What do Alejandro Valverde, Danilo Di Luca, Ricardo Ricco and yours truly all have in common? Nope… I’m not a scum bag doper… but I’m making a comeback

It’s been a while since my trippy European ramblings have graced the screens of LovingTheBike.com but (hopefully) you’ll be pleased to hear I’m saddling up to the laptop and back  in the wonderful world of LTB. 

Unfortunately for all those women who’ve sent tonnes of fan mail recently I must state early in my comeback that I am now a married man. The preparations for the wedding, the day itself and enjoying the time since has taken a lot of my time but now seems a great time to hit you all right between the goggle-balls and get back online. 

I’ve kept my finger on the pulse whilst I’ve been away and I’d like to say a big congratulations to Darryl and the Mocha Spoke team, and wish them every success.  The reason I continue to be involved in this website is Darryl.  He is true to his principles and lives what he preaches, which is why I know Mocha Spoke is destined for greatness.  Do head over to the cafe site as well as the Facebook page for news and pictures.

Have a great week and I’ll be back soon with something… well hopefully cycling related! If you’re lucky you might even see me over on Twitter!

Stevie

Jakey Cakey… watch this space!

The amateur race scene in the UK is a tough place to learn your trade. But as results from Team GB have shown over the past 10 or so years the process of young prospects riding themselves into the sights of team managers on local circuits and rainy morning back roads is definitely working.

One such rider who is smashing the competition left, right and centre with his trade mark solo escapes, known as ‘Jakeaways’ is Jake Martin riding for Kingsnorth International Wheelers. At the time of writing he is currently sitting in 2nd place in the British Cycling Elite Men standings for road and track racing – a leader board that he shares with some top class pro’s including Ed Clancy MBE, Yanto Barker, Ian Bibby and journeyman Dean Downing (all of whom are below him I should add!)

Not only is Jake taking big wins on the track and road, he’s also started blogging his exploits and I must say I think his writing is as striking as the luminous yellow streaks that seem to adorn almost every part of kit Jake races in! I hope to be able to feature more of Jake’s writing throughout the season but for now, feast your eyes on his latest blog about racing at the famous and prestigious Herne Hill velodrome in London.

Canyon V-Drome / Track Racing! - Jake Martin

A week or so ago, I discovered a crack in my beloved Canyon Ultimate AL [frame]. Caused I think from hitting the most colossal pot hole in the Roy Thame Cup in March. Luckily as the frame is a beast, it managed to hold up through two road races and 3 circuit races before I noticed said crack. I emailed the guys at Canyon UK, of whom I’d been tweeting to keep them updated on the wins I’d been having on their bike! They said to bring the bike over to their offices in Kingston. And have since ordered me a new frame which is due in the next few days!

In the meantime, they said I could borrow their Canyon V-Drome for the VC Londres Open meeting. I obviously obliged!
 The bike was kitted out with Dura ace hubbed deep section wheels, the frame was aero and very stiff with a great aggressive geometry. It looks pretty badass too! I did have to put a bigger gear on, but I’m silly with gears. And I put a 140mm stem on, but I am lanky. It’ll be hard to give it back for sure! And was a pleasure to ride. Plenty admired it!

The racing was great fun. The first ever race I did, and the first ever race I won were both at Herne Hill Velodrome, so it’s always really good to come back and enjoy racing. I’ve always said my favourite race is a points race so I was excited to give it a crack after a year off from the track.

Racing got underway with a scratch race, I attacked a bit. Got 4th. Legs hurt. Lungs hurt. Ow.
That was followed by a One Kilometre TT, I got third and a PB with a 1.08. I had normal road bars and helmet on. And fluffed the start. So I was happy with that.

Next up, a devil…my normal tactic for these is to ride the whole race at the front and sprint-ish every lap. This worked until 4 laps to go when a Bec CC rider smashed it off the front, I eventually caught him after a flat out chase and sprinted past to the win.

After this was a points race. I attacked off of the line, a Jakeaway of sorts. Grabbed a couple of sprints then had to work hard to nab some extra points once I was caught. I ended with 10 points. One point clear of the second place rider.

The last race was a 20km scratch race. Being a roadie, I always like to attack and try to make the race hard. I stayed off the front for a good 15 laps, won a prime. But didn’t have the legs in the final sprint. 7th I think.

I’ve gone home with the normal cough that goes hand in hand with the first track meet of the year.

All in all a good outing! I think I got 26 more British Cycling license points, bringing me up to 220 and maybe back into the place of first Elite category rider in the UK…and £59, which is also handy!! Cake money.

A special little mention to Andrew Bradshaw who organized the whole meeting at the age of 17 and still managed to race the B category races! Very impressive. Cheers!

You can keep up to date with Jake’s blog here and follow him on Twitter 

Stevie

7 amateur cyclists are taking part in a mammoth challenge for one special little girl with cerebral palsy

Today marks day 2 of a charity cycle ride from Edinburgh in Scotland to Dover in the south east of England - around 500 miles of riding in just 5 days! The ride is to raise funds for Lola Stockdale was born cord prolapsed and was starved of oxygen for 50 minutes.

This resulted in her having cerebral vision, cerebral palsy and developmental issues, and her family is now trying to raise enough money – approximately £100,000 – for her to have stem cell therapy to help improve her quality of living.

Police Officer Warren Beadle of Kent Police is a close friend of Lola’s family after serving in the Army with her father, Noel, 14 years ago. He was so touched by the little girl’s bravery he decided to organise an epic 500-mile cycle ride to help raise the cash for her therapy. 

PC Beadle said: “When I met Lola I was overwhelmed by what a sweet young girl she is and how the whole family pull together to care for her. Noel works long hours for a multinational building company and Lola’s mother, Kelly, works tirelessly to look after Lola and their two other children. The way they carry on regardless of the hardships and always seem to have a smile on their faces, is inspirational. They are an optimistic and hardworking family who deserve all the support we can give them.”

This is a great cause and I was originally supposed to be on this ride with the rest of the guys but unfortunately had to pull out some time ago. I’m sure you all know people who are as tough and deserving as Lola and her family, but if you would like to donate, you can find the details here on the Lola’s Journey website. You can also follow their progress on their Facebook page here.

GOOD LUCK GUYS!

Many readers will already be using Strava… but it just got better! 

If you have not experienced the wonders of Strava then I urge you to stop what you are doing… yes that means everything… go away and sign up and then come back as your riding experience has just got better. Whenever I try to describe Strava to someone who is not in the know I usually start by saying, “It’s like Facebook but for cyclists… and its better”. It’s a place for riders (and runners) to come together, share rides, routes, pain and glory all packaged in a user-friendly site. Strava increases its user friendliness by incorporating ‘plug and play’ style connectivity for a range of bike computers as well as having superb smartphone apps meaning everyone can be part of the action.

The bike-mad Mark Beaconsfield (@Lycra_Loony) came up with the idea of having LovingTheBike and #bikeschool Strava Clubs for riders everywhere to join and share in the glory of keeping the rubber side down. In my eyes this idea steps Mark up from bona fide cycle nut to gold standard nogging-box genius and will rightly so be entered into the LTB hall of fame!

Although part of the fun of Strava is competing against friends on local routes and roads with the leader boards and ‘segments’ it’s a great tool to measure you performance against others but above all share what you are doing and get some props for the hard work you put in!

With #30daysofbiking just around the corner and people signing up everyday to compete as part of Team #LovingTheBike there is no better time to join us on Strava to keep yourself motivated and put into perspective the amount of riding you can achieve in a month. It’s going to be a hard month and from experience, any way of staying motivated during #30daysofbiking is a bonus as it really is a commitment to your bike, your health and generally having fun.

So whether you are going to be part of Team #LovingTheBike or you just want to connect with bike riders from all over the world, join us on Strava and be part of LovingTheBike and #bikeschool.

Stevie

]]> http://lovingthebike.com/motivation/team-strava/feed 4 http://lovingthebike.com/uncategorized/kitskitskits http://lovingthebike.com/uncategorized/kitskitskits#comments Tue, 12 Mar 2013 11:00:09 +0000 stevie http://lovingthebike.com/?p=12769 Share/Bookmark

Jersey design is a tricky business… but it’s not THAT hard! 

We are hoping to produce another LovingTheBike.com team kit this year after the success and interest we had in our 2012 edition, which you can see below modeled by The Boss. There has also been a #bikeschool jersey, which captured the imagination of the taco eating, noggin box geniuses of the Thursday night classroom and definitely showed the personality of the group with a much more relaxed design in comparison to the team orientated LTB kit.

This year we are looking to incorporate the #bikeschool and LTB jersey’s together to have a truly global class based cycling team which we can show off on club rides, sportives and races of all disciplines EVERYWHERE. We’d love to see or hear about your ideas for the kit and how we can incorporate the designs.

There are no hard and fast rules to the design but ideally both LTB and #bikeschool would be prominent. Depending on the response we may vote on a design or we may do some collaboration work with the designer to get the perfect kit to show the world who is boss!

Get doodling and show us what you want to be wearing on the roads this year.

Stevie

Find out what all the fuss is about as the Paris-Nice peloton heads for the sunny south of France

The week long Paris-Nice stage race is one of the most exciting and interesting races to watch in the Pro season. Heading from the relatively cold north-western outskirts of Paris and making its way fairly directly to the sunny south of France, the race is called ‘The Race to the Sun’ and it more often than not lives up to that name. 

This race is a really great one to watch for anyone who has not already caught the Pro-cycling bug or has never indulged in stage races.

 It is much shorter than the Grand Tours (Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana) but has just as much drama, if not more. It feels like a mini-Tour, with sprint stages towards the front end of the race,  a bit of time trialing and also race defining mountain stages. The GC is almost always contested by what you could call ‘true stage race GC riders’, rather than seeing sprinters or strong domestiques topping the leader board. This is partly due to the big mountains the race often passes over and also the importance of the race in terms of season goals. Although not always utilizing the most famous or devastatingly tough climbs that France has to offer the organizers find much more interesting climbs that can have a real impact on the race and as such each stage is vitally important. Paris-Nice is also a great testing ground for early season form as perfectly exhibited by Bradley Wiggins in 2012 who went on to win Le Tour, Tour de Romandie, the Criterium de Dauphine and the Olympic time trial.

The race is already under way and today sees the riders leave Vimory heading 201km to Cerilly in stage 2 which is flat and fast. The opening day’s short prologue TT was won by Europecar’s Damien Gaudin for his first professional win but his lead on GC was short-lived after Nacer Bouhanni won a bunch sprint into Nemours yesterday.

You can check out a video of the final riders in the prologue here and the final 5km from stage 1 here courtesy of steephill.tv and Eurosport. There is still lots of great racing to watch this week and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Stevie

The emergence of a new style of cycling ‘magazine’ has caused waves of excitement around the community.  Not just for its content and format, but for the writers behind it. 

2r is a new multi-media magazine about cycling available to download monthly and looks to feature some very interesting and inspiring writers as well as beautiful photo essays and in-depth written articles.

2r is a monthly “magazine” about the hidden side of pro cycling; the untold stories, riders before they were stars, the politics that shape this sport. – 2r

It seems Gerard Vroomen has had quite a bit to play in this ‘magazine’ coming to fruition and recently posted basic details of the release on his blog. So too has the superb blogger @inrng who highlighted the inaugural edition on his page, which sparked a very interesting debate between people with two main issues.

The first being the inclusion of legendary cycling commentator and all round wind-up merchant, Paul Kimmage who is set to dig deeper into the endless drama of cycling every month. I’ve long been a fan of Kimmage and think his knowledge of cycling and the inner workings of teams and of course doping is superb and fully support him sharing this knowledge with the public in order to broaden their minds.

The second major talking point is one I do certainly have a problem with and that’s that currently 2r is only available on iPad running iOS 6. I don’t have an iPad… which meant it was going to make writing this review particularly difficult! I contacted some of the writers and to be honest they seemed as bemused as I did as to why the current target audience was so small. All current reviews of 2r state that they will soon be releasing it for other platforms, but this is still no good for you reading this review! It seems like a wonderful concept for a magazine and I’m really looking forward to reading it and in truth I was seriously annoyed when I realised I couldn’t view it.

However, Mr Vroomen tells us that “In issue 1, Paul interviews LeMond about his relationships with Hinault, Fignon and Armstrong. In the 44(!) page interview, they also cover races being sold, cocaine, and awkward dinners (with the chef of Renault and Lance). Boonen revisits his worst loss, Gesink draws his first bike and Nuyens contemplates retirement. To top it off, Cavendish thinks about what he would do as the UCI president. Plus the most beautiful photos from l’Équipe and Sirotti.”

So if you have already read the new 2r, or have been inspired to go and check it out following this completely flawed review (let’s not sugar coat this!) then please do comment below and let us know what you think.  How do you feel about the concept, the writers, it’s availability etc….and maybe you could write the next review after I get fired!

Stevie

The good people at the AMGEN Tour of California have announced a competition to design the jersey that will adorn the leader of the race’s Breakaway From Cancer Most Courageous rider… and you have a competitor to vote for!  VOTE HERE

I took a lot of enjoyment out of designing our Loving The Bike 2012 team kit, and in our opinion it turned out great.  The design process was made easier by knowledge of Photoshop CS5 and new designs for the team kit range are underway.

Very recently I stumbled across this competition to design a jersey for the Pro peloton and just had to have a crack at it. I kept the strong bold colours of the 2012 jersey which show off the ToC and Breakaway from Cancer spirit as well adding in the Breakaway logo in a Garmin-Sharp inspired pattern. I feel it’s striking and would be able to stand out from the crowd.

Although there is a great prize up for grabs to whoever gains the most public votes for their jersey design, I’m unlikely to be able to capitalise on it from this side of the pond and that’s not why I’m doing it. I enjoy designing cycle kits and would be very proud to see this riding the roads of California!

This competition is all based on public opinion so if you like my design, please take a few moments to vote for my jersey and spread the word. You can VOTE HERE for my jersey and design and submit your own here.

If you need a jersey or kit designed… let me know!

Stevie

For those of you who have been under a rock, the world seems to be getting either seriously wet and quite floody or firey and rather hot. This week saw Louisville, Kentucky take the brunt of Mother Nature’s wrath and oh boy did it make for an even greater Cyclo-Cross World Championships

Following worrying forecasts from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) the organisers of the UCI Cyclo-Cross world championships in Louisville, Kentucky had to rearrange the races scheduled to ensure all of the events could be held on Saturday.

It was feared the projected high water levels in the Ohio River would cause Beargrass Creek to flood the low-lying areas of Eva Bandman Park in Louisville, in the early hours on Sunday morning and that water level will continue to rise causing any events held on Sunday to be ruined. The organisers and volunteers did a sterling  job to ensure flood defences were reinforced and the crowds were able to attend all the races on Saturday.

The impending floods, the snow and the slowly thawing concrete-hard-icy ground made for a mouth wateringly wonderful day of CX. The kind of conditions that make racing hard and unpredictable but don’t overshadow the power and skill of the riders to the extent where it becomes a farce. The racing was hard-fought and the winners more than worthy of their rainbow stripes. As they say, a picture tells a thousand words, so the full races are shown below for your cross delectation. Take some time to watch these, they are great and as the announcers say, we get to see someone who is possibly the greatest bike rider of all time… yes they even say she could be better than Merckx!!!!!

Men’s under 23 race

Elite Women’s race

Elite Men’s race

Let us know what you thought of the racing and the season ahead…

Stevie

Today sees the start of the Pro season proper down in South Australia, at the Santos Tour Down Under (if you don’t count the Tour de Luis… and who is!?). Although the ‘People’s Choice Classic’ criterium has already been run the road stages start today and incorporate 6 stages which definitely suit the type of sprinter who still has it in the tank after a climb.

André Greipel took the People’s Choice Classic in a sprint against Matthew Goss after Lotto-Belisol bossed the final few laps and Greipel’s win never really looked in doubt in my opinion. The criterium is a little tease at what is coming but the stages of the main race should certainly see some more upsets due to the UNISA Australia team (the University of South Australia squad) taking part who always show well in this race with young talent and also the knowledge that if anyone other than a super strong sprinter wants to win this race they will need a lot of early season savvy, team work and also luck to stay away.

Looking at the stages and knowing how this race usually pans out the favourites are all big sprinters who can mix it up on short climbs. These are also guys who don’t need a big train and can survive on their own, picking off the best wheel from other teams and surviving on instinct alone. Simon Gerrans (GRE), Edvald Boasson Hagen (SKY), André Greipel (LOT) and Marcel Kittel (ARG) are the four main riders I would suggest will be vying for the top spot overall if the racing goes according to plan.

Due to time differences, the Santos Tour Down Under will be shown at all sorts of different times depending on your local provider. The race begins around midday in South Australia so it may be best to try and pick up the highlight show rather than a live feed but if you’re feeling wide awake ProCyclingLive are displaying links to feed you can watch the race from.

Hope everyone enjoys this season, it’s going to be a great year of racing!

Stevie