Life In The Saddle

The cobbled Spring Classics races are notoriously hard to ride. I interviewed World Champion, Paris-Roubaix and Tour of Flanders winner Johan Museeuw. These are his top tips for riding on cobbles and taking on the Spring Classics. Johan Museeuw was World Champion in 1996; he won Paris-Roubaix three times and he won the Tour of Flanders three times. With this incredible parcours, he is undoubtedly one of the best riders to share his advice on riding the Spring Classics, whether you are a racer or a sportive rider. Tip 1 – Tyre Pressure and Size for Riding Cobbles "Normally, everyone is riding with a tyre pressure of 7 to 8 Bar (100-110 PSI). But, for the Spring Classics and Paris Roubaix, depending on your weight, this changes: we ride 5 to 6 Bar (70-85 PSI)." A lower tyre pressure allows the shocks of the cobbles to be absorbed, and for better grip on the uneven surface. "For tyre geometry [size]  for the Spring Classics and Paris Roubaix, you go bigger. In my time,...

I had forgotten how much I love mountain biking. I had forgotten how much it hurts. 12 hours of constant drama, constant concentration, and constant excursion was enough to remind me. A podium finish, in Denmark's biggest mountain bike race - the Scott H12 MTB. The race comes at the end of a great week in Denmark with the GripGrab team. Office meetings are bookended by rides through the forest on the way home with the Krøyer brothers. These brief laps of the forest trails are enough to bring back some recollection of what it is to ride MTB; I am ashamed to confess the last time I rode flat bars was 15 months ago; not the ideal prep for a 12 hour mountain bike race. Race day arrives. The weather is perfection; with the early morning light breaking through the trees. I rode this event in 2016 as part of a team, so I know what is coming, yet my stomach is still a bucket of nerves... The start gun fires. 500+ riders clip in, and kick up the dust. Position is everything in this...

If you have seen the film 'A Beautiful Mind' or you have done a bit of industrial economics, or even gambling, then you might have heard of Game Theory. It is a science that tries to make sense of the decision choices made by individuals, when they are faced with one-shot simultaneous move situations. The application of game theory has found its way into topics from penalty shoot-out decisions, to how easy it is for two firms to collude to raise prices in an industrial market. In this blog, I try to show how game theory can be applied to a breakaway situation in a road race. The classic example of game theory is the 'Prisoner's Dilemma': consider two gang members, stuck in two separate cells at a police station; both prisoners were arrested at the scene of a crime, and had no chance to discuss their alibi with the other. Simultaneously, both prisoners are taken from their cells to separate interview rooms and told: If you confess and y...

There is a lot you can tell about your body, from the outside. Dark sunken eyes suggest fatigue; cramps suggest dehydration; yellow skin suggests anaemia. Yet, there is a huge amount that cannot be identified or seen without looking deeper within: underlying health problems, weaknesses and illness; these are far more likely to show up in your blood, even if you look and feel okay superficially. ForthEdge offers a unique service: blood profiling, by post. Blood accounts for about seven percent of human bodyweight, but it is critical to every bodily function we perform. It is also an incredible resource to learn about our bodies. The bio-markers contained within our blood cells can provide valuable information on everything from vitamin balance to hormone levels. For a bike rider, the health of your inner bodily system is fundamental, and profiling your blood is the most effective way to monitor and understand it. I was recently contacted by the UK based blood profiling company...

5am. The sun glistens on the reservoir, and bounces off morning dew. Kielder Forest - the largest forest in the UK, sits silent; its paths and tracks ready to welcome the largest gravel event in the UK - The Dirty Reiver 200. A Reiver was a border knight - an armoured horseback rider, patrolling the border between Scotland and England. Today, 800 riders will take to the same trails and tracks that were ridden by the Reivers; except these riders will be on a plethora of cyclocross bikes, 'gravel' bikes and mountain bikes. 200 kilometres of flat-out dusty racing… The Dirty Reiver starts at Kielder Castle The Ride Massed in front of Kielder Castle, the pre-event kit chat continues; as it has done for the preceding months. What tyre width are those? How's that Lauf suspension fork? Have you double wrapped your bar tape? Personally, I'm more concerned about how many flapjacks I can wolf down at each feed station, and whether I have enough supplies in my ba...

Suddenly the tarmac ends. Gravel pings from beneath tyres. The white limestone paste is kicked up by wheels; hitting shins, feet and back-side. Your grip tightens on the hoods; riders swerve around potholes and large stones in front. Benvenuto a Strade Bianche… Torrential Tuscany In the weeks before an event I often find myself scanning the local weather forecast; trying to decide on kit, and crossing my fingers for good weather. The forecast for the historic Italian city of Siena seemed to deteriorate every time I checked it though; starting with 'occasional rain showers', it evolved into 'thunderstorms and heavy rain' by the day before the event. Welcome to Flanders, in Tuscany. This was going to be a true 'Spring Classic'. Kitting up After watching Elisa Longo Borghini solo to victory for Wiggle High5 on the Saturday, and then standing on the finish line for the men's race a few hours later, I gained an idea of what was to come… ther...