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

Eileen Roe wins in Friesland

Eileen Roe (Team Ibis Cycles) won today's 31st Profronde van Surhuisterveen, making full use of her strong sprinting ability to cross the line ahead of Anouska Koster (2nd, Dolmans-Boels) and Trieneke Fokkens (3rd) after a race that saw difficult conditions caused by very heavy rainfall.

22-year-old Roe used a similar tactic to win the Colchester round of the Johnson HealthTech Women's GP in June, beating Vanderkitten's Ruth Winder and Twenty3c.co.uk-Orbea's Alice Barnes on that occasion. Her sprint seems, therefore, to be a powerful talent and is one that will be sure to bring her many more victories.

Chapeau Eileen - we'll be looking forward to seeing you race in the 2016 Olympics!

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.

Kraftwerk, Tour de France Live @ Manchester Velodrome with Team GB

Seminal German techno/electro artists Kraftwerk performing a live set of their classic Tour de France at the Manchester Velodrome in 2009 - with an appearance by the then Team GB cyclists.

My greatest regret is that I wasn't there.

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.

Tour de Suisse Stage 3

(Originally published Monday 13th June 2011)

Another exhausting day for the riders touring Switzerland today with the majority of Stage 3's 108km taking place at altitude. The race starts out today from the almost ridiculously beautiful town of Brig-Glis (I visited once as a child) which is home to the vast Stockalper Palace, at the time of its construction the largest private building project ever seen in Switzerland, and where inhabitants speak a unique German dialect used nowhere else in the country.

Stockalper Palace

Lying 691m above sea level, the town nestles among high Alpine peaks which have brought winter prosperity in the form of skiers and snowboarders and which also ensure that the riders will be met with a climb immediately upon leaving the town - it's a relatively minor one so far as gradient is concerned, rising some 655m in around to Ulrichen in around 25km, but it should be more than sufficient to get the old knees woken up. Next comes a flatter stage of around 15km, a welcome chance to summon up the energy to face the day's biggest challenge which comes in the form of an 819m climb in 10km to the Grimselpass at 2165m, the highest point of the stage and from which riders will be able to see the Rhone Glacier, source of the river Rhone, should any of them have achieved a sufficient lead in the climb to be able to afford a spot of sight-seeing.

The view from Grimselpass

From the summit, the riders descend 1520m in 30km (imagine that, Cambridge bikers! Makes the Coldham's Lane bridge seem a bit boring, eh?) to the stage's lowest point. This may prove to be a very interesting section - Andy Schleck, who took second place in last year's Tour de France following an incident in which his chain came off allowing eventual winner Alberto Contador to take a 39" lead (the margin by which he beat Schleck in the overall classification), has taken a bit of back seat thus far in the race, leaving his older brother Frank to defend Schleck family honour (their father and grandfather were also professional cyclists) on the leadership board, may decide to use today to demonstrate his form, displaying the ability as a grimpeur which had Contador looking extremely worried in the 2010 Tour, which could allow him to either lead or at least be one of the first over the Grimselpass. In addition to this, Andy demonstrated almost yogic serenity in France, looking calm and even smiling for the crowds at times when other riders were grimacing. If he's got the same form this year, he might be able to maintain any advantage obtained on the way up all the way back down again when other riders get a bit twitchy at high speeds.

Andy Schleck may decide to put on a show of strength today

Although nobody's going want to take their hands off the bars at those sorts of speeds, they're going to have to take the opportunity to top up on the energy gel because at the 78km mark there's a fearsome Hors-Catégorie climb to contend with. Despite reaching the highest point of the stage, the climb up Grimselpass begins at altitude and as such is rated Category 1. Once they've completed the descent, the competitors don't have any flatland whatsoever, allowing no respite before beginning the 1317m ascent of Grosse Scheidegg, a pass at 1962m which is usually only open to buses and the location of the final fight between Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty, in which Moriarty was killed permanently and Holmes temporarily (it's amazing what public demand can achieve). 

This is going to be a very, very tough climb indeed and any rider for whom the descent was not enough to rest is going to suffer - we shall almost certainly see at least one rider abandon in this section, but anyone with the strength left in them will be wanting to get a lead because once they're over the top there's a shorter but even steeper descent, 958m over just 11km, to the finish. Anyone with significant lead on the pack will be able to use this section to cruise comfortably without needing to risk life and limb in a hairy free-fall to the finish at Grindelwald, a town that virtually defines what a Swiss town should look like and which was once home to the world's most talented anti-semite Richard Wagner. Keen-eyed sci-fi fans may also recognise the mountains surrounding Grindelwald as they were used to form the outline of the mountains surrounding Alderaan in Star Wars Episode 3 - Revenge of the Sith. 

Grindelwald - more typically Swiss than H.R. Giger eating a Toblerone while building a cuckoo clock and brewing up LSD with Albert Hoffman. In a bank.

You can watch very nice 3D Google Earth animations of the Grimselpass and Grosse Scheidegg sections courtesy of steephil.tv.

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.

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.