..........................................................................................................................................................................................................
oblique strategies
when channel four began broadcasting a half hour programme each evening, of highlights from the 1985 tour de france, for a newbie such as myself (at the time) it actually asked more questions than for which it provided answers. for instance, when it came to the mountains, the coverage would frequently show one rider crossing each successive summit in the higher places, yet, when it came to the pointy end of the day's stage, that rider was nowhere to be seen in the top ten or twenty finishers. what the heck happened? and if he was unlikely to finish in the top twenty, what on earth had been the point of pushing on during the early part of the stage?
it wasn't until eurosport commenced broadcasting entire stages, from beginning to end, that things became a tad clearer.
those were the halcyon days of yore, when david duffield and sean kelly would accompany me in my armchair (figuratively speaking) through the opening neutralised section all the way to someone sitting up in the saddle and throwing both arms skywards as they took the winner's spoils atop some very big mountains. it was thus possible to play hookie from work, ensure an infinite supply of coffee, having previously prepared a baguette or two with a decent amount of brie, and luxuriate in all that unfolded on my tellybox.
and that's where i suddenly realised just what was meant when describing cycling as 'chess on wheels'. for reasons i'd struggle to explain, i recall a rider in the orange jersey of euskatel heading off in the day's breakaway, along with a few others demonstrating a degree of tenacity that allowed the formation of a breakaway. though euskatel riders were predominantly from the sponsor's home country of the basque region of spain, the man in the breakaway was very definitely not the team leader.
however, as the stage reached towards some sort of conclusion, euskatel's team leader did manage to release himself from the chasing peloton, at which point his team-mate from up front, was able to slowly drop back, pick up the man at the top of the team pecking order, and be of great service to him as the summit finish line came ever closer. that, at least, explained why, in the form of television highlights, a rider could be crossing the early summits at the front of the race, yet be missing in action at the finish.
it's possible that, back in the eighties and nineties, while similar tactics were exploited by more than one team, a successful conclusion had as much to do with luck as it had to pre-planning. nowadays, such strategies will have been discussed at length in the team bus prior to collecting bicycles and heading to the start. and strategies such as those described above, can nowadays be reinforced, within any type of race, from the team car, in which the directeur sportif can watch on an ipad-sized tv screen, communicating any alterations by means of the race radio.
with so much money involved in professional cycling nowadays, leaving anything to chance might not gain the approval of the sponsor(s) when enquiring what happened to an unsuccessful attempt, during post-race debriefing.
so the question resulting from the above would surely be, should those of us in the sunday morning peloton think about implementing a strategy before the peloton reaches the coffee stop? even if the strategy involves arriving for coffee just too late to be the chap who pays? such strategies might not even concern the competitive milieu; for instance, at around the half way point of our regular sunday parcours, comes the col du rspb, a short climb that tops out at around 7%, on which yours truly is frequently distanced by my younger fellow pelotoneers.
well do i know that, even if i am distanced, those doing the distancing will wait up on reaching the loch gorm perimeter road. but perhaps if i rode more conservatively near the back along the flat road at gruinart, by choosing a more appropriate gear on the sudden rise past aoradh farm, i might have the energy and legs to maintain station alongside my compatriots. there are no plaudits to be received even as we pass the village sign at bruichladdich, but perhaps such a strategy might result in a hitherto absent sense of satisfaction.
or am i in danger of overthinking the situation, and recognise that strategies are purely the preserve of the professional classes? for none of my compatriots are likely to sup froth at a faster pace in order to leave for home without me, leaving me trailing disconsolately in their wake. sunday bike rides are supposed to be simply that; bike rides, not bike races. so my strategy, such as it is, really only surrounds enjoying the ride, having coffee and a toastie, before a victorious ride home.
and while i'm here, might i point out to tv commentators, that a headwind of 15kph does not constitute anything close to a hindrance.
monday 8 july 2024
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................the last hot chillee london-paris ride
having watched a short film about sven thiele's three-day, london to paris ride on eurosport in 2006, i contacted graeme freestone king of velotech and the man who knows more about campagnolo than everyone else, to ask how i might participate? graeme headed up the neutral service team for the ride, and he put me in touch with those who took care of entries for the 2007 ride. as i recall, we left from a golf club somewhere in the environ's of london town, eventually arriving, via an overnight ferry to st malo, at the palace of versailles, where the ride ended. in 2008, we crossed to calais, and rode south to paris, taking in the champs elysées, the arc de triomphe and down to the eiffel tower.
both those rides took place in mid june.
in 2017, to prove that the old fart still had some life left, i participated once again, arriving in paris on the day before the tour de france got there. quite how sven managed to organise a road closure on the champs elysées, and the arc de triomphe at that particular point in time, is surely one of the great mysteries of the modern world. however, according to sven, he simply kept asking difficult questions and was obstinate enough to demand the answers for which he was looking.
transporting a bicycle to and from islay when you don't have a car, was a logistical problem beyond my capabilities, which is where the inimitable graeme freestone king enters the story for the second time. in the first decade of the 21st century, graeme was also the importer of eddy merckx bicycles and very kindly supplied me with a merckx bicycle to ride on each occasion. come 2017, the same logistical problem persisted, and following a meeting with graeme at the rouleur classic, where he asked if i needed a bicycle for the ride, i arrived in london to take temporary delivery of a campagnolo neutral service sarto carbon bicycle festooned with a campagnolo super-record mechanical groupset and a pair of continental tubular equipped bora carbon wheels.
fast forward seven years, and a good friend of mine, david brodie, a senior tour guide at bunnahabhain distillery in the north of islay, decided he would follow in my tyre tracks, by participating in the very last hot chillee london-paris ride. david was riding to raise funds for the scottish charity air ambulance. according to hot chillee supremo, sven thiele, post brexit complexities had made the organising of each subsequent year's event more and more difficult. according to david, there were several problems in repatriating riders' bicycles from paris to london. ending twenty years of riding from london to paris seems a shame, but understandable nonetheless.
however, the great graeme freestone king stepped up to the plate once again, by supplying david with yet another campagnolo-equipped sarto for the ride to paris. according to graeme, "The frame was a special edition of the 2019 Sarto Asolo, made for Campagnolo specifically for the sales and technical representatives to showcase the 12-speed Super Record groupset.
"It was a 54cm nominal, with a 54.5cm top tube, so it was arguably a tad too large for David. However when I set it up for him, based on the figures he sent me, I was able to get the riding position within a millimetre or so in all directions without too many problems.
"The frames are completely handmade in the Sarto factory in Italy, with their well-known meticulous attention to detail and quality of finish (they even make up their own tubes, rather than buying them in pre-formed).
"The groupset was fully Super Record 2019 with 172.5mm cranks, 50x34 chainrings and an 11-29 cassette. The wheels are older model Boras, Bora One 50mm with (by modern standards) a relatively narrow, C17 rim with 28mm Continental 5000s set up with inner tubes (as until Bora WTO, no Campagnolo carbon wheels were designed for tubeless). Rotor size is 160mm/160mm which is probably overkill, but does provide very progressive braking, cools faster and so provides the potential for better braking where frequent use of the brakes, or feathering of the brakes, is required."
according to david, "On arrival at Imber Court Sports Club, I sought out Graeme to effect an introduction. He was immediately likeable and incredibly efficient at the same time. He had previously sent me a pic of my steed but seeing it in real life, it was love at first sight. He'd set it up in accordance with four measurements I'd taken off the old garden gate I pedal at home, and with the addition of my SPDs to the cranks, a quick spin round the rugby park confirmed I'd be fine.
"The stem was mounted upside-down and he contemplated reversing it to the norm, but I assured him that even with a little upward tilt, I was unlikely to stretch to the drops. I was right, because it was bar-tops and hoods all the way to Paris."
david and i share the difficulty of being able to practise riding in larg(ish) groups of riders, but we also share the potential to slog our way through strong head and crosswinds. so how did david prepare for his three-day extravaganza? "This took the form of, much to Brian's disgust, mostly Zwifting on a Wahoo Kickr, with the occasional venture to the real world. Unlike Brian, I cannot ignore the vagaries of Islay's inclement Winter weather and prefer 'bored miserable' to 'cold and wet miserable'. training aside, how was the bike?
"On day one, we'd a very early start from Esher and were straight into it, with Folkestone our target by mid/late afternoon to board a ferry to Calais. I was struck by the responsiveness of the bike as I familiarised myself with the (for me) back-to-front brakes, and workings and responsiveness of the gear-changing. I've no idea what size rings/cassette I was running, but I never ran out of gears at any time. The change response was immediate if you were riding correctly whilst at the same time, if you were well off the right gear at anytime, it was very sympathetic to an old man not used to this quality. Day one concluded with us getting off our bus in Calais ready to do it all again.
"On day two, we departed Calais headed for Amiens and the Sarto received many compliments and admiring glances at the mass gathering prior to departure. We were the last group to depart, being the slowest, and in a field of 350ish great bikes, there is none looks better than the Sarto. At least that is, until I was onboard.
"If Thursday was hard, this was brutal, as we took on 100+ miles of 20mph cross/headwinds. When BP heard of this, he reminded me that is why I should have trained with the Islay Chain Gang.
"Despite the efforts of the weather, I was in tune with the bike by then and loving that every pedal stroke was rewarded. My only difficulty was that our group appeared to contain many riders who were unfamiliar with bunch riding. This resulted in speeds dipping and rising unnecessarily and with the Sarto's desire to roll quickly (my bulk may have contributed on downhills), too much time was spent checking speed on the brakes! Day two was hard, but we made it to Amiens nonetheless.
"On the final day, leaving Amiens on Saturday morning, the format had altered. Group running order was reversed and us slow boys and girls went first. The wind is the same, but the hills were higher, longer, and steeper, and lunch didn't appear until after 130km with only a couple of comfort breaks in between.
"The last 25km to lunch is the hardest time I've ever endured on a bicycle, but the Sarto carried me through. Every push, every stroke of the pedal, received the reward it requested, and that is all I can ask. The final 40km into and through the Saturday rush-hour in Paris was easy, carried along on a wave of adrenaline and euphoria.
"I will be forever grateful to Graeme Freestone King for his trusting generosity, and for 'owning', for those three days only, my Sarto, the best bike I have ever ridden and probably ever will."
"For an overweight, (often) over-refreshed, 62 year-old man, having had his interest in riding a bike rekindled during the Pandemic lockdown, the opportunity to ride the 300+ miles #L2P24, was the ride of a lifetime.
"Completing this event despite having not ridden my bike seriously since racing as a Junior some 45 years previously was entirely worth it. As an effort to raise funds for Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance, it was a major success, with a total of well over £10,000 raised. It's a service that is funded only by charitable donations, and offers a life-saving service to all of Scotland (but particularly outlying areas) from bases at Perth and Aberdeen."
hot chillee will still operate a 2024 gravel london-paris this september, as well as several other high-quality, superbly organised cycling events.
grateful thanks to graeme freestone king for not only supplying david with the bike of his dreams, but several of the photos accompanying this feature. if you happen to bump into graeme on your travels, shake him warmly by the hand on my (and david's) behalf.
hot chillee bike rides | velotech cycling
sunday 7 july 2024
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................under pressure
though i tend to be called upon far less these days to offer roadside assistance to the mechanically challenged, i do still stock one or two inner tubes somewhere within the hidden depths of thewashingmachinepost bike shed, on the off chance that visiting cyclists will find themselves in a deflationary situation minus a puncture repair kit, a spare inner tube, or, indeed, a bicycle pump. the likelihood of a salient lack of all three is far more common than you'd like to think. the hypothetical and all-too-real situation whereby the phone rings for at least one of the above, is vastly complicated by the wide variety of valves and tubes to be found on present day bicycles.
based on experience and observation, it would appear that the old woods valve has thankfully gone the way of the dodo, leaving only the brothers presta and schrader to fly the flag. and though 27 x1.25" tyres and tubes are remarkably scarce nowadays, the existence of three different mountain bike wheel sizes, and two road/gravel sizes, still leaves room for earnest interrogation of the hapless caller.
the conversation usually takes an invariable form, beginning with the phrase "i've had a puncture and i need an inner-tube." rather oviously my first question has to be "what size", a question that is rarely answered to any degree of satisfaction. several years ago, i received just such a call and asked the above question. on being queried how the caller would know what size was required, i advised looking on the tyre sidewall for either 26", 650b, or twenty-niner. the gent (it's almost always a bloke) responded that he was unable to find the necessary info, so i said i'd bring one of each to the village square. on arriving and being shown the bicycle, there, in large white lettering on the tyre sidewall were the words, 'twenty-niner'.
the second part of the interrogation concerns the valve, at which point, i think most tend to think i'm just being awkward. if the rim is drilled for schrader (car valve), both types of valve will fit, but if built for presta (the thin narrow valve, the top of which has to be unscrewed before inflation or deflation), schrader won't fit.
let's face it, bicycles are becoming complicated enough without faffing with differently sized tyres, tubes and valves. granted, learning which is which at the point of purchase makes a great deal of sense. if i have to ride my bicycle up nearby moss road, only about 1.5km in length, i take a pump, spare tube, tyre-lever and wear a helmet. quite how folks can go off on a lengthy west coast tour without any of the above, is quite beyond me. but if you have been sufficiently remiss to have left home bereft of the necessities of velocipedinal life, at least have the savvy to learn what it is you need, when push comes to shove.
however, demonstrating an uncommon stroke of common sense (or wisdom as a reverend of my acquaint is wont to refer), german tyre manufacturer, schwalbe seems intent on making inroads to at least one of the aforementioned inquisitorial questions. they have developed the clik valve, a progressive move that has already brought sks to produce a suitable pump. aside from the apparent difficulty of valve identification, anyone who has attempted to use a regular track pump to inflate a kiddie's bike tyre, will be well aware of how well nigh impossible that can prove to be. the clik valve resembles the form factor of the presta but appears not to require the unscrewing of the fiddly and easily bent part prior to inflation.
to prepare the way for this valve revolution, schwalbe has produced adapters, though from the description, it would appear that to convert existing presta valves, you'd need to have the version that allows the valve core to be removed. the adapter for schrader valves simply screws onto the valve stem. a corresponding adapter for the pump chuck can either be clamped or screwed in place.
schwalbe will soon be producing its first tubes featuring the clik valve and i feel they deserve a round of applause for their innovation. unfortunately, simplification of the valve range applicable to bicycle inner tubes (or tubeless), will not prevent the woefully unprepared from venturing into the great outdoors minus pump, inner tube, tyre-lever, or the faintest idea of which is required for their bicycle.
saturday 6 july 2024
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................originality
with the arrival of eurobike 2024, yet more technology is being brought to the fore, creating a veritable overload of purported advancements in technology, following on from that seen at the dauphiné and subsequently the tour de france, plus the gravel tech seen at the recent unbound race in kansas. it may one day be of great concern to the industry and velocipedinists the world over when an event surfaces at which there is no shiny new technology to be seen. arguably, that situation may already have been reached.
much of that demonstrated through various youtube videos seems, on first acquaintance, to veer perilously close to superficial; existing because they can, rather than the fact that we were all clamouring for the result. however, one highlighted development that may be said to escape such a disparaging categorisation is that of the buffalo bike created by world bicycle relief (wbr) for distribution throughout the poorer, remote regions of africa. wbr has been providing these sturdy, simple bicycles for many a year, to the tune of over 800,000 so far, via donations from its 160,000 supporters, avowedly empowering over four million individuals.
in its simplest form, the original buffalo bike, developed by sram, trek, giant and karasawa is as basic and robust as bikes used to be in the early part of the 20th century. however, despite the industry's apparent obsession with the number of gears that can be applied to the modern road, mountain or gravel bike, the buffalo bike featured a single sprocket freewheel. though articles on the wbr website have shown the buffalo festooned with substantial amounts of cargo (see above), often on a par with that which we in the western world would consign to an e-cargo bike, it seems that in many cases, necessity is truly the mother of invention. in other words, what other options are available?
but in a demonstration of relatively simple technology that may prove to be a boon to those charged with transporting filled milk churns across the plains of uganda or namibia, wbr have announced the buffalo two. this now offers two gears, provided by way of two rear sprockets and, believe it or not, two separate chains.
rather obviously, the more remote regions of africa are hardly replete with a wide choice of bicycle shops, meaning resilience and ease of maintenance are high on the agenda. the new, patented, two-speed freewheel allows the changing of gears by a brief period of backpedalling, augmented with a double chainset up front that has a low gear for climbing/hauling heavy loads and a high gear for flatter terrain. the 1/8" chains therefore have no need of moving between sprockets, prolonging their working lives and connecting via the increasingly common quick-link. that addition of a second chain also provides the benefit of allowing the rider to continue, even if one of the chains breaks.
updating the gearing system has provided fringe benefits that include dual-pivot caliper brakes (replacing a backpedal coaster brake on the original) and wide and strong aluminium wheel rims laced to the hubs via a three-cross pattern, improving reliability and strength. it also maintains the original premise of the buffalo by remaining simple enough to be maintained by wbr's mechanics, drawn from the local workforce. so despite all the electronica and 3d-printed doohickies and components on show at eurobike, the buffalo bicycle utility s2 received a eurobike award in the bicycles section, and deservedly so.
of course, in order to build on the success of the buffalo bike, world bicycle relief needs funding; if you've been found drooling over some of the technology on show at eurobike, checking the bank account to see if you can afford such luxuriance, why not shelve that idea for a few months, and instead, donate that amount of money to world bicycle relief. they need it more than you do.
donate to help buy a buffalo s2
friday 5 july 2024
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................gravel rides peak district - 15 gravel bike adventures in the dark & white peak. hetty kingston. vertebrate publishing paperback. 110pp illus. £15.95
a few months ago, not long into my saturday cyclocross bike ride, i suffered a rear wheel puncture, which i dutifully catered to by installing a new inner tube that i had cunningly concealed in my seatpack. unfortunately, a matter of metres later, the replacement tube punctured. the naysayers will immediately enquire whether i had had the foresight to check the inside of the tyre for whatever caused the original puncture, but as soon as the inner tube had been removed, that's the first thing i'd done. to this day, i have no idea why either tube flatted, but whatever the reason, two punctures in quick succession subsequently entailed a ten kilometre walk home.
but, it must be pointed out, islay being the community it is, i had several offers from passing motorists of a lift back to the croft. all of these i graciously refused, principally on the basis that the 'cross bike was hardly in pristine condition, having already acquired a certain amount of mud along the way. i harboured serious concerns that they would all have had regrets on discovering the mess my bicycle had made of their cars' upholstery. walking seemed the more prudent option.
however, not everywhere is like islay, and if i'd actually been ploughing through the undergrowth, there's every possibility that i'd have had a lengthy walk prior to reach some point from which i might actually be seen by passing motorists. that sort of scenario would appear one you ought to take in to consideration should you harbour notions of becoming a serious (or considerably less than serious) gravel biker. it's an aspect of riding the trails in the peak district that author, hetty kingston, has taken into account in her introduction to this excellent compact and bijou publication.
under the recommended kit list: "Off-road adventures often require more 'stuff' as they're more remote: five kilometres might not feel that far on a bike, however it will when you're jogging back to the nearest road to find signal or flag someone down."
it has frequently been said that within every group of cyclists, there's likely to be one who not only possesses an impressive level of mechanical knowledge, but is keen to demonstrate it to the rest of the peloton. that, however, is a sweeping generalisation, and one that applies not at all if you're in a peloton of one, and you don't know one end of a tyre lever from the other. for simple reasons of the terrain across which you may perambulate, things are more likely to go wrong or fall off when riding offroad: "Don't skimp on tools and spare parts, but make sure you know how to use them before you go - they won't be nuch help if you're clueless!"
the attractions of gravel riding (even if not on actual gravel) are many: as the mighty dave-t has often said, "it's just like being out in the country", it's often well away from vehicular traffic, the scenery can be magnificent, and you can ride until you no longer know where you are. however, that latter attraction might be one you're keen to avoid, unless your name is jenny graham or markus stitz. for the rest of us, a guide book such as this can prove all but essential.
for those who failed geography, or only know where london and glasgow are, the peak district is south west of sheffield, surrounded by towns with idiosyncratic names such as chapel-en-le-frith, wheston, sparrowpit and great hucklow, a region in which the author has identified "15 of the best gravel rides". these range from a mere 18 kilometres in length, to rides of over 60 kilometres, culminating in a 105km bonus route, all of which are clearly explained and illustrated.
aside from an introduction to each route, beneath each is a route profile, augmented by distance, total amount of ascending, where the route begins and ends, brief hints as to the terrain, and the nearest access to public transport. it does not, however, end there, with the route clearly overlaid on an ordnance survey map, wheel by wheel directions, photographs and a sidebar which includes details of any bike shops within range, just in case any mechanical malfeasance is outwith your repair skills, or you simply had none in the first place.
should the foregoing be insufficient, each route, graded in terms of difficulty, is downloadable as a gpx file for use in your gps device. the author, however, recommends that you don't rely on the latter, investing sufficient time in learning to read a proper map. and carry a compass too.
i cannot deny; i would have chosen a different typeface for the body text, but that possibly says more about me than the book. it's small enough to fit in a jersey rear pocket, or under the clear flap that often features atop a bar bag. with gravel riding currently flavour of the month, there's every likelihood that those possessed of very little outdoor or even cycling experience will be heading into the hinterlands because the bicycle manufacturer's website said they could. in which case, we should be eternally grateful not only to vertebrate publishing, but to authors like hetty kingston for placing it all in a pragmatic perspective.
gravel rides in the peak district
thursday 4 july 2024
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................disaffection
an elderly gent visited the office yesterday, intent on having several photos from a recent birthday celebration printed from our xerox laser. the photos were stored on his smartphone, which, unfortunately, was not of the apple variety, excluding the possibility of using airdrop to transfer the images from phone to apple desktop computer. my colleague who dealt with the enquiry was sufficiently smartphone savvy to enable the photos to be e-mailed und subsequently to be printed. however, while i laid them out on-screen for printing on a single sheet of paper, the gentleman confided that the technology possessed by his android phone, was, quite frankly, completelty beyond him. the phone was in his possession, solely for the purpose of his being contacted by his offspring.
he received no argument from me, given my oft mentioned lack of a smartphone of my own. it's a long-held status that, over the past weekend, looked at one point to be in danger of change, having discovered that a potentially necessary discovery+ app could not be installed on my elderly ipod. with the once popular music storage devices having been discontinued by apple several years ago, the concern was that i might have to avail myself of the cheapest refurbished iphone available from apple's website.
obviously, i would scarcely have engaged with any of the uk's telecoms providers to have me connnected with the great unwashed, content simply to use the device to listen to the copious amount of digitised jazz music that sustains me through each week.
however, the considered purchase seemed remarkably close to the employment of a jcb to crack a nut. learning that my smart tv offered the opportunity to install an on-screen discovery+ app, meant that the downfall of western civilisation was forestalled for at least a week or two.
at the risk of being seen as supercilious, re-read all of the above and consider that very little of the above discourse would have made any sense whatsoever prior to the introduction of the iphone in 2007. unfortunately, it has begun to make less and less sense even nowadays; i find it demonstrably sad that i am required to know the difference between an external usb hard disk, and an external usb-c ssd equivalent. and i'm beginning to suspect the same with regard to contemporary velocipedinal matters.
let's not beat about the bush; i adore cycling; the opportunity to fit in nigh on 160km each and every weekend aboard my road bike and cyclocross bike tends to alleviate any strains and stresses i may have experienced during the preceding week, all the while, setting me up nicely for the week that follows. on a more tangible level, i delight in the bicycle in my ownership, but more and more i am beginning to recognise that, while it's possible that i could probably learn to cope with the persistent technology upgrades, i'd really rather not bother. for the selfsame reason, i'd rather just hit stuff, than have to figure out the programming required to operate an electronic drumset.
i, and many others, find ourselves despairing over the many changes and upgrades that have inflicted themselves upon the 21st century cyclist, without so much as a questionnaire to enquire if any of us are in favour. a pelotonic conversation at the weekend concerned itself with the potential lack of suitable spare parts in the foreseeable future. both parties are party to mechanical groupsets (of different flavours) which feature rim brakes. with shimano and sram having effectively sidelined both mechanical operation and rim brakes, at some time sooner rather than later, any sustained damage to one or other of the brake/gear levers, might entail endless and ultimately fruitless internet searches to find replacements.
granted, vicenza has, so far, remained in neutral territory, still providing quality mechanical operation and the option of dual-pivot calipers; but for how much longer?
this sense of impending doom was but underlined on the arrival of this month's cyclist magazine, once again highlighting not only the march of technology, but the ever increasing cost of ownership. learning that the price of admission to the 'wonderful world' of gravel riding, through acquisition of shimano's snappily-named rx825 di2 gravel groupset, had risen to over £2,000, served only to increase my sense of detachment from the direction in which cycling is inexorably heading.
for that amount of money, i could have purchased almost three refurbished macbook air computers. i agree that is very like comparing apples with gravel, but i think you catch my drift.
at the risk of being accused of overarching melodrama, adverts for e-bike motors in a magazine ostensibly geared (pun intended) towards the road-cycling fraternity, gives rise to the thought that, as espoused most melodically by r.e.m., it's the end of the world as we know it. and it occurs that, having personally spent the princely sum of £420 on a pair of handbuilt wheels featuring campagnolo record hubs and mavic open pro rims, the invitation to acquire a pair of fulcrum sharq wheels for the equivalent of five pairs of the handbuilts, in my opinion, points to an unconditional breakdown of civilisation.
as i typed the above words, i realise i have probably been guilty of engendering a sophisticated rant, but i wish to disavow my reader of the notion that this is based on lusting after technology that is out of financial reach. though it would be very unpopular with mrs washingmachinepost, if i really, really wanted gravel di2 and a set of alarmingly expensive carbon wheels, i have a credit card ready and willing to provide the necessary wherewithal. but i have long since come to terms with the knowledge that the only thing that would increase would be the value of the bikeshed contents, while concomitantly lowering an already floundering bank balance.
my speed in the saddle would remain precisely where it was last weekend.
it's also worth noting that, no matter how frequently i resort to such irrelevant moans, nothing will change, because everything will continue to change.
an online advert for artifical intelligence via text input to adobe photoshop, demonstrated how it was possible to transform an ordinary image of book-filled library shelves separated by a tiled floor, by imposing a leopard drinking from a forest pool and surrounded by large-leafed bushes between those bookshelves. very clever, but i would seriously question the point of doing so.
wednesday 3 july 2024
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................data day
i realise that i promised thewashingmachinepost would be a tour de france free zone for the duration of the event in july, and to a certain degree, even the following maintains that promise. this, despite the following discussion of technology that has appeared at the french race, and subsequently excluded by the uci and race organisers, aso. the implications are, however, that the exclusion applies to all uci sanctioned events, and therefore of perhaps wider interest. either way, i'm right, you're wrong.
many of you may have seen the fly-through video from last year of the highly impressive jumbo-visma (as was) headquarters, featuring more bicycles than anyone has ever seen in once place, a fleet of cars and buses, along with state-of-the-art conference and presentation facilities. now known as visma lease-a-bike, the title sponsor is a supplier of business software to the corporate arena, and thus well-versed in computer and telemetry technology. in this venture, it is joined by co-sponsor, betfair, which presumably also knows a thing or two about computer technology.
the combined efforts of the above two sponsors has led to the introduction of the visma lease-a-bike, control room van, shown off to great approbation from the attending press. secreted within are several display screens, computer monitors, keyboards and numerous other means of surveying all that precedes them in the peloton. telemetry such as appears to be available to visma lease-a-bike, has been de rigeur in formula one motor racing teams for decades. tv pictures will inevitably show the pit crew eschewing any real viewing of the racing, instead, their eyes glued to all manner of live updating information which, at anytime, might give rise to controlled panic, should a mechanical deficiency make itself known.
i tend to think that my luddite persuasions would be highly likely to side with the uci and aso in banning such electronica from the more physical world of professional cycling. were this to be allowable, and it inevitably will be in one form or another (it's very hard to put the genie back in the bottle), who would bet against it tying in with wireless broadcasts from the brake and gear levers on team bikes, augmenting whatever they have at their fingertips already? but, just to confuse matters slightly, i find myself asking why professional cycling's two most powerful organisations have signalled their opposition to the sort of technology that already surrounds them?
though almost taking the form of a secret society, velon, reputedly working on the riders' behalf, has already demonstrated that it can supply telemetric data to the race broadcaster, allowing it to show heart-rate, power output, speed etc., for all to see. and it's hardly news that each and every team car has access to live tv pictures of the race that precedes them. coupled with the infamous race-radio this allows continual contact between directeurs sportifs and one or two team members. obviously enough, this allows for what might be termed collusion between two strategic minds, communication that has borne much criticism. the blame for often tedious racing, preferring to wait until the last minute, rather than valiant and seemingly doomed attacks several kilometres from the finsih line, is regularly apportioned to such technology.
additionally, as could be seen in may of 2014, when several of us from islay chartered a boat to ballycastle in ireland to watch stage two of the giro d'italia, every team has at least one vehicle driving ahead of the peloton to check road and weather conditions, reporting back to the team cars. in other words, the majority of the technology reputedly contained within the visma lease-a-bike control room van, has not only been available for many a long year, but been put into practice for almost as long. jonas vingegaard's team are simply the first to agglomerate all the pixels and sound files in one, mobile, place.
prior to stage one of this year's grand bouclé, however, aso refused to issue vehicle accredition for the van, leaving an undoubtedly expensive coagulation of technology, either sitting forlornly in the vehicle pound, or despondently returning to the team's base in the netherlands. and despite the team's ceo, richard plugge, pointing out that they were simply making use of "...publicly available information," a uci spokesperson stated, "Our priority is to maintain the integrity of the sport, ensuring sporting fairness, equitable access to technology and the primacy of man over machine." at the risk of pointing out the glaringly obvious, that horse bolted several years ago. if that were truthfully the stance of the uci, race-radios and in-car tv screens would never have been allowed in the first place.
perhaps visma and betfair ought to employ the spurious excuse oft cited to justify the implementation of the race radio - that of safety. if the control room is as capable as they'd have us believe, surely it has the capability of preserving the riders' safety in a manner currently under-employed.
as we've seen with the rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence in daily life, technology pretty much does what it wants; particularly when there might be substantial financial gain at the end of the rainbow. after all, hydraulic disc brakes were hardly the result of a concerted campaign by the uci, aso, velon and individual riders. but ultimately, the manufacturers wanted it, developed the technology, and guess who won? however, it is worth pointing out that, aside from any misgivings any of us might have about the deployment of the above technology, if all 22 teams deployed vans similar to that of visma lease-a-bike, the race convoy, already bloated beyond redemption, would have another 22 vehicles with which to contend.
photo: visma lease-a-bike
tuesday 2 july 2024
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................