Campagnolo launches “groundbreaking” second front disc brake; Regent’s Park velodrome; National Supertuck Champs; Around-the-world cyclist reunited with stolen bike two years later; High traffic neighbourhoods; April Fools gags + more on the live blog

Exciting news from the @theroyalparks about the traffic free Regent’s Park and Outer Circle velodrome proposals. What a fantastic #cycling resource for London. @RPcyclists @BritishCycling @cyclingweekly @Cyclingnewsfeed @HamandHigh @HerneHillVel @IsopenLondon pic.twitter.com/Zcx2Fr6wbQ

— Islington Cycling Club (@IslingtonCC) April 1, 2021

That’s a strong start to April Fools’ Day from Islington CC. 9/10. The MailOnline story is a really nice touch. Perhaps ‘Outrage as Royal Park stolen by Lycra louts riding 17 abreast on taxpayer-funded velodrome’ might be more believable. Plenty of love for the edited banking on the bends too. Great work Islington CC…

Top work @IslingtonCC, hope your social media manager has plenty of coffee today… https://t.co/JePfjBbLzA

— The Royal Parks (@theroyalparks) April 1, 2021

First thing this morning it got me. For 5 seconds I got excited. Nice one whoever thought of this

— stealfwayne (@stealfwayne) April 1, 2021

A scheme to ban bikes and pedestrians and make more space for cars? 🚘🚳

We’ve obtained leaked proposals for new ‘High Traffic Neighbourhoods’, which are to be designated in towns and cities across the country.

Read the story: 📄 https://t.co/gNDwajmoZD pic.twitter.com/0XbLz8zj2P

— Cycling UK (@WeAreCyclingUK) April 1, 2021

This is all fun and games until it turns up as a genuine suggestion from a local councillor in a few months’ time…Cycling UK has put some very believable details in this one. The high traffic neighbourhoods will give “cars total priority over other road users. The HTN scheme is believed to be a reaction to complaints in the media about pop-up traffic lanes and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs), which aim to encourage cycling and walking by taking back space from motor vehicles.”

We’re talking: removal of grass verges and footways to allow an extra lane of traffic, at least 30 per cent of urban parkland to be paved for parking, abolition of 20mph speed limits with 30mph limit to be “reviewed” and best of all…

Fines for cyclists in HTNs, and for pedestrians unless they can demonstrate they are on the way to or from their vehicle…Brilliant. 

NEWS: Council opens ‘wand’ shop on High Street Kensington to recoup cost of scrapped cycle tracks https://t.co/ZO3aKGkCzS pic.twitter.com/ga5qffbeIo

— London Cycling Campaign (@London_Cycling) April 1, 2021

British Cycling can today announce that the inaugural @HSBC_UK | National Supertuck Championships 🇬🇧 will take place on the 31st June 2021 🗓#NatSupertuckChamps

🔴⚪️🔵 pic.twitter.com/lVWrC0Msuo

— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) April 1, 2021

Here we go…It’s the big one, forget the Tour de France, there’s a new king in town. In a huge bit of news, conveniently released on April 1, British Cycling are up for some UCI rulebreaking. We imagine all the British riders will exit the Tour after its first week to race at this prestigious event…The early market from the bookies has Chris Froome favourite…

The big news keeps coming this morning. This time it’s a world record breaker from Schindelhauer with 252 gears. The custom model from Berlin-based bicycle manufacturer has a record 3350% gear ratio made possible by a 14-speed Rohloff Speedhub gear with 526% spread. At a relaxed cadence of 60rpm the top speed is 84.4km/h but has broken the 126km/h mark…

Head of Design and co-founder at Schindelhauer Stephen Zehren said: “In the development team, we always wanted to build a bike that has the right gear for every situation. Finally, we can make our community in the UK happy, who can now tackle the Hardknott Pass in the Lake District in Yorkshire (gradient up to 33%) in a relaxed manner.

“In addition, we are already setting the mobility trends of tomorrow by creating new incentives to switch to cycling, especially for commuters. On rural and federal roads, they are literally on a par with car drivers and no longer have to put up with overtaking manoeuvres. I even dare to predict that many of our customers will checkmate their four-wheeled colleagues with Wilhelm CCLII.”

While I can’t promise this is the last April Fools content on the blog today, we should be moving on to some proper news after lunch…First, meet the monospoke, a 52mm deep rim wheel with a single spoke. Coming in at just 1003g for the pair, the rim brake, tubeless ready wheel has all the aero properties to rival disc brake models and all the stiffness you could ever need. They’re not cheap at $1888 but you’ll be promptly refunded as they don’t actually exist….Just the thing for riding around the new velodrome in Regent’s Park…

Loulou is home 👍#DDV21
Photo: @BeelWout pic.twitter.com/xKHhZxd6mz

— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) March 31, 2021

Okay, let’s do some proper news this afternoon…It wasn’t just Mathieu van der Poel who seemingly had a bad day in the heat at Dwars door Vlaanderen yesterday, Julian Alaphilippe says he wasn’t great either. The Frenchman finished 22nd, safely in the peloton, but wasn’t as prominent as you might expect in the final race ahead of the Tour of Flanders this Sunday.

“From a personal point of view, I didn’t do much,” he told L’Equipe. “We really felt the heat, I tried to help the team as best I could. We had Florian in front, but when I blew up on one of the climbs, I didn’t have much information about what was going on. I didn’t ride economically today. I wanted to see where I was, how I had recovered from the Italian races which really tired me.”

Alaphilippe also admitted he hasn’t felt good in training recently either. “When I started training again, the feeling was not incredible. That’s why I was here without stress, without pressure. But it was OK. I enjoyed myself, even if there was no result at the end. I hope to have better feelings on Sunday.”

After a morning navigating April Fools press releases we’ve got something genuine for you…Muc-Off has a new high-pressure, quick drying degreaser designed to clean your drivetrain straight out the can and without any need for rinsing. The heavy-duty degreaser is meant to cut through dirt and grime in seconds with a ‘zero residue’ formula meaning it evaporates after application to leave your drivetrain clean and dry.

Alex Trimnell, Muc-Off’s CEO says: “It’s epic to be able to release an innovative new product that makes light work of tough maintenance tasks that can be messy and time consuming. We pride ourselves on creating highly effective, premium cleaning products and this is no exception.”

Andy Murray used cycling to stay active during lockdown last year, getting out for some rides in the Surrey Hills. He told Gentleman’s Journal, “I was doing a lot of cardio work and, for the first time, I did some road biking. I really enjoyed it, actually. I think, when I finish playing tennis, cycling is something I want to do more of. I live 20 minutes south of Wimbledon, in Surrey. So I cycled around Box Hill, where they did some of the Olympic road racing.

“I had two or three routes I was doing consistently. And, because I’m competitive, I was seeing if I could beat my times each week, to see if I was getting fitter. I enjoyed going up the hills—so tough, but I really loved it.”

 

 

 

 

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Charlie Condell was 102 days into his cycling world record attempt, trying to become the youngest person to cycle solo across the globe, when his bike was stolen. He was left with just the clothes he was wearing when his bike, kit and passport were all taken from the hostel in North Queensland he was staying at. However, Charlie, who is now 21, recently found the bike on a Townsville buy, swap and sell Facebook page…

“I joined that when the bike first got nicked, but I’ve been on that group ever since it seemed … I never got rid of it and the bike came around. It popped up and I sent it into the police and they sent an officer around and I believe it’s all looking good, so I must say I was over the moon,” he told ABC.

A 46-year-old man was charged for being in possession of the bike as well as possession of drugs and carrying a knife in a public place. At the time of the theft, an inspector started a fundraiser to buy him a new bike so he could finish the challenge before his 19th birthday, covering 30,000km in 248 days.

Thanks to effective and rapid collaboration with the Union Cycliste Internationale and the local authorities concerned, the new dates fixed are the 2nd October for Paris-Roubaix Women and the 3rd October for Paris-Roubaix. pic.twitter.com/gd1hMMhOTP

— Paris-Roubaix (@Paris_Roubaix) April 1, 2021

We thought it was postponed, then it wasn’t, now we’ve got official confirmation that Paris-Roubaix will be held in October…

There were strong suspicions this would be the case when the Prefect of the Hauts-de-France region last week said he wouldn’t let the race go ahead with the region in lockdown…

Those comments were taken further by a report in Le Parisien which said the race would be delayed until October. However, a conflicting story in L’Équipe disputed this and said a decision would not be made until this week. Now we’ve got the official verdict…There’ll be no Paris-Roubaix next Sunday. The inaugural women’s edition has been pencilled in for Saturday 2 October with the men’s race a day later on Sunday 3.

We’ll have the full story shortly…

The British Pilgrimage Trust, Cycling UK and Sustrans have come up with a new 2,000-mile Cathedrals Cycle Route linking all 42 Church of England cathedrals between Newcastle and Truro. If you fancy a pilgrimage with a difference or just want to get some post-covid mega miles in, the route will be launched fully with a relay ride starting at Newcastle Cathedral on May 30 as part of Cycling UK’s Bike Week.

Pray you’ve got good legs if you want to ride between all 42 or take a shorter route between two or three. One member of the relay team, Shaun, thinks the route is exactly what people need after the past year. “The Cathedrals Cycle Route is about connecting our historic cathedrals and enjoying the spaces between them.

“Now more than ever, after a year of living with the coronavirus pandemic, this is a way to support people’s mental and physical health and promote the mission of England’s cathedrals through pilgrimage, wellbeing and heritage.”

 

 

 

 

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 Another incredible announcement saved for April 1…SmartDisc Technology takes the innovative step of allowing a rider to add or remove a second front disc brake to the bike for when your route requires extra braking power. Designed in collaboration with Team UAE Emirates and Colnago, the SmartDisc will feature on the new V3RS DV (Double Ventoux) model and should come into its own at the Tour de France on the double ascent of the legendary mountain where riders will reach frightening speeds on the downhill. The logical choice, Campag says, is “to add a second front disc brake for incredible braking power”.

“We’ve invested years of research into improving performance on the climbs and in TTs but perhaps we’ve been missing the bigger picture,” they continued. “We’ve always neglected the downhills, where bigger time gaps are possible nowadays. So we’ve worked hard all winter with Colnago and Team UAE Emirates, both on the road and in the lab. The result: the groundbreaking SmartDisc Technology that we are pleased to present today.”

Campagnolo changing the game forever…Now check the date.