..........................................................................................................................................................................................................
so what's next?
the bicycle industry, at least at the pointy end, is somewhat voracious in its habits, always looking for the next big thing, or the next technological development that will place it ahead of its competitors, and put its sponsored riders a few metres or kilometres ahead of their competitors. whether this has always been the case, depends to an extent on who you ask, and conditional on your or their point of view.
though possibly beyond the recall of the majority of today's professionals, bicycle frames were once crafted from lugged steel, a material that fulfilled the role for almost one hundred years. however, following the end of the cold war at the beginning of the 1990s, many armaments manufacturers had need of seeking other markets of the materials and expertise they had acquired during the previous decades. those were the years when strong, light alloys of aluminium became available to the cycle industry, along with titianium, some of which originated in russia.
in a chicken and egg situation, it's difficult to divine whether the cycle industry was in the process of looking for alternative means to make their frames and components lighter, or whether the availability of materials that would accomplish such a quest suddenly becoming available, was simply to good an opportunity to pass up. either way, steel very quickly became persona non-grata in the peloton, replaced with metals such as scandium, titanium or even, at one point, beryllium. ultimately, however, all were subsumed by the black stuff: carbon fibre.
though the industry had been experimenting with carbon for a year or two (notably look and kestrel), arguably the first carbon fibre bicycle frame to feature in the pro peloton was produced by colnago, in the shape of their iconic c40, around 1994. colnago's c-series of frames were originally built to replicate their steel master frameset, utilising carbon lugs into which carbon tubes were bonded. until the c-68, that continued to be the case, but as with the majority of the bike industry, the other frames in cambiago's range are built in the far east, where monocoque construction rules.
there have been incremental developments in the use of carbon fibre in bicycle frames ever since, with the inclusion of carbon nano tubes prevailing, even to the extent of being given external mention on the seatstays of more than one model. but if we take the c40 as being ground-zero as far as carbon is concerned, then it's only a matter of two years before we reach its 30 year anniversary, with nothing that i know of on the horizon to replace it.
the only marked development introduced recently followed the discovery of graphene, a material that can be as thin as one atom of carbon and that possesses many of the properties much desired by the cycle industry; low weight, impressive strength and economic cost. however, as i understand it, graphene is not a material out which you would attempt to construct an entire frame or wheel rims. its superpower would appear to be as an additive to both of the above, lowering the weight of each, while improving the strength, assuming the manufacturer has managed to achieve uniform dispersal within the carbon.
but is there a single material that might eventually replace carbon fibre at cycling's cutting edge, and is anybody actually looking?
there's no doubt that the cycle industry, as it pertains to the racing fraternity, is on a never-ending quest to reduce weight and improve aerodynamic efficiency, though whether both can be achieved simultaneously is open to debate. but the aerospace industry, from where once manna originated, seems every bit as invested in carbon fibre as is the cycle industry. and since the former has far deeper pockets than the likes of specialized, trek or giant, it seems highly likely that were a hitherto untapped source of magic material hiding in the wings, boeing, lockheed and airbus would already be buying tonnes of the stuff.
invoking the law of diminishing returns, after nearly thirty years, it seems highly likely that the upper limits of carbon technology have been already reached, or are soon about to be. perhaps the bicycle industry is about to reprise the past, in the same way as the record business has apparently rediscovered vinyl?
lugged steel anyone?
monday 25 july 2022
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................you know you're a cyclist when...
the idea of a heatwave is one of those subjective situations, dependent, to some degree on the level of comparison. last weekend was fraught with meteorological office extreme heat warnings for the majority of the uk, warnings that the media treated as if it were blanket coverage; as if that heat was applicable to everyone. but as was mentioned on more than one occasion during this past week, nobody holidays in the hebrides (inner or outer) for the weather.
that's not to imply that islay, jura or colonsay are bereft of the occasional bouts of warm, sunny weather, but it seems only prudent to mention that these are rarely, if ever, constituted as heatwaves. as it transpired, tuesday morning was probably the closest we came to the forecast extreme heat, tipping the thermometer on my garmin at more or less half the degrees celcius that were simultaneously making life very uncomfortable, and at times, dangerous in the southern part of england. those temperatures were further amelioriated by persistent rainfall in the latter part of the cycling day.
but this is, for another week at least, the month of july, three weeks of which bring on-screen images of cyclists in france riding past fields of sunflowers, of neutral service motorbikes handing out water bottles to the breakaway, and the sight of members of the peloton with ungainly bumps between their shoulder blades, scarcely disguising bags of ice. contrast that with thursday eve's pipe band practice on the outskirts of bowmore village. following a period of tuning and playing indoors, it was decided that, ahead of this weekend's engagement at port ellen sport's day, we ought best to spend a few moments marching up and down the patch of grass at the rear of the building.
every single member of our small band put on a jacket or hoodie prior to exiting through the back door. that really shouldn't be happening in late july; summer is scarcely a time for jackets.
moving on a few days to saturday afternoon, and the first annual sports day to be held since 2019. even better, the weather forecast, depending on which one you consulted, showed the rain holding off until late afternoon. unfortunately, forecasts are notoriously inaccurate, and as if to prove that point, around 2pm, the heavens opened, nullifying any possibility of holding any outdoor events, moving the highland dancing displays and pipe-banding indoors.
sat in the car, after having walked through pouring rain to bring it closer to the venue, i was wont to point out that, though there was no way i was then going to stand in the middle of a field playing a bass drum strapped to my chest, in point of fact, i'd have been out cycling had the opportunity existed.
i have persistently attempted to justify this predilection for riding in the rain and wind, with the fact that i own several, state-of-the-art waterproofs, possession of which would make it a tad ridiculous to remain indoors during bouts of precipitation. however, even i'm beginning to find that reasoning to be a bit threadbare; i go out riding in the rain because i consider myself to be a cyclist, and riding in the rain is something that cyclists do. not to do so would surely mean that the elements have won, not only seriously reducing any bragging rights, but ultimately portraying us as a bunch of wimps.
given the weather's record so far this summer, i don't hold out too much hope for the month of august either, during which it will be necessary to don a skirt and a purse to play a drum in the great outdoors on several other occasions, all of which will be moaned about continuously if the rain stays mainly in the hebrides. but i guarantee i'll still be going out cycling voluntarily, on each occasion, with a smile on my face.
sunday 24 july 2022
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................walk this way
aside from being a confirmed luddite, and a creature of invariable habit, i am also, apparently, an incurable traditionalist. not, i hasten to add, to the extent of persisting with friction shifting across a five-speed freewheel using downtube levers; at least, that's what i'm telling you. much of the latter consists of a mass of contradictions. for instance, though i can see very little to commend twelve-speeds over five, insofar as i believe i, and many of my cohorts, fare little better with those extra seven sprockets, than we did with the original five, i do rather enjoy riding not only twelve sprockets, but doing so with brake-lever mounted, indexed gear-changing.
additionally, i find it hard to reconcile the once sure knowledge that narrower tyres offer less rolling resistance than wider rubber, particularly when neither of my principal velocipedes are shod with tyres of at least 28mm width. no doubt, though on a considerably lesser scale, some of these realisations bear comparison to the present day experiences of astrophysicists when viewing the plethora of images regularly arriving fron the james webb space telescope. everything that i once thought to be immutable, has turned out to be quite the opposite. who would ever have thought that double-chainsets would cast off the ubiquitous 52/42 configuration in favour of 50/34 or more recently, 52/36. heck, i've even read proponents of single chainrings on road bikes. what is wrong with these people?
of course, many recent developments are reputedly based on certifiable technical evidence, only marginally manipulated to make it suitable for reiteration by the industry's marketing departments. but hidden 'neath the ever present need to sell more stuff to more people, it's just possible that tubeless tyres, hydraulic disc brakes and electronic gear-changing have actually improved the road-going experience. but as a confirmed sceptic, there's no way i can accept that to be the case, even when verified by personal experience. once a traditionalist, always a traditionalist.
there are, however, precedents for my cynicism. fabian cancellara did not, i'm led to believe, feature electronic shifting on any of his bicycles prior to retirement from the professional milieu, while two-time tour de france winner, tadej pogacar, was a late convert to disc-brakes. and the doyen of grand tour commentary, sean kelly, took far more persuasion than his contemporaries to switch from toe-clips to cleated footwear. which, rather conveniently, brings me onto the subject of cycling footwear.
as the majority of us are aware, cleated shoes consist of two variations: so-called spd style, two-bolt cleats, predominantly worn by the offroad fraternity, and the much larger and scarcely concealed, three-bolt cleats as originally invented by look. the slight, but perhaps obvious disadvantage of the latter, is their predisposition to make their wearers walk like a duck. and i don't mind telling you that climbing the green metal stairs to the gents' toilets at ardbeg distillery is a great deal less safe when done so in three-bolt cleats than it is when wearing offroad footwear, featuring sole recesses for those little metal cleats.
and therein lies my problem. this past tuesday, as reported earlier in these pixels, i, along with colleagues from the peloton, undertook to ride to each distillery on the island. aware that this particular perambulation would involve a certain amount of distillery-based pedestrianism, i opted to switch out the ritchey carbon pedals, for a pair of crank brothers candy sevens. this was done in the surety that the others would have done likewise, a supposition that turned out to be completely wide of the mark on each and every count.
though i cannot deny that i probably found walking considerably less unstable than the others, i fear that this fact misses the point. as a confirmed roadie, i believe i ought to have observed a tradition that has existed since bernard hinault's day, invoking my mother's favoured comment, "pride bears no pain". so now i feel like a total fraud, unable to hold my head up in public without passers-by opting to cross the road rather than share the pavement with my velocipedinal disgrace.
mind you, none of the others attempted to climb those stairs at ardbeg.
saturday 23 july 2022
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................sportsmanship
i know i promised not to write about the tour de france while it was still in progress, but i'm invoking the little-known jonas vingegaard clause based entirely on the supposition that he's now likely to wear yellow all the way to paris. that said, i've been very wrong on several previous occasions. and though i have no wish to disparage any other sporting activities or those who participate, i would hope that the majority would agree that we seem to have moved well past lord voldemort's 'no gifts' mantra from this century's first decade.
possibly the first indication that sportsmanship in its widest acceptable form, was demonstrated by wout van aert last week. after having ridden almost two hundred kilometres, and following the jersey presentations, the belgian faced a 13km ride back to the jumbo visma bus. as he set off, riding tubeless tyres, they fulfilled their promise when he punctured, the sealant closing off any further escaping air, but leaving wout with a slightly deflated tyre.
enquiring of the surrounding spectators if anyone had a pump he could borrow, a brit handed him the very item he required, for which he was rewarded by the green jersey holder handing over his podium green jersey, the commercially unavailable version that zips up the back. though not an undertaking actuated in the heat of battle, i think that qualifies as an example of sportsmanship.
then take a quick look at post-race footage, and you'll see that, on the day that vingegaard and roglic worked over tadej pogacar with the old one-two routine, pogacar was one of the first to congratulate jonas on taking yellow. and earlier this week, as the two members of a futile breakaway rode for sponsor visibility in searing french temperatures, the tv coverage caught the moment when one handed his accomplice a very welcome ice-pack, despite neither of them riding for the same team. though they never reached the point where either had to contest a finish-line sprint, once again, i think that qualifies as true sportsmanship.
and then there came yesterday's stage to the summit finish at hautacam. despite pogacar's repeated attempts to breakaway from his danish nemesis, vingegaard jumped immediately onto his back wheel on every occasion, bringing both of them together over the summit of the penultimate climb and descending together, bereft of team-mates. the itv4 commentary team of ned boulting and david millar insisted that pogacar was trying every action to force the following dane into making a mistake, but unfortunately overcooked it on a bend, hitting roadside gravel and skidding off into the ditch.
cycling is full of unwritten rules, one of which is that you don't attack if the yellow jersey finds himself in trouble. however, in this case, it was the other way round, yet vingegaard not only sat up and waited, but checked that pogacar was ok, before pressing on. the handshake to be seen between the two as they subsequently descended apace, encapsulated everything that describes cycling as the beautiful sport. and later that same day, a rider caught by the pursuing group could be seen pouring the last of his water bottle contents on the neck of a passing competitor to ease his upward trajectory.
there will doubtless have been very many other incidents of a similar nature that have passed unnoticed by the cameras and journalists. the tour de france features the sport's top riders and is nothing if not fiercely competitive, but it is of great comfort and inspiration to learn that our heroes are not only great victors, but also true sportsmen. as vingegaard undertook his warmdown on the turbo, tadej pogacar ventured over to congratulate him on his stage victory.
it makes you proud to be a cyclist.
friday 22 july 2022
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................corporate merger
a drumming colleague of mine from across the pond has always expressed sorrow for his fellow musicians playing guitar, keyboard, bass or any form of brass instrument. though one of the friendliest fellows it has been my good fortune to meet, his sympathy for those with whom he makes music is based less on altruism and more on his own love of drums and drumming. according to him, it's hard not to feel commiserations for the others on the stage, all of whom are bereft of the joy to be gained from being surrounded by so much luxurious wood and impressive hardware and metals.
other than the fact that, at the end of the evening, a guitarist has little other to do than unplug the guitar prior to putting it in a case, i would tend to agree with this appreciation of the joys of drumming. however, it's occasionally hard to reconcile that with having to laboriously unbolt and dismantle an entire drumset and associated hardware, while the others in the band spend the same period of time cheerfully chatting with members of the audience, over a welcome glass of san pellegrino (other drinks may be available).
i've heard similar feelings expressed by cyclists towards their motoring counterparts, ensconced as they are within metal boxes, often stuck in traffic of which they form an instrinsic part. and though the hebrides has been spared the excesses of the recent extreme heatwave affecting the uk, the island temperatures have added a still further layer of discomfort to the motoring public. granted, i'm fairly sure that those with steering wheels in their hands are unlikely to feel put-upon by their choice to drive rather than pedal, but one day soon, they'll hopefully open their eyes and smell the coffee.
however, as climate change becomes ever more tangible to even the naysayers, and the knowledge that britain's 27% of greenhouse gases from motor vehicle activity hopefully brings some level of contrition, there may begin to be a growing number who begin to question their own transportational needs. and should that situation actually come to pass, it's likely that the world's car manufacturers and distributors will also be forced to rethink.
for instance, it has already been demonstrated that electric cars will hardly be the panacea that marketing hopes to persuade us they are. there have already been published articles contending that particles from car tyres and braking systems create a carcinogenic nightmare, which electric motors will do nothing to reduce. additionally, though electric vehicles will remove exhaust pollution from the streets, the electricity they require to charge the batteries has to be generated somewhere, not all of which is going to be the result of renewables.
should all the above coalesce, the showroom of the average car dealer is going to look a tad empty. unless, of course, they decide to grab a piece of the 'action' for themselves, particularly when they possess the financial acumen to do so. and the first move in this direction may already have taken place, as toyota's french distribution network begins to sell elecric cargo bikes as of next year. pairing with a business that specialises in modular and configurable bikes, douze cycles, toyota hopes to offer its current and potential customers, a viable car alternative.
though it seems hard to reconcile the aims of a bicycle manufacturer with those of one of the world's largest car manufacturers, according to the founder of douze cycles, thomas coulbeaut, "With Toyota France, we share the same vision and want to build tomorrow's mobility together." however, it would appear that both parties are agreed that the cargo bike is likely to become a major player in city-centre mobility. this state of affairs was apparently reinforced at the recent eurobike show, where a number of companies involved in producing parts for motor vehicles were looking to bring their engineering skills to the bicycle industry, amongst others.
it's unlikely that our favoured marques will disappear from view anytime soon, but it will be interesting to watch the external signage on europe's car dealerships in the coming years. perhaps raleigh-ford, mercedes-brompton, or peugeot-specialized perchance.
thursday 21 july 2022
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................consolidation
it would have been either 2014 or 2015; memory doesn't accurately recall when richard goslan of the scotch malt whisky society (smws) first instigated the tour de islay, a cycle ride that took in each and every one of islay's whisky distilleries. the original idea was that it would become an annual event, with each distillery having received, from smws, a small rubber stamp to be applied to a downloadable brevet card. thus, those who chose to undertake such a whisky-based perambulation, would have a permanent record of having done so, one that could be stored alongside a selection of miniatures and the inevitable photographs.
the ride was undertaken for a second time in 2019, at which point we were safe in the knowledge that this was a restarting of the event, and all would continue smoothly from that point onwards. of course, at that point in may 2019, none of us foresaw what was about to take place during the following two years. in order to raise funds for the local residential home, i undertook a solo tour de islay in 2020, but that proved impossible to repeat the following year.
however, earlier this year, as reported in these very pixels, two of us joined the intrepid rob richardson on the islay stage of his whisky ventures ride during which, he had chosen to ride to every distillery in scotland to raise funds for the scottish air ambulance charity and cash for kids. that ride came to an end earlier this month, and rob proposes to auction the bottle collection assembled across the event. in the process of accompanying those velocipedinal visitors to the principality, we have now all but perfected the ideal route, confirmation of which came during an extensive bike ride on tuesday 19 july.
this particular bicycle ride, the importance of which i am honour bound to keep a secret, since it involves a well-known british cycling publication, has all but confirmed the parcours, particularly if you fancy undertaking the same by way of a day trip to islay. the editor of the unmentioned publication, along with a photographer, arrived off the morning ferry into port ellen, riding the five kilometres to ardbeg distillery to meet with three members of the velo club. with introductions over and done with, we set off; four of us on bicycles and the photographer in a hire car, in radio contact with his editor to arrange camera and drone images along the way.
paying subsequent visits to lagavulin and laphroaig distilleries, we then followed the tried and tested route along the high road before turning left in the direction of bowmore distillery. that stage completed, it was off round loch indaal to bruichladdich distillery, before an excellent repast at debbie's, en-route to kilchoman. though tuesday was fraught with extreme heat warnings across the uk, on islay, it was rather more pleasant, with 20 degree heat and a cooling sea breeze to prevent overheating as we pedalled.
on leaving kilchoman, the rain started, reducing the ambient temperature by a few more degrees, as we headed north to ardnahoe distillery. as it transpired, this was our last visit for the day, as the departure time of the 18:00 mainland ferry loomed ever closer. though caol ila distillery is currently closed to visitors due to refurbishment of the visitor centre, bunnahabhain was simply a few kilometres too far on this occasion. i'll let you know when the subsequent magazine feature is due to be published.
however, if you're wondering just how i can justify this as being the ideal parcours for those wishing to visit all islay's distilleries in a day, before leaving on the early evening ferry, it is pertinent to mention that, whenever there is a photographer in the mix, matters will inevitably take considerably longer; precisely the case on this occasion.
so, if you opt to take the 7am ferry from kennacraig to port ellen and intend to briefly visit each distillery, prior to departing on the 18:00 ferry from port askaig, just let me know, because we've got it all figured out. and when portintruan distillery and port ellen distillery are up and running, i'll carry out another reconnoitre, just to determine if an extra two are possible to include. there really should be little problem, however, since portintruan is within a stone's throw of laphroaig distillery, while port ellen is on the route to towards bowmore.
don't you just love it when a plan comes together?
thanks to stephen and tom for their company on the ride and saving the un-named editor from having to listen to my drivel all day.
wednesday 20 july 2022
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................green oil chain degreaser and dry chain wax
i have made no secret of my desire always to ride with a perfectly clean, shiny chain, disappointingly, a characteristic that has so far refused to spread to the rest of the bike. but rather than being a totally spurious quirk, there is a smidgeon of method in my madness. during the second year of my attempts on rapha's festive 500, while cleaning the chain at day's end, i discovered a cracked side-plate, which, knowing my luck, would have disintegrated at the furthest point from home, in wet, windy and freezing conditions.
never one to shy away from pragmatism, i have since almost religiously fettled my chain either after each ride, or prior to the next, keeping an eagle eye open for any potential mechanical disasters.
and then, of course, there is the aesthetic; advice has long been to ensure that the bicycle is in the big ring when left unattended at the coffee stop, if only to convince any innocent bystanders, that its owner must surely be possessed of unrivalled power. and if the chain is going to sit on the teeth of that big ring in full public view, all the better that it shines in the sunlight (a little hebridean humour there).
and anyone watching the low flying camera shots of the professional peloton on tv will surely have noticed just how dirt-free are their chains. having mine look similar is merely another outward sign of a pretentious wannabe.
i believe i may have admitted once before to making use of the ubiquitous wd40 as my chain cleaner of choice, a job at which it has proved more than equal, even imparting a modicum of lubrication in better weather, but the composition of wd 40, however, effective, is largely based on petrochemicals, described on the spec sheet as aliphatic hydrocarbons. as a fully paid up member of the greener than green cycling community, surely there ought to be something less invasive of similar benefit? that's pretty much where green oil's products enter the fray.
i am a long-term user of green oil, the very lubricant placed on my chains, following that dousing in wd40, but the company is hardly a one-trick pony.
encased within a handy, individual bottle, green oil's chain degreaser now features carefully designed pictorial instructions for use. having cut a milk carton in half and found a stray paint brush, it's a simple matter of dripping the degreaser onto the chain links in similar manner to applying oil. the bike should then be ridden a short distance, prior to cleaning off the degreaser with a water-loaded paintbrush, then drying with, in my case, a handy bath towel that mrs washingmachinepost doesn't realise i've pinched.
the pictorial advice would advise that the chain should be left for several minutes following the process, before application of any lubricant.
in this instance, however, instead of reaching for my usual bottle of green oil, i opted for a similarly sized bottle of green oil dry chain wax. you would be forgiven for thinking, based on the description, that this might be in the form of a block of wax, but in fact, it exits the bottle as a dull grey liquid. however, once in place, it leaves a semi-dry coating that is reputed not to find itself magnetically attracted to trouser legs, while continuing to offer at least a partially shiny chain. following my painstaking cleaning of the chain, it always registers as something of a disappointment to find it ultimately liquidy-black with other lubricants.
made from sustainable ingredients, including natural alcohol, plant extracts and beeswax, green oil founder, simon nash, said that the product, while not consumable, is in fact vegetarian, if not vegan. for some reason, i find that strangely comforting. and lest you think that mr nash has a singular vision of a pollutant-free cycling society, it's worth my mentioning that the information sheets arriving alongside a range of green oil products (about more of which in the near future), apparently contain a percentage of sterilised elephant poo (yes really), helping fund conservation.
whether you harbour aspirations towards more ethical cycling pursuits or not, these products just plain work; the fact that they are also environmentally neutral and biodegradeable is simply a major bonus.
green oil chain degreaser is priced at £6.99 for a 100ml container. green oil dry chain wax costs around £14.99 for 100ml.
tuesday 19 july 2022
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