..........................................................................................................................................................................................................
six days on the telly (sort of)
the rabobank sponsored rotterdam six day race was missing from the winter six-day calendar for fifteen years until 2005. held in january, it garnered 32,000 visitors in 2006 paving the way for superb track entertainment in 2007 when the race was won by iljo keisse and robert bartko. so now that it has comfortably re-established itself, it bodes very well that cycling.tv are currently polling their viewers to ask how many would be interested in coverage of the 2008 edition from 3 - 8 january. chances are it will be on their premium channel which requires a subscription, but if you haven't already subscribed, you really don't know what you're missing.
if six day racing is something that you'd like to watch (and i have to ask, who wouldn't?) register at the innertube on cycling.tv and tell them how much you'd love to see the rotterdam six day. i have no idea what the base numers will be, but this is too good an opportunity to leave to apathy. click now, register and proceed to the live race chat section.
the photo is from sixdaybicyclerace.com producers of the excellent book and now progenitors of a dvd of the jazz age sport.
posted on thursday 23 august
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................at this time of year, it's that time of year
we're nearing the months for cycle shows, when the principal biggies of the industry take great delight in showing us their new wares. it always seems a worry that it is deemed necessary to roll out new stuff every year - but with the current pace of evolution it's largely unsurprising that new stuff appears year on year. and if i'm brutally honest, lots of it while most will wait until eurobike next month, here's a sneak peek at what the great eddy merckx plans for 2008.
actually there are not huge changes in the line-up, but one of 2007's best sellers, the chm (which i enjoyed the company of during the london-paris ride) has been replaced by the lxm. and while i know it had nothing to do with my own comments, the rather extremely compact form factor of the chm has been 'relaxed. the lxm (see picture) is still a compact, but no longer bijou, if you get my drift.
i have never been a great fan of the compact, but for purely aesthetic reasons. however, in practice, if you were riding a chm as a cyclo-sportive bike (for which it was eminently suitable) using a couple of 750ml bottles became a bit of a juggle when you fancied a drink. this would appear to have been considered in the design of the lxm - an all carbon frame, constructed in a merckx owned carbon facility in italy. retail for frame and forks is likely to be around £975, quite an astonishing price for such well crafted quality carbon.
throughout the rest of the range, the most surprising change, to my mind at least, is that the 'cross' bike has been re-named 'mud' - hmmm, not sure about that. all the merckx carbon frames will now be constructed at their italian plant (as some were in 2007). no tubes here - all monocoque construction. the top of the range axm is the only carbon frame to adhere to the 'classic' styling, ie parallel top tube. everything below that is compact only. alloy frames can be had in classic and compact, or even custom. what more could you possibly need?
there are likely to be changes to the prices, colours and finishing processes, but we won't get to find those out until after eurobike. if you'd like more info, contact the uk importer for details via thewebsite
posted on wednesday 22 august
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................the prendas blogosphere
this year, thewashingmachinepost celebrates ten years worth of pixels, having started long before weblog entered the lexicon, subsequently being restricted to 'blog'. i still don't think of this as a blog, but there are plenty who do - and that's actually fine by me. it is what it is, no matter what nomenclature you choose to apply.
however, a much more recent entry to the world of the blog - and specifically designated as such - is the newbie on prendas website. of course it highlights one or two of the products purveyed by mick and andy, but if any excuse were needed to mention it here, it's that the chaps organised an independent showing of 'the flying scotsman' on 13th august at the tivoli theatre in wimborne. you can see the connection.
you can read the prendas blog here.
posted on tuesday 21 august
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................worrying trends
i'm sure this diatribe will lose me as many friends as it gains, and doubtless have me branded a luddite by those in marketing, but since it bothers me, and may just concern you as well - if not now, maybe in the future, i'd like to air my thoughts - even if it proves a bit pointless. there are trends afoot within the bicycle market that appear, to me at least, to have a lot more to do with marketing and fashion than with 'real' improvements for the benefit of all.
i'm sure my regular reader is by now, familiar with my dislike of anything other than a one inch steerer and concomitant headset, even though i will grudgingly admit to having lost that battle completely. this headset thing extends to a similar distrust of integrated headsets, if only because it cannot be mechanically sound to move the bottom bracket bearings outboard in the name of rigidity and stiffness while simultaneously moving the headset bearings inboard. however, it has become even worse than that, with some manufacturers now creating the bottom bearings of a larger diameter than the top - as much as 1.25" or even 1.5". the justification for this is increased strength and rigidity, but if you take a look back at the greats from paris roubaix (surely the most testing race there is), most of the bikes seem to have survived very nicely thanks, without all this increased diameter. and to me at least, it seems far more practical to have a headset that can be completey removed from the frame. not sure the same can be said of the integrated variety, particularly since many are now throwing caution to the wind and machining them into the frame.
and it gets worse...
i think scott were probably the first to head in this direction, but the press fit, integrated bottom bracket bearing will soon be upon us, and the best justification i can see for such is that it can be done, so it will be done. while it may seem entirely contradictory to the recent move towards external, and therefore larger, bearings, press fit is accommodated by widening the bottom bracket shell. this can be justified in the name of increased stiffness in this area of the frame - but how much stiffness do we really need?
carbon monocoque frames and higher modulus carbon have already reinforced this area to a point beyond the ability of mere mortals and tom boonen to induce flex. but still we apparently need more, along with bearings that press straight into the frame - no threads need apply. yet again something that relies on the frame integrity and not something that can be separated. used to be that you could buy a royce bottom bracket and fit any flavour of shimano or campag that you wished. no longer - marketing dictates that that it must all come from the same source, whether that be s or c or the bike makers themselves. shimano were obviously onto something when they coined the 'total integration' moniker.
and then there's the crowning glory - the integrated seatpost (are we noticing how often the word 'integrated' is showing up here?). instead of a seat-tube that stops just past the top tube before accepting a carbon/steel/alloy/titanium seatpost (remember them?), now the seat-tube carries on up to saddle height, giving you just the opportunity you need to lop off more than you should have and rendering several thousand pounds of frame the correct size for your wee sister. contrary to what marketing would have you believe, this doesn't make the frame any lighter or, indeed, any stiffer, since anything past the top tube is effectively unsupported fore to aft. eddy merckx would have hated it, being an inveterate tinkerer with saddle height. i recently fitted a pair of vista magic x pedals necessitating a 20mm drop in seatpost height for the duration of the road test. try that on some of the integrated jobbies.
it's beginning to seem that, instead of offering us more choice, the cycle and component manufacturers are intent on locking us into their way of thinking - only to be escaped with the purchase of a different frame - and then locked into a different system. it's really no wonder that the american handbuilt show has become larger and more popular - craftsman built style with entirely your own choice of components. and some of us saw nothing wrong with the square taper...
...and possibly even a threaded steerer - something else we were conned out of (tried raising the height of your stem recently?)
posted on tuesday 21 august
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................depends how you see it
cycling, in all its various forms, is a highly visual sport. even on the days when the peloton decides to take it easy (and i would dearly love to be able to 'take it easy' at that kind of speed), there's still lots going on - people moving up the peloton, riders moving back to get bottles, the inevitable crashes - you get the idea. and me and my camera snapped lots of this stuff at the tour of britain last year. and, yes, they were photos, but that's pretty much where it ends.
but there are photographers and there are photographers, the artistically adept who seem to capture the very essence of what cycling's all about. yes, i've just read that back and it does seem highly pretentious, but no less true for all that. i've mentioned ben ingham and stephan vanfleteren previously in these pixels, but the film grain doesn't stop there.
take a look at the photo above: if that were one of mine (oh i wish), it would likely be deleted from the digital camera, probably because someone bumped my elbow, or i'd slipped in the process of fumbling for the shutter. no such worries here. it's a cyclocross race at eastway, and after watching cycling.tv's coverage of the muddy stuff earlier this year, camille john mcmillan has described an entire race in one (beautifully) blurred black and white photo. and there's more cycling and bicycles on mcmillan's website. so as soon as you've finished here, pop over there and admire for hours - it's not just the cyclists that make this sport the delight that it is. sometimes it takes another's vision to show you what you're missing.
so now, as well as wishing i could climb hills like robert millar, paint like taliah lempert, now i want to be able to take photos like this.
but i won't give up the day job just yet.
all pictures on the site are available as silver gelatin prints. you can contact camille at info@camillemcmillan.com if you fancy covering your walls with art.
posted on sunday 19 august
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................stem style
just before you read the rest of this article, put the computer down, and nip out to the bike shed and look at the bar clamp on your stem. or more particularly, take a look at the bolts that hold it all in place. some of you will have the more contemporary four bolts, while those of us from the middle ages will have two. those from the dark ages with threaded steerers (and there's a lot to be said for the dark ages) may only have one. anyway, however, many you've got, are they rusty? mine certainly are, and unless you're one of those weight weenies with titanium bolts, my bet is that your bolts are rusty too (don't take it too personally).
how quickly this became the situation will largely depend on how wet it is where you stay, but if you spend many a weekend hour ploughing your way through driving rain, or even just that hanging about drizzle, those stem bolts are one of the first components to bear the brunt. and as we head towards the end of august, the likelihood of rain increases (summer floods in some areas, notwithstanding).
so why don't they point the bolts in the other direction, thereby sheltering them from the driving rain? (almost atmospheric this, isn't it?) good point. have a look at the stem above and tell me what's different. exactly - the bolts thread in from the back and not through the clamp. worryingly, ovalconcepts (for tis they who are responsible) have probably been doing this for years but i was too myopic to notice.
in fact, not only have ovalconcepts reversed the bolts, but they also offer titanium bolts and a red carbon frontplate as an option - and neither of those are prone to rusting, but definitely promote weight loss (as part of a high carbon fibre diet).
but if we ignore all the mechanical and climatic benefits, the bolt placement and form factor of the front plate/clamp have made a utilitarian piece of equipment remarkably stylish. and admit it, when was the last time you bought a stem based on its style factor? if i have to gripe, it's the old chestnut of no 1" steerer compatibility, though there is an optional shim available for those of us without the extra .125" of steering rigidity (cough). and there are two bar diameter options and two angles also available.
when it comes to what are now described as 'classic bars' (non-anatomic) ovalconcepts are also eager to please, offering their r701 classic road bars in four widths and two drops. oval concepts are distributed in the uk by upgradebikes and i have enquired as to the possibility of borrowing the above combination for a road test/review. if it happens, i'll let you know.
posted on saturday 18 august
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................sad day at the comic
over the past couple of years i have found cause to moan about the covers of cycling weekly at every available opportunity. and i think i used to be a constant moaner about their persistent coverage of everything lance ever did, cycling or otherwise. editor robert garbutt never answers any e-mails, but deputy ed nigel wynn and i struck up an enduring correspondence, (whether he wanted it or not:-) which continues even today.
but all good things come to an end, or maybe they just change direction, because nigel has now ended his tenure as deputy editor on the comic and cycle sport, though he will continue to contribute in a freelance capacity. and not to put too much pressure on whoever moves into the position, but they have a class act to follow.
nigel, i'm sure you'll be sorely missed, but thewashingmachinepost would like to wish you all the very best for the future, and i promise that all moans about the cover wil now be directed to some other poor sod.
best of luck from here on in, and we'll keep in touch.
posted on thursday 16 august
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................getting back in the saddle
when you were a kid, if you crashed or fell off your bike, did your mum tell you to get straight back on and go for a pedal (after kissing the sore bit better)? that's exactly what my mum used to do, apparently to make sure that i didn't lose my nerve, and never cycle again (what a frightening thought).
the same happens to horse riders and race car drivers: straight back in the saddle, so to speak before there's time to mull over what could have happened, and talk themselves scared. but we haven't been given the same opportunity with regard to cycle racing.
after the tour de farce, when what started off successfully in london and south england, turned very sour in france, we all needed something to reinforce our love of cycle racing, before we all talk ourselves out of ever watching again. but all we've faced is a televisual void. last year, british eurosplot showed us the classica san sebastian, a rather pleasant one day classic - not so this year. last year cycling.tv gave us the deutschland tour, but with grave doubts over whether german tv was covering the race, simon brydon decided to let it pass in 2007.
so until the uci's flagship new stage race, the eneco tour, starts on cycling.tv on 22 august, we've got nothing. and the worst part is that some folks, not so much in the know (my mum and dad, for instance) actually rather enjoyed watching the tour highlights each night, and may well have enjoyed watching more cycle racing, had british eurosplot bothered to show any during august. by the time the eneco starts, they'll have gone back to bbc2.
so a nominal amount of cycle racing on the box or the web during this month, could have conceivably satisfied on two fronts: restored confidence in those of us who think of ourselves as diehards, and extended the new-found enthusiasm of the newbies. a lost opportunity if you ask me (and even if you didn't, i'm going to tell you).
following on from the eneco tour will be la vuelta, coverage of which is available on british eurosplot and cycling.tv (free on the latter for 2007), but by then we'll have completely lost our nerve, even if astana will be absent and one or two others that don't deserve a mention, which is not the best of form to be in as the world's appear at the end of september. at least the comic, cycle sport and procycling have all kept the faith.
so while we've all lost a bit of confidence in professional cycling, it would be nice if the broadcasters of the world hadn't lost confidence in us. most of us are here for the long haul, not just july, and we'll still be here whichever way it all goes.
i now have to eat humble pie again and apologise to eurosplot, because they have had televised coverage of the tour of burgos, even if they did sort of keep quiet about it
posted on wednesday 15 august. updated saturday 18 august.
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................solo gig
you will have noticed one or two items from the solo range of clothing appearing from time to time in these pixels. i wore the st neith clement sur lie jersey on my second day during london paris, and now that the mornings (and evenings) have turned chilly, their gilet has protected my chittering bones (purely dramatic license, you understand).
but i don't really know that much about them, and the best way to find out, is to ask - so i did.
now read the paul mason solo interview here
posted on tuesday 14 august
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................two wheels by matt seaton. published by guardian books. £9.99 paperback
much like company directors and members of parliament i feel i must declare an interest here, since i am proud to say i consider matt seaton a friend of mine. and the reason that we became acquainted in the first place was the appearance of his two wheels column in the guardian newspaper around two years ago, now a new book (can't wait for the major motion picture).
like many of us, i had already read the escape artist which, if we set aside the subject matter of same, is an extremely well written book. if there was ever an ideal candidate for the guardian job, matt was (and is) it.
the appearance of the column in the guardian's g2 section was a breath of fresh air, since the dailys generally pay scant attention to cycling until july when the tour de farce makes its annual appearance. in the spirit of moral support, i got matt's e-mail address and mailed him in october 2005 asking if he couldn't get the guardian to print smaller pictures of cars, thereby giving two wheels a bit more space (matt's words used to feature on the same page as the motoring column). now doubtless newspaper column writers receive hundreds of letters and e-mails (i know, i've sent many of them:-), but matt answered this first communication, and has continued to do so to the present day, preserving an almost unbroken weekly (and very often witty) communication between islay and london - i hasten to add that the wit is almost entirely from the london side of this equation. in fact in april, at my first face to face with mr seaton, we went to see a preview of obree's movie the flying scotsman and at the risk of causing acute embarrassment, he is one of the nicest blokes i've met.
matt commutes by bike (fixed), indulges in cyclo-cross, races for the rapha condor team and is particularly aware of the environmental and moral issues that the bicycle engenders. he is also erudite in his prose describing same. but before you think you're entering the world of a mutual admiration society, when the guardian's g2 section changed editors, two wheels survived the change, while the motoring column was banished to the weekend magazine and some others disappeared altogether. so it's not just me.
here we have essentially a reprint of two year's worth of columns in handy paperback style, (some updated since their original publication) with the addition of a few rapha and rouleur articles, rounding off with some bicycle book reviews. and there is a certain irony in the latter, because the first notion that came to mind while reading, was it's position as a worthy contemporary successor to tim hilton's 'one more kilometre and we're in the showers. and we all know how good a book that is.
it's the sort of book that you can dip in and out of - the articles are short, witty, succinct and organised thematically: on the campaign trail, nuts and bolts, sporting pursuits, health and wheel being etc. a seaton article published in a recent issue of rouleur also shows him to be a highly informed film buff (and probably not confined to those concerning the velocipede).
so if you really, really need an excuse to buy, two wheels could be filed in the education section of your nearest bookstore. at £9.99, two wheels is little short of compulsory reading for any cyclist. it's just that those of us who are guardian readers have had a head-start.
now you know where to go next. (nice cover too)
posted on monday 13 august
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................friday on your mind
the weekend fast approaches and the weather forecast indicates a drop in temperature. all your long sleeve jerseys are either polti or kelme, which would be a major sartorial faux pas on the sunday ride. the ideal option would be a pair of armwarmers, but no matter how often you search through the cycle clothing pile, those campag ones you had last year are nowhere to be found. obviously stashed in a safe place, never to be found again.
panic!
but maybe not so if you live in the london area (so everyone else should probably either continue to panic, or go and do something else instead). rapha have come up with fast fridays whereby any order placed between mid-day thursday and 2pm on friday, will be delivered by cycle courier. and there is something inherently satisfying about this - keeping it in the family, so to speak. admittedly there is a £20 charge for this service, but as they say - 'there ain't no such thing as a free lunch' (or rapha courier delivery).
unfortunately it seems to exclude the islay area, despite the late night sailing on a friday.
posted on sunday 12 august
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................six days
well, this is a difficult one, because i can, quite literally, find out absolutely zilch about this stuff. it's listed on competitivecyclist.com as 2008 assos six day gear, with prices but no text. there's no mention of it on the assos website at all (unless i'm looking in entirely the wrong place - always a possibility), though i did find pictures on gearandtraining.com
six day racing seems to be flavour of the month at the moment, with the excellent book available from prendas and now the release of a companion dvd. the assos six day collection very strangely doesn't include the gloves, which can be purchased separately, each colourway having a different number associated with the mitts and jersey.
i've never known anyone to have quality quibbles with assos gear, and much like rapha, it is reassuringly expensive: the six day range is no different - track mitts arrive at $54.95 which would currently translate at around £28, while the jersey and cap cost $183.95 - £90(ish). though it often seems that you either love or hate assos design, this may just appeal to a wider audience with its faint whiff of retro styling.
uk importers, yellow told me that there is nothing on this range yet since it's not due until january 2008. so there's something to buy with the christmas money
posted on saturday 11 august - updated monday 13 august
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................are they serious?
i realise that it's a bit unfair to poke fun when the request is genuine enough, but i have a sneaking suspicion that the following genuine e-mail request arrived from parker international's computer.
"We would like your opinion of the product you bought from us: it may help others who are thinking of buying it, and will help us provide cyclists with the very best equipment. We work closely with www.RoadCyclingUK.com, the UK's leading cycling website (says who?:-), who enable us to provide customer reviews on our site."
ordinarily this would be the very opportunity i live for, as you may have realised by now, but i'm not actually sure that anybody who visits roadcyclinguk would be even remotely interested in a review of the purchased product to which they refer, from me or anyone else. and likewise, i doubt anyone reading the post would be too interested either, even allowing for our voracious appetite for cycling trivia. so, rather than benefit the readers of the uk's leading website (cough) i have elected to present my review to readers of the post.
here goes...
when the campagnolo torx chainring bolt (double, black alloy) arrived through the post after a seven day wait, i employed my considerable mechanical skills to fit it to the campagnolo chorus ultra torque carbon chainset. and very fetching it looked too, comfortably blending in with the other three visible campagnolo torx chainring bolts (double black alloy). in use, the campagnolo torx chainring bolt (double, black alloy) functioned superbly, whether sprinting for the 30mph sign at bruichladdich, hammering up storakaig hill, or rumbling across the island's many cattle grids. i believe this is the very same chainring bolt as used by tom boonen, so there is no doubting its proven race pedigree. if i'm ever incompetent enough again to lose another campagnolo torx chainring bolt (double, black alloy), i will be sure to replace it with one just like this - an absolute steal (for campagnolo that is) at £12.95. (and it matched my rapha socks)
how did i do?
posted on saturday 11 august
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................your country needs you
so far solo jerseys have covered the true greats of the cycling world - france, italy, holland, belgium... you get the picture. but they are eager to add more, and in the spirit of velocipedinal (still not sure if that's a real word) democracy, they'd like you, or rather, us to vote for which country should be represented on the range next.
all you have to do is pop over to solocc.com, register, and vote. after you've plumped for the country of your choice (let me help you here - scotland would be a good notion:-) you'll see the results so far. granted i'm not sure that scotland would withstand any argument about it being one of the great cycling nations, but it's very comforting to note that it was one of the options.
and what's in it for you? well, the solo jersey that gets to join the club - having entered, your name will go into a prize draw to win one of the first of the newbies to slide off the production line. what have you got to lose?
exactly.
posted on friday 10 august
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................a long trek for a trek
as of 1st september this year, it will not be possible to buy a trek bike by mail order. you can phone up the advertising trek dealer, order and even pay for the trek bike of your choice, or do likewise on the internet. but they can't send it to you.
due to warranty, sizing and servicing concerns, trek have told their dealers that any prospective or actual customer will require to attend the premises in person to collect their trek bicycle. this allows the dealer to ensure that the bike fits properly and that there are no immediate concerns over the model chosen, such as saddle, stem height and length etc. all very sensible from a corporate and sales point of view, and doubtless a minor hiccup in the cycling life of those who live in or near one of the uk's major conurbations with enough trek dealers to shake a carbon pump at.
but not all of us live anywhere near a trek dealer: to use myself as an example, it would take a two hour ferry journey, four hour bus ride, an overnight stay and the purchase of a bike bag (scottish citylink do not allow unpacked bicycles on their buses) in order to emulate alberto contador in the velocipede stakes.
and even supposing i was willing to undertake such a trek to buy a trek, warranty and servicing problems would not seem to have been solved by the new directive. once i'm back home and thundering up port askaig brae on my madone which develops a warranty problem, it seems like i'd have to either do the whole journey over again, or ship it off to the trek dealer from whom i bought it. similarly if i wished to partake of the dealer's free intial service. so what, exactly, has been solved here? it's almost a solution looking for a problem.
so other than making sure the bike fits, what are trek gaining from this? well, it is impossible to despatch a bicycle of any make without a certain amount of assembly required at journey's end, even if it is only putting the pedals in place and straightening the handlebars, but even this is beyond the abilities of some very fine cyclists. and some servicing/assembly work requires specialist tools that the customer is unlikely to own, or be willing to buy. so it's possible that trek do have a point, but when i spoke to their customer service department manager, he did admit that they currently have no system in place that would obviate the above detailed scenario necessary to buy a trek bike, though since the directive didn't come into being until september 1, it was too early to know if they've go it right.
so what do those of us in the remoter parts of the uk do now? the simple answer is 'don't buy a trek'. but you can bet your sweet bippy that most of the other manufacturers will be watching this like hawks, and if it proves workable they'll likely follow suit. trek have already looked into the legality of preventing their dealer network from ignoring this directive, and all is apparently perfectly above board, since there is no restriction of trade implicit in the wording, though the more remotely located prospective customer may feel otherwise. if i'm being really unkind, i don't actually remember anyone saying 'i really have to have a trek' so it may just come home to roost.
it's a procedure that's unlikely to affect those of us who happily buy frames and components before working them into the bike of our dreams, but how long before someone starts looking at that?
thin end and wedge spring to mind - or then again 'shot' and 'foot'
posted on friday 10 august
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