Saturday 25 June 2011
Marianne Vos at work in the Netherlands
NK wielrennen op de weg 2010 dames by tedvdw
Marianne Vos racing in the Netherlands. If this was a men's race, there'd be spectators everywhere. Watch the speed through the corners and give me one reason why women's racing doesn't attract as much attention as the men's does.
Giro boss Zomegnan for the boot?
The ex-journalist began his quest to inject new life into what was once the jewel of Italian cycling in 2004, introducing new and challenging stages that tested riders to the limits. His efforts paid off - the 2010 Giro was hailed by many as one of the best ever.
However, the 2011 event was not such a success. In an attempt to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy, Zomegnan tried to route the stages so as to visit as many regions of the nation as he possibly could. While this was to the benefit of Italian fans, of whom many got to see one of their most beloved national events for the first time, it was not popular among riders who complained bitterly about the long distances to be travelled between the finish and start lines of stages. Teams had also complained for some years that the race placed unreasonable demands upon them and put them in danger, which saw the UCI decide with just hours' notice to remove Zomegnan's planned climb and frankly terrifying descent of Monte Crostis, one of the highest mountains in the Dolemites, following the tragic death of Belgian Wouter Weylandts in Stage 3.
Zomegnan's management style has earned him few friends - he's known to be both confrontational and quick to anger. His reaction to the UCI's decision is proof of this: "...they know nothing about it," he said. "It was a political decision. The UCI man comes, he takes three Garibaldi and he goes back to his office and he stayed in his office...the true worry is that these people are making these decisions without knowing anything. We cannot put into their hands our destiny."
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| Attempts to route the Giro so as to visit as many regions as possible in 2011 were not popular with riders who disliked the travelling between some stages. |
There are obvious parallels between Zomagnan and Henri Desgrange. Both were journalists, both passionate about cycling, both with management styles best termed challenging for those beneath them, both have sought to push riders to the very limits - Desgrange once said that his ideal Tour would be one in which only one rider made it to the end, and it was he, of course, who created the greatest cycling event of them all. When asked to comment on rider's criticism of the difficult stages he brought in, Zomegnan replied: "They can stay at home if the prefer." Perhaps he can equal Desgrange's achievement?
If the rumours of secretive meetings between Zomegnan and Giro rights holder RCS MediaGroup are true, he may not be around to organise the race in 2012. This would be a great pity - this year, he got it wrong but he can learn from that and get it back on track.
Kristin Armstrong to leave pro cycling?
Kristin Armstrong may be considering retirement following a disappointing third in the USA Cycling National time trial a few days ago, having returned to professional cycling earlier this year after becoming a mother.
Armstrong, who says she is now a mother first and a cyclist second, was involved in the crash that occurred during the penultimate lap of the Nature Valley Women's GP in Minneapolis which saw four cyclists hospitalised with injuries ranging from broken ribs to cuts and bruises. With several other horrific crashes this year - including in the Tour du Suisse which left Mauricio Soler in a coma, the tragic death of Wouter Weylandt in the Giro d'Italia and 86-year-old Elton Hammond in the 10km Summer Senior Games time trial - the UCI time trial champion may have decided that the risks involved in cycling, as highlighted by Mark Cavendish recently, are not worth taking once a rider becomes a parent.
The time trial was "a huge disappointment," the 37-year-old told the Idaho Statesman newspaper. "Last week's five day stage race and crash took more out of me than I anticipated."
"It's a tough one right now, we banked a lot on a good showing here," said husband Joe Savola, before discussing Armstrong's Olympic hopes which appear to now be ruined: "It's considerably harder now. The commitment and sacrifices you have to make to do it are huge." A first place time trial result would have guaranteed Armstrong a place in London in 2012, but she crossed the line a minute after first and second place riders Evelyn Stevens and Amber Neben.
Armstrong, who says she is now a mother first and a cyclist second, was involved in the crash that occurred during the penultimate lap of the Nature Valley Women's GP in Minneapolis which saw four cyclists hospitalised with injuries ranging from broken ribs to cuts and bruises. With several other horrific crashes this year - including in the Tour du Suisse which left Mauricio Soler in a coma, the tragic death of Wouter Weylandt in the Giro d'Italia and 86-year-old Elton Hammond in the 10km Summer Senior Games time trial - the UCI time trial champion may have decided that the risks involved in cycling, as highlighted by Mark Cavendish recently, are not worth taking once a rider becomes a parent.
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| Kristin Armstrong would be much missed in cycling, but some things are more important. |
"It's a tough one right now, we banked a lot on a good showing here," said husband Joe Savola, before discussing Armstrong's Olympic hopes which appear to now be ruined: "It's considerably harder now. The commitment and sacrifices you have to make to do it are huge." A first place time trial result would have guaranteed Armstrong a place in London in 2012, but she crossed the line a minute after first and second place riders Evelyn Stevens and Amber Neben.
HTC and Highroad still an item?
The Financial Times has printed a correction to its story yesterday on Highroad's reported problems in securing sponsorship for next year, stating that the team is still in discussion with the Taiwanese giant HTC and other potential backers.
Precisely how the newspapers got from Bob Stapleton blaming the reticence of some companies to become involved in professional cycling to a doom and gloom story spelling out the end of one of the sport's most popular and successful teams and the probable apocalypse bringing an end to cycling as we know it remains a mystery, but that's the newspapers for you.
Anyway, since we're not part of the professional scene we rely on the news and published a story on it yesterday. Much of it can be ignored - chances are Highroad's cyclists will be hanging around and the team will continue nurturing new stars under Stapleton's patronage for many years. However, we'll keep the story up because the problem of doping discouraging companies from sponsoring teams for fear of tarnishing their public images remains a very real one.
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| Highroad - not the end of the road |
Precisely how the newspapers got from Bob Stapleton blaming the reticence of some companies to become involved in professional cycling to a doom and gloom story spelling out the end of one of the sport's most popular and successful teams and the probable apocalypse bringing an end to cycling as we know it remains a mystery, but that's the newspapers for you.
Anyway, since we're not part of the professional scene we rely on the news and published a story on it yesterday. Much of it can be ignored - chances are Highroad's cyclists will be hanging around and the team will continue nurturing new stars under Stapleton's patronage for many years. However, we'll keep the story up because the problem of doping discouraging companies from sponsoring teams for fear of tarnishing their public images remains a very real one.
Augusta National Crits Championship
"This is going to be monster!" exclaimed the race commentator at the start line of the 1.2km city centre course in Augusta yesterday, and he was right: with more than 800 cyclists battling it out for the USA Cycling National Criterium Championships the event looked more like an outsized alleycat race than an official, organised date.
Tight turns and high speeds guaranteed excitement and a multiple pile-up early on - while no fun at all for competitors, no doubt enlivened the day from spectator's points of view. There were certainly plenty to see it: cycling in the USA may not yet enjoy the popularity that it does in Europe but the likes of Levi Leipheimer, Tejay van Garderen and above all Lance Armstrong have boosted it to a higher level of exposure than ever before and thousands turned out to watch the fun.
Video provided by Augusta Chronicle
David Wenger took the Elite Men's title in a race that included 125 starters, pacing himself with a surgeon's precision and just clawing his way to an advantage in a sprint finish after 80km. "I wasn't going to take a risk," he said after the race, "I just gave it 100% from the last half-lap to the finish line, everything I had." Had the course have been just 6m longer Rahsaan Bahti would have taken the title - having fought his way long and hard from the back of the pack, he was on Wenger's back wheel as the crossed over, eventually passing him a few metres later. Only 61 riders finished the race, proving what a difficult course it was.
Meanwhile, residents and business owners expressed their joy. Cafes and shops were doing a roaring trade and locals, many of them with children, thanked race organisers for bringing an exciting event to their doorstep. These sorts of short-course urban races seem to be gaining ever more popularity and are ideal for televising, so with a bit of luck and support we can all expect to see more taking place around the world.
Tight turns and high speeds guaranteed excitement and a multiple pile-up early on - while no fun at all for competitors, no doubt enlivened the day from spectator's points of view. There were certainly plenty to see it: cycling in the USA may not yet enjoy the popularity that it does in Europe but the likes of Levi Leipheimer, Tejay van Garderen and above all Lance Armstrong have boosted it to a higher level of exposure than ever before and thousands turned out to watch the fun.
Video provided by Augusta Chronicle
David Wenger took the Elite Men's title in a race that included 125 starters, pacing himself with a surgeon's precision and just clawing his way to an advantage in a sprint finish after 80km. "I wasn't going to take a risk," he said after the race, "I just gave it 100% from the last half-lap to the finish line, everything I had." Had the course have been just 6m longer Rahsaan Bahti would have taken the title - having fought his way long and hard from the back of the pack, he was on Wenger's back wheel as the crossed over, eventually passing him a few metres later. Only 61 riders finished the race, proving what a difficult course it was.
Meanwhile, residents and business owners expressed their joy. Cafes and shops were doing a roaring trade and locals, many of them with children, thanked race organisers for bringing an exciting event to their doorstep. These sorts of short-course urban races seem to be gaining ever more popularity and are ideal for televising, so with a bit of luck and support we can all expect to see more taking place around the world.
Cooke's cooking
Twice winner of the Tour de France Feminin Nicole Cooke looks set to do all she can to beat her rival Emma Pooley and regain her Women's road race champion title in a sprint finish at Stamfordham on the 26th of June. Cooke, aged 28, who missed out on much of 2009 due to illness, has a lot to ride for - the illness brought an end to her nine year winning streak and she needs to start bringing in results. There are personal reasons, too, as she believes that Pooley's Garmin team - which features such heavy-hitters as track champion Lizzie Armitstead, the lightning-fast 22-year-old world track champion who will doubtless also be looking for success and probably has the best chance of catching Cooke in a sprint - have deliberately used questionable tactics to bring her down.
Meanwhile, Pooley herself is a force to be reckoned with as she too has won a Tour de France Feminin in 2009 when the race was last held before being discontinued due to lack of sponsorship. Cooke says that team riding is not permitted in National Championships and will be alone in tomorrow's race, whereas Pooley will be backed up by Armitstead, Sharon Laws and Lucy Martin; this being what's worrying for Cooke who refused to shake hands with Pooley when beaten by her in the past, later hinting that the Garmin team had ganged up against her in order to achieve victory.
Much of the cycling press seems to have forgotten Nicole over the last year, during which she hasn't won any races. However, if they've written her off for good they may well be shown to look foolish later. When she was at her best, she was one of the fastest and most skilled female riders the world has yet seen and with her future career to fight for there's a high likelihood that we'll see a return of her trademark grit, determination, speed and excellence in Northumberland tomorrow. The event, featuring a variety of important races over the weekend, is virtually guaranteed a high turn-out with several of Sky's male riders - including Dauphine winner Bradley Wiggins, rapidly becoming as close to a cycling superstar as it's possible to be in Britain and Cooke's countryman Geraint Thomas - making an appearance, but it might be the women who produce the most interesting race.
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| Nicole Cooke's past victories are numerous. |
Much of the cycling press seems to have forgotten Nicole over the last year, during which she hasn't won any races. However, if they've written her off for good they may well be shown to look foolish later. When she was at her best, she was one of the fastest and most skilled female riders the world has yet seen and with her future career to fight for there's a high likelihood that we'll see a return of her trademark grit, determination, speed and excellence in Northumberland tomorrow. The event, featuring a variety of important races over the weekend, is virtually guaranteed a high turn-out with several of Sky's male riders - including Dauphine winner Bradley Wiggins, rapidly becoming as close to a cycling superstar as it's possible to be in Britain and Cooke's countryman Geraint Thomas - making an appearance, but it might be the women who produce the most interesting race.
Friday 24 June 2011
What an utter tool...
I've owned and been using one of the original Topeak Alien multitools since, erm, well, I can't even remember now. About as long as they've around, I think - I remember Mountain Biking UK reviewing them when they were brand new and it seemed like the best multitool on the market so I went out and bought one. Not a bad little tool, either, though the tyre levers were useless and snapped the first time I ever tried to use them.
The other tools, however, have been great - in fact, I still use the chain splitter to this day, preferring to the various others that have appeared in my toolbox over the years. I've never used the spoke keys as they're really emergency-only, but the allen keys have seen heavy use - the really thin one snapped (as they do) and the 5mm is now too rounded-off to be used, but the rest are fine. The screwdrivers are still alright, the knife is still sharp even though I broke off a few teeth once trying to do something or other with it and both the safety catch and the clip to hold the two halves together are still working perfectly.
My one criticism of the tool is that, when subjected to heavy usage, the flex in the body was noticeable even from new. It's got much worse in the last couple of months, leading me to believe that sooner or later it's going to snap. My experience with snapping tools is that they almost invariably lead to you accidentally smashing your knuckles onto whichever is the nearest sharp and pointy bit of the bike - usually the chain rings. So, I'm in the market for a replacement.
8/10 seems fair. The Alien 4 will get at least 9 if they get rid of that stupid alien face.
Coming in at round about the same pricepoint (£34.99) is the gorgeous Specialized EMT Pro MTB Multitool. It's got twelve fewer tools than the Alien 3, but most of what you're ever likely to need trailside is there - allen keys from 2 to 8mm and two phillips screwdrivers - no flat, but when did you last use a flat screwdriver on a bike? There's a chain splitter that looks like it should match that of the Alien for ease of use and durability, a pair of spoke keys, a bottle opener and - ta-daaa! - a disc brake pad separator. That's not something I've ever needed on a multitool, but chances are if I bought this one I'd use it. I mean, you might as well. Whereas the Alien is plastic - and has picked up a rather crap-looking green alien face on the side - the Speccy EMT is made of sexily curving aluminium and it looks great. Despite the metal, it still manages to weigh less than half what the Alien does - this being achieved partly by the smaller number of tools and partly by "hollowed-out allen key cores." Hmm - I'm not convinced I like the sound of them. I can picture them snapping if you need to put a bit of pressure on the tool.
7/10 - can't see much call for the disc pad tool and I really don't trust this hollowed-out business. Looks good though.
8.5/10, just beating the Alien due to the lower price.
Crank bros.' Multi19 looks impressive, and it has a somewhat petite but usable-looking chain splitter which immediately puts it way ahead of the firm's Multi10 which doen't have one. It's got the standard 2-8mm allen keys, a T25, screwdrivers and the same chunky knurled sideplates as its little brother. One drawback, which most people won't care about, is that the black version has been discontinued which leaves it available only in gold - I hate gold. I'm also not sure about the wrench machined into the handle of the chain splitter - if that's anything other than virtually useless I'll be surprised. At 175g it's no featherweight, but it's also no lardarse like the Alien. £27.99 puts it at the lower end of prices for the best-equipped tools, too. Four spoke keys is more than most of us will ever need.
6.5/10. I'm not taking marks off for the colour, but those wrenches are an issue.The Blackburn Toolmanator 3, despite the really stupid name, is fine looking beast that matches the Alien on price. It has a robust chain splitter that looks as though it should easily last as long as the one on my old Topeak, hardened chrome vanadium tools, 8x allen keys between 1.5 and 8mm, T25 and T30 Torx drivers, flat and phillips screwdrivers, a Shrader valve tool and 14g/15g spoke keys. It also has a one-piece aluminium frame for strength and rigidity and is designed both with ergonomics in mind and so as not to snag on clothing or in bags. There seems to be a dearth of information regarding the Toolmanator's weight which suggests it's probably a bit of a lump. However, I don't care - the reason being that the Toolmanator has a mini shock pump! Oh yeah. That's a tool I most certainly would use for small adjustments out on the trails.
9.5/10 - definitely the first choice in this selection, especially since I've just found one online for £25. The mini shock pump is pure genius.
Steampunk bikes
If you don't know what steampunk is, it's a subculture based on alternate history. Imagine, if you will, mobile phones and laptops and other modern day gadgets but in a world where steam still provides power and rosewood and brass are used in place of plastic. It can best be summed up, perhaps, as The Path Not Taken. Naturally, it's extremely popular among some elements of the sci-fi community who have taken the alternate history tales of Stephen Baxter as inspiration and combined them with the visions of H.G. Wells. And, well, we all know what Wells thought of bikes, don't we?
There are a few examples, of course, and the best ones - in common with the best of all steampunk (and cycling, for that matter) are beautiful works of art. Here's some from Captain Hieronymous Darpanet's Astounding Steamweb...
"When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the human race." (H.G. Wells)He knew what he was on about, did old H.G.
'S funny, really, that there aren't more steampunk bikes about. Cyclists have always spent a lot of time in sheds with spanners and stuff. You even find a few eccentric genius types who build strange things - people like Didi Senft, for example. That's exactly what steampunks do too - and few things characterised the late 19th Century like the bicycle did, so it seems odd that the two have not yet been combined to any great extent.
There are a few examples, of course, and the best ones - in common with the best of all steampunk (and cycling, for that matter) are beautiful works of art. Here's some from Captain Hieronymous Darpanet's Astounding Steamweb...
Stringbike
Once again someone out there has decided they can think up a better way to transfer power from the legs to the rear wheel. Once again, it's more complex and probably far less efficient than the traditional chain which has been in use for over a century with good reason.
Oh, and guys? You might want to tighten up the front wheel quick release.
Oh, and guys? You might want to tighten up the front wheel quick release.
The Cycle Caravan
First, I was all like OMG WTF?
But then I was all like, lol, that's sweet.
Then I realised I really do need to stop spending so much time on the Internet, it's making me talk like a moron. However, had it not have been for the Internet I'd never have come across the caravan designed to be towed by a bicycle, that being the very thing that elicited those meme-derived responses from me.
When first setting eyes upon it, I did think it was perhaps the most stupid thing I'd ever seen - and let's face it, it's a caravan towed by a bike. That does seem quite stupid. Then I saw the pictures of the interior...
...and it occurred to me that it looks quite nice inside, really. Cosy. The duvet cover would have to go, but that television's better than the one on my living room. It's considerably bigger - and a hell of a lot cleaner - than the flat I lived when I was at university, too. In fact, I reckon I could happily live in there.
Think of it: you, your bike and all the shelter you need. Rig up some sort of battery system and you could power a little electric heater off the day's efforts in the saddle. No bills, no mortgage, no council tax, just you and your bike. Every day you could ride off somewhere new - it'd be great.
Just suggested buying a couple, one for me and one for the missus (which we'd modify with some sort of hatch system for a double bed, obviously; ideally one that can be closed again to block out her snoring). She points out the lack of a shower or other washing facilities.
Women, eh? Obviously had their sense of adventure replaced with a better sense of smell.
But then I was all like, lol, that's sweet.
Then I realised I really do need to stop spending so much time on the Internet, it's making me talk like a moron. However, had it not have been for the Internet I'd never have come across the caravan designed to be towed by a bicycle, that being the very thing that elicited those meme-derived responses from me.
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| Image from ETA |
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| Image from ETA |
Think of it: you, your bike and all the shelter you need. Rig up some sort of battery system and you could power a little electric heater off the day's efforts in the saddle. No bills, no mortgage, no council tax, just you and your bike. Every day you could ride off somewhere new - it'd be great.
Just suggested buying a couple, one for me and one for the missus (which we'd modify with some sort of hatch system for a double bed, obviously; ideally one that can be closed again to block out her snoring). She points out the lack of a shower or other washing facilities.
Women, eh? Obviously had their sense of adventure replaced with a better sense of smell.
How To...Mend a Puncture
Not too long ago, I met a lad aged 18 who was taking his bike to the bike shop for a repair. "What's wrong with it?" I asked.
"It's got a puncture," he told me.
I was, naturally, quite incredulous that anyone could reach the age of 18 without having learned how to mend a puncture somewhere along the way. I saw him again later in the afternoon and he told me the repair had cost £5. Now, £5 isn't a lot of money, but since a puncture repair kit costs less than £2 and a puncture takes about five minutes to fix, it seems a bit costly.
The next day, I happened to see the man who runs the bike shop and I asked him if many people bring bikes in to have punctures repaired. He informed me that it happens seven or eight times in an average week.
People, come on! Read this and find out how to mend punctures for yourself!
You're going to need:
A puncture repair kit (including patchs, a piece of sandpaper or emery cloth, a little crayon, some chalk and some vulcanising cement)
A pump
You can use tyre levers, but they're not essential
Tools to remove the wheel (most modern bikes have quick release wheels and no tools will be required)
What you do:
1. It's easier if you turn the bike upside down. Now, if you have rim brakes, release them on the wheel with the puncture. Most brakes have an easy way for you to do this, such as by freeing the nipple on the end of the straddle wire in the case of most centre-pull cantilever brakes. If it's a side-pull cantilever, (also known as a V-brake), release the noodle (the metal tube with the 90 degree bend) from the left cantilever. Some side-pull calipers will require you to loosen the cable clamp - usually accomplished with a 10mm spanner - while good quality models and dual-pivot side-pull calipers may have a quick release clamp. Magura hydraulic rim brakes will either need to be unbolted on one side or will be fitted with a quick release lever. With disc brakes, you can leave the brakes alone.
2. This done, you can remove the wheel. Most bikes are fitted with quick release wheels, in which case it's a simple matter of flipping down the lever, twisting the nut a few times and lifting the wheel out of the drop outs (unless it was fitted by one of the surprisingly large number of people too stupid to use them properly). Other bikes may use nuts on a solid, threaded axle, in which case you'll need a spanner - the majority of bikes made in the last 30 years will need a 15mm spanner, but you may also come across other sizes or Imperial nuts for which you will require either the correct size spanner or an adjustable spanner. Using it, loosen the nuts either side but don't remove them from the axle until you are able to remove the wheel from the drop outs. Some mountain bikes have large, hollow axles which are clamped in place by the drop outs. Some of these clamps have quick release mechanisms, others will require you to use an allen key (in most cases, a 5mm one) or a spanner.
3. Once the wheel is off, it's time to remove the tyre. This can be achieved by working round the wheel rim, flexing the rubber with your thumbs to loosen it. Thus done, it should be a simple matter to free it from the rim's clincher, the ridge around the inner edges of the braking surfaces into which the tyre beads lock when inflated. However, the internal diameter among tyres of the same size varies quite widely and so whereas one tyre may be very easy to take off, another can be very tight. They'll all come with enough flexing, but if you have tyre levers use them. Some mechanics will tell you never to use tyre levers because they can pinch the inner tube and create another puncture, but by taking care to avoid the tube I've managed to avoid this happening even once during my three decades in cycling so I'm going to say use 'em if you want. Use one lever to, er, lever the tyre off the rim, then hook it under a spoke - most types have a special hook allowing you to this. Use the other lever to lever off section a few centimetres from the first and keep going until the tyre is free. You only need to free the tyre from one side of the wheel for the time being.
4. You can now remove the dust cap from the valve stem and push it through the hole in the rim, which will make it easier to take hold of the tube and pull it out of the tyre. Once this is done, use the pump to partially inflate the tube - in the majority of cases, you'll know where the puncture is when you hear the air escaping. If you can't, hold the tube a few centimetres from your lips and pass it across them - your lips will feel escaping air that your fingers cannot. If even that doesn't work, get a bucket or large bowl of water, immerse the tube and look for air bubbles. Before deflating the tube, mark the position of the puncture with the crayon or with a ballpoint pen.
5. Select which size patch you're going to use. The smaller ones, 4 square centimetres or so, are large enough for the majority of punctures caused by thorns and suchlike. The larger ones are used for bigger holes which resemble slits rather than pinpricks.
6. Once deflated, dry the tube if you used water to find the puncture. Now locate it again using the mark you made. Take the sandpaper/emery cloth and use it to rub the tube over and around the puncture, sanding an area slightly larger than the patch. If the puncture is situated near raised parts of the tube such as the brand name, take a little extra time to flatten the surface as this will help the patch to stay in place. Remember that you're roughening the rubber and removing dirt - there's no need to sand so firmly that you reduce the thickness and damage the tube.
7. Now take the vulcanising cement, which most people call glue. Apply a thin layer to the sanded area (you can also get self-adhesive patches, but in my experience they don't work very well). Now wait for it to dry. One of the commonest mistakes made by people who don't know how to mend punctures is sticking the patch onto the tube before the cement dries. Vulcanising cement is not glue - it doesn't work by sticking the patch in place, but uses sulphur and other compounds to create crosslinks between individual polymers in the tube and the patch, "melding" them together. Press the patch firmly into position using your thumb. If you tried to save time by not deflating the tube at the end of Step 4, you will now find air bubbles have formed under the patch and have to return to the start of the same Step.
8. On the back of your puncture repair kit you should find a raised, rough section rather like a file (if you have a puncture repair kit you've put together yourself, you probably know what you're doing and have an alternative. I use fag ash, personally). Use this to finely powder some of the chalk, then rub this over the area where you applied the cement to prevent it forming crosslinks with the inner surface of the tyre as this will rip the inner tube next time you need to remove it.
9. Before replacing the tube, remove the tyre completely from the wheel. Look around the inner surface to see if there's anything stuck in the rubber which will immediately puncture the tube again. The nose of a pair of pliers can be used to push foreign bodies back through the tyre so that they can be grasped and removed using the same tool. If you can't see anything, run your fingers around the inside instead. This will transfer the thorn/razor-sharp shard of glass/tetanus-ridden flint particle from the tyre into your skin if you're not careful, so be careful. Use the pliers to remove it from the rubber.
10. Place the tyre back onto the wheel, pushing one bead over the rim into the gap between the braking surfaces. Locate the valve stem aperture. Feed the valve stem through it, then work around the circumference feeding the remainder of the tube into the tyre. Once in place, work the bead of the tyre onto the rim, making sure both sides engage with the clincher all round. Reinflate, reattach the wheel making sure the chain is properly located on the sprockets if its the back wheel and job's a good 'un
11. Oh, and by the way - don't forget you unhooked your brakes in Step 1. A lot of people forget that, much to the delight of dentists.
Notes:
A. Repairing punctures in tubular tyres, which are glued to the rim, is much more difficult and requires the tyre to be cut and later rejoined. That's why few cyclists use them except for in competitions when spare wheels with inflated tyres ready fitted are available.
B. Tubeless tyres are becoming common on mountain bikes. If you have them, chances are you know what to do when you get a flat. If you don't, you'll need a special puncture kit for tubeless tyres with patches to be affixed to the inner surface of the tyre. Tubeless tyres require a seal between the beads and clinchers to be achieved very rapidly otherwise air will escape - for this reason, it may be necessary to use a large capacity track pump or a compressed carbon dioxodge cartride able to pump a lot of gas into the tyre in a very short period, thus forming the seal.
C. If you suffer a catastrophic puncture, ie one that cannot be repaired and you don't have a spare tube with you, remove the damaged tube and pack the tyre with grass and leaves. Keep your speed low and though it won't work very well, it will get you home.
D. If your tyre continually goes flat but you can't find a puncture, chances are the valve is at fault. Woods and Shrader valves can be removed (by hand for the former, with a special tool for the latter) and replaced, but most people will just replace the entire inner tube. Most Presta valves cann't be removed, so faults will require replacement of the entire tube.
E. If you get a lot of punctures, check your tyres aren't worn - if they are, replace them. If they're not, it's likely that the wheel has no rim tape, a cloth or rubber strip running around between the braking surfaces which protects the tube from the spoke nipples or holes allowing access to the spoke nipples. Your bike shop will be able to supply you with a new one. If the rim tape is in place and in good condition, you probably just ride in an area with a lot of thorns so consider fitting tougher, puncture-resistant tyres such as those featuring Kevlar inserts.
(Images by Mike Warren at WikiHow)
"It's got a puncture," he told me.
I was, naturally, quite incredulous that anyone could reach the age of 18 without having learned how to mend a puncture somewhere along the way. I saw him again later in the afternoon and he told me the repair had cost £5. Now, £5 isn't a lot of money, but since a puncture repair kit costs less than £2 and a puncture takes about five minutes to fix, it seems a bit costly.
The next day, I happened to see the man who runs the bike shop and I asked him if many people bring bikes in to have punctures repaired. He informed me that it happens seven or eight times in an average week.
People, come on! Read this and find out how to mend punctures for yourself!
You're going to need:
A puncture repair kit (including patchs, a piece of sandpaper or emery cloth, a little crayon, some chalk and some vulcanising cement)
A pump
You can use tyre levers, but they're not essential
Tools to remove the wheel (most modern bikes have quick release wheels and no tools will be required)
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| Puncture repair kit. Some will include tyre levers and perhaps a really rubbish spanner that will snap in half should you ever try to use it. |
1. It's easier if you turn the bike upside down. Now, if you have rim brakes, release them on the wheel with the puncture. Most brakes have an easy way for you to do this, such as by freeing the nipple on the end of the straddle wire in the case of most centre-pull cantilever brakes. If it's a side-pull cantilever, (also known as a V-brake), release the noodle (the metal tube with the 90 degree bend) from the left cantilever. Some side-pull calipers will require you to loosen the cable clamp - usually accomplished with a 10mm spanner - while good quality models and dual-pivot side-pull calipers may have a quick release clamp. Magura hydraulic rim brakes will either need to be unbolted on one side or will be fitted with a quick release lever. With disc brakes, you can leave the brakes alone.
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| You don't need to repair punctures in beautiful natural surroundings, but chances are you will sooner or later. |
3. Once the wheel is off, it's time to remove the tyre. This can be achieved by working round the wheel rim, flexing the rubber with your thumbs to loosen it. Thus done, it should be a simple matter to free it from the rim's clincher, the ridge around the inner edges of the braking surfaces into which the tyre beads lock when inflated. However, the internal diameter among tyres of the same size varies quite widely and so whereas one tyre may be very easy to take off, another can be very tight. They'll all come with enough flexing, but if you have tyre levers use them. Some mechanics will tell you never to use tyre levers because they can pinch the inner tube and create another puncture, but by taking care to avoid the tube I've managed to avoid this happening even once during my three decades in cycling so I'm going to say use 'em if you want. Use one lever to, er, lever the tyre off the rim, then hook it under a spoke - most types have a special hook allowing you to this. Use the other lever to lever off section a few centimetres from the first and keep going until the tyre is free. You only need to free the tyre from one side of the wheel for the time being.
4. You can now remove the dust cap from the valve stem and push it through the hole in the rim, which will make it easier to take hold of the tube and pull it out of the tyre. Once this is done, use the pump to partially inflate the tube - in the majority of cases, you'll know where the puncture is when you hear the air escaping. If you can't, hold the tube a few centimetres from your lips and pass it across them - your lips will feel escaping air that your fingers cannot. If even that doesn't work, get a bucket or large bowl of water, immerse the tube and look for air bubbles. Before deflating the tube, mark the position of the puncture with the crayon or with a ballpoint pen.
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| Mark the puncture's location with a cross extending a good way outwards. That way, you'll know precisely where to put the patch even if the sandpaper and vulcanising cement remove the middle of the mark. |
6. Once deflated, dry the tube if you used water to find the puncture. Now locate it again using the mark you made. Take the sandpaper/emery cloth and use it to rub the tube over and around the puncture, sanding an area slightly larger than the patch. If the puncture is situated near raised parts of the tube such as the brand name, take a little extra time to flatten the surface as this will help the patch to stay in place. Remember that you're roughening the rubber and removing dirt - there's no need to sand so firmly that you reduce the thickness and damage the tube.
7. Now take the vulcanising cement, which most people call glue. Apply a thin layer to the sanded area (you can also get self-adhesive patches, but in my experience they don't work very well). Now wait for it to dry. One of the commonest mistakes made by people who don't know how to mend punctures is sticking the patch onto the tube before the cement dries. Vulcanising cement is not glue - it doesn't work by sticking the patch in place, but uses sulphur and other compounds to create crosslinks between individual polymers in the tube and the patch, "melding" them together. Press the patch firmly into position using your thumb. If you tried to save time by not deflating the tube at the end of Step 4, you will now find air bubbles have formed under the patch and have to return to the start of the same Step.
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| An expertly-applied patch. |
9. Before replacing the tube, remove the tyre completely from the wheel. Look around the inner surface to see if there's anything stuck in the rubber which will immediately puncture the tube again. The nose of a pair of pliers can be used to push foreign bodies back through the tyre so that they can be grasped and removed using the same tool. If you can't see anything, run your fingers around the inside instead. This will transfer the thorn/razor-sharp shard of glass/tetanus-ridden flint particle from the tyre into your skin if you're not careful, so be careful. Use the pliers to remove it from the rubber.
10. Place the tyre back onto the wheel, pushing one bead over the rim into the gap between the braking surfaces. Locate the valve stem aperture. Feed the valve stem through it, then work around the circumference feeding the remainder of the tube into the tyre. Once in place, work the bead of the tyre onto the rim, making sure both sides engage with the clincher all round. Reinflate, reattach the wheel making sure the chain is properly located on the sprockets if its the back wheel and job's a good 'un
11. Oh, and by the way - don't forget you unhooked your brakes in Step 1. A lot of people forget that, much to the delight of dentists.
Notes:
A. Repairing punctures in tubular tyres, which are glued to the rim, is much more difficult and requires the tyre to be cut and later rejoined. That's why few cyclists use them except for in competitions when spare wheels with inflated tyres ready fitted are available.
B. Tubeless tyres are becoming common on mountain bikes. If you have them, chances are you know what to do when you get a flat. If you don't, you'll need a special puncture kit for tubeless tyres with patches to be affixed to the inner surface of the tyre. Tubeless tyres require a seal between the beads and clinchers to be achieved very rapidly otherwise air will escape - for this reason, it may be necessary to use a large capacity track pump or a compressed carbon dioxodge cartride able to pump a lot of gas into the tyre in a very short period, thus forming the seal.
C. If you suffer a catastrophic puncture, ie one that cannot be repaired and you don't have a spare tube with you, remove the damaged tube and pack the tyre with grass and leaves. Keep your speed low and though it won't work very well, it will get you home.
D. If your tyre continually goes flat but you can't find a puncture, chances are the valve is at fault. Woods and Shrader valves can be removed (by hand for the former, with a special tool for the latter) and replaced, but most people will just replace the entire inner tube. Most Presta valves cann't be removed, so faults will require replacement of the entire tube.
E. If you get a lot of punctures, check your tyres aren't worn - if they are, replace them. If they're not, it's likely that the wheel has no rim tape, a cloth or rubber strip running around between the braking surfaces which protects the tube from the spoke nipples or holes allowing access to the spoke nipples. Your bike shop will be able to supply you with a new one. If the rim tape is in place and in good condition, you probably just ride in an area with a lot of thorns so consider fitting tougher, puncture-resistant tyres such as those featuring Kevlar inserts.
(Images by Mike Warren at WikiHow)
Another insanely expensive bike which probably isn't all that good
As part of our regular look at ridiculously expensive bikes designed for rich twats, we thought we'd have a quick look today at what was originally a Charge Plug fixie retailing at around six hundred British quid. However, this is no ordinary Plug - it's been done up a bit by the Environmental Transport Agency to draw attention to their "green" insurance and breakdown recovery service with one being given away as a prize and the rest sold. They've given it a pair of aerodynamic wheels, custom saddle, chain and handlebars and then, for good measure, the frame was plated with 24 carat gold. Retail? A mere £9500, or 10,691 euros (which is $15,204). Somewhat ironically, this means that the ETA can't insure it - their policies only cover bikes up to £4000.
£9500 is a long way short of that Aurumania thing we showed you the other day and considerably cheaper than the Chanel bike we covered last week, but this one is available with the ultimate in flashy optional extras...
£9500 is a long way short of that Aurumania thing we showed you the other day and considerably cheaper than the Chanel bike we covered last week, but this one is available with the ultimate in flashy optional extras...
...a private security guard!
Tour de France for beginners
It's that time of year again for us cyclists when the biggest event on the cycling calendar, the Tour de France, is just around the corner and we're going round like kids in the run-up to Christmas all over-excited. Friends from the non-cycling fraternity don't get what it's all about, so we try to help them out - after all, the only reason they're not interested in cycling is because they haven't realised how interesting it is yet, right? - by telling them all about it. Save yourself the time and effort by printing this handy guide to Tour tactics and forcing them to read it.
Now, this Tour de France, it's a load of blokes on bikes racing around France, right? Therefore, all you need to do is be the fastest, right?
Ah, well, you see, it's a little bit more complicated than that. First off, the Tour lasts for 21 days and covers 3450.5km (this year - there've been much longer Tours). Nobody can be the fastest for that long. Not only do we all have off days, if you ride hell for leather for a certain number of days you're going to start feeling tired sooner or later and then someone else, having been taking it easy for several days, is going to leave you standing. What's more, if you try to lead the race the riders behind you will be in your slipstream which means they'll use less energy and you and, as soon as you get tired, they'll overtake you. Then you've got crashes and bike faults to take into account, and your speciality - although there are roleurs (all-rounders), no roleur can beat a sprinter on a good day in a sprint, nor a grimpeur (climber) up a hill. On the other hand, yeah: being the fastest is what counts. Your time taken for each day's stage is recorded and then added up - if you can do it in the shortest time, you've won it.
What's all this points business I keep hearing about got to do with it then?
Being the fastest to the finish only wins you the General Classification title. Points are awarded for various things, such being the fastest through sprint sections or winning stages - in flat stages, 35 points for 1st, 2nd gets 30, 3rd gets 26 and the following riders are awarded various numbers of points right down to 25th who gets 1 point, but this changes on intermediate, mountain and time trial stages. So, you can win on points even if someone else finishes the race before you do so long as you've ridden well throughout the race, as was the case last year when Alberto Contador won the General Classification (his total time was 91h 58' 48") but Alessandro Petacchi won on points with 243 (Contador was 11th on points with 115, Pettachi was 150th on time, crossing the line 3h 44' 38" after Contador). Hence, the points competition is sometimes termed the sprinter's competition.
There's also the points awarded for being the quickest up the mountains, this being known as the Climber Competition, Grimpeur Competition or King of the Mountains - however, since sprinters and climbers are entirely different beasts, they're kept separate from spring and stage win points and added up to decide the King of the Mountains. Some races favour sprinters and so the winner of the Points competition will usually be near the top of the General Classification. Others - like the Tour - favour climbers, so the eventual King of the Mountains will usually do well in the General Classification: in 2010, Contador was 4th among the climbers and Andy Schleck - who took 2nd in the General Classification just behind him - was third. There's a separate category for Young Riders (under 26) too - Schleck won that one last year. And in 2009. And 2008. Oh, and there's an award for Combativity, given to rider who "most animates" a stage by trying to accelerate away from the peloton, chasing down anyone else who attempts to do so and following after leading riders so they have to go faster and tire themselves out (known as attacking). The rider judged to have most animated the overall Tour is awarded the Super Combativity prize. To decide the winning team, the overall times recorded by the three fastest members are combined and the team with the lowest total wins.
Oh, so that explains the jerseys too, does it?
Yeah, that's the one. The fastest rider for each stage wears the yellow jersey on the next day's stage, the fastest sprinter wears a green jersey, the King of the Mountains wears a white jersey with red polka dots and the best young rider wears a white jersey (which sometimes confuses older fans because up until 1975 the white jersey was worn by the rider with the best combination result, ie in the General, Points and Climbs competition. The last Combativity winner can be spotted by having a white number on a red background and members of the leading team by their black numbers on a yellow background.
There used to be two other jerseys, too. The first was the red jersey, awarded to the winner of intermediate sprints - however, as these also contributed points towards the green jersey, it was decided that the red jersey was redundant and it hasn't been awarded since 1989. Then there was the Combination classification that we've already mentioned, for those with the best combined result in the other classifications. When the white jersey changed to the best young rider, the combination award disappeared for a few years up until 1980. It then vanished again in 1983 and 1984 before showing up again in 1985 with a combination jersey featuring elements of all the rest to go with it. It was last worn in 1988 and hasn't been seen since. This may be at least partially because the jersey was so ugly it had actually become illegal.
But what's the Lanterne Rouge?
Oh, now this where cycling is different to other sports, in its celebration of the loser. How many football fans can tell you which team scored the lowest points in the World Cup? Not many, if any. But anyone who has been following the Tour de France knows who the Lanterne Rouge is.
The name means the Red Lantern, as you'll probably have worked out for yourself if you paid any attention in French at school and it's derived not as many people believe from the red rear light of a bicycle but from the red lantern once hung on the last carriage or wagon of a train. Conductors at stations and operators at level crossings would watch out for the red lantern as a train passed and, if they didn't see one, would raise the alarm that one of the couplings had come undone and there was a wagon left on the track somewhere.
The Lanterne Rouge became so celebrated that he would often receive offers of sponsorship from cycle companies and one who was skilled at milking it could make more money from giving speechs and opening public events than the General Classification winner would take home after the race. This led slower riders to actually compete for last place, which didn't impress Tour organisers one bit because they wanted the race to encourage excellence, so new rules were introduced stating that the last rider across the line in stages 14 and 20 would be disqualified.
Incidentally, there have been no British winners of the Tour, but we've managed two Lanternes Rouge - Tony Hoar in 1955 and and John Clarey in 1968. Belgian Wim Vansevenant managed it three times in 2006, 2007, 2008 - an achievement unlikely to be repeated since Lanternes Rouge are not usually retained on the team.
How about domestiques?
There's a sucky job if ever there was one. Domestiques - the word is French for "servants" - exist only to look after and protect their team's top man and provide for his every need, and they're expected to do whatever is required of them. This can be anything from waiting if he gets a puncture and then taking it in turns to get him back to the main group by riding in front of him so he can ride in their slipstream, riding to and from the food stations and team cars to bring back bidons and musettes, forming a protective wall about him in the peloton so that if it turns rough they'll take the knocks instead of him and even giving him their bikes should his develop a problem. With the exception of an elite few super domestiques who would be in with a chance of winning the tour but instead serve a rider with a better chance, few have even the slightest probability of ever winning a stage, nevermind a Tour. However, for the vast majority of professional cyclists riding as a domestique is the only chance they'll ever get to ride in a Tour.
Where does it start?
Depends - since the start changes every year. This year, it'll be at the Passage du Gois in the Pays-de-la-Loire, a causeway which is underwater twice in every 24 hours. The Passage was used in the 1999 Tour and caused an accident because of its slippery, algae-covered surface so expect more drama this year. Usually, the first stage of a Tour is an individual time trial, but this year it's a normal stage.
Where does it end?
Since 1975, every Tour has ended at the Champs-Élysées in Paris. The stage ends with between six and eight circuits and an insanely fast sprint to the end.
Can women take part?
Not in the Tour de France, I'm afraid. Up until 2009 there was a Tour de France Féminin, but following years of organisational difficulties caused by lack of sponsors, it was discontinued in 2010.
I hear it's been going on for a while now.
It has, since 1903 in fact. This year's race will be the 98th, because it wasn't held during the First and Second World wars. Even Tour organisers consider holding a race through a war zone to be a bit more than they can reasonably ask of riders. Every Tour is a party, so expect something major in 2013 for the centenary.
One thing I've always wondered about - if it's called the Tour de France, why do I keep hearing about bits of it going through Switzerland, Belgium and so on?
Of all the Tours, only the first three took place entirely within French borders - since then, it's been a tradition that at least one stage, or section of a stage, visits a foreign country. In 1906 it was Alsace-Lorraine, then part of Germany. Since then., three Tours have started in Germany and many other nations have seen some of the action including the United Kingdom, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Switzerland.
They're all on drugs, right?
Touchy subject, that one. There certainly have been some serious problems in cycling due to doping and around 2005-2006 it certainly did seem as though they were all at it. Since then, cycling's governing body - the UCI - and other organisations have made great efforts to prevent it. All riders are tested, during races and throughout the year, for doping and several effective new tests have been developed to combat the problem - it's arguable now if anyone who cheats will get away with it, and if they do it'll only be for a matter of time before they get caught, banned and stripped of their titles. The trouble is, sponsors don't want to be associated with a team known to use drugs and since it costs around 10 million euros to enter the Grand Tours - those being the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a Espana, teams need that financial support. As a result, it's in the teams' interests to stamp out doping and they all work with the UCI. There are many riders who have never been shown to use performance-enhancing drugs, including some of the best cyclists in the world. Nowadays, you can assume that this means they probably don't use them.
Can anyone enter?
No. In fact, not many people would even be capable of completing the route. First off, you'll need to be good enough to be selected as a member of a UCI ProTeam and for that you need to be damn good. Then, that team needs to be selected by the Tour organisers, for which the whole team needs to be damn good. Then, you'll need to be picked by the team, for which you'll need to be one of the best in the team - and even then, you'll be a domestique unless you're the best in the team. Then comes the tricky part - riding several thousand kilometres around France at high speed for 21 days.
I watched a bit of the Tour on the telly when I came home from the pub one night and there was this bloke dressed as the devil running up the side of the road. WTF?
Oh, that's Didi Senft. He's a 59-year-old German "character" who has appeared among the crowd during every Tour since 1993. He's invented more than a hundred unusual bikes and holds the World Record for the largest transportable guitar, among other achievements. Eccentrics have always been attracted to the Tour and most of them are unpopular with the riders because some of them are a bit too strange and try to get into the road, which slows everyone down and causes accidents. However, Didi has become an unofficial mascot of sorts and is well-liked by cyclists and fans - so much so that he receives small amounts of sponsorship money from various cycling firms. Various "Devil Sightings" websites spring up whenever the Tour (and Giro d'Italia, at which he also appears) is on - to be in with a better chance of seeing him, look out for enormous tridents painted on the road. If you see one, he's somewhere nearby. A couple of years back there was also a man with antlers on his head who would run up the road carrying a huge US flag and who looked set to become almost as iconic as the Devil, but he didn't seem to be about in 2010 - there were a few blokes in mankinis on the mountain stages though.
That reminds me, what's with the paint on the roads?
Another Tour tradition, though it may have started at another race - nobody knows for certain when, where or by whom. The one thing we can be certain about is that it's one of the most noticeable aspects of the Tour and popular among spectators who use it to convey encouragement to the riders, point suspicion at anyone they think may be cheating or just to get their name on television. Often, it's semi-legible scrawling, but good examples are almost art. Of course, it's technically illegal, but is overlooked in the spirit of the event - except in Switzerland, where Didi Senft was fined and forced to remove his painted tridents by police.
What are mass start and time trial stages?
In a mass start, all riders set off together as one large group. The first few kilometres, known as départ fictif, are not raced so as to avoid the enormous pile-up that would result if all the riders shot off at high speed - this allows the field to spread out a bit before they reach the départ réel, marked by a white flag, at which point the racing begins.
There are two types of time trial - individual and team. In an individual time trial, each rider must complete a set course in as little time as possible which has given rise to highly specialised bikes designed with speed and aerodynamics in mind and no concessions to comfort as would be the case with bikes intended for the long stages. The rider who achieves the shortest time wins.
In a team time trial, individual teams set off in relay at increments of two minutes - in most events, the order is random but in the Tour the slowest teams go first. As different riders on a team will have different levels of fitness and different specialities, organising a time trial team has become a very intricate process. Riders are allowed to slipstream one another, which can be used to increase average speed dramatically and team bosses devote a lot of time and effort to making sure the strongest rider spends enough time at the front to keep the others up to speed while also giving him sufficient time behind the leader to recover. A rider who takes more time to recover will spend more time behind the leader than one who recovers quickly and so on.
What's a breakaway?
That's when an individual rider or group of riders - not necessarily on the same team - accelerate away from the main group. There are a number of reasons for doing this. Often, a fast domestique will be ordered to start a breakaway by the team leader if he's feeling especially fit so that other riders will tire more quickly. Sometimes, a team leader will do it just because he can. Other times, lesser-known riders will do it just to show off and get noticed. The longest breakaway in Tour history was by Albert Bourlon who broke away from the group in Stage 14 of the 1947 race and stayed ahead of them for 253km.
Once, I watched the end of a stage and several riders crossed the finish line in a group. Even though there was obviously a first and a last one over, they were all given the same time. Why was that?
If riders cross the finish line like that, they're all recorded as having completed in the same time to discourage sprints in the final kilometre, which can lead to carnage. If a rider crashes in the final three kilometres, he'll be awarded the same time as the group with which he was riding at the point when he crashed if it's better than his predicted time so as not to penalise sprinters who may have performed well earlier in the stage. If there's a pile up in the last kilometre, all riders behind the crash will be awarded the same time. These rules don't apply in time trials or summit finishes (when the stage finishes at the summit of a categorised climb).
Any other questions?
Yes - are you going to watch the football tonight?
The what?
Now, this Tour de France, it's a load of blokes on bikes racing around France, right? Therefore, all you need to do is be the fastest, right?
Ah, well, you see, it's a little bit more complicated than that. First off, the Tour lasts for 21 days and covers 3450.5km (this year - there've been much longer Tours). Nobody can be the fastest for that long. Not only do we all have off days, if you ride hell for leather for a certain number of days you're going to start feeling tired sooner or later and then someone else, having been taking it easy for several days, is going to leave you standing. What's more, if you try to lead the race the riders behind you will be in your slipstream which means they'll use less energy and you and, as soon as you get tired, they'll overtake you. Then you've got crashes and bike faults to take into account, and your speciality - although there are roleurs (all-rounders), no roleur can beat a sprinter on a good day in a sprint, nor a grimpeur (climber) up a hill. On the other hand, yeah: being the fastest is what counts. Your time taken for each day's stage is recorded and then added up - if you can do it in the shortest time, you've won it.
What's all this points business I keep hearing about got to do with it then?
Being the fastest to the finish only wins you the General Classification title. Points are awarded for various things, such being the fastest through sprint sections or winning stages - in flat stages, 35 points for 1st, 2nd gets 30, 3rd gets 26 and the following riders are awarded various numbers of points right down to 25th who gets 1 point, but this changes on intermediate, mountain and time trial stages. So, you can win on points even if someone else finishes the race before you do so long as you've ridden well throughout the race, as was the case last year when Alberto Contador won the General Classification (his total time was 91h 58' 48") but Alessandro Petacchi won on points with 243 (Contador was 11th on points with 115, Pettachi was 150th on time, crossing the line 3h 44' 38" after Contador). Hence, the points competition is sometimes termed the sprinter's competition.
There's also the points awarded for being the quickest up the mountains, this being known as the Climber Competition, Grimpeur Competition or King of the Mountains - however, since sprinters and climbers are entirely different beasts, they're kept separate from spring and stage win points and added up to decide the King of the Mountains. Some races favour sprinters and so the winner of the Points competition will usually be near the top of the General Classification. Others - like the Tour - favour climbers, so the eventual King of the Mountains will usually do well in the General Classification: in 2010, Contador was 4th among the climbers and Andy Schleck - who took 2nd in the General Classification just behind him - was third. There's a separate category for Young Riders (under 26) too - Schleck won that one last year. And in 2009. And 2008. Oh, and there's an award for Combativity, given to rider who "most animates" a stage by trying to accelerate away from the peloton, chasing down anyone else who attempts to do so and following after leading riders so they have to go faster and tire themselves out (known as attacking). The rider judged to have most animated the overall Tour is awarded the Super Combativity prize. To decide the winning team, the overall times recorded by the three fastest members are combined and the team with the lowest total wins.
Oh, so that explains the jerseys too, does it?
Yeah, that's the one. The fastest rider for each stage wears the yellow jersey on the next day's stage, the fastest sprinter wears a green jersey, the King of the Mountains wears a white jersey with red polka dots and the best young rider wears a white jersey (which sometimes confuses older fans because up until 1975 the white jersey was worn by the rider with the best combination result, ie in the General, Points and Climbs competition. The last Combativity winner can be spotted by having a white number on a red background and members of the leading team by their black numbers on a yellow background.
There used to be two other jerseys, too. The first was the red jersey, awarded to the winner of intermediate sprints - however, as these also contributed points towards the green jersey, it was decided that the red jersey was redundant and it hasn't been awarded since 1989. Then there was the Combination classification that we've already mentioned, for those with the best combined result in the other classifications. When the white jersey changed to the best young rider, the combination award disappeared for a few years up until 1980. It then vanished again in 1983 and 1984 before showing up again in 1985 with a combination jersey featuring elements of all the rest to go with it. It was last worn in 1988 and hasn't been seen since. This may be at least partially because the jersey was so ugly it had actually become illegal.
But what's the Lanterne Rouge?
Oh, now this where cycling is different to other sports, in its celebration of the loser. How many football fans can tell you which team scored the lowest points in the World Cup? Not many, if any. But anyone who has been following the Tour de France knows who the Lanterne Rouge is.
The name means the Red Lantern, as you'll probably have worked out for yourself if you paid any attention in French at school and it's derived not as many people believe from the red rear light of a bicycle but from the red lantern once hung on the last carriage or wagon of a train. Conductors at stations and operators at level crossings would watch out for the red lantern as a train passed and, if they didn't see one, would raise the alarm that one of the couplings had come undone and there was a wagon left on the track somewhere.
The Lanterne Rouge became so celebrated that he would often receive offers of sponsorship from cycle companies and one who was skilled at milking it could make more money from giving speechs and opening public events than the General Classification winner would take home after the race. This led slower riders to actually compete for last place, which didn't impress Tour organisers one bit because they wanted the race to encourage excellence, so new rules were introduced stating that the last rider across the line in stages 14 and 20 would be disqualified.
Incidentally, there have been no British winners of the Tour, but we've managed two Lanternes Rouge - Tony Hoar in 1955 and and John Clarey in 1968. Belgian Wim Vansevenant managed it three times in 2006, 2007, 2008 - an achievement unlikely to be repeated since Lanternes Rouge are not usually retained on the team.
How about domestiques?
There's a sucky job if ever there was one. Domestiques - the word is French for "servants" - exist only to look after and protect their team's top man and provide for his every need, and they're expected to do whatever is required of them. This can be anything from waiting if he gets a puncture and then taking it in turns to get him back to the main group by riding in front of him so he can ride in their slipstream, riding to and from the food stations and team cars to bring back bidons and musettes, forming a protective wall about him in the peloton so that if it turns rough they'll take the knocks instead of him and even giving him their bikes should his develop a problem. With the exception of an elite few super domestiques who would be in with a chance of winning the tour but instead serve a rider with a better chance, few have even the slightest probability of ever winning a stage, nevermind a Tour. However, for the vast majority of professional cyclists riding as a domestique is the only chance they'll ever get to ride in a Tour.
Where does it start?
Depends - since the start changes every year. This year, it'll be at the Passage du Gois in the Pays-de-la-Loire, a causeway which is underwater twice in every 24 hours. The Passage was used in the 1999 Tour and caused an accident because of its slippery, algae-covered surface so expect more drama this year. Usually, the first stage of a Tour is an individual time trial, but this year it's a normal stage.
Where does it end?
Since 1975, every Tour has ended at the Champs-Élysées in Paris. The stage ends with between six and eight circuits and an insanely fast sprint to the end.
Can women take part?
Not in the Tour de France, I'm afraid. Up until 2009 there was a Tour de France Féminin, but following years of organisational difficulties caused by lack of sponsors, it was discontinued in 2010.
I hear it's been going on for a while now.
It has, since 1903 in fact. This year's race will be the 98th, because it wasn't held during the First and Second World wars. Even Tour organisers consider holding a race through a war zone to be a bit more than they can reasonably ask of riders. Every Tour is a party, so expect something major in 2013 for the centenary.
One thing I've always wondered about - if it's called the Tour de France, why do I keep hearing about bits of it going through Switzerland, Belgium and so on?
Of all the Tours, only the first three took place entirely within French borders - since then, it's been a tradition that at least one stage, or section of a stage, visits a foreign country. In 1906 it was Alsace-Lorraine, then part of Germany. Since then., three Tours have started in Germany and many other nations have seen some of the action including the United Kingdom, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Switzerland.
They're all on drugs, right?
Touchy subject, that one. There certainly have been some serious problems in cycling due to doping and around 2005-2006 it certainly did seem as though they were all at it. Since then, cycling's governing body - the UCI - and other organisations have made great efforts to prevent it. All riders are tested, during races and throughout the year, for doping and several effective new tests have been developed to combat the problem - it's arguable now if anyone who cheats will get away with it, and if they do it'll only be for a matter of time before they get caught, banned and stripped of their titles. The trouble is, sponsors don't want to be associated with a team known to use drugs and since it costs around 10 million euros to enter the Grand Tours - those being the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a Espana, teams need that financial support. As a result, it's in the teams' interests to stamp out doping and they all work with the UCI. There are many riders who have never been shown to use performance-enhancing drugs, including some of the best cyclists in the world. Nowadays, you can assume that this means they probably don't use them.
Can anyone enter?
No. In fact, not many people would even be capable of completing the route. First off, you'll need to be good enough to be selected as a member of a UCI ProTeam and for that you need to be damn good. Then, that team needs to be selected by the Tour organisers, for which the whole team needs to be damn good. Then, you'll need to be picked by the team, for which you'll need to be one of the best in the team - and even then, you'll be a domestique unless you're the best in the team. Then comes the tricky part - riding several thousand kilometres around France at high speed for 21 days.
I watched a bit of the Tour on the telly when I came home from the pub one night and there was this bloke dressed as the devil running up the side of the road. WTF?
Oh, that's Didi Senft. He's a 59-year-old German "character" who has appeared among the crowd during every Tour since 1993. He's invented more than a hundred unusual bikes and holds the World Record for the largest transportable guitar, among other achievements. Eccentrics have always been attracted to the Tour and most of them are unpopular with the riders because some of them are a bit too strange and try to get into the road, which slows everyone down and causes accidents. However, Didi has become an unofficial mascot of sorts and is well-liked by cyclists and fans - so much so that he receives small amounts of sponsorship money from various cycling firms. Various "Devil Sightings" websites spring up whenever the Tour (and Giro d'Italia, at which he also appears) is on - to be in with a better chance of seeing him, look out for enormous tridents painted on the road. If you see one, he's somewhere nearby. A couple of years back there was also a man with antlers on his head who would run up the road carrying a huge US flag and who looked set to become almost as iconic as the Devil, but he didn't seem to be about in 2010 - there were a few blokes in mankinis on the mountain stages though.
That reminds me, what's with the paint on the roads?
Another Tour tradition, though it may have started at another race - nobody knows for certain when, where or by whom. The one thing we can be certain about is that it's one of the most noticeable aspects of the Tour and popular among spectators who use it to convey encouragement to the riders, point suspicion at anyone they think may be cheating or just to get their name on television. Often, it's semi-legible scrawling, but good examples are almost art. Of course, it's technically illegal, but is overlooked in the spirit of the event - except in Switzerland, where Didi Senft was fined and forced to remove his painted tridents by police.
What are mass start and time trial stages?
In a mass start, all riders set off together as one large group. The first few kilometres, known as départ fictif, are not raced so as to avoid the enormous pile-up that would result if all the riders shot off at high speed - this allows the field to spread out a bit before they reach the départ réel, marked by a white flag, at which point the racing begins.
There are two types of time trial - individual and team. In an individual time trial, each rider must complete a set course in as little time as possible which has given rise to highly specialised bikes designed with speed and aerodynamics in mind and no concessions to comfort as would be the case with bikes intended for the long stages. The rider who achieves the shortest time wins.
In a team time trial, individual teams set off in relay at increments of two minutes - in most events, the order is random but in the Tour the slowest teams go first. As different riders on a team will have different levels of fitness and different specialities, organising a time trial team has become a very intricate process. Riders are allowed to slipstream one another, which can be used to increase average speed dramatically and team bosses devote a lot of time and effort to making sure the strongest rider spends enough time at the front to keep the others up to speed while also giving him sufficient time behind the leader to recover. A rider who takes more time to recover will spend more time behind the leader than one who recovers quickly and so on.
What's a breakaway?
That's when an individual rider or group of riders - not necessarily on the same team - accelerate away from the main group. There are a number of reasons for doing this. Often, a fast domestique will be ordered to start a breakaway by the team leader if he's feeling especially fit so that other riders will tire more quickly. Sometimes, a team leader will do it just because he can. Other times, lesser-known riders will do it just to show off and get noticed. The longest breakaway in Tour history was by Albert Bourlon who broke away from the group in Stage 14 of the 1947 race and stayed ahead of them for 253km.
Once, I watched the end of a stage and several riders crossed the finish line in a group. Even though there was obviously a first and a last one over, they were all given the same time. Why was that?
If riders cross the finish line like that, they're all recorded as having completed in the same time to discourage sprints in the final kilometre, which can lead to carnage. If a rider crashes in the final three kilometres, he'll be awarded the same time as the group with which he was riding at the point when he crashed if it's better than his predicted time so as not to penalise sprinters who may have performed well earlier in the stage. If there's a pile up in the last kilometre, all riders behind the crash will be awarded the same time. These rules don't apply in time trials or summit finishes (when the stage finishes at the summit of a categorised climb).
Any other questions?
Yes - are you going to watch the football tonight?
The what?
End of the road for Highroad?
HTC-Highroad owner Bob Stapleton has warned that his team will no longer exist come the end of the year because of difficulties in finding a sponsor - and he blames doping scandals for those difficulties.
"We have a lot to offer," he told Road.cc, "but we have to shout that story out over the controversy that seems to surround the sport." Although none of the team's riders have been caught doping since Highroad grew out of the scandal-rocked T-Mobile in 2007, cycling in general has earned a reputation for being riddled with widespread doping among the public and that shady image makes potential sponsors nervous about committing the sort of money - around 10 million euros - that a team needs to enter the three Grand Tours.
Even if HTC does withdraw support and Highroad can find a replacement, Stapleton may find himself without any riders. Reports are flying around the Internet and cycling press that Mark Cavendish will be leaving the team for Team Sky, with many people expecting confirmation once riders are permitted to discuss such matters come August - any degree of uncertainty will see other members, including Tony Martin and Tejay van Garderen, making exploratory approaches to other teams and they may receive more tempting offers.
Highroad have been one of the most successful teams in cycling with their male and female riders achieving an astonishing 462 victories between them since 2008. Stapleton has long had a policy of supporting young talent, giving several younger riders who might have had difficulties getting a place on other teams the opportunity to realise their potential and for that reason alone the organisation's demise would be detrimental to the sport.
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"We have a lot to offer," he told Road.cc, "but we have to shout that story out over the controversy that seems to surround the sport." Although none of the team's riders have been caught doping since Highroad grew out of the scandal-rocked T-Mobile in 2007, cycling in general has earned a reputation for being riddled with widespread doping among the public and that shady image makes potential sponsors nervous about committing the sort of money - around 10 million euros - that a team needs to enter the three Grand Tours.
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| Highroad has long provided an opportunity for young talents like 21-year-old Leigh Howard to learn from the big-hitters on the team and thus realise their full potential. |
Even if HTC does withdraw support and Highroad can find a replacement, Stapleton may find himself without any riders. Reports are flying around the Internet and cycling press that Mark Cavendish will be leaving the team for Team Sky, with many people expecting confirmation once riders are permitted to discuss such matters come August - any degree of uncertainty will see other members, including Tony Martin and Tejay van Garderen, making exploratory approaches to other teams and they may receive more tempting offers.
Highroad have been one of the most successful teams in cycling with their male and female riders achieving an astonishing 462 victories between them since 2008. Stapleton has long had a policy of supporting young talent, giving several younger riders who might have had difficulties getting a place on other teams the opportunity to realise their potential and for that reason alone the organisation's demise would be detrimental to the sport.
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Clean or not, Contador's presence in the Tour will not be an embarrassment
British hopeful Bradley Wiggins, who recently won the Critérium du Dauphiné and in doing so proved himself back to the form he displayed when he came fourth in the 2009 Tour de France, has said that "it is not a good thing [for cycling] that a bloke who tested positive four times is in the race" in reference to Alberto Contador who tested positive for the banned bronchodilator Clenbuterol during last year's Tour.
Contador, like any professional cyclist at the top of his game, is no stranger to the murky world of doping. In 2006 he became caught up in the notorious Operation Puerto which followed Jesus Manzano's exposure of widespread doping in his team and the shady practices of Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, but was subsequently cleared of all charges by the Spanish courts and by the UCI. He was questioned again in connection with the case in December and rather inadvisably refused to submit to a DNA sample which would have either proved or disproved links to nearly a hundred bags of blood plasma - each with a cheeky shot of EPO for an added kick - that had been recovered by police during their investigation. In doing so, he probably did his career more harm than a conviction would have done - had he have been linked to it, he'd have received a suspension and once it had passed he could have returned to the sport. By refusing, he ensured that there was always going to be a great big question mark hanging over him. However, anyone who has ever found themselves the target of false charges will be well aware that once you're cleared you want to move on and continue with your life - Contador may regret refusing the DNA test now, but at the time he must have been heartily sick of the entire case and hoped to hear the last of it.
That question mark haunted him in the 2009 Tour when, following a spectacular climb up Verbier - the fastest in Tour history - in Stage 15, Greg LeMond wrote in a column for the Le Monde newspaper that Contador would have needed an oxygen transport rate in excess of that achieved "by any athlete in any sport" and demanded that he proved he was capable of such a feat "without falling back to the use of performance-enhancing products" and likened his victory to that of "a Mercedes sedan winning on a Formula 1 circuit." During a press conference the next day, Contador once again unwisely decided to side-step the issue, increasing suspicions further. LeMond had based his accusation on figures calculated by Antoine Vayer, the trainer of the rival Festina team, which were called into doubt by physiologists including the highly-respected Andrew Coggan. Vayer assumed that Contador would have needed to maintain an average power output of 490 watts which, in a man weighing 83kg, would equate to 99.5ml per hour per kg - which would be unusually high. Coggan criticised Vayer's calculations which he termed sloppy and noted several areas which could contribute to false results, such as failing to take in decreased air resistance at altitude. Furthermore, virtually all the top riders had climbed Verbier in record times that day - including Andy Schleck and Lance Armstrong, neither of whom have ever been proven to be involved in doping despite countless accusations and investigations in the case of Armstrong - suggesting that conditions on the mountain were simply conducive to high-speed cycling. He also noted an inconsistency between Vayer's given length of the climb, 8.6km, and the official length as given by the Tour de France organisers, 8.8km, more than sufficient to skew the results. Coggan concluded that the rider's average power would in fact have been more like 450 watts, equating to an oxygen transport rate of 80ml per hour per kg which could be expected for a man of his build and level of fitness.
As we all know, Contador gave a urine sample in September 2010 which tested positive for a drug called Clenbuterol, a sympathomimetic steroid and bronchodilator prescribed to asthmatics to ease breathing - thus enabling more oxygen to be absorbed into the blood - and the cycling press leapt on the case like starving wolves, in some cases predicting the end of his career. Once again, it was only a matter of time before doubts arose - what had at first seemed to be a case of an athlete being caught red-handed in the act of cheating turned out be rather more complicated. First of all, Contador failed one test only - his sample was declared clear in other tests to which it was subjected. Various people involved in cycling went on record stating that Clenbuterol is of little use as a performance-enhancer, especially in the miniscule amounts suggested by Contador's sample which were 40 times lower than would be required for any noticeable effect and Dr. Douwe van Boer (Contador's scientific advisor) claimed that it would have to be administered in amounts 180 times that discovered in the sample to have any chance of giving the recipient a competitive edge, supporting Contador's explanation that he had not deliberately taken the drug and that it had entered his system via contaminated food, most likely beef - it was used by veterinary surgeons to relax the uterus in cows and can be used illegally to promote the growth of lean meat in livestock destined to become food, which appears to add some credence, as does the support for the explanation given by Dr. Don Catlin, a highly-respected scientist and one of the driving forces behind modern anti-doping measures.
The incident led to the Spanish Cycling Federation proposing a one year ban for the cyclist but, following an appeal, all charges were subsequently dropped in early 2011 and he returned to professional racing in February. The independent World Anti-Doping Agency and UCI both appealed the Spanish decision to the Court for Arbitration in Sport in March and a hearing was scheduled for June but later put back after Contador's lawyers requested more time to prepare. It is now scheduled for early August later this year, until which time Contador is legally free to ride in professional events. If that's the case, there should be no reason that he should be singled out for a crime that in view of his current cleared status he should be considered not to have committed and banned from taking part in this year's Tour de France - during which he will doubtless be subjected to a barrage of tests and will, if he cheats, be found out. Bearing that in mind, the decision to enter the race if he is/has been doping would seem extraordinarily stupid because a positive test will ruin his chances with the Court.
The UCI supports this view, stating that until the Court finds him guilty, should it do so, Contador "has the right to be treated like every other rider who takes part in the Tour de France." Reporting on the case, Republican American says that his participation in the race could do great damage to the sport and compares it to Lance Armstrong's return from retirement in 2009. However, the opposite is more likely to be the case - if Contador consistently produces clean samples this year, his status as one of cycling's true heroes and an all-time great will be cemented and will pave the way for him to attempt victory in the Vuelta a Espana, which would make him the only cyclist ever to have won all three Grand Tours in a single season and which would generate enormous publicity for the sport. If he cheats and is found out - and there's little doubt he would be - then professional cycling can be shown to have got its act together following the scandals of a few years ago and the sport's reputation cane be repaired once the world is aware that those who obtain an unfair advantage by using performance-enhancing drugs will be caught and will be stripped of their titles.
"It is also bad for those teams that are fighting to be clean, as is the case with my team, Sky," says Wiggins, who has become Britain's best-ever hope of a Tour winner. If that's the case, he should welcome Contador's chance to prove that he too is clean, because if an athlete can perform in the way he does without resorting to drugs then that's one of the strongest arguments against doping anyone could ever want.
Contador, like any professional cyclist at the top of his game, is no stranger to the murky world of doping. In 2006 he became caught up in the notorious Operation Puerto which followed Jesus Manzano's exposure of widespread doping in his team and the shady practices of Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, but was subsequently cleared of all charges by the Spanish courts and by the UCI. He was questioned again in connection with the case in December and rather inadvisably refused to submit to a DNA sample which would have either proved or disproved links to nearly a hundred bags of blood plasma - each with a cheeky shot of EPO for an added kick - that had been recovered by police during their investigation. In doing so, he probably did his career more harm than a conviction would have done - had he have been linked to it, he'd have received a suspension and once it had passed he could have returned to the sport. By refusing, he ensured that there was always going to be a great big question mark hanging over him. However, anyone who has ever found themselves the target of false charges will be well aware that once you're cleared you want to move on and continue with your life - Contador may regret refusing the DNA test now, but at the time he must have been heartily sick of the entire case and hoped to hear the last of it.
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| Contador is almost unique among climbers in that he can also perform at a very high level in time trials, a factor that has contributed to his success. |
As we all know, Contador gave a urine sample in September 2010 which tested positive for a drug called Clenbuterol, a sympathomimetic steroid and bronchodilator prescribed to asthmatics to ease breathing - thus enabling more oxygen to be absorbed into the blood - and the cycling press leapt on the case like starving wolves, in some cases predicting the end of his career. Once again, it was only a matter of time before doubts arose - what had at first seemed to be a case of an athlete being caught red-handed in the act of cheating turned out be rather more complicated. First of all, Contador failed one test only - his sample was declared clear in other tests to which it was subjected. Various people involved in cycling went on record stating that Clenbuterol is of little use as a performance-enhancer, especially in the miniscule amounts suggested by Contador's sample which were 40 times lower than would be required for any noticeable effect and Dr. Douwe van Boer (Contador's scientific advisor) claimed that it would have to be administered in amounts 180 times that discovered in the sample to have any chance of giving the recipient a competitive edge, supporting Contador's explanation that he had not deliberately taken the drug and that it had entered his system via contaminated food, most likely beef - it was used by veterinary surgeons to relax the uterus in cows and can be used illegally to promote the growth of lean meat in livestock destined to become food, which appears to add some credence, as does the support for the explanation given by Dr. Don Catlin, a highly-respected scientist and one of the driving forces behind modern anti-doping measures.
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| If he can repeat his 2008 Vuelta success, Contador will be the only cyclist to have won all three Grand Tours in a single season. |
The incident led to the Spanish Cycling Federation proposing a one year ban for the cyclist but, following an appeal, all charges were subsequently dropped in early 2011 and he returned to professional racing in February. The independent World Anti-Doping Agency and UCI both appealed the Spanish decision to the Court for Arbitration in Sport in March and a hearing was scheduled for June but later put back after Contador's lawyers requested more time to prepare. It is now scheduled for early August later this year, until which time Contador is legally free to ride in professional events. If that's the case, there should be no reason that he should be singled out for a crime that in view of his current cleared status he should be considered not to have committed and banned from taking part in this year's Tour de France - during which he will doubtless be subjected to a barrage of tests and will, if he cheats, be found out. Bearing that in mind, the decision to enter the race if he is/has been doping would seem extraordinarily stupid because a positive test will ruin his chances with the Court.
The UCI supports this view, stating that until the Court finds him guilty, should it do so, Contador "has the right to be treated like every other rider who takes part in the Tour de France." Reporting on the case, Republican American says that his participation in the race could do great damage to the sport and compares it to Lance Armstrong's return from retirement in 2009. However, the opposite is more likely to be the case - if Contador consistently produces clean samples this year, his status as one of cycling's true heroes and an all-time great will be cemented and will pave the way for him to attempt victory in the Vuelta a Espana, which would make him the only cyclist ever to have won all three Grand Tours in a single season and which would generate enormous publicity for the sport. If he cheats and is found out - and there's little doubt he would be - then professional cycling can be shown to have got its act together following the scandals of a few years ago and the sport's reputation cane be repaired once the world is aware that those who obtain an unfair advantage by using performance-enhancing drugs will be caught and will be stripped of their titles.
"It is also bad for those teams that are fighting to be clean, as is the case with my team, Sky," says Wiggins, who has become Britain's best-ever hope of a Tour winner. If that's the case, he should welcome Contador's chance to prove that he too is clean, because if an athlete can perform in the way he does without resorting to drugs then that's one of the strongest arguments against doping anyone could ever want.
Thursday 23 June 2011
New code aims to cut cycling fatalities
The Freight Transport Association, which represents the interests of freight and trucking companies including some of the largest in the world, has joined forces with the London Cycle Campaign and other groups to produce a new Cycling Code which they hope will help to cut the large number of cyclists who die or are injured as a result of accidents involving trucks each year. Aimed at truck drivers, truck companies, local authorities and cyclists themselves, the code includes a number of tips which should be read by all groups - the tips for truckers will be of use to cyclists in helping them to understand and anticipate truck manoeuvres and vice versa. It also advises the provision of devices such as "Trixi" mirrors which can be attached to traffic lights and other street furniture and which allow truck drivers to see any cyclists who may be in blind spots and calls for freight operators to sponsor such items.
"A lot of risks are being taken," warns Cav
Mark Cavendish, often called the fastest man on two wheels, has warned that the pressure to achieve high results in professional cycling is so great that the sport is becoming too dangerous.
"These days, the results appear on the Internet so fast, without a report of what actually happened, everybody's got a point to prove," he told The Independent newspaper. "They're fighting and fighting and fighting - there's a real pressure to deliver and a lot of risks are being taken in the peloton."
There have been two well-publicised accidents in cycling this year. The first claimed the life of 26-year-old Belgian Wouter Weylandt after he crashed at 70kmph in the Giro d'Italia. The most recent involved 28-year-old Mauricio Soler, who remains in intensive care with serious brain injuries after a crash in the Tour de Suisse but is no longer in a medically-induced coma. Fabio Casartelli died aged just 24 in an 88kmph crash in the 1995 Tour de France. Injuries are par for the course in cycling - almost all professionals and the majority of amateurs will be forced to spend at least some time out of the saddle due to accidents. Doping takes its toll too - the most notable victim being Tom Simpson in 1967 on Mont Ventoux, but there are many others who have done themselves damage by resorting to drugs when they couldn't find the strength to push that little bit harder. Twelve professionals have died in races since 2000. Seventeen others have been killed "during training or another reason related to cycling" over the same period according to Wikipedia.
Cycling has always been thus: Henri Desgrange, organiser of the Tour de France in the earliest days of the race, verged on the sadistic in his efforts to find and introduce harder and harder stages. He once claimed that, for him, the ideal Tour would be one in which only one rider finished, in other words one in which all others fell by the wayside. Some races, such as the infamous Paris-Roubaix which has earned the sobriquet "the Hell of the North," seem designed to put the riders though as much agony in conditions as dangerous as possible. Endurance races such as The Race Across America encourage cyclists to continue until exhaustion makes it impossible to go any further by timing constantly so that some riders go without sleep.
What can be done? It's this very hardship that makes cycling the unique, testing, punishing and rewarding sport that it is. Without danger, it would not attract the passionate superheroes that it does and would be a very different, less interesting thing.
The Independent states that Cavendish blames bloggers. However, his statement that "A lot of the journalism is quite bloggy, opinions rather than facts, and riders try to get in the results to impress those journalists" would seem to suggest that he's actually blaming professional journalists who write like many bloggers, not those bloggers themselves. Nevertheless, cycling blogs - including this one - should understand that what we write does get read and sometimes even forms opinion, so we do have a duty to make use of facts. We're amateurs, but it may be up to us to show the journalists how to be professional.
"These days, the results appear on the Internet so fast, without a report of what actually happened, everybody's got a point to prove," he told The Independent newspaper. "They're fighting and fighting and fighting - there's a real pressure to deliver and a lot of risks are being taken in the peloton."
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| Manx Missile Cavendish says pressure to appear in the top classification is so great that riders are taking dangerous risks. |
Cycling has always been thus: Henri Desgrange, organiser of the Tour de France in the earliest days of the race, verged on the sadistic in his efforts to find and introduce harder and harder stages. He once claimed that, for him, the ideal Tour would be one in which only one rider finished, in other words one in which all others fell by the wayside. Some races, such as the infamous Paris-Roubaix which has earned the sobriquet "the Hell of the North," seem designed to put the riders though as much agony in conditions as dangerous as possible. Endurance races such as The Race Across America encourage cyclists to continue until exhaustion makes it impossible to go any further by timing constantly so that some riders go without sleep.
What can be done? It's this very hardship that makes cycling the unique, testing, punishing and rewarding sport that it is. Without danger, it would not attract the passionate superheroes that it does and would be a very different, less interesting thing.
The Independent states that Cavendish blames bloggers. However, his statement that "A lot of the journalism is quite bloggy, opinions rather than facts, and riders try to get in the results to impress those journalists" would seem to suggest that he's actually blaming professional journalists who write like many bloggers, not those bloggers themselves. Nevertheless, cycling blogs - including this one - should understand that what we write does get read and sometimes even forms opinion, so we do have a duty to make use of facts. We're amateurs, but it may be up to us to show the journalists how to be professional.
Longo wins National Time Trial
The legendary Jeannie Longo, considered by many people to be the greatest female cyclist of all time and one of the greatest cyclists of either gender, has just added a fourth trophy to her collection won at the French national Time Trial championship.What is remarkable is that some of her competitors in the event weren't even born when Jeannie first took part in the Olympics back in 1984 and was a mere two seconds short of winning a bronze medal. She's 52 years old.
Jeannie, you are amazing and we love you.
What's with... Paris-Roubaix?
"The best I could do would be to describe it like this - they plowed a dirt road, flew over it with a helicopter, and then just dropped a bunch of rocks out of the helicopter! That's Paris–Roubaix. It's that bad - it's ridiculous." (Chris Horner)
"It's bollocks, this race! You're working like an animal, you don't have time to piss, you wet your pants. You're riding in mud like this, you're slipping ... it’s a pile of shit." (Theo de Rooij)
It goes by many names - Paris-Roubaix, La Pascale, the Queen of the Classics, the Monument - but most call it l'Enfer du Nord, the Hell of the North, and those who plan to enter it speak its name with dread.
Other than the Tour de France, which has become so well-known by being one of the largest sporting events on the planet, cycle races are not generally well-known outside the cycling world. Ask non-cyclists and few have even heard of the two other Grand Tours. Those who are new to cycling are frequently surprised when it becomes apparent to them just how many organised races take place throughout the year and it can take a while for them to remember them - but A Sunday in Hell, to use another of its names, will always be one of the first. How did a one day, 258km (in 2011) race come to achieve such notoriety, especially one that began life described as "child's play?" The reason is the cobbles, known in French as pavé, which range from small, smooth and regular to large, jagged and extremely irregular. All cobbles are difficult to ride across on a bicycle, but they're worse the more irregular they are as vibrations do not settle into a rhythm.
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Mud, cobbles, pain. |
The Early Days
The first Paris-Roubaix was held in 1896, when it was organised by two textile manufacturers from Roubaix named Theodore Vienne and Maurice Perez. Originally, it was intended to be little more than a training race in preparation for the Bordeaux-Paris race that it has now outlived by 23 years. They wrote to Paul Rousseau, director of Le Velo, to enquire whether the newspaper would support their race. They explained the plan thus:
"Dear M. Rousseau,
Bourdeaux-Paris is approaching and this great annual event which has done so much to promote cycling has given us an idea. What would you think of a training race which preceded Bordeaux–Paris by four weeks? The distance between Paris and Roubaix is roughly 280km, so it would be child's play for the future participants of Bordeaux–Paris. The finish would take place at the Roubaix vélodrome after several laps of the track. Everyone would be assured of an enthusiastic welcome as most of our citizens have never had the privilege of seeing the spectacle of a major road race and we count on enough friends to believe that Roubaix is truly a hospitable town. As prizes we already have subscribed to a first prize of 1,000 francs in the name of the Roubaix velodrome and we will be busy establishing a generous prize list which will be to the satisfaction of all. But for the moment, can we count on the patronage of Le Vélo and on your support for organising the start?"
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| The race - and fillings - can be lost in Arenberg. |
Note that no mention of the cobbles which characterise the race was made - it wasn't their intention to make the race difficult and they didn't include the cobbled sections in order to make it so, that's just how roads were built in Northern France in the late 19th Century. In fact, many roads were not paved at all and would turn into impassable quagmires when it rained, so cobbles were considered the easiest option. 280km probably didn't even seem a very long route - in comparison, Bordeaux-Paris covered an astonishing 560km. Rousseau was immediately enthusiastic and tasked his cycling editor, Victor Breyer, to consult with Vienne and Perez and come up with a route. Breyer completed the first part of the mission in a car, but the following day set out by bicycle, soon finding himself in the cold, windy and wet conditions so common in that part of the world. In those days, if you were out in the countryside on a bicycle, abandoning was not an option - there were so few phones that stopping in a village in the hope of getting a friend to drive out and collect you was pointless, because many villages had no phone. Cars were few and far between, so there was little chance of getting a lift and so Breyer could only carry on, battling through the adverse conditions. Eventually he arrived at Roubaix exhausted and covered in filth and with his enthusiasm for the proposed race utterly destroyed, saying that he planned to send a telegram to Le Velo's editor informing him that the route was dangerous and would need to be altered. However, during a meal that eveing, Vienne and Perez somehow persuaded him that the race should go ahead unaltered - no doubt too much wine was involved and that sadistic part present in all cyclists took over, convincing him that those who rode in the race should be tested beyond their limits. It's worth noting that this was the very same Breyer who introduced the Col du Tourmalet to the Tour de France in 1910 and at whom "Assassin!" was shouted by one rider as he reached the summit.
The race was scheduled for Easter Sunday the same year, just a month later and this immediately caused controversy with the then all powerful Catholic Church saying that the riders would not have time to attend Mass and that the spectators would be too distracted to do so. It's said (though there are no records to prove it) that the organisers originally offered to hold a Mass in a chapel near the start line, but it appears that they decided instead to change the date, holding the race two weeks later (the following year it was held on Easter Sunday, as is the case now). It didn't get off to a good start: half of the riders to enter the race didn't bother to actually appear on the starting line. Among those who did was Maurice Garin who managed third after being knocked off by a crash between two tandems and who, six years later, would win the inaugural Tour de France. Among those who did not was Henri Desgrange, who would go on to organise the Tour. Garin required the attention of a doctor as soon as he finished and one by one the others trickled in, coated from head to foot in mud and in various states of agony from the harsh, bone-shaking ordeal over the cobbles.
The Name
Few realise that the race didn't become known as l'Enfer du Nord right from the start since the name sums it up so well. In 1919, when it was decided to begin holding it again after the First World War, organisers travelled north to see if doing so was feasible. In those days, when news travelled slowly and with France picking up the pieces after she suffered more than any other nation during the war, it was common for people to be almost entirely ignorant of what was going on 10km from their own village where, in many cases, they would spend their entire lives and so nobody had any idea what the route would be like or even, as Procycling noted in an article on the race, whether Roubaix still existed. L'Auto reported:
"We enter into the centre of the battlefield. There's not a tree, everything is flattened! Not a square metre that has not been hurled upside down. There's one shell hole after another. The only things that stand out in this churned earth are the crosses with their ribbons in blue, white and red. It is Hell!"
"The Hell of the North" was the headline used for their report, and it became the unofficial name of the race when it took place later that year.
The Cobbles
By the 1960s, television camera technology had progressed to a point where it became possible for the first time for film crews to record and transmit the race. The mayors of those regions through which it passed became worried, fearing that the rest of France would see the cobbled roads and think their regions undeveloped, even backward, so they began to tarmac the routes. This was no doubt welcome to those who owned cars, and to the cyclists themselves, but it soon became apparent that without the cobbles it lost its unique character and became just another of the many one day races. According to Alain Bernard, one of the race organisers, a mayor only had to suspect there was a chance of the race passing through to order the local roads resurfaced with a smooth finish which meant that it was in danger of losing its individuality forever - there's every chance that it would by now be defunct, just like the Bordeaux-Paris, had he not have decided on a whim to turn off the main road and explore a side road while out on a Sunday ride. Near a bar named Cafe de l'Arbre in a bleak and windswept area miles from anywhere, he found a remaining stretch of cobbles and from then onwards sought to find other sections, including them in the route, once again giving the race its particular feel and style. Today, the organising committee work hard to find other surviving sections, restoring them and sections they already know about when and where necessary so they can be used. Their efforts aren't helped by spectators prising up and taking the stones as a memento and costs between 10-15,000 euros per annum.
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Campagnolo derailleur system designed specifically for Paris-Roubaix |
The Course
The course of the race has altered dramatically over the years, including a change to the start - it last started in Paris in 1965 before being moved to Chantilly the next year, then on to Compiègne 80km north of the capital in 1977. Since the remaining cobbles are scattered about the countryside, the route is winding and changes each year as new sections are discovered and included and others are allowed to rest while restoration takes place.
In 2011, there were 27 sections making up the total course, each awarded according to a system of five stars with zero stars awarded being an easy section and five being extremely difficult. No sections received zero stars, just three received one. Five get two stars, thirteen get three, five get four. Three receive five stars, and it is doubtful that many riders could endure more.
Of these, section 25 (Quievy-Sainte Python) had the most cobbles with 3.7km, but the infamous Trouée d'Arenberg (the Trench of Arenberg) was, as ever, considered the most gruelling by most riders due to its large, irregular stones. This poker-straight 2.4km section has earned a special notoriety of its own and is, according to some, where the eventual winner of the race is decided. Jacques Anquetil's team mate Jean Stablinski, himself a Vuelta a Espana winner with another 104 victories to his name, disagreed but said:
"Paris–Roubaix is not won in Arenberg, but from there the group with the winners is selected."
It's also where many of those who will not finish the race are selected, and defeated.
The Trench was closed between 1974 and 1983 by the French forestry commission, and so was not part of the race between those years. However, when it once again became available organisers wasted no time in making use of it, although in an attempt to reduce speeds they reversed the direction in which the riders tackled it to following three-time winner Johan Museeuw's crash on the section in 1998 which almost required his leg to be amputated, until 2005 when it was in such poor condition that even the Paris-Roubaix route planners considered it too dangerous to be used. That the race had now become known specifically for suffering in made plain by the fact that local authorities immediately ear-marked 250,000 euros to restore the road - not with a smooth, modern surface as had been the case following the introduction of television, but with traditional cobbles. Subsidence issues, caused by the mines that pass under the road, were repaired and sections were widened to bring it back to its original 3m width. Katusha's Filippo Pozzato was one of the first riders to try the restored road. He later summed it up:
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| The Trench. |
"It's the true definition of hell. It's very dangerous, especially in the first kilometre when we enter it at more than 60kh. It's unbelievable. The bike goes in all directions. It will be a real spectacle but I don't know if it's really necessary to impose it on us."
The cobbles of Mons-en-Pévèle are also rated five stars but are not considered as harsh as those of Trouée d'Arenberg by most riders. However, while the Trouée is straight, Mons-en-Pévèle features a 90 degree bend in a section bordered by sloped fields from which, more often than not, slippery mud runs down and coats the road. In the dry it's dangerous, in the wet it's deadly. It's almost always wet on the Paris-Roubaix.
Carrefour de l'Arbre, also rated five stars, lies 15km from Roubaix and the rider leading the race as it travels over the road stands a good chance of winning overall. However, many lengths cross open land and afford no protection from the howling wind and driving rain that seem to appear especially for this race and so mistakes do happen. A series of difficult corners and irregular cobbles make it the section most dreaded after the Trouée d'Arenberg.
The Bikes
The rigours of Paris-Roubaix are so testing that the race has spawned a particular type of bike, designed especially to cope with it. Following the Second World War, riders experimented with wooden rims, as used in the earliest days of cycling, as wood absorbs vibration more effectively than metal. Nowadays, special frames featuring longer tubes - and thus, more absorption of vibrations - are used by most teams, as are stronger, wider wheels fitted with fatter tyres. Spokes may be steel rather than alloy, as weight issues take a backseat and strength is all that matters. Many teams have experimented with various forms of suspension, including the elastomers fitted to George Hincapie's bike in 2006, which Trek claimed would absorb all the vibration - however, his steerer tube couldn't take the stress and snapped.
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Specialized S-Works Roubaix SL, a bike designed specifically for this race. The "elbows" in the fork and seat stays are Zertz inserts to absorb vibration. |
This is all to the benefit of cyclists, because the effort put into developing these bikes leads to stronger components which then go on sale to the public. As Mavic spokeman Yves Hézard says,
"Every year we change fewer wheels, because the wheels and tyres are getting better and better. We changed about 20 wheels today. Five years ago, it was much worse - we'd be changing about a hundred."
Nevertheless, teams still station mechanics armed with tyres, wheels and other components along the various sections of the route that are inaccessible to the support vehicles - and, unusually, they'll replace or repair broken parts for any rider, regardless of the team for which they ride.
Interesting Incidents
In 1907, Georges Passerieu made a breakaway from the main group and was chased all the way to Roubaix by Cyrille van Hauwaert. The excitement among the crowd waiting in the velodrome to see the final fight to the finish was high, but nether rider appeared. It turned out that just as Passerieu had been about to ride in, an over-zealous policeman had stopped him to check his bike displayed a tax disc.
Romain Maes, a Belgian, crossed the finish line first in 1936 but officials claimed Frenchman Georges Speicher (Tour de France winner in 1933) the victor. They seriously underestimated the crowd's sense of honour - which turned out to be far stronger that their patriotism - and a riot nearly broke out before the decision was reversed.
So that's what it's all about - the hardest, harshest, most dangerous and beloved Classic race of them all.
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They say a picture paints a thousand words. This picture paints all the words necessary to sum up l'Enfer du Nord. |
"These bloodied and battered warriors struggle through the rain, the cold, the mud, on roads better suited to oxen cart than bicycles. But for the victor there is glory, immortality and a place in history amongst the giants of the road.
Since 1896, the greatest bike racers on earth have come to test their very souls in this brutal and beautiful spectacle." (John Tesh)
"Sure, it's the most beautiful race in the world!" (Theo de Rooij, when asked if he'd be competing again)
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