Monday 23 September 2013

The Venn Cyclist… it's in the shop

Love Yellow's: Cycling Glossary

It's important to know the lingo...

Sitting In there's nothing wrong with Sitting In despite what others might tell you, or say about you behind your back.  Some people are so skilled at Sitting In they can do their whole Sunday ride without having a hair blown out of place. There are times when Sitting In is perfectly acceptable, i.e. you are too worn out to go on the front, you are twelve years old or it is accepted that you are really lazy. Use: she had a free ride the whole time sitting in then out sprinted me at the end! 


Blowing Up (knacker-d) when you only just make it home you have Blown Up. When the last 30 k is made in a fog of pain you have Blown Up. When your eyes can only see the wheel directly in front... then it drifts away up the road you have Blown Up. Use: Chris Froome should have a special pocket the exact size of A Gel sewn into his jersey in case he blows up, again.

Sunday 15 September 2013

Womens Professional Cycling News: 'Casino' Chaos!

Top women's professional teams took action in refusing to start in 18th Giro Della Toscana 2013. Many top teams including Rabo Women, Orica-AIS, Sengers, Specialized-lululemon, Boels, Wiggle, USA, Optum, Argos-Shimano, Hitec Products, and also Italian team BePink refused to roll out as some Italian teams and German National team rode the stage.

This race has a history of bad road control and chaos in general. This year's race saw Chloe Hosking knocked off
by a photographer as she sprinted for the line. Thankfully she was not badly hurt.

Article written by C J Farquharson of WomensCycling.net goes into depth about the protest:

http://www.womenscycling.net/2013/EventsPages2013/09_Toscana/04_Stage4.htm

Friday 6 September 2013

Our Cat Loves Yellow

Eltham John: Being Caught Out by Quality

I may have mentioned it before - as you get older you get caught more often when out on your bike.

A couple of weeks ago during my usual wander round the local Kentish lanes I was passed by a father and son who were obviously doing a spot of training. The father was the 1976 British Professional Road Race Champion Geoff Wiles. For a couple of miles I sat behind them to remind myself what it's like to ride at training speed and for a short time it was really enjoyable. Having then completed their speed work they both eased back and as all cyclists do we had a chat about local racing scene. I took the opportunity to ask Geoff about the current form of his San Fairy Ann team mates who I've had the pleasure of riding with over the years. 

Quite soon Geoff and his son were ready to resume their next fast interval so I excused myself by saying that I wanted to go off and climb a few hills.

Gianni Bugno. jimenezvelosport.com


















Despite having bottled out of the opportunity to do a bit of real riding it occurred to me that if I've now reached the stage that I am always going to be caught it will be some consolation if the person doing the catching is of genuine quality. This thought and the fact that I had just been hearing how well Dick Naylor was now riding reminded me of the time when Dick and myself were overtaken by real quality in the form of the whole of the Italian National Road Team. We were in San Sebastian to see the Worlds in 1997 and the day before the race we decided to take a ride round the championship course, which seemed like a great idea at the time. After we had completed about half the distance the Italian team which included Gianni Bugno, Fondriest, Castagrande came ambling by. I quickly accepted that I was completely out of my depth but Dick stayed on the back of the group for a couple of laps.

I must be easily pleased as I was content just to know that I had been overtaken by one of the greatest group of riders I ever shared the road with.

Thursday 5 September 2013

Cycling Equipment: 5 quick fire questions

Equipment - Quick fire questions

















Do we need it? Yes.

Do you know much about it? A bit.

Do you care much about it? Not really... a little bit, maybe.

Is it expensive? Yes.

Are there too many bits and pieces nowadays? Yes, I reckon there are.

What's the most crucial bit of equipment? Saddle, without a doubt, or ball bearings... perhaps it's wheels or handlebars. I don't know.

Tuesday 3 September 2013

Training Regime: The Café Stop

Once you can do 2 hour training runs you are ready to attempt a little sit-down mid-ride known as The Café Stop. This decision must not to be taken lightly as remount can be dangerous when full of coffee and cake and it is possible to experience a refusal to remount resulting in a café stranding and subsequent fake, 'I'm stranded with a mechanical' call you never want to make.

Entry:
Park your bike where you can see it from the café window. If some unsavoury heathen tries to make off with it you will be able to jump up, slide around on your cycling shoes, and at least witness the assailant is aged between 20 to 50 noting generic clothing that will be impossible to recall later on.

The Selection:
I could write reams on this subject but there’s not time to cover all possible scenarios. Some people think cake is cake, they are mad. Some think there are certain types of traditional cycling cake that must be adhered to and will not stray from bread pudding, fruit cake or victoria sponge. I say, and I know I’m going out on a limb but, chocolate brownie, gypsy tart and lemon meringue. I would even add cream horn, banoffee pie and curlywurly stack cake.















What you drink is up to you. I’m a lover of tea and coffee and solve this dilemma by having one of each. I'd advise against ice cream based drinks because I wouldn’t wish my rum and raisin shandy incident on anyone (I won’t go into detail but on the way home it made an unpleasant fountainous return through my nose. This is not the way you want to remember ice cream shandy)

Timing the Exit:
It’s best not to outstay your welcome, two visits to the cake trolley is sufficient to give the impression of treasured customer (you never know when you’ll forget to bring your money out with you and need a hunger knock favour). A cheery wave will distract from comical Max Wall cycling shoe walk as you leave.

Remount:
Remember everything I’ve mentioned before with regard to leg lifting but take care not to grunt, belch or F……..orget to lean the bike over. Successfully on board all you need to do now is get home for a nice cup of tea.

Sunday 1 September 2013

THIS is Moser's big wheel


Overheard at the bike check, 'Niente paura.... it's the small front wheel that makes it look big!'