It was on my Specialized Crux cyclo-cross that I almost fell into the arms of Hades the Greek god of the Under World. Fall to Earth I haven´t ridden the Crux since May 2022 when I clipped a rut hidden in long grass on a stretch of gravel, my 28mm road tyres fitted at the… Continue Reading
Latest in: Bike Shed
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I think the concept of Cancel Culture as a thing (or Political Correctness and WOKE) is daft, because to frame any thoughful test of accepted narratives in negative terms is at variance with moving forward. To my mind it helps to test orthodoxy – it can allow us to learn from the past, to live… Continue Reading
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The fifth in the ‘It’s A Small Cycling World’ series features old school cyclo cross. The course is marked intermittently with rope and some sections have fallen into the mud. Lap scoring is done with eye, pencil and paper an almost impossible task on muddy days. Hooray for transponders. Links: It’s a small cycling world… Continue Reading
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A little while ago I embraced the dark side and put away my cyclo cross tyres and opted for gravel specific rubber instead. Making this paradigm switch in my head reminded me when I first embraced cyclo cross and also rode the Paris Roubaix sportive. Tyre choice has always been a lively subject for discussion;… Continue Reading
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The fourth in the ‘It’s A Small Cycling World’ series features two riders who have elected to ride in the gutter away from the pave. Sadly, the gutter is a water filled mud trench. Links: It’s a small cycling world 1 – For the love of pave Part One It’s a small cycling world 2… Continue Reading
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Burgundy and brown, not to everyone’s taste but to me they look cool. More importantly it would seem that I have finally embraced the dark side, out have gone my skinny cyclo cross tyres and I have now opted for a pair of Panaracer Gravel King´s. I have fitted a 38 to the front and… Continue Reading
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My favourite road cycle races are Paris Roubaix and Strada Bianche. I savour these two races because they do not follow the tarmac roads exclusively. In the former the competitors ride the brutal cobbles of Northern France and the latter it is the white gravel roads of Tuscany which feature. My manifesto is outlined here… Continue Reading
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The third in the ‘It’s A Small Cycling World’ series features the leader of the Giro d’Italia riding in the mountains alongside a snow bank that was created when the high pass road had been cleared. Water flows from the snow making it a wet and dirty ascent. Links: It’s a small cycling world 1… Continue Reading
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For this ‘it’s a cycling small world – for the love of pave part two’ (Part One is here) I got a little more ambitious and imagined a scenario where it has been raining all day. At this point in the race it has stopped pouring down and the riders are beginning to dry whilst… Continue Reading
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There is ‘London tight’ and there is ‘Roubaix tight’; this passed through my mind when after much bike preparation I hit the first stretch of pave at Troisville the first section of cobbles on the route used by the Paris Roubaix pro road race held in April. In the race the riders take in a… Continue Reading
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Since my big change in life I have ridden my bike, listened to more LP’s and read more books in one month than I did in a year. Maybe this also has something to do with me being without a TV service which means no plonking myself in front of the ‘telly’ (which I do… Continue Reading
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Cycling is healthy and good for the environment, especially when compared to motor vehicles, but we cyclists shouldn’t be complacent or too smug as we do have a carbon footprint. We are all part of a consumer society that is gobbling up resources and disposing of them often thoughtlessly when worn out. I considered this… Continue Reading
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I trained not to win races, although that would have been nice, but rather to be strong enough to ride and compete whilst having a ‘normal life’. And when I say ‘normal’ I mean being able to go out racing or riding without having to spend the rest of the time with my head slumped… Continue Reading
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It’s one thing to witness cycling become so popular that I and others no longer feel members of a renegade tribe, but to have my long love of dirt riding suddenly to become fashionable with the added indignity of calling it ‘Gravel’, is almost too much to bear. But I’m not bitter. I have been… Continue Reading
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The Specialized Crux was an established cyclo-cross bike by 2013 ridden by many club and local riders. The Crux in its original aluminium, but ‘pretty in pink’ form won a World Cup cross in the hands of Zdenek Stybar. (Lievin 2012) The ally Crux has now been joined by a carbon version which is lighter and… Continue Reading
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