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differentiation

in glasgow's buchanan street sits argyll arcade, a small shopping precinct leading off the main thoroughfare. according to its website, it is "widely regarded as the diamond jewellery centre of the north" and home to more than 30 jewellers and diamond merchants under one roof. the sign above the entrance informs that the arcade was opened in 1827, meaning that it is only one year distant from its 200th anniversary. the surroundings will have changed almost unrecognisably over the two centuries, but its very existence is one that proves it to be the exception to the rule.

imagine for a moment, that as a would-be velocipedinal entrepreneur, you harbour plans to open your own bike shop, with two options as to where this will take place. hypothetically, if the following two constituted those options, which would you be likely to choose? a street or town already populated with several bike shops, or a street or town which features none whatsoever? it is eminently possible that the latter is simply because there is no local market for bicycles whatsoever, or the former because it is slap bang in the middle of a large local population that has repeatedly demonstrated a predilection for bicycles over motor cars. at this point, you may have to rely on those hard won entrepreneurial skills.

however, nine times out of ten, you'd be inclined to choose the location with, effectively, no competition, rather than the one with already established and presumably commercially successful bike shops. doing so might barely skim the surface of that entrepreneurial nous; i think we'd all be inclined to agree, even if the retail industry was hardly the cornerstone of our expert knowledge. for starters, you'd likely have carte blanche in your choice of brands, with no other stockists likely to undermine the supplier's desire for exclusivity. and secondly, you probably wouldn't have to replicate the tesco/aldi, paradigm, where the former seems hellbent on matching its prices to the latter.

i am aware that the principal competition to bricks and mortar these days is the online retailer, but for the purpoises of this monologue, we'll discount that aspect, as it would only complicate matters.

in 2011, former professional racer, yanto barker, at one time a stagiare for the hardly snappily named, mbk-oktos-saint-quentin team, founded le col cycle clothing, reviews of which featured several times in these very pixels. offering quality, well-designed products, le col perhaps had the misfortune to arrive seven years after rapha had opened in perren street, london, having altered the paradigm for cycle clothing for at least the following decade and a bit beyond. or, perhaps yanto had chosen to do so in the light of rapha's phenomenal success.

but in this market, there was already the aforementioned rapha, preceded almost a decade previously by scotland's endura, plus there were the perennials: assos, castelli and santini. and also fancying a portion of the same market, was the short-lived swiss upstart, cervo rosso, then north of england's shutt velo rapide, currently the owner of prendas ciclismo, yet another cycling apparel company, but one concentrating on the retro market and able to carve out a niche of their very own. there was also the now sadly defunct velobici, and a number of others, one of which, from the other side of the pond, had purchased several rapha jerseys, before returning them within the limited time period for a full refund, then releasing their very own, almost identical sportwool cycle jerseys.

they didn't last long.

as we have discussed on many a cheerless occasion, the world of cycling is tiny in comparison to the likes of golf, tennis, football and several other sports, so while we all probably know a lot of cyclists, it's quite possible that we know more golfers, even if refraining from the hobby ourselves. and within that niche world, the number who think of themselves as refugees from the peloton is even smaller, unfortunately the very part of the equation at which many of the above brands are aiming their product ranges. when there's very little to choose from in design and quality between rapha, le col, shutt, endura, assos, castelli, santini, velobici and the rest, you have to wonder whether there is enough profit to keep them all afloat according to their means?

however, many of you will be aware that yanto recently called time-out on le col, leaving to follow other pursuits following several years of financial losses, economic headwinds faced by many others, including rapha and endura. the company has now been purchased, lock, stock and barrel, by austria's head group, perhaps better known as the manufacturer of tennis rackets. no doubt they have the financial wherewithal to provide le col with a decent home, but so doing hardly makes the problem go away. it's still eminently possible that there are simply too many apparel companies chasing the same set of dollars and pound notes, with little to choose between them.

video and dvd rental company, blockbuster, was founded in 1985, renowned for its large and comprehensive selection of products for rent or purchase. however, when streaming became the default means of watching the latest films and listening to music, it failed to adapt, and ultimately went bankrupt in 2010, leaving only a single representation in bend, oregon. however, prior to entering administration, the owners attempted to sell the company as a going concern, a somewhat disingenuous proposition, given the reason for its eventual failure.

is head about to find that out the hard way?

saturday 7 february 2026

driven

i'm pretty sure i've mentioned this before, but given the timescale, it might well be worth repeating in shorter form in the light of its pertinence to today's monologue.

in around 1989, only a couple of years after moving to the hebrides, i penned an article for the local newspaper, investigating how practical it might be to dispense with the car, buy a family-sized fleet of bicycles and move about while in the saddle, instead of driving the relatively or unbelievably short distances that form the mainstay of the majority of island residents. the savings highlighted by doing so, and including purchase of quality waterproofs for the nuclear family of four, left plenty of scope to hire a vehicle for holidays, the occasional trip to the mainland, or for those trips on the island that simply could not be accomplished by motor car.

it will not surprise you in the least that my article had all the impact of a rice-krispie on a croissant. in fact, rather than the situation improving, it has become manifestly worse, with many islanders driving as little as a few metres each day to get to work or to the shops. the island's two main villages harbour a population of around 1,000 each, leaving the remaining 1,200 spread amongst the smaller villages and the more remote areas of islay. however, on an island that is only 34km long, by around 30km wide, there are very few locations completely out of reach of even a bicycle. the mitigating factor, however, might well be the inclement weather that pervades pretty much all year round.

public transport is effectively pointless. it commences around 7am and ends at 6pm, and is constrained solely to the main roads. if you live off the beaten track, you will have to be self-sufficient in that respect. there are three distilleries unreachable by bus, and there's no bus service on sundays, even to meet the ferries or the aeroplane from glasgow. you can perhaps understand why you'd need to be of a stoic mindset to opt for a bicycle rather than a motor car. however, there's no doubting that, in very many mainland locations, transport problems are considerably less onerous, yet huge numbers still opt to drive.

for instance, as a one-time periodic visitor to london town, i cannot fathom why anyone would want to drive. there is a more than comprehensive taxi infrastructure, there are frequent trains to the suburbs, you can hardly cross the streets without having to avoid a constant stream of red buses, and the undergound travels to places i've never even heard of, and in many cases, about every ten minutes. why on earth would anyone want to drive the clogged roadways and then have to find somewhere to park? yet all the congestion that is an integral part of any major city, tends to be caused by the number of cars on the road.

when i had cause to travel to my mother's house on scotland's west coast, i took the bus from buchanan bus station, one which travelled directly to my destination without stopping, save for a few stops in glasgow city centre. yet the slowest part of the journey, if leaving after 4pm, was the few kilometres on the motorway exiting glasgow and heading south west. and while i sat there listening to jazz on my ipod, i could watch streams of slow moving cars on the neighbouring lanes, mostly occupied by one person, attempting the same journey as yours truly.

in my humble opinion, the problem is one of personal attitude, and the fact that the motor car is generously favoured over the majority of alternatives. it's much easier, though considerably more expensive to drive a car; and while a number are happy to pay lip service to the alternatives, fully comprehending of the benefits for humanity and the environment if they left the car at home, or opted not to have one in the first place. but invariably the conversation closes with endless reasons why others should adopt a car-free lifestyle, but a wide selection of reasons as to why it could never work on a personal level. i'm sure many of you have conversed with those who spent more energy on finding excuses than on finding solutions.

and while i might be tempted to agree that i seem to be preaching to the converted, there's a body of evidence to demonstrate that several of those who own state-of-the-art carbon fibre, also own a performance car. for them, the bicycle is part status symbol, part means of one-upmanship in the fitness stakes and very rarely considered as a means of transport. as you would expect, i mostly blame zwift and strava. it's also undeniable that car ownership is closely allied to one's status in society. if transport were the controlling issue, everyone would be driving a fiat 500.

there's a strong likelihood that, if the country's governments were truly invested in active travel, there's plenty that could be done to make it happen. so that change of attitude, as mentioned above, applies not only to us as individuals, but to those in the seats of power. we can look forward to the day when the bicycle ascends to its rightful position in the transportational hierarchy, but i fear it won't be in any of our lifetimes.

2050 may be the target for net-zero (2045 in scotland), but the word we're all looking for is 'unlikely'.

friday 6 february 2026

deception

there appears to be, from cursory investigation, an unwritten rule at play even within the remnants of the sunday morning peloton, that the precursor to any deliberate mention or discussion of either zwift, strava or both, is to invite yours truly to place my hands over my ears, or, in more extreme cases, hum a jazz tune. the latter is a strong indicator that, even amongst the cognoscenti, jazz remains incomprehensibe to otherwise intellectual riders. however, while they disdain the music of miles davis, art blakey, buddy rich and john coltrane, i have long reciprocated by having cultivated a similar dislike for the two activity apps mentioned above.

despite whichever bicycle is the velo du jour, i will admit to having a garmin gps device mounted on a compatible, bar-mounted bracket. however, as previously outlined, this is purely due to my predilection for riding bereft of a wristwatch. any data recorded during my velocipedinal outings is summarily deleted on return to the croft. personally, i have no desire to have those activities displayed for all to see and comment on, and nor am i willing to forgo the joys of riding in the great (and free) outdoors, whatever the weather.

do not mistake my enthusiastic endorsement of the manifesto of ned ludd for disparagement of the pecadillos of others; for now at least, it's a free world, and if my colleagues continue to be completely wrong in their approach to cycling, then i am willing to let them accumulate such errors. but i am unable to disavow the fact that spending inordinate numbers of hours aboard a stationary bicycle, watching cartoon cycle courses on an ipad, has seemingly improved the power outputs of several of the sunday peloton; it's just not for me.

however, for those less inclined to accept the oft-times extreme weather conditions in the hebrides, it is noted that they seem to appreciate the ability to remain within a centrally-heated sitting room or garage, while pedalling for wll they're worth. there's no doubt that it works, but it categorically isn't cycling. but neither zwift nor strava are ego free, even though the original concepts behind both had perhaps not countenanced such an aberration from the outset.

strava, for those not in the know, features many sections designated within each locale, for which someone currently holds the fastest time. the ego part arises when achievement of the latter is broadcast to all and sundry on the strava home pages. what may have originated as a training tool, has ended up as a digital means of being 'king of the castle'. and how do you reach the physical status that enables such status? why, zwift of course. and, in a noticeable parallel to the iniquities of facebook, avatars of those in far-flung corners of the world, suddenly become categorised as friends, even though that friendship mostly consists of having observed the training goals and outcomes of distant others, and perhaps typed a message or two during virtual competition.

however, as highlighted above, in many cases, it does seem to work, improving power and fitness, but rarely bike handling and puncture repair. and if we're willing to accept that zwift is the stepping stone to strava, surely any en-route deception fools no-one but the practitioner (unless, of course, you never actually cycle outdoors). and it appears that the good folks at strava headquarters have finally cottoned on to the level of subterfuge being practised on their digital platform.

according to the men in lycra white coats, through the ministrations of artificial intelligence tools, they have removed a very large amount of ride data that it considers to have been uploaded from e-bikes, while concealing that particular fact from unsuspecting observers. i have said on many occasions that the relative visual anonymity of users of both platforms, surely made it a simple matter to fasten an e-bike to a smart trainer, or onto the nearest road, and ease onto the leaderboards without breaking sweat. and on that score, it occurs that dispensing with leaderboards would likely disincentivise potential cheating of this nature. if there's nothing to be gained, there wouldn't be much point.

jazz rules ok.

thursday 5 february 2026

the only way is down

it has long been a matter of (velocipedinal) public knowledge, that it is the aim of rapha founder, simon mottram, to make cycling the most popular sport in the world. simon is a very clever and astute man, so i don't doubt for a single moment, that he is unaware of the enormity and, ultimately, total futility of achieving that aim. in some instances it has been contracted to apply solely to road racing, but that would surely limit the aim, rather than make it more likely to succeed.

perhaps many of us, innately tired of the national fervour surrounding the game of football, not a problem solely applicable to the uk. when every terrestrial tv channel sports at least four digital channels, many of which are employed in the odd business of showing constant repeats, why is it that football succeeds in occupying inordinate numbers of hours on the flagship channels? though now a lost subscription cause, when itv broadcast the tour de france, it did so on itv 4, leaving those in thrall to coronation street and emmerdale, untroubled by those three weeks in july. yet relatively unimportant (even by soccer standards) midweek matches appear on bbc one, itv one or channel five with impunity. placing those matches on the 'lesser' channels would be highly unlikely to reduce their audiences.

so those of us with a cycling obsession are remaindered to the high cost subscription service of tnt sports, with its £30.99 per month price of admission. yet they at least have unflinchingly supported one of cycling's lesser known genres, week in, week out, with superb coverage and expert commentary that culminated, over the past weekend, with the cyclocross world championships in hulst, in the netherlands. friday's team relay race, men's and women's junior races, men's and women's under 23 events, and la crème de la crème, the men's and women's elite championship races, which brought dutch riders, lucinda brand and mathieu van der poel a matching pair of rainbow hooped jerseys.

for van der poel, it was the culmination of an almost perfect cyclocross season, winning every race he entered, suprassing not only the record number of world cup victories of the legendary sven nys, but gathering more rainbow jerseys than eric de vlaeminck, yet another record. now i have already framed this monologue by highlighting the niche aspect of cyclocross as a niche corner of the already acknowledged, niche aspect of cycling in the grand panoply of sporting endeavour. against the weekend's onslaught of endless soccer and australian tennis, a group of elite cyclists doing battle in the mud, grass, steps and planks arranged around the town of hulst, perhaps holds considerably less allure to the majority, despite sunday afternoon's attendance in hulst reputedly topping 50,000.

however, come monday morning, there would surely be lip service paid in the sports pages of at least the guardian newspaper? after all, they have often employed the services of the fotheringhams, two of the sport's finest exponents of velocipedinally inclined wordage. yet, close examination of the so-called sports section's twelve pages, elicited only the results of the european track championships from turkiye. not. a. single. mention. of. cyclocross. in what other sport can you remain undefeated across eleven events, in the process surpassing a long-lived historical record, then win your eighth world championship, breaking another record in the process, yet apparently deserve not even a footnote in a national, quality newspaper?

however, i do realise that i have perhaps given the impression that this has come as a surprise; far from it. grame obree, perhaps tongue in cheek, once told me that he rather liked the fact that he was involved in a sport than had not achieved escape velocity and world renown, though in truth that's something highly unlikely to be seen in our lifetimes, and perhaps we ought to be careful what we wish for. but it would be nice to believe that the free press of a national democracy would see fit to make space for all sports, irrespective of their measured popularity. it's simply adding insult to injury to take up almost half the guardian's front page with a photograph of a tennis player lying flat on his back, arguably contributing little to his headline victory.

if they'd cropped out his tennis racket lying a few metres away, there would have been room for van der poel, brand and a smattering of results. i presume mr mottram is every bit as disappointed, given that the united states team were clothed by rapha. at least the bbc provided an albeit brief report on their website.

image: skoda

tuesday 3 february 2026

temerity

locally, i have a reputation of riding my bicycle in pretty much any weather conditions that stop short of chucking me off onto the roadside. after nearly forty years in the hebrides, i have figured out in what it is i can ride, and what is best to leave to ride another day. add to that the fact that i have a comprehensive wardrobe of waterproofs, the point of which is surely to keep me wind and water tight in the face of adversity, why not make use of them? however, one has to be careful of attempting to bolster a reputation when common sense says otherwise, a situation that arose on sunday morning.

i'm led to believe that equestrians are advised to 'get back on the horse' whenever gravity has taken them unceremoniously to the ground. following my inexplicable front wheel puncture on saturday (there appears to be nothing externally that caused the puncture, so despite having replaced the tube, i harboured concerns that i might have missed something that would come back to bite me on a subsequent ride.) but sunday morning, while not windy, was decidedly wet, precipitation that refused to give up over the course of the morning.

as i mentioned yesterday, televised coverage of the 'cross world championships continued into sunday morning, so i temporarily capitulated and watched the u23 women's race and that of the junior men prior to lunch. but, related to all that i've mentioned so far, this week's cycling weekly features a brief interview with british cyclocross champion, cameron mason, in which the scot admits that, if given carte blanche for his favourite place to ride, he'd choose scotland, despite edinburgh being his home. i have phrased this admission in this fashion because, though not a cyclist of any hue, my brother, despite being born in aberdeen, currently lives in the very south of england, not that far from pippa york (robert millar as was), who has also eschewed her home country ostensibly at the behest of its reputation for inclement weather. similarly, eurosport commentator and twice british road race champion, brian smith, originally from paisley, also lives on the eastern side of the south of england.

that can't be entirely coincidental.

considering mason's mode of employment as a member of the alpecin development team, he is afforded the opportunity to cycle in far warmer climes than the east coast of scotland. but as he mentions, there's little to be gained by riding in sunny calpe, for instance, when his race programme entails that he ride in the rain, wind and mud of belgium and the netherlands. knowledge of this and sympathy with his meteorological observations, has previously led me to spuriously consider running a winter training camp on islay for riders intent on competing in the spring classics. for neither can i see the benefits of riding around the crater of las canadas at the base of mount teide in tenerife, when the parcours of omloop het nieuwsblad, and kuurne-brussels-kuurne are very unlikely to offer similar weather conditions and temperatures.

would not it be more beneficial to suffer the gales, horizontal rain and sub-zero temperatures of the road that passes ballinaby farm on the way to islay's atlantic coast in mid-december?

however, if only to redeem myself in the eyes of those who could care less, following lunch, and in advance of the elite men's world cyclocross championship race, i pulled the specialized from the bikeshed and put in great effort (by my standards) for a bike ride around mulindry when the rain briefly lifted long enough to make it a dry reality. that ride was puncture free, and reaffirmed that everything is better after a bike ride, no matter the weather.

i do so hate total capitulation.

the image at the top of this article shows the relative amount of west coast rainfall as opposed to the considerably lower amounts experienced by the east coast of the country. the red circle highlights the island of islay.

monday 2 february 2026

they know, you know

'tis but a few days since i waxed lyrical about a potential return of steel to the fabric of the velocipedinal continuum, though for many, self included, it had never really departed. though i must shamefully admit there lies an all steel (including the front fork) chris king cielo, a bicycle that arrived in the world in 2012, and sadly departed only a matter of five years later, almost as short lived as the portland company's campagnolo rear hub. the cielo has not been ridden in quite some time, principally on the basis that wheels need a bit (a lot) of fettling and the fact that its sram red chainset is 53/39 and my legs are incompatible with that many teeth up front.

however, aside from its carbon front fork, my ritchey logic has assumed the steel mantle, playing directly into my luddite-driven wheelhouse. but it transpires that i may have been remiss in my celebration of the ferrous material's reputed return, because for a famed italian company, it has literally never gone away.

though no longer available, thewashingmachinepost bike shed also contains a steel colnago master x-light, with a set of chromed, straight, precisa steel forks. you may think this to be the apple of anyone's eye, and i can truly see why you would think that, but in this particular case, though the frame was a present from ernesto himself, the rear triangle takes the form of colnago's carbon b-stay, seamlessly conjoined to the the profiled-steel front triangle. personally, the purpose behind this carbon fibre was to allay any fears i had over the fate of chromed rear seat and chainstays in the salt-saturated hebridean atmosphere, unfortunately the chromed forks provided the proof of that particular pudding.

in this neighbourhood, an all-steel bicycle frame ought to be acquired completely free of any chrome titivating. if proof were required as to the veracity of that statement, the ritchey logic is it, a bicycle i have owned for over nine years and on which there is scarcely a trace of rust (though the campagnolo chain has seen better days). but now my ignorance of industry matters has been highlighted on learning that italian supremo, cinelli, has continued to produce the same steel frame - the supercorsa - for over seventy years. this masterpiece of velocipedinal engineering, sports virtually the same constitution as it did when il campionissimo conceived of its iconic form, along with cino cinelli and luigi valsassina.

the italian built round steel frame, still features italian bottom bracket threading, a national aberration eschewed by almost every other manufacturer, and the same seatpost diameter as found on my ritchey. a 27.2mm seat tube inner diameter ought to have been enshrined in law, if only to stop the carbon and aluminium outposts of the industry from messing with tube diameters.

and while we're on the subject of diameters, the supercorsa is still built with a one-inch threaded steerer, something else that ought to be mandatory on every bike in christendom. it's the only bit tom ritchey got wrong, in my opinion. and the fork attached to the lower portion of that threaded steerer curves beautifully towards the dropouts, with fitments solely for rim brakes and quick-release hubs. any wheels fitted to such grandiose beauty ought best consist of thirty-two stainless spokes, each of which crosses three others between rim and hub flange.

and no matter the ministrations of the tyre companies to convince us that wider is always better, the supercorsa has only room for a maximum width of 25mm. that's something it has in common with both my colnagos. but in these days of earnest debates over the price of admission to the inner circle, a supercorsa frameset in any one of the available sizes ranging from 48" to 64" in one centimetre increments, will relieve your bank balance of only £2,730. we did briefly discuss the commercial need to satisfy customer demand, which many have done in the shape of monocoque carbon fibre, but if you can stare at the image atop this page without emitting a deep sigh of desire, then you have no soul, and should probably find another sport or activity to occupy your time.

however, it is unlikely such grace and beauty will ever reach the hebrides, if only on the basis that those italians do love their chrome.

cinelli supercorsa

photo: cinelli

saturday 31 january 2026

never the same way once

much as i would love to attribute today's heading to my goodself, in truth it must be credited to american drummer, shelly manne, who made the statement describing the playing of the ideal jazz musician. it is an epithet that cannot, however, be used to describe the majority of the bicycle industry. it took only one unidentified cycle manufacturer to lower the seatstays to a point halfway down the seat-tube, before everyone else followed suit. the inconsistency of such a reputedly engineering dictated move, is the retaining of traditional seatstays on cyclocross bikes, yet implementing drop stays on gravel bikes, machinery generally required to undertake similar tasks over terrain of an almost identical nature.

then came the integral cable routing down the front of the headtube/headset; though the reasoning is centred in highly doubtful aerodynamic gains, i'd be willing to bet that the majority implemented such a wholesale change 'because everyone else is doing it'. witness too the rush to jump on the gravel bandwagon, before the race to become the first to meld road, gravel and mtb into one bicycle, via all-road options allied to flat bars or not flat bars, suspension or not suspension.

of course, to paraphrase the inestimable richard sachs, "they're not in the business of making bicycles, they're in the business of making money". though demonstrating my complete engineering naivety, it must surely have come to the attention of many, that the cycle industry is but a distant, yet ever closer branch of the fashion industry. electronic groupsets, single chainrings, a wider range of crank arm length, varying diameters of disc-brake rotors, a powerful braking system that, itself, started as a fashion statement.

this imposition of fashionable attributes was probably the impetus for the former cyclists' touring club (ctc) to morph into the admittedly snappier cycling uk (a shame that sustrans followed suit by re-branding as the walk wheel cycle trust, probably the finest example of contemporary idiocy to be recently witnessed.) however, to revisit with the ctc for a moment, their members' magazine regularly paid tribute to the organisation's ancestral roots, with lengthy discussions over the merits and demerits of triple versus double chainsets, and numerous images of elderly touring bicycles, sporting cotton-duck or leather saddlebags. cycling world, a contemporary publication, appeared to have an editorial ruling that any photograph must contain a bicycle, and said bicycle ought also to feature an example of the above-mentioned saddlebag, or possibly a set of similarly constituted rear panniers and a handlebar bag.

many of the examples of velocipedinal luggage featured a badge conferring status provided by lancashire's carradice, a company that has made cycle luggage since 1932. though it may be simple to snipe from the sidelines, accusing all and sundry of favouring form over function, in commercial terms, it's either a hardy individualist, or a foolhardy one, who ignores fashion at their peril. simplistically put, if the public wants red, trying to sell them black might not be the finest commercial strategy. however, keeping black in your range for those who care not one whit for red, is probably even more prudent.

which brings us back to carradice, a company that has arguably relaunched itself, having adopted the bikepacking meme along the way, yet continuing to serve up traditional panniers and barbags for the traditionalists. in fact, current limited edition offerings recreate the delight of the traditional cotton constitution in an attractive barley shade, but with updated detailing to attract the apprentice touring cyclist or bikepacker. this renaissance also includes field green, a colour "inspired by the landscapes that shaped carradice from the very beginning."

revisiting the past can be viewed as either a dearth of contemporary ideas, an attempt to attract those who have scant recall of the originals, or perhaps an admission that the old ways were indeed, best. with vinyl record sales increasing, books being favoured over kindles, newspapers over online and one-ply maple slingerland snare drums as played by gene krupa, perhaps today's generation is realising that fashion is the very definition of the emperor's new clothes.

hands up if you think so too?

friday 30 january 2026

gravel rides loch lomond & the trossachs. markus stitz. vertebrate publishing paperback 122pp illus. £15.95

thewashingmachinepost is very probably the ancestral home of the gravel denier, where the practice of re-purposing cyclocross bikes as gravel bikes (yes, specialized, i'm looking at you) is given short shrift. this misplaced notion was inadvertently (i hope) given a recent boost by pinarello, which simply replaced the flat bars on one of their mountain bikes with drop bars, appended the word gravel to the shop label, and hey presto, confusion reigns and cycling suffers.

that said, i have nothing whatsoever against those who have opted to follow the gravel path (so to speak); more bums on saddles is always going to be a good thing. but, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, we've had 'cross bikes for nigh on a century, and there really was no need to literally reinvent the wheel. yet, while the majority of us are possessed of sufficient intellect to allow the following of any nearby roadway, tracking down suitable gravel routes might not be quite so simple a task.

it has been said that opposites attract, the proof of the pudding being the inestimable markus stitz, a man for whom i have the greatest admiration for the singular way in which he has not only carved out a velocipedinal career for himself, but the effort he has put in to popularise the gravel meme. that the two of us are good friends, despite my gravel agnosticism surely points to the affability of cycling as a means of getting folks together.

i interviewed markus last year when he featured in the 2025 islay book festival. though locally we still refer to it as 'the machrie', the present owners have undertaken an uphill struggle to have us refer to it as 'another place'. some folks just never learn. however, it was in that very hotel, having failed to have their cinema projector show his off-piste videos, that we and an impressive audience shifted to the next room, where markus connected his laptop to the wall-mounted tv and carried on regardless.

let's just say that it's one thing to ride gravel routes, but another altogether to film them and author several books of newfound gravel.

though the title of this particular compact and bijou volume highlights loch lomond and the trossachs, the subtitle alludes also to argyll in which resides the island of islay. sufficiently impressed with the island, "it welcomed me so warmly after my lap of the world in 2016, it felt fitting to include it in a gravel guidebook featuring argyll." it accompanies several other rides in argyll, including one on the isle of mull, one near dunoon and another at port appin, near dunoon.

the sixteen included routes, ranging from 23km to a mammoth 177km, are prefaced by comprehensive advice on how to interpret the book's contents. "the routes are carefully selected to provide a wide mix of terrain for wherever you are on your cycling journey." markus has separated them into easy, straightforward and challenging, before pointing out the ins and outs of responsible access and legalities, deer stalking, wild camping as well as important factors such as the bike, what to wear and how much kit you might need and several other aspects of riding off road that you probably hadn't thought of.

each ride is accompanied by step-by-step directions, the route overlaid on an ordnance survey map, ride profile, length, map references and other necessary bits and bobs. as well as his writing and video skills, markus is no mean photographer, so each ride is better than well illustrated. each is also downloadable as a gpx file that can be uploaded to your bar-mounted gps device of choice.

loch lomond, the trossachs and argyll & bute offer some of the finest scenery and cycling in scotland. what are you waiting for?

gravel rides loch lomond the trossachs

thursday 29 january 2026

back again

in the early 1990s, transferring my affections from offroad to road, i purchased a reynolds 531 steel road bike frame, and, in the process, went large (so to speak). rather than acquire a complete bicycle, which was, admittedly, not an easy thing to do last century, i opted to order a campagnolo chorus groupset and build my own wheels, so that i would be completely and irreversibly invested in the road-going branch of velocipedinal activity. it was also, at the time, something of a leap of faith, for i had not previously built a complete wheelset, nor had i ever attached every single shiny component to a single bicycle frame. to avoid the need for concealed spoilers, allow me to inform you that everything worked out just ginger peachy.

at the time, carbon fibre was only making a tentative entry into the professional peloton, and colnago still built curved steel forks, convinced that the curve was necessary to soften the road buzz for the benefit of the chap or chapess in the saddle. legend has it that ferrari (of all people), put them right, demonstrating by numbers, that a straight fork was, in fact, the better option. i have no idea if that opened the door to the carbon/steel combo, but it didn't seem too long before steel and aluminium frames arrived with a straight carbon fork in place of the metal that used to sprout from the lower headset cup.

so, despite the much bandied tautological aphorism 'steel is real', eventually, quite a lot of 'real' came with a less real carbon fork. in fact, the ritchey logic currently occupying space in thewashingmachinepost bikeshed sports that exact combination, with the fork painted the identical colour of the frameset in case anyone notices. part of me occasionally wishes that it featured an original curved steel fork, just like the ones that tom ritchey fitted to his early frames. simon beatson, ritchey's usa and asia sales manager, once sent me a photo of a 1984 ritchey logic steel frame (see above) that tom had lying in the back of his store. aside from having been painted a rather decorous shade of blue, you will note that it features a curved, steel fork, an example of which i would dearly love to attach to my own bicycle.

and, as simon was keen to point out, the frame features the all but extinct, one-inch headset. what were we ever thinking when we adopted the tapered head tube ranging from 1.125" at the top to 1.25" at the bottom? how did we ever make it this far into the 21st century?

but it seems that all is not necessarily lost. in monday's news column on escape collective, they highlighted that california-based sklar bikes were now offering after market supersomething steel forks as an alternative to a carbon fork on your gravel bike. and, surprise, surprise, road.cc recently posted a video on youtube announcing that their road bike of the year was the steel-framed fairlight strael 4.0. and even though the latter arrives with a carbon fork, considering the winner was chosen from a myriad of 2025 reviewed carbon bikes. senior product reviewer at road.cc, stu kerton wrote, "the closest bike to perfection I have ever ridden."

already, sales of vinyl records have bounced back to outsell compact discs, and teenagers are reputedly discarding their kindles in favour of 'real' books and, in some cases, even newspapers. perhaps the time is precisely right for steel to once more, become 'real'.

the revolution may have arrived.

wednesday 28 january 2026

the sponsorship issue

in march of 2024, current dutch cyclocross world champion and world cup series winner, mathieu van der poel, extended his contract with german bicycle manufacturer, canyon, until 2034, as brand ambassador and rider, taking care of any impending thoughts of retirement by the paris-roubaix winner who turned 31 this month. the canyon deal is independent of his rider contract with alpecin premier tech, though it aligns fairly closely. on signing the contract, it was highlighted as a particularly "...rare, direct, and long-term brand-to rider partnership."

from canyon's point of view, such a contract with mvdp, the financial details of which have not been released, has certainly been held up on his side of the bargain over the past few months, having won every one of the eleven events in which he was entered. additionally, on sunday, at hoogerheide, he overtook the existing record of 50 world cup victories formerly held by cyclocross legend, sven nys. should mathieu win at this weekend's world championship race in zonhoven, he will exceed the number of rainbow jerseys won by erik de vlaeminck, to become what tnt sports' commentator, marty mcdonald, described as the most successful cyclocross rider of all time.

mvdp's arch-rival, belgian wout van aert finds himself in an almost identical position with visma lease-a-bike, having extended his own contract until the end of his career. of course, that is purely with the team, and not extended to bicycle supplier, cervelo. add to that the fact that, unlike van der poel, van aert has experienced several serious injuries throughout his illustrious career; of a similar age, van aert's career might possibly turn out to be a tad shorter than the dutchman's. nonetheless, despite no similar arrangement between cervelo and van aert, the former are still benefitting from his and vingegaard's successes.

it has often been said that, if and when a downturn appears in any industry, it is those who continue to advertise that ride out the storm, and remain in a healthy enough state to take advantage when things improve. so, to that extent, you can hardly blame the likes of canyon for supplying bicycles to personalities such as van der poel, dutch champion, tibor del grosso, current and former dutch 'cross champions, alvarado and pieterse, along with the alpecin premier-tech and movistar world tour teams. but so doing costs a not inconsequential amount of money (reckoned to be around 3.5 - 4.5 million euros per season). the price of admission is the principal reason cited by rapha for withdrawing the clothing sponsorship from ef education easypost (though they do appear to have jumped back into the frying pan once more with sponsorship of the usa national team).

founder and former director of endura clothing, jim mcfarlane, told me that their sponsorship of the movistar team eventually became unsustainably expensive. when they'd gained all they felt was possible, they withdrew from cycling's elite arena.

but high profile, high maintenance and high cost sponsorship starts to look a tad incongruous when the sponsor starts to layoff staff due to econonic woes. couldn't they just stop the sponsorship and attendant expense to concentrate more closely on pressing commercial matters? it's a conundrum that must have taken the form of the elephant in the room at canyon, which has just announced it aims to "...reduce complexity and simplify processes", likely to result in up to 320 staff redundancies. this follows last april's announcement of reductions in its north american staff. and after incurring a net loss of £34 million in 2025, it's not hard to see the possibly insurmountable problem facing the company.

though van der poel's undoubtedly remunerative ten year agreement, coupled with other sponsorship costs, are unlikely to have made any great inroads into such a hefty financial loss, it can't be of any comfort to those at risk of losing their jobs, to watch van der poel arrive at races in a lamborghini, wearing an exclusive richard mille watch (£250,000), while they scour the situations vacant pages in het nieuwsblad, or der spiegel.

van der poel will be hoping that canyon survives long enough to honour the finer points of his contract.

tuesday 27 january 2026