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"I should have done it sooner": Cyclist turns heads with "no regrets" handlebar set-up, cutting off drops because "it just feels perfect"; TWO Tour de France Femmes stages in one day + more on the live blog

It's another sunny day with the Tour de France on the telly... what more could you want? Oh, right, you're all at work... anyway, Dan Alexander is on live blog duty keeping you on top of all the cycling-related news, reaction and more this Tuesday...

SUMMARY

13 August 2024, 07:50
"I should have done it sooner": Cyclist turns heads with "no regrets" handlebar set-up, cutting off drops because "it just feels perfect"
The "no-regrets" handlebar set-up (Brett Reynolds on Facebook)

[Brett Reynolds/Facebook]

It is almost hill climb season, I guess... although we reckon cutting off your drops in the search of a tiny weight saving to smash it up a five-minute climb and do no further riding that day is a very different vibe to ditching the drops on the bike you do all your riding on.

Jo spotted this on Facebook where, unsurprisingly, it's getting quite a lot of attention. No regrets for Brett the bike's owner, in fact he's saying he "should've done it sooner".

The "no-regrets" handlebar set-up (Brett Reynolds on Facebook)

"Use 'em or lose 'em... I just cut them off," he told the entertained masses. "I have been considering doing this for years and as I had spare bars lying around... did it. I just don't use the drops at all and ride the hoods for everything and it somehow feels better, I can't explain it, it just feels perfect with no position compromises. If you are like me and you have some spare bars, try it."

Don't encourage the hill climbers, Brett, they need no convincing to mutilate poor bicycles...

2022 National Hill Climb Trigon - 1 (1)

> Weird and wonderful bikes from the National Hill Climb Championships 

2022 National Hill Climb Trek Emonda SL - 1

My eyes...

Need we ask if any of you are tempted? More importantly has anyone done it before? Any regrets? On the plus side, you're going to get slightly more bang for your buck out of bar tape and eradicate that silly dead leg every cyclist only gives themself once if you carelessly smash your knee/quad into a drop. On the other side, not being able to... well, use the drops is something of a vote-swinger for us... but I guess if, like Brett, you never use them anyway, that's less of an issue.

Oh, and no, you won't be able to call in that warranty cover if something goes wrong... but you probably knew that anyway if you're prepping to take a saw to your handlebars.

13 August 2024, 15:58
Demi Vollering wins Tour de France Femmes time trial, takes yellow jersey

You know what? I'm a fan of the couple of sprint stages into short, almost prologue-length, time trial that the Tour de France Femmes experimented with in the Netherlands (admittedly, as the teams would point out, having the latter two of those three on the same day does create a bit of a logistical headache).

Granted, also, the organisers have been somewhat limited by the pancake-like terrain on offer, but it turned the short TT into a sort of yellow jersey handicap race against the clock where the top sprinters get a bit of a head start due to bonus seconds won on the opening two days, and try to fend off the specialists and GC favourites.

We wondered if Charlotte Kool might be able to cling onto yellow for another stage, but alas not, Lorena Wiebes the closest of the sprinters to taking the race lead. However, ultimately it was, like we suspect a couple more days later in the week, one for Demi Vollering, the 2023 TDFF champ taking yellow before the race even leaves her home country or climbs a hill of note.

It continues the dominance Dutch riders have held over the race since its return to the calendar in 2022. Of 19 stages across three editions so far, 12 have gone to riders from the Netherlands, while the yellow jersey has been worn by a Dutch rider after all but six stages, Lotte Kopecky the only person to disrupt that GC dominance. You probably wouldn't bet against Vollering holding yellow all the way to Alpe d'Huez either.

Olympic champion Grace Brown gave her golden TT bike a first run today, a puncture deflating her chances. Of the other notable Olympic performers, Chloe Dygert was second, road race champ Kristen Faulkner fifth, and Anna Henderson 10th. Decent showings by many, but today (and maybe this entire race) is all about Vollering.

13 August 2024, 15:48
"I was getting ripped off left, right, and centre by the people looking after me": Bradley Wiggins slams "sofa surfing" reports as "sensationalism" and explains bankruptcy "mess" in candid Lance Armstrong interview
13 August 2024, 13:21
"Well, that was a fun morning!": Transport Secretary Louise Haigh joins Chris Boardman and Laura Laker on Trans-Pennine Trail (N62) bike ride
Louise Haigh bike ride with Chris Boardman and Laura Laker

Positive signs? Labour's new Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has shared these photos on social media, reporting having spent the morning out cycling the Trans-Pennine Trail (N62) with Active Travel Commissioner Chris Boardman and road.cc contributor and active travel author/journalist Laura Laker. 

13 August 2024, 13:18
Giant's profits slashed by 17% and sales down 13% for first half of 2024 – but company expects "gradual" improvement as inventory levels return to normal
13 August 2024, 13:00
"Cutting off the drops will have been a great idea right up until the point when you're going down a really fast descent and you reach for the drops..."

Comments section time...

The "no-regrets" handlebar set-up (Brett Reynolds on Facebook)

A great story for getting followers who haven't actually read today's blog telling you on Facebook that hill climbers have been doing this for years. And of course said hill climbers sending in their gramme-saving sawing, this courtesy of Dale Wilkes...

Reader's hill climb bike (Dale Wilkes/Facebook)

As a couple of you have touched on, the remarkable thing about the drop-less wonder that made today's blog is that it wasn't done for hill climb purposes, just a gravel-riding preference. The other context we've heard people do similar is on a commuter if you don't want to buy a pair of bullhorn bars. In fact, ultra-cycling legend Steve Abraham replied to one of our social media posts saying he'd done the same "and flipped them upside down to make bullhorns for my fixie".

Mark Wynn-Edwards also told us: "Yep, did this years ago on one of my travel bikes. Best thing ever, doesn't get in the way and I didn't ever drop down there anyway."

Paul Ruffy: "Well I'd probably reach for them and eat tarmac. But seriously they are there for a reason. Adds another position to alleviate any pressure points, more aero (sometimes) and also I think much safer for descending at high speed."

billymansell: "Cutting off the drops will have been a great idea right up until the point when you're going down a really fast descent and you reach for the drops..."

Of course, my favourite comments were of the less serious kind...

hawkinspeter: "To enforce my use of the drops, I'm going to remove the tops from my handlebar."

slc: "I removed the wheels to get below the wind. Seem to work pretty well as I can't feel a breeze no matter how hard I pedal."

Anyway, if you get bored of riding without parts of your bars and need a new fix, try this one, courtesy of live blog favourite Chad Tavernia...

Chad Tavernia 100-mile out the saddle (Image credit: Chad Tavernia/Strava)

 

13 August 2024, 10:33
Horror crash that left track cycling spectator with "machete-like" injury prompts London velodrome to install Perspex barrier, two years after rider catapulted into crowd, "almost killing" children
13 August 2024, 09:43
Charlotte Kool wins again, sprints to second stage victory of Tour de France Femmes

It doesn't get much better for Charlotte Kool and dsm-firmenich PostNL than this. Dutch rider in the Netherlands, in yellow, winning the first two stages of the Tour de France Femmes. SD Worx looked in control, launching Lorena Wiebes at what seemed to be the perfect moment. But, as her sprint went on, Kool closed, picking a gap between Marianne Vos and Wiebes perfectly, punching through and winning it on the line. 

Wiebes and Vos took second and third, this afternoon's TT is going to be very interesting to see if Kool can hold onto yellow for another day, the short six-kilometre course perhaps just about in the wheelhouse of the peloton's fastest sprinters. The yellow jersey has a 14-second advantage over Anniina Ahtosalo and Wiebes, 16 seconds on Vos and Elisa Balsamo, and 20 seconds on the rest of the contenders. This is going to be fun.

13 August 2024, 09:27
6% of Brits believe they could qualify for the 2028 Olympic Games cycling road race if they started training now
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by YouGov UK (@yougovuk)

You might have seen this YouGov research doing the rounds since the weekend, but wow, give me the confidence of the six per cent of Brits who believe they could qualify for the 2028 Olympic Games road race if they started training now. A marginally more modest five per cent said the track sprint would be one they could qualify for... 

13 August 2024, 08:38
Today at the Tour — Dutch double-header will see two stages decided in one day

Local road race crammed into a weekend vibes at the Tour de France Femmes today, a morning road race followed by an afternoon TT. The AM action is well underway, 40km to go there, then the riders will take to the streets of Rotterdam again this afternoon for a six-kilometre-long individual time trial, two stages that I reckon even I could get through. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be in the time limit, but still a flat 70km in the sun sounds quite pleasant.

Stage two:

2024 Tour de France Femmes stage 2 (ASO)

Stage three: 

2024 Tour de France Femmes stage 3 (ASO)

Some more reaction to yesterday before today explodes into life, yellow jersey Charlotte Kool unsurprisingly called it the "best day of my life" after winning the opening sprint. For compatriot Lorena Wiebes it certainly was not, the pre-stage favourite explaining later that the mechanical, which was in fact not a dropped chain but her derailleur "breaking off in a race incident", gave her no chance.

"This is a disappointment. I am not looking for excuses. I had been looking forward to this for a long time, but knew bad luck," she said. "You work very hard for months and then you miss out."

The Tashkent team was also a popular interview last night, four of their seven riders abandoning on stage one, the team getting a place at the race by virtue of a top-18 ranking earned through points gained in races in its home Central Asia region, rather than at more competitive European events. When the team's riders were chucked in at the calendar's biggest event, several of those riders being young, inexperienced and clearly not yet at the level for such an intense WorldTour race, more than half couldn't make it to the finish on day one.

However, the team's sports director Volodymyr Starchyk hit back at criticism of the team's performance, telling Cyclingnews their presence at the race is a "victory" for the sport. 

"People can think everything they want. Everybody is able to think about what they want but we are here, it's something big for the nation," he said. "The first time in history an Uzbek team with all Uzbek riders so I think also for cycling it's a victory because a country completely outside of races in Europe, an Asian team coming here to Tour de France, it's never happened in history. So it's sad for results because we lose some riders today but at the same time, Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift shows people that cycling is open for the whole world."

13 August 2024, 08:33
Raleigh relocates to historic Nottinghamshire site as iconic British brand promises "ambitious plans" for future growth, months after job cuts and move away from previous headquarters

Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.

Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.

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49 comments

Avatar
mdavidford | 3 months ago
3 likes

I cut the drops off my bike for hill climbs - very happy with it. The only problem is the added weight of the spare bike for the downhill bits.

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chrisonabike | 3 months ago
0 likes

RE: Transport Secretary Louise Haigh joins Chris Boardman and Laura Laker on Trans-Pennine Trail (N62) bike ride

This is all nice stuff, start 'em gently etc.  And she makes mention of the "variable" NCN...

... except I think much of the NCN is "recreational" - in fact the whole thing is has an "adventure" rating I'd say.

No-one got time for it but for full understanding people should have to cycle to the airport / train / ferry from where they are in the UK, be transported to NL, have a couple of days of cycling / walking / taking public transport around with people explaining both the finer details and the overall philosophies.  Then should be directed to ride back to their transport, returned to the UK and finally have to ride back home again there.

Or is that just cruel?

Still, I'd trust CB to get the message across.

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TROOPER74 | 3 months ago
0 likes

First cut the drops off 25 years ago ... always have since , how much you cut depends on your hand size though ...

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Pfaff | 3 months ago
1 like

I'm down there 80% of my riding time. Would be quite difficult if nowhere to put your hands, eh?
Yet another really stupid hack.

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Rendel Harris replied to Pfaff | 3 months ago
0 likes

Pfaff wrote:

I'm down there 80% of my riding time.

Genuinely curious, do you spend most of your time racing crits? I find it hard to imagine any other riding situation in which it would be necessary to spend 80% of your time on the drops, I think even pros would, unless it was a day with particularly strong and consistent headwinds, spend below 50% of their time on the drops. Each to their own of course but I would be interested to know why you spend so much time down there.

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quiff | 3 months ago
1 like

My bikes have two things in common: (1) they all have drops (2) I almost never use the drops.

Perhaps a bike fit is in order.

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peted76 | 3 months ago
1 like

I mean.. if that's a gravel bike with no drops.. they may was well have either brought a XC bike.. or convert it to a flat bar.. at least that way they'd be able to pull the brakes properly. 

 

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Rendel Harris replied to peted76 | 3 months ago
1 like

peted76 wrote:

I mean.. if that's a gravel bike with no drops.. they may was well have either brought a XC bike.. or convert it to a flat bar.. at least that way they'd be able to pull the brakes properly.

Pretty sure you can pull the brakes properly with your hands on the hoods, I've done it loads of times.

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Matthew Acton-Varian | 3 months ago
1 like

All jokes aside the cut off drops chat has made me seriously consider buying an old used light carbon bike and rebuilding it for hill climbs, however such thought bubbles are punctured by the fact that I already have an incomplete new acquisition (a vintage 1949 Claud Butler Allrounder) and I don't have the space or the money for another project. And I don't want to go N-1 right now either as I don't have a bike that doesn't get used.

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mark1a replied to Matthew Acton-Varian | 3 months ago
1 like

That was my thought process a couple of winters ago, a hillclimber sub 6kg for sub £1500, to take on my local hillclimb competition one year. The starting point was a Boardman SLR (mine was acquired from eBay for £230, when ONE Pro cycling folded, the bikes & parts were sold off by Boardman, mine is ex Kamil Gradek), it was fun sourcing and weighing the parts before assembling it. 

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mitsky | 3 months ago
3 likes

"Public outrage prompts Melbourne e-scooter ban

The Australian city of Melbourne has banned rental electronic scooters with officials saying they posed unacceptable safety risks."

I wonder what criteria they used to decide the risks were unacceptable.
Would those same risks be applicable to motor vehicles/drivers?

If it is based on the injuries (and deaths) caused by users, and the associated costs etc... could they be compared against the damage/injuries-deaths and other costs caused by motorists?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3w68ywqv2go
 

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brooksby replied to mitsky | 3 months ago
2 likes

It's Australia, so the main criterion was probably whether or not the rental scooter was a car.  If not, then ban it!

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chrisonabike replied to brooksby | 3 months ago
1 like

What news of the Bristol scooter trial?  I've passed through the place at the beginning of the year and the apocalypse didn't seem to be occurring.  Actually didn't see that many being used.

(I'm mostly "e-scooters not the answer to any of the questions we should be asking" but I also don't think they're the end of the world.  And for a few people having a tiny-folding "last mile" transporter could obviously be very *convenient*).

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hawkinspeter replied to chrisonabike | 3 months ago
2 likes

chrisonabike wrote:

What news of the Bristol scooter trial?  I've passed through the place at the beginning of the year and the apocalypse didn't seem to be occurring.  Actually didn't see that many being used.

(I'm mostly "e-scooters not the answer to any of the questions we should be asking" but I also don't think they're the end of the world.  And for a few people having a tiny-folding "last mile" transporter could obviously be very *convenient*).

I see lots of them around and they seem to be very popular for people to commute on. Mrs HawkinsPeter enjoys using them to get to her work and she also uses the e-bikes when she can find one available.

E-scooters are definitely useful for short journeys and the "casual" nature of them appeals to a lot of people. They're also incredibly nimble and so great for winding through queues of slow moving traffic.

(Maybe too popular if the crime reports are anything to go by: https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/e-scooters-bikes-being-set-9478089)

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RM replied to mitsky | 3 months ago
1 like

I believe the main issue is users dumping errr "parking" the scooters in all manner of places after using then causing trip/crash hazards for pedestrians and cyclists.
And also injuries and the occasional death sustained by riders when they hit a rock or stick or other obstacle at speed  and come off. Some of these incidents would be from riders using the scooters not as they were intended to be used ie carrying passengers and not wearing a helmet.
Nothing to do with cars at all.

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chrisonabike replied to mitsky | 3 months ago
0 likes

I mean ... "some people were riding them on the pavements"?

What did they think would happen?

16mph limits?  You're on a pogo stick on wheels, what could go wrong?

While much of this issue is give the general public new toys, expect 'creative' use" it may also be that Melbourne - while maybe changing - doesn't seem to have protected infra which goes where people want to go (rather than a nice rambling shared-use trail).

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MarkiMark | 3 months ago
1 like

Drop bars. My guess is maybe 95% of road cyclists never use the drops. They are there offering an alternative hand position, but I've rarely found them useful. Some might say the rider is more aerodynamic if on the drops, but this has been disproved. It's more aerodynamic to be on the hoods with horizontal forearms. I wouldn't cut my bars down though 'cos they look fugly (and I might want to sell them one day).

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hawkinspeter | 3 months ago
9 likes

To enforce my use of the drops, I'm going to remove the tops from my handlebar

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slc replied to hawkinspeter | 3 months ago
8 likes

I removed the wheels to get below the wind. Seem to work pretty well as I can't feel a breeze no matter how hard I pedal.

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chrisonabike replied to hawkinspeter | 3 months ago
5 likes

I followed advice and cut off the drops.  Much more convenient for commuting, lighter, takes up less space etc.

In fact I can fit them in a rucksack if I want.  Not sure what to do with the rest of the bike though?

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mctrials23 | 4 months ago
6 likes

I wonder how many people would change their answer to the poll when they hear they don't qualify for australian citizenship and that breakdancing won't be in the next olmpics...

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brooksby | 4 months ago
9 likes

6% of Brits surveyed are idiots.

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IanMK replied to brooksby | 3 months ago
5 likes

You're statistically incorrect. You're assuming that there's a lot of overlap and that the 6% of idiots that believe they could compete in road race are the same 6% that think they could qualify for the 100m. The qualifying time being 10 seconds for men and just over 11 seconds for women. Also the survey revealed that 15% of over 65s thought they could compete at Olympic level in 4 years time. There are a lot more than 6% of idiots.

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Backladder replied to IanMK | 3 months ago
2 likes

Yes, nore like out of the 27% who thought they could qualify for one or more sport approximately 26.99% are idiots.

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john_smith replied to brooksby | 3 months ago
14 likes

In the Olympic men's road race they barely averaged 25 mph, with the best possible equipment, training and support.

A lycra-clad (from head to toe) commuter will typically do 50 mph, with no special preparation or backup.

Methinks you're being too judgemental.

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C3a replied to brooksby | 3 months ago
0 likes

You never know.  In amongst that 6% could be a few folk who have the right stuff in terms of genetics and physicality who with the right support, training and nutrition could get there.

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OldRidgeback | 4 months ago
0 likes

I cut off a set of drops years ago. It was a great set up for commuting.

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brooksby replied to OldRidgeback | 4 months ago
2 likes

Isn't that just a set of bullhorn bars?

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OldRidgeback replied to brooksby | 3 months ago
0 likes

Nope, they're wider.

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billymansell | 4 months ago
8 likes

Cutting off the drops will have been a great idea right up until the point when you're going down a really fast descent and you reach for the drops...

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