..........................................................................................................................................................................................................

the end?

this particular monologue could be viewed as a repeat of a discussion we had earlier in the year, but the very fact that the repetition seems to have occurred quite so proximitously, has rather forced it upon my word processing. and the only reason i'm content to admit to such repetition is wondering whether the present state of affairs has been recognised by others who, i believe, ought to know better. though the following concerns the global cycling network (gcn), in fact, they are somewhat incidental to the subject at hand. that subject is innovation.

taking place between 10-13 april, california's sea otter, an almost entirely outdoor cycling festival, is billed on their website as "...the world's premier cycling festival." there may be a certain degree of hyperbole involved in the latter statement; i'm sure the folks in taipei might take issue, but once again, it's effectively incidental to our conversation. on sunday morning i was privileged to watch part two of a gcn youtube video entitled 'hottest tech at sea otter' in which a gcn presenter tours the various stands at the cycle expo, cheerfully pointing out what he apparently regarded as 'hot tech'.

for the purposes of clarity, i think we should agree on what might be regarded as 'hot tech', if only to ensure that we're all singing from the same hymn sheet. my tack on the phrase would be technical innovation previously unseen, or utilised in an innovative manner. now, i'm not denying that there were no such examples featured in either of the two videos watched so far; a bottom bracket with carbon threads, or an integrated crumple zone in a cycle helmet for instance. but way too many of the so-called innovations appear to have staked claim to the description purely on the basis of their being 'cool'. given sea otter's location on america's west coast, perhaps that's simply a translation of the word 'innovative'.

in my related article that i recall was penned following a similar state of affairs (again, courtesy of gcn) observed at the taipei cycle show, it was rather painfully obvious that innovation within the bicycle industry, even in its widest sense, appears to have stalled. however, the implications of that, should it in fact be true, surely lean towards the superficial. it does mean that global cycling network may struggle even more to produce timely videos recorded at each of the major cycle shows this year, and it could entail that many a marketing department ends up either under or over-employed, the latter as part of a concerted offensive to convince us that 'cool' stuff is, in fact, innovative.

i truly hope that the nice people at gcn are as aware of this situation as i am, and that their videos continue only because they probably have to. but should we be concerned? in my humble opinion, probably not. and also in my opinion, bicycles are pretty much at the pinnacle of their technical development; if evidence were required, i believe the errant existence of the gravel bike is as much as anyone might require. during alex paton's perambulation of the items on show at sea otter, he featured a mountain bike with drop bars, front suspension and an alternative means of providing rear suspension that may not have been seen previously in that particular iteration, but was hardly innovative. in that guise, it was being classed as a gravel bike.

i rest my case.

we've had aero, we've had light weight, we've seen the seatstays drop half way down the seat tube, we've seen the top tube slope backwards and we've experienced downtubes of substantial girth. the headset has disappeared inside the head tube, the cables have disappeared inside the frame and the stem has conjoined with the bars to produce a one-piece component that offers no adjustment whatsoever. the gears have become electric, and the brakes, hydraulic, while saddles are now 3d printed; and while our attention was concentrated on all of the foregoing, tyre widths have expanded substantially. some of those were innovations, some were natural progressions, but you really do have to wonder what could possibly be next, given the quality of machinery that can be purchased even at the lowest of price ranges?

however, i think the major signifier that the end of the world is nigh, is the plethora of new and custom paint schemes that are being made available by the majority of manufacturers.

componentry is no better off. thirteen speeds is on the verge of becoming commonplace, but in reality, we're no better off than when we had access to only eight or nine sprockets at the back. and while early mountain bikes featured three chainrings up front, the latest iterations sport only one, relatively small chainring. if you'll pardon the insolence, how is that progress? different colours appear also to be the salve of the apparel industry; a jersey, is a jersey, is a jersey, but now available in teracotta.

of course, these are matters that really only apply to the cognoscenti at the cutting edge of velocipedinal sporting activity. the demands of the majority are far less onerous, if they can actually be considered demands at all. one of my neighbours has a modest collection of bicycles rescued from the council tip, with little in the way of mechanical insubordination. his collection sports a couple of mountain bikes and a purple road bike, all three of which are in working order and regarded simply as utilitarian in their purpose. quite what difference to the world order will be achieved by providing a threaded carbon fibre bottom bracket is probably a discussion for another day.

because for all that is cool and arguably innovative, cycling is still cycling.

monday 14 april 2025

but what does that actually mean?

i'm sure i've broached this subject on at least one previous occasion, but it might just be pertinent to today's monologue. though i'm in the process of becoming a cyclist once again after my recent health scare, prior to that, i was in the habit of riding between 130 - 160km each weekend, and on each occasion, there was always a half-full bottle of water in the bottle cage when i left the croft. unfortunately, and very much to my discredit, there was usually exactly the same amount of water in the bottle on my return. following instruction imparted by several training books reviewed on the post many years past, i have consciously attempted to begin sipping from the bottle after ten minutes in the saddle, with a view to repeating the exercise every five or so minutes. unfortunately, by the time i was around 20 minutes into a ride, i'd completely forgotten, and no more liquid was consumed.

apart from, of course, a soya latte at debbie's.

during the summer months, when it is reputedly warmer, even in the hebrides, though i still rarely imbibe from the cycle-mounted water bottle, i cannot deny that i often down an entire glass of fizzy water on my return. whether there is some deep-seated psychological reason for my reticence to drink while cycling, we'll probably never know.

in my early years as a velocipedinist, i was in the habit of adding isotonic or carbohydrate powders to that bottle of water, in the belief that it would improve what little performance i displayed. but then, even on the sunday ride, it would be habitual for most of the peloton to carry an energy bar in a jersey back pocket for sustenance midway through the ride. however, there's little doubt that many of these nutritional traits were borrowed from the professionals, despite the sunday ride being considerably shorter than even the occasional prologue time-trial. and to be honest, following a healthy breakfast of green city jumbo porridge oats topped with at least a couple of peach slices, between that and a cheese and tomato toastie at debbie's, where was the real need for mid-ride fortification?

i have gratefully been on the receiving end of any number of energy and protein bars, carbo-gels and various powders for adding to my water bottle. some of those have been commendably flavoursome, encouraging their digestion even in the face of dubious requirement. that matches well with the common philosophy outlined by the majority of sports nutrition providers, who know only too well that, if they want repeat custom from riders other than the professional classes, it needs to taste more than just palatable. however, i do harbour doubts about the efficacy of indulging in such avowed nutritional augmentation if your bike ride ends at around 70 - 80km.

granted, in a hebridean winter, peppered as they often are with torrential, horizontal rain, powered by a sub-zero galeforce wind, it's an actual fact that you can burn through calories like wildfire. but given the distances outlined above, it's more than likely that a healthy breakfast prior to the grand départ contained sufficient calories in the first place. it is a philosophical stance that seems to me to ring ever more true, the older i get. i'm sure there will be sports nutritionists reading these words, aghast that anyone could espouse such reactionary ideals in the face of considerable sports science research that claims otherwise, but i'm sure those selfsame individuals would be just as eager to agree that 'everybody's different.

in my first attempt at the sadly demised hot chillee london-paris ride, one of the fellows alongside whom i rode for the first stage, had consumed two entire 750ml water bottles and started on a third, by the time we'd reached the lunch stop. i, on the other hand, still had at least half of my only 500ml bottle left. like i said, everybody's different. however, for those who demand more from their energy products than yours truly, and who may harbour doubts over their nutritional consumption, i'm pretty sure that the purveyors of sports nutrition products would be only too willing to assist, particularly if it meant increased sales (though i am not accusing any of doubtful practices purely on the latter basis.) if the worst came to the worst, there's always your gp for additional advice.

so, if we can safely assume that i might be a tad more different than everyone else in these matters, it does not seem an outlandish proposition to think that each individual will have their favoured sports drink and/or energy bar/gel. one man's floor is another man's ceiling, so to speak, accounting for the many different brands available presumably from your nearest independent bike shop. and if you are in agreement with this appraisal, one then has to wonder why the adoption of a four year sponsorship arrangement between sis and british cycling is being portrayed as of great benefit to '...cyclists up and down the country.'

i can clearly see the benefit for athletes who form part of british cycling's coterie of olympic riders, and those who participate at national level in other cycling events, but i'm at somewhat of a loss to comprehend the branding of sis as 'official sports nutrition partner', other than the appearance of the sis logo on team britain cycling kit. according to british cycling, this arrangement 'will ensure riders at any level can access the same high-quality products and insights as world-class athletes' how is that any different than it is at present? do sis and their peers not develop their products in tandem (pun intended) with the professionals in order to subsequently offer them for sale to the great unwashed? isn't that one of the benefits of team sponsorship?

and while i'd imagine that team britain members will be tied to exclusive use of sis products in competition, i very much doubt that, simply because i hold british cycling membership, that also applies to me. as far as i'm aware, i can still buy a power-bar if i want to. sis chief operating officer has claimed, "in addition to supporting the elite athletes, we will be providing nutrition and education support to the broader british cycling community, working together to fuel the love of cycling across the uk." now either that's what they've been doing throughout their existence, or matters have changed and you'll have to show your british cycling membership card before anyone at science in sport will offer nutritional advice.

it's a funny old world.

image: science in sport

sunday 13 april 2025

separation

earlier this week, i received a compact disc from a record company for the purposes of a review in islay's local newspaper. up until relatively recently, they were in the habit of sending a link allowing me the luxury of downloading the mp3 files to place directly onto my ipod for listening. however, as of recent releases (this one is due on 4 may), i have received a printout of the press release and a physical copy of the music. this is something of a double-edged sword. on the downside, it means i need to import the tracks from the compact disc to my macbook air before transferring them to the trusty ipod. but on the plus side, i have the luxury of reading the included booklet explaining much about the recording that a simple download would not have offered.

and before i proceed further, i feel i ought to point out that the music on the cd very definitely belongs to the jazz idiom and from what i've heard so far (guitar, saxophone, drums and bass), is most enjoyable. however, as a child of the 1960s and 1970s, as far as music is concerned, i fear there is something lacking, something that has been common to several albums i have been called upon to review in recent years. i would be fibbing if i said i had recognised the secret ingredient from which the majority are bereft, but while taking my morning walk on friday, it dawned on me just what that secret ingredient might be.

i have, in my vinyl collection, a copy of the lost john coltrane album, both directions at once which includes a fold out poster featuring an image from one of the recording sessions. it clearly depicts coltrane, along with drummer, elvin jones, bassist, jimmy garrison and pianist, mccoy tyner arranged almost in a semi-circle, with one microphone (actually two, in elvin's case) on each instrument. they can clearly see each other, none are seen with headphones, and there are no baffles physically separating each of the musicians from each other.

quite possibly, a modern-day recording engineer would have palpitations worrying about the audio bleed from one instrument to the next. but in point of fact, that is predominantly how live jazz works, and was pretty much the same for 60s and 70s rock and pop bands, both in the studio and on stage. aside from that, elvin's tiny gretsch drumset has no visible sign of damping; the drums are, in drummers' parlance, wide open, sounding exactly as the manufacturer intended. i have no idea if there were any overdubs made on any of the fourteen tracks, but the initial recordings, at least, were performed live in the studio.

my review album gives little clue as to the recording specifics, but i'd be willing to assume that each of the musicians was physically separated, with the bass probably plugged directly into the mixing desk, the drumset covered by up to seven microphones, and the guitar amp sited in a booth somewhere, out of physical earshot. all four musicians would likely have worn headphones. the number of microphones and the separation would have allowed the engineer full control over the volume and sound of each instrument, as well as microscopic leverage over the final mix. all this, in my opinion, gets in the way of the music.

probably around halfway through that above monologue, a good few of you would have realised that some tedious but pointed comparison with an aspect of the velocipedinal experience would inevitably rear its ugly head. i would hate to disappoint.

playing directly into my wheelhouse, it dawns on me that the act of 'cycling' indoors, whether on rouvy, zwift or any other platform, is akin to the modern method of music recording. granted, recording orchestral works tends to resemble the 1950s method of recording jazz and rock'n'roll, but that probably has a great deal more to do with the difficulty of trying to place microphones in front of each individual member, and similarly, attempting to isolate each musician. there's little doubt that the orchestral experience depends greatly on the melange of sound.

however, by-and-large, indoor cycling is a solo affair, even if the screen in front of you is attempting to convince you that the other cycling avatars are but an outstretched arm away. but, of course, they're not; they might not even be in the same country, and they certainly won't be joining you in your sitting room for a protein shake after the ride.

now, i'm none too sure whether the musicians themselves realise just how different (and not necessarily in a good way) that their recordings are from the heyday of bebop? but there's every possibility that they have little choice in the matter. on my very first recording session many, many years ago, having tuned my drumset to what i regarded as the pinnacle of perfection, as i carried drums and cymbals into the studio, the engineer had already removed the front head from the bass drum and stuffed a blanket inside. then as i readied to play, he placed a leather wallet on the snare drum head, rendering my lovely drumset no different than the cardboard boxes in which it arrived.

pretending that you're riding in a large group of your so-called peers surely misses the whole point of cycling; no wind, no rain, no change of road surface, and often no visual or physical sensation that you're ascending or descending. in other words, it's not the same. disappointingly, from the music recording point of view, the modern way is often the only way. would not it be a sad day if the same happened to cycling? and just because i'm a luddite, doesn't mean it won't happen.

photograph: jim marshall photography

saturday 12 april 2025

reality bites

aside from offering tunnocks caramel wafers and tea cakes as signifiers that it was resolutely a scottish enterprise, the once magnificent shand cycles, when still under the joint ownership of steven shand and russell stout, exhibited at bespoke bristol when it was actually held in bristol's railways station. and in addition to the above mentioned victuals, they also sported t-shirts proclaiming 'steel is real', a somewhat clichéd phrase (nowadays) beloved of those of us who identify as luddites.

eschewing lugged joints on their reynolds steel frames, the original shand cycles featured fillet-brazing, a labour-intensive method of providing a smooth appearance that could easily replicate that seen on carbon frames. on my sole visit to their world headquarters in livinsgton, near edinburgh, i was able to witness at first hand, the laborious process of filing the brass joint to an admirable smoothness. but then we take a brief detour to connecticut in the tariff-ridden united states of america, to witness the state of the lugged art as practised by richard sachs. richard has effectively been making the same bicycle frame for more years than either of us can recall, underlining the title of the documentary dvd imperfection is perfection. his impeccable frames feature silver-brazed lugged joints that are the envy of all and the desire of many. all three framebuilders (messrs shand, stout and sachs) espouse the very pinnacle of the art (or craft, as i believe mr sachs would prefer).

there is a widely held belief that, by constrast, carbon frames not only possess less (or no) soul, but are hardly the poster boy for highly skilled construction. otherwise, so goes the contention, why else would manufacture have been outsourced to the far east, while steel (and aluminium in the case of modern day russell stout) remains a material better suited to the less high-tech modus operandi demonstrated on british shores? but it has become clear that carbon construction is the preserve of taiwan due to the inherent and specialist skills possessed by a highly trained workforce. the main difference is that the world peloton's appetite for carbon above all else, has not only promulgated this singular state of affairs, but effectively promoted the acquisition and increase in those carbon monocoque skills.

unfortunately, the parabolic growth in carbon fibre has been primarily at the expense of a concomitant demise in the demand for steel, a material that, with one or two exceptions, has effectively become the preserve of individual bespoke builders. steven shand now builds frames under the willow bikes brand, while russell produces beautiful aluminium frames to highlight the suitability of the material for producing quality bicycle frames. richard sachs has continued to make use of his trademark pegorichie steel tubing, developed in partnership with the late dario pegoretti. in addition, richard offers a range of cast lugs to allow the intrepid steel framebuilding community to continue their excellent work in the face of diminishing resources.

but richard is not the only one-man framebuilder to recognise the fragility of those who continue to build in the face of carbon's domination. though a skilled steel framebuilder in his own right, ernesto colnago could arguably be held responsible for steel's eventual demise in the professional peloton. though the original colnago c40 was an exact replica of the master frameset, joined as its asso di fiori cross-section carbon tubing was with carbon lugs, in hindsight, its emergence effectively signalled the end of steel's dominance. the situation has now brought premier uk framebuilder, ricky feather (who, ironically, debuted at the very edition of bespoke bristol mentioned above) to announce that he is stepping away from full-time framebuilding.

this has brought fellow framebuilder, paul gibson, to call for a national effort to promote and sustain what he refers to as traditional uk framebuilding before it becomes simply something that we used to do. gibson owns ellis briggs cycles, a business originally established in 1936 to build and restore steel bicycle frames, and hopes to launch a public mission to document what are now endangered techniques and assist new builders to acquire the necessary skills, in order to perpetuate the industry in the face of adversity.

paul gibson has said, "if someone like him (ricky feather) can't make it viable, what does that say about the rest of us still trying?" this follows the closure of bob jackson cycles during the covid pandemic and the near disappearance of mercian cycles. this is not entirely due to a lack of demand for british-built steel frames, but most exist on a knife-edge; the dramatic increase in the cost of doing business in recent years has meant that the iconic one-person workshop is now largely unsustainable. if left to wither without support, once again, brits will have to look abroad, and another skill will disappear without trace.

and it's not only costs that mitigate against continuance of such skills. as mr gibson has pointed out, frame builders from britain's classic period are no longer as youthful as was once the case, and it's probably not a source of employment that gets easier with age. richard sachs, for instance, is 72, and though american, he learned his skills at london's witcomb cycles. his peers on this side of the pond are mostly now of similar age and several have now retired. to support his thoughts, gibson has launched a patreon-based preservation initiative where supporters can access behind-the-scenes material, frame building tutorials, and draft chapters of his forthcoming book for a choice of three modest monthly fees. it occurs to me that this is something the cognoscenti (that's you and i) ought to vociferously support.

ellis briggs on patreon

friday 11 april 2025

n+voltage

those of us who identify as members of the cognoscenti should all be aware of velominati's rule #12, where the correct number of bicycles to own is n+1, where n is the number of bicycles already in your possession. there are those who seem to take this as gospel, failing to realise that the velominati has its tongue firmly planted in its cheek. however, what comes across as something of a surprise is that the great unwashed might also be aware of this velocipedinal stricture. that is the only conclusion at which i can arrive following the release of version 1.26 of the bosch e-flow smartphone app.

as is customary with anything even vaguely electronic, bosch supplies the app to allow owners of e-bikes equipped with their motors to alter stuff. but it's on reading the facilities engendered by this app that i found myself somewhat suprised. though thewashingmachinepost bikeshed is home to one sit-up-and-beg three-speed roadster, two colnago road bikes, a chris king cielo, a ritchey logic and a specialized crux cyclocross bicycle, i confess that, were i to possess an e-bike, i would see little point in owning more than one of the electric blighters. by implication, i, perhaps erroneously, imagine that to be the case for the majority of e-bike owners, other than those who hire them out as a business.

bosch, however, harbours entirely different ideals, keen to point out that this new flow app has the ability to allow its digital community (their words, not mine) to add as many as six e-bikes, where the user can view an overview of all under their control, going even so far as to individually name each one. i'm hoping that you share my concerns. and, blessed with this phalanx of electrical assistance, users can "...switch between bikes at any time, and settings, such as custom riding modes, will be saved, along with all other preset functions." and not only can you be master in your own bikeshed, but "...key ride data, including the total distance ridden, can be tracked."

i may well be naive in such matters, but do e-bike riders actually do that? and are they the ones who have consciously persuaded the folks at bosch to provide such wherewithal? additionally, those who own bosch-powered performance e-bikes can now access the company's official strava club; something else of which i find myself to be ignorant. the worrying aspect is that, if all the above catches on, soon e-biking will be portrayed as no different to what you and i would call cycling.

however, aside from the seemingly superfluous ability to account for one's considerable library of e-bikes, i find myself a tad more intrigued by the purported desire of e-bikers to acquire a plethora of data relating to each ride. if i might exclude the aforementioned performance e-bikes for a moment, my apprehension of the average e-bike - and i include e-cargo bikes in that definition - is its being used as a means of commuting, allied with the occasional weekend leisure ride. and though the smartphone of whichever brand and operating system is regarded as an indispensible part of contemporary life, i am surprised that the e-commuter would find it necessary to conjoin their commuting efforts with an app. my principle question would be why? if it doesn't seem too impertinent, for what earthly reason do they require that data?

though i personally own a garmin gps device, i am not at all in the habit of downloading any of the information it records. however, other members of the sunday morning peloton do so frequently, comparing information with each other and stalking others via their strava pages. we all know that they are not alone in this practice, but somehow the thought of commuting cyclists comparing shopping trips with each other is quite hard to imagine. assuming i'm not wide of the mark in my assumptions, does this mean bosch may have spent too many research and development euros creating digital facilities that nobody wants or needs?

should that prove to be the case, i'm inclined to think they might not be the only ones. after all, sram, shimano and campagnolo all offer companion apps along with their electronic groupsets, allowing customisation of the componentry. but once the novelty has worn off, how many persist with this facility? surely contemporary life is already full to overbrimming with computer and smartphone enhanced strategies? isn't that what we ride bikes to get away from?

thursday 10 april 2025

what's in a name?

in 1998, a cyclist friend of mine, who had been promoted from police constable to sergeant, was transferred to campbeltown on the kintyre peninsula. when the year rolled round to his birthday, it seemed only right and proper that i send him a birthday card. however it will surprise you not at all that finding an appropriately velocipedinal card from the two retailers in the village was an uphill task, so i opted to make one of my very own. which is when thewashingmachinepost name first appeared.

attempting to replicate the front page of a newspaper (the reasoning behind which i cannot recall), i combined graeme obree's choice of washing machine parts used to build his world record beating 'old faithful' with the title of america's washington post in a verisimilitide of the typeface. to both the newbie sergeant and yours truly, the connection (and alleged humour) was glaringly obvious, but, as if to demonstrate that the exception proves the rule, not everyone else garnered the association. in evidence, i can but admit that i initially received several e-mails from folks searching for white goods, and notably one from a major london hotel asking for prices for two industrial washing machines and a drier.

i can scarcely deny that i first felt a bit of a prat when phoning bicycle or component distributors and informing them when asked, that i was calling from thewashingmachinepost. usually the response varied between stunned silence and unrepentant laughter. perhaps obviously, the longer this continued and the higher profile my scribblings and reviews became, the more accepting folks became. however, there's no denying that having to type brian@thewashingmachinepost.net ultimately became a bit of a nuisance for anyone who wished to contact informing me what a lot of codswallop i had written.

former owners of prendas ciclismo, mick and andy, were in the habit of referring to the blog by its abbreviation twmp, so it seemed a logical option to attempt to purchase the domain twmp.net and simply point that to the same web pages. so when i see a local builder's vans with colinloganbuildingcontractors.co.uk painted on the side, i do have a snigger. but it hardly seems worth mentioning that whichever i, or others wish to use, it really makes very little difference to the rest of the world.

many of you will surely have enjoyed youtube videos brought to us by francis cade, jimmi nicholls and emily childs, the three of whom present regular podcasts, while cade and nicholls offer highly entertaining and informative bicycle and component reviews. it's a media that they use almost to perfection, and one that i well know i could not have utilised to the same degree. since my forte (i believe) is the written word, i figure i ought to play to my strengths; aside from which, i do not have the financial wherewithal, nor the video editing skills to compete. however, though i have been writing and editing the post for over 29 years, francis cade has been on youtube for an impressive number of years, an effort that, at some unrecalled point in time, became cade media when he began including contributions from nicholls and childs.

however, earlier this week came the announcement that cade media would henceforth be known as cade, the reasoning apparently being "This streamlined identity reflects the company's commitment to building a long-term future as a go-to source for compelling and trusted cycling news, views and entertainment on the internet and continuing to build on the past eight years of video making". my question would be when precisely the word 'streamlined' could be apportioned as the simple removal of the word 'media'. in other words, why bother? to my mind, cade media was the better option, clearly describing exactly the purpose of the business. and as mentioned above, what they do is quite excellent; accurate and opinionated with a sense of humour.

according to francis cade, "Our new name embodies the simplicity and strength of our creative mission." just as cade media didn't? released into the wild all on its own, cade means not a great deal to no-one in particular. as toyah once declared "it's a mystery."

mind you, i was less than impressed when glasgow's rhythm base changed to drummers only, and that doesn't seem to have done them any harm.

wednesday 9 april 2025

missed

rapha founder, simon mottram, has long pursued a self-imposed mission to "make (road) cycling the most popular sport in the world". the company's acquisition by the grandsons of america's walmart founder may, however, have derailed that target just a tad, with the introduction of rapha's arguably misplaced trail range, aimed at offroad aficionados. there are remarkably few items in that range still to be found on the company's website. nonetheless, mr mottram's ambitions for the future or road racing are no less laudable for all that, the difference being that many of the world's popular sports achieved their superior positioning due to straightforward popularity. for instance, nobody actually had to make football popular.

and that popularity is what drew in the tv companies, eager to gain a slice of the financial pie, while apportioning some of their ill-gotten gains in the direction of the stars of the game. it is a fact of modern-day sports, that wages are in direct proportion to the level of economic popularity. though tadej pogacar will likely never be poor, his annual stipend pales into insignificance when compared with those of soccer players, golfers or motor racing drivers. that alone would suggest that road-racing's popularity has yet to approach the stratospheric heights achieved by its peers.

thanks to the cheque book of warner brothers/discovery, this will be the last year of free-to-air coverage of the tour de france in the uk, courtesy of messrs. boulting and millar on itv4. but even the channel on which it is broadcast offers a commercial appraisal of its position in the grand firmament. on a weekly basis, prime time hours are interrupted by live soccer on itv 1 and bbc 1, despite both broadcasters possessing lesser channels on which live football could be broadcast without disturbing the evening habits of the majority of britain's tv viewing population. should paris-roubaix or de ronde ever make it to either of the above channels, we'll know that cycle-sport's time has truly come.

unfortunately, the tnt sports monthly subscription of £30.99 has effectively chucked a very large spanner in the likelihood of the uci's world tour gaining greater televisual popularity, apparently the means by which any sport's acclaim is gauged. of course, though it may have been mr mottram's ambition, it would be singularly unfair to leave everything to him. the uci, however, has made certain moves in parallel, naming the pinnacle of cycling competition as the world tour and having claimed, at various points during recent times, that it hopes to engender a mondialisation of the sport, and to place it on a par with formula one motor racing.

however, just as british cycling's campaign to 'bring the joy of cycling to everyone' seems unlikely to succeed for different reasons, efforts to enhance the popularity of road cycling would appear to be failing in their appointed mission. should you require evidence for the veracity of my assertions, i might cite the sports pages of monday's guardian newspaper. over the past weekend, aside from premier league football in both scotland and england, we had the option of formula one's japanese grand prix, an event that was broadcast on sky tv from 4:30am - perhaps another indicator of its popularity - and de ronde van vlaanderen from belgium. despite the cycle race occupying more tv hours than the grand prix or a single football match, you would scarcely have guessed from the column centimetres in the newspaper.

predictably, football occupied six pages, while the japanese grand prix was bestowed one complete page. the newspaper's coverage of de ronde was allocated top position on the 'in brief' section, occupying approximately 110 words. granted, that's more than either rugby union or ice hockey, but it lies some way short of simon mottram's admirable target. and to be quite honest, on past evidence i don't see that changing anytime soon.

tuesday 8 april 2025