Help Kristin get her bikes back

If you should happen to be offered a very nice Felt bike at a price that seems too good to be true, you might want to get in contact with Exergy Twenty12 - there's a reasonable chance that they belong to Kristin Armstrong. The bikes were stolen whilst in transit somewhere between Germany and the USA and could therefore turn up in Europe or North America. More details here.

The bikes are as follows:

Felt DA Time Trial Bike / Pic2 / Pic3
Frameset: Felt DA1 51cm, Custom Kristin Armstrong/USA Paint Scheme
Group: SRAM RED 2012
Cranks: SRAM BB30 w/SRM Powermeter
Chainrings: SRAM TT 54/42
Aerobars: Zipp VukaBull Basebar with Carbon Race Vuka Shift Extensions TT Shifters: SRAM 900 TT
Shift Cables: Gore Ride-On Ultra Light
Brake Cables: Gore Ride-on
Front Wheel: Zipp 808 Firecrest Tubular
Rear Wheel: Zipp Super-9 Disc Tubular
Tyres: Vittoria Crono 22mm
Saddle: fi’zi:k Ares TT Specific
Pedals/Cleats: Speedplay Nanogram Zero (not with stolen bike – only thing that made it back to Boise)
K-EDGE Pro Chain Catcher
Kristin Armstrong name on top tube

Felt F1 Road Bike
Frameset: Felt F1 54cm, Custom Kristin Armstrong Paint Scheme
Group: SRAM RED 2012
Cranks: SRAM RED w/SRM Powermeter
Bottom Bracket: SRAM Red GXP Ceramic Bearings
Chainrings: SRAM Red 50/34
Cassette: SRAM RED 2012 11-26T
Stem: Zipp Service Course SL 110mm
Bars: Zipp Service Course CSL 42cm
Shift Cables: Gore Ride-On
Wheels: Zipp 404 Firecrest Tubular
Tyres: Vittoria Corsa CX
Saddle: fi’zi:k Antares
Pedals/Cleats: Speedplay Nanogram Zero
K-EDGE Pro Chain Catcher
K-EDGE Number Holder
Arundel Carbon Bottle Cage

Chances are a few bits and pieces will be removed or swapped for other bits in an attempt to disguise them, but with such a collection of top-notch parts the thief won't want to change too much for fear of reducing the value. The team is offering "a substantial reward" for productive leads; you'll also earn the gratitude of one of the greatest cyclists the world has ever seen.

teamtwenty12@gmail.com

2012 London Nocturne video - penny-farthings and folders

For footage of the Elite Men and Rapha Women's Criterium, make sure you don't miss the Channel 4 coverage at 07:10 on Sunday 17th June.

Royal Mail abandons bikes in improved efficiency drive

It's truly the end of an era. 

Worldwide, organisations and companies are striving to find more environmentally-friendly ways of carrying out their business, even those that couldn't care less about cutting pollution because they're well aware that many of their customers do. Many are looking to the humble bicycle as an ideal means of making short-journey deliveries - bikes are ideal for this purpose because they don't emit noxious fumes, are cheap to buy and run and, during the busy times of day when many deliveries are made, can often prove a faster form of transport than cars and vans as they can nip through heavy traffic and use all sorts of routes not open to motorised vehicles.

Except the Royal Mail, who have just announced that posties in Cambridge, England, will no longer get about on their trusty red steeds and will instead be provided with vans. This is part of a "national agreement" - so expect to receive your last mail delivered by bike soon.

According to a report in the Cambridge News, the Post Office "needs to make its delivery routes as efficient as possible." Hang on a minute - aren't bikes supposed to be the most efficient form of transport around? Yes, according to a report by the John Hopkins University of Baltimore, Maryland, which found that a bike drivechain without selectable gears could be as efficient as 98.6%. Bicycling Science, a study produced by David Gordon Wilon and Jim Papadopulous, published in 2004 by MIT Press, achieved a similar result of 98.5%. Selectable gears - which your average postal operative worker is probably going to want if her daily round has any hills - may reduce this figure by 15%, down to 83.5%.

Here's Fred, working hard in his office
(© George Grinstead CC2.0)

However, if we look at the efficiency of some other forms of transport by converting figures into a form most recognisable to the majority of us - miles per gallon - then some interesting facts arise.

Let's start with a human being. We'll call him Fred. Fred's a very average kind of bloke - he's about five feet and ten inches tall, or just a smidge under 1.80m if you prefer your measurements metric-flavoured, and he weighs 140lb - 64kg. In other words, he doesn't stand out in a crowd; being neither tall nor short, not fat nor skinny. He works in an office, drives a Volvo and likes Jeffrey Archer novels too (but hey, someone's got to).

...and here's Rachel. She looks fed
up because after he read this, her
dad borrowed her bike - and she
wanted to use it to go and meet her
friends after college.
(© Rovdyr CC3.0)

Now, one day Fred's Volvo has to go to the garage, meaning that he's got to walk to work because the Tory spending cuts have seen to it that there's no bus service between where he lives and the office. Being of average height and weight, Fred will need around 80kcal of energy for each mile he walks - if he was French, that'd be about 205kilojoules per kilometre. One gallon of petrol contains somewhere in the region of 114,000BTU (British Thermal Units) of energy, or 120megajoules, depending on blend (personally, I prefer a single malt). That's actually pretty good - Fred is managing about 360mpg, which would be 153km/L in a Citroen. Trouble is, no Citroen on sale today can achieve anything like that efficiency - nor can any other car. In fact, even the Fiat 500 Twin Air - the most energy-efficient car on sale to the public in 2011 - only does 68.9mpg (29.3km/L on the Continent). And according to the EU, most car manufacturers lie about fuel consumption, claiming figures as much as 20% higher than reality.

Fred was knackered when he got to work. He's not fat, but those cushy Volvo seats have turned him soft and he's not very used to exercise these days; so he was very glad to get his car back ready for work the next day. It's a pity he didn't borrow his daughter's bike instead, because his daughter - her name's Rachel, by the way - has worked out that if she keeps her bike in good condition then  the ride to and from college is much easier. So, she keeps it clean, oils the chain, replaces the gear cassette whenever the teeth look worn and has fitted a good quality set of road tyres. As you're probably beginning to realise, Rachel is quite a bit more adept with mechanical objects than her dad is. Because of this, a man of Fred's build would only need 43kcal per mile to ride it at 10mph (16kph) - more than three times greater than the average walking speed for almost half as much energy. That, ladies and gentlemen, is some 732mpg (311km/L) and is technically termed an epic win.

(Image © KaiMartin CC3.0)

At present, the postal delivery system is made less efficient due to a special van delivery having to be made to deliver large items - an increasingly common occurrence now that many people buy a wide range of household items online. However, there's a bike suited to the task: that thing in the picture above is a LongJohn freight bicycle, manufactured by S.C.O. of Sweden. It looks a beast and it is one - it weighs 84lb (38kg), which is a hell of a lot for a bicycle. However, it can carry 220lb (100kg) in addition to the rider. That's a lot of letters and a good few parcels too.

You'd have been much better off with a bike, Pat!

Of course, there's no way that even the fittest postman in the world is going to manage 83.5% efficiency pedaling a bike that; weighing in when fully loaded with his round and himself at 368lb (167kg) - but the LongJohn isn't quite as Victorian as it first appears: it's got a modern sealed bottom bracket, a 46 tooth crankset, an Sram 3-speed hub gear and low-friction bearings throughout. Combine all that with the relative inefficiency of even the most efficient internal combustion vehicles, and it's evident that the LongJohn would still be a lot more efficient than any van the Royal Mail can buy - even the most efficient electric vans are only three times more efficient than an internal combustion van.

Oddly, it seems that the brains in the Royal Mail's policy planning department have already recognised that the change is going to make the service less efficient, not just in terms of the efficiency of the vehicles used but also in the success rate of the service they offer - they state that "many" households and businesses will still receive their mail by lunchtime.

Even if we assume the posties are all blatting about the place in Fiat Twin Airs, the bike beats the car hands down every time - especially when we remember that the cars/vans are going to be a lot less efficient when loaded up, too.

Not something you see everyday...

Top-notch Canadian bike boffins Cervelo - who like to point out that the company's name means "brain bike" for the benefit of all us scumbags who went to schools that don't teach Foreignish - have long had a reputation for introducing revolutionary new concepts to the professional cycling world. The best-known example to date would the anti-gravity drive fitted to the 2011 S3, which riders have to be careful to lock to a solid and immovable object not to prevent it being stolen but to stop it floating away; an innovation unsurprisingly deemed illegal for competition use by the UCI.

They've been a bit quiet of late, however, leading some sections of the cycling press to forget all about them and concentrate on writing articles about how Bertie Contador should probably take a leaf out of Hippy Dave Zabriskie's book and adopt the vegan diet. But Spyclopunk, Cyclopunk's crack investigative journalism division, doesn't give up so easily; having secret channels and means of finding out what's going on in the secret research and development departments of the bike manufacturers - including access to covert military satellites capable of taking control of computers on Earth, entering "funny bike pictures" into Google and making up a story based on the results.

Cervelo S3, seen yesterday and drooled over in the bike shop

That's how we are once again able to bring you breaking news, revealing Cervelo's latest project - a new bike fitted with state-of-the-art "stealth" technology, with which they believe the Garmin-Cervelo team will be able to win the 2012 Tour de France.

"Well, it's a pretty simple idea really," said Cervelo engineer Bob Norris, who wishes to remain anonymous. "Basically, the idea is we build an invisible bike and then the guys on the team can whip past the other riders without them knowing about it. That way, the other teams will think our guys are back in the grupetto or have been kidnapped by a UFO or something and not give chase. It's genius. Mwa ha ha ha!"

Spyclopunk, who has a deserved reputation for asking hard-hitting questions, pointed out that the other teams might consider it a little odd and raise suspicions when they noticed Garmin riders passing them, apparently levitating in the racing crouch.

Cervelo's amazing new stealth bike, photographed by Spyclopunk

"Oh, but we've thought of that - that's why we're called Cervelo, see, 'cos we're clever," Norris explains. "We've also got these amazing invisible jerseys and shorts - you want to see them, they're like something out of Harry Potter, only you can't of course because they're invisible. We haven't been able to make the riders themselves invisible yet, but the plan is to sack the current team and sign up Andy Schleck, Brad Wiggins and a few of those other dudes who have to run around in the shower to get wet - those guys are so skinny you can hardly see them from the side."

Ghost Bikes

Some readers will be aware that, when not writing about cycling and attempting to control our four ferrets, I've also been setting up a very loosely-organised group here in Cambridge with the aim of creating some ghost bike memorials around the city, both to commemorate our fallen friends and to increase awareness of cyclists among drivers and the need to ride safely among cyclists.

Recently, I was contacted by a journalist from the Cambridge News paper, wanting to an article on ghost bikes and the group. Initially, since the group is at present a blog, a Facebook page and a few people showing interest, I was reluctant; but agreed in the hope of spreading the word.

The article was published today and can be read here. My thoughts upon it are here.

Ghost Bikes

Ghost bikes is a public project begun in St. Louis, Missouri, in 2003 when local cyclists began to commemorate the deaths of fellow riders in a simple, poignant and impossible-to-ignore way - when a friend or stranger was killed on the roads, they placed a white-painted bike at the scene of the accident with a plaque listing the victim's name, date of birth and date of death.

One ghost bike would have gone largely unnoticed by the car-driving public, but with so many cyclists killed each year there were soon many similar memorials around St. Louis. People noticed, and began to stop to find out what the bikes were all about. When someone is confronted with death like that, it makes them think.

"Last night I took a cab, and the driver was talking about the challenges of life as a cabbie. He was complaining about bike messengers and then suddenly shifted gears, lowered his tone, and said, "Do you ever see those bikes painted white, hanging up? That means someone died there. When I see them it reminds me to be careful for the bikers." In other words, people notice." (Anonymous, ghostbikes.org)

Creating a ghost bike is simple. All it takes is an old bike with the chain and brakes removed so that it can't be ridden. Degrease it and give it a coat of white paint, then print or hand-write a plaque that can be attached using zip ties. Place the bike at the point where the cyclist whose death you are marking was killed, or as safe as is possible to do so.

There may already be other ghost bikes in your area or yours may be the first - consider having a look at ghostbikes.org and adding yours to the lists already there.

We're feeling a bit inspired by this and have decided we'd like to get some sort of loosely-organised group together here in Cambridge to set up ghost bikes around the city and on nearby roads in the hope of increasing safety awareness among both drivers and cyclists. Find us on Facebook by clicking this link.

Who needs France for le Tour?

Fire at Cambridge bike shop

The fire, at the Electric Transport Shop in Hope Yard just off the city's popular and most cosmopolitan street Mill Road was noticed and reported soon after breaking out and firefighters with breathing apparatus and a thermal imaging camera were quickly able to locate the source of the flames and extinguish them. The shop sells a wide range of electric bikes from the premises which are located in a converted stable block.

Damage was limited to the front doors and surrounding carpet tiles, says the shop's owner Eddie Kehoe who is a well-known figure on the Cambridge cycling scene.

Fire investigation experts are due to return to the shop today to try to find out for certain what caused the fire, which is at present being blamed on an electrical fault - which we'll do Mr. Kehoe the favour of pointing out means a fault in the building's wiring and not in one of his electric bikes, in case it puts off prospective customers.

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?

"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...

Bikes in the news

An occasional round-up of cycling-related stories from the week's newspapers.

Cheap, light, strong - looks like you can choose all three after all

Crank Bros. split skewers, RRP £49.99, selling at £25? Sounds good to us!

Now, we don't want to ram a ton of spam down your face every time you have a look at this blog - that's why we've not signed up to Google Adsense (though we'd be tempted if we get enough traffic - hey, we're only human) - but this ain't spam. These look like some seriously good deals, and if there's one thing we like it's beer...oh, and cheap bike stuff, that's what we meant to say.

Cycle Deal

Bianchi's new Impulso looks good, but that might be all that's going for it

The new Impulso long-distance racer is set to be the only new-for-2012 road bike from the world's oldest bicycle manufacturer, but it ought to get noticed. It is, to put it mildly, stunning - the triple hydroforming process used on the top and head tubes gives it a unique appearance among alloy bikes, the effect being that this is a much more expensive bike than it actually is.

The process involves hydroforming the tubes to begin with, then welding them together in the conventional way, then hydroforming them again. This has allowed Bianchi to create a ridge running from the top tube, around the head tube and back down the other side of the top tube. Not only does this look spectacular, with the resulting smooth welds helping to produce an overall resemblance to a particularly stylish carbon fibre frame, it also adds to the strength and stiffness - by as much as 10%, according to Bianchi themselves.

The price is expected to be somewhere in the region of £1300, which places it slap-bang in the middle of a hotly-contested section of the market and whether or not it can hold its own in the bikeshop against bikes at a similar price point but which, by using more conventional tubes, can be fitted with better parts remains to be seen. BikeRadar's Jamie Wilkins, one of the very few journalists to have been allowed to have a go, suggests much the same - while he's impressed by the stiffness, he notes that the bike feels heavy and puts this down to heavy wheels and Campagnolo Veloce kit. However, the fact that it is so eye-catching and looks like a £2300 bike are going to help it sell - even if more experienced riders see beneath the beauty.

Overview: the Impulso is going to be a nice bike - Bianchi don't make anything else - and the hydroforming trickery has given them a frame that's very pretty to look at. However, the added cost of doing it means they've had to cut costs in other areas. This is a bike which is going to sell best to those new to the sport who don't yet have the knowledge that prevents an old hand from being dazzled by gumpf, which is a shame because had Bianchi have opted for a more conventional frame they could have built a very nice bike; which is what noobies need if they're going to get the bug and stick around. There are much better choices out there at this price range, even if they're not as sexy. Don't buy one on impulse!

Tour de Suisse Stage 5

(Originally published Wednesday 15th of June 2011)


It's another day for the sprinters today with a long, flat(ish) course of 204km. However, this being Switzerland, even the flat stages are peppered with a few respectable climbs to make sure the rider's knees take the abuse that all cyclists know and love and Stage 5 is no different - there's a Category 3 and three Category 4 climbs lurking out there today ready to catch those who expend too much energy of maintaining a high pace as well as four uncategorised climbs of reasonable size. One, in fact, is very nearly as high as the Cat 3 and with just 20km from summit to summit will no doubt catch a few people out. Like yesterday the stage finishes with a circuit, looping for 40km or so around Tobel-Tägerschen but at least keeping to a steady altitude rather than the climbs and descents that must have tortured the leaders fighting for the finish in Stage 4.

Staffelegg Pass - doesn't look like much, does it? That sign reads 621m, though!

Starting where yesterday left off at Huttwil, the route travels downhill for 25km before a small climb at the 35km mark then 10km on the flat before reaching the first proper climb in the form of the Cat 3 Staffelegg Pass at an altitude of 621m and featuring a dangerous intersection at the summit, scene of many accidents when the Pass is open to traffic. There'll only be bike traffic as the Tour passes through, of course, but even the terrifyingly efficient Swiss clean-up crews can't be guaranteed to get every spot of oil and broken glass.


Next comes a fast descent into the village of Hornussen, designated in its entirety a Swiss Heritage Site and not to be confused with the peculiar Swiss sport of the same name which resembles a cross between golf and baseball and which takes its name not from the village but from the noise made by the puck which, traveling at up to 300kmph after being hit with a wooden bat, creates a buzzing sound said to sound like a hornuss (hornet). It no doubt stings like one too if you don't get out of the way fast enough. The route then takes in an uncategorised climb of around 133m (bigger than both of the upcoming Cat 4s) up to Mönthal, site of a Bronze Age fortress and a few still-standing Middle Ages houses dating from the 14th Century. There follows a reasonably flat section of some 50km, with the day's first Cat 4 - a short but steep climb of 103m  thrown in for good measure. There's a couple of climbs up to almost the same altitude later on but with much gentler gradients, so this ought to be where the same sprinters who made the most of Stage 4 can shine once they've picked up bidons and musettes at the 100km mark. There's an Hors-Categorie climb of 803m in the last 25km of tomorrow's Stage 6 and then the 2383m Flüela Pass to contend with on Friday, so they may as well grab whatever glory they can right now!

Hornusson in winter.

A Cat 4 climb of 153m marks Freudenberg before the riders hit Tobel-Tägerschen for the first time and embark on a 40km circuit taking in a very steep Cat 4 climb at Eschlikon, a plateau at 600m around Balterwil and the final 15km back to Tobel-Tägerschen.


The weather for Huttwil looks set to be bright, sunny and warm at 20 C with light wind, Tobel-Tägerschen later on this afternoon ought to be much the same with a little more cloud, but little chance of rain. The forecast is thunder and rain tomorrow which, when combined with that killer of an HC climb at the end of the stage, ought to make it a truly horrible experience for the riders. So that's a must-watch then.

There's a high probability we'll see a Hushovd v. Sagan battle again today.

Predictions for today? Sprinters again. We suspect the overall classification will change little, but the stage winners' board may get shaken up a bit. Thor Hushovd will no doubt fancy another go at victory, but whether or not he can beat Peter Sagan for the second day in a row is hard to say. Marco Marcato will fancy another good result but when you have Óscar Freire, at 35 still one of the world's most feared sprinters, right behind you (Marcato and Freire finished in a group yesterday, thus recording the same time with Marcato just crossing the line first) you really need to work hard.

Tour de Suisse Stage 4 results

(Originally published Tuesday 14th of June 2011)


Peter Sagan, our prediction for today's stage winner, looked set to win but managed second place as Thor Hushovd, the Norwegian Garmin-Cervélo rider who won both the UCI Road Race World Championship and the Norwegian national Road Race Champion title last year gained the lead just 50m before the finish and achieved his first win of the 2011 season with a time of 4h 46' 05". Thor, somewhat predictably nicknamed the God of Thunder by his fans, has given top sprinter Mark Cavendish a run for his money several times in the past and it looks like he will do again on the flat sections of next month's Tour. Vacansoleil-DCM's Marco Marcato took third, crossing the line a mere 2" after Sagan.

Hushovd won the Tour de France prologue back in 2006.

The overall classification remains the same: 1. Cunego. 2. Soler. 3. Mollema. 4. Ten Dam. 5. van Garderen. 6. F. Schleck. 7. Fuglsang. 8. Di Luca. 9. Kruijswijk. 10. Leipheimer. Still no signs of Andy Schleck!

Contador confirms

Alberto Contador, the winner of last year's Tour de France who looked set to miss the race this year after failing a dope test in which a "very small" amount of the banned bronchodilator Clenbuterol was found to be present in his sample, has confirmed that he will be taking part this year.

A German laboratory discovered the trace on the 21st of June 2010, towards the end of the Tour, leading to a suspension pending further investigation by the UCI as the testing procedure used is not recognised by the World Anti-Doping Agency and the amount found some 40 times lower than would usually be considered cause for concern. However, the Spaniard proclaimed his innocence and, following the publication of expert opinion that the food contamination explanation he gave was likely to be correct, was allowed to keep his title - his third Tour victory in four years. A one-year ban proposed by the Spanish cycling federation was dropped in January, leaving him free to take part in the Volta ao Algarve in which he took fourth place, crossing the line 41" after winner Tony Martin.

Schleck (in yellow) doubtless utters a few naughty words as his chain snaps in the 2010 Tour de France. Controversially, Contador (just behind him) didn't wait for the 39 seconds it took for the problem to be fixed - the exact same time by which he eventually won the overall classification.

Andy Schleck, the Luxembourgish Leopard Trek rider who seemed to spend most of the 2010 Tour hanging onto Contador's back wheel with an expression that seemed to say "I can't quite get you this year, but next year I'll be stronger" ready every time he looked over his shoulder, says his rival's return comes as no surprise.

"Honestly, I'm happy," he told L'Equipe. "I want to beat him on the road and that's what I've prepared for. I've studied the stages and I love the route."

The 2011 route looks set to favour climbers and punish sprinters, which means anyone who wants to challenge Contador's supremacy is in for a harsh time: the wiry 28-year-old is a spectacular climber - his 2009 ascent of the Hors-Categorie Verbier is recorded as the fastest climb in Tour de France history (and which led, unsurprisingly, to more allegations of skullduggery - most notably from Greg LeMond); but if we go on Schleck's performance last year when it looked for a while (until his chain broke during a dramatic Stage 15 attack and Contador gained a controversial 39" lead) like he might just take the race, he's the man most likely to succeed. He seems to be holding back a bit in the Tour de Suisse at the moment, allowing older brother Frank to beat him, but whether this is due to a lack of form or simply because he's taking things easy is impossible to say: another chain incident in the Stage 1 time trial saw him finish in 147th place and he may just not consider the effort and risk of riding as hard as would be necessary to make up that kind of gap worthwhile with the Tour less than three weeks away. He certainly seems confident and there's every chance that Contador is more worried than he is.

Tour de Suisse starts in earnest today

(Originally published Sunday 12th of June 2011)

The Tour de Suisse is the second big race at this time of year. Though it doesn't have the profile enjoyed by the Dauphine, it's another opportunity for riders to test themselves and teams to test their tech in preparation for next month's Tour de France. Beginning yesterday with a time trial, Stage 1 saw world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara complete the 7.3km course on the shores of Lake Lugano, including a climb of just over 400m roughly halfway in 9'41.83", his fourth victory in the first stage of this event since 2003 and in spite of a problem early on with his electronic gear shifters. HTC-Highroad's Tejay Van Garderen finished just nine seconds behind him and Liquigas rider Peter Sagan 17 seconds behind. Cancellara can be seen in a post-race interview on his (rather ugly) website.

The views from the 2478m Nufenen Pass are some of the best in Switzerland, but none of the riders are going to want to stop and enjoy them today.

Today's stage, 148km from Airolo to Crans Montana in the south of the country with some extreme climbs including one of 2478m, will almost certainly see the leader's board shaken up and looking very different by the end of the day, especially when the super-fit German Andreas Kloden in fifth place and American ace all-rounder Levi Leipheimer in 9th. With Tom Danielson, the current holder of the record time in the Colorado Mount Evans Hill Climb (which pits riders against a 4307m ascent, easily surpassing anything in any of the European tours), Peter Sagan (about whom Cadel Evans said, "he makes my legs hurt") and Bauke Mollema (still just 24 but a very promising climber) all in the top ten, making a prediction with any confidence in getting it right is all but impossible.

Biking in the Peak Distict - for cheats

Fancy a cycling holiday in Derbyshire's Peak District? Of course you do, it's one of the UK's best cycling destinations with fascinating places such as Matlock, Arbor Low, Buxton and - best of all - all the Bakewell tarts you can shove down your craving gob.

Arbor Low. Spent an interesting night up there courtesy of the old psilocybe semilanceatas  back when I was a teenager.

Don't fancy the having-to-pedal bit? Well, perhaps cycling holidays aren't really for you, then. However, help is at hand - you can now hire an electric bike from the Electric Bicycle Network and use it to transport you about the National Park. It'd be wrong of us to accuse anyone who thinks this is a good idea of being lazy, though many of those who take advantage of the scheme will be just that, because electric bikes are an ideal option for the elderly and those with reduced mobility. And whichever way you look at it, they're better than the cars which choke the narrow lanes both here and in our other National Parks all summer long.

The Independent (rapidly becoming the daily for the cyclist) has all the info.

Critérium du Dauphiné

Since it's ignored by the mainstream British press, many people are unaware that the 63rd Critérium du Dauphiné has been in progress for the last week - a pity, because it's a spectacular and important race. It also provides an interesting chance to predict performances in the upcoming Tour de France and a sneak preview of the bikes as the teams and manufacturers put their new technology to the test on the grueling mountain stages. The chance to predict Tour performances is of particular interest this year due to the impressive rides put in by British rider Bradley Wiggins who is currently in the lead with a 1'26" advantage over Australian Cadel Evans in second place.

Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.

31-year-old Wiggins, who was born in Belgium but has lived in the UK since childhood, finished the 2009 Tour de France in fourth place on Mont Ventoux in 2009 and, with a long list of excellent results to his name (bronze in the 2000 Olympics, gold/silver/bronze in the 2004 Olympics, a brace of golds in the 2008 Olympics, an assortment of stage wins over the last three years) leading many people - myself included - to predict that we'd have the first ever British winner in 2010's Tour. However, it wasn't a good race for the Team Sky leader and he managed 24th overall, describing his 2009 success as "a fluke." Still, I didn't put money on him; nor shall I be doing so this year: a look at the points awarded for climbing in the Dauphiné reveals Wiggo isn't even in the top ten and the 2011 Tour is going to be even more all about the climbers than Tours usually are. A couple of stage wins during the early stages when the riders can concentrate on speed in the flatlands of Northern France may well be on the cards though - and a few Wiggins versus Cavendish battles for supremacy in the final kilometre would be nothing short of spectacular.

Joaquim Rodriguez is
worth watching

Today's stage, the last of the race, is a short one at just 117.5km but after a relatively easy first 53km, the riders have two serious climbs with which to contend. The first is the 2067m ascent of the Hors catégorie
Col de la Croix de Ferre from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in the beautiful Savoy region, featuring a grinding 29.5km with a 5.5% average gradient - and a few 9.5% sections thrown in just in case the riders aren't suffering sufficiently. This is followed by a descent of some 14km, which should offer some high speed action as riders seek to let gravity take the strain and give their burning legs a break, before they face another steep climb to reach the finish 1703m above sea level at La Toussuire with the final 14.4km averaging 5.9%. A strong climber - such as Joaquim Rodríguez, currently in 6th place overall 3'01" behind the lead but in second place among the climbers and leading on overall points - could theoretically break Wiggo's hold. Unlike the Tour, in which the overall winner is often revealed several stages from the end, nothing is yet concrete in this year's Dauphiné and that'll make for some great racing today.


Rodriguez may be in 6th overall, but he'll doubtless be glad - the 32-year-old Katusha rider made the decision to take part at the last moment following his 5th place success in the Giro d'Italia. He'll be worth watching next month in France.


The fun starts at 13.25 CEST (12.25 BST) - as ever, it won't be on British TV but you can follow the action live at the Dauphine website or you can watch it live in French on sport.francetv. Links to live video in other languages (none of them English, unfortunately) and delayed video (including English) available from steephill.tv.

Riding in crowds

We took a stroll down to the Town and Country Show on Parker's Piece yesterday - good day out, incidentally: it's not everyday you get to stroke an albino skunk, and Tunnel Brewery's Czech-style lager is quite simply astounding (more flavour than most real ales, more like a porter or stout than any lager I've tried before), and a couple of stalls of interest to the cyclist including one operated by the Cyclist's Touring Club and another featuring a range of intriguing folding bikes.

Interesting tricycle, featuring bicycle-derived technology such as a beefed-up version of typical bicycle steering with worm screw and steering wheel added.

Whilst there, we noticed people riding bikes along the paths that cross the Piece, both the Parkside to Gonville Place and Mill Road to University Arms ones. Really not a good idea when the place is packed and there's excited children more intent on smearing their ice creams all over their faces than looking where they're going. You see the same sort of thing happening at the Midsummer Fair each year and used to at Strawberry Fair, though the fence this year prevented it.

Cannondale's inspiration for the Leftie...?

Really not a good idea, people - we don't want to come over all Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells here, but not only is there the risk of riding into someone, it also helps to strengthen the anti-cycling feeling that emerges from various people who write to the Cambridge News' letter page whenever the issue of our beloved city's so-called anti-social cyclists comes up. It'll only take a few minutes more to push your bike across the Piece, which is much less time than it'll take if you ride into someone and get arrested. Better still, go round the Piece sticking to the road. It'll only take a few seconds longer than usual that way.

Tour de France countdown

Less than a month to go, and it looks to be a good one with emphasis on the Alps this year. In my opinion, anti-clockwise Tours are always better than clockwise Tours because the entrants tire themselves out on the long journey through Northern France, Brittany, the Massif Central and on to the Pyrenees, then have to contend with serious mountains (though there's some proper climbs in the Pyrenees too, such as Col du Tourmalet at 2115m). Alberto Contador, now his suspension following a doping positive test result is up, will be taking part; but since he'll be under even more suspicion than Tour riders usually are and will presumably have either ride clean or risk getting caught again - whether or not he can keep Andy Schleck at bay this year will either prove or disprove his claims of innocence. Probably not worth putting any money on British (or Manx) rider Mark Cavendish this time around - he was first over the line in several stages last year, but this is not a Tour that favours sprinters - but if anyone wants to place a bet on him for reasons of national pride, Stage 5. ;-)

Col Agnel - highest point of this year's Tour and a good opportunity for those of you who only watch le Tour for the scenery.

Some interesting mountain stages this year, including 23 summit finishes with the 2645m Col du Galibier (first appearance in the Tour a century ago, when only three riders rode up it - the rest gave up and walked) being climbed twice. The Col de Montgenèvre, in Italy, should be a hard slog too, rising to 1854m. The little-known and rarely used Col Agnel is the highest point this year, going up as far as 2744m. Stage 18 finishes on Galibier, making it the highest ever stage finish. Longest stage is Stage 6 at 226.5km, featuring the very impressive Basilique Sainte-Thérèse at the end. The Casse Déserte also appears, a strange and lunar-like landscape including 10km considered by many riders to be the most difficult of any Tour route and which makes up for the omission of Mont Ventoux this year.

Casse Déserte: lunar-like. Were it not for the fir trees, at any rate.

21 stages in all, two rest days and two time trials. Total distance 3430.5km, average stage length (not including time trials) 177km. Expect all the usual circus, pain, drugs, crashes, injury, scenery, scandal, spectacle, bizarre accusations (last year's "tiny engines hidden inside frames" was a classic), frightening thigh muscles, tantrums, more drugs, German devils, cheating, broken bones, blood, sweat and tears that make every year more fun than the last.