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a delight for any feinschmecker

aurumania gold bike

we're probably all guilty of spending maybe just a little too much on our cycling. when it comes time to replace that ten-speed chain, while a centaur/chorus would do the job perfectly well, there are extra kudos to be gained from buying the record version; just always remember to leave the empty box lying about in the bike shed. and is there really several hundred pounds worth of difference between alloy bars and their carbon brethren?

but that's really not the point. when my last car breathed its last, it had only had to accomplish 2,000 miles in a year, whereas the colnago covers almost twice that every year, only leaving the hallowed isle once for the braveheart ride. i like my bicycle, and i'm willing to bet that you love yours too, whether it's only one bike or several in a row, made from a variety of expensive materials. if the bike is the centre of your life, or certainly a good distance from the edge, spending silly amounts of money on it, as well as on the various accoutrements that go along with it, is what we spend all week in the office to be able to do.

yes, her indoors will comment on every small, but perfectly formed, cardboard box that arrives through the post; or perchance a shiny black bag with an h-van sticker on the outside, but in many cases that's more out of habit and a sense of duty, rather than serious frowning. however, always assuming that you go cycling with your bank manager, or you've just sold your startup software company to microsoft or apple, there may well be the very bicycle for you or for your wall.

aurumania gold bike

scandinavian design company, aurumania 'work solely with the design of visibly extravagant luxury products made using gold, for an exclusive clientele; aurumania apparently means 'pre-occupied with gold' in the most positive sense imaginable (whatever the heck that means). so what have they made that would concern you or i? well, nothing, because i don't actually know anyone who has anything like the £65,000 ($114,250) we're talking about here. that's how much aurumania are asking for a gold plated track bicycle, encrusted with swarovski crystals and topped with a brooks leather saddle. not only is the frame gold plated, but also the chainset and wheel rims.

the bicycle is being made in a strictly limited edition of ten, each individually numbered and complete with leather head tube badge; the first has been sold to a london businessman to hang on his wall. there is also a cheaper version with no swarovski or gold plated cranks or wheels, which costs a mere £17,000 ($30,000).

and to think people thought i was nuts.

aurumania.com

thank you to mark rushton for alerting me to this grand folly, and no, i have no idea what feinschmecker means.

posted on saturday 6th september

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i can't wait that long

campagnolo 75 years

we're all adults here, so i am going out on a limb and assuming that here is no need for me to re-visit the history of one of the finest component manufacturers in the world. tullio campagnolo is famed for having invented the quick release, leading to the founding of campagnolo spa in vicenza, italy seventy five years ago. 75 years is a long time in cycling, and even more so for a company which currently concentrates solely on road components, having removed itself from the off-road market some years ago.

it's a company that inspires devotion like no other in the world of cycling, to the extent of having the logo tattooed on the back of your neck (i jest not). and to celebrate the three score years and fifteen, those excellent fellows at velopress in colorado have published campagnolo: seventy five years of cycling passion in hardcover by paulo facchinetti and guido rubino. well, actually they haven't published as of yet. dave trendler, marketing and publicity manager for velopress has just taken delivery of advance copies, so the book will be a while reaching the shops even across the pond. while i have seen the uk release date stated as 15th october, i fear that may be a trifle optimistic, since america has it as december 1.

however, if like me that's just too long to wait for pages to drool over, i can give you a taste of what we're going to have in our grubby little paws when we can hand over our dollars or pounds with glee, courtesy of the aforementioned mr trendler. unless you are a confirmed shimano or sram user, you are going to want - no, need - a copy of this book. projected cost in the uk is £27.50 (stateside price $30). you'll be able to buy direct from velopress in the usa, and from cordee in the uk.

for a slow look at a few spreads from the book, click here

grateful thanks to dave trendler for assistance with this article

posted on saturday 6th september

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is this the new dawn?

cervelo s3

this is not quite the most up to the minute website for news about the professional peloton; islay is unquestionably the hub of the universe, just not the cycle world's universe. therefore it seems somewhat obvious that there are others better placed to eke out every last minute detail of the goings on in such rarefied atmosphere. fortunately one such has shone favourably on the post, and i am able to write an article from a position of knowledge, rather than the more usual faff and creative writing.

i wrote, a few thousand pixels ago, about the various goings on with regard to the bicycles on which the professionals place their bums; this season end has seen more movement in this department than during laxative testing, but there may also be a more fundamental change underway that affects the culture of the racing other than which flavour of carbon that the numbers have been pinned on.

the team now known as garmin chipotle (still sporting the argyle) were perhaps the first to signal the new dawn, though perhaps for reasons other than the latest to continue what we should hope will become a trend. the sponsors of jonathan vaughters' team were at pains to point out that their riders were not expected to perform or gain results at all costs; a valiant tip at the sport's drug culture. if the end of season contract renewal relied on other than placings in the major races, there was, so the theory goes, less pressure on riders to dope. couple this with systematic internal dope testing, and it seems that garmin chipotle are at the avant garde of professional cycle racing.

that garmin had no shortage of co-sponsors willing to live with this regime, says to me that this is a justifiable way to operate a professional cycle team. and garmin's results have done them credit, lending further credence to vaughters' insight. but within the last week or so, the cycle supplier to this year's tour winning team, csc - saxo bank, announced that it was dissociating itself from the team at the end of the 2008 season to set up the cervelo test team; a new professional team to 'provide a comprehensive, engineering-driven test ground for new product development...
...how better to accomplish that by owning the team?'

so now we have, albeit at pro continental level (as are garmin-chipotle - as if it makes any difference anymore) a team who's modus operandi no longer rests entirely on the win. it's conceivable that cervelo can learn just as much from losing as they can from winning. given that there are few, if any, racing cyclists who can resist the competitive urge, it is unlikely that the fact that phil white and gerard vroomen are less concerned with winning than taking part (at least, that's what they say) will result in a generation of pro riders who simply go through the motions.

and as witness to this effect, first to ally himself with the new cervelo test team was 2008 tour de france winner, carlos sastre, ending weeks of speculation as to his future. but as if that were not enough, csc-saxo bank sports director, scott sunderland, has also left bjarne riis to his own devices and joined with cervelo. so the future of possibly the first development team in professional cycling, has already acquired two of the finest in the business both outside and inside the team car. whether you feel that the humble bicycle requires this level of development is an entirely different story, but it seems likely that while cervelo may be the first to do so, they quite likely won't be the last.

and if i'm perfectly honest, i think this is just what cycling needs. lance's 'it's not about the bike' credo, might just be about to have the rug pulled from under it.

i'd like to thank anthony mccrossan of cyclevox (adviser to the cervelo test team) for assistance with this article.

posted on friday 5th september

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rapha silk scarf

rapha silk scarf

radio four's today programme: why is the weather so vague? 'showers and wind in the south, sunny periods in the north' north of what exactly? the sun is casting happy shadows through the blinds, and wiping the condensation on the windows, it's possible to see a heavy dew on the field behind the house. if this was later in the year, that would have been frost. sadly, this may be the day that ends a lengthy run of shorts and bare knees; time to dig out the rapha threequarter bibs, the ones with the white panel below the knee.

armwarmers would be nice, but they're in the wash, and i really don't need too much prompting to grab the long-sleeved team jersey from the pile beside the wardrobe.

a quick foray to the bikeshed confirms the temperature, and i experience a brief shiver unhooking the padlock from the top of the shed door. it's never locked because it's rusted open, but this is the middle of nowhere - well, almost. definitely gilet weather, and knotting a silk scarf round the neck certainly wouldn't go amiss, despite blue sky with a rim of clouds that could be interpreted as threatening.

leaving after 9am means all the kids have made their way to school, and there's less need to to be heedful of concerned parents doing the school run in landrovers and the like. the kids are all off the buses, so no real danger of youthful exuberance and class avoidance rushing out from behind. freewheeling down school street past the distillery is tempered by the joy of a fast downhill and the hidden exits behind the white wall enclosing the malt barns.

rapha silk scarf

i'm not going far today - out of bowmore, round the head of the loch which is uncharacteristically calm and reflective, past the bowling green at bridgend, empty, damp and crossed by shadows over its cropped turf. as is often the case, on a windless day, the wind is ever in the face of of a cyclist, and a cool wind at that. however, gilet and scarf maintain cosiness in the face of adversity - i really wasn't expecting this degree of neck protection from a rich material almost as thin as rice paper; natural fibres, hand-crafted, have a lot going for them.

having successfully avoided wandering cows and sheep down uiskentuie strand, the notion of a soya cappuccino on the patio, al fresco, is foiled by the presence of white van man up a ladder, the red chairs and parasoled tables cast aside like discarded biscotti wrappers. still with a chill in the air, supping chocolate dusted froth in front of the brasilia is an easily acceptable alternative.

the open-ness and clarity of the island means there is more sky than land - it's easy to see where the rain is, where it's been, and where it's going to next. unfortunately, the homeward path intersects all three, and it's not long before precipitation is doing its best to trouble the silk, sportwool and lycra, and making a darn fine job of it too. my grandfather used to tell me that nature didn't have straight lines, but he'd obviously never been to islay; the rain stops and starts suddenly with the tell-tale straight line across the tarmac.

rapha silk scarf

a couple of hours out on a sunny, but rainy and almost windless morning, mostly on the bike, is sort of why i moved here in the first place, and it helps style and well-being to be properly clothed for the occasion.

i was.

the rapha, hand-made english silk scarf, is available in black and white with a pattern of sprockets encased by a white-lined border. it's one of the most surprisingly effective fripperies it is possible to acquire. an item of stylish apparel obviously produced with the inner hebrides in mind, it will be worn with pride throughout the autumn, winter and spring. and maybe even summer if i'm feeling windswept and carefree.

rapha.cc

posted on thursday 4th september

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festival time

highland games

you will, perhaps, forgive me for providing you with so much information regarding a couple of races that so many folks, including yours truly, can't actually manage to go to in person. but since the events are this weekend, there's only a limited time frame to cram all the stuff in. i'm sure there are many who could point to bike races providing a similar range of complementary events, but it so happens that those involved with the univest grand prix have been particularly effective in supplying me with all the relevant information, a somewhat unprecedented situation for thewashingmachinepost (with the possible exception of rollapaluza).

i have already provided a list of the rides and races that will take place in and around doylestown and souderton, pennsylvania on 6th/7th september, but it seems that it is also festival time all around that part of the map. while the souderton family fun zone at univest plaza in downtown souderton will host a screed of over 50 stalls and attractions, the grand prix will by-pass the apparently historic, 131 year-old and oddly named, oyster picnic in woxall.

but the main attraction for those of us on this side of the pond - well, some of us from this side - would be the ninth annual scottish-irish festival and highland games starting on the day prior to the grand prix and sportive finishing on the same day as the univest criterium on sunday. in 2007, this free festival attracted over 127,000 people (give a scotsman anything for free and he's there:-). unsurprisingly, the festival hosts more than its fair share of pipe bands, and doubtless some caber tossing, but i couldn't find out if there was any of that branch of cycle sport much beloved by the scots at such events - grass track racing. at the criterium on sunday in doylestown will encircle the local arts festival, which starts on the saturday.

now in cycling terms, these may be of trivial interest - we'd all be watching the whirling carbon fibre, but if my family is anything to go by, out of four of us, only one has any interest in skinny tyres and bendy bars. if you can include the family, or families in anything related to cycling by way of keeping folks interested while awaiting the peloton's arrival, then that seems mighty fine by me. it's something that happens in many villages and towns throughout the tour de france, and i think it's rather cool that a country with a cycling history not out of double figures, can incorporate such happy attractions along with cycle racing.however, while bemoaning the fact that most of us won't be there in person, we will have the opportunity to watch on universalsports.com. the latter are showing the saturday race live from 11am to 3pm eastern standard time (in the uk, that's about 4pm - 8pm); the doylestown criterium on the sunday is available on the same channel/website from 11am to 1pm (uk 4pm - 6pm).bet you're just dying to watch now.

univestgrandprix.com

posted on wednesday 3rd september

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wheels within wheels

skye

i can do little but marvel at the benefits of modern communications, and the delightfully random nature of what can be achieved. you may well remember my earlier piece on the forthcoming univest grand prix in souderton, pennsylvania. perhaps unsurprisingly, this article was noticed by a former glasgow resident (glaswegians get everywhere, which is why it's not too surprising) who subsequently contacted me to inform that he would be taking part in the univest grand prix cyclosportive and watching as much of the race as humanly possible. my correspondent, living as he does within striking distance of doylestown, will also be fortunate enough to grab an eyeful of the univest criterium on the sunday. some people quite obviously have all the luck.

however, if that were the only point to my having received such communication, then you could be forgiven for uttering at least a mental so what, and i'd be right their with you. however, such is the random nature of such as e-mail, that his communication had inadvertantly attached a pdf copy of masterlink, the newsletter of the bicycle touring club of north jersey. and just to make the set of circumstances a tad more bizarre than they have already become (you are following all this aren't you? - i will be asking questions), this wasn't even an up to date version of the newsletter, but one from may 2006.

so, before this becomes too tortuous for even the most tenacious of readers, i shall move swiftly to the point. on page nine, is a set of lyrics intended to be sung to the tune of the skye boat song, but entitled the skye bike song. for those of far flung parts who know little of scottish geography, the isle of skye is the most northerly of the inner hebrides, quite a bit further up the coast from islay and substantially bigger. the original song referred to the flight of bonnie prince charlie over to the island during one of scotland's more violent periods of history. unfortunately, it's not possible for me to hum the tune on thewashingmachinepost, so if you know it not, i'm sure it can be found on the world wide internet somewhere.

the skye bike song

speed bonnie bike like a bird on the wing
onward the leader cries
carry us over the roads as we sing
over the hills to skye.

fast the wheels spin, hard the cranks turn
legs please do not fail
baffled are we, the harder we yearn
the longer we stay at the tail

many's the lad who rides everyday
well does he gather his strength
when the night comes he silently lays
stretched on his bed his full length

all through the night, soft will he sleep
dreams of the road in his head
deep in his sleep memories he'll keep
while riding the sheets on his bed

speed bonnie bike like a bird on the wing
onward the leader cries
carry us over the roads as we sing
over the hills to Skye

the lyrics were originally contributed by harry rutten, one of the founder members of the bicycle touring club of north jersey, and my thanks go to alex wallace who inadvertantly sent me the newsletter. the photo is by michael robertson of velodramatic.com because he went to skye on his holidays last year

posted on tuesday 2nd september

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all change

bike stacking

come the end of the season, musical chairs doesn't have a look in. with some teams disbanding as the year disappears (notably gerolsteiner and credit agricole), there are many riders looking for a contract for 2009, others who have decided to shift teams, new chaps joining the peloton, and older riders hanging up their wheels. there's nothing new in all this, it happens every year, and it's part of what makes this sport so interesting as different combinations of riders in different teams might change the face of the sprints or the climbs or just everything.

but what seems to have become a larger part of this year's transfer season, are the number of bicycle manufacturers who have decided to play musical chairs themselves. after saunier duval pulled out during the tour de france, scott stepped up as title sponsor, until american beef (there's a jersey i don't want to see) poured in some money of their own. and now scott have decided they don't want to play there anymore, and they've shifted to team columbia. rabobank, after many a long year on colnagos (see article on colnago.cc), are going to have the giants that columbia won't have anymore, while csc are now bereft of cervelos because they're about to set up their own test team. naturally, bjarne riis has moved swiftly to adopt specialized bicycles for the team in 2009. and ridley are off to katusha (this year's tinkoff), taking robbie mcewen with them.

now, i'm sure all this is of academic interest to those of less than complete anorak nature such as myself, but there are implications that rank up there with distilleries winning awards for whisky made under the previous ownership. the majority of bicycle manufacturers supply bicycles to top teams not only for development purposes (let's see how stiff we can make them), but also for the endorsements that they hope will place their marque ahead of the competition, particularly if the team is successful in the top races.

but much of the latter is dependent on our suspension of belief. oscar freire has won two of his three world championship jerseys aboard a colnago, and while cambiago hasn't quite capitalised on that fact as much as i think they might have done, by implication, colnago is a world class bicycle capable of powering a rider to two rainbow bands. however, if oscar wins green at next year's tour, we'll be expected to believe that he managed to do so because he was on a giant. in actual fact, it's oscar than has won three times, and it likely matters little which bike he is/was aboard. about specialized, bjarne riis has said 'i am really excited to start this new partnership, and I think that we can create great things together with specialized' which would indicate that cervelo are yesterday's news, and have been forgotten already, even though spartacus won the olympic tt on one.

so do we really buy our bicycles based on who's riding one in the peloton, safe in the knowledge that many would do just as well on a pashley guv'nor (no disrespect intended to pashley)? does anybody really care? and in which case, are companies such as trek, specialized, scott et al, spending a lot more money than they really need to. and has the necessity of supplying bikes to rabobank, milram, landbouwkrediet, navigare and tinkoff been the real reason why the new colnago eps costs darned near £3000?

it will not surprise you to learn that i haven't a clue.

posted on monday 1st september

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there's training, and there's training

bag of spanners

it's somewhat of an obsession, even amongst those of us who have absolutley no need. with the garmin edge 705 still on test (more on that soon), i religiously put on the heart rate chest strap every ride, and when i get home i check to see what the average for the distance has been. and when giving it some welly on the nearest we have to climbing over here, cast a comforting glance at my realtime heartrate, just to make sure i'm not into paramedic territory (a man of my age can't be too careful you know). and the magazines are full of various training schemes, aids, dos and don'ts, a bit like the daily papers. they continually update us on what foods we should or shouldn't be eating, because of the drastic effect they will have on our metabolism or lifestyle, i really haven't a clue as to what i should be doing to go as fast as i can for as long as i care to.

and why do i want to, is the question i must continually ask myself, even though i haven't come up with a decent answer yet (well, any answer at all, to be honest). it could be that pride dictates that if one is pedalling around the estates on several thousand pounds worth of italian carbon fibre, wearing the most stylish of apparel, then it ill behoves to be passed by a kid on half a tonne of full suspension mountain bike bought from the co-op. so training it has to be.

yet no matter how much attention i pay to the progress of erik as he disappears off the left side of the garmin, while the red numbers ever increase, some weekends i'm crap, and other weekends fabian cancellara would be hard pushed to keep me in sight (actually that last bit is just for effect; spartacus would pass me easily on one of the aforementioned co-op bicycles. but you see what i'm getting at?). last weekend, despite a headful of positive attitude, and a bottle full of carbo drink, i rode like a bag of spanners, not just on the flat, but against the gravitational pull of the inclines - a stomping ground that i like to think of as mine.

yet off we go today for the usual 70km before debbie's calls, and i left everyone standing when it came to climbing, and rode everyone off my back wheel on the pull down to coffee land (i did apologise for the latter - i thought they were still there.) what i'd like to know is, does this happen to those who have a qualified person advising of every calorie, kilometre and watt? does chris hoy drag the track bike out of the squirrel cupboard at manchester and find that the cleaner outsprints him on the floor polisher every once in a while. i tend to think not. but then chris and his peers have a lot more resting on the need to get it right when it needs to be right; i'm just out for a whizz before coffee and carrot cake. a mobile conversation if you will.

and i'd be willing to bet that there are a lot more of me out there doing the same thing, despite no earthly need to do so. if we get out on our bikes on a regular basis, there is no need to worry about losing fitness, and there is little to be lost by finishing last at the sprint for the 30 sign at bruichladdich. in fact, there's little to be lost by not even attempting to sprint in the first place. so perhaps it would be better for all if the garmin was switched to map mode, and the chest strap left in bathroom cupboard, because generally numbers and i don't get on well, but pictures and i are old friends. and as sting says in an englishman in new york - 'a gentleman walks, but never runs'

there seems no shame to have the colnago polished within an inch of its life, travelling at a sedate speed where everyone (and i mean everyone) can see their reflection in the top tube. and i can wear my best clothes with aplomb and grace.

nah, it'll never happen. 2012 here i come.

posted on sunday 31st august

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dazed and confused

rouleur 10

i'm well aware of accusations of favouritism. which i think are probably well founded; assuming all the arrogance i can muster, i could probably retort along the lines of it's my website, and i can do as i want. perfectly true of course, but i'd rather not impose that degree of high-handedness on those of you who are good enough to read these pixels on a regular basis. of course, having met what i take to be a representative sample of this virtual readership, it's often very gratifying to discover that many have very similar likes and dislikes as myself. as matty ball said many a long year ago, the post concerns itself with road cycling culture (with a lower case 'c'), which pretty much encompasses as much bicycle related stuff as you can think of. or, more to the point, as i can think of.

so, if we accept that my enthusiasms and pet hates will occasionally coincide with at least a few others (enthusiasm being the operative word here), then i feel fully justified - if that's alright with the rest of you - in giving frequent pixel room to at least a few of these enthusiasms.

thursdays would not be the same without the comic, despite the fact that i feel it is currently a shadow of its former self, and the arrival of the monthlies, quite often within days of each other, are usually important enough (tour de france previews and reviews notwithstanding) to look forward to in the post box and at the newsagent. but there's something different about rouleur, something faintly worrying, because it's the only periodical i wished arrived on the doorstep more often than it does, but almost as keen that it doesn't. it's a magazine that can be savoured for weeks, the only one that i have kept every copy of, the only magazine i've had autographed by ernesto colnago and the only magazine that seems to understand me. hence the worry.

the brainchild of editor guy andrews, it's published by rapha, but it has surpassed that mental and physical liaison, and very quickly managed to stand on its own two feet, substantially different than any other cycling magazine i've come across. the recently produced 'the ride' was a breath of fresh air (yes, i must declare a personal interest in that one), but even it failed to tread on rouleur's toes. all this is a particularly long-winded way of letting on that number ten is in the post or, if you've not subscribed, the number is available from rapha as soon as they open on monday.

just one more thing - the cover has a robert millar era wool jersey on the front. remember what i said about the worrying fact that rouleur understands me?

rouleur.cc | rapha.cc

posted on saturday 30th august

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