitor doesn’t need to generate as much power as you because he or she has less weight, and therefore less gravitational force with which to contend. - Christoper D. Jensen, PhD, MPH, RD

I'm no doctor so I thought I'd leave it to Dr Jensen who convinced me by the sheer number of letters after his name that he was the right man to explain power-to-weight ratio. In all seriousness though I think you'd agree he articulates the idea very well.

All of us have different power-to-weight ratio's meaning some will start loosing power as their weight drops sooner than others. Wiggins like many pro cyclists has a physiology that allows his weight to drop to as low as seems humanly possible without him loosing any power. Whereas I, for example, would most probably be layed up in a hospital bed if I reached anywhere near Wiggins body fat levels.

Alas I fear I shall never realise the apex of my own power-to-weight ratio due to my love of chocolate and the occasional pint or three of beer. For those who do aspire to weight loss goals I point you back to Dr Jensen's excellent article.

Now, time for a sausage sandwich!

Sir Paul Smith Does A Track Stand!

Little know facts - Like Sir Paul Smith I am a born and bred Nottingham lad and I worked for Sir Paul Smith, on and off, for 10 years. During that time I earned little money, not Sir Paul's fault more his accountants, but I did dress very well.

Although I knew of Sir Paul's history as a member of the Beeston Road Club and his early ambition to become a professional cyclist (a cycling accident put an end it this) I have to admit I never new he was so darn good a doing track stands. Danny did you? Behold.....

Coppi And The Interviewer

Interviewer: 'When do you take drugs?'
Fausto Coppi: 'Whenever it is necessary.'
Interviewer: 'And when is it necessary?'
Fausto Coppi: 'Almost always.'

Freddy Maertens - Best Day, Worst Day

Freddy Maertens - Best Day, Worst Day from CycleTo on Vimeo.

For Sale: Catlike Whisper Plus

I've decided to sell my Catlike Whisper Plus as it's slightly too large for me. I've bought a medium instead.

Click here to see it on Ebay.

Click here to see my original posting on the helmet. For some reason this posting has had more views than any other postings on my blog. Maybe Catlike should have shipped me out a new one free of charge!

Top 30 Cyclists Of All Time

Below is a 30 minute montage split into three YouTube video's of the best 30 cyclists of all time. There's a short piece of footage profiling each cyclist plus text outlining the riders palmarès. It's entertaining, especially with the different music accompanying each short. It's also useful as a reference point. Although I wouldn't necessarily agree with the placings for some of the riders the biggest hitters all take their place within the top 7 with everyone's obvious choice rightfully occupying top spot.

I've racked by brain to think of notable absentees and came up with Johan Museeuw, Eric Zabel, Stephen Roche and Gianni Bugno although I'm sure there are others.

The author of the video's says:

"Don't take it too seriously, it's just a list based on my personal choices, and obviously as subjective as it can be. Don't whine if your rider isn't on it or if he's not rated very high."

Switchbacks

Switchback : a zigzag road, trail, or section of railroad tracks for climbing a steep hill


The switchback is one of the most distinctive features of many, if not all, mountain passes. Their use enables a road to travel across a slope with moderated steepness allowing for easier, safer accents and descents of mountainous terrain at the price of greater distances to travel. Two of the most famous passes featuring multiple switchbacks can be found on the Alp d'Huez which has 21 and the granddaddy of them all, Passo dello Stelvio with 48.


I've always found it a relief to arrive at a switchback when climbing a mountain. There is always a point in the curve where, no matter how short, the gradient eases off allowing me a chance, if only for a moment, to catch my breath.


It's a different story when arriving at a switchback on the descent, especially in the wet. Feather the break but release before turning. Am I going too fast? If there's no traffic I can take a better line into the turn. I hope I don't slide off. Touch wood I haven't done yet.

Real Tough Guys

When I woke up this morning and looked out of the window there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I decided not to take a cap or indeed a rain jacket. It never even cross my mind to take waterproof overshoes.

Fast forward to this evening and as I rode out from the basement car park where I keep my bike during work I could see the water streaming down the exit road. It well and truly pissed it down all the way home. As I entered my flat my feet squelched inside my soaked Sidi's and I left a trail of water across the floor.

I don't like cycling in the rain. Does anyone? It's usually cold when it rains, especially here in London and it makes for difficult, sometimes treacherous cycling conditions. After I'd taken a hot shower I started surfing the net and came across this fairly new posting on YouTube of footage taken during the legendary 17th stage of the 1988 Giro d'Italia over the Passo Gavia. Watching this footage with riders cycling over the 2600 metre pass through the snow put my little ride home in the rain into perspective. The last 30 seconds or so of the footage shows the riders clearly in pain being warmed up by their soigneurs and the end of the stage.

Next time I'm cycling through the rain I'll remember the tough guys of the Gavia 88 and remind myself to not be such a wimp!

Pavé Footage

Here's some footage a guy has taken of himself riding a small section of pavé along the Paris - Roubaix route. It looks pretty tough doesn't it? Now imagine how tough it must be for the pro's. At over 200km in length with 28 sectors of pavé making up at least 50km of the course it's easy to understand why many consider Paris - Roubaix one of the hardest, if not, the hardest one day classic in the world. I wouldn't ride my bike over them!

Paris-Roubaix Pre-ride from CycleTo on Vimeo.

Seen over at Bianchista.

Night Rider

I was back on my usual commute to work by bike today, made all the more pleasant due to two newly fitted shower rooms opening in the building where I work. It meant the end of many weeks cycling to work at a tempo at which I wouldn't break a sweat. Now I can resume my usual speed to work which invariably means a race or two with like minded riders.

Today was also the first day I rode home in the dark. It's slightly depressing to think I'll be riding home in the dark for the best part of 4 months. It's a tricky time and the best we cyclists can do is try to remain as visible as possible with a couple of good lights and a bit of reflective clothing, although I have to say those neon hi viz jackets many cyclists wear really aren't a good look. A line has to be drawn between safe clothing and looking good on a bike and although I'm not saying I'm the coolest kid on two wheels you sure as hell won't see me in neon hi viz!

I have a gripe to air that has been festering with me for quite some time and I really must get it off my chest. What is it with people who ride singlespeed bikes with no rear brake? Just to be clear, I'm talking about bikes with freewheel hubs that are able to coast but don't have a rear brake. Why do people do that to their bikes, do they think they look hip? If you read my posts regularly you'll know it's not usual for me to go off on one but freewheel bikes with no rear brakes is for want of a better expression, straight up wack!

Please, if your reading this and have a singlespeed freewheel with only a front brake do yourself a big favour and buy yourself a rear brake, you know it makes sense. Gripe over!

Excellent Customer Service

I'd been having trouble with my Polar RS200 ever since I replaced the battery in the wrist computer. On multiple occasions during runs the computer would stop counting the kilometres and the sonic download sound level faded when I tried and failed to upload my runs into the laptop. I wish I'd read the bit in the back of the instructions that said, please have polar service centre replace battery. Typical, I should have read the instructions first and now I'd made it worse and invalidated the warranty to boot!

I admitted defeat, boxed up the wrist computer, footpod and chest strap, posted it all to the Polar service centre and waited for a bill of at least £30. Returning home from America it came as a nice surprise to pick up my Polar bits from the post office and find that not only had they fixed the wrist computer but they'd adjusted the footpod and replaced my old chest strap for a brand new one. Guess how much it all cost me? Nothing, yup, all free of charge. I'd invalidated my warranty and they fixed everything for nothing. How often do you find a company with such a straight forward no nonsense approach to after sales service? Excellent!

Bottomless Fries

It felt so good to get out on a ride today. I arrived back in London yesterday morning on the red eye flight from Newark Liberty to London Heathrow. I didn't get a wink of sleep so spent most of the day feeling really tired with a headache. After an easy day of trying to relaxing and nurse the pain I went to bed early and slept from 7pm to 7am, 12 hours solid with the exception of a glass of water around midnight. Having not slept too well in the hotel, it was the best night sleep I've had for at least a week.

James and I rode to Epping Forest. Although it had been raining and there were alot of leaves on the ground, making for slightly tricking conditions, it was still refreshing to spend a good two hours cycling up and down the Essex hills. It even felt not too difficult climbing the short sharp hills dotted around the Forest. Having not ridden for two weeks I was surprised at the good sensations I experienced.

Either I need to start getting more sleep or maybe I shouldn't ride so often. I know, it must have been all the burgers and bottomless fries I ate.

Worst Cycle Lanes

All the example images below of bad, if not ludicrously bad, cycle lanes are taken in the UK. See what we have to put up with over here!

You can click on the Guardian Online to see more examples of poor cycle lanes. I'm sure most cyclists in the UK will agree with me when I say these examples are really just the tip of the iceberg. Many of us have experiences of cycling on other equally bad lanes.

I've actually cycled on the lane featured in the middle image. It runs in parallel with New Oxford Street in central London. It certainly had me a little confused when I approached it, especially since there was a bike coming from the other direction!

Are cycle lanes in other country's as bad as this?

2010 Giro d'Italia Route And profile

It's one for the climbers will lots of hilly and mountainous stages. Click on either image to see larger version.

Form, Function, Art

A few weeks back I posted a blog about Dario Pegoretti and his handmade frames. I mentioned the striking paint jobs that feature on many of his creations.

The images below are of the Pegoretti Duende frame, demonstrating beautifully the unique paint design that can be found only on a Pegoretti.

Click here for further information relating to these images.

Gun Club Cyclocross

I've had a good time this weekend. Saturday started with me watching Arsenal beating Tottenham 3-0 on TV in the local North London derby. I then visited the Woodford Reserve Distillery in Northern Kentucky. Wow, the Kentucky countryside is so pretty.

Today I headed over to the Gun Club Cyclocross event which is part of the Ohio Valley Series, just outside of north eastern Cincinnati.

Yesterday's grey and rainy sky's gave way to beautiful sunshine here in Ohio to give us perfect late autumn conditions for some good cyclocross racing.

It was the first time I've attended a cyclocross event and I wasn't disappointed. It was well organised with multiple races taking place for all ages and levels from 5-9 year olds through to elite men and women.
The atmosphere was upbeat with race commentary by John G from the Two Johns Podcast as well as funky beats being provided by a live drummer.

Having spent most of my time either at work or in a hotel by an interstate freeway where cars are the only way to get around, it made such a refreshing change to get out in the picturesque Ohio countryside to enjoy watching the bike racing.

It was the first time I'd seen anyone on bicycles the whole time I've been here and spending a few hours in the sunshine with fellow bike enthusiasts and racers really made me feel at home.

If you happen to be in the Cincinnati area during the Ohio Valley Series I can definately recommend a visit, and if you have your bike with you why not enter a race.