Oldham pot hole festival

Among all the excitement of the Tour of Britain and the pending world champs I missed this story which broke last Friday. 
One of the 'bosses' at Team Sky - Fran Millar - trousered undisclosed damages from Oldham Council after injuring herself by falling off her bike. Nasty injuries too.
The circumstances will be familiar to many. As described by the BBC, Fran '...swerved to avoid one pothole in Oldham's High Street but then injured herself on another.'
Now, I do have some sympathy for the council's view that there is a 'national pothole funding crisis'  but it seems to me that the further east you travel in Greater Manchester, the more threadbare the cycling infrastructure gets.
My regular commute takes me through, Manchester, Stockport, Tameside and Oldham. 

Potholes can be creative too

Using the Fallowfield Loop, I barely notice Manchester and Stockport despite the loop's inadequacies. 
On my route, both Tameside and Oldham have zero bike infrastructure which is pretty poor. Actually, tell a lie, there is 400m a shared bus lane and one advanced stop box.
As cyclists we get to know the road surface intimately and often have to pick our way along rutted and damaged roads - roads that we all pay for.
We have a long long way to go.

Doping continues to cast a long shadow over le tour

With the tour entering its penultimate stage today, we can almost reflect on a second win for a Brit. 

While watching the climb of the Glandon yesterday on Eurosport, it was possible to pick out a couple of things which were sad to witness.

First up was booing of team Sky (aka UK Postal - due to their 'dominance' of the race) and secondly was a guy running alongside Chris Froome slapping his forearm in a mocking jesture suggesting Froome was hardly riding pan y aqua. 

Much has been made of the acquisitions against Froome but they are based on a particular - and incorrect in my view - reading of this year's event.

First off, there's no evidence that Froome gas ever doped. Second, Sky and Froome have not been the super dominant team we've seen in previous tours. Sky have struggled - really struggled at times - in this race.

The recent article in L'Equipe which studied Froome's numbers, gave him the nod and Armstrong's nemesis David Walsh is, I gather from Twitter, writing a piece in this Sunday's Times on Froome and doping: Walsh has been 'embedded' with Sky for a couple of months apparently.

Smile :)

So, what does this mean? Well, it shows how much damage Lance's ego has done to the sport - and all the other dopers of course but it also demonstrates that Monsieur Jean Public, really does give a merde about the race and its legitimacy. 

Innocent until proven guilty for me with Froome. Hope it stays that way! 

@letour hots up

Its taken a few days but I can hold it no longer, I must type something about the tour!
It has already been a fascinating and incident packed race and we're only just into the second week.
As untouchable as Sky were on Saturday, they paid heavily for it on Sunday. For one thing this shows that the race is cleaner than it has been for a long time.
The days when team X would dominate day after monotonous day seem to be behind us.
With Sky losing Kiryienka after he missed the cut off time in yesterday's stage, Froome perhaps looks a little more vulnerable than before - we'll see.

Top marks must go to Chris Froome for perfectly adhering to Rule 15 of the velominati code. There's the Ventoux and the Alpe d'Huez twice to look forward to - can't wait!

New Sky top - 17% APR

So Rapha finally launched the new Sky kit and... well...it's underwhelming dullness is only matched by its astronomical price.

£140 for this? Nope, me neither

Cycling, drugs, cheese and @guardian

Really interesting interview with USADA grand fromage Travis Tygart in today's Grauniad.  As well as providing an insight into his world in the midst of the Lance Armstrong investigation, he also questions Sky's zero tolerance approach  to drug use and questions whether it's counter productive.
My initial thought was that Travis must have been at the Creme de Menthe a bit early but actually, his point is a good one.
He's not saying that team X shouldn't do all they can but, the whole of professional cycling needs picking up by its lapels and slapping in the chops with a pair of white cotton gloves. No cycling club is an island.

Le petit fromages

The reason this matters, in my view, is that it's pro cycling which really inspires people to get on a bike and ride - kids in particular. Nobody is inspired by me cursing my way up Windgather or hocking filth onto the A482 in the rain.  But they're inspired by that Brady Wiggin chap and his amusing facial furniture.  They're inspired by the Scottish chap who always wins, you know, the one with the big dad.
If cycling is to continue to prosper in Britain then we need the sport to be cleaner than the entertainment on St Francis Xavier school's summer trip to Lourdes.

New GB bike kit for 2013

Cycling Weekly has some photos of the 2013 teeem geebee cycling kit and very nice it looks too.  I don't suppose there's much else they could do other than go for the Union Jack design.
Any suggestions that they should incorporate a pathetically inadequate bike lane or a large pot hole into the design are just immature.  

White, red and blue

So, with that in mind, how about they incorporate a speeding taxi motif into the 2014 version? I can feel a twitter campaign coming on.
I'm still looking forward to what Rapha are going to do to the Sky kit.  You'd have thought they'd have it out for Christmas really wouldn't you.

2013, Froome's year?

Chris Froome has been talking up Team Sky's chances for next season and he thinks it could be a magnificent year for the team.
By his reckoning, Sky could nail the Giro and Tour with Wiggins and himself respectively.
Much has been said about the Giro route being suited to Wiggo - time trials etc, but does the 100th Tour route suite Froome?

France, in yellow

Well, it's hilly and we all saw his superb form in the Tour's mountains last year.
If it pans out this way - Froome being given a shot at Le Tour - then next year's event will provide mouthwatering dual between Froome and Bertie on some memorable stages.
There are hills, hills and more hills on next year's parcours right up until the penultimate day.  The double ascent of Alpe d'Huez on the same day should be spectacular too.
I'm already looking forward to it. A bit sad? Possibly but we need something to keep us going throughout the winter!

Rough Ride with Paul Kimmage

Having just finished reading Paul Kimmage's 1990 book Rough Ride, I thought it was worth taking a moment to reflect on the main themes of the book.
While doping, and the breaking of cycling's code of silence toward doping feature heavily, for me, the central theme of the book is one of how professional cycling has broken the dreams and spirit of a thousand riders.
Those fortunate enough to make it, mainly face a career of obscurity and water carrying. If you're lucky, very lucky, one day they might let you win a stage or an event.  But for the majority, it's a story of toil, commercial pressures, shit hotels and racing against people who you once beat easily but now struggle to stay with on the flat.

Written 1990, read by me 2012. Slow reader

This is the context in which the doping flourished.  It should be no surprise that the doping became more sophisticated as winning became more lucrative and more telegenic.
The other maddening pressure which comes across in his book is the fear of what to do next.  What does a former professional cyclist do?  Open a bike shop? Write a book perhaps.  For the ones that remain in some way in the public eye, there are countless thousands who fade into obscurity and do what the rest of us would do: just get a job, any job.
The final chapter  'Andre' about former team-mate Andre Chappuis brings this fear into unnerving focus.
Kimmage has of course become something of a cycling cause celebre in recent months with UCI beginning legal proceedings against him.  They should put a statute up to him in my view - or, perhaps more appropriately, establish some kind of long-suffering cyclist award!  I jest of course.
In the book Kimmage hoped that the doping of his era would be tackled and ended: that the UCI would bare its teeth and intervene. We know that it didn't and the whiff of suspicion remains that that they actually became further embroiled.
It seems now that the leadership is being shown by the teams - specifically Team Sky and its 'if you doped your out' policy.
As Sky and others move to reassure sponsors, the commercial imperative remains but as a punter and a defender of cycling, I Just hope that the doping can be finally put to bed.

Pastel pedallers

The announcement last week that Team Sky is to be kitted out in Rapha togs next season signals another significant moment for cycling in the UK.
Dropping the Adidas kit in favour of Rapha's more style-concious threads will, in my humble view, result in a huge growth of replica cycling jerseys being seen around town.

Looking good? How will Team Sky look next year?

Rapha's gear is always very nice: a bit retro and undoubtedly stylish compared to much cycling kit you see out there. I have to say their colour choices are always a little neopolitan ice cream for me - or dare I say it, a bit effeminate.

The Rapha colour reference chart (possibly)

However, what do I know? I reckon the Sky gear will be superb when its issued and sell by the broom wagon load.  It'll be launched to a colossal fanfare too.
It should be really interesting to see what they come up with.

Gatorade bidon challenge comes to Manchester

Some people's jobs are a piece of piss aren't they?  Take this bunch from the Gatorade Hit Squad as an example.  As part of a national marketing push, they are taking to the streets of various cities and towns in the UK, riding their bikes about a bit and giving away free stuff including the green Gatorade bidons made famous by Team Sky.
If you already have a Gatorade bottle make sure you have it with you on the relevant date as they will be dishing out 'exclusive Gatorade prizes' to anyone they spot with a Gatorade bidon on board.  The dates will be published at the link above soon.
Fortunately for me, I have such a bidon which was not launched at me by Edvald Bosen Hagen during the climb up the Peyresourde in this year's tour.  You can see that his initials are written on it which is obviously to ensure he gets the right concentration of orange squash.

EBH's bidon which he did not throw at me

Actually, there was a fair bit left in it when it landed which means I can exclusively reveal what the Norwegian power house fuels his rides with.
Resisting the temptation to have a taste, I can report that the contents looked a bit like milk and had the unmistakable aroma of frangipane. So, the evidence is clear, EBH's secret weapon can only be liquidised Bakewell Tarts. 
A surprising finding I'm sure you'll agree.

PS.I'm trying to find out what the words '100% biodegradable' down the side refers too: the bottle, the lid, the rubber bit, its contents, everything? If I find out, I'll let you know.

Broadening the appeal

Back in March 2011, the outspoken president of the Association International des Groupes Cyclistes Professionels (AIGCP) and Garmin Sharp general manager Jonathan Vaughters threw a gauntlet down to cycling claiming that the sport should be as big as Premiership football or Formula 1.
To achieve this, he argued that a ten point plan be implemented which would launch the sport into the global stratosphere.
Leaving aside any power grab which he may be manoeuvring the pro teams to make against the UCI, Vaughters' plan - such as it was - had, in my view, a coherence and energy that would broaden the appeal of the sport; particularly as a TV event.
Don't get me wrong, I'd be happy watching an entire day's racing from signing on to the broom wagon making it home, but not everyone is the same.
But why does this matter now?

Looking good: AG2R in 2009

Well, the 5th idea of Vaughters' ten point plan was to introduce more team time trials.  Although he doesn't really expand on the idea, you can understand that the team time trial is a photogenic and dramatic looking event and ideal for TV.
And so it will be later today when the teams line up in Pamplona for the start of the Vuelta. 
In the last couple of years the Vuelta and Giro have started with team time trials but the Tour de France hasn't. It should be interesting to see how it goes and the response from the media the race receives in the UK.
With Froome leading the Sky team and Bertie back in the saddle, it should provide a fascinating glimpse into next year's Tour de France.

How is Manchester's Brompton Dock doing?

Back in March Brompton, in partnership with Virgin Trains, launched its Brompton Dock hire scheme at Piccadilly Station - a dead easy and convenient way to hire a lovely Brompton for the day.  Six months on, it'd be interesting to know how it's been going.
The first half of 2012 in the north west has provided a superb test bed for widening the participation in cycling with two huge forces pulling in opposite directions.
In one corner, is the hugely enhanced profile cycling is currently enjoying thanks to Team Sky's successes and to Team GB's Olympic successes.  With Manchester being home to both organisations, you would hope that the Brompton Dock would receive wholehearted backing of commuters.
Pushing in the opposite direction has been the wettest April, May, June and July on record [this mightn't actually be the case but it's felt like it].
While the set up of the scheme can't really be faulted and the lockers are well positioned, unobtrusive and have a certain industrial chic, I have to confess that I don't see many people whizzing round the city.  But that's just my impression so I've written to Brompton to ask them how it's going.
Hopefully they will give me a line to say it's going 'very well' or 'initial take up has been encouraging'. I really hope they tell me it's oversubscribed and they are installing more but we'll see.

Ride safe

Sky. Why?

I find Sky's association with cycling in the UK a fascinating conundrum.
Sky is the trading name of British Sky Broadcasting which came into being with the merger of News International's Sky TV and BSB in the early 1990s when they were both haemorrhaging cash. 20 years later, with Premiership football rights sewn up, the company now has a revenue of £6.5bn.
So, what's this got to do with cycling?  Well, that's a good question.
Why would a company which wants to sell us television subscription channels, actively promote a sport in which it has little or no broadcast interest? An activity which, by definition, takes you out of your home and away from your TV?  Just what is the motivation?
It seems to me that there are three plausible explanations:
1. What's clear is that Sky has tried to take ownership of the sport in the way that Red Bull for example try to own 'extreme' sports like base jumping, flying planes through hoops and stuff.  Maybe Sky simply took a flyer at cycling hoping that it would turn out to be successful and that millions more people would get involved.  This would reflect well on the company and hopefully help them sell more HD boxes.  If this was the case, why didn't they outbid the competition for Tour de France coverage, the spring classics or even the Tour of Britain? Maybe they did but I can't imagine ITV4 and Eurosport could have outbid Sky if Sky really wanted an event to concentrate on.
2. So, probably something else is at play.  Sky's involvement in Cycling really consists of two things:  sponsoring the pro team and being the principal partner to British Cycling.  Sky's first involvement dates back to 2008 with the sponsorship of the British track team based in Manchester, the establishment of the pro team came a year later. The pro team sponsorship provides them with the marketing cut through to promote the brand on a national level.  Think about how much more commercial the riders are these days: Mark Cavendish's embarrassing shampoo advert for example.
Their other strand is centred on public activity such as the sky rides - closed road city centre cycling events for all comers.  There's a clearly a corporate responsibility function being played here for Sky.  They altruistically set up these events to get people off their couches and out on their bikes in return for a high viz bib.

3. The final explanation is what a former colleague described to me as 'Chairman syndrome'.  That being when the chair or other senior party of an organisation decides they are doing something without reference to any kind of marketing strategy. So could Sky's involvement be down to a whim of one senior executive?  Or a result of a relationship between senior Sky and British Cycling people?  Well, possibly.
If I were a betting man, I'd put my money on a mixture of two and three.  I think somebody in British Cycling has done a superb sales job on Sky and that Sky can see how they benefit from it.
I must state that I'm not against Sky's involvement in cycling, I just find it curious.
Ride safe

Retro cycling jerseys

What would the Tour de France be without the Malliot Jaune?  And the Giro without the Maglia Rosa? These are among the most recognisable jerseys in sport.  In the case of the tour's yellow, it's right up there with Brazil's famous football strip and the intimidating All Blacks kit: instantly recognisable around the world.
The design of the current crop of pro-team kit is quite interesting to read.  The obvious purpose of the design is to afford the sponsor as clear a platform as possible to build their profile.
It's odd that from my seat in the UK that exotic sounding teams are in fact just sponsorship platforms for the most mundane corporate activities.  I don't know what I was expecting but to find out that FDJ is the French equivalent of the National Lottery and that PMU, sponsors of the Tour's Malliot Vert is a bookies where French blokes go to have a flutter on the nags, kind of destroys the magic.
The nicest kit in the Peleton of le Tour this year was, in my view, Saxo / Tinkoff Bank, closely followed by Europecar's green.
However, it was defiantly Team Sky shirt which fulfilled its sponsorship objective most successfully.
It's retro styling is clean and neat and judging by the amount of people you see out wearing it, the sales of replicas have been strong for them.
I started watching the tour in the late 1980s - in the days of Channel 4 coverage and I really love some of the jerseys from that era.
Sean Kelly in the yellow of Kas, Roche in Carrera Jeans, the superb Systeme U shirt worn by, among others Lauren Fignon and Luis Hererra's Cafe de Columbia.  My favourite however, was the La Vie Claire top worn by Hinault and LeMond.
The Molteni shirt made famous by Merckx is a classic too which still looks fantastic.
Designs of almost everything go through a period of being naff before acquiring a retro cool and I think this is where some of the 1990s cycling shirts are now.

So whereas you can buy a new reproduction of the Merckx Moltenti and La Vie Claire from the superb Prendas Ciclismo, you can't get US Postal, T Mobile or Mercatone Uno.  But their time will probably come.

Classic year

2012 has already been a superb year for cycling and with lots more to come, it's set to live long in the memory.
Sure, the tour de France wasn't that exciting (Voeckler aside) but it was great to see Bradley on top of the podium in Paris. Wiggo's close win in the Paris-Nice and obliteration of the field in the Olympic TT, were great performances too.
Thomas de Ghent's stage win on the Stelvio in the Giro was inspiring as were Tom Boonen's gloveless rides in the spring classics.
With Chris Froome leading team Sky in the Vuelta and Olympic mountain biking this weekend, we really have been spoilt this year...