Chasing wheels

As the season draws to a close, the big shows also get underway as manufacturers show off what they think we will want to buy next year. I've got a few items on my wishlist, most of which aren't brand-spanking new.

Bont cycling shoes (350 USD)

As worn by the GB cycling team at the Olympics. Jamie Staff had a pair I think and possibly Victoria Pendleton too. I fancy a pair in black, maybe white, that patent leather look is slick and suitably futurist. I'm apparently a size 40, according to their sizing chart.

Zipp 404 clincher wheelset (1500 GBP)

The daddy of the deep section. I've seen enough people riding them and heard them whooshing past me often enough to know I would like a pair. They may not be the lightest wheel or whatever but there's something about the shape and look of them on a bike that says business. I've marked myself down for Shimano drivetrain clinchers because I can't face the prospect of tubulars and getting glue all over the kitchen.

Hed Jet 50 wheelset (663 GBP)

I'll settle for these in lieu of the Zipp wheels. My friend Robin has a pair and they look very swishy indeed. He says they roll well and give that proper aero feel once you get up to speed.

Bianchi B4P 928 T-Cube Frameset (1300 GBP)

Call me heathen if you must but don't tell me it doesn't look sexy in monochrome, even more so that the classic celeste. I've been wanting one for quite a while now and it's nothing to do with it being what the Barloworld team ride. It's a Bianchi, they are always sexy. The 53 size seems to be exactly the same geometry as my current Merckx frame, something which sways me further.

Rapha Cap (25 GBP)

My current one, which I've had since sometime in late 2005, has given up the ghost - the peak cracked and caved in. So I'm in the market for a new one as it's one of those items which I get far too much use out of to go without. The depth is right, the material is comfortable and unlike other caps I've tried, it does the job in the rain and sun alike. The medium size fits me fine.

I'm sure there's more stuff I'd love to try or buy but these are the top items. If you would like to buy them for me don't let the current financial climate stand in the way of an impecunious purchase for me.

Posted by Alex on 29 September 2008, 21:09 Digg this | Add to del.icio.us | Reddit | Newsvine | Facebook | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Here's that video clip I promised you. Yes, I know the audio's out of synch due to dropped frames and I'm pretty embarrassed that I couldn't remember where Shanaze is from but I don't want to hurl my laptop out the window in the course of tinkering further. Enjoy.

Jamie Staff and Shanaze Reade on BMX from Alex Murray on Vimeo.

Meanwhile the World Road Race Championships are under way which totally escaped my notice. For some reason I had then down under the other day starting with a T, Thursday.

I'm going to take a punt on the Men's Road Race winner and say Oscar Friere sneaking it while everyone is watching Paolo Bettini and Alejandro Valverde. That or another lesser-known rider taking advantage of the big nations marking each other and carrying them to the line.

I can't quite figure out the Great Britain plan. David Millar should obviously ride for the Time Trial title in the absence of Fabian Cancellara, but with Levi Leipheimer hot after the Vuelta and the team riding for him in the Road Race he might be more focused on that.

Posted by Alex on 23 September 2008, 20:09 Digg this | Add to del.icio.us | Reddit | Newsvine | Facebook | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

London freewheel at Buckingham Palace, originally uploaded by leguape.

Here's one of the pics I took today out and about at the Freewheel. Didn't get to interview Victoria but got a couple of bits with Ed Clancy about the Worlds) and Jamie Staff and Shanaze Reade about getting into BMX.

I'll post them up later along with more photos and hopefully some edited video of the whole course.

Posted by Alex on 21 September 2008, 17:09 Digg this | Add to del.icio.us | Reddit | Newsvine | Facebook | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I've given up trying to keep track of who is going where next season. And I'm not just talking about riders but manufacturers, sponsors and most likely cuddly toys and small dogs.

Could everyone who is staying where they are this year put their hands up, it's going to be easier to count up that way? Right now I've got that sorted, here's the bits I'm fairly sure I've got right:

• Everyone is going to a team named after a Russian rocket, Katyusha
• All the British riders are doing their best to avoid being available in 2010 for the GB professional-national team that Dave Brailsford keeps on banging on about
• All the bike manufacturers have decided that it's keys in the fruit bowl to decide who gets who to ride their bikes next year
• More bandwidth will be wasted on Lance Armstrong than porn in the 2009 season

Velonews
bikeradar.com
cyclingnews.com
Cycling Weekly

This way I don't have to tell you about my disastrous rush of blood on Saturday which saw me go tearing off on lap two then suffer "the hunger knock" (copyright Sean Kelly) midway through before getting the sprint all wrong again and sitting up in frustration.

Posted by Alex on 16 September 2008, 20:09 Digg this | Add to del.icio.us | Reddit | Newsvine | Facebook | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I got sent a link to a great example of how well a cycling blog can be done with a bit of thought and the right technology which I thought I'd share with you all.

It's called The Great IBC Bike Ride and the idea is "A bunch of geeks cycle from London to Amsterdam for Children in Need".

What's neat about it is the integration of things like GPS tracker feeds, twitter and flickr to a blog. Given the sort of kit available these days in devices like the Nokia N95 (which I have and use) it should become increasingly easy for a rolling cyclist to update their journey as they go in pictures and text, not to mention the potential for video and mapping the journey.

Posted by Alex on 10 September 2008, 09:09 Digg this | Add to del.icio.us | Reddit | Newsvine | Facebook | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Yes, you heard right. First interview in Vanity Fair is online now.

Lance Armstrong Rides Again - Vanity Fair

It's a masterful piece of PR all round because this comeback isn't about bike racing, it's about cancer. Go on, you try not inviting him to your race now. Bon chance with that ASO.

Reading the article this is a man who cares so much about his own reputation and his cancer project that he no longer cares whose back it puts up. There's a veiled threat that if ASO want to be awkward he'll just get Nicolas Sarkozy to lean on them. They may own the race but France owns the spectacle as a piece of its cultural patrimony.

He's put a message on the Livestrong site about it:

Lance's Comeback to Cycling in 2009

(which I'm bloody glad he did otherwise I might have had to link to the article on Perez Hilton which is mentioning it. Has he spoken to the cycling press? Hahahahaha! It's on PA and so the newswires, why bother?

Seriously, I'm excited because actually I think a Lance comeback complete with a whole "doing it transparently and clean" schtick will kick cycling way up the sporting agenda because it's not just a cycling story. Everyone in sport will want a part of this story, the haterz, the fanboys, the geeks and your mum will want to know about it.

Now where did I put the popcorn?

Posted by Alex on 9 September 2008, 21:09 Digg this | Add to del.icio.us | Reddit | Newsvine | Facebook | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There's few things that set me off like a good rumour in professional cycling. And there's none bigger than "Lance Armstrong is making a comeback to the pro peloton and will ride the Tour". As if by magic...

"Sources: Lance Armstrong coming back" - velonews.com

Brilliant! Utterly A to the M to the A to the ZING! It's like sending Anna Wintour into a PETA meeting with a steak dinner. Heck I've seen people put their hand in a beehive with less effect.

It works like this rumour starts and then the whole cycling world goes batshit-a-tonto-mental. As Euro Peloton puts it

"As usual, Lance has managed to garner all of the attention in the cycling world, and he hasn't even made his announcement official yet. Starting in California in February, expect the 2009 cycling season to be an absolute circus as one of the biggest names in cycling plans his comeback to the sport."

Man alive! Paul Kimmage and David Walsh are going to be like a police dog at a protest march if it turns out to be true. The old rumours and stories will be wheeled out and we'll still be none the wiser to the truth of it all. The keyboard heroes who know something that no one else seems to be able to prove as yet will be mashing the submit button mercilessly.

Armstrong doesn't need it as a cyclist but as an ego maybe he needs to reclaim his reputation by staking it all on one season which he can say "SEE? I CAN AND DID WIN CLEAN BEYOND DOUBT". Not that it matters, just do this equation:

Most globally recognisable cyclist + controversial return + rumours + significant shift in attitudes = MASSIVE headline news for cycling.

As Armstrong himself has noted, cycling did very well from his time in the sport, both financially and in terms of global popularity. Add his buy-in power for sponsors and advertisers to a reformed sport on the up again and it's a pretty good match.

Remember: "the most tested athlete" would be riding in a "clean" peloton. Me? I'm here for the popcorn and beer.

Posted by Alex on 8 September 2008, 20:09 Digg this | Add to del.icio.us | Reddit | Newsvine | Facebook | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Tour of Britain 2008 - Stage 1, originally uploaded by leguape.

I'm waiting for the highlights to come on so I can find out how the finish panned out. Steff and I were walking down and about 500 metres away on the last lap so missed the sprint.

Took a few pictures of the day which you can find on Flickr by clicking on the picture above. That's "Big" Magnus Backstedt of Garmin-Chipotle taking a drink on the left of shot.

Further back you can see an AIS rider tackling the ever-present commuter hazard, the great London pothole. This one is caused by a manhole cover having subsided and is the sort of thing that, as can be seen in the bottom of the shot, litters the cycle paths of London.

Great day out though, despite the not terribly good weather and nice to see bike racing in the heart of the city.

Posted by Alex on 7 September 2008, 18:09 Digg this | Add to del.icio.us | Reddit | Newsvine | Facebook | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I don't know why I can't get myself caring about it as much as other races in the calendar so far. OK I'm still dashing home to catch the end of the stage on Eurosport but I'm not putting myself out to follow it. Anyone else feeling a bit lacklustre about it?

Yes, I know there's a different, more elegiac dynamic to it due to it being further south in Spain and at a hotter point in the year than the other Grand Tours, but I'm not getting a buzz off it quite yet. I love the blasted earth and deserted highways that it covers but there's something getting in the way of me truly enjoying it. Here's a few possibilities

• I'm on the early shift this week, I don't do "early"
• The race hasn't really caught fire yet due to predictable stages
• I'm all whooped out after the Olympics

Then there are the things that are bugging me, in particular about the coverage. Yes, we lose reception due to mountains and valleys sometimes, occasionally atmospheric conditions, but this is 2008 and there's basic things that just shouldn't happen.

The TDF was in HD, Eurosport has an HD channel yet there's moment during the last few days where the picture quality being transmitted was akin to an old Sony Trinitron with a coathanger for an aerial. Heck a lone breakaway almost looked like a bunch at one point the ghosting was that bad.

The camera work seems to be going for excitement and action but keeps on hitting the FAIL! button remarkably hard. If it's a sprint finish I want to see the sprint goddamn it! Not a view from 300 metres away, head on and with no descriptive shots so I can't even take a wild guess at what's happening.

Tour of Britain starts this weekend so I'm in blag mode - press passes, corporate hospitality, sundry free stuff - although at a British race the extend of that is usually 10p off the fruit cake and a proper mug for your tea. All free stuff gratefully received. I'm look at you Raph-Condor, you Rock Racing and yes, you Garmin-Chipotle. If there's no burrito action in Parliament Square I'm gonna be sore disappointed.

Posted by Alex on 3 September 2008, 22:09 Digg this | Add to del.icio.us | Reddit | Newsvine | Facebook | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So Rapha have added one to their range and quite sexy it is too but as ever it's Rapha so it's getting a knocking on the internet forums, part in jest, part in earnest. But a silk scarf or neckerchief is one of the best items any cyclist can have in their wardrobe when it gets cold, something a lot of people don't seem to realise.

Fausto Coppi wore silk jerseys, made for him by Castelli, because he wanted a jersey that was light enough to keep him cool in the valleys but warm enough to stop him catching a chill in the high mountains and on descents. In that respect silk is pretty much an ideal cycling material.

Parachute silk makes for excellent gilet material thanks to the exceptionally fine weave of the material for blocking out the wind. That same fine weave in silk is also useful for keeping the sun off in the height of summer and an Alpine pass.

You'll find that silk is also an excellent material for regulating body heat, and it's what a lot of the best thermal underwear is made from. It's exceptionally lightweight and has a low pack weight so isn't as hot or bulky as thicker artificial fabrics or wool.

The neck is a particularly sensitive area and there's plenty of heat that escapes from around it. There's also a huge number of nerves sitting around the neck which need to be kept warm to avoid problems. How many cyclists protect their neck properly on winter rides? Very few.

A stiff neck due to cold was what fighter pilots used to dread as it made looking over their shoulder (ie "the lifesaver" as bikers refer to it) difficult. Pretty much every cyclist on the road would benefit from a silk scarf in winter from both a safety perspective of retaining mobility of the head and a heat retention one.

So just about the only thing you can knock Rapha for is pricing. Which when you look in the High Street at the same item they aren't pricey - Reiss did a mens' silk scarf either last year or the one before that which was fairly similar for 65 quid. A Salvatore Ferragamo one will set you back 110 quid in Harrods, and that's for a top end label. Compared to a Hermes one even Ferragamo is cheap.

How do I know this? I own both a Reiss and a Ferragamo, and have worn the former for commuting in the coldest depths of winter. The latter I bagged in the sale marked down to a tenner which I couldn't pass on but isn't really suitable for cycling. I've also got two large silk hankies that will pass for neckerchiefs that I picked up in Reiss at the weekend for a mere 8 quid each.

Posted by Alex on 2 September 2008, 16:09 Digg this | Add to del.icio.us | Reddit | Newsvine | Facebook | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)