..........................................................................................................................................................................................................
meanwhile, in a parallel universe, not very far away...
like the majority of those with little better to do than read this stuff, i have spent many a year setting up my two main bicycles. to wit: a ritchey logic steel road bicycle, and a carbon specialized crux cyclocross bike. the latter i have partially detailed only the other day, after fitting a pair of 33mm challenge chicane 'cross tyres, principally to take advantage of the summer we're currently not experiencing.
this bicycle has already been on the receiving end of fortifying fettling of its nether regions this year, my having replaced the press-fit bottom bracket bearings, fitted a new single 40t chainring, a new chain and a thorough cleaning of the cassette. the latter may not make too much physical difference, but it satisfies my aesthetic demands by providing an acceptable level of sparkle to the transmission. despite very little in the way of an increase in speed, these upgrades have engendered an intangible level of confidence that allowed me to insouciantly pass four e-bikers at speed on the approach to bowmore village on saturday afternoon.
(i did say hello as i passed)
though once i would have expressly defined myself as a bona-fide roadie, were i to possess a business card for my velocipedinal activities, it would currently impress upon any hapless recipient that i also harbour cyclocross pretensions, upon which i undoubtedly inscribe an exaggerated level of ability. as a result, my finances frequently have need of being shared between on and offroad aspirations.
from a roadie point of view, though deep-rimmed carbon wheels add a certain air to proceedings, it transpires that, particularly during the winter months, the carbon part has proved to be somewhat of a liability. the result, leaning more towards pragmatism as opposed to looks, brought a proper pair of 32h campagnolo record hubs, laced stainless steel three-cross to mavic open pro rims. thanks to the wheelbuilding expertise that lurks within london's condor cycles, these wheels are likely to outlast both you and i. otherwise, it's fairly traditional fare: alloy ritchey bars, carbon ritchey seatpost and a twelve-speed mechanical campagnolo record groupset.
the older i get, and subsequently, the less alacritous, the simpler it is to come to terms with the knowledge that many of today's technical innovations, while possibly of marginal use to the professional classes, are but mere decoration for the rest of us. i do not possess any form of electronic trickery, and the ritchey stops on standard dual pivot calipers, yet rarely am i substantially distanced by any of my considerably younger peers, simply by way of the technology on which they ride.
my tedious approach to all of the above does not, however, prevent both frame and component manufacturers attempting to discover or create the next big thing for our future delectation.
but it appears that there is now a parallel universe in which similar, though possibly unrelated development dollars are being invested. and all of this simply to benefit the cyclists intent on not actually going anywhere. it seems that zwift, dissatisfied with simply offering residents of watopia the opportunity to pretend they're pedalling ever farther and wider, have turned their attentions to the machinery on which the above might be achieved.
announced only within this past week, and available from 26 june, zwift ride maintains the pretence of being a bicycle while eschewing several of the items that would allow it to be used for commuting, shopping or riding to and from school. for starters, it features no wheels whatsoever, with the front fork fixed to the floor and taking on the job of simply stabilising the entire structure. oddly, and perhaps solely for design purposes, the frame tubes resemble those once beloved of the aero brigade, even down to the seatstays joining half-way down the seat tube. of course, replacing the rear wheel is a smart trainer with installed cassette, yet the frame features no rear derailleur, chain slack accommodated by a pulley-wheel situated behind the crankset.
it is of interest that zwift has opted to retain the resemblance to a regular bicycle when there is, quite possibly, no need to do so, other than provide somewhere to place the water bottle cages. of necessity, however, though decidedly unrequired in our universe, is the option to fit a zwift ride tablet holder (£39.99) upon which food, towel and phone might be placed, alongside an ipad offering a window into the highways and byways of watopia.
though undoubtedly intended as a selling point, i find it of concern that zwift ceo, eric min, commented, "...when i look at my zwift ride, it looks like it belongs in my home." given its demonstrable inability to be physically ridden outdoors, i would query where else he might expect it to belong?
the pretend bicycle, allied with a wahoo kickr core, bears a price tag of £1,199. it seems not unreasonable to assume that purchasers of said device will also possess at least one bona-fide bicycle on which they can ride in the 'real' universe, perhaps inadvertently adding to the price of admission applied to the velocipedinal milieu. with even teenagers now to be seen aboard e-bikes, despite their youthful exuberance being perfectly aligned with riding acoustic bikes, i fear that at least one of the above-mentioned universes is doomed.
it's probably too early to know which one.
monday 17 june 2024
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................the heart grows fonder
those who, for one reason or another, failed to watch this year's giro d'italia, you missed a race that was way more entertaining than the final result might suggest. though tadej pogacar was head and shoulders above the competition, with no disrespect intended to either felipe martinez or geraint thomas, neither were ever in a position to challenge the slovenian's dominant form. and while a victory of almost ten minutes in the final standings would, by itself, suggest a possibly robotic performance by the man in the pink jersey, in truth pogacar showed much in the way of real personality.
should evidence be required for the latter, on the final mountain stage, while in the lead, but under pressure, pogacar had the presence of mind to take a bottle from a roadside soigneur and cross to the opposite side of the road to hand it to a young fan who had been running alongside for a few metres. no matter that at that particular point in the race, the pink jersey was already his to keep, such a benevolent action was impressive to witness.
however, much to the chagrin of many a cycling fan, the be all and end all of the season, particularly for the sponsors, has to be the tour de france, a race that, like many a big brother personality, seems to become ever more famous purely on the basis that it's already famous. the event itself is no more nor less of a race than either the giro or the vuelta, yet so many teams and riders appear to base their entire season around those three weeks in july. for that very reason, i prefer not to feature it as a subject while underway, purely in order to offer a refuge, however slight, for those who, like me, consider it to be the wrong side of overkill.
but i still watch every stage.
despite the giro occupying the same length of time and the same number of stages as le tour, it is sometimes seen by some riders as training for july. one race that has come to fulfil that specific remit, is surely the critérium du dauphiné, won this year, but only just, by former jumbo visma leader, primoz roglic. though his former team must surely be one of the unluckiest in recent memory, his dauphiné yellow jersey was pushed in the latter stages by visma lease-a-bike's matteo jorgenson, with the indomitable canadian, derek gee in third.
while there was never any real doubt that roglic would be going to the tour (and perhaps its importance is underlined by the fact that his new team owners, red bull, have opted to assert their naming rights as the grande boucle begins), but jorgenson's far superior performance to that of his team-mate, sepp kuss, must surely guarantee him a place on the tour team in just under two weeks' time. hopefully, in order to give tadej something to worry about, alongside jonas vingegaard and even more hopefully, wout van aert.
in pursuit of a victory of his own in italy, the belgian had undertaken a more compact and bijou cyclocross season this year, replacing mud and hurdles with training at altitude. as we now know, a serious racing accident in a somewhat innocuous one-day classic put paid to all that. hopefully, for this year's cyclocross season, van aert will realise that the best laid plans of mice and men, etc., and engage more fully with the world cup, badkamers, exact and super prestige trophies, instead of opting for more training on high. because, despite the spring classics season, the giro, the dauphiné and the tours of romandie and switzerland, i really, really miss cyclocross.
yet the realisation that i am one of those velocipedinists who finds the classics and the three grand tours to be simply events that get in the way of the next 'cross season has brought an inexplicable degree of comfort.
long may that persist.
sunday 16 june 2024
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................the pain of the amateur
prior to the advent of the thru-axle, designed specifically to resist the increased forces provided by the disc-brake, we were familiar with the speedy wheel change, in the event of a crevaison, presumably a skill developed by team mechanics in the hope of rivalling their counterparts in formula one motor racing. some of them have come commendably close. with the thru-axle requiring to be removed completely to allow dislodgment of the wheel, the formula one simile has occasionally been emulated by a mechanic with an electric drill in hand for even swifter removal of the axle.
such a change in wheelanomics has more or less resulted in wheel-changes being replaced by the bike-change, any sign of a puncture being eventually followed by the arrival of the team car and the sight of a mechanic lifting a suitable machine from the roofrack. one has to feel a tad sorry for the neutral service mechanics aboard a motorbike festooned with spare wheels. during this year's giro, when a rider suffered a broken spoke on his rear wheel, he opted to ride on until the team car could reach him, despite a shimano neutral service bike being right there alongside.
though the commentator implied that the team was on campagnolo, it's my understanding that neutral service, whether shimano or otherwise, is likely to have wheels with both types of freehub. the question now, i'd imagine, surrounds whether the mechanic sat in the back seat of the team car, remains fenced in by a number of wheelsets, given the preferred option of a bike change. though the thru-axle has transformed the service provided, perhaps it has benefitted the hard-pressed mechanic, offering a smidgeon more room in the back of the car.
however, though i'm sure there's probably an exception or two somewhere across the land, i fear the majority of sunday morning pelotons have little choice but to proceed at the behest of their own self-sufficiency, packing at least one inner tube and a tyre lever in the saddle packs of which velominati so heartily disapproves. though i'm led to believe every amateur peloton harbours at least one individual with a mechanical disposition, it's hardly a substitute for a following skoda with an array of spare bicycles on the roof.
and thus is the lot of the non-professional.
yet that amateur hardship scenario appears to have become a deal harder than was once the case. with many aboard machinery that relies on electrons to change gear, and hydraulics to stop, should either of the above malfunction en-route to the coffee stop, there's a better than evens chance someone will have to call home for a lift. the tools that might offer potential repair are likely too complex, too large and too expensive to be carried in a jersey back pocket. similarly the likelihood of the sole individual with mechanical pretensions having holstered a black and decker drill in one of the three polyester receptacles to more speedily remove and replace a wheel.
however, humorous asides, aside, the real problem appears to be curated by the modern-day tyre. those of us in the sunday peloton who may have need of releasing a deflated inner-tube from its rubber container (and don't think you're necessarily home-free, just because you've fitted tubeless) face a task that seems rarely to be the simple matter it ought to be. though i have been fortunate of late not to have suffered the slings and arrows of in-ride deflation, i did just replace the tyres on my cyclocross bike only yesterday afternoon. with the challenge grifo rear tyre showing little in the way of tread, i opted to replace both front and rear with a pair of challenge chicane 700x33c 'cross tyres.
now i love challenge tyres to the moon and back, but they are total b*st*rds to fit when new. despite possessing a sturdy, pink tyre lever and a tyre-jack, i still have aching thumbs from attempting to squish the inner-tube between the rim flanges before attempting to seat the bead on the rim. folding tyres are also a bit of a faff when removed from the box, displaying an irritating predilection for flopping all over the place when attempting to fit the first bead over the rim edge.
but every single pair of challenge tyres i have owned, whether road or 'cross, has tried both patience, thumbs and temper, when trying to get the last couple of centimetres in place.
things are hard enough when sat on the back door step surrounded by tools, a pressure gauge and a track pump; heaven knows how matters will proceed when stuck at saligo bay on the atlantic coast in a galeforce wind and driving rain attempting to refit that selfsame tyre. though professional mechanics receive deserved approbation for their tireless devotion to their team riders, unless challenge and their peers have a change of heart (and sidewall dimensions) sometime soon, i'll be expecting a round of applause.
saturday 15 june 2024
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................ch,ch,ch, changes
only a matter of days past, i offered praised to specialized bicycles for returning, however briefly, to the exploration of metallurgy in a sideways look at their crux gravel/cyclocross bicycle. according to mike sinyard's company, the reason they had been able to do so, was a welding technique called, d'aluisio smartweld. granted, this technique appears not to offer the sort of smoothness that conceals where one aluminium tube joins with its neighbour, even though such techniques, i believe, do actually exist in real life, but d'aluisio smartweld is not one of them.
carbon monocoque construction effectively dispenses with the idea of tubing altogether, even though historical terminology continues the meme in spite of evidence to the contrary. however, methods of conjoining metal and carbon tubing still persist. along with other framebuilders, the pre-eminent richard sachs continues to braze his pego-richie tubing into fashioned steel lugs, a technique that has existed for more than a century. others, such as tom ritchey, favour tig welding, offering a less brazen (pun intended) means of connection. steven shand's original preferred means was that of the more labour-intensive fillet-brazing, providing the smoothest of smooth joints.
and until recently, colnago's c series replicated the steel frames which inspired their first foray into lugged carbon fibre with the iconic c-40. ultimately, however, lugs of any description are close to becoming an endangered species in the wild. technology, as we have learned in recent years, is no respecter of tradition when it comes to bicycle construction (or componentry), perhaps none more so than additive manufacturing. a drastic reduction in costs has allowed, what we might once have referred to as the cottage industry, to produce a more bespoke experience for their customers.
additive manufacturing is more commonly known as 3-d printing, a technique that has begun to provide gizmos and widgets that can be produced in smaller numbers than economically allowed by larger-scale production methods. stems, handlebars, saddles and device brackets are all available at varying price points. and though there are others who have dabbled successfully in frame construction (filippo ganna's hour-record pinarello was almost entirely produced via additive manufacturing), it need not extend to such gargantuan levels (ganna's frames are reputed to have cost well in excess of £60,000 each) according to oliver laverack and david clow at framebuilders j. laverack.
renowned for being the builders behind the if-you-have-to-ask,-you-can't-afford-it aston martin .1r, oliver laverack is quoted as saying, "Over the four years it took us to develop the .1R we learned a great deal...". the result is a technique that has spread to their own commercial offerings, featuring double-butted titanium tubes. all models in the laverack range are now available with am64, denoting the term additive manufacturing alongside the grade of titanium alloy used for 3-d printing (ti-6al-4v), a material which offers a particularly high strength to weight ratio.
technology such as this, however, arrives at a premium cost, though still comfortably within the latest price parameters defined by several carbon bicycles. for instance, a complete build including an am64 titanium frame, enve carbon fork, stem, aero carbon wheels, handlebar, headset, seatpost, streamline bottom bracket, brooks c13 cambium saddle and twelve-speed ultegra or grx di2 groupset, still arrives with a price tag of less than £10,000. if you add in a bike fit and custom geometry, however, there's an additional £495 with which to contend. road frame only, excluding bespoke geometry and fitting, will give you a fiver change from £7,000. i can't pretend that those prices are anything other than expensive, but compared to colnago's c68 fleur-de-lys, it's a veritable bargain.
how long, we might ask, before additive manufacturing offers an entire, economically affordable, titanium frame? that, i believe, depends greatly on what you'd define as affordable.
j. laverack am64 titanium frames
friday 14 june 2024
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................the more things change...
though twitter has changed its moniker to x, it's still not what once it was. or, perhaps more correctly, we're not what it once was; to all intents and purposes x does pretty much the same job that it did when invented in 2006, but like almost everything that changes little in its mode of operation, we've become a tad fed up with it. of all those who were regular tweeters when i joined in 2008, which, i believe, places me in the category known as early adopters, very few, if any are still there. i confess that, while i check my twmp account on a daily basis, i rarely post anything at all, let alone anything that might be thought interesting.
most of those who were prominent on twitter when i first joined have either departed that particular hip scene, or have adopted the same low profile as yours truly. yet despite this apparent loss of faith, i monitor two separate accounts, one decidedly more frequently than the other. in my place of work, it is frequently helpful to monitor the machinations of calmac ferries, citylink coaches and numerous other relevant accounts. in this modern world, it is often as effective to use social media as a news source, as the more traditional methods.
in my personal account, unsurprisingly, i tend to have followed those with at least one foot in the velocipedinal universe, accounts that are all but absent from those visible on the office computer. and, on the basis that i frequently contribute book reviews within islay's community newspaper, i have followed a number of publishers and bookseller, a division of contemporary life that seems to have convincingly found its feet during the covid years, and something that persists with vigour to this day.
though the comparison may seem somewhat estranged, there is something of an affinity between bookshops and bike stores, both of which have been maligned and undercut by the internets. when it's 10:30pm in the evening and you are overcome with desire for a biography of jazz drummer, art blakey, as the ghostbusters were in the habit of exclaiming, 'who ya gonna call?' it is indicative of a society that not only demands, but expects instant gratification; assuming you have amazon prime, there's a better than evens chance that you'll be reading about ibrahim ibn buhaina (art blakey's adopted islamic identity) by teatime the following day.
what bookshop can compete with that? online bikeshops may not offer such alacrity, but you can see the similarities.
but, just like many a bikeshop, a bookshop is not solely about the books. if you're of a certain disposition (and i am), perusing the shelves of a bookshop is infinitely more satisfying that scrolling through amazon's website. though i am not a habitual visitor to bikeshops, some, through even modest creativity, simply demand to be visited. however, from what i can see, they are singularly far poorer at publicising their existence, than are the nation's indepndent bookshops. in fact, based purely on observation, cycling as a whole is far less adept at publicising its existence (with the exception of markus stitz) than is the bookshop/publishing milieu.
for instance, even as i type, we are midway through the uk's national bike week, the existence of which i was reminded purely by accident. despite the number of cycle-related accounts followed by @twmp, i have seen scarce mention of this fact. if recollection serves well, yesterday was bike-to-work-day a fact that, if widely known, was also widely ignored. when cycling to a windfarm information event yesterday afternoon, i can guarantee i saw not a single cyclist (other than myself).
yet from 15 - 22 june it's independent bookshop week, a fact of which i have been reminded a considerable number of times each and every day since last friday, and a fact that i expect also to be reminded about each and every day until it comes to a close. i'll cheerfully confess that x is the only form of social media with which i interact, and it's eminently possible that national bike week has been publicised to within an inch of its life on facebook, tik-tok, instagram and other means of which i am sadly unaware. but i remain to be convinced.
if anyone from cycling uk, british cycling, or the bicycle association happens to be reading, please try to get your act together for next year. if you really want to impress and improve upon current cycle use in the uk, you're going to have to do a great deal better. just like the bookshops, i figure that i, and every other resident in britain should have been bombarded with bike week messages from morning till nightfall during the week leading up to the week-long event, and then again during the week in question.
i would agree that i'm not the target audience; i already cycle as often as i can. but in the off-chance that i exist as a social media hermit, i queried a number of my friends and acquaintances, well-known as social media addicts; not one had heard of national bike week. however, in their defence, none was aware of independent bookshop week either.
thursday 13 june 2024
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................pedal to the metal
while i would dearly love to add the word 'metallurgist' to my hypothetical business card (which already names me as a senior publishing executive (northern hemisphere) and social media consultant), the fragility of such an apellation would be seriously undermined should anyone look too closely. in an ideal world, i'd have myself nominated as a knowledge management consultant, purely on the basis that it's a highly difficult claim to successfully repute - predominantly on the basis that, along with yours truly, very few people know what the title actually means. however, from a purely personal point of view, i have creatively re-positioned the word in contemporary vocabulary, to spuriously mean that i have a (velocipedinal) affinity for metals.
of my two regular rides, one is constructed from round steel tubing, the principal defection to the blackstuff being via its carbon fork. admittedly its bikeshed bedfellow is wholly carbon, but it does one no harm to keep an eye on the opposition. as we have discussed during previous conversations, the carbon bicycle alluded to above takes the form of a specialized crux elite, when the crux was a definedly bona-fide cyclocross bike. never ones to avoid a bandwagon on which they might jump, specialized have re-positioned the crux as a gravel bike, with all the negative implications contained within that definition.
in fact, when next on specialized's website, look sufficiently close and you might note that the crux is categorised as both a cyclocross and a gravel bike. the giveaway tell-tale is the width of the tyres fitted as standard to the majority of crux models, checking in at 38mm. as any obsessive cyclocross aficionado will tell you, the uci has mandated that, for competition use, cyclocross bicycles are restricted to a maximum of 33mm. thus, were you to spend £7,000 on a specialized crux pro, with the intention of joining tom, wout and mathieu on the cross circuit later this year, you'd have to shell out a few more pounds to acquire race legal rubber.
however, disagreements over whether 'cross is a subset of gravel or vice-versa, until very recently, any flavour of specialized crux would have proved to be carbon from front to back and top to bottom, demonstrating the direction in which accepted development has traditionally travelled. yet, as recently as 2016, i reviewed a polished aluminium specialized crux e5 x1, a bicycle outfitted with a sram rival groupset and which, a mere eight years ago, could be purchased for the princely sum of £1,800.
how things have changed.
in what carbon fans might depict as a retrograde step, specialized have re-introduced an aluminium metal crux frame, kept as lightweight as possible by means of their previously controversial and awkwardly named, d'aluisio smartweld welding process. this has allowed the proffering of a 9.37kg bicycle, less than one kilogramme heavier than the comparable carbon crux comp. though the proof may be in dragging the pudding through the undergrowth, cycling socialisation would suggest that metal trounces burnt plastic in the durability stakes. whether the latter proves true or otherwise, those of a certain age are predisposed to believe that to be a truism. in which case, moving from carbon fibre to metal (aluminium) could be seen as a progressive step in the right direction (understood to be finally settling on steel as the only truly pragmatic choice).
of course, just as bike frame materials tend to change at a glacial pace, financial matters could probably outgun tadej in a time-trial. for that reason, what once weighed in at £1,800, now retails at a less favourable £2,300, admittedly a rise of only £500 in the space of eight years. according to my opinion (as richard sachs might say), this is deserving of our approbation, though not quite as favourable as either a steel ritchey cyclocross bicycle, or ultimately, one of mr sachs custom versions with one of his delectable fork crowns and a set of cantilevers.
well played specialized and i look forward to the arrival of a steel version
wednesday 12 june 2024
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................a sense of purpose
i spent two evenings of the recent weekend demonstrating my limited percussive abilities at a local hostelry, along with two gents with whom i have a long (musical) history. the area available for guitar, bass and a not altogether huge drumset is, to be blunt, somewhat compact and bijou, intrusions into the percussive domain arriving courtesy of a guitar amplifier and one of the public address speakers. these restrictions undoubtedly limit my ability to achieve certain outcomes, but on the basis that i have been playing the same venue around four times per year for more years than i can truthfully remember, i'm sort of used to it by now.
many an aspiring musician at an early point in his or her career harbours dreams of making it, whatever that actually means. i am well acquainted with a number of respected professional jazz musicians, all of whom earn sufficient amounts to support themselves and their families, but i seriously doubt any would confirm that they'd made it. the latter conjures images of a successful string of concerts initially nation-wide, leading inevitably to world tours and lucrative recording contracts. personally, my ideal of having made it, when still in my youth, revolved predominantly around either being the drummer in a resident jazz piano trio, presenting a musical menu just sufficiently outwith the commercial milieu to attract occasional approbation from fellow musicians and an appreciative audience.
those of you who have visited islay in the past may have familiarised yourselves sufficiently to recognise that the island is hardly the centre of the musical universe, effectively rendering the above aspiration null and void. the alternative, less jazz-based, was the possibility that i might achieve some success as a studio session drummer, rather undermined by my unfortunate inability to sight-read to an appreciable standard.
by now, of course, i am long past the age when either of the above might still be achievable, a situation that i believe can be extended to my weekend colleagues (though i sometimes wonder about the guitarist). nowadays, my more modest, though not necessarily any more achievable yearnings, are to occupy a stage on which there is more than sufficient space to comfortably setup my drumset, possibly on a small riser, offering unlimited elbow room. included in the above would be a monitor sound system that enabled me to hear any accompanying musicians with pinpoint clarity, or, at lower sound levels, musicians who played with sufficient perspicacity not to drown out the rest of the band. i'm thinking jazz piano trio here (red garland, thelonious monk, bill evans - you catch my drift?)
contemplating the unlikelihood of any of the above conferred similar thoughts about what it is i might desire or expect from my weekly kilometreage on the bicycle. having never pinned a number on my back for competitive reasons, i believe i passed that particularly high water mark several decades past, resigning myself to the knowledge that whatever my unaided top speed at present, it will continue to decrease in the coming years. oddly enough, that is not something that i fear; i'll settle for retaining the ability to ride my bicycle as often as possible, along with the stamina to plough recklessly into galeforce headwinds and horizontal rain. aside from the latter situation, which is all but exclusive to the hebrides, i figure most of us hold fairly limited, yet similar demands from our cycling exploits.
i have no great desire to own the latest in carbon fibre augmented with wireless electronics, though i would hardly condemn anyone for whom such ambitions fill their waking dreams. personally, i'd settle for a set of amber sidewall tyres that did not disguise their amberness from view after only a few winter kilometres, and even as much as one-third of of wout van aert's bike handling skills. i daresay there will be those at the back of the room issuing guffaws at such tame, desultory ambitions, however unlikely either are to be realised. that said, i believe it's of some importance to maintain one or two ambitions in a jersey back pocket; as the years roll by, the simple act of riding a bicycle may be held front and centre, but a little extra-curricular motivation always comes in handy in moments of despair.
tuesday 11 june 2024
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................