Phrase “Well done Peloton” makes Roger’s Profanisaurus; Strava reveals “Quitter’s Day”; Cyclists’ eating disorders; NZ has worst drivers; Contador’s new bike brand+ more on the live blog
SUMMARY
‘Cycling culture must change’ says dietician
A dietician who has seen a five-fold increase in the number of male cyclists referred to her with eating disorders in the past year has blamed a culture where performance is often prioritised over health.
Renee McGregor says every new male client she has seen in the last year has been a cyclist.
Speaking to Sky News, she said: “It’s a very fine line between being light enough to perform optimally and being so light that it starts to affect mental and physical health.
“I don’t think enough coaches and sporting teams and sporting bodies have the information and the education they need, so when that is line crossed, it’s often crossed at the expense of the athlete.”
One cyclist who has been seeing McGregor for help, 19-year-old Oscar Mingay, said: “I had very low self esteem. If someone told me I was looking healthy, I would think, ‘Oh, I need to lose more weight, I look normal’. If someone told me I was looking unwell I would think, ‘Great, I’m doing everything right’.”
Bradley Wiggins agrees that when it comes to weight, the world of cycling is “sick”
Earlier this year, Sir Bradley Wiggins said that one of the great benefits of retiring was that he had been able to put on some weight.
Speaking during the Giro d’Italia, he said: “I’ve put 10 kilos on because I was severely underweight as a 6ft3in man. Stop this rubbish!”
He went on to say that it no longer affects him when “the sick world of cycling” tells him, “you’ve let yourself go a bit.”
Wiggins weighed 72kg for his final overall stage race victory at the 2014 Tour of California and was listed on the Team Sky website as weighing 69kg.
No Milan-Sanremo in 2020?
An update on the Poggio – so often the decisive climb in Milan-Sanremo – which has suffered landslides in recent months.
Update about Poggio status (lost it in the Christmas party): Road is not fixed yet and Sanremo major said that there is risk that the race could not take place in 2020 (ANSA) https://t.co/1pqGTw4KLR
— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) January 2, 2020
A byproduct of Conor Dunne's retirement
Conor Dunne has retired without a team at the age of 27 after Israel Cycling Academy decided not to renew his contract.
At 2.04m, Dunne had been the tallest rider in the WorldTour.
That title is now held by 2m Mathias Norsgaard.
We’re very lucky to both have the smallest and tallest rider in the World Tour on @Movistar_Team. Coincidence? I THINK NOT pic.twitter.com/gP79ZHh8PD
— Mathias Norsgaard (@MathiasNorsgaar) January 1, 2020
Notice something else new in this pic?
Alpecin-Fenix goes blue in 2020 pic.twitter.com/J4LS2k4Y9N
— José Been (@TourDeJose) January 1, 2020
While Mr Van der Poel is indeed rocking his team’s new kit, it also looks like he has a new bike… which we strongly suspect could be Canyon’s new Aeroad. It’s not the first time we’ve talked about the new Aeroad. A very similar-looking bike was spotted being ridden by Van der Poel back in late September, and Canyon also added a ‘CFR Disc RO65‘ to the UCI list; although they declined to comment when we asked them about it at the time.
Alberto Contador and Ivan Basso seem to be launching a new bike
Here’s a teaser video thing.
Writing on his own Instagram page, Contador said that the name would be revealed letter by letter.
So far we’ve got an A and four spaces.
“January 1st arrived and I can open the gift, what will it be? Of course it’s a bike, but which one? It is a very special one, for the moment we will call it A since the name will be deciphered little by little…Bike in which we have been working for more than a year and a half with the best to offer the best bike I have ridden. I’m like a little boy! Now Full Gas”
Cycling and a desire to lose weight not always a bad combination though, obvs
This time last year I was 190lbs (or so, maybe a little more). Today I’m 164lbs. At one point I got down to 158, but then I went on tour for 3 months… Almost all of this is down to exercise, mostly on my bike. #lloydscyclingadventure
— Lloyd Cole (@Lloyd_Cole) January 1, 2020
Reverend Richard Coles has got himself an e-bike
The ‘annus horribilis’ is a reference to the death of Coles’ partner, Reverend David Coles, last month.
Goodbye 2019, annus horribilis for me, but thanks to @RutlandCycling I will be accelerating into 2020, and I wish everyone a magnificent new year. pic.twitter.com/WSKjmwlYIl
— Richard Coles (@RevRichardColes) December 31, 2019
Cav's new bike
Chris Froome's 2010s
Au revoir 2019Bonjour 2020 #cotedazur pic.twitter.com/JM7WyyLlsH
— Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) January 2, 2020
The last decade may not have ended as well as I would have hoped but I think I did okay 2 babies 7 grand tours & counting pic.twitter.com/YDVvDuoOhN
— Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) January 2, 2020
New Zealand motorists ‘resent cyclists’ say riders attempting tandem world record
The two British women who are currently trying to break the world record for being the fastest cyclists to circumnavigate the globe on a tandem say that New Zealand has the worst drivers.
“It’s brutal,” Raz Marsden told Stuff.co.nz. “We’ve had more close encounters with cars here than anywhere else.”
Cat Dixon added: “We get the impression that the drivers just sort of resent the bikes just being on the road. As a consequence they make no effort whatsoever to pull out and they drive incredibly close.”
According to Marsden, “They go so close you can feel the hairs on your arms stand up, the gust of wind.”
The pair suggest that the country’s rural drivers aren’t so used to seeing cyclists.
In general, Kiwis “couldn’t be nicer, kinder, more helpful, more supportive, just great, fantastic,” according to Marsden. “But when they get in a car, something happens.”
Campaign to build new West Midlands velodrome backed by… Greg LeMond
David Viner recently bumped into American cycling legend Greg LeMond who offered words in support of our campaign.
Thanks everyone for your support and hopefully in the new year we can get the Needs Analysis published!
Petition: https://t.co/BS1v2mTNTD pic.twitter.com/zEg4d4MN6g
— WM Velodrome Campaign (@WMvelodrome) December 24, 2019
Vision Zero in Oslo
This makes me happy:
Road deaths in Oslo (pop. 673.000) in 2019:
Pedestrians: 0
Cyclists: 0
Children: 0The graph shows the reduction of road deaths since 1975.
Article in Norwegian: https://t.co/9Dv2bLZlFT
#VisionZero pic.twitter.com/MCRFK1wPJ3
— Anders Hartmann (@andershartmann) January 1, 2020
Mission accomplished?
Not at all.
Many people sharing this claim that we have reached #visionzero in Oslo. While we are making great progress, there is still a way to go to consistently keep deaths at zero for all road users.
Also, #visionzero means 0 serious injuries, where we still have a long way to go.
— Anders Hartmann (@andershartmann) January 2, 2020
Hartmann also adds that no children died in traffic anywhere in Norway (pop. 5,3 million) in 2019.
Strava reveals “Quitter’s Day” – the day that New Year fitness resolutions are most likely to die
According to Strava data from 2019, Sunday January 19 will be Quitter’s Day this year – that’s the day people are most likely to give up on their New Year’s fitness resolutions.
Not entirely surprisingly, Strava reckons that Strava can keep people from giving up…
UK Country Manager Gareth Mills said: “Millions of us around the world will start the year motivated and with the best of intentions to either get fit, or increase our activity levels.
“We know that staying motivated is the oldest and biggest problem in health and fitness and our data shows that people are most likely to give up on 2020 New Year’s fitness resolutions by Sunday 19 January this year.
“At Strava, we believe that people keep people active which is why we connect athletes with like-minded athletes. For example, we know that those who exercise in a group record 10% more activities the month after they join a club, and that cyclists going on group rides cover twice the distance of solo rides.”
"Great work, Mark in London, keep pushing it!"
The phrase”Well done Peloton, you smashed it!” has only gone and made the latest update to Viz comic’s Roger’s Profanisaurus …
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Re the mobility scooter / road race incident. What are the chances of the Daily Telegraph running with this one? : "Disabled Pensioner Mowed Down By 85mph Speeding Cyclists." "How many more pensioners must be killed or injured before number plates and insurance are made mandatory for cyclists, asked Nigel Farage, from his £5m crypto donation enquiry hideout?"
I mean, they could probably just only sell them to people with legitimate licenses for the ebike they are selling them. ie. they have passed their motorbike test. Worrying about private land proof etc just sounds like a nightmare and a huge amount of work. People would be saying "oh yeah, this ebike is just to ride at my local dirt bike track". Link the purchase to the buyers license and if they want to sell it, they have to sell it to another licensed rider. I think the core issue is perhaps the delivery riders however. I see a tiny proportion of them with what I would think is a legal ebike. Most of them are going way over 15.5mph and many of them don't even have to pedal to work them.
@Pub bike - stating "the scrotes will find a way around any rules regardless" is pretty much agreeing with me that introducing new rules around the sale/purchase is the wrong way to tackle the issue. With sufficient traffic policing, the scrotes will get nicked, whereas introducing additional rules is pointless without increasing the enforcement.
@hawkinspeter The scrotes will find a way around any rules regardless. I frequently see riders speeding along with bicycles with enormous motors in the rear wheels where the chainsets have been removed altogether and foot rests have been installed into the bottom bracket. The bill being introduced under the 10 minute rule is about the marketing, sale and supply of them including conversion kits. I suspect it will be difficult to write a bill that simultaneously allows the sale of motorbikes whether electrically powered or not for private off-road use whilst restricting them for on-road use. Better surely to make it really hard to buy any kind of motorbike without it being registered with the DVLA and the keeper having the correct licence and insurance. But the police need play their part as well in stopping the riders and confiscating what they are riding. It is not like they are difficult to spot.
What "tougher regulation"? The clue is in the name: these things are illegal (and, I agree, an absolute menace).
Thanks for the excellent review - I know it's just one Google search away, but I think any bike review in this day and age should include max tyre clearance.
Yesterday, I organised "On Your Bike", a christening of this new cycle spine from Pittville to Bishops Cleeve. Between 11.30 and 14.30, we recorded 539 cyclists using this cycle path whilst the car boot was still busy. Everybody was kept safe and moving by the car boot sale's excellent stewards. I don't see any risk to users of the bike path. I also think its an excellent opportunity for cyclists and other road users to rub shoulders in a positive and friendly way. I cannot see why a cycling community would want to try and stir and stoke friction with an article like this.
"I know in NL they have trialled semi-portable “test stations” to check max motor speeds." Worth noting, the dutch police have long had dynos to test mopeds for power/speed limits. Maybe generally kept at the station usually. But the newer portable ones do not look very different from the one my own moped got tested on at a station in the 90s.
@mctrials23 I agree, these illegal electric motorcycles have considerable advantages for the ne'er-do-well over there more traditional weapon of two-stroke dirt bikes, as you say, easier to store, you could get one up to a flat in a high-rise building easily which you couldn't do with a petrol-powered motorcycle, easy and much cheaper to fuel from any home power socket, no going down the petrol station and risking being caught, way less maintenance, if you can look after a pushbike you can look after one of these, and they are even silent so you can smash them around the woods and recreation grounds without people calling the police having heard the noise. Personally I would say a ban on sales of full-on electric motorcycles like Surrons to anyone who can't provide justification for use, e.g. farmers and other people who demonstrably have enough private land to use them, would be perfectly appropriate.
Adding regulations on the sale of e-bikes simply adds to the enforcement requirement. Meanwhile, increasing (or starting) traffic policing also works to catch a lot of criminal/distracted drivers as well as finding cloned plates etc. If police catch and confiscate a lot of illegal e-motorbikes, then people are going to be less confident of riding them on the roads - it's the current situation of next to no enforcement that creates the environment where people can get away with dangerous riding/driving. To be honest, the bigger problem is still drivers and congestion, so illegal e-motorbikes can be seen as harm reduction, despite the collisions.
16 thoughts on “Phrase “Well done Peloton” makes Roger’s Profanisaurus; Strava reveals “Quitter’s Day”; Cyclists’ eating disorders; NZ has worst drivers; Contador’s new bike brand+ more on the live blog”
Oh fuck off Wiggins. You were
Oh fuck off Wiggins. You were born for it and you still moan about it despite religiously following it and knowing exactly what awaited you.
And you also went into a ‘grey’ area. Shup up and enjoy the fact you made it.
Rick, Sir Bradley speaks very
Rick, Sir Bradley speaks very highly of you!
I ‘trained’ to do Mont Ventoux on Tom Simpson day back in 2017, Brad was there and I got a photo. I was nearly 2 stone lighter than I stand today and at 6ft tall was 72kg. I was amazed at how thin Brad looked compared to me, my legs were twice the size of his. The fact that he could produce so much power from such a frame amazes me.
I think it is more than fine for him to say he’s enjoyed being able to let go and enjoy food, beer, time with his family etc. and shed more light onto the sport…
Contador’s new bike decked
Contador’s new bike decked out with Lightweight wheels and parts… a competitor to the Boardman Pro Carbon this will not be.
Ah, would that be Sir Bradley
Ah, would that be Sir Bradley “I would never use drugs”* Wiggins?
*to be later refined to something like “I meant I would never inject drugs”…err, and then to something like “I would never use drugs which were not prescribed”
Wiggo complaining about the
Wiggo complaining about the weight he chose to be to compete and win the biggest races? Oh, cry me a yellow-coloured river of money!
Not that it matters, if you wait 5 minutes he’ll be back on screen with a different opinion. For someone who doesn’t like the attention he certainly likes to get in front of a microphone.
As for shedding light on the sport, pull the other one. He could talk about some injections he had or the doping stories his DS Sean Yates won’t tell…
So the point Brad makes isn’t
So the point Brad makes isn’t worthy of discussion then Simon?
When i watched cycling in the 70’s it was much more big powerful riders, sports science and the routes now make things very different. If there is concern about diet and the strains the body is put through then maybe more could be done to change things. Take Rugby as an example, the laws have been changed to prevent so many deaths, why not be open to discussing change rather than throw tired cliches about?
alansmurphy wrote:
it is worthy of discussion, but I suspect the pressure to “lose some timber” to conform to a certain body weight and power output shape falls more on womens pro cycling than the mens. That doesnt mean its not an issue on the mens side, there have been cases of anorexia and Im surprised weight loss drugs dont turn up as often as the peds do.
but how do you change it ? Brad certainly isnt offering any solutions,
Just because the sport was
Just because the sport was less professional doesn’t mean it was ‘better’. Look at motorsports in the 70s, get out/off and get on the gaspers. Meanwhile today anyone smoking wouldn’t be fit enough to ride or drive.
The trouble is the sports genies come out of the bottle and won’t go back in. If you won’t get to an unhealthy weight someone else will and beat you. To me at 73kg it’s in thinkable that Wiggins who is 4 to 5 inches taller could get to 67 kg as I’m nowhere near being ‘solid’ and I’m nearer the slender side. Thing is I’m not aiming for gold medals so I’ll never have the motivation to do what it takes.
The world of the elite is probably pretty unfathomable to most but history tells us cyclists will do anything to win.
I agree with Brad…as do
I agree with Brad…as do many health professionals it would seem.
You shouldn’t need the physique of a small boy to be competitive….although as someone with a “sprinter’s” build I would say that 😛
Awavey, change the routes at
Awavey, change the routes at the Grand Tours. More time trialling, more flat stages etc. Track athletes tend to be nearer to normal body shape. The problem is (and I’m guilty as a fan) that we love to see the high mountain stages and brutality in the tours so the athletes have evolved and it’s a scientific power vs weight to suit the profiles that have been set.
alansmurphy wrote:
Going to differ here – adding more flat (especially flat flat) stages won’t change the GC “type” meaningfully, except as it alters the balance of the remainder of the stages – nobody makes time up on flat stages. Even if we say your new breed of GC rider could contend with the true sprinters for the bonus seconds, pick up for absurdity’s sake three stage wins, that’s enough time to lose – handily – in one mountain stage, time trial, wacky breakaway by some French guy on a more rolling stage, you name it.
Now, replacing mountains with time trials? That will make a difference, and that difference consists of replacing one set of specialists (and one set of physical extremes) with another.
I will now dismount my soapbox and wander off into some even purer speculation: are mountain stages so popular because so few of us have the French Alps – or any mountains of real note – at our doorstep?
The UCI sets a minimum weight
The UCI sets a minimum weight limit for racing bikes, so why not set something similar for riders?
I know it is more complicated than setting a flat minimum weight, but something like a height/min weight index, or BMI (I know the limitations of BMI), or maybe a minimum body fat percentage etc. You get the idea?
If you had a committee of medical doctors/dieticians/ nutritionists etc I am sure they could come up with some sort of system and include a race ‘weight in’ and then a table of permitted losses throughout longer races like a grand tour. This could ensure that competitors stayed within a defined healthy regime and would prevent there being an advantage to dangerously low body fat percentages/ anorexia etc.
PP
Ooh, stripey… but wait,
Ooh, stripey…
but wait, isn’t that the Aqua Blue logo?
On the subject of weight. I don’t suffer from cycling’s culture (looks at remains of icecream, christmas cake, crisps and cheese for tea, thinks about dinner…)
Organon wrote:
Yeah, I wish I was struggling to keep the weight on like I was in the Army 30 years ago whilst eating 7000 cals a day!
PP
We get the impression that
We get the impression that the drivers just sort of resent the bikes just being on the road. As a consequence they make no effort whatsoever to pull out and they drive incredibly close.
About 15 years ago whilst touring via the Atlantic costal road in the Alentejo region of Portugal, I had a terrible 3 or 4 days of riding. Seemingly every single car on a standard and pretty busy ‘B’ type road doing not less than 70-80mph and very, very close passing. Bloody frightening. However, on the final day of this nightmare road, a police car pulled up alongside me, one of the officers wound down the window and said something in Portuguese to me – I thought I was getting nicked for not obeying some local law. However, I muttered ‘sorry, I only speak English’ and they then sped off down the road.
About 3 miles later I saw that the policemen had parked up by the side of the road and were pulling up every speeding, close passing motorist going. As I passed them I gave a big smile and said ‘obrigado!’ One of the officers smiled back and saluted me. And guess what? From then on, all cars were now slowing and giving me plenty of room. Now that is how you do that.
“New Zealand has the worst
“New Zealand has the worst drivers”, Australia says hold my beer…