Here’s my favorite cat video of all time. “MJ” the cycling cat, loves going for a ride with her owner, bike courier Rudi Saldi of Philadelphia.
Tag Archives: cycling
New Head’s Up Display for Cyclists
Garmin has released a promo video on “Varia Vision.” What do you think? Cool tool or lethal distraction?
Can Augmented Reality Make Cycling Safer?
Catapult Future Cities has developed a prototype headset that gives cyclists a heads up display highlighting safe routes on the road as they ride.
Learn more about Catapult Future Cities
Video: The Thrills and Spills in Cycling 2015
Velon brings you the highlights of cycling in 2015, with some incredible on-bike footage of winning moves, crashes and celebrations. This video puts you in the center of the action.
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From Novice to Pro, Bicycle Upgrade, Maintenance and Repair Instruction You Can Trust
Whether you want to learn more about your bike, feel confident on the road, save money, or you're considering becoming a pro bike mechanic, this bicycle repair course has got you covered.
Taught by pro bike mechanics and packed with insider shortcuts and tips, it covers everything from minor repairs to the heavy stuff... and makes it easy to follow along, step-by-step, so you're never confused or wondering what to do next.
If you want to have an entire video encyclopedia of bicycle repairs at your fingertips, that covers you in every situation, then this package is worth a close look.
"Much easier to follow than a book, comprehensive, and loaded with insider tips and shortcuts... these DVDs belong on every cyclist's bookshelf." -Velo Logic
Learn more about the DIY Bike Repair Course
“To Top This You’d Have to Climb Everest Backwards”
Here’s one helluva story.
It concerns a swede named Goran Kropp and his 7000 mile bike ride from Sweden to the base camp of Everest, and ends in a solo climb without oxygen to the summit of Everest. Could it get any crazier? It could. Kropp then got on his bike and rode the 7000 miles back home.
“To top Kropp you’d have to climb Everest backwards.”
Along the way Kropp is offered sex, stoned and shot at. It’s all documented in his book, “Ultimate High: My Everest Odyssey”. By all accounts the book is filled with adventure and humor, but mixed with a sizable section on the Everest tragedy of May 1996, where 8 climbers lost their lives.
A number of accounts of the disaster have been published, but undoubtedly poor planning and bad decisions on the mountain played a big role. The cut off time for summiting is 14:00 PM, that’s when you turn back no matter where you are. You turn around and descend… or you will likely die a dark, cold death.
On May 10, 1996, many climbers ignored that rule and continued onwards and paid the ultimate price. Kropp himself, climbing solo, kept his head and turned back about 300 feet from the summit. He was in base camp recovering while the other expeditions descended into chaos and tragedy.
Following the tragedy, after almost everyone had left base camp, Kropp launched another attempt on the summit, still solo and without oxygen, and he succeeded.
The New York Times reviewed Ultimate High in 1999:
“The bike trip, which takes up about a third of the book, is worth the cover price in itself. Kropp escapes a storm by ducking into a rustic brothel, where he pulls out a map and shares his plan with the hookers. The madam is impressed and offers Kropp a free night with her daughter. Kropp refuses — he’s refusing all support services. He rides on.”
Source: Climbing Everest Was the Easy Part (NY Times review, Oct 10, 1999)
The book is not directly available through Amazon but you can find copies from third party sellers, I just snagged a copy:
Ultimate High: My Everest Odyssey
BTW, the book is banned in the UK. Kropp exposes what really went on in May 1996, and outs a few climbers as cheaters. (And you thought it was just cycling that had that problem.)
Kropp also mixed up a couple of names and got sued in the UK. Michael Trueman successfully sued Kropp for libel. It seems Kropp confused Michael Trueman and another expedition leader Mike Burns.
Currently the book is only available from third party sellers, so if the link above doesn’t work try this link: Ultimate High, or click here: Goran Kropp to do an author search.
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From Novice to Pro, Bicycle Upgrade, Maintenance and Repair Instruction You Can Trust
Whether you want to learn more about your bike, feel confident on the road, save money, or you're considering becoming a pro bike mechanic, this bicycle repair course has got you covered.
Taught by pro bike mechanics and packed with insider shortcuts and tips, it covers everything from minor repairs to the heavy stuff... and makes it easy to follow along, step-by-step, so you're never confused or wondering what to do next.
If you want to have an entire video encyclopedia of bicycle repairs at your fingertips, that covers you in every situation, then this package is worth a close look.
"Much easier to follow than a book, comprehensive, and loaded with insider tips and shortcuts... these DVDs belong on every cyclist's bookshelf." -Velo Logic
Learn more about the DIY Bike Repair Course
A Death-Defying Rooftop Ride
The morning’s weather forecast says it’s going to be a perfect day. Danny MacAskill hops on his bike and makes his way down to the beach, but he ain’t taking the road. No, that would be lame. Danny hops, bounces, leaps and and wobbles his way across the color rooftops of Gran Canaria, ending in a spectacular clifftop plunge in to the sea.
Dazzling and death-defying, this may be Danny’s most daring ride to date.
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One of the Most Bizarre Crashes in Cycling Just Happened
There was a serious and very bizarre crash in Stage 4 of China’s Colorful Yunnan Gryffindor International Cycling Race. 17 riders were hospitalized.
What’s really bizarre is that it was a head-on collision between two groups of sprinters.
The leading group of sprinters seem to have accidentally been led off course and took a slight detour on a side road around the finish line and then doubled back and sprinted for the finish from the opposite direction, just as the second group sprinted from the other (correct) direction.
Head-On Collision in Final Sprint at China’s Yunnan Cycling Race
You may also like….
From Novice to Pro, Bicycle Upgrade, Maintenance and Repair Instruction You Can Trust
Whether you want to learn more about your bike, feel confident on the road, save money, or you're considering becoming a pro bike mechanic, this bicycle repair course has got you covered.
Taught by pro bike mechanics and packed with insider shortcuts and tips, it covers everything from minor repairs to the heavy stuff... and makes it easy to follow along, step-by-step, so you're never confused or wondering what to do next.
If you want to have an entire video encyclopedia of bicycle repairs at your fingertips, that covers you in every situation, then this package is worth a close look.
"Much easier to follow than a book, comprehensive, and loaded with insider tips and shortcuts... these DVDs belong on every cyclist's bookshelf." -Velo Logic
Learn more about the DIY Bike Repair Course
This is What Rush Hour Looks Like in the Netherlands
I’ve cycled in Holland, and it wasn’t was very similar to this. For a cycling novice at the time, used to riding on the other side of the road, it was quite intimidating. I got yelled at a few times and there was lots of bell ringing and shouts of “Pass Op!”
Bicycle Rush Hour in Utrecht Netherlands
“This is an ordinary Wednesday morning in April 2010 at around 8.30 am. Original time was 8 minutes that were compressed into 2 minutes, so everything is 4 times faster than in reality. The sound is original.
This is one of the busiest junctions in Utrecht a city with a population of 300,000. No less than 22,000 bicycles and 2,500 buses pass here every day. And yet Google Street View missed it. Because private motorized traffic is restricted here.”
Video courtesy of Bicycle Dutch, and more info on cycling in the Netherlands
Terrorism, Cycling, Afghan Women’s Cycling Team
“If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” –Tony Robbins
That applies to our cycling, our careers… and our foreign policy.
Pro Cycling is Vulnerable
It is a fact. As Michael Rogers points out at the story below, road cycling is extremely vulnerable to terrorist attacks. The events are high profile, packed with spectators, and very easy to gain access to. This has been a concern of mine for a long time. In my opinion there’s very little you can do to thwart an attack.
Nor do I think that such preventive measures are the best response, and nor should they be the business of race officials.
The proper and lasting solution is a principled foreign policy, based not on guilt and submission to foreign powers and entities, but on American self-preservation and the defense of our individual rights.
There is an excellent book that reveals our current irrational policy (under Republicans and Democrats), and prescribes the strategy we need to adopt to win the war against Islamic totalitarianism. There, I said it… Islamic terrorism.
Michael Rogers fears cycling’s accessibility could leave it open to terrorist attack
And it’s not just a theoretical threat, because a massacre on a high profile cycling event was already planned (and luckily averted), in Belgium earlier this year:
Boston-Style Plot to Bomb Bike Race
Afghan Women’s Cycling Team
On a positive note, a story I covered earlier this year gets major attention from National Geographic. These women are heroes, intellectually independent and enormously courageous. It’s good to see them getting recognition and exposure.
If you think the road rage is bad around where you live, you should read about the imbeciles these women have to put up with. But still they ride.
Afghan Women’s Cycling Team In National Geographic’s Adventurers Of 2016
Tweak This To Gain 30 Watts… maybe more
Think much about your tires? You really should, because your choice of tire can make a huge difference in the amount of power you have available for speed. After overcoming air resistance, your biggest foe is rolling resistance, and depending on the tire you ride, that can vary by as much as 59 watts!
Yep, nearly 60 watts more can be squandered through a poor tire choice.
Velo News went to the top lab in the world for testing rolling resistance, the labs of Wheel Energy Oy, and tested 34 popular tires to see how they perform at 25 mph under load.
The results are interesting. The difference between the best performing tire (Specialized S-Works Turbo Road Tubeless) and the worst (Schwalbe Durano) is 28 watts. But wait, there’s more! Since you have two tires, that’s only half the story, so double that… you have nearly 60 watts more power required to maintain 25 mph.
Before I switched to tubulars, I used to love Vittoria’s Corsa EVO CX open tubular, they felt fast and handled well, but they were expensive and I had bad luck with them and split a tire too often so went back to Michelin Pros. Big mistake, they’re way down the list at #27. Over the course of an hour long race where speeds are around 30 mph, that must have cost me quite a bit in watts. Compared to the top tire it’s a 30 watts penalty. At race speeds a lot more.
Of course it’s not all about rolling resistance. On my TT bike I did make an effort to choose low rolling resistance tires. On my road bike I would look for handling and durability, and switch to my Easton Carbon wheels sporting tubulars for racing. But rolling resistance is still a huge factor in racing or riding at your limits. If you’re in a break and rotating how’s an extra boost of 20, 30, maybe 40 watts going to feel? Pretty damn good. And could well mean the difference between staying in or dropping out.
BTW, I learned the hard way, Rule #1 of Racing: Never, ever, EVER… get dropped from the f&%#ing break!
The article is fairly technical, but worth a read if you want to appreciate the what goes into a good tire. the bottom line?
“If you want reliability and good rolling resistance, wide tubeless tires with sealant are the way to go. If punctures are not an issue, and you want pure speed and grip without having to worry too much about tire pressure, go with an open tubular with a great tread compound.”
Get Even Faster….
And if you want to save not just 30 watts, but get faster and save $83 dollars, then check this out. I have a CompuTrainer and I love it, but if I was starting over, I’d save a bundle and get this, and then join Zwift which provides a much better ride experience than CompuTrainer, and at a 1/3 of the price.