Life In The Saddle

Last February, I rode the TorTour Ultra-Cross Stage Race in Zürich. It entailed three stages of snow and sub-zero temperatures, but proved to be fantastic racing (read the report here). This year, I am heading to the Lucerne region of Switzerland for the inaugural TorTour Summer CX Ultra-Cross Stage Race. This is what I'm packing… The Event The TorTour CX is a three day programme: featuring a short prologue stage on the Friday afternoon, and then two longer weekend stages that head out into the challenging Swiss Alps. The total distance is 200 kilometres, almost entirely off-road on gravel paths and single-track. I haven't ridden in Lucerne before, but I have visited on family walking holidays. It is a beautiful and challenging landscape, with steep alpine peaks punctuated by azure blue lakes. Racing in February for the TorTour Winter CX demanded the best winter kit available; there aren't many situations where you are racing for four or five hours through the sno...

With the darker months of winter on the near horizon, many cyclists (including myself) start to think about indoor training and cross training; looking for ways to mix up the monotony of long winter miles, and build a strength base for the following season. Indoor training, gym work and cross training might not be as enjoyable as riding around in the sunshine, but they can all be made far more pleasant with some good music pumping in the background. Enter the outdoor Bluetooth speaker... The idea that a wireless, water-resistant and drop-proof speaker would be great for cycle training first came to mind at the Island Games, when we could have done with some pumping bass beats in our team warm-up areas. On my return, I started looking around for options, and the JBL Charge 2+ speakers were one of the best options I found. The compact JBL Charge 2+ is a splash-proof, completely wireless unit. It also doubles up as a 6000mAh charging bank, which is pretty neat, and could be invaluab...

This year, I've taken part in a number of events that are best described as "Endurance Challenges". Events which, at five or more hours in duration, require a unique approach to get the most out of them; something a bit different from your standard weekend ride. Most have been abroad, too: including the Giro Delle Dolomiti, L'Etapé and the Mallorca312; this throws another element into the mix, with the need to adapt to foreign weather, roads and even food. In this post, I thought I'd share a bit of experience gleaned from my Endurance Riding to date. Hopefully passing on a few useful tips, which will make your next event more enjoyable, and more successful! 'A Poor Mechanic Blames His Tools'  Before we consider your physical preparation for an event, let alone the event itself, let's think about the tools for the job. Namely, your bike. The first thing to ensure, is that you're comfortable. That doesn't mean you can happily ride ...

Considering cyclists tend to be gear fanatics, we are surprisingly often a bunch that are hard to find good gifts for. We only want the latest, the greatest, that  saddle, that frame; if it's not the right one, then it's probably not going to make your best bike. For that reason, it's always great to find products that really are great gift ideas for cyclists; products which you could give to any two-wheeled enthusiast, and it would bring a smile to their face. I reckon that the Secret Training Race Day Personal Care Kit is one of those... Secret Training might seem an odd name for a company that currently provides predominately care products, but it has an interesting background. Founded by Tim Lawson, a European Track Cycling Champ and highly accomplished cyclocross racer, it is designed to give you the edge in tough race conditions. Tim Lawson explains the ethos behind 'Secret Training' very well on his blog: ... " Tips and advice (from coaches) ...

Most of the regular readers of the blog will know that I'm a big fan of the Sportique products, and I've previously reviewed a number of their balms and gels ( Link ). Recently though, I've been keen to demonstrate just how useful they are: a few weeks ago I posted on ' Hints and Tips: Treating and Recovering from Road Rash ', and mentioned how much better the Sportique Road Rash Balm was than your standard antiseptic cream. In this post, I focus on pre-event preparation and post-event pampering, tying in the Sportique products that I use for the purpose. Pre-Event Preparation Before a race or other major riding event, it clearly pays to be prepared; whether that be your bike, your kit, or your body. For most enthusiast road cyclists, preparing their legs includes the task of shaving, and often applying warm-up balm to reduce the chance of injury. Neither of these tasks are particularly scientific in their backing, but they are common place amongst cycl...

We're getting there, all of a sudden things are coming together to start racing this season. As I've mentioned in previous posts, 2014 sees me changing teams from Wightlink RT to Team Wiggle. This move is to tie in with my "new" (now over 6 months in) role in the marketing team at Wiggle, and I'm proud to represent the brand out on the racing circuit. I still regularly ride with the Wightlink boys, and I'm sure we'll work with each other at races. They continue to be great mates. Anyway, onto progress... A few weeks ago it wasn't looking great from a preparation perspective; I didn't have a licence, I didn't have a race bike, and I didn't have any races entered. Bring that forward to now and I have a race bike, a licence and my first race is tomorrow afternoon! Relief and excitement are there in equal measure! The Bike Later in the year, hopefully in a month or so, Team Wiggle will all be on matching Felt Bikes (p...

For an enthusiast cyclist a work stand is unquestionably a good investment. Even if you don't do a lot of your bike maintenance yourself, a workstand provides a safe and stable platform to place your steed in for tinkering, washing and fitting new parts. If you haven't got one, put it on your Christmas list! Many workstands clamp around the seatpost of the bike, suspending it above ground so that you can easily work on it and rotate the drivetrain and wheels freely. However, with an increasing trend in bike manufacture for firms to create aero seatposts and carbon seatposts that are more vulnerable to damage when subjected to clamping stresses, many mechanics both professional and at home, have decided to opt for bottom bracket supporting stands instead. These stands work by you removing the front wheel and locking the bike in place on the front fork. Your bike then sits on the bottom bracket, without any unusual clamping or straining of the frame. Bottom bracket suppo...

A month or so ago I posted a review of the rather excellent Garmin Edge 510 (Link) , in which I mentioned further posts that I would be writing on the advantages of using GPS devices to improve your training, and in particular using features such as Live Tracking on the Edge 510. This is the first in the series, in which I hope to highlight how training with GPS has advantages ranging from safety, to motivation, and avoiding over-training. I've laid them out in a list, which could be viewed as "pros" for buying a GPS, or good excuses for having spent some cash on one when your wife complains about it... (1)  Data, Data, Data... I've just finished an Economics degree; if there is one thing that they drummed into us more than anything else, it is that DATA IS KEY. Statistics is the basis of almost everything; there is no point in making a point if you can't back it up with data. With bike riding, and in particular training towards certain goals, this is just...

Sportique has a clear mission with its skin and body care products: to produce completely natural, highest quality balms, ointments and creams for the active sports person. Over the last few weeks I have been testing out the products from their range that are particularly tailored towards the cyclist's world; including muscle rubs, massage oil and chamois cream. I've been thoroughly impressed by every product that I have tried, and every product has been different. Below I give a short review of each product within the cycling range... Century Riding Cream (Chamois Cream) The Sportique Century Riding Cream is essentially a high end chamois cream; a friction reducing bottom butter that will help to avoid saddle sores, irritation and abrasion during long rides. The product is completely natural (like all the Sportique formulas), so it doesn't have any petroleum jelly or other synthetics mixed in there.The natural botanical nature of the product is also reflected in the f...