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getting cross again
on my first visit to portland, oregon in 2009, cyclocross ruled. the americans had taken to this predominantly european branch of the sport like a duck to water, organising races that featured foam tunnels, and events that required competitors to down a glass of strong alcohol on each lap. along with regular and 'proper' cyclocross races, there were also events for children of most ages. attending a north american 'cross race was a family affair. sat in the outside area of the green dragon pub and bistro in 928 south east 9th avenue (now permanently closed), though i eschewed any thoughts of strong belgian beer, i did avail myself of the belgian cyclocross tradition of frites and mayo. and during my time in portland, i was presented with a copy of dirty pictures, a superb book of cyclocross photography produced by mike davis and torsten kjellstrand, who posted many other photos on pdxcross.com, another vestige of american cyclocross that has gone the way of the dodo.
i have no idea if cyclocross is still 'a thing' in portland, or even in the usa. watch, if you can, coverage of the uscx race series, and frequently, the participants outnumber the spectators. inexplicably, the americans kept the bikes, widened the tyres and called it gravel.
britain, on the other hand, has very little truck with 'cross, despite possessing little by way of gravel, but truckloads of mud that would seem to favour the cyclocross realm. granted, scotland's cameron mason has shown himself to be a serious competitor in the sport over the past few seasons, clad as he has been, in the british champion's jersey for what seems like an eternity. and when it comes to tnt sports' live coverage of the european season, former british champion, ian field, regularly takes the second commentary seat to keep english speaking aficionados informed. however, watch each year's british cyclocross championship races, and the the word amateurish springs to mind, other than the sport's top players like mason, thomas mein, zoe backstedt and anna flynn. not to denigrate mason's successive national wins, but the competition tends not to provide too much trouble near the finish line.
cyclocross has long touted for inclusion in the winter olympics; after all, it's a sport which tends to take place in northern europe between october and february, the very months that few would argue comprise a european winter. as i understand it, to have the olympic committee offer such an invitation, any sport has to demonstrate that it requires snow and or ice, and while 'cross does frequently take place in such conditions (just ask wout), it doesn't depend upon it. and so the story continues. but does cyclocross actually have to inhabit a european winter?
islay festival week was blessed with much-a-plenty sunshine, weather which disappeared the minute the last of the festival-goers had left on the ferry. since then, it has rained every day without exception, and why wouldn't it?; after all, this is the west coast of scotland. but such conditions are hardly exclusive to the regions north of the border, surely making for an equitable climate in which to hold summer cyclocross? of course, from the professionals' point of view, that could be a problem, as the sport's top stars have far more lucrative careers riding road races, particularly during those three weeks in july, the very month in which rapha has opted to sponsor a series of cyclocross races at herne hill, perhaps in an attempt to foster greater interest in the sport, or maybe to return to their roots, when they once identified with the sport through a series of supercross, events, often accompanied by a collection of associated apparel, something that has been conspicuous by its absence in recent years.
however, this rapha summercross series is not specifically aimed at the cream of the crop. as rapha's website intimates, "summercross races are about fun and encouraging riders new to cx to have a go. the race format is simple, with courses that are less technical than in the autumn leagues." and the bicycle requirements are also quite favourable, allowing competitors to ride gravel, 'cross or mountain bikes, with no pits, no spare bikes or formal starting grids. entries close at 10pm on the thursday prior to each race, with no entries available on the day of the event. granted, basing the entire series at herne hill does rather exclude those living farther afield, but it's a start.
when rapha first brought their supercross to reality in october 2011, i recall travelling from glasgow to windermere for a fabulous day's racing and entertainment, and i really wish they'd do so again, but the possibility of that, may well depend on how well the forthcoming summer cross series is welcomed.
i have my fingers tightly crossed. (pun intended)
monday 8 june 2026
image: rapha
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................no worse
i apologise for the tardiness of this particular post, given that we are already one week into june, and my month without a garmin project (i added that to make it sound a tad more scientific) officially ended last sunday, even if i wasn't actually on the bike last weekend at all. for those new to the territory, having ridden with a garmin 810 gps device fastened to my handlebars since the middle of the twenty-teens, even though its principal purpose was simply to tell the time, at the beginning of may, i opted to leave it at home, an act enforced by having forgotten to switch it off, anad the battery thus having zero power.
though i have made no secret of my ludditity in past years, i thought it might be educational - for me at least - to learn whether riding without a series of numbers in front of me would make any appreciable difference to the ride. and, surprise, surprise, i think it has.
as bicycle technology advances, cursory examination would tend to suggest that there is a division in the force; those enthralled by the technology with which we are being provided (whether we asked for it or not) and those who are beginning to see it as a precursor to the end of civilisation as we know it. i believe i need not identify into which category yours truly fits. yet the paradox inherent in that last comment, is that i do find the technology of interest, but not without discrimination.
my current theory behind much of what has transpired in recent years, revolves around the covic pandemic, a worldwide intervention that caught the bicycle industry with its bibshorts down, a state of affairs it is now scrabbling frantically to remedy. according to industry reports, though many additional purchasers availed themselves of the prince of transports during the pandemic, for reasons that have yet to be made clear, the industry appears to have expected them to subsequently upgrade within a few additional years. the fact that this has not happened has had a detrimental effect on the bottom line. my theory would contend that the flurry of reputed innovations squandered upon the cognoscenti, is now a (vain) attempt to curry favour.
we have recently been subjected to integrated, integral cable looms, simultaneously increasing the labour bill when said innovation requires servicing. more recently, a 32" wheel has arrived; constrained to the world of gravel and mountain biking for the present, it would be a brave man or woman who bets against it arriving in the professional peloton. and when that happens, everyone with a conscience will be expected to rush out and acquire a 32" wheeled version of the bicycle they already own. campagnolo added yet another gear to the cassette, and removed any wires required to actuate the derailleurs. with currently no rim brake versions of the upper echelons of groupset from any of the big three, it's not hard to see the road down which we are being corralled.
personally, i have not acquired a new bicycle for over eleven years; those which i own are perfectly adequate for my needs, and few of the sunday peloton have behaved any different. in which case, it is hard to comprehend why the new kids on the covid block are those expected to have bought themselves new bicycles. but, symptomatic, i believe, of this perpetual slew of technological advancements, is my newfound reticence to ride with a garmin gps device that constantly informs me of data i really don't need to know. i feel i can state that with confidence, having not once found myself nostalgic for the numbers last witnessed in april.
do not misunderstand me; this is not a call to arms, so to speak. i am not recommending, or even suggesting that anyone follow suit. i wrote, a few weeks ago, that i find myself a smidgeon disillusioned with the modern-day road bikes, and just don't get me started on gravel. the industry's myopic overview appears solely to be concentrated on the need for speed to the exclusion of all else. at the risk of displaying my enduring - and probably incurable - cynicism, does anyone recall when we just used to go for a bike ride? why, for instance, have bicycle manufacturers opted to sell expensive speed, when the majority of their customer-base is incapable of achieving wireless carbon fibre's integrated escape velocity.
of course, it's up to you whether you wish to take the word of someone who has just purchased a limited edition, gene krupa badged, slingerland radio king snare drum, without even ten percent of krupa's ability to play it.
sunday 7 june 2026
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................exclusion syndrome
more than likely prompted by my reading of jack thurston's lost cycle lanes scotland, i believe i may have acquired a pleasantly different approach to cycling, one that is hopefully less centred upon the technology and more concentrated upon the actual riding pleasure. and though i'm more than happy to reference mr thurston as the catalyst for this revelation, i cannot discount the percussive necessities of last weekend which kept me away from my bicycle.
the correct term of reference for the annual islay whisky festival, is fèis ìle, gaelic for islay festival, an event which celebrated its fortieth anniversary this year. the traditional end of the week-long mix of music and malt, has always been the final fling, usually a dance held in port ellen's ramsay hall, featuring a live band of greater stature than those present on islay. this year, however, the festival committee opted to go large, organising an outdoor event on the farm at persabus (near port askaig) and featuring four live bands, including that of which i am a member, plus jarad rowan, the rollin' drones, and headliners, 'peat and diesel'.
we had been advised that, as the first band to play in the evening, we should attend at noon to conduct our soundcheck. unfortunately, after a week featuring wall-to-wall sunshine, on saturday it rained heavily from morning till night, though thankfully the band was ensconced on a covered, waterproof stage. unfortunately, the soundcheck did not take place until 14:15, ending near 15:15, and leaving little time to return home, scoff my tea, change into my secret identity and head back to persabus.
with a backline drumset to ease the changeover times between bands, compared to my own gene krupa replica kit, everything was in the wrong place, so i simplified my drum parts on the fly, ensuring i didn't mess-up mid song. with no desire to listen to peat and diesel, i had my son collect me very soon after my part in proceedings had ended, returning home with plenty of time to watch a spot of television. it's only rock 'n' roll, but i like it.
the only disappointment was a complete lack of cycling opportunity.
for those of you about to say, "but there's always sunday", i can but advise that the sabbath was also well occupied with another musical outing, this time at laggan bay distillery, situated midway between bowmore and port ellen. the distillery is adjacent to the brewery by whom we had been booked to entertain both sets of aficionados, joined as we were by the rhythm and booze project, an excellent two piece whose command of the blues is well worth witnessing. they were due to begin the day's entertainment at 11am from the lofty heights of an articulated trailer set in the courtyard between the distillery and brewery, so it was necessary for us to have arrived by 09:30 in order to unload, setup, soundcheck and get the heck out of the way until they ended their set at 2pm.
in between times, my literary services had been engaged by iain macleod distillers, owners of laggan bay distillery, to write a blog piece for the distillery website about the opening of the distillery to the public for the first time, and to celebrate their first fèis ìle. to this end, i joined the very first manager's tour with malcolm rennie, alongside local photographer, ben shakespeare. by tour's end, it was time to grab a wood-fired pizza for lunch and listen to the rhythm and booze project, until time to embrace international stardom of my own. aside from a few sound problems experienced at the start, we played to great approbation until 17:30. you can perhaps see why the bicycle remained untouched.
with a need to be back at my desk by 08:30 on monday morning, absence from the bicycle definitely made the heart grow fonder. being a non-drinker, i have never suffered from withdrawal symptoms, but i'm sure those have been experienced by yours truly throughout this past week. and just before you become too optimistic about my chances for this coming weekend, i will be travelling overseas on saturday to play at a wedding on the neighbouring island of jura.
sunday remains my potential saviour for a slow, yet highly anticipated bike ride, with scant regard for the current fads infiltrating the velocipedinal realm, and far quieter roads than were prevalent last week.
friday 5 june 2026
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................the chain gang
many years ago, a uk distributor kindly sent me a chain that was stated to solve the perennial lubrication problem by being suitably lubricated at the point of delivery, and was expected to remain so for at least 1200-1400km. given the very nature of the hebrides, replete as they are with strong winds, heavy rain and normal road conditions that occasionally equal those of a gravel race, fitting this lubricated chain seemed the ideal opportunity to match hyperbole with reality. sad to say, the latter won by quite some margin.
by the time i had covered around 500km, the chain had begun its journey towards cacophony, and by the time i reached around 700km, not only did it look considerably less than aesthetically pleasing, but the constant squeaking was giving my nerves cause to re-think their life choices. i eventually gave in and lubricated the chain; unfortunately, doing so took place past what turned out to be the point of no return, and the chain was replaced before even spotting 1200km on the horizon. at the time, a standard chain could be purchased for anything between £25 and £30, depending on how shiny you like your links to be. though i have scrabbled to find my original notes, memory tells me the lubricated chain retailed in excess of £60.
had i done the arithmetic in the first place, it would have been glaringly self-evident that a £25 chain allied to a bottle of moderately expensive lubricant would have been considerably more economic, and that the review chain was never in the running in the first place.
there have been, in the interim, a large number of synthetic bicycle lubricants which describe themselves as the fastest ever, relying on computer projections and real world dynamometer tests to prove the veracity of these claims. however, once again, reality has a habit of minimising such expectations, however well intentioned is the manufacturer. for starters, the chain is reckoned to be the most efficient means of propulsion in history, so any minimising of friction by means of lubrication, is already inhabiting the tiniest of marginal gains. common lore would have it that a well-lubricated chain is 98-99% efficient, with even less than pristine examples dropping that efficiency by only a few percent.
while i can understand that the professional classes seek to eke out even a fraction of the 1% potential advantage still available, translated into riding spring classics and grand tours, there are so many opposing conditions that naturally seek to counter those minute advantages, that it scarcely seems to justify the time and money spent on the purported benefits.
and, as ever, it is you and i who will be found out-of-pocket, should we try to emulate those transient margins, for the professionals do not pay to discover if it works.
which brings me onto the subject of chain waxing, an historic fad that appears to have resurfaced as both riders and manufacturers seek to explore avenues other than those considered part of the natural order. unaccustomed as i am with the mores of gravel racing, the conditions that arose at last weekend's unbound gravel seem unlikely to have been mitigated in any way by the startline choice of lubrication. had any of the chains been waxed, i doubt so doing would have played any meaningful part in the outcome. silca's chain waxing solution retails at close to £100, yet seems not to arrive with any actual wax. granted, silca is a sponsor of both tadej's team and that of vingegaard; with several prominent riders on both teams, it would be a brave man or woman who attributed their recent successes to the waxing of their respective chains.
once again, i speak from a position of relative ignorance, having remained aloof from the possibilities of wax, and continuing to use one of those little plastic bottles of synthetic lube to maintain my own efficiency, such as it is. however, chain waxing inevitably involves removing the chain from the bicycle and placing it in a bath of hot wax, before man or womanfully attempting to replace it prior to the grand départ. according to extensive independent testing, a waxed chain is faster than its simply lubed counterpart, but as we have already discussed, that's not necessarily saying much. the uptick in use of wax on bicycle chains is reputedly the reason that campagnolo now offers a super-link for its twelve and thirteen speed chains, rather than the work of engineering art in the shape of its expensive chain tool that was previously considered mandatory.
but, if we take a look at the slightly wider picture which has the modern-day velocipedinist ditch the inner-tube in favour of tubeless tyres, it's clear to see that a picture of endless faff is emerging. a little-known fact is that the gloop that must be poured into a tubeless tyre in the hope of preventing punctures, has to be periodically removed and replenished, by which time it has almost certainly taken the form of a difficult-to-remove gunge, that may also have had a negative effect on the tyre valves. thus, careful preparation for any specific event now necessitates removal of the chain for a rigorous waxing, and potential removal of the tyres to ensure the internal gloop retains the ability to seal any unwarranted nicks and cuts on the tread or sidewall.
the problem here is not that either of the above are expensive (they certainly can be) or that they don't work (your mileage may vary), but that, quite frequently, we don't. there will, of course, be the exceptions to that rule; those for whom the bicycle is king or queen and deserving of endless but intentional fettling; but for the vast majority, the fact that the chain needed oiling, or the tyres inflating is something that only becomes apparent at the farthest point from home on a sunday morning. the very thought of advance preparation is not one that occurs with any great frequency. i know of several colleagues who don't maintain their bikes properly, even when they really, really should.
no matter what, real life will always win.
thursday 4 june 2026
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................dry paint
like it or not, cycle sport is but one facet of the world of entertainment, though that probably applies only to you and i, and not to those participating in the sport at its top level. jonas vingegaard did have a smile on his face as he won his final giro summit stage at piancavallo, but considering he was one minute 15 seconds ahead of second place, that may not have had much to do with entertainment. for those grovelling in his wake, especially the riders comprising the grupetto, the notion that someone, somewhere might find this entertaining was probably furthest from their minds. there's a reason why the three grand tours tend to agglomerate the mountain stages around the weekends, when the great unwashed are not at work, ready and able to stand at the roadside, cheering their heroes and lighting brightly coloured, irritating flares, while others needlessly run alongside the competitors, attempting to film the action on their phones.
i often wonder if the latter return to their homes at day's end, only to find endless minutes of juddery video in which it is all but impossible to distinguish just who they actually filmed. do they ever regret that they spent all day standing in the heat of the mountain, only to miss every second of the action because they were busy behaving like prats?
the majority of cycling events, whether by luck or design, sport the ability to keep thousands, if not millions of us entertained. given the money that tnt sports is charging their subscribers to watch cycle sport, it must be confident that the entertainment value is high enough to bring in the desired income. cyclocross, my favoured discipline, lasts a maximum of one hour and, as a result, is pretty much eyeballs out from when the lights go green, until someone crosses the finish line. xc and downhill mountain biking, however proximitous the latter is to 'actual' cycling it may or not be, attracts considerable fandom; track cycling has the added benefit of allowing full view of all the action, while the organisation of track events often ensures that there is scarcely a lull in the action throughout the evening.
the entertainment inherent in road racing is surely self-evident? the lengthy sprint stages and even the lomgest of the season, milan-sanremo, provide glorious vistas as a backdrop whenever the peloton is compatto. that was one of the main reasons so many brits tuned into itv4's live coverage of the tour de france, eager to see parts of rural france in which they might wish to book a holiday. by the time they're off the phone to the travel agent, the build-up to the sprint has already begun.
and then there's the new kid on the block: gravel. i have already made my opinion of the latter all too clear, but i remain nothing if not open-minded (at least in my little world) about its popularity and relevance to the human race. last weekend's unbound gravel, an event previously known as the dirty kanza had been effectively, timely and contrivedly setup by the internet froth brought about by specialized having torn the crux away from its cyclocross roots and placed firmly in the world of gravel, emulating a specialized tarmac but with ample tyre clearance. clickbait videos would have us believe that the changes have brought about worldwide consternation, a situation that could only be ameliorated by victory at unbound. as it transpired, that's precisely what happened, with specialized's offroad teams, both men and women placing four riders across both podiums, and all riders finishing fifth or better aboard that new crux.
it's really not hard to see why mike sinyard's company has placed so much of their faith in the gravel realm.
however, if i might briefly return to my alleged open-minded approach, with a few minutes to spare on saturday, i tuned into a youtube channel showing live coverage of the event, and later i took a few peeks at the edited highlights. i'm willing to admit that i did not over-reach my attention span, but i recall spending better times watching paint dry, or avoiding tv broadcasts of a runrig concert. i failed to spot more than a handful of spectators, while the ultimate length of the event at 350 miles (560 kilometres) rather mitigated against it being classed as entertainment.
according to specialized, the new crux 5 is "the most aerodynamic gravel race bike we've ever made." perhaps suggesting that the company spends too much time and money in the wind-tunnel. according to the science of aero, a rider would need to be travelling faster than 40kph to gain any real advantage from a reputedly slippery bicycle frame. the winner of this year's unbound, mads wurtz schmidt, averaged 36kph across the entirety of the course. but bear in mind that mads is a professional rider and doesn't pay for his bicycle. you and i are not so lucky, neither in the speed stakes or the free-bike paradigm. which leads me to question the need to offer a £12,000 aero gravel bike, and its more economic siblings.
one of the comments posted below a youtube highlights video, pronounced gravel racing to be probably the most pointless outpost of cycle sport, a sentiment with which i was quick to agree. a bit like improvisational jazz, it's probably more entertaining for the practitioners than it is for any audience. i have no qualms whatsoever over the freedom of the individual to ride his or her bike anywhere they darned well like. what i don't understand is quite why it was found necessary to invent gravel when xc mountain bikes and cyclocross bikes already existed, and on which anyone with nothing better to do could ride endless kilometres of gravel, bereft of interference from the uci, desperate to seem 'down with the kids' and up there at the pointy end of velocipedinal fashion.
believe me, one day, we'll all get together and have a good laugh about the pointlessness of gravel.
wednesday 3 june 2026
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