“My dad dropped a mallet on my SL8…”: But can it be fixed?; Cyclists question The Guardian’s “summer cycling essentials” piece; Charlie Tanfield falls short of Ganna’s Hour Record, but Will Bjergfelt sets new C5 record + more on the live blog

A perfect start to the day for the British trio targeting world records on the track in Turkey, Will Bjergfelt setting a new C5 Hour Record of 51.471km, almost 4km more than the previous distance set by Italy’s Andrea Tarlao in December 2014.  

Charlie Tanfield is underway on his effort now, not that we can watch it as there’s apparently no live stream. You can follow his progress via a live tracker here though (if you really want to see the lap times as they roll in). Then again, that seems to be having some issues too… either that or Ganna’s in trouble…

Maybe British Cycling saying the event is “powered by Shell” actually means Tanfield’s riding a motorbike. Yep, the governing body’s controversial sponsor is front and centre of the action today. Stephen Park, the Great Britain Cycling Team’s performance director promoted the event, saying: “I want to thank our valued partner Shell and additional partners who have made this project possible.” 

Anyway, enough of that, congrats to Will and good luck to Charlie Tanfield, and sprint supremo Matthew Richardson who is later on bidding to become the fastest rider in the world by smashing the nine second barrier for the flying 200m. There are rumours there might be a live stream in time for Richardson’s effort, so we’ll keep an eye out and report back.

This has been getting quite a bit of attention in cycling circles online, The Guardian having put together a list of 16 summer cycling “essentials”, the products including: a Rapha jersey, Velocio bibs, caps, helmets, ‘training’ socks, £75 performance glasses, sports gels and a £200 massage gun. 

The piece has turned heads mainly for its sport-focused view of cycling, feedback from many riders online that cyclists aren’t just Lycra-wearing racers who rack up hundreds of miles a week, and that the piece completely ignored utility riding and cycling for transport.

Another rider wrote: “Christ on a bike — this is worse than I thought it ever could be! Was this written by an AI tool with the prompt, “Write a 1,000-word article on cycling, with a focus on accessories & pricey clothing that’ll put most readers off ever getting on a bike?”

Over on Threads, the article also got shared with similar feedback: “This article in The Guardian is all about performance cycling. Bibs, Lycra, gels and the likes. For anyone who is not doing massive distance (which is the vast majority of people), cotton tops, sunscreen on sunny days, a water bottle and some cash will suffice. Instead of spending loads of money in accessories you will never wear, have your bike serviced on a regular basis. You’re welcome.”

As mdavidford pointed out in the comments, the SL8 injury “must be fairly common — I mean Rob Hatch is always going on about riders dropping the hammer.”

Dropping the hammer you say?

Let’s just pray it wasn’t this Mallett…

Accompanying his final daily vid, Chris explained: “It’s going to take a while for this all to sink in I think. I don’t think people have necessarily truly realised how much of a monster and how challenging this one has been as, to be frank, I’ve not been able to pull share everything in these short reels.

“Trying to juggle everything over the last month or so has been challenging. But I’ve done my best and I’m proud of what I’ve achieved. I don’t know anyone else who’s ridden around Britain anti-clockwise.”

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Christopher Hall (@chrishallrides)

“Everything felt a bit numb yesterday to be honest,” he continued. “It’s always a bit of an anti-climax the end of these things and I always every day have gone into it with the idea of expect nothing and anything that happens is a bonus. I didn’t ever expect people to join on the ride for example and those moments ended up being some of my favourite parts. I finished with a small group of people clapping as I dodged pedestrians in Covent Garden and we sat around, had a few drinks and pizza and then off to bed.

“If you can, please consider donating to Movember. There’s a link in my bio to donate to my Movember fundraising page. Any support for my efforts and what they do would be hugely appreciated. Also, please talk and share the challenge and hopefully it’ll help more people to have open conversations about what they’re going through and how they’re feeling.

“Now today I’m going to do a bit of tourist stuff in London. Have some nice food and coffee. Definitely not cycling today. Peace.” 

Here’s a link to Chris’s Movember page where he’s currently raised £6,400…

Taking TT monster Filippo Ganna on in an hour-long solo track effort was always going to be a mammoth challenge. Charlie Tanfield is putting up a determined fight but the Brit has completed 120 laps in 32:48, meaning he’s 34 seconds down on the time Ganna went through that distance in. After a measured start and having gradually upped the pace, Tanfield’s lap times are now very consistently at 54.8km/h, so it’s looking like he’ll still set a mightily impressive distance here.

It was heading this way for a while but here’s the confirmation on Charlie Tanfield’s Hour Record distance, just short of 54km so 2.8km off Filippo Ganna’s record. It also falls short of Dan Bigham, Bradley Wiggins and Alex Dowsett’s 2021 distance in the top-tier of British efforts, although it was around a kilometre further than Dowsett’s record-breaking distance of 2015.

Matthew Richardson’s flying 200m attempt is up next…

> Canyon launches Citylite and Citylite:ON fully equipped bikes for everyday urban life

The discussion around weight loss that has followed Pauline Ferrand-Prévot’s win at this year’s Tour de France Femmes continues, Marlen Reusser admitting “we secretly hoped that she wouldn’t be successful” as the yellow jersey’s success “puts pressure on” the whole of the women’s peloton.

It’s been the main point of conversation since Ferrand-Prévot romped to Tour victory, winning two stages on the way — the debate around weight one of the hottest topics in professional cycling. It has been well-documented that the Visma-Lease a Bike rider is believed to have lost four kilogrammes for the race, training at altitude in Andorra since her Paris-Roubaix success in the spring.

At a starting point of around 50kg, it’s been suggested that losing around 10 per cent of her bodyweight could raise health concerns, Tour runner-up Demi Vollering having reacted to this year’s race by saying she will always prioritise her health.

“I’m not built to be the lightest rider in the peloton. And I won’t force my body to become something it isn’t,” Vollering said.

However, Ferrand-Prévot has since insisted that her weight loss was “controlled and intelligent”.

“It wasn’t an illness. There was a lot of fuss about it, but I don’t take that personally,” the Tour winner commented. “We’re professional athletes. I simply prepared as best I could for the biggest race in the world. The last days of the Tour were very tough, so watts per kilogram were very important. It’s just a process. I had to find a balance between losing weight and maintaining my strength. But I achieved my goal and now I’m moving on with my normal life.”

It’s to that context that Marlen Reusser has provided the latest update, the Swiss rider (who is also a doctor) having abandoned the Tour on its opening stage due to illness, but saying the women’s peloton “secretly hoped” Ferrand-Prévot wouldn’t be successful as it puts pressure on them to compete.

“Ferrand-Prévot has set a new standard,” she told Tages-Anzeiger. “When riders are this successful by becoming so thin, it puts pressure on all of us. As a fellow athlete, I admire her. As a doctor, I’m concerned. Is it really harmless if the deficiency is only short-term? Where is the line between smart performance management and harm?”

Reusser also spoke of the influence Ferrand-Prévot’s success has had on the next generation, the Movistar rider explaining she had a young teammate ask her: “Did you see? She checks her skinfolds before deciding whether to eat.” That a reference to Ferrand-Prévot having apparently skipped breakfast if her skinfold measurements aren’t what she wants them to be.

From her medical background, Reusser also raised concerns about the impact extreme dieting could have on female riders, notably with hormonal disruption, immune dysfunction, and mental health issues. 

You might have seen this on the blog yesterday… 

> “When we talk about how we make our roads safer, it’s easy to get distracted by bluff and bluster,” says Sadiq Khan, as London mayor calls for more 20mph zones that save lives and don’t slow traffic

Here’s some of the reaction from social media (we’re skipping Twitter for obvious ‘it’s a cesspit’ reasons)…

Ed Holloway: “20mph introduced where I live, a huge improvement. It seems to be taking some drivers a while to adjust but feels like a great rebalancing of the places we live in favour of people, rather than cars.”

Brendan Thomas: “My daughter and my partner were nearly seriously injured when a driver crashed through a wall beside them, and speeding, drug driving, and distracted driving is rife, including at crossings. I’d welcome an enforced 20mph limit in populated areas. It would also make cycling much safer.”

‪francesca0912: “I found that my journey time in London has not changed with the 20mph limit. As Sadiq says in this report, it’s the stopping at junctions and lights that slow down journeys. Saving one life by driving at 20mph is worth it. I wonder if it also reduces road rage and boy racers?”

Cat: “live in a 20 mph area. Sadly, it is not enforced and we still get speeding cars. I wish there was more enforcement of parking and driving rules. There is little point painting 20 in the road and doing no speed checks.”

> Judge rules bike camera footage is legal, as phone-driving solicitor’s attempt to sue camera cyclist for breaching data protection laws and enforcing “police-controlled state” fails

> The fastest cyclist in the world: British sprinter Matthew Richardson makes history by smashing nine second barrier for flying 200m, as para-cyclist Will Bjergfelt sets new Hour Record

After the Vuelta, Jonas Vingegaard will round off his season with a tilt at the World Championships. If you haven’t heard it’s in Africa for the first time ever, Rwanda hosting the event and ready to put on one of the most brutal courses in years. Last year was tough, but perhaps even the hardest since Innsbruck in 2018… and maybe going all the way back to Colombia in 1995.

The men’s route is 267.5km, with 5,400m of climbing, as much as the queen stage of a Grand Tour but achieved by almost entirely climbs around one-kilometre in length. Oh, and the whole thing will be played out above 1,400m, so imagine Liège-Bastogne-Liège but with another 1,000m of elevation and all played out at moderate altitude. It’s going to be a demanding year, that’s for sure. 

I know what you’re thinking… how far does Tadej win by this time? He’ll almost certainly be the heavily odds-on favourite heading into it, but at least this year Vingegaard will be on the startline too.

Danish national team coach and legendary lead-out extraordinaire Michael Mørkøv explained to Feltet this week that it’s been Vingegaard’s intention to contest the rainbow jersey since the start of the year and nothing’s changed now.

“When I spoke with Jonas over the winter, he made it clear he was motivated for the worlds. He’s at a point in his career where his eyes are fixed on the big championships,” Mørkøv explained.

“The course really suits him. One of the key factors is the altitude – something Jonas has proven he handles extremely well, thanks to his body composition. Add in the amount of climbing, and you’ve got a very hard race. I think it’s an ideal route for him. I’ve got a strong long-list of riders who are motivated to go to the World Championships. But this one isn’t for the sprinters or the time trialists. It’s a climbers’ race.”

> Speeding overtaking driver who left cyclist with life-changing injures in “horrendous” hit-and-run crash jailed for four years

Yes, proper football below the Prem has been back for a couple of weeks… anyway, in honour of Virgil van Bike, Pep Mud-guardiola and the rest of them, here’s some tenuous cycling x football blog fodder… 

Timed to perfection…

😆👏 pic.twitter.com/nI5Cvsacnx

— Football Away Days (@FBAwayDays) August 14, 2025

Derbyshire County Council has told the BBC it is “disappointed” some potholes in Lea Vale, South Normanton, were highlighted with graffiti this week. I’d assume the residents were also “disappointed” by having to wait “18 months to two years” for some of the dangerous defects to be fixed…

Anyway, the Reform-run council says that it “would like to reassure residents that we are aware of the condition of this road” and “extensive patching work will take place later this year”. A team has apparently been sent out to remove the graffiti, although the holes will have to wait until November to be fixed.

The pothole painting included a message to Labour MP for Bolsover, Natalie Fleet, telling her to “SORT IT”. Elsewhere there was also a quite creative face and an obligatory penis. The MP said she understood the frustration and admitted that potholes are “one of the most common issues residents raise with me”, but said she “cannot support vandalism, especially when it includes offensive images in a family neighbourhood”.

“That’s not the way to get things done,” she said. “We regularly pass these concerns to Derbyshire County Council, who are responsible, but people are not seeing action.”

It’s not the first time residents have used graffiti to jolt councils into action on potholes. About ten years ago an artist dubbed Wanksy was making headlines for their painted penis pothole protests.

In today’s edition of your bike hates you (and your dad) we have this cracking Whac-A-Mole SL8 injury…

Once the good people of the internet got through all the helpful first questions — are you too old to put yourself up for adoption? Could your dad move out? etc. etc. — the comments section got down to the proper business of trying to work out if this poor cracked carbon has any hope for its future.

The consensus seemed to be it would be worth investigating dad’s home insurance policy (you never know) but also taking it to a carbon repair specialist as they may be able to get it rideable again.

There was also some hope it might just be the clear that’s cracked, but again — next stop carbon specialist.

Another optimistic commenter suggested it’s not the worst part of the frame for it to happen: “As others have mentioned, that’s in a spot that is super easy to repair. Should be pretty reasonable price wise as well.”

Anyone here had experiences with carbon repair or had their dad drop a mallet on their bike? Get your experience of either tale in the comments section… and we’ll all keep Reddit user besignerboli and their cracked SL8 in our thoughts and prayers. Naturally, there were the less helpful comments too, although maybe in this scenario you’d want some comedic relief…

“Hey Craig, remember that time like eight years ago when you said your dad could beat my dad up…”

“Maybe your Dad’s hint that its time to move out?”

“The punishment needs to fit the crime. Time to drop a mallet on your dad.”

Poor dad…