Category: Featured

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Featured Features

Unstoppables Q&A

Unstoppables Raquel Acinas and Juan Jose Méndez

Raquel Acinas and Juan Jose Méndez – known to all as ‘Juanjo’ – are two of Spain’s most celebrated, influential and successful para-cyclists. Although neither quite hit their expected marks at the London Paralympics, as stars of Dani Jariod’s documentary ‘Unstoppables’ – which is currently in post-production and followed the self-styled ‘Pirates Team’ for more than two years – they are united in their belief that inspiring others is of paramount importance. Cyclo spoke with them post-Paralympics to talk about their training, Games experience, ambitions and involvement in this unique film…

 

Cyclo: What was a typical day’s training leading up to London 2012?

 

Juanjo: We trained mornings and afternoons. Normally we’d hit the road in the morning to do a few fast rounds and then in the afternoon we would do the ‘trasmoto’ on the track, to get cadence, to get the right rhythm…

 

(Cyclo Note: during the ‘trasmoto’ the cyclist follows their trainer, who is riding a motorbike at 50km/h)

 

Raquel: The way our coach, Bernat, prepares it he combines the training for the Olympic Games with training for the track and road World Trials. A first stage, which is more aerobic, to get some body mass… and as we approached the Games we got into a more specific workout: a series of fast races on track and on the road, plus ‘trasmoto’ to achieve speed, and finally physical work on the road, pushed to the limit, to achieve long-term resistance.

 

Cyclo: Do either of you cross-train?

 

Juanjo: For me, no, just cycling.

 

Raquel: Yes, I do, especially swimming. And I have started lately to jog a little, but I need to learn the technical aspects a bit more. Now I am beginning to get serious about athletics in addition to cycling.

 

Cyclo: What about your diet?

 

Raquel: We have a dietician who guides us. We do not have any special diet as such, but we do have our meals arranged, five times a day, and we structure them so that we get all the nutrients. Our dietician advises us on how to prepare our meals. It is all about eating well and healthily.

 

Juanjo: For me – lots of vegetables, some pasta, a lot of fish and little meat. Everything usually grilled. And also omelettes, because of the eggs…

 

Cyclo: How did you feel when you were asked to be part of the Unstoppables film?

 

Juanjo: I felt fantastic! At first I wondered if it was serious… But to make a film about what we do here I found it to be something special.

 

Raquel: I was excited, especially knowing the reason for the documentary. We are proud to be part of a project that talks, as the title says, of being unstoppable, of never giving up. And seeing the impact it is having on the world it is a real pleasure being part of it.

 

Cyclo: Did participating in the documentary add to the pressure of competition?

 

Juanjo: No, it didn’t. When you compete, you focus hard, and you cannot really think of anything else.

 

Raquel: No, the real pressure is that which you place on yourself, trying to improve your record again and again, and the pressure you get from the circumstances around you. The film did not add any extra pressure besides the normal pressure one feels in these cases.

 

Cyclo: How difficult is it to ignore that you are being filmed, particularly at times of additional stress – during a race for example?

 

Juanjo: Not difficult at all.

 

Raquel: No problem at all, we get on the track to do our workout and the people from the film are there, but that does not affect us.

 

Cyclo: What do you think a film like Unstoppables can achieve?

 

Juanjo: I think people will see that you can do many things. It will allow those who have a disability see that life is beautiful and you can do many things. And it is also important that children can see and learn this. Being able to show and teach this to others will be great. Not only learning seeing us, but also other people who have other disabilities, such as those many we saw at the Paralympic Games, people without arms or legs whom you just think it is impossible, for example, for them to swim, but they do. It’s awesome. We need to be taught things like that.

 

Raquel: Many things. For starters, you can raise awareness about sports to people with disabilities and teach them that they can practice sports as we do; it is simply a matter of not being afraid and not believing in barriers. In the Games we saw people with disabilities that were much greater than ours who, you felt they would practice any sport no matter what the disability they might have. You feel that there are no limits for them. On the other hand, the film will increase the awareness of disable sports in our own country, and it will help many more people be recognized as top athletes, because the point needs to be made, and the movie makes it, that we do not exist only during the six weeks of the Games and then we vanish. We do exist and we train every day!

 

The full interview with Raquel and Juanjo will feature in the next issue of Cyclo for iPad coming soon. For issues 1 and 2 take a look at Cyclo at the iTunes Store – issue 1 is free, issue 2 just £1.49

 

‘Unstoppables’ is produced by Black Train Films with part sponsorship from Cofidis, for more information see: imparablesdocumental.com

 

To read Cyclo’s Interview with the film’s director Dani Jariod and executive producer Richard Galvani click here.

 

 

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Featured Features

Tour de France 2013

The route for the 100th Tour de France was unveiled yesterday at the Paris Convention Centre, in front of an audience of 4,000 people; as had already been widely rumored the historic centenary edition will me a monster of a climb with the kind of hills likely to rule out a second consecutive overall win for Bradley Wiggins. Indeed Wiggins has already declared it ‘more than likely’ he will play a supporting role to team mate Chris Froome and concentrate instead on winning at the more fitting Giro d’Italia (set in include more than 90km of time trial), saying simply, ‘I just want to be in a successful team.’

 

The 2013 Tour de France will begin, as was already known, on Corsica (June 29) with three days of racing over 511km before moving to mainland France for the first time trial – the team effort in Nice of 25km. The two subsequent (individual) time trials are set for Stage 11 (Avranches – Mont St Michel, 33km) and Stage 17 (Embrun – Chorges, 32km), a total of 65km down from the 100km of this year. The finish, as has been traditional for many years, will take place on the Champs-Elysees in Paris (July 21) after 3,360km of racing; with the twist for this celebratory edition being that not only will riders go all the way to the top of the famous boulevard and circle the Arc de Triomphe, but their arrival is to be timed for twilight too.

 

But it is without doubt the climbs that will define the 2013 edition; although the rumors that the TdF would finish atop l’Alpe d’Huez rather than in Paris proved – naturally enough – unfounded, the beast will still have to be tackled twice during the 168km Stage 18, and the legendary Mont Ventoux makes a welcome (!) appearance once more for 2013. Adding to the tough mix next year will be four summit finishes, not least of which is likely to be the penultimate stage’s ascent to Semnoz where the entire TdF could be won or lost.

 

The full TdF 2013 route is:

 

Stage 1 (June 29) Porto Vecchio – Bastia, 212km

Stage 2 (June 30) Basta – Ajaccio, 154km

Stage 3 (July 1) Ajaccio – Calvi, 145km

Stage 4 (July 2) Nice – Nice (TTT) 25km

Stage 5 (July 3) Cagnes sur Mer – Marseille, 219km

Stage 6 (July 4) Aix en Provence – Montpellier, 176km

Stage 7 (July 5) Montpellier – Albi, 205km

Stage 8 (July 6) Castres – Ax 3 Domaines, 194km

Stage 9 (July 7) St Girons – Bagneres de Bigorre, 165km

Rest Day

Stage 10 (July 9) St Gildas des Bois – St Malo, 193km

Stage 11 (July 10) Avranches – Mont St Michel (ITT) 33km

Stage 12 (July 11) Fougeres – Tours, 218km

Stage 13 (July 12) Tours – St Amand Montrond, 173km

Stage 14 (July 13) St Pourain sur Sioule – Lyon, 191km

Stage 15 (July 14) Givors – Mont Ventoux, 242km

Rest Day

Stage 16 (July 16) Vaison la Romaine – Gap, 168km

Stage 17 (July 17) Embrun – Chorges (ITT) 32km

Stage 18 (July 18) Gap – Alpe d’Huez, 168km

Stage 19 (July 19) Bourg d’Oisans – Le Grand Bornand, 204km

Stage 20 (July 20) Annecy – Annecy Semnoz, 125km

Stage 21(July 21) Versailles – Paris

 

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Featured Features

Lance Armstrong: The Long Fall

Lance Armstrong Oprah Winfrey confession

We have only just begun to see the fallout from the case brought by the United States Anti-doping Agency (USADA) against Lance Armstrong; when you shake a sport – any sport – this hard a depressingly large number of things have a tendency to fall out of the tree. But with the whole sorry affair involving not only Armstrong and the USADA, but also US Federal Law, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), numerous ex-team-mates and the US Postal team – to name but a few – it has often proved to be a tough case to follow. Cyclo have waded through the last four months of developments to highlight the key points in the case against Lance Armstrong

 

June 12: The United States Anti-doping Agency (USADA) announce proceedings against Lance Armstrong with regards to the alleged use of performance enhancer EPO, blood transfusions, the use of testosterone and so called ‘masking agents’ during the period 1998 – 2011, despite the fact that the US Attorney’s Office dropped its own investigation into the misuse of federal funds (for doping) back in February.

 

Armstrong confirmed on Twitter that he had received the 15 page letter from the USADA and strenuously denies all charges.

 

June 13: Calling the actions of the USAD a ‘witch hunt’, Armstrong Tweets: ‘Dear @usantidoping – we have now sent you THREE letters requesting all the relevant info in order for me to respond to your “review board”.’ Adding: ‘Until now there has been no response, not even an acknowledgement of receipt. The knife cuts both ways – it’s time to play by the rules.’

 

Armstrong releases his official statement which begins, ‘I have been notified that USADA, an organization largely funded by taxpayer dollars but governed only by self-written rules, intends to again dredge up discredited allegations dating back more than 16 years to prevent me from competing as a triathlete and try and strip me of the seven Tour de France victories I earned… These charges are baseless, motivated by spite and advanced through testimony bought and paid for by promises of anonymity and immunity.’

 

He continues, ‘I have never doped, and, unlike many of my accusers, I have competed as an endurance athlete for 25 years with no spike in performance, passed more than 500 drug tests and never failed one…’ Armstrong’s full statement here.

 

June 22: Lance Armstrong’s legal team send a lengthy letter to the USADA Review Board refuting the charges from June 12. Couched in as-to-be-expected legal language, the letter describes the allegations as being, ‘…long on stale allegations disproved long ago and short on evidence.’ The 18 page letter goes on to state the view that the USAD had ‘abused its powers and this (review) process. To read the full letter click here.

 

June 29: Despite the legal approach of Armstrong and his representatives the USAD Review Board unanimously agree that charges should be brought, meaning that the case will proceed to arbitration should Armstrong continue to challenge them.

 

July 5: Armstrong tweets three messages to his followers:

 

‘So let me get this straight…come in and tell @usantidoping exactly what they wanted to hear…’

 

‘..in exchange for immunity, anonymity, and the opportunity to continue to race the biggest event in cycling..’

 

‘This isn’t about @usantidoping wanting to clean up cycling – rather it’s just plain ol’ selective prosecution that reeks of vendetta.’

 

July 9: In what appears to be a final, desperate bid for legal recourse Armstrong files a federal lawsuit in an attempt to halt the USADA case. US District Judge Sam Sparks rejects the lawsuit almost out of hand, calling it, ‘a lengthy and bitter polemic’. However Sparks does allow Armstrong’s lawyers to file an amended lawsuit.

 

July 10: Former US Postal associates of Armstrong – team doctor Luis Garcia del Moral, consulting doctor Michele Ferrari and trainer Jose ‘Pepe’ Marti – are all given lifelong bans from sport by the USADA for violating anti-doping regulations.

 

Armstrong had previously called Ferrari, ‘a friend and a trusted adviser’ – but all formal links were reportedly broken after Ferrari was convicted (though later acquitted) of sporting fraud in 2004.

 

Ferrari calls the charges against him ‘false and ridiculous’, claiming he had never witnessed doping within pro cycling teams. The fact that his ban had technically been handed down because ‘he had not responded to or contested the charges (from the USADA)’ complicates matters as he claims he never received any official communication from them and only learned of his fate from the media. Oddly the UCI claim that Ferrari didn’t even hold a current training license.

 

July 11: The USADA give Armstrong a further 30 days to respond to their charges against him.

 

August 5: Until this point the UCI had remained somewhat tight-lipped on the subject, but now appeared to put their heads above the parapet saying that they felt the dispute over who should hear the case against Armstrong should be referred to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

 

August 20: US District Judge Sam Sparks rejects the amended lawsuit from Armstrong’s legal team which was again attempting to halt the actions of the USADA.

 

August 23: The watershed moment for Armstrong. He publicly announces that he will no longer fight the USADA allegations beginning his statement, ‘There comes a point in every man’s life when he has to say, “Enough is enough.” For me, that time is now. I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and had an unfair advantage in winning my seven Tours since 1999. Over the past three years, I have been subjected to a two-year federal criminal investigation followed by Travis Tygart’s unconstitutional witch hunt. The toll this has taken on my family, and my work for our foundation and on me leads me to where I am today – finished with this nonsense.’

 

He concludes, ‘Going forward, I am going to devote myself to raising my five beautiful (and energetic) kids, fighting cancer, and attempting to be the fittest 40-year old on the planet.’ To read Armstrong’s statement in full, see here.

 

August 24: In response to Armstrong’s statement the USAD strips him of his seven Tour de France titles and deals him a lifetime ban. However these actions still require the sanction of governing body the UCI. The development divides the media and cycling fans alike…

 

August 26: Writing in Armstrong’s defence in the LA Times, Michael Hiltzik says, ‘It’s not that the case will be seen as a major victory for sports anti-doping authorities. It’s that the anti-doping system claiming its highest-profile quarry ever is the most thoroughly one-sided and dishonest legal regime anywhere in the world this side of Beijing.’

 

September 3: In a Newsweek cover-story entitled ‘I Still Believe in Lance Armstrong’, Buzz Bissinger writes, ‘I believe his decision had nothing to do with fear of being found guilty in a public setting before an arbitration panel, but the emotional and mental toll of years and years of fighting charges that have never been officially substantiated—despite stemming all the way back to 1999.’

 

September 7: Pat McQuaid, the UCI President, states that they have no intention of appealing the USADA decision to ban Armstrong and strip him of his TdF titles unless the USADA’s case file gives ‘serious reasons to do otherwise.’ However that case file has still not been made available to the UCI, a fact that is clearly beginning to rile the governing body.

 

September 27: The UCI fires its fiercest salvo yet at the USADA for its continuing failure to make available the case file. In a strongly worded press release Pat McQuaid, states: ‘It is over a month since USADA sanctioned Lance Armstrong. We thought that USADA were better prepared before initiating these proceedings… The UCI had no reason to assume that a full case file did not exist but USADA’s continued failure to produce the decision is now a cause for concern… It seems that it would have been more useful for USADA to have used the time of the Tour de France, the Olympic Games and the Road World Championships to prepare their case in full rather than to make announcements.’

 

McQuaid’s statement also contained the rather withering comment: ‘The UCI assumes that the reasons for any difficulty in putting the evidence together will be explained in USADA’s decision…’ Read the full press release here.

 

October 3: To further complicate the UCI/Armstrong/USADA case a Swiss court finds former Tour de France winner Floyd Landis (one of those who gave evidence to the USADA against Armstrong) guilty of defamation against the UCI.

 

Landis had made allegation during a German TV interview back in 2010 regarding payments from Armstrong in exchange for the UCI’s silence over a positive test in the 2001 Tour de Suisse. The UCI, for their part, concured that a payment of $100,000 (£62,200) was offered and accepted, but that this was a donation to help finance anti-doping measures. Landis is banned from repeating the allegations, ordered to pay compensation of 10,000 Swiss Francs (£6,630) to both current and former UCI presidents Pat McQuaid and Hein Verbruggen and obliged to publish the courts verdict at his own expense in a number of publications including L’Equipe and the Wall Street Journal.

 

October 10: The USADA release its statement ahead of the full case file. It makes for damming reading, accusing Armstrong not only of doping but of personally overseeing ‘…the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen.’ The agency claims its evidence shows ‘beyond any doubt’ that Armstrong was personally responsible for the culture of drug abuse and cheating that included systematic bullying and grooming of young riders to ‘…pressure athletes to use dangerous drugs, to evade detection, to ensure its secrecy and ultimately gain an unfair competitive advantage through superior doping practices.’ Read the full statement here.

 

Armstrong ?tweets: ‘What am I doing tonight? Hanging with my family, unaffected, and thinking about this (a link to LIVESTRONG)’

 

The USADA finally make their full report available both publicly and to the UCI. The 1000 page document includes testimonial evidence against Armstrong from 11 former team-mates: Frankie Andreu, Michael Barry, Tom Danielson, Tyler Hamilton, George Hincapie, Floyd Landis, Levi Leipheimer, Stephen Swart, Christian Vande Velde, Jonathan Vaughters and David Zabriskie. The full case file is available as a PDF here.

 

The UCI has 21 days to respond to the USADA evidence and to either accept or challenge the agency’s stripping of the TdF titles and imposed lifetime ban.

 

Reaction is both mixed and at times surprising as the case continues to divide the cycling community. Dave Brailsford, Head of British Cycling comments, ‘Lance Armstrong has made it hard for anyone to trust the sport in its entirety.’ Whilst Team Sky’s Alex Dowsett speaking at the Tour of Beijing shrugged off the charges, saying, ‘I don’t think it really matters, he’s still a legend in the sport…’

 

It remains to be seen what the full ramifications of this case will be. It certainly has the potential to shake the reputation of the sport far beyond the now seemingly shattered reputation of Lance Armstrong. As always, Cyclo will keep you posted…

 

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Featured Nutrition Reviews

Bikefood Pure Energy Gels

Bikefood Pure Energy Gels

What sort of food do you need on a bike? The obvious answer, of course, is ‘bike food’ which should make the handily-named and easy-to-remember Bikefood Pure Energy Gels a shoe-in of a choice when it comes to the crunch. But having nabbed the best name and web address (mybikefood.com) do they stack up in the areas that really matter?

 

For those that care about such things (which Cyclo hopes is all of you) these live up to their ‘Pure Energy’ tag; containing no preservatives, artificial sweeteners or thickening gum agents and delivering all of their 117.2kcal per 40g pack via natural sugars; a blend of honey – the primary source – plus agave syrup and carob. The decision to pack them with sugars results, in addition to an incredibly sweet taste that won’t suite all palates, in a relatively high carbohydrate content of 28.8g.

 

But fear not the idea that sugars alone can result in peaks and troughs of energy (the dreaded ‘sugar crash’); the theory goes that because the sugars here are derived from a variety of sources – as opposed to simply fructose as an example – the energy release is both staged and sustained; something we certainly found in testing. With a dash of lemon oil added to the mix, these undeniably tasted like Lockets which, whilst not unpleasant by any means, made for a slightly nostalgic ride with connotations of missed school days. Also worth noting that this is virtually a carb-only gel; just .05g of protein, nowhere near enough to make any difference to absorption rates.

 

As suggested already, Bikefood Pure Energy won’t be to everyone’s taste and anyone who struggles to digest other brands’ already sweet gels should probably avoid. But for our part Cyclo enjoyed mixing things up on the ride and using Bikefood in conjunction with other energy sources and gels; the natural and vegetarian (though not vegan) credentials were welcome and the approach to recycling – via Gelwrappers.com where returned wrappers from any manufacturer get you entry into a monthly prize draw – is a fun and useful initiative.

 

Bikefood Pure Energy Gels takes an unusual and welcome approach to serving up sustained levels on the ride – a product for those who care about what they put into their body and what they don’t drop all over the road. Retailing at £1.45 each or £33.75 for a box of 25. Further details at www.mybikefood.com

 

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Featured Features

Unstoppables Documentary

Currently still in production, the documentary ‘Unstoppables’ follows two of Spain’s most influential and motivational Paralympians – Juan Jose Méndez (known to all as ‘Juanjo’) and Raquel Acinas – as they trained for and competed at the London Paralympics. Director Dani Jariod followed the self-styled ‘Pirates Team’ for more than two years and Cyclo caught up with him and executive producer Richard Galvani post-Games and discovered that, despite Juanjo and Raquel not fulfilling their Paralympic dreams, their aim and that of the film, remains the same: To inspire…

 

Cyclo: How did the idea for this film come about?

 

Richard Galvani: When we sat down to decide what we would do next as a production company I said ‘I want to do something inspirational’. I had just watch a documentary on Afghanistan and we hear about the one or two that very sadly die, but we don’t hear so much about the dozens that come back with these life-changing injuries. I’ve seen personally the benefits to people getting involved with sports clubs; it immediately breaks down all levels of colour, race, creed and physical ability.

 

Dani Jariod: In the beginning the project was far more widespread. The initial idea was to follow different athletes from different categories and sports and even different Spanish regions. But once we went to the velodrome (in Barcelona) and met Juanjo and Raquel everybody went: ‘Stop the press!’ There was no need to be looking for others; here we had all we needed to tell our story.

 

Cyclo: Were Juanjo and Raquel immediately receptive of the idea?

 

Dani Jariod: I sat down with them and told them our intentions and they were very friendly from minute one. Very open and generous and we all have to thank them for that.

 

Cyclo: No nerves about the extra pressure?

 

Dani Jariod: Not at all. They are not exactly famous in Spain, but certainly relevant. Every time someone from the media goes to the Paralympic Committee looking for a spokesperson they get a short list of six or 10 athletes and Raquel, for instance, is always one of them. She is very open to all this kind of stuff because she is very eager to do anything that spreads the word of disabled sports and to show all that sport can do to help disabled people.

 

Cyclo: Cycling has a huge fan-base in Spain. Has para-cycling always had the same following?

 

Dani Jariod: When Juanjo started after his terrible accident he did it just because he needed to do some sport – he was in his wheelchair all day long and feeling miserable; cycling was always his favourite sport and so just got on and did it. Then he realised there were these para-cycling competitions, so he decided to become more professional about it. It is not so common in Spain although things have changed in the last 20 years but it still has a long way to go.

 

Cyclo: How did you find the facilities in London?

 

Dani Jariod: Wonderful. I’m used to the old velodrome that we have in Barcelona which goes back to something like 1987; an open velodrome that has its charm but it’s old and a bit rusty and you come here and see this huge and wonderful velodrome… I have enjoyed it very much.

 

Cyclo: And Juanjo and Raquel?

 

Dani Jariod: The experience of participating, of course absolutely. It’s the Paralympic Games after all! They have worked hard and earned their position here so they are delighted to have competed. On the other hand they feel a bit disappointed because of the results. But it’s the same at the club at home as here: if you fall, you get up. That’s the main thing. The last day after the Road Race at Brands Hatch they were a bit disappointed but the next day they were already preparing for Brazil – ‘Okay, let’s go for the next one!’

 

Cyclo: Amazing achievements for them both in London, but not the results that Juanjo or Raquel had hoped for.

 

Richard Galvani: They didn’t get any medals this time largely because of the change of categories; Juanjo in particular was lumped together with C2 and C3 riders, racing against people with prosthetics below the knee or even with two legs but with hand disabilities for example. They lost out; you simply can’t compete against someone with two legs… Juanjo was leading his race at Brands for about a quarter of the event, but with one leg of course every time they went up hill the others would pass him and he could only get them back on the downhill and on the straights. Even the commentator was saying how amazing he was.

 

They came here and did their best, Raquel got a Paralympic Certificate and Juanjo goes home with a couple of Certificates and they have been an example to everybody.

 

Cyclo: How early did you know about the rule changes?

 

Richard Galvani: I didn’t know anything until the Games had started. I presume they did, but I don’t know if they knew exactly what to expect. The team is managed by the national coach who is in Madrid and they are both from Barcelona; there is always a lot of rivalry between the two cities – a bit like the football – and perhaps they didn’t get quite the same treatment as far as information went.

 

Also their club trainer wasn’t given accreditation for The Games and Juanjo suffered at the Time Trial at Brands Hatch because of that; he finished fifth but could probably have gotten bronze if he had had feedback on times – he thought he was in bronze medal position but no one was giving him his times! He’s 48 now and he got a medal at Beijing and Athens and he wanted that hat-trick and maybe retire…

 

Cyclo: Do the results change the nature of the film?

 

Dani Jariod: Only very, very slightly. After all it’s about overcoming whatever obstacle you face. I would have loved to see them getting a medal because they really deserve it, but that’s talking as a friend. But thinking as a filmmaker, the documentary never set out to focus on medals, it is about their spirit, about who they are and what they do because they are very inspirational to everybody. That hasn’t changed one bit.

 

It’s perhaps even more inspirational if you see them after the apparent disappointment of not getting medals, because they get up and just start riding again.

 

Richard Galvani: Of course Juanjo and Raquel were hopeful that they would get a medal in London, but that’s not an integral part of the film, the main thing is to inspire people with disabilities – which is a term I hate because they are quite able to do anything – to get on their bikes and get involved with sports and improve the quality of their lives… It would have been lovely if they had won a medal, but on the other hand many people will watch this and say ‘I’ll never win a medal’, so this really is about the taking part.

 

Cyclo: What’s your approach to filmmaking with ‘Unstoppables’?

 

Dani Jariod: Our way of shooting is very observational, we don’t interfere with anything. We just watch… Occasionally we do one or two interviews, but really we just follow day to day. So there was no interference from us and we never asked them to do anything for us or repeat anything. We just watch, that is enough.

 

Cyclo: You still have work to do on the film. What’s next?

 

Dani Jariod: We still have some stuff to shoot. This project was so exciting, but with a huge unknown question hanging over it: are they going to get a medal? Right now we have those results and we need to close that chapter and look at the repercussions, to see what will happen to their lives after London 2012. We will be shooting until November and then the editing process begins.

 

Cyclo: That’s going to be a huge task.

 

Dani Jariod: You have to be patient. The worst thing, as I say, is that initially we didn’t know the ending. Now we do, so some of the things we have shot along the way will now have a different meaning. Now it’s time to get the story straight. It’s a slow process but it’s very clear in my head what sort of story we are about to tell the world…

 

‘Unstoppables’ is produced by Black Train Films with part sponsorship from Cofidis, for more information see www.unstoppablesdocumentary.com

 

To read Cyclo’s interview with Juanjo and Raquel, click here.

 

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Featured Features

In Praise of the Brompton

The Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary would be an incredibly cumbersome name for a bike. Fortunate then that said church, overlooked by engineering graduate Andrew Ritchie’s bedroom workshop whilst looking for a good name for his prototype folding bike, was popularly know as the Brompton Oratory – or more simply still The Brompton.

 

Ritchie graduated as an engineer in 1968 with the intention of pursuing a career in computing, but found himself instead self-employed as a landscape gardener. In 1975 he came across a Bickerton folding bike (known as the Bickerton Portable and first produced in 1971) and decided he could improve on its design. With financial backing from friends he produced Prototype 1, which, despite larger 18inch wheels, bears an uncanny similarity to the models still produced in West London today – testament to both Ritchie’s genius and the phrase ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…’

 

Today, not only is the Brompton the go to folder for commuters it also boasts something of a galaxy of star fans. Top Gear’s James May, author Will Self (‘the first time I saw a Brompton folding bicycle, I fell in love with it.’), actor Woody Harrelson and singer Katie Melua – who, of course, claims to know how many bicycles there are in Beijing – all love the Brompton. But what is it that makes this such a design classic?

 

‘Brompton Bicycles possess three major qualities of a great iconic design,’ says Alison Hung of product design gurus LKK Innovation, ‘Aesthetics: it has an instantly recognizable image. Functionality: that answers its users’ needs for more convenience. Quality: a design that is carefully executed into a product giving it the quality that its users can always rely on. Although there are imitations Brompton Bicycles’ cult status has never been surpassed, and that is the staying power of a truly iconic design.’

 

The full Brompton feature will be in issue 3 of Cyclo for iPad coming soon. For issues 1 and 2 take a look at Cyclo in the iTunes Store – issue 1 is free, issue 2 just £1.49

 

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Featured News

Mixed Results for Team Sky at Vuelta

Day two of the Vuelta a España has seen mixed results for Team Sky; Chris Froome, runner-up last year, only managed a 29th placing, saying: ‘Coming so soon after the start, this climb won’t decide who’s going to win the race but we’ll start to see who could lose it.’

 

Better news though for team-mate Ben Swift who finished third in the second stage in a sprint finish won by John Degenkolb of Argos-Shimano. Clearly delighted with what he regards as a breakthrough win in his first major tour the the young German commented, ‘A finish like that called for pure power, which is what suits my kind of racing, not just speed, and after team-mate Koen De Kort had dropped me off with 200 metres to go there was just me, Davis and Swift up there for the sprint… It’s great to get a win so soon for the team. We came here looking for just one victory and now we’ve got that in the bag the pressure is off. Maybe more will come after these next two mountainous stages.’

 

On the hilly second stage from Pamplona to Viana, which was run in temperatures soaring into the high 30s Celsius, the Spaniards Javier Aramendi and Javier Chacon and the Russian Mikhail Ignatyev went clear in the first hour. After Chacon dropped back with 30km to go, the overall contender Alberto Contador of Spain made a surprise dash at an intermediate sprint to snatch a two-second time bonus. ‘I thought I might as well try for it. It wasn’t too much effort and I was in a good position anyway,’ the leading Vuelta favourite said.

 

Spain’s Jonathan Castroviejo of the Movistar team remained the overall leader. Monday’s third stage will be the first summit finish of the race, on Mount Arrate in the Basque Country.

 

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Featured Features

ICE

Time, we thought, for Cyclo to do a little campaigning… Ice (as a pack) can help reduce swelling, ICE (as an acronym) might just help save a life. Standing for ‘In Case of Emergency’ the idea of ICE is to encourage everyone not only to carry next of kin details – stats suggest that more than 80% of us head out without them – but to store them under the entry ‘ICE’ in our mobile phone where they can be readily identified by the emergency services. Such an obviously brilliant and simple idea, it’s odd to think that despite having surfaced in the mid-2000s it hasn’t universally caught on.

 

The original ‘eureka moment’ came to Bob Brotchie, a clinical team leader for the East Anglian Ambulance NHS Trust in 2004 when he found himself continually confounded by the seemingly simple task of contacting relatives of patients. ‘I asked myself,’ Bob says, ‘how can I create a uniform way for the public to accept, and emergency responders to adopt a method of accessing the relevant info – fast. I thought of an acronym, so that I would know where to go, in the phones contact list straightaway. My earlier experiences had demonstrated that simply searching the contact list was haphazard…and time consuming! I didn’t know who to call and often got no answer anyway. Worst was when I had to give up, so as to continue with immediate care. I thought of ICE – In Case of Emergency and felt that if phone owners prefixed the ‘agreed’ ICE contact with ICE, then responders could go instantly to ‘I’ for ICE!!… Simple!’

 

The campaign gained initial traction and was strongly supported at the time by numerous other ambulance services, ramblers clubs and even the Welsh Assembly with Deputy Health Minister John Griffiths commenting: “Spending time trying to contact the next of kin can delay the start of treatment… If everyone follows this advice and puts an ICE number into their mobile phones any such problems can be overcome.’

 

One of the problems today is the almost universal adoption of smart phones; ironically – given their usefulness for communicating in terms of text, calls, SMS, email, social media and more – when it comes to ICE they can be disastrous for one simple reason: to protect their all-encompassing content, we PIN protect them, locking out the paramedics at the most crucial time.

 

If that mean’s the mobile’s time has passed in usefulness for ICE (still worth entering those details in case) what are the alternatives?

 

The full article will feature in issue 3 of Cyclo for iPad coming soon. For issues 1 and 2 take a look at Cyclo in the iTunes Store – issue 1 is free, issue 2 just £1.49