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

This year has seen some alarming news stories surrounding cycling and the dark art of doping, some more shocking and unbelievable than others. As we head towards 2013 and an off season that will surely be filled with more finger pointing and name calling, has the future of the professional sport been saved by the mainstream media splashing the men we once called our heroes, over the front page and exposing them to be what they really are?

Many people have heard of the ‘omerta’ of doping in cycling and if you have been interested in professional bike racing to any degree of the last 100 years you cannot escape the fact that performance enhancing drugs (PED’s) have played a part in almost every generation of the sport.  It has always been a sad state of affairs but finally, despite the attempts of some of our most senior-ranking governing body officials, the sport seems to be taking positive steps towards cleaning up its act for the safety and health of its riders as well as the sanctity of sport (although I’m sure similar articles were written following the Festina and Operation Puerto affairs!).

An argument I’ve regularly used to friends who accuse (maybe rightly or wrongly) cycling of being full of cheats is that the sport tests their competitors  much more vigorously than most other sports, resulting in the cheats being found rather than left lurking in the background with no fear of being tested and found out.  I for one, am proud that my sport chooses to be so proactive in the fight against PED’s, even if the hierarchy of the sport and some teams attempt to derail that at times.  The average cyclist/cycling fan knows a considerable amount more about the issues surrounding doping than many other sports fans because we have been slapped in the face with it so many times and have HAD to learn about it or else you lose touch and fall out of the loop.

But what about those friends of mine who once called cycling ‘dirty’ and ‘full of cheats’?  2012 has been a huge year for sport in general but particularly for cycling here in the UK.  Bradley Wiggins’ triumph at Le Tour and a hefty medal haul at the London Olympics for Team GB riders has resulted in cycling going through a British renaissance and thrust it in to the popular culture and consciousness of a much larger proportion of the population (not to mention a carbon road bike is now favoured as the new ‘go to’ toy for middle aged men in a mid-life crisis rather than the Porsche 911!).  All of this publicity has allowed the mainstream media to devote more column inches to cycling and publish the hardest hitting topics including cycling.  To me this can only be a good thing.  The more people who understand the sport and the troubled past we have gone through, the more likely we are to fight against those that want to drag us back down again.

No longer can we turn our backs on doping and pretend it’s not happening.  We owe it to the sport and ourselves to be alert to the pitfalls and rather than hide them like a dirty secret, be open and honest.  Fans of cycling have known for years that there is a strong chance the riders they follow are on the juice purely as a result of the sport being so doped in the past.  But that hasn’t stopped some riders.  When fans follow their every move, Tweet and buy every product they endorse regardless of erroneous medical practices or pathetic excuses why should they change?  Only when an athlete’s livelihood and their endorsement deals are put on the line do they even begin to suggest they have done wrong and try to persuade us they can change.  We need the masses to understand doping, deplore it and then the sponsors of riders who cast a shadow across our sport will eventually take note.

The recent departure of Rabobank from the sponsor line-up of professional road racing was described in their press statement as if it was a step in the right direction and that they could no longer tolerate the fear of doping in the team.  Although their continued support of developments teams on the road and in CX highlights their love of the sport and a desire to keep the Rabobank name clean their departure was not seen to be for such noble reasons by some, most notably David Millar.

Rabobank are not the first and they surely wont be the last sponsor to leave the sport due to concerns about doping.  Whether it is a damage limitation exercise or an altruistic movement, I’ll let you decide.  I believe the louder we shout about doping and the ‘omerta’, the more likely we are to improve our sport and banish professional doping to the history books.

Make a difference today, tell someone about professional cycling’s doping history and be part of a proactive renaissance.

Stevie

In a week that has seen the lives of some, and the dreams of many, strewn in tatters across the internet I thought it’d be nice to bring something wonderful to the screens of the loyal readers of LovingTheBike.com.

Martyn Ashton is apparently very well known in the MTB and trials scene and has been a pro for almost 20 years. The skill and finesse that the spot of trials needs can be seen in beautiful detail in the films below. It’s clear it’s not all about the bike… and has a considerable amount to do with the fleshy humanoid atop the steed.

It’s awesome seeing someone able to do these tricks on a £10,000 carbon road bike and also goes to show just how robust a modern road bike it. These videos have been making their way around via social media in the last week, but feast your eyes again on the pure, unadulterated skill of Mr Ashton… just please don’t try this at home!

photo courtesy of Steephill.tv

The British and world media may have been talking about London 2012 non-stop for the past year but the men’s Olympic Road Race did not disappoint. I was lucky enough to be on the race-making Straw Belle Slope on Box Hill with my brother @SteamyWynndows and saw some fantastic racing as well as humongous crowds.

Having been to the Tour de France recently and knowing how well the French and ASO organise the event with military precision, I was slightly worried (read petrified) at how the British organisers and LOCOG would mess up the race organisation and logistics. The ASO have had years of experience at putting on their largest event and although we have a superb set up in this country for the Tour of Britain and the criterium series, The Halfords Tour Series, I had a sneaking suspicion that the Olympic powers-that-be may not have bothered to consult any of these event organisers for advice and just do what they thought was necessary. For once I will admit it… hold on to your hats people… I was wonderfully wrong. Enjoy that, you won’t be getting another admission like that!

The view up the hill with my flag in full flutter

Team GB and Tony Martin lead the way for the peloton

The race circuit was well thought out, but we already knew that. I dash out of London into the Surrey Hills and then 9 laps of an undulating course with Box Hill thrown in the mix in the middle. Let’s be truthful here, Box Hill is not difficult. I can climb it at not a bad rate but clearly not at Pro speed! It was never going to decimate the field (although a fair few ‘lesser’ cycling nations felt the pace and fell off the back on the hill repeats) but having 9 laps of it defined the race and meant that teams (or just Team GB) would have to chase. The race route also took in some large but picturesque towns heading back to London before finishing in front Buckingham Palace. Already I’ve heard a few non-cycling friends (yes I have them!) say how beautiful the Surrey hills area looked and I’m pleased we got to see more than just an inner London crit circuit.

A crash at the bottom of Box Hill on the 1st lap saw Fabain having to chase back on. It wouldn’t be his only crash of the day

Stuart O’Grady bossed the break and Timmy Duggan did what Timmy does best and sat at the front setting a good pace

The crowds were also unbelievable. At every point in the race the roads were 3 or 4 people deep and they were SCREAMING their heads off. Following the race David Millar said that he had trouble hearing his team mates talk to him even when they were only a few feet apart due to the noise of the crowd. I have no idea that the percentage of bikies to non bikies was in the crowd but it was probably close to 50/50 if not more in the favour of non bikies, which is incredible. [ED: Please be reminded if you do find this incredible...  it's not surprising as I just made it up].

The crowds on Box Hill, which was the only ticketed area of the race were huge too and I was pleasantly surprised with the organisation and fluidity with which the got so many of us into the venue… which was essentially various bits of grass in the middle of a wood… on a hill! Although the Olympic Volunteers were as useful as a chocolate tyre lever the British Navy had been brought in to assist with crowds and the running of the event and they were superb, as our military always is with things like this.

My only major gripe of the ‘venue’ side of it was that although there was secure cycle parking as part of our entrance ticket we had to cycle about 1/4 of a mile along a muddy track through the woods. With hundreds of people on road bikes doing this there was obviously a few mumblings and swear words but in all honesty there was nowhere else on the hill they could have done it and we all survived due to it being a baking hot day. I would not have wanted to use it for the women’s event the following day when we had Biblical rain!

Mark Cavendish, with Luis Leon Sanchez, never featured in a race that could have been so great for him

Everything about the race felt like a big, top-class event

The major plus point of going to Box Hill to watch the race was not only would you get to see the riders a maximum of 9 times at a decent pace if you were on the hill but at Donkey Green, an area at the very top of the hill in a clearing in the woods, they had set up the largest TV screen I have ever seen with arena concert style speakers. There would be no fear of missing the final sprint as thousands of people tried to cycle home or try to cram into the nearest pub to watch it.

We just strolled through the woods, sat on the grass and drank a beer. It was brilliant. There were thousands of people sitting watching the race, many of whom had never watched a bike race in their lives but seemed to thoroughly enjoy the excitement and the anticipation of a Mark Cavendish once-in-a-lifetime win. I was almost as excited to feel the reaction and buzz from all these fans as I was to see a Team GB win.

Vincenzo Nibali and Philippe Gilbert attacked out of the peloton to try to bridge the gap before heading back towards central London

Taylor Phinney spent a long time in the break and eventually took first loser in 4th

But there had been so much hype about Cavendish in the run up to the race that if you are not a bike fan and understand all the nuances of cycle racing, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a done deal. Even at the 20km it didn’t look like they were going to catch the break, the only real opportunity coming when Fabian Cancellara unceremoniously crashed into the barriers in Richmond Park after overcooking the corner and the break lulled briefly whilst the riders looked over their shoulders. Philippe Gilbert put the hammer down and refocused the riders minds very quickly and the peloton’s chance was gone.

A few hundred meters more of riders looking and watching to see if the fallen riders would get back on would have slowed the break enough for the peloton to gain on them, but alas, Team GB’s efforts at the front had been for nothing. Apart from help from the German team, most notably Tony Martin who withdrew before the race left Box Hill, Team GB worked on the front alone the whole day. With many nations putting a rider in a break that had been militarily organised by a hugely experienced and loony Australian Stuart O’Grady there put all of their eggs in the ‘chase the break down for a sprint’ basket. They know it would be hard. They had described it as Team GB versus the world and it definitely turned out that way.

I heard many non bikies asking why the other countries weren’t helping Team GB chase the break. It was too hot and I’d had too much beer to try to explain everything about cycling other than that riders don’t want to be in a bunch sprint with Mark Cavendish for obvious reasons and as with Team Sky, many teams would rather see the Team GB cycling team lose rather than try to win themselves. It’s a sad part of the sport currently but has only come about by the rider’s dominance of the sport.

You’d be forgiven for thinking it was a Team GB/Germany race

With the crowds, the terrain and the weather, Box Hill was the place to be

Some unintelligent journalists have already made noises about a rider who previously got caught for doping has now gone on to win a gold medal in the Olympics. I’m not sure what would have happened if Cav had won after being supported by one of the most open ex-dopers in the sport but that’s the fickle world of the media. I’ve always enjoyed watching Alexandr Vinokurov. He’s a gutsy rider who has style, grit and loves to attack. When he jumped after Uran it looked the perfect Vino move and I thoroughly enjoyed watching him win. I’ve already heard many cycling fans say the same thing and I believe within our sport he is a worthy winner despite his unclean past.

Marco Pinotti, Stuart O’Grady & Timmy Duggan coming through the feed station

It was a great day only spoilt slightly by the final result which was Mark Cavendish’s once in a lifetime chance to win Olympic gold in London. David Millar suggested it would be a different matter on Wednesday when Wiggo takes on the world on his own and with the withdrawal of Fabain Cancellara through injury in the road race and Cadel Evans for ‘fatigue’ it seems even more likely that Wiggins will take gold. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves yet…

Stevie

Happy New Year to one and all. I’m sure you will have enjoyed the festive season wherever you have celebrated it and I hope you are looking forward to a great 2012. Whilst most blogs and websites have been writing reviews, roundups and summaries of 2011, I chose to stay away from this area for two main reasons. Firstly, there are many fine writers out there who are much more qualified than I am to write such an article. Being able to write a blog on a daily basis really gets into your blood and the mind which makes recalling information though memory and your own archives much easier. Secondly, if I write about stuff that’s already happened and is in the history books, other people can check the accuracy of my research and writing and find me out to be a lazy, fantastical nincompoop and condemn me to the non-non-fiction section of the interweb. Therefor the obvious solution is to write about stuff that has not happened yet and you can’t tell me I’m wrong… yet! Genius!

2012 The Year of The Dragon

In my extensive research (stop sniggering) for this article I found out that 2012 is the Chinese Year of The Dragon and amongst other wonderful attributes such as hard-wearing scaly skin and a warm disposition the dragon is described as having “enough courage to face challenges and easily finds weak points that stand on his way to success.” A nice way to be I think. Although Mrs D has just reminded me that China beats to their own ancient drum and we’ll have to wait until the end of January sometime for the dragon magic to kick in.

2012 is set to be a great year for all… I can feel it in my dragon juice. Below is a selection of things I’m looking forward to in the coming year ranging from events and races to blogs, sites and products.

London 2012 Olympics

Bit of an obvious one really but I thought I had better lead with it. In short this Olympic games is set to be the biggest, shiniest and boldest games in history and will be a true statement of British achievement and world status. The home nation of any major sporting occasion always makes a big song and dance and gets behind their sporting troops, whether it be a FIFA World Cup, Commonwealth Games or World Series (!?) but being in the midst of that fever feels brilliant and it will only get better as we move closer to the event itself. Cycling as a sport has more separate disciplines than any other in existence so is sure to be a majorly exciting part of the games and of course, for British hopes of lots of medal! [Ed: I have no basis for this statement and have done no research to confirm this but someone once told me in a pub. So there.] There will be many articles about London 2012 as the months tick by but if you have any doubt about how much of a show-stopping event we are going to put on, check out the video below of the ‘V for Vendetta’ style fireworks display over London. The fireworks from the Clock Tower of St Stephens (known to most as Big Ben… that is actual factual!) were amazing. It’s a long video of the whole display to music but it is impressive to the last bang. Set aside 11 minutes and 28 seconds in your day and check it out…

Union Cycliste Internationale

2011 has seen its share of scandals and ludicrously mishandled issues that landed with a thwack on the desk of Mr McQuaid but I can’t help felling a sense of loving familiarity with the silly old git. As much as I hate the UCI sitting there quietly, doing their silent little farts in the room of cycling (which absolutely stink by the way and I wish they would do it behind closed doors or not at all) I can’t help feeling like I want to give them a cuddle and tell them it will be alright in the end. Just like that slightly musty smelling relative who arrives around Christmas who you don’t really want to sit next to at the dinner table. You also don’t want them to pass on to the re-cycle centre in the sky. So I say, “Pat, keep rocking on and try to balls up less stuff than you did in 2011 and you’ll be on to a winner.” I think that is about as much as we can ask from them!

Racing

Personally I’m looking forward to doing some proper training and racing this year. I said it last year and never pulled my finger out and organised a licence. This year is going to be different damn it and I’m putting serious efforts into competing… not necessarily winning! On the professional race circuit there are a few races I’m looking forward to in particular. The Santos Tour Down Under is only 2 weeks away and sparks the arrival of the new season. It’s a crazy race with Aussies fresh from the National Champs toting for glory along side pros looking for any early season spurt. The Ronde Van Vlaanderen will be held without the Muur this year as the finish line will change from Meerbeke to Oudenaarde. For those unfamiliar with racing in Europe, Spring Classics or Flandrian bike history, for the riders not to be tackling the Kapelmuur (and the Bosberg incidentally) is like… well I couldn’t think of something similar but its bloody weird! hopefully the race itself won’t be tainted by what will surely be a relentless media commentary on how the race will be run without two of it’s most iconic climbs. My final race I’m really looking forward to (I’m just plain-looking forward to all of them) is the Tour de Suisse. Not one of the most obvious races on the calendar but golly is it exciting!? Riders that have been absent from the Giro or Critérium du Dauphiné (Dauphiné Libere if your old school) suddenly come storming out of the gate. It truly is an exciting race and I urge you to find a feed… probably from @ProCycling Live.

Crying in pain

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times (never understood that phrase!) I love The Sufferfest videos. They don’t pay me to say that I promise. I’m looking forward to see what other dastardly montages explode out of that hellish studio, 2012 looks big for pain. A relative new kid on the block in the realm of indoor training videos is 3LC.TV. An Isle of Man based outfit that utilises the close-knit professional cycling community including World Champion and Team Sky rider Mark Cavendish. Keep your eyes peeled for a review of 3LC.TV coming to LovingTheBike.com in the near future.

Cranklist

If you weren’t already aware, here at LovingTheBike.com we have The Cranklist which is a collection of bike related blogs across all disciplines from across the world. Check them out but I have some of my personal favourites which I urge you to check out to get the most out of your cycling bloggery in 2012. Big Ring Riding is a great collection of photos and funny comments showing the hard-arsed side of cycling. Only championing the hardest of hard men it has bite-size chunks of Chapeau. Not a lot needs to be said about Cycling Tips, one of the finest cycling blogs out there and the reason I began writing about bike racing. Wade Wallace is considered by many to be the king of cycling bloggery and the excellent articles as well as breathtaking photography from around the world’s greatest races are well worth checking out. As a regular reader, Cyclocosm feels like a UK political magazine called Private Eye (I’m sure there is an American equivalent but I’ve no idea what it is). It is a mix of satirical, funny and intelligent articles from a guy who really knows his stuff about bikes and especially racing. Finally, The Inner Ring is what I consider to be the finest blog about professional bike riding as it incorporates so many up to date issues, covered in-depth and with a real understanding of the subject. I urge you to check out these blogs and others on the Crank List. I know most of my particular selections are race orientated but that’s what I’m into… this is my list not yours!

Bring it on…

There it is. Lots of things I’m looking forward to in 2012. Not an exhaustive list by any means but it’s something to be going on with. Here at LovingTheBike.com and #bikeschool we are really looking forward to a great 2012 and will be looking to push the limits. Of course we always want your imput so do let us know.

Tell us what you are looking forward to in 2012 in the comments below. You never know, your wish may become our blog!

Keep The Rubber Side Down

Stevie