Rapha city guides

In Copenhagen –
From TRAVEL GADGET: Rapha’s City Cycling Guide to Europe
I’ve just returned from a rather ambitious Europe circuit on road.

Well, it’s definitely on motorized wheels for me, but I found these resonating with me – not of prospects of me hopping on a human powered bike soon, but rather of friends who are circumventing the earth on them, and of the various European cyclists – some as old as 60 years and some solo – covering the lengths of Addis Ababa to Nairobi (reversed as well) in February this year.

By now, you’ll know I am drawn to serious gadgets and cutesy travel type books. This is the latter: Rapha’s City Cycling Europe.

It covers eight volumes – Amsterdam, Antwerp/Ghent, Barcelona, Berlin, Copenhagen, London, Milan, and Paris – and offers bike practicalities, highlights to hit by bike, and the differences in bike culture (and how to ride safely) in each city which is very useful. But rest assured, unlike Asia or the big continent (US), Europe respects someone on two wheels every bit as much as four.

At 64 pages or so, the guides are small enough to fit in a wide jersey pocket and light enough that you’d take them with you.

But Rapha’s City Cycling Europe true value lies in their inspiration: The writing by Max Leonard and Andrew Edwards is lively. The design by local artist in each location is lovely and authentic, with the retro-Euro look throughout. The maps are extensive and fun to immerse yourself in. The viewpoint is urbane, and the overall sense is that bicycle travel is every bit as noble as any other kind.

Any passionate cyclist would love you for getting it for them …

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Key Features:

Exclusive slipcase

115 × 175mm (Rapha jersey pocket sized)

See the City Guides training and racing routes addendum – complete with ridewithgps. Apps

A clean Tour De France

Sept 02, 2014 – There were no positive dope tests at this year’s Tour de France, world cycling’s governing body the UCI announced on Tuesday.

 

“All the samples collected were systematically analyzed to detect stimulants and erythropoiesis,” said the UCI, the latter being the process which produces red blood cells.

“Isotope-ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) was also analyzed in a certain number of samples, in particular to detect testosterone abuse and its precursors.”

A total of 719 blood and urine samples were taken on this year’s Tour, compared to 622 a year ago, with the testing carried out at a laboratory in France.

The Long distance Cyclist – an amazing film insight.

This video of Mike Cotty’s 1,012km ride to Chamonix is well worth it, if only to add a whole bunch of climbs to your bucket list and take in the extraordinary views.

Mike’s no stranger to epic rides, having completed a 666km monster ride from Evian-les-Bains to Nice last year. That ride took in 17 cols on its way to the sea but this monster route packs in 21, many of them well in excess of 2,000m, and a total of 21,250m of climbing. Or 2.4 Everests, since that’s the universally accepted height gain unit of anything like this.

A 1000km non-stop journey across the Dolomites, Eastern Alps and Swiss Alps.

Exploration is as much about overcoming the unknown challenges of the road ahead as it is about learning of one’s own physical and mental capabilities. On August 4th 2014 Mike Cotty faced the longest and hardest ride of his life, a personal challenge to see if it’s possible to cycle over 1,000km and 21 mountains non-stop across the Dolomites, Eastern Alps and Swiss Alps from Conegliano, Italy, to Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France. Thunderstorms during the darkest depths of the night, a bitter cold dawn on the Passo dello Stelvio, punishing headwinds and the will to overcome adversity and sleep deprivation from over 50 hours on the bike and 21,250 metres of elevation make this journey an inspiring test of human reserve.

The mighty Stelvio (2,757m) was the highest point en route and Mike didn’t have it all his own way this time, having to endure some heavy rain on the first night. That’s when having a full Mavic backup car is a good idea…

The total riding time was 50 hours and 29 minutes, with just over three hours of breaks. Two and a bit days, then, at a riding average of just over 20km/h, over some pretty substantial terrain. The cobbles of the Gottard Pass, some 43 hours in, must have been a whole lot of fun.

Monday Bike Style: Getting High

 

high bikes – weird but also wonderful