cycle THE MAGAZINE OF CYCLING UK
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CAIRN E-ADVENTURE SHIMANO GRX TOWWHEE TOW ROPE GILETS & MORE
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BUDGET BELTERS
Sub-£300 city bike and a £550 folder
B IKE BOOM
CYCLING’S SURGE & HOW TO SUSTAIN IT Page 48
P lu s CYCLING UK PRIZE DRAW FLIGHT-FREE TOURING ALPE D’HUEZ RIDE GUIDE AND MUCH MORE
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CONTENTS 34
40 Flight-free touring Can trains trump planes for cycling in Europe?
48 Bike boom Cycling’s surge and how to sustain it
52 What a performance! A music hall tour of London’s East End
Products 20 Shop Window Previews of new products
22 Gear up Components, accessories, and books
62 Tern Link B7 A 20in-wheel folder that won’t break the bank
64 Excelsior Touring Less than £300 gets you a smart German city bike
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66 Cairn E-Adventure 1.0 An e-gravel bike with a removable motor
69 Gilets Four lightweight sleeveless jackets
Regulars 04 Freewheeling Bits and pieces from the bike world
07 This is Cycling UK
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18 You are Cycling UK One nurse’s cycling epiphany
31 Letters
On the cover Cyclists in Guildford, photographed by Andy Gollogly
Coronavirus For updated advice regarding the Covid-19 outbreak, visit: cyclinguk.org/ coronavirus
Online events during lockdown; King Alfred’s Way update; proposed membership changes; Cycling UK’s summer raffle; and more
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Your feedback on Cycle and cycling
46 Weekender Forget Zwift: ride Alpe d’Huez for real
57 Cyclopedia Questions answered, topics explained
73 Travellers’ Tales Cycling UK members’ ride reports
CYCLING UK: Parklands, Railton Road, Guildford, GU2 9JX E: cycling@cyclinguk.org W: cyclinguk.org T: 01483 238300. Cycle promotes the work of Cycling UK. Cycle’s circulation is approx. 51,000. Cycling UK is one of the UK’s largest cycling membership organisations, with approx. 68,000 members and affiliates Patron: Her Majesty the Queen President: Jon Snow Interim Chief Executive: Pete Fitzboydon. Cyclists’ Touring Club, a Company Limited by Guarantee, registered in England No 25185, registered as a charity in England and Wales Charity No 1147607 and in Scotland No SC042541. Registered office: Parklands, Railton Road, Guildford, GU2 9JX. CYCLE MAGAZINE: Editor: Dan Joyce E: cycle@jamespembrokemedia.co.uk Head of Design: Simon Goddard Designer: Katrina Ravn Advertising: Harvey Falshaw T: 020 3198 3092 E: harvey.falshaw@jamespembrokemedia.co.uk Publisher: James Houston. Cycle is published six times per year on behalf of Cycling UK by James Pembroke Media, 90 Walcot Street, Bath, BA1 5BG. T: 01225 337777. Cycle is copyright Cycling UK, James Pembroke Media, and individual contributors. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission from Cycling UK and James Pembroke Media is forbidden. Views expressed in the magazine are those of the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of the editor or the policies of Cycling UK. Advertising bookings are subject to availability, the terms and conditions of James Pembroke Media, and final approval by Cycling UK. Printed by: William Gibbons & Sons Ltd, 26 Planetary Road, Willenhall, West Midlands, WV13 3XB T: 01902 730011 F: 01902 865835 Founded in 1878
Top to bottom: Marion Shoote, Alamy, Alamy, Simon Warren
With the lockdown easing, our horizons are expanding. No longer must bike rides be solo affairs: we can ride with friends for fun. Social cycling is back. Longer weekend rides are again on the agenda. And many of us will be starting to look further ahead than that – mulling over cycling holidays to come. As I write in early July, there’s talk of ‘air bridges’ between countries in Europe. How airlines will manage social distancing in the cramped confines of a 737 remains to be seen. Also up in the air, as it were, is whether there will be changes in the public’s attitude toward flying. For one thing, there’s the perception of risk. Who hasn’t at one time caught a mere cold on the flight home? Then there’s the question of whether we want to fly as much. The new normal has been “not jetting off anywhere”. For some, that might stick. But if we choose not to fly with our bikes, how practical are the alternatives? Everyone knows it’s possible to get to the Mediterranean by train, ferry, and/or cycling. But is it a realistic prospect or an expensive exercise in frustration tolerance? There’s a sense in some quarters that 2020 hit the reset button – that things might be different now. For local travel, we can all hope that cycling has a bigger role to play; see page 48. For trips further afield, perhaps we’ve passed peak plane travel? Read the article on page 40 and see what you think.
Cycle Editor
34 Babypacking Taking a toddler through the Tatra Mountains
Welcome
DAN JOYCE
Features
Photo: Joolze Dymond
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Encourage your friends and family to enter too
Raffle
NEW SUMMER RAFFLE Welcome to Cycling UK’s 2020 prize draw. Enter now at cyclinguk.org/summer-raffle
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uy a ticket to Cycling UK’s new raffle and you could be in with the chance of winning a great prize to add a little extra sunshine to your summer. Your entries will also be helping us at a critical time. In the last issue of Cycle we explained how Covid-19 has impacted on our organisation and why we need your support more than ever. As the UK slowly begins to recover, the good news is that cycling is high on the agenda. There are so many opportunities for Cycling UK to get more people on bikes, make our voice heard, increase our supporter base, and improve the member experience.
Just the ticket
We’ve sent out paper tickets to members who have previously entered a Cycling UK raffle by post. 16
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But we can’t do this without your help, so please buy some tickets today and encourage your friends and family to enter. This will be our only raffle in 2020 – it’s your only chance to win! If you’d like to support us but don’t want to play the raffle, you can make a donation via the website: cyclinguk.org/donate.
How to play Please enter online if you can to save on our administration costs. There may be delays in processing mail sent to the office as staff are still working from home to maintain social distancing. Online: Visit cyclinguk.org/summer-raffle to enter and pay by debit or credit card. Online entries must be made by 1am Tuesday 29 September 2020. Post: If you have received or requested paper tickets, send back your labelled ticket stubs to: Summer Raffle, Cycling UK, Railton Road,
If all Cycle readers bought £20 worth of tickets, this would raise over
£1million!
Guildford, GU2 9JX. Full instructions are on the payment form. Paper ticket entries must be received by Friday 25 September 2020. If you haven’t received tickets but would prefer to enter by post, you can order ticket books by Sunday 13 September at cyclinguk.org/ summer-raffle or email summer-raffle@ cyclinguk.org. The raffle will be drawn on Thursday 1 October 2020 and the winners will be notified on the same day. For full terms and conditions, please visit cyclinguk.org/summer-raffle/terms
And there’s more
The raffle isn’t the only way to help and support cycling. Visit cyclinguk.org/ways-todonate to find our more.
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PRIZES
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Roux Foray P15 £569
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Rapha Explore shoes & club membership
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Garmin Varia RTL515 Radar Tail Light
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GoPro Hero 7 White
A flat-bar commuter that’s fast and efficient, the Roux Foray P15 has a lightweight aluminium frame and fork. It comes with 700×28C Continental Contact tyres with a puncture-resistant layer. Its mechanical disc brakes provide all-weather stopping power.
Thanks to our generous prize sponsors, here’s what you could win! Don’t forget: every entry and donation goes towards Cycling UK’s charitable work and campaigning.
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£220 & £70 Lightweight shoes made for roads and tracks less travelled. A carbon footplate transfers power efficiently but ends before toe and heel to flex while walking. You’ll also get one-year’s Rapha Cycling Club membership. rapha.cc
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Raleigh Motus Tour Low-Step £2,050
Take your ride to the next level with the new Raleigh Motus Tour electric bike. It’s ideal for city riding, surfaced roads, or cycle paths. The 400Wh battery will allow you to ride for up to 108 miles on a single charge, while the sophisticated Active Line motor is lightweight and almost completely noise free. raleigh.co.uk
£169.99 This rear light doesn’t just make you more visible – from up to a mile away in daylight – it also alerts you to vehicles approaching from behind. Just pair it with a Garmin device on your handlebar, with your smartphone running the Varia app, or both. garmin.com
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Brompton ML3 £1,240 Perfect for commuters, the Brompton can be freely taken on most forms of public and private transport. Its clever design means it folds to a portable, practical size (585mm high × 565mm long × 270mm wide) in under 20 seconds. Bromptons have been handmade in London since 1975, and have a steel frame and efficient, puncture resistant tyres. brompton.com
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£149 Giving you the ability to share experiences you can’t capture with your phone, the Hero 7 White is tough, tiny, waterproof (up to 10m), and ready for any adventure. The camera is easy to use thanks to an intuitive touchscreen. It shoots full HD video. gopro.com
Details Where: Poland and Slovakia Start/finish: Zakopane, southern Poland Distance: 240km Pictures: Ed and Marion Shoote
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B A BY PACK I N G
G R E AT R I D E S
ED & MARION SHOOTE Adventure travellers Ed and Marion have previously cycled the Pamir Highway. Their website is welove mountains.net
Great Rides
BABYPACKING A child trailer can tackle more than the trip to the nursery. Ed and Marion Shoote used theirs for a trip through Slovakia’s Tatra Mountains
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n a forest feathered with autumn colour, we pause to the look at the map. We’re taking a shortcut back into Poland through a rarely explored corner of these mountains. Today’s bikepacking challenge is a new one for us: we’ve run out of nappies. We ford a trickle of a stream where, very evident in the mud, are some large bear prints so fresh they’re still filling with water. A noise crashes in the forest behind us. It seems we’re on a bear hunt and we can’t go back! You might not expect an article about bikepacking with an 18-month-old in Europe to start with bears. Neither did we. However, Slovakia’s rugged landscape is home to wildlife of all shapes and sizes – including, apparently, the densest population of brown bears in Europe. We’d ridden across Slovakia before but it was a few fast days with glimpses of the High Tatra as the highlight. The Tatra are the highest mountains in the Carpathian range, rising up to 2,654m to encircle a precipitous border between Poland and Slovakia. It is an enchanting land of fairytale forests and jagged ridge lines, broken up by onion-tower churches in small villages that are surrounded by meadows dotted with wooden shepherd huts.
BORDER CROSSING We fly into the well-connected Krakow airport, stopping in the city overnight to explore. Next is a direct train south to
Paw prints in the mud. A noise crashes in the forest behind us. It seems we’re on a bear hunt and we can’t go back!
Zakopane, the biggest mountain town of the Tatra. It has a quaint old centre with traditional stalls selling smoked cheese and sheepskins, set against stunning views. It is also where Poland comes to get fresh mountain air in their diesel cars… We leave Zakopane’s bustle behind us and are soon in our own peaceful mountain space. The Polish National Park area is quite restricted for bikes, but we still find pleasant gravel tracks to ride. Even with detours, it only takes a morning’s ride to reach the Slovakian border. Here it feels like the road has ended, because it’s where most tourists stop to hike Morskie Oko, a classic walk in the mountains to an Instagram-friendly moraine lake. We leave Poland behind and meander uphill with our sleeping toddler to reach the first low pass of the trip, where there’s a deserted ski resort. A fast descent, with loud whoops now coming from the trailer, takes us to the old wooden chalets of Ždiar village. We find a busy, traditional restaurant next to a local folk museum. I order a hearty stew while Marion reacquaints herself with her love of Kofola – a Czech herbal drink similar to cola which costs only pence. After lunch it is an open air nappy change and a play on some wooden swings. We start feeling like we are getting the hang of toddler bikepacking.
BEAR IN MIND From Ždiar the main road looks busy but our map shows a track running almost
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Feature
FLIGHTFREE TOURING TRAINS AREN’T JUST GREENER THAN PLANES FOR TRAVEL INTO EUROPE – THEY CAN BE FAST AND MORE FUN, AS ANNA HUGHES FOUND OUT
ANNA HUGHES Author & transport campaigner Anna wrote ‘Eat, Sleep, Cycle’, and is the Director of Flight-Free UK, flightfree.co.uk
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Photos by Alamy and Anna Hughes
Top to bottom: Simon Warren on the Alpe. While it’s long, the gradient isn’t too bad for the most part. Tour de France crowds.
Weekender
Alpe d’Huez
Whether you’ve ridden it virtually or seen it on TV, this Tour de France climb is well worth a pilgrimage, says Simon Warren
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SIMON WARREN Cycling Author Simon is the author of many guides to the world’s famous cycling climbs across Britain, Belgium, Italy and France. 100climbs.co.uk
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lpe d’Huez isn’t the longest, steepest, or prettiest climb in the world but it’s one almost every road cyclist aspires to climb. Its 21 famous bends are now so intertwined with cycling and Tour de France history that it’s become an asphalt shrine to the epic battles that have graced its slopes. Since its first inclusion in the Tour in 1952, riders like Coppi, Hinault, Pantani and Geraint Thomas have all triumphed after defeating its wicked slopes. Rising from the town of Le Bourg-d’Oisans, it kicks up with such ferocity through its first few kilometres that many riders never recover, but once the vicious start is over the pitch of the slope does ease. Due to its fame it was this climb that the geniuses at Zwift chose to recreate in their virtual world of Watopia. Until travel restrictions ease, this may be as close as any of us will get to it for a while. So how does it compare? Having ridden both many times, I’m impressed with the Zwift version. Although it runs around 10% faster than the real thing, its mimicking of the gradients both between and through the hairpins is pretty much bang on. What you don’t get, of course, is the sense of following in the wheel tracks of legends, which is what ‘The Alpe’ is really all about.
AU G U ST/ SE PTEMBER 2020
Mt Ventoux
Tick off another Tour climb: cyclinguk.org/ cycle-magazine/ great-rides-montventoux
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Feature
B IKE BOOM
There are vital lessons from the lockdown when it comes to transport. Rob Kingston examines cycling’s surge and how to sustain it
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he coronavirus pandemic has been catastrophic for the health and wealth of the UK, as it has for most of world. Yet for all the pain and disruption, the resulting lockdown also gave us a chance to take stock of the way we live our lives. The enforced changes to our daily routine made us question how much of what we considered normal was truly necessary. Time spent outside, initially on our government-sanctioned daily exercise, became something to treasure. When we did venture out, we found cleaner air and less noise pollution, as traffic dropped to levels last seen in the 1950s. It was a much nicer environment for cycling, whether by regular riders or newbies dusting off a neglected bike – or buying a new one, as bicycle shops, classed as an essential service, were permitted to stay open throughout lockdown. The sunniest spring since UK records began also helped to tempt people onto their bikes. In early June, the Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, said that despite a fall in travel generally during the pandemic, there had been a 100% increase in cycle journeys across Britain on weekdays, and a 200% increase at weekends.
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ROB KINGSTON Rob is a communications officer for Cycling UK and a long-time cycle commuter
Chris Boardman, the Olympic gold medallist and Greater Manchester walking and cycling commissioner, saw this first hand on the Wirral Way, an off-road route near his home: “It was packed with people of all shapes, sizes and ages, out riding bikes. I confess there was a tear in my eye to see it: normal people in normal clothes discovering the bicycle.”
CUTTING CAR USE Duncan Dollimore, Cycling UK’s Head of Campaigns, says that while this surge in cycling is welcome, governments need to seize the opportunity if it is to be the start of a lasting change. “Lockdown has allowed a glimpse of a different, more active future, and it would be a travesty to let this opportunity slip through our fingers and return to business as usual,” he says. “We know that cycling is a great way to reduce car use and ease pressure on public transport while maintaining social distancing – and, indeed, the government has asked us to walk or cycle whenever possible – and people have shown that they are prepared to rethink the way they travel. But they need infrastructure and investment to enable them to make this change, or
F E ATU R E
BIKE BOOM
Cycle-towork solutions Employers can do a lot to support cyclists too. See cyclinguk. org/cyclefriendly employer
What you can do
we risk losing the chance for what Boris Johnson called a ‘new golden age’ for cycling.” To gauge people’s attitudes to cycling during lockdown, Cycling UK commissioned a YouGov poll (see Our Survey Said), which found that 36% of people could rethink their travel habits in the future to use motor vehicles less. But in order to do this, they would like to see changes made to our streets to make cycling safer and easier. While statistics show that cycling is an extremely safe mode of travel, that is not the perception for many people, as Dollimore points out: “If the roads don’t look and feel safe to cycle on, only the brave will choose to do so.” Richard Ingham, the bicycle mayor of Cumbria, agrees lockdown has shown that cars are the big problem. “Have those hills been flattened overnight or that rain tap magically turned off?” he asks. “When planners and policy makers tell me those are the reasons the UK won’t take to cycling, I’m tempted to reply: ‘It’s the traffic, stupid!’ Regular cyclists understand that, but the past months have just proved beyond all doubt what an inhibitor traffic is to cycling.”
who appear to consider roads as places only they should be. We drastically need a cultural shift away from this way of thinking. Anyone who drives, cycles, walks, or wheels needs to feel as entitled to their space and safety as other users.” And, as Chris Boardman points out, those who previously relied on public transport face being cut off as restrictions reduce capacity. “The bicycle has not just offered a practical travel solution; at present it is a moral one too,” he says. “On average, one in three households in cities across the UK don’t have access to a car, and now most of them can’t use buses, trams and trains safely either – so if not bikes for those three- to five-mile journeys, what else are they supposed to do?” So what needs to be done to ensure there is a lasting positive legacy of this terrible time? Investment by UK governments in temporary infrastructure, such as “pop-up” cycle lanes, road closures and speed restrictions, has been a welcome first step. In England, the Department for
• Highlight areas where infrastructure needs improvement at widenmypath.com, then let your council know you have done so. • Check your local council website or www.commonplace. is/places for engagement tools to highlight problem areas. • Share these links with friends, family and on social media. • If you know a new or returning cyclist, encourage them to take up Cycling UK’s Back on Your Bike offer: £15 for six months of benefits and advice – see cyclinguk.org/backyour-bike.
Top and right: Alamy
KEEPING BUMS ON BIKES As more people return to work, those empty roads are already filling up again. Lee Craigie, Active Nation Commissioner for Scotland, noticed this around Edinburgh: “The quieter roads have given many people the confidence to dig that old bike out of their shed,” she says. “Lately, though, car traffic has been returning and the increased bike traffic on the roads seems to be upsetting many (though not all) car drivers,
Top: Rush hour, Parliament Square, in 2018: cycling could now grow further This photo: Lockdown in Cambridge. Cycling promotes social distancing
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Advice
CYCLOPEDIA Left: Peter Cornish
Questions answered, subjects explained – Cyclopedia is your bimonthly cycling reference guide
Ride leaders for Cycling UK groups and affiliates already have liability cover
Q & A
reasonably skilled instructor. The chances of being found liable increase the more foreseeable and severe the perceived risk. There is a greater burden on the organiser to raise awareness of these risks to participants, and he or she must take steps to mitigate them. If you are organising a ride and intend to go off-road on technically difficult trails, you can protect yourself by taking out appropriate insurance. Ride leaders for Cycling UK groups and affiliates already haver Organiser’s Liability cover. Additionally, Cycling UK offers Activity Provider Insurance for instructors. For details, visit cyclinguk.org/insurance/cycleactivity-provider-insurance. Richard Gaffney
Legal
Ride leader liability off-road?
Your Experts Some rim-tyre combinations are very tight. Continentals usually go on fine, however
Q
What personal liability do I face when voluntarily leading a group of mountain bikers off-road? Or advertising it on social media? Can I limit my liability? Ben Waterfall
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By publicly advertising a group ride on social media and offering to lead it, you are potentially opening yourself up to liability on two counts. First, insofar as you are choosing the trail, you would need to ensure that you take suitable precautions to minimise risk to potential participants. Second, you might be deemed to be acting in the role of an expert or instructor, which could have ramifications if a participant’s skill level is insufficient for the route taken. The courts were presented with a similar situation in the case of Ahmed v Maclean [2016], where a mountain bike instructor was held 80% liable in a seven-figure claim after the defendant failed to properly Coronavirus appraise the claimant’s skill level For up-to-date and should have deterred him from cyclists' advice taking an advanced route. It was regarding Covid-19, accepted that the risk of serious visit: cyclinguk.org/ injury should have been apparent to a coronavirus
TechnicaL DR KATE HATTERSLEY Cycling GP {Health}
RICHARD HALLETT Cycle’s Technical Editor {Technical}
RICHARD GAFFNEY Principal Lawyer, Slater + Gordon Lawyers {Legal}
Tyre too tight
Q
I’ve just built a new front wheel with a Ryde Chrina rim. Trying to fit a Michelin Pro 4 folding bead tyre has been impossible. Can you recommend a 700×25C tyre that usually fits on the looser side so I have a chance of getting it in the wheel? csowter, via the Cycling UK Forum
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Your problem may be a slightly oversized rim, in which case an alternative tyre choice may not help. That said, tyre manufacturer Continental takes great care to ensure that all its tyres comply with the relevant dimensions and tolerances specified by the ETRTO, the European Tyre and Rim Technical Organisation, and as such they're generally straightforward to fit. If you can’t get even one bead on the rim, it may be worth trying a thinner rim tape if available. Also, push the bead into the rim’s central trough at the point opposite the valve and ensure you finish bead fitting at the valve. Richard Hallett
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TRAVELLERS’ TALES
Michael enjoying a social training session via Zoom
Indoors Dawn breaks: a mere 6,800 metres left for Laurence to climb
London
Everesting Ally Pally Laurence Kilpatrick rode up the hill at Alexandra Palace – many, many times
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had committed to the longest ride of my life, one that included three times the amount of elevation I’d ever managed in a single day. I was about to Everest the North London lump known as Ally Pally. I ignored the naysayers. A short sample: my chosen hill wasn’t steep enough; too much flat was involved; I hadn’t trained enough (at all!); I hadn’t thought it through. The night before the attempt I ate my body weight in curry. At 2am I was out in the chilly London night. The streets were empty and I made excellent progress. Dawn broke at 6.30am. I had scaled over 2,000 metres – a quarter of the ascent. Right on cue, a friend arrived to pace me up the hill for a few hours.
It’s not a big hill – unless you ride it all day…
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My conversational skills were already limited. He stuffed me full of food every 30 minutes and steered my thoughts away from towel-chucking. Celebratory landmarks brought only gloom. Little joy can be taken from passing the 4,400 metre mark when it’s 1pm and you still have ten hours of cycling uphill to contend with. My mood swung up and down. Darkness fell on a roasting day. I was left alone with the hill. Ally Pally turned into a playground for the fast and the furious – car drivers, that is. I continued to toil: “Just one more lap, then see how you are,” I told myself. In the last hour, with only ten loops left to do, I began to think I might fail. I ate sugary gels. Friends pedalled alongside me. Their support was vital. A sudden surge of energy coursed through me on my penultimate lap. I dropped my comrades and pelted up the nauseatingly familiar hill. Out of nowhere, tears spilled, relief that I would soon be able to stop pedalling. I fairly sprinted up the final ascent and tossed my bike down onto the grass, looking out over London and collapsing onto the floor. After 350km and 8,848m of climbing, I had just completed the hardest day of cycling in my life.
facebook.com/CyclingUK
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Twitter @wearecyclinguk
Turbo charged Virtual training transformed Michael Nelson’s lockdown SINCE MARCH MOST of us have been hunkering down, not cycling far from home. I took the opportunity to try something different: Turbo Beat. For a year, people in my cycling club had been saying I should come to the Turbo Beat sessions at Crystal Palace. But I was too tired; I was meeting friends; I was washing what’s left of my hair. After a while, I realised the real reason I didn’t go was fear. Fear of being humiliated by fit cyclists who would show me up for the pathetic, weedy cyclist I am. Except, as I now know, it isn’t like that. Paul Mill, Turbo Beat head coach, took me to one side, and explained how “the wall” of performance brought everyone to the same level. Yes, you had to work hard, but it was to your own standard. He then sold me a turbo trainer so I could join his online sessions from my back room. They are brilliant. But it is more than just getting fitter. It is, once again, a group activity. Tiny faces on Zoom stare out from my laptop perched on the mantelpiece. The titans of my cycling club are there too, suffering as I seem to. After one session, I mused out loud: “Why am I doing this?” Paul replied: “Because you don’t have anything better to do.” He’s right: there isn’t anything better to do than cycling. On recent, longer ‘real life’ rides, I hear Paul’s voice: “Dig. Push. You can do this.”
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