Cycling & Mountain Biking
- The 2-Mile Challenge
- The cycling photographer
- A Not So Inconvenient Truth
- Bikes for Women
- New Bicycle Speed Record
- Bike Trauma
- Time for a brake
- Tirolean Trails
- Reflections on Le Tour
- An Unheralded Anniversary
Posted by
Jon Sparks
Reporting on the 2-mile Challenge launched by the Clif Bar company to promote cycling for short urbasn journeys in the U.S.
I said in this blog just over a week ago that Cycling can help save the planet. Now here’s what looks like a great way of highlighting this - both the need to get more people cycling, and how easy it is to do. It’s especially relevant to U.S. residents, but the broader message is equally pertinent everywhere.
Clif Bar & Co, makers of some of the best and most natural energy bars you can buy, have launched their 2-Mile Challenge. It’s beautiful in its simplicity; forty percent of U.S. urban travel is over distances of 2 miles or less. In an urban setting, over that sort of distance, it’s been proven time and time again, that bikes are quicker than cars, buses, or any other form of ‘rapid transit’. And, of course, healthier.
Not only do they urge people to use bikes for these short journeys, you can use the website to create a map of your personal 2-mile zone. For many people this encompasses a large slice of their life - any or all of school, work, shops, sports, leisure can be within a 2-mile radius.
They’ve also been running a tour of the Western States (now almost at an end) - with a biodiesel-powered bus. There’s still time to get down to REI in Seattle today (2nd November) or see them at the University of Orgeon, Eugene, tomorrow, November 3rd.
Oh yes: the original Clif Bar is said to have been born after a 175-mile bike ride. You shouldn’t have the same need to refuel during a 2-miler!
Clif Bar & Co, makers of some of the best and most natural energy bars you can buy, have launched their 2-Mile Challenge. It’s beautiful in its simplicity; forty percent of U.S. urban travel is over distances of 2 miles or less. In an urban setting, over that sort of distance, it’s been proven time and time again, that bikes are quicker than cars, buses, or any other form of ‘rapid transit’. And, of course, healthier.
Not only do they urge people to use bikes for these short journeys, you can use the website to create a map of your personal 2-mile zone. For many people this encompasses a large slice of their life - any or all of school, work, shops, sports, leisure can be within a 2-mile radius.
They’ve also been running a tour of the Western States (now almost at an end) - with a biodiesel-powered bus. There’s still time to get down to REI in Seattle today (2nd November) or see them at the University of Orgeon, Eugene, tomorrow, November 3rd.
Oh yes: the original Clif Bar is said to have been born after a 175-mile bike ride. You shouldn’t have the same need to refuel during a 2-miler!
Posted by
Jon Sparks
A professional photographer with extensive experience of photographing all varieties of cycling muses on the challenges and rewards of bicycling photography
In my day job, I'm a professional photographer specialising in landscapes and outdoor pursuits, and of course I'm particularly interested in cycling.
Compared to walking, rock-climbing and mountaineering, which are my other main specialist areas, cycling is definitely harder to photograph properly. I've watched a lot of very good photographers, with broad general experience, struggle with photographing action on bikes. There are two main reasons why:
Compared to walking, rock-climbing and mountaineering, which are my other main specialist areas, cycling is definitely harder to photograph properly. I've watched a lot of very good photographers, with broad general experience, struggle with photographing action on bikes. There are two main reasons why:
- 1: You're often photographing individuals, not team action, so you need to get close;
- 2: Most people underestimate the speed even of touring cyclists.
- You understand cycling and know what makes great cycling pictures;
- You ride regularly so you're always in the middle of the action.
Posted by
Jon Sparks
Al Gore's Nobel Prize, and a British report on obesity, both indicate growing awareness of the need to change our lifestyles. Bicycles have a big part to play
You may not have read it here first, but I still think Al Gore’s Nobel Peace Prize is worth a comment. Former US Vice-President Gore shares the prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in recognition of their work in spreading awareness about the human causes of climate change and the need for far-reaching action to combat it.
I watched Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth recently. There have been (disputed) allegations that it contains a few factual errors but this barely dilutes the overall impact. As its focus is mostly on understanding the causes and consequences of climate change, rather than what we need to do about it, there’s only a brief mention of cycling at the end.
Last week a Committee of UK Members of Parliament produced a report on another growing problem, that of obesity. One of their recommendations was that the Government should do more to ensure that it meets its existing target of trebling the number of people who cycle by 2010.
Whether anything will actually happen remains to be seen, but I do get a sense, at least here in the UK and across Europe, that more and more people are becoming aware of the far-reaching consequences of a culture that, for far too long, has been excessively focused on the car. Cycling is not the only answer but it can have a big role to play in improving both our own health and that of the planet.
I watched Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth recently. There have been (disputed) allegations that it contains a few factual errors but this barely dilutes the overall impact. As its focus is mostly on understanding the causes and consequences of climate change, rather than what we need to do about it, there’s only a brief mention of cycling at the end.
Last week a Committee of UK Members of Parliament produced a report on another growing problem, that of obesity. One of their recommendations was that the Government should do more to ensure that it meets its existing target of trebling the number of people who cycle by 2010.
Whether anything will actually happen remains to be seen, but I do get a sense, at least here in the UK and across Europe, that more and more people are becoming aware of the far-reaching consequences of a culture that, for far too long, has been excessively focused on the car. Cycling is not the only answer but it can have a big role to play in improving both our own health and that of the planet.
Posted by
Jon Sparks
Blog speculates why there are fewer women riding bikes than men. Perhaps one reason is that even now women find it harder to get a bike that really fits.
Some people may feel that, being of the ‘wrong’ gender, I’m not qualified to comment on the subject of bicycles for women. Well, it’s arguable, but I’m going to risk it anyway. It’s a major subject, of course, and in the near future I’ll be posting several linked articles.
I don’t think there’s much doubt that the development of practical, rideable bicycles played an important role in the emancipation of women in the late 19th and early 20th century. That being so, it seems doubly regrettable that women are still in a minority among active and serious cyclists. It’s certainly true that probably at least eighty percent of the riders I see on main roads, country lanes and mountain bike trails in my part of the world are male.
The reasons for this are complex, and all sorts of social factors may be involved. But I can’t help wondering if one factor that stops more women becoming more actively involved in cycling is, or has been, the difficulty of finding bikes, and other kit, that are appropriately designed and comfortable and efficient to ride. Which is where I’ll start this series of articles, in particular by looking at some basic frame designs.
I don’t think there’s much doubt that the development of practical, rideable bicycles played an important role in the emancipation of women in the late 19th and early 20th century. That being so, it seems doubly regrettable that women are still in a minority among active and serious cyclists. It’s certainly true that probably at least eighty percent of the riders I see on main roads, country lanes and mountain bike trails in my part of the world are male.
The reasons for this are complex, and all sorts of social factors may be involved. But I can’t help wondering if one factor that stops more women becoming more actively involved in cycling is, or has been, the difficulty of finding bikes, and other kit, that are appropriately designed and comfortable and efficient to ride. Which is where I’ll start this series of articles, in particular by looking at some basic frame designs.
Posted by
Jon Sparks
Reporting the amazing new bicycle speed record set by Austrian Markus Stoeckl in Chile.
A new bicycle speed record has recently been set in Chile. 33 year old Austrian Markus Stoeckl clocked an incredible 210.4 km/h (130.7 mph) on a snow-slope in the Chilean Alps. While faster speeds have been reached in streamlined capsules, this speed was attained on a conventional Intense bike with Shimano components - including off-the-shelf disc brakes to bring the flying Stoeckl safely to a halt. Conditions were far from optimum on the 2000-metre long, 45-degree slope and it seems certain that the record can and will be surpassed in the near future.
Although extremely impressive, to me such gravity-assisted record-breaking seems a bit of a sideshow compared to the speeds that can be reached on level ground by pure muscle-power - see an earlier article for more on this.
Although extremely impressive, to me such gravity-assisted record-breaking seems a bit of a sideshow compared to the speeds that can be reached on level ground by pure muscle-power - see an earlier article for more on this.
Posted by
Jon Sparks
How a simple failing like badly-fitted bar-ends on a rental bike ruined plans for an idyllic ride.
I’ve blogged before about traumas that ensue when bikes - especially rental bikes - are poor quality or simply not up to the intended use. My worst experience overall was in the Dordogne region in France, simply because we had to struggle with dodgy bikes for a whole week, but they weren’t the worst bikes I’ve ever ridden.
That dubious honour, indubitably goes to a bike that I rented on the island of Barra, in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. There is nowhere more beautiful than the Hebrides, and Barra is a microcosm of the whole archipelago. But the bikes!
They’d started out as cheap, wannabe mountain bikes, and were poorly maintained; tyres were a bit soft and gear-changing was temperamental. But the killer was the bar-ends - you know, those bolt-on extensions at the end of the handlebars to give a better hand position for climbing.
The problem was that these had been fitted almost vertically, even leaning back a little. I couldn’t see any way this could actually be useful, and while they didn’t seriously interfere with my riding while I was in the saddle, as soon as I tried to stand up I was bashing my forearms against them. It took me about two minutes to decide that this was ludicrous, but the guy at the hire shack had obviously decided that was it for the day and disappeared
If I’d had a 6mm Allen key I’d have fixed the problem in a minute, but now I was stuck with it. So we abandoned any ideas of cycling right round the island, even though it’s only 20 miles, and instead headed across the causeway to the neighbouring island of Vatersay, where we went for a magical walk along a deserted headland with perfect white sand beaches. Day saved.
That dubious honour, indubitably goes to a bike that I rented on the island of Barra, in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. There is nowhere more beautiful than the Hebrides, and Barra is a microcosm of the whole archipelago. But the bikes!
They’d started out as cheap, wannabe mountain bikes, and were poorly maintained; tyres were a bit soft and gear-changing was temperamental. But the killer was the bar-ends - you know, those bolt-on extensions at the end of the handlebars to give a better hand position for climbing.
The problem was that these had been fitted almost vertically, even leaning back a little. I couldn’t see any way this could actually be useful, and while they didn’t seriously interfere with my riding while I was in the saddle, as soon as I tried to stand up I was bashing my forearms against them. It took me about two minutes to decide that this was ludicrous, but the guy at the hire shack had obviously decided that was it for the day and disappeared
If I’d had a 6mm Allen key I’d have fixed the problem in a minute, but now I was stuck with it. So we abandoned any ideas of cycling right round the island, even though it’s only 20 miles, and instead headed across the causeway to the neighbouring island of Vatersay, where we went for a magical walk along a deserted headland with perfect white sand beaches. Day saved.
Posted by
Jon Sparks
Contrasting experiences on mountain bikes using V-brakes and disc brakes
I’m typing this with aching hands after a day’s mountain biking in the Forest of Bowland, near my home in Lancashire. Why are they aching? In a word (or is it two?): V-brakes.
The Bowland ride featured two major descents, totalling about 600m, with a high proportion of steep and fairly technical ground. Naturally this meant quite a lot of work for the brakes.
Having recently come back from a week in Austria, where descents of similar or greater length were a daily event, I was made freshly aware of how much work my hands had to do on these descents. In Austria I’d been riding on a bike with disc brakes, and the difference is massive. The discs not only gave greater stopping power, but a quicker, more predictable and more precise response. This all gives you confidence to roll through tricky sections more smoothly and quickly, knowing that you can slow or stop neatly if needed. And the effort needed from the hands and forearms is much less. In Bowland, on the other hand, I often felt like I needed to squeeze the levers for all I was worth to get the required stopping power (okay, it would help if I lost a bit of weight too!)
This experience has convinced me of two things:
1: I need to upgrade my mountain bike to one with discs.
2: it’s time to take a look at brakes and braking on these pages.
The Bowland ride featured two major descents, totalling about 600m, with a high proportion of steep and fairly technical ground. Naturally this meant quite a lot of work for the brakes.
Having recently come back from a week in Austria, where descents of similar or greater length were a daily event, I was made freshly aware of how much work my hands had to do on these descents. In Austria I’d been riding on a bike with disc brakes, and the difference is massive. The discs not only gave greater stopping power, but a quicker, more predictable and more precise response. This all gives you confidence to roll through tricky sections more smoothly and quickly, knowing that you can slow or stop neatly if needed. And the effort needed from the hands and forearms is much less. In Bowland, on the other hand, I often felt like I needed to squeeze the levers for all I was worth to get the required stopping power (okay, it would help if I lost a bit of weight too!)
This experience has convinced me of two things:
1: I need to upgrade my mountain bike to one with discs.
2: it’s time to take a look at brakes and braking on these pages.
Posted by
Jon Sparks
Reflections on a week's riding in the Austrian Alps
I'm just back from a week's riding in the Austrian Alps, based in Alpbach and organised by Fast Tracks MTB, (see a previous blog).
I'll post an article about the area shortly; meanwhile here are some thoughts about our particular experience.
No thanks to British Airways for the shambles at Gatwick check-in, following which four people's luggage, including two bikes, failed to arrive with our flight. Two people couldn't ride at all on the first day and two more (including me) had to manage with a variety of borrowed or inappropriate kit. (By contrast, checking in at Innsbruck on the return was exemplary).
After the first two days the weather deteriorated, with much cloud and rain, turning to snow higher up. We still managed to ride every day, thanks to careful planning by Fast Tracks’ Darren and his local compadres, but couldn't manage everything that was originally planned. On the wettest day we were all very glad to finish riding after a couple of hours. But that's mountains for you and if you're heading that way, at any time of year, make sure you have clothing to cope with all conditions.
The riding inevitably entailed some long (up to 1000m ascent) but non-technical climbs. We'd usually take some refreshment at a mountain hut before getting stuck into some fabulous singletrack descents. We'd like to have stayed up at altitude longer and done a bit more traversing but the weather was against it.
It was a great week, but if we’d had a bit more luck with the weather would have been absolutely fabulous. In the same week in 2006 the biggest problem was the heat!
I'll post an article about the area shortly; meanwhile here are some thoughts about our particular experience.
No thanks to British Airways for the shambles at Gatwick check-in, following which four people's luggage, including two bikes, failed to arrive with our flight. Two people couldn't ride at all on the first day and two more (including me) had to manage with a variety of borrowed or inappropriate kit. (By contrast, checking in at Innsbruck on the return was exemplary).
After the first two days the weather deteriorated, with much cloud and rain, turning to snow higher up. We still managed to ride every day, thanks to careful planning by Fast Tracks’ Darren and his local compadres, but couldn't manage everything that was originally planned. On the wettest day we were all very glad to finish riding after a couple of hours. But that's mountains for you and if you're heading that way, at any time of year, make sure you have clothing to cope with all conditions.
The riding inevitably entailed some long (up to 1000m ascent) but non-technical climbs. We'd usually take some refreshment at a mountain hut before getting stuck into some fabulous singletrack descents. We'd like to have stayed up at altitude longer and done a bit more traversing but the weather was against it.
It was a great week, but if we’d had a bit more luck with the weather would have been absolutely fabulous. In the same week in 2006 the biggest problem was the heat!
Posted by
Jon Sparks
The Tour de France is massively important for cyclists. Though the 2007 Tour was blighted by doping scandals, it may still signal light at the end of the tunnel.
You may well ask why I’m writing about the Tour de France when these aren’t Suite’s Cycle Racing pages. But the Tour de France is unique: not just the world’s greatest bike raced, but its greatest sporting event of any kind. It’s a huge flagship not just for cycle sport but for cycling more generally. For those of us who believe that cycling has a vital role to play in dealing with some of the world’s most pressing problems - climate change, congestion, health, and so on - then it has an importance that extends beyond mere sport.
A good Tour de France will inspire people to get on their bikes, so presumably a tainted Tour can have the opposite effect. It’s therefore worth considering, as the dust begins to settle a bit, just how badly tainted the 2007 Tour really has been.
Out of 189 riders who started the Tour, just two failed dope tests during the race. Of course that’s still two too many, but it hardly constitutes evidence of wholesale doping. And perhaps more significantly, the reaction of the majority of other riders, and of teams and sponsors, shows a major shift in the climate of opinion. No longer is there any tendency to close ranks or to regard doping as a regrettable but minor misdemeanor.
The ‘Rasmussen affair’ is more opaque. In fairness it must be said that Michael Rasmussen has been dope-tested many times, both during this Tour and on previous occasions, and has never been found positive for any banned substance. But in the new climate, where zero tolerance rules, his failure to be open and honest about his whereabouts, which caused him to miss several out-of-season dope tests, is - to say the least - highly suspicious.
It’s tragic, because Rasmussen looked like a worthy Tour winner, especially in the final stage in the Pyrenees; outnumbered two to one by Discovery Channel's Contador and Leipheimer, he took all that they could throw at him, and then rode away from them in the final couple of kilometres of the Col de l’Aubisque. The decision of his Rabobank team to withdraw him must have been incredibly painful, most of all for those team-mates who had ridden themselves into the ground in support, but it was a courageous and correct decision that helps to restore the credibility of the event.
For all the traumas, the support of the public at the roadside never wavered; if anything they seemed to be more fervent than ever in cheering the remaining riders. Let’s take that memory away too, along with the grandeur of the mountains, the greatest sporting arena on the planet, and above all the magnificent drama of the time trial on the penultimate day. At the end of the Tour, after more than 91 hours of racing, just 31 seconds separated the top three overall (Contador, Evans and Leipheimer). If riders, teams and organisers continue to bear down hard on doping, it could be an awesome race next year.
A good Tour de France will inspire people to get on their bikes, so presumably a tainted Tour can have the opposite effect. It’s therefore worth considering, as the dust begins to settle a bit, just how badly tainted the 2007 Tour really has been.
Out of 189 riders who started the Tour, just two failed dope tests during the race. Of course that’s still two too many, but it hardly constitutes evidence of wholesale doping. And perhaps more significantly, the reaction of the majority of other riders, and of teams and sponsors, shows a major shift in the climate of opinion. No longer is there any tendency to close ranks or to regard doping as a regrettable but minor misdemeanor.
The ‘Rasmussen affair’ is more opaque. In fairness it must be said that Michael Rasmussen has been dope-tested many times, both during this Tour and on previous occasions, and has never been found positive for any banned substance. But in the new climate, where zero tolerance rules, his failure to be open and honest about his whereabouts, which caused him to miss several out-of-season dope tests, is - to say the least - highly suspicious.
It’s tragic, because Rasmussen looked like a worthy Tour winner, especially in the final stage in the Pyrenees; outnumbered two to one by Discovery Channel's Contador and Leipheimer, he took all that they could throw at him, and then rode away from them in the final couple of kilometres of the Col de l’Aubisque. The decision of his Rabobank team to withdraw him must have been incredibly painful, most of all for those team-mates who had ridden themselves into the ground in support, but it was a courageous and correct decision that helps to restore the credibility of the event.
For all the traumas, the support of the public at the roadside never wavered; if anything they seemed to be more fervent than ever in cheering the remaining riders. Let’s take that memory away too, along with the grandeur of the mountains, the greatest sporting arena on the planet, and above all the magnificent drama of the time trial on the penultimate day. At the end of the Tour, after more than 91 hours of racing, just 31 seconds separated the top three overall (Contador, Evans and Leipheimer). If riders, teams and organisers continue to bear down hard on doping, it could be an awesome race next year.
Posted by
Jon Sparks
The first magazine review of purpose-built mountain bikes appeared 25 years ago this month.
I've just discovered that this month marks an interesting anniversary, which really ought to have received a bit more attention. It is exactly - and only! - 25 years since the appearance of what was probably the first-ever magazine review of purpose-built mountain bikes.
The magazine was The Bicycle Paper and its July, 1982 offered a comparison of the Ritchey Mountain Bike and the Specialized Stumpjumper. These were the only commercially available mountain bikes at the time.
It’s fascinating to think how far mountain biking, and the mountain bike itself, have come in that time. Both those early bikes still show their ancestry in the ‘cruisers’ of the 1930s and 50s and few of today’s mountain bikers would relish throwing them down a steep dirt track. While the huge technological advances that have taken place are generally welcome, it does make you wonder if we aren’t a little bit pampered today. There was certainly a raffish kind of romance in the story of the first downhill races, which directly prompted the development of the Ritchey and Specialized machines, not to mention the rest of today’s global industry.
Read more about the birth of the mountain bike.
The magazine was The Bicycle Paper and its July, 1982 offered a comparison of the Ritchey Mountain Bike and the Specialized Stumpjumper. These were the only commercially available mountain bikes at the time.
It’s fascinating to think how far mountain biking, and the mountain bike itself, have come in that time. Both those early bikes still show their ancestry in the ‘cruisers’ of the 1930s and 50s and few of today’s mountain bikers would relish throwing them down a steep dirt track. While the huge technological advances that have taken place are generally welcome, it does make you wonder if we aren’t a little bit pampered today. There was certainly a raffish kind of romance in the story of the first downhill races, which directly prompted the development of the Ritchey and Specialized machines, not to mention the rest of today’s global industry.
Read more about the birth of the mountain bike.