Category: Featured

Categories
Featured News

Gold Run for Wiggo

With the Men’s Time Trial Bradley Wiggins has won the first of what we hope is a string of cycling golds. In the process he doubled Britain’s gold medal tally, just hours after the host nation won its first event at the London Olympics yesterday.

 

With his seventh Olympic medal, four of them gold, Wiggins is now the most decorated British Olympian, while the morning’s medal ensured Heather Stanning and Helen Glover became the first British female rowers to win an Olympic title. Wiggins had been the favorite for gold after winning both time trial stages en route to becoming Britain’s first Tour de France winner last month, and his dominance was clear to see as he finished 42 seconds ahead of the Germany’s 2011 world TT champion Tony Martin.

 

Chris Froome won the bronze, as former Olympic champion Fabian Cancellara finished a disappointing seventh. The Swiss rider injured his shoulder in Saturday’s Road Race and was clearly in pain when he crossed finish line. American Taylor Phinney finished fourth, nine seconds off a podium place.

 

Wiggins later turned up live on BBC, still looking a little shell-shocked, and even interrupted an international football broadcast with an unscheduled stop at the BBC3 studio. Cycling trumping football? The world’s gone mad (as Wiggo would say).

 

Categories
Featured Features

London 2012 Track Events

Just a week to go until Danny Boyle unleashes his opening ceremony (Cyclo is still hoping for some zombie action) and the London 2012 games get under way. Time then, we thought, to bring you a quick update on the how, when and why of the cycling track events. We have also recapped on a little details as to what each event entails, particularly as the rather mysterious Keirin and complex Omnium continue to cause confusion. Details of the Road, Mountain Bike and BMX events to follow next week. Stay tuned…

 

Men’s Sprint

Venue: Olympic Park Velodrome

Date: August 4,5,6

Team GB: Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny

 

Women’s sprint

Venue: Olympic Park Velodrome

Date: August 5,6,7

Team GB: Victoria Pendleton, Jessica Varnish

 

About: The Sprint is perhaps the most ‘pure’ of the track disciplines where speed is (almost) everything in the series of three-lap races that see riders whittled down through qualifiers and heats – first over the line wins. Simple. Current Olympic Champion: Chris Hoy (GB), Victoria Pendleton (GB).

 

Men’s Keirin

Venue: Olympic Park Velodrome

Date: August 7

Team GB: Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny

 

Women’s Keirin

Venue: Olympic Park Velodrome

Date: August 3

Team GB: Victoria Pendleton, Jessica Varnish

 

About: Big, as they say, in Japan (where it originated in 1948), this is the event that most resembles a combination of Mad Max and Rollerball, with a motorbike – known as a “Derny” – initially pacing riders around the track and bringing them up to considerable speed before leaving athletes to sprint for victory. Keirin made it’s Olympic debut at the 2000 Sydney Games and, like the Team Sprint, will be settled in a single day of action at London 2012 (technically two days: one for the men’s event, one for the women’s). Current Men’s Olympic Champions: Chris Hoy (GB), Women’s Olympic Champion: NA.

 

Men’s Omnium

Venue: Olympic Park Velodrome

Date: August 4,5

Team GB: Edward Clancy

 

Women’s Omnium

Venue: Olympic Park Velodrome

Date: August 6,7

Team GB: NA

 

About: Only introduced in 2010 at the World Championships, the Omnium makes its Olympic début at London 2012. This is the cycling equivalent of a pentathlon consisting of a 250m Flying Lap, 30km Points Race, 4km Pursuit, a scratch race of 15km and 1km Time Trial. Distances for the women’s discipline are slightly shorter: 20km Points, 3km Pursuit, a scratch of 10km and 500m TT. Current Olympic Champions: NA.

 

Cyclo Fact – The London Velodrome featuring one of the largest cable-net roofs in the UK. The track uses 56km of Siberian pine held into place with 350,000 nails.

 

Men’s Team Sprint

Venue: Olympic Park Velodrome

Date: August 2

Team GB: Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny, Philip Hindes

 

Women’s Team Sprint

Venue: Olympic Park Velodrome

Date: August 2

Team GB: Victoria Pendleton, Jessica Varnish

 

About: Not dissimilar to the Sprint discipline as the name might suggest. Once known as Olympic Sprint, this event sees teams of three compete over three laps with each rider effectively taking a lead per lap for pace. Women’s Team Sprint is new for 2012 and both men’s and women’s events will be contested (from qualifiers to medals) in a single day. Current Men’s Olympic Champions: Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny, Jamie Staff (GB), Women’s Olympic Champions: NA

 

Men’s Team Pursuit

Venue: Olympic Park Velodrome

Date: August 2,3

Team GB: Edward Clancy, Steven Burke, Andrew Tennant

 

Women’s Team Pursuit

Venue: Olympic Park Velodrome

Date: August 3,4

Team GB: Wendy Houvenaghel, Joanna Rowsell

 

About: With Individual Pursuit off the schedule for 2012, this event sees teams compete over 16 laps for men and 12 for women with the time recorded as last rider across the line. As a women’s event this made its first appearance at this year’s World Championships in Manchester and should prove to be a hotly contested Olympic opener. Current Men’s Olympic Champions: Ed Clancy, Paul Manning, Geraint Thomas, Bradley Wiggins (GB), Women’s Olympic Champion: NA.

 

Categories
Featured Reviews

Tour de France 2012 App

Looks like Cyclo spoke too soon this year when we said there wasn’t an official Tour de France 2012 app (for iPhone/iPad); at the eleventh hour one has appeared, but has it improved over last year’s bug-ridden crashtastrophe?

 

Given the paucity of effort that had gone into last year’s app things could surely only be an improvement; and so it’s proved to be. Looking like it has been reworked from the ground up, this has yet to crash three days in, which, give or take, is three days longer than the 2011 app.

 

The opening menu offers up four main choices: Standings, Route, Teams and Photos/Videos – all pretty self explanatory. Standings runs the user through all the general classifications (individual, sprinter, team, etc.) and lists current withdrawals, whilst the Teams tab takes you through each team and, via sub menus, individual rider information, although this is fairly limited rather than full biog. The Photos/Videos option is an extensive gallery which is added to and updated daily with a combination of pictures, interviews and mini-features but it’s vital to note that a wi-fi connection is required here (as elsewhere) to view anything. Anyone assuming they are looking at embedded content could end up with a truly shocking data roaming bill by the end of the TdF.

 

The hub of the action – and where this app really comes into its own – is in the Route tab. Maps and profiles of each stage are listed along with neat little write-ups on each start/end location, which seem scooped from local tourist offices and come complete with some wonderfully florid language; all adding something of a homely touch to what otherwise could be a technical exercise in number crunching. Start and checkpoint times (estimated across a range of predicted speeds) are given for upcoming stages and the ability to track riders live during a stage has, thus far at least, proven stable and useful if you don’t have access to TV.

 

Two downfalls of the app, one minor, one downright annoying. The minor niggle is that the ‘start town’ icon on the route maps and profiles looks exactly like a ‘play’ button, so no matter how many times we try to remember that it doesn’t actually do anything here at Cyclo we keep jabbing a sweaty finger at it anyway. Far more annoying is that once a stage has been completed all the map, profile and highlights information is no longer available; replaced instead by results and interviews. A separate results section and or sub-menu would surely be preferable, and the Profile option that appears once a stage has been run just produces a half-rendered graphic…

 

So, not perfect and certainly some issues to sort for the 2013 app, but with such a quantum-leap improvement from last year’s dismal effort that this positively shines in comparison. At 69p – compared to last year’s hefty £2.99 – good value for money too.

 

Categories
Featured News

Light Headed

Dutch designer Wouter Walmink had never even considered wearing, let alone designing, a helmet in the cycle-centric Netherlands; but a move to the busier streets of Melbourne, Australia changed all that. As a researcher at RMIT University, Walmink began to experiment with helmets fitted with LEDs and the result is the prototype LumaHelm fitted with over 100 tiny lights, the flow and pattern of which can be controlled by built-in gyroscopic sensors. Extending the applications the helmet has already been tested to become a visual representation of the wearer’s heart rate, which the designer hopes might help to remind car drivers and other road users that beneath the device sits a flesh and bones rider. Perhaps more practically a tilt to the left or right acts as an indicator, whilst a gentle backwards tip becomes an effective break light. Cyclo is keen to see where this might go and we always love it when a thing of perfect function is wrapped up in such beauty and originality. Please send us one Wouter…
 

 

Categories
Featured Features

Tour de France 2012

Yorkshire hosts the Tour de France 2014

June already? That must mean it’s time for the annual Cyclo guide to the biggest event of the season – true to say, we feel, even in an Olympic year – with details of all the upcoming stages (plus a little history) of the Tour de France 2012.

 

2012 sees the 99th edition of the greatest cycling race in the world (sorry Italy and Spain…) which this year runs from Saturday June 30 to Sunday July 22, comprises of one prologue and 20 stages to cover a total energy-sapping distance of 3,497km. In addition to the 6.4km prologue in Liège and the two rest days on July 10 and 17, the TdF will this year comprise of nine flat stages, four medium mountain stages, five mountain stages and two Individual Time Trials (July 9 & 21) – there are also three summit finishes to look forward to. When it comes to stunning backdrops to the cycling action the TdF is always hard to beat and this year nine new stage towns, including Samatan, Abbeville and Bellegarde-sur-Valserine, have been added to the roster; as Christian Prudhomme, Director of the Tour de France, rightly says, ‘To love cycling, inevitably means to love geography and, additionally, the different regions.’

 

Naturally all of the big name teams will be present and correct for 2012 although there will be notable absences from a couple of star riders; Alberto Contador remains suspended for doping violations and won’t rejoin his Saxo Bank team again until August 5 (debate amongst yourselves whether this is a loss to the TdF or not) and the man who officially won the 97th Tour as a result of Contador’s disqualification, Andy Schleck, will remain sadly road-side due to injuries sustained in the Critérium du Dauphiné.

 

Arguably, the mighty defending champion Cadel Evans aside, this leaves the way far clearer for Sky’s Bradley Wiggins (winner of this year’s Critérium du Dauphiné) although that perhaps misses the more complex and subtle points of pro cycling where team work and homogeneous ‘whole’ can often outweigh individual skill and ability. Beyond that, as Wiggin’s knows all to well from the disastrously race-ending collarbone fracture he suffered on stage 7 last year, the TdF is a race where anything can happen. And often does…

 

Before looking at this year’s stage breakdowns, Cyclo, as always, feels a little factoid session may be in order:

 

* The oldest winner was in 1922 – Firmin Lambot, aged 36. The youngest was Henri Cornet, aged 19, all the way back in 1904.

 

* Lance Armstrong is the only rider ever to have won seven times at the TdF (consecutive years 1999 to 2005)

 

* Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain have each won five times, but only Indurain did so in consecutive fashion, with wins from 1991 to 95.

 

* Seven riders have tasted double-victory with wins in the same year at both the TdF and Giro d’Italia: Marco Pantani, Stephen Roche, Jacques Anquetil, Fausto Coppi (twice, 49 and 52), Bernard Hinault (twice, 82 and 85), Miguel Indurain (twice, 92 and 93) and the great Eddy Merckx who managed it three times – 1970, 72 and 74.

 

2012 Tour de France Stages:

Prologue (June 30) Liège – Liège – 6.4 km

Stage 1 (July 1) Liège – Seraing – 198 km

Stage 2 (July 2) Visé – Tournai – 207.5 km

Stage 3 (July 3) Orchies – Boulogne-sur-Mer – 197 km

Stage 4 (July 4) Abbeville – Rouen – 214.5 km

Stage 5 (July 5) Rouen – Saint-Quentin – 196.5 km

Stage 6 (July 6) Épernay – Metz – 207.5 km

Stage 7 (July 7) Tomblaine – La Planche des Belles Filles – 199 km

Stage 8 (July 8 ) Belfort – Porrentruy – 157.5 km

Stage 9 (July 9) Arc-et-Senans – Besançon (ITT) – 41.5 km

Rest Day (July 10)

Stage 10 (July 11) Mâcon – Bellegarde-sur-Valserine – 194.5 km

Stage 11 (July 12) Albertville – La Toussuire – Les Sybelles – 148 km

Stage 12 (July 13) Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne – Annonay Davézieux – 226 km

Stage 13 (July 14) Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux – Le Cap d’Agde – 217 km

Stage 14 (July 15) Limoux – Foix – 191 km

Stage 15 (July 16) Samatan – Pau – 158.5 km

Rest Day (July 17)

Stage 16 (July 18) Pau > Bagnères-de-Luchon – 197 km

Stage 17 (July 19) Bagnères-de-Luchon – Peyragudes – 143.5 km

Stage 18 (July 20) Blagna –  Brive-la-Gaillardev222.5 km

Stage 19 (July 21) Bonneval – Chartres (ITT) – 53.5 km

Stage 20 (July 22) Rambouillet – Paris Champs-Élysées – 120 km

 

Categories
Featured Features

Bespoked Bristol 2012

 

Cyclo are back at this years Bespoked Bristol – The UK’s premier hand-built bike show. Now in its second year the show has already outgrown its original venue and moved to a larger conference centre right next to Bristol’s main rail station. The station, one of the oldest in the world, is now host to a new transport revolution. As recently as the 1970s the UK was the world’s cycling workshop – maybe this is the start of the comeback.

 

Bespoked Bristol aims to showcase the best of UK independent builders and designers and to celebrate the art of the hand-built bicycle, with this year seeing around 100 exhibitors. It now also includes overseas companies from Italy, US, Germany and France.

 

The backbone of the show is still the builders of one-off, custom, frames but has expanded to include accessories, components, publishing and clothing. This year also included a special area for ‘New Builders’ who have just started out in the business and are looking for their first customers.

 

That brings us to this year’s BB Awards. There were the six main categories covering Road, Track, Touring, Off-Road, Utility and, of course, Best in Show. Added to that were the Public Vote and new awards for ‘New Builder’ and ‘Spirit of Cycling’. Robin Mather’s beautiful ‘Baguette’ tourer won both Best of Show and the Public Vote. Best Road bike went to Ricky Feather for his collaboration with Rapha – which was a unanimous decision although the judges just couldn’t decide in the Touring class; the award was eventually shared between Roberts Cycles and Winter Cycles – from Croydon and Oregon respectively.

 

One of the best things about the show is the chance to swap ideas, meet fellow builders and to help build the UK, and international cycling community. The show also included a series of more formal talks including: ‘How to get started in frame building’, ‘The US custom cycle scene’, and a lively discussion on whether only ‘Steel is Real’.

 

Bespoked Bristol 2012 was a fabulous display of the full range of what today’s frame builders can do, featuring every type of bike, in a range of materials, from carbon to bamboo. Visitor numbers exceeded last years total by the second day so the success of next year’s event looks assured. If you didn’t make it this year, put a date in your diary for next which runs from 12-14 April.

 

 

Categories
Featured Nutrition Recovery Reviews

Scheckter’s OrganicEnergy

Schecklers Energy Drink

Need a boost on the bike? Hate the quick fix ‘jag’ of coffee or more traditional energy drinks? The answer could well lay with Scheckter’s OrganicEnergy, a break from the norm that delivers a 100% natural power lift and boasts organic credentials to boot, whilst also claiming a more sustained approach to energy levels without any of the sudden crash that can accompany other manufacturers’ product. As if Scheckter’s needed one more trick up its sleeve, it tastes great.

 

Developed by Toby Scheckter, a former racing driver who was raised on an organic farm, the 250ml cans of OrganicEnergy delivers through three main mechanisms. Firstly, caffeine comes from a combination of raw green coffee bean extract and guarana, the latter a South American plant related to the maple which delivers twice the caffeine of coffee alone – one can of OrganicEnergy provides approximately 85mg caffeine, about the same as a double espresso. Secondly, ginseng a traditional herbal supplement that claims innumerable benefits (though none scrupulously tested or proven) and finally gingko biloba another long-established herbal preparation which is often said to improve mental focus and improved blood circulation – though the latter isn’t amongst Scheckter’s claimsf for it.

 

However, Cyclo can be absolutely certain on several points: the caffeine boost was more than perceptible on the ride, a good steady increase that felt sustained and didn’t leave us lagged at the end of it. Beyond the increased buzz that you would expect caffeine to deliver, it’s also worth noting that mounting research shows that it can, in the short term, increase VO2-Max (effectively the amount of oxygen you can metabolise and the effectiveness with which this happens) in addition to raising lactic acid thresholds which can delay the onset of fatigue. We also know for sure that Scheckter’s OrganicEnergy tastes incredibly good – almost an unheard of quality in energy drinks where the norm still seems to be ‘if it tastes foul, it must be doing some good.’ This drink delivers a crisp, clean, slightly citrus taste with no bitter after tang.

 

Soil Association and Vegetarian Association approved, Fairtrade compliant, 100% natural and organic and, another bonus, from this month also available in a ‘lite’ version that has 33% fewer calories, thanks to the switch from sugar cane to organic agave, a cactus-like plant native to Mexico. Scheckter’s OrganicEnergy is available from Waitrose, Holland & Barrett and some independent health food stores across the UK with a RRP of £1.45 for a 250ml can. This drink is definitely set to be Cyclo’s taste of the summer rides. Further information at www.schecktersorganic.com

 

Categories
Featured Features

Cycle the Camino – Part One

We sent Del, our foreign correspondent and chief miserablist, on a 15 day tour through Spain. The ride took him from Biarritz to the ‘end of the world’ following centuries old pilgrim routes.

 

After 1,000 km in search of God, Cake and clean socks he finally arrived at peace with himself and the bike – but it didn’t start out that way. Watch Part One of his Video Diary here. If you want to see redemption watch Part Two in our latest iPad edition.

 

http://itunes.apple.com/app/cyclo/id465051524