While the diamond-shaped frame steered bicycle design on a fairly straight course from the 1880s, its invention arguably sparked a period of intense creativity, compelling frame designers to find solutions that fitted within the rhomboid template, yet weren’t constrained by it.

The early to mid-1900s were a period ripe with intriguing design flourishes. Hetchins had its curly stays, Paris (of, erm, Stoke Newington) had its elevated downtube, Thanet introduced its floating bottom bracket, and Bates employed both Cantiflex frame tubing and Diadrant front forks.

It’s debatable whether any of these innovations enhanced performance or merely served as effective marketing USPs, particularly in the 1930s, when displaying brand logos on frames was prohibited for certain races.

This particular Bates, dating from 1938, is a range-topping Volante in track guise; a rare one at that. “It’s exceptional because it hasn’t been drilled for brakes,” confirms current owner Richard Hoddinott of vintage specialists Velo Pages.

“Despite being intended for the track, almost all of them were. The serial number is also unusual because it’s simply 257. Usually, the numbers are preceded by two letters, which makes me wonder whether this frame was specially made for a pro.”

The Cantiflex tubing was exclusively produced for Bates by Reynolds. Examine the image and you’ll notice that the primary tubes swell in the centre before tapering gently towards the lugs. Similar to Reynolds’ double-butted tubing, the walls are thicker at the ends as well. Bates claimed that this unique profile enhanced strength and rigidity, ‘entirely eliminating whip’.

The flamboyant Diadrant forks are a delight. According to Hoddinott, they’re better at absorbing the hit from rough surfaces and even potholes (unlikely on a track, I know), enabling composed riders to deliver more power.

The wheels aren’t original, but they are stunning, period-correct pieces. “They’re laminated maple rims from Constrictor, made by Fairbanks Boston of Paris,” says Hoddinott. “The large flange hubs are from BH Airlite, who, interestingly, would attach large steel flanges to small flange hubs.”

There are plenty of excellent e-bikes on the market in Britain, but illegally modified and non-regulation versions are also proliferating across the country, creating a perilous situation for riders and other road users alike. A new poll conducted this week by YouGov has discovered that 84% of people in the UK can't tell the difference between a perfectly legal e-bike and one that contravenes the laws that surround such machines in the UK.

To combat this situation, two influential main cycle industry bodies – the Bicycle Association (BA) and the Association of Cycle Traders (ACT) – have launched a new safety trustmark, E-Bike Positive, with the goal of helping the public purchase e-bikes that are legal and safe.

Britain has relatively strict regulations in place when it comes to e-bikes, meaning battery powered steeds are very safe when bought from reputable outlets. But many models that do not comply with these tech-specs appear to side-step customs and thousands more are modified by unscrupulous backyard mechanics, and even some high street outlets.

The existence of illegal and dangerous e-bikes on the roads – and in people’s homes and garages – is a disaster for everyone, with fast, heavy bikes vastly increasing the risk of serious injury when they’re involved in collisions (which also drives anti-cyclist hate), and dodgy batteries causing intense fires during the recharging process.

Some people actively seek out bikes that can go faster than legally permitted, but other consumers are caught out by a poorly policed industry, and accidentally purchase bikes that fall foul of the legal guidelines. Would you be able to tell the difference? The vast majority of us can’t.

BA and the ACT have established the E-Bike Positive scheme precisely to help this latter group, bringing together responsible brands and approved retailers with an instantly recognisable safety trust mark.

Launched this week, the initiative involves 33 brands, which are responsible for 80% of reputable e-bikes sold in Britain. Some 600 stores have signed up around the country, including big names like Halfords, Decathlon and Evans Cycles, plus hundreds of independent high street bike shops, all of which will be listed on the website: ebikepositive.co.uk.

To become an ‘E-Bike Positive approved retailer’, bike shops have to commit to only selling (and servicing and repairing) road-legal e-bikes, and to supplying only compatible, safety-tested batteries and chargers with full safety information. E-Bike Positive retailers must refuse to work on non-road-legal and unsafe e-bikes.

Approved retailers must also be an authorised stockist of at least one E-Bike Positive verified brand and agree to verification, including mystery shopper visits and documentation reviews.

“Reputable brands spend years and considerable sums developing e-bikes which meet longstanding international standards and all the regulations for their legal sale and use on the road,” explains Steve Garidis, Executive Director, Bicycle Association.

“They are a fantastic product with a wide variety of customers and benefits to health and the environment. But all this is undermined by illegal and unsafe products often sold through online marketplaces to unsuspecting consumers. That’s why, as the industry trade bodies representing reputable e-bike brands and retailers, we have developed a safety trust mark as part of the E-Bike Positive scheme, so consumers can easily identify safe and legal e-bikes and where they may be purchased.”

Jonathan Harrison, Director, Association of Cycle Traders, added: “Our members are proud to sell properly tested, road‑legal e‑bikes, but until now they have had no simple way to prove it to customers who are understandably seeking reassurance. E‑Bike Positive changes that.

“When retailers and the brands they stock carry the trust mark, customers can buy with confidence, knowing the products come from independently verified brands and that the retailer is committed to recognised standards and responsible retailing.”

What you need to know when buying an e-bike

There are two main features that mean an e-bike is road legal in the UK. First a motor is pedal assist only. This means the motor matches your effort. If you pedal faster, the motor puts in more power, when you slow down, it slows down. It does not provide drive independently. If it does it's illegal. If it works on a twist-style throttle it's illegal. Secondly, a legal e-bike cuts out at approximately 15.5mph, or 25kmh. Once a rider tips over this speed all power cuts out.

Although the legality of it is less clear, the next thing you need to check is the battery. Unregulated, homemade, chipped or even extremely cheap batteries can be dangerous, with more and more house fires being caused by batteries being left on charge over night, overheating and bursting into flames.

Most reputable e-bike systems will use batteries from either Sony, Panasonic or Samsung which are perfectly safe if used correctly. If you're unsure, ask.

FDJ-Suez have bolstered their team with the addition, announced today, of American multi-discipline champion Kate Courtney. An all-rounder with an incredible pedalling pedigree, Courtney is the current US National road race Champion and has been UCI Mountain Bike Cross-Country World Champion (2018), a UCI Cross-Country World Cup winner (2019) and UCI Marathon Mountain Bike World Champion (2025).

This year, Courtney made an incredibly successful switch to road. In May, she entered her first road race since she was 16, having a crack at the Tour de Feminin in the Czech Republic, and took victory on Stage Four. The following month she won her first US National Road Race title in Charleston. Soon she will be riding alongside Demi Vollering in the FDJ-Suez squad.

According to the release put out by FDJ-Suez today, Courtney will be in action for the team within the week, taking part in La Périgord Ladies on 18 July, Picto-Charentaise the next day, and the Lloyds Tour of Britain Women from the 19–23 August.

"Kate is a magnificient athlete whose profile shows great potential on short to mid-range climbs and demanding efforts," says Stephen Delcourt, FDJ-Suez General Manager. "We are excited to support her as she discovers European road racing. FDJ United Suez has always embraced athletes who have thrived in disciplines beyond road cycling. This diversity of backgrounds and cultures will continue to elevate our team as we pursue the highest levels of performance in women's sport."

“It is hard to put into words what this opportunity means to me," said Courtney after the deal was announced. "I never expected to be able to make the jump to the World Tour level so quickly and I am so motivated to rise to this huge challenge and really find out what I am capable of as an athlete and person in this final chapter of my career. I am so grateful to Stephen and the entire team for seeing the potential and giving me this chance to chase a huge dream.

"It is not hard to see from the outside that FDJ United Suez is building something really special. The way the team races - aggressively, fearlessly and with complete belief in one another - has been inspiring to me as a fan. And now it is even more inspiring to me as a rider. It feels like the team environment I have been searching for my entire career - and I could not be more excited to start learning and chasing one of the biggest and most challenging goals I have ever spoken out loud.”

Courtney, who comes from Marin County, California - literally the birthplace of mountain biking - is also a prominent advocate for women's sport through cycling, and founded the NGO She Sends Foundation in 2023.

NSN Cycling Team and Uno X-Mobility are wearing concussion sensors at the Tour de France. Riders' helmets are equipped with technology that issues an alert when it detects a significant head impact.

The small device also records data on the severity of the incident to inform post-crash recovery efforts.

In recent years, the Tour de France has seen some nasty crashes, particularly during the lead-out phase before a sprint, and this kind of technology is designed to help team staff identify anomalies and improve rider safety across the board.

At the opposite end of the cycling spectrum, downhill mountain bikers have been using the HIT Connect impact sensor (a wearable head-impact device designed for mountain biking) that mounts to the back of the helmet and measures forces on the head. Considering the speeds associated with the discipline, it's become a no-brainer.

NSN and Uno X are using the ProMD impact sensor, which fits into a band of blue foam between the cradle and dial, in helmets from their respective sponsors, Ekoi and Sweet Protection. On the road, concussion protocols have come under scrutiny in recent years amid growing awareness of the risks of head injuries.

We've asked Dr Jack Hardwicke, senior lecturer in the sociology of sport at Nottingham Trent University's School of Science and Technology, about how he thinks cycling is dealing with concussion and how concussion sensors could improve that.

Luca Viano, Ekoi's helmet product manager, has answered our questions on this safety innovation.

How is elite cycling dealing dealing with concussion?

"It’s improving, but still has a long way to go," says Dr Hardwicke.

Currently riders who are assessed for head injuries after a crash are penalised because they lose time. He would like cycling to consider a rule change that, for example, lets riders draft back to where they were in the race.

But the main problems are cultural and economic.

"Elite cycling, like most sports, still has a strong culture of ‘getting back on the bike’ following crashes and injury," he says.

"This culture is encouraged by many coaches, mechanics, medics, athletes, journalists their glorifying reporting of ‘heroic’ riders competing with injury etc.

"There are also strong economic pressures on athletes not to withdraw for fear of letting the team down and/or jeopardising sponsorship.

"There needs to be more efforts placed into shifting this culture so cyclists have less pressure to compete following a crash."

To negate this pressure, he'd like to see independent doctors have the power to rule on whether a rider carries on.

"Until there’s greater cultural change, policies and protocols will always be bent and broken in practice," he adds.

"Adam Yates' recent concussion in the Giro is a prime example."

How does the impact sensor work?

In its R2 carbon helmet, Ekoi's best road bike helmet, the company has incorporated an impact sensor developed by Meditech's ProMD.

"It is an intelligent crash detection system designed to enhance rider safety by monitoring both linear and rotational impacts in real time," says Viano. "Using advanced motion sensors and proprietary algorithms, it distinguishes genuine crashes from normal riding vibrations, reducing false alarms while providing reliable impact detection."

When it senses a head impact, it sends an emergency alert to notify people of the incident if the rider cannot call for help themselves.

"The sensor also records impact data that can support post-crash evaluation and help riders make informed decisions after an accident," adds Viano.

Although ProMD claims its device provides lab-grade data from its G-force sensors, Viano says: "It is intended as a safety monitoring tool and should not be considered a medical device for diagnosing concussion or other head injuries."

Dr Hardwicke says concussion sensors like ProMD's could help by providing an "objective measurement" that determines whether or not a rider continues racing after a crash.

"This would help move away from having to use roadside assessments of riders showing signs and symptoms," he adds.

Why has Ekoi introduced this technology to helmets?

Many brands include MIPS in their helmets or have their own anti-concussion technology, but why does Ekoi think helmets should also have impact detection?

"Triggering an alarm will allow a faster response when medical intervention is needed," says Viano. "This is extremely important when riding alone in particular.

"Secondly, collecting precise impact data, such as on linear and rotational acceleration, duration of the impact, and direction of the impact, will help medical assessment and the recovery plan."

Ekoi also says the data will be beneficial for research and development of safer helmets.

"This data will also help us develop better helmets by combining the information from real accidents, laboratory impact tests, and damages directly visible on helmets tested in a laboratory or crashed in a race," says Viano.

"We collect all crashed helmets by our teams and study them to understand what can be done better in future products."

Are there any downsides to the technology?

The sensor is held within impact-absorbing foam and attached to the dial on the back of the helmet. According to Viano, this has no adverse impact on the helmet.

"It weighs a few grams and does not affect or reduce the helmet’s safety performance," he says.

The same applies when similar sensors are inserted into the EPS, the helmet's protective foam.

"In that case, several impact tests are performed in different conditions (high and low temperature, UV exposure, water exposure) on every helmet size to confirm that it does not alter the safety performance of the helmet itself," he adds.

Who is using the ProMD impact sensor and how good it it?

NSN is trialing the sensor at the Tour de France, and Ekoi's goal is for all its sponsored teams, including Lotto-Intermarché and XDS-Astana in the pro peloton, to adopt it. After Torstein Træen crashed wearing the yellow jersey on stage six, Uno X-Mobility said analysis of data from his helmet sensor informed the decision to withdraw him from the race the next day with concussion and multiple rib fractures.

Besides indicating when a rider crashes and hits their head, which, in the shock of the incident, they may not necessarily recall themselves, the ProMD can better educate doctors.

"Medical staff can use the information from the impacts over time, and assess, for example, if there is a stress overload, or even combine the impact sensor data with any other smart sensor," says Viano.

It could help them understand the interactions among, for example, training score, sleep score, recovery score, BPM, HRV, and the accelerations caused by one or more crashes over time.

"In short, doctors can help riders to build a better recovery plan after a crash, and make sure there are no spikes in any parameters that can cause any risk to them."

Dr Hardwicke says: "Concussion sensors could provide an immediate indication of the extent of impact a rider has sustained, as this is often missed in big bunch crashes or those that occur off camera.

"This is useful additional data to make a call on removing a rider. But for them to be most effective, independent doctors will be important.

"There are also still issues around how accurate the sensors actually are and where they are placed.

"For example, if sensors are placed in helmets, then the helmet slipping can produce false readings.

"But they are still a useful addition and the approach should still always be on the side of caution when it comes to brain injuries."

Will impact detection sensors catch on in road cycling helmets?

It's no surprise that Viano believes they will.

"Technology should be used to improve both safety and health, and impact-detection systems can provide very valuable information," he says.

"Any tool that helps riders, their families, or emergency contacts make faster and more informed decisions can contribute to a better cycling experience for everyone."

But in a sport where calls for better safety are growing louder, his argument is hard to dispute.

Eddie McGourley has been riding bikes for over 70 years, and he started racing as a junior back in 1958, but this week, part way around his 83rd lap of the sun, he pedalled himself right into the record books.

It’s yet to be officially acknowledged by Guinness, the self-appointed guardians of such things, but as far as he understands it, the fastest time any octogenarian had previously pedalled the 1,000-odd miles from Land’s End to John O’Groats was 14 days, and McGourley has just done the distance in 10 and a half days.

Riding with companion Stephen Foster, a whippersnapper of 71, McGourley set off from Land’s End on Monday 29 June, and has been riding an average of 100 miles every day since, until reaching John O’Groats in the far north of Scotland around midday on Thursday Thursday 9 July.

“On the first day, going through Cornwall, we did about 130 miles,” he tells me. “After that we were riding for around 10 hours a day. We started off every day with some porridge, had a bacon sandwich for lunch, and a big dinner. And some whisky!"

They had a support crew, but the weather has thrown everything possible at the pair, including thick fog and mist towards the end of the challenge. And wind, of course, the nemesis of the long-distance bike rider. “I was blown off my bike twice going through Glen Coe,” McGourley reveals. “I’ve got a bit of bruising, but I’m alright.”

This Wearsider warrior is made of tough stuff, however, and he’s well used to putting in the hard yards in the saddle of a bike. McGourley was three times crowned North East cycling champion in his younger days, and in 1970 won King of the Mountains in the Milk Race – the long-running precursor to the Tour of Britain. “That was the last year the race went across 14 days,” he tells me.

McGourley, who ran a bike shop in Sunderland for decades and built the Basso bike he used for most of the challenge himself, remains the president of Houghton Cycling Club, an organisation he has been a member of for most of his life.

“I always get out and ride twice a week,” he says. “But while preparing for this challenge, I’ve been cycling most days. I come from County Durham – it’s pretty hilly around here – great training.”

McGourley came up with the idea of setting a new octogenarian FKT on the LeJoG route after picking up a copy of the Guinness Book of Records at the library, but he set his heart on completing the challenge to honour his late wife, Winifred, and to raise money for the St Cuthbert's Hospice in Durham where she spent her final days.

"The nurses there were wonderful," he tells me. "I just wanted to say thank you for everything they did."

So far he has raised over £11,000 and the donation page remains open and active.

And, somewhat astonishingly, McGourley wasn’t the only octogenarian riding the length of Britain over the last couple of weeks. The day before McGourley set off from Land's End, Peggy Keenor-Crome, who is also 83, arrived at the southwestern tip of Cornwall, having ridden there from John O'Groats in 17 days, setting a record for the oldest woman to cycle the route, and the fastest known time for a woman in her 80s.

Peggy is raising money for Devon Air Ambulance, a service that saved the life of her granddaughter Alice when she was a small child.

I met up with an old friend recently. We used to race together as students and have kept in touch, but I hadn’t seen him for a long, long time. Since we raced together I’ve gone on to do more bike racing, and he went on to start a business that made him irritatingly rich. (Irritating to me. He seems OK with it.)

“I’m not sure I’d have made the company work without bike racing – you learn so much that’s so useful. I’m sure you’ve lots of transferable skills if you ever decided to grow up and get a real job,” he said casually.

My first thought was to tell him that the main thing I’ve learned from cycling is how to sack off to go for a ride. I can be endlessly creative in my justifications for this. My essential go-to is always the promise that I’ll return energised and ready to do useful work, but I’ve also come up with “thinking time”, “meditation” and “something to do with blood sugar levels that makes my brain work better – I can’t quite explain it but if my theory is right, I’ll be able to express it more clearly when I get back.”

There are other things I’ve learned that might possibly be more use in a business environment. I can cope with disappointment, for example. It would almost be worth applying for a real job so that when the interviewer asks me what talents I have, I can tell them that, first and foremost, when it all turns to crap and we’re standing outside the building with all our possessions in bin-liners, it won’t cause me too much personal distress.

I’ll be able to add that a mastery of excuses long honed round the result board of a time trial means that not only will I be relaxed in the face of disaster, but that someone above me will take the blame.

Years of tinkering with bikes has given me a can-do approach. Almost always if you take something apart carefully it’s possible to put it back together again. Sometimes in this process you manage to fix a problem, either knowingly or unknowingly. Usually you learn something interesting along the way. But the key is not to be put off by apparent complexity. Get some tools and get cracking.

This means that in an actual job environment I would be fearless in the face of the complicated. I would be totally up for dismantling an entire IT system, for example. I wouldn’t be the sort of person who sat wringing their hands and waiting for support, I’d get right into it. Either I’d fix it, or I’d break it properly – and so often in life it’s easier to fix the totally broken than the slightly broken. It’s like giving the bike shop a clean slate to work with.

Another business thing I really do understand is marketing. I’ve learned a great deal from being its victim – I’ve discovered that I’m almost infinitely suggestable, and that I’m totally convinced that the more expensive something is the better it must be.

I am far from unique in this. In cycling the best way to increase the demand for something is to put the price up. I’m not sure that all the other industries have caught up with this yet. If you make it expensive and tell people it’s made of a new improved version of whatever material the thing is normally made from, to which you must give a proprietary name that can’t be cross-referenced to any known universal standard, you can sell anything.

I’d say you couldn’t put a price on knowledge like that, except that you can. I know because I’ve paid it. Over and over again.

I explained all this to my friend. He didn’t offer me a job.

How to..... be annoying

There are occasions when you want to be friendly and cooperative in your dealings with other riders. And there are times when you do not. Most often it’s in either a race scenario where your agenda does not match the riders around you, or on the sort of group ride that, for whatever reason, needs to be made less fun and you feel that you’re the little git who can make that happen.

You can just sit on the back – but that’s only a little annoying, and only in a smallish group. If you want to try it, you can spice it up by beginning to go through before you “change your mind”, so the rider who’s just done a turn has to sprint to get back in.

You can be much more annoying at the front of the group. Don’t go through – just slow down and make someone come around you. Or go through, then slow down. Or go through and swerve from one side of the road to the other while making incomprehensible gesticulations.

There are more subtle ways too. You can ride at a decent pace, but do it in (ideally) a downwind gutter. Swerve around drain covers and potholes without warning. Not annoying enough? Get out of the saddle every so often and make sure to kick the bike backwards a little when you do, to give the rider behind you a little fright. It’s especially effective combined with a drain cover.

But don’t brake-check people. There’s being annoying, and there’s that.

Dear Doc

last weekend on the club ride, one of our number broke their chain. We didn’t have a chain-tool or a quick-link between us, so in the end we decided that pushing Jon home was the only option.

This went all right, there were a few of us to share the pushing. Until we got to a junction a few miles from home.

“Left!” shouted the ride leader.

“Why?” said Jon. “The GPS says go right. It’s supposed to be a 100km ride – it’s only about 90 if we go straight back. I want to get my weekly miles in.”

We turned left.

Wearing the yellow jersey after riding into the lead of the Tour de France is a career highlight for any cyclist. In addition to donning the iconic maillot jaune, they usually get to ride a specially painted bike equipped with as many matching components as their mechanics can find.

We saw a similar exercise carried out last year, when Cannondale worked around the clock to paint a Lab71 SuperSix for Ben Healy before escorting it in a Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS Cabriolet to ensure it arrived in time for him to defend the jersey in Toulouse.

The current race leader, Torstein Træen, has this honour and his Uno-X Mobility team has pulled out all the stops to commemorate his remarkable route to yellow. From its factory in Belgium, Uno-X's bike sponsor Ridley delivered a yellow Noah Fast 3.0 to southern France within 30 hours of Træen pulling on the leader's jersey.

In May 2022, Træen discovered he had returned an abnormal doping test result. His team doctor interpreted this as a sign he could be ill, and urged his rider to see his GP. As pain in his testicles increased, an ultrasound scan revealed he had testicular cancer. When his left testicle was removed just 41 days on from his doping alert, a 15mm cancerous tumour was found inside. But it hadn't spread, enabling him to make a full recovery and restart racing in August 2022.

At last year's Vuelta a España, Træen, now 30, wore the red leader's jersey for four stages on the way to finishing ninth on GC. On stage four of the 2026 Tour de France, he joined a strong breakaway powered by Mads Pedersen's Lidl-Trek teammates, who succeeded in setting up Træen's fellow Norwegian for stage victory in Foix.

Træen now leads EF Education-EasyPost's Sean Quinn by 28 seconds in the general classification, and more importantly, he is ahead of race favourite Tadej Pogačar by nearly eight minutes. Being a good climber, this buffer could help him retain yellow through the mountainous second week.

Now let's take a close look at his custom Ridley Noah Fast 3.0, which was sprayed by the brand's CEO, Jochim Aerts, in a return to his frame-spraying roots. The third-generation bike is considered one of the peloton's best aero bikes, thanks to a combination of minimal frontal area and deep tubes designed to take advantage of the 'sailing effect'.

The byproduct of this chunky tubing is weight. At the Opening Weekend, we weighed one of Træen's teammates' bikes at 8kg, which is on the heavy side for a WorldTour bike. In light of that, Ridley hasn't gone all out on the yellow paint – just spraying parts of the head tube and top half of the fork saves 100g over a full coat.

His Noah Fast will be built with a full SRAM Red AXS groupset, including a power meter – the complete bike is estimated to weigh 7.9-8kg, according to Ridley. As for the yellow details, expect to see yellow handlebar tape, wheel decals, and SRAM stickers on the levers and cranks.

Whether the Norwegian uses his custom Ridley Noah Fast for the first mountain stage of this year's Tour de France between Pau and Gavarnie-Gèdre, we'll have to wait and see – we suspect he'll be on the unreleased Falcon RS lightweight bike to ensure he stays in yellow for the coming stages.

It’s inconceivable that in the late 1950s, Ray Booty covered 100-mile distances on this bike in times that most modern riders, aero-optimised to the nth degree, can only dream of. The bike looks so ordinary, you could imagine commuting to work on it, which, apparently, is what Booty did – hence the tape protecting the rear stays from saddlebag rub.

On Bank Holiday Monday, 6^th August 1956, Booty broke the RTTA 100-mile time trial record with an 84” fixed gear, posting a time of 3h 58m 28s. He was the first person to ride a sub-four-hour ‘out and back’ century.

Weeks later, he surpassed the RRA 100-mile ‘straight-out’ record, switching from the fixed gear to a close ratio, three-speed Sturmey Archer AC51 hub, as pictured here. His time was 3h 28m 40s, a record that stood for incredible 34 years.

None of the components on this bike are particularly noteworthy, but the frame is. It’s a 1955 Raleigh Record Ace (RRA) built in Raleigh’s ‘special build’ workshop by either Billy Blackamore or Ted Silverstone, perhaps both.

In a Nottinghamshire factory that spanned 78 acres and employed 9,000 workers, it was just this duo of master frame-builders who crafted frames for a select few pros. Famously, these rare frames are stamped with an ‘RP’ identifier – Booty’s TT bike is RP117.

Booty, who died in 2012, won many titles and accolades in the 1950s, including gold in the 1958 Empire and Commonwealth Games, but he declined to go pro.

“He was a modest fellow who enjoyed his cycling and didn’t want to turn it into a job,” says current owner Richard Hoddinott of Velo Pages. “I imagine if he were around today, he wouldn't be propagating notoriety from social media. He'd just be letting his pedals do the talking, which is why, to me, he's the ultimate amateur.”

Why climb one mountain when you can climb all of them? This is the principle behind the Everest Roam.

Everesting is a challenge whereby a rider completes repeats of the same climb until they’ve accumulated the vertical ascent of Mount Everest - that’s 8,848 meters (or 29,029 feet).

The format was first introduced in 2014 by Australian cyclist Andy van Bergen. Since then, it’s become so popular it’s transcended cycling, with athletes ‘Everesting’ in running, stair climbing and even rock climbing.

Launched in November 2025, the Everest Roam invites athletes to hit the same elevation, but in one continuous ride with no repeats, and no sleep. It’s a challenge I accepted on Saturday, June 6, completing the ride in 19 hours, 40 minutes on a route totalling 231 miles (371 km) and 29,056 feet. Just enough extra elevation to be safe.

THE PLANNING IS HALF THE BATTLE

As a randonneur—or Audaxer in the UK— and ultra-distance cyclist, I’m not afraid of a tough day out. I’ve finished multiple 1200km, 600km and 400km events, so the thought of riding all day, night, and the following morning wasn’t too daunting. The idea of doing all that and hitting just about every hill, valley, and dell on my way back home? That’s a different story.

There’s perhaps a reason the original Everast challenge utilises hill reps. As you can imagine, finding a route where you can accumulate almost 9,000m without turning into a 1000km adventure isn’t easy. And depending on where you live, it could be downright impossible. So the Everest Roam really does start where most epic adventures begin—your computer.

Living in Northern California, we’re lucky (depending on how you look at it) to have an endless array of mountain ranges right in our backyard. When it came to figuring out how to stack up the meters, it was about calculating where. Not how.

Next were the logistics. Randonneuring is famous for its unsupported philosophy. However, for a Roam, this is nearly impossible. The idea of carrying anything extra seemed diabolical, not to mention the fact that I’d be riding throughout the night, in remote areas, where access to food and water would be tough. Support was going to be essential.

With this in mind, the best option was a point-to-point route. Starting north in a town called Geyserville, located in the lush Sonoma wine country, I’d essentially be “riding home” to San Francisco, making detours for every climb between there and here.

THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB

For a ride built entirely around going up, up, up, weight matters. Which meant I wanted the lightest build I could find. I went with the XDS X-LAB RT9—a true climbing machine at just 5.9kg (13 lbs) for a size small. Light, stiff, perfect. To help keep the legs spinning, the bike was set up with a 1:1 gear ratio (50/34 in the front and 11/34 in the back) on a Dura-Ace Di2 groupset.

I used two Exposure bike lights, ensuring I had some built-in fail-safes. The extra light comes in handy on nighttime descents, illuminating up the entire road like a car’s headlight. Finally, I used Apidura’s race frame bags to carry my on-bike essentials, while still keeping the overall weight as light as possible.

Fueling an effort like this is just as critical as the route itself. I aimed for 80 to 90 grams of carbs per hour, creating my own fueling recipe of 60g from my carb drink and the other 20-30g from Swedish candy, Twinkies, crisps, honestly, whatever I could get my hands on. There's no elegant strategy at 2am. There's just what’s in front of you.

The final piece was finding some folks to join the adventure. We had six intrepid riders sign up. Two opted for a half Everest while the other four decided to go the distance. Who was at the finish line? Spoiler alert—just me and another cyclist.

THE RIDE....

The adventure kicked off promptly as we rolled out at 6:05am, just as the morning sun was starting to poke through the vineyards. I began the ride with three other women, with three guys due to join later.

It wasn’t long before the terrain began to pitch up, and the first few climbs served as a wake-up call. It’s tough to describe what it’s like to look down at your computer and see a number like 26,722 feet worth of ascent remaining. Plus, a cool double century on top of it.

Whilst I’ve completed many long-distance events, this one was going to represent a major challenge. So, it was critical to think of this ride in different chunks. One hill. One 10-mile stretch. One rest stop at a time. Breaking the ride up into four distinct chapters really helped — all of a sudden, this monumental task was approachable.

As the miles and hours wore on, the climbs took their victims, and before nightfall, it was just me and my friend Evan, leapfrogging each other up the road. I was faster on the climbs. He was faster on the descents.

Eventually, we got gapped, and it was time for some solo miles. I’m a pretty social person, so this kind of “me time” is my own personal hell. To stay focused, I relied on plenty of positive self-talk, a gratitude mindset (feeling lucky to be fit enough to take on an endeavor like this) and of course, plenty of music to keep spirits high.

Before long, the ride had stretched into the night shift. At around 10pm, after several solo hours, I pulled into our SAG wagon that had created a makeshift rest stop. My friend Evan had already gone up the road, and I was bracing myself for another six hours of lonely miles. Suddenly, my support crew kicked into a whole new gear. My husband was putting on his bike kit from his much more humane ride earlier that day, and was going to finish the remaining 75 miles with me. To say I was overwhelmed was an understatement. Tears welled up, and I couldn’t help but let the emotions flow.

It’s certainly not the first time I’ve cried on a long ride. Not because of pain, oftentimes because of sheer overwhelm. Your emotions are heightened in these moments. Everything becomes amplified, and even the smallest act of kindness is enough to leave you in a puddle of tears.

Reflecting on the lower points of the ride feels strange, because if I’m honest, in my body I felt strong the whole time. Sure, there were moments that tested me and 25% grades that had me questioning all my life decisions. But with some good training in the legs and some great company, the ride pretty darn fun.

After all, if you want to see who your true friends are, do an ultra event. I was blown away by the support I had and the lengths my friends went to ensure my safety. As we got closer to San Francisco, the iconic Golden Gate Bridge nearly in view, our friend Adele, who had been driving the SAG car since 10am the previous day, hopped on her bike to escort us home.

At 4:45am I was over the bridge and finished. I had successfully completed an Everest Roam.

To Roam, or not to Roam

If you've been thinking about Everesting, but the idea of riding the same hill sounds like punishment, the Roam is genuinely the better option. It will test your ability to plan, adapt, and keep going. But the feeling at the end makes it all worthwhile.

Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge with my friends beside me, I wasn't thinking about elevation gains or finishing times. I was thinking about how lucky I am to have people willing to drive a SAG car for 18 hours and hop on a bike at midnight just to make sure I got home. That's what ultra events do. They show you who your people are. And mine showed up at 10pm with a bike and no hesitation. In the nearly 20 hours of riding, that was the moment that mattered most.

For more information on how to take on your own Everest Roam, visit everesting.com

When Tom Pidcock left Ineos Grenadiers for Q36.5 Cycling Team two winters ago, the British star wasn't only swapping a fading superpower for an up-and-coming, ambitious start-up - he was jumping from one billionaire-backed team to another.

The difference between Ineos owner Jim Ratcliffe and Q36.5 bankroller Ivan Glasenberg is that the former appears to be looking for an exit from cycling while the latter is just getting started in the sport.

Glasenberg, a mining tycoon worth $13.9bn (£10.4bn) according to Forbes (about £3bn less than Ratcliffe), has emerged as a key figure within cycling politics in the past year. He has shown serious intent to overhaul the sport's business model, and to make his Pidcock-headlined team one of the strongest.

It's a bold vision worth shouting about - or so you might think. But the curious thing is, Glasenberg is a hard man to reach, and an even harder one to profile. Intensely private, he almost never speaks to the media and is reluctant to discuss his cycling ambitions, despite being a regular presence at the sport's biggest races. In three-and-a-half years as owner of what is now Pinarello-Q36.5, no quote attributed to Glasenberg has appeared in the team's press communications. In 2011, the Financial Times described him as "one of the great enigmas of the corporate world" - a label that fits his role in cycling too.

His curiously low profile should not be interpreted as a sign that Glasenberg, whose team is making their Tour de France debut this July, isn't serious about transforming the sport. "He's got a big voice and people seem to listen to him," said one source who has interacted with Glasenberg frequently in the past six months. Word within cycling has it that the UCI, the sport's governing body, is acutely attuned to his ambitions.

Born in 1957 in a wealthy Johannesburg suburb to a Lithuanian father and South African mother, Glasenberg showed signs of being a sharp, subversive operator from an early age. Former teachers, cited in previous profiles published elsewhere, described him as "outspoken, cheeky" and not "always accepting that the teacher was correct". Before studying to become an accountant, he'd had his own elite sporting ambitions. One of the country's leading race walkers - reportedly a junior national champion in the late 1970s - he had hoped to represent South Africa at the 1984 Olympic Games.

International opposition to South Africa's apartheid policies scuppered that dream. Glasenberg later obtained Israeli citizenship through his Jewish heritage, but he was unable to compete for his adopted country owing to apparent bureaucratic complications. The rejection from sport's biggest stage is said to still irk him, but it hastened his move into the even more competitive world of international business.

In 1984, he married Elana Beverley Orelowitz - they have two children - and joined Marc Rich & Co AG, later renamed Glencore. The Swiss-based commodities giant specialises in mining and trading raw materials and goods around the world. Glasenberg began in the coal division, and soon made his mark, earning the nickname 'King of Coal'. As Glencore grew, so did his standing, and in 2002 he became CEO. In 2013, two years after the company floated on the FTSE 100 - an event that laid bare Glasenberg's vast personal wealth - he oversaw the acquisition and merger with Xstrata, creating one of the world's largest commodities companies.

Operating in more than 30 countries and boasting around 140,000 employees and contractors, Glencore is said to have more ships than the Royal Navy. It is responsible for 60% of the world's tradable zinc, half of the globe's supply of copper, and also trades 9% of the grain and 3% of the oil markets. Essentially, the world pivots on Glencore's trading, with Glasenberg the man at the steering wheel for almost two decades - until stepping down as CEO in 2021. He remains the company's largest shareholder and was part of recent failed merger talks between Glencore and Rio Tinto, which if successful would have formed a behemoth company worth some $240bn (£179bn).

Glasenberg's rise was partly built on 16-hour workdays. In a rare interview with the Wall Street Journal, in 2013, he refuted the notion of a work-life balance. "No. We work," he insisted. "You don't come here to take life easy. And we all get rich from it, so, you know, there's a benefit from it." There is little evidence of him splurging that wealth on a lavish lifestyle. Fifteen years ago, the Guardian reported that he owned only one house - a discreet modern villa in Switzerland - while one business associate is reported as saying he is "a positive outlier. So many of these guys are poseurs. He's not a poseur."

Poseur or not, he is without doubt a driven and uncompromising businessman. That same Guardian report stated that failure is his "biggest fear of every minute", while Reuters reported that he is "well known to drive a hard bargain and will not easily give in", adding that his notable personality traits are "his fiery temper and his charm".

As CEO of one of the world's most important trading companies, Glasenberg has mixed it with the world's elite. In 2017, Russian president Vladimir Putin personally awarded him the Order of Friendship after Glencore invested $10.2bn (£7.6bn) in Russia's state oil producer Rosneft (the company sold its 23.46% stake in Rosneft in 2025). It is far from his only controversy or questionable association.

His early years as Glencore CEO were spent dealing with the legacy of predecessor Marc Rich, which included accusations of illegal dealings with apartheid South Africa, the USSR, Iran and Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

Under Glasenberg's leadership, Glencore continued to face allegations of human rights abuses and ethical failings, including the forced relocation of entire villages in Colombia to make way for mine expansion, profiting from child labour in the DR Congo, and releasing waste acid into rivers in the same country. These are claims Glencore, and Glasenberg, have always strenuously denied.

In 2021, at the age of 64, and presumably with more time on his hands, Glasenberg decided to invest in cycling. He first became the owner of the then small Swiss apparel brand Q36.5 in 2021, and in 2023 he bought Italian bike brand Pinarello for a reported €200m.

He's also said to have stakes in SRM power meters and the nutrition brand Amacx. He told Canada's Globe and Mail in 2021: "I love sport and I am doing this for pleasure," and that "no one has ever put luxury sports brands together successfully." His purchase of Pinarello in particular was a nod towards that ambition.

In 2022, when fellow South African Doug Ryder was looking to build a new professional cycling team after the collapse of Qhubeka NextHash, Glasenberg spotted an opportunity. "Q36.5 had been looking to sponsor a team with their jerseys but they were unable to reach a suitable agreement with the two teams they were in discussions with," team manager Ryder explained to CW.

"I then approached Q36.5 regarding sponsoring our team, and they agreed on the basis that the team would carry the Q36.5 name." With that, Glasenberg became cycling's latest billionaire backer, following in the footsteps of Ratcliffe, Sylvan Adams, Igor Makarov and Oleg Tinkov.

CW spotted Glasenberg outside his team's bus at last year's Giro d'Italia, seeming to confirm that he takes a hands-on role, but we were informed that he does not give media interviews. "Ivan attends training camps for a few days at a time but leaves the day-to-day management of the team to the managers," Ryder said.

When Pidcock won two stages and the GC of the AlUla Tour in early 2025, his first race in what has been undeniably a very successful partnership to date, the Briton said: "Ivan is the reason I'm on this team." Asked to elaborate, Pidcock refused. Similarly, Ryder didn't engage with more specific questions about Glasenberg's involvement with the team. Employees appear to be briefed on maintaining Glasenberg's low public profile - a marked contrast to how Adams and Tinkov ran their respective teams.

In private, however, Glasenberg has been stretching his influence, leading the latest team-led reform project, TeamCo, which aims to improve teams' financial sustainability and make cycling more attractive to a wider audience. One person who has been in TeamCo meetings said that "Ivan can be convincing when he wants to be, and charming", while the same source and others also highlighted how he has brought his reputation as a hard-headed negotiator to the table. If TeamCo succeeds in wresting some power away from the UCI and the biggest race organisers and handing it to the teams, he could become the most transformative billionaire the sport ever known.

One thing is for sure: Glasenberg won't be daunted by cycling's thorny politics. He is, after all, a man who has brokered multibillion-dollar deals with authoritarian strongmen in some of the world's most volatile jurisdictions.

As one of his peers said of him in 2021: "Ivan is the ultimate competitor, and that applies across business and sport." His return to elite sport, almost half a century after his own Olympic rejection, is more than just dipping his toes in. When Glasenberg commits, he doesn't rest until he has bent the objective to his will. As one source succinctly put it: "He rarely invests and loses."

Felix Engelhardt bagged his first national championship less than a week before the Tour de France Grand Depart commenced in Barcelona, Spain, and while this signaled the German would be coming into the race in fine fettle, it also meant his Jayco-AlUla mechanics needed to work around the clock to build him a very special bike. We spotted Felix's bike in the team paddocks while compiling our mega gallery of all the TT and road bike tech from the Tour de France Grand Depart.

It’s become increasingly fashionable for national, continental, and world champions to have a custom paint job – not only does it add a bonus layer of pageantry to the quotidian themes comprising the WorldTour peloton, but it also honours their achievements. For Felix Engelhardt, his Bundesflagge-themed Giant Propel Advanced SL nearly didn't make it to Barcelona.

Following his victory in Bad Liebenstein, where he beat Lennart Jasch and Nico Denz to the line, a quick turnaround was needed to ensure the German had something special for the Tour de France. Jayco-AlUla sent a raw Giant Propel Advanced SL to Unlimited Colors, based in Venhorst, the Netherlands, and let the creatives loose to create a truly unique yet sophisticated livery to celebrate Engelhardt’s win while still retaining the team-specific logo placements. The result? A tricolour German flag design applied to mimic fire, complete with a Propel flame glyph on the top tube.

At 5 feet 11 inches, Engelhardt rides the all-new Giant Propel Advanced SL in size medium, which made headlines in March for its subtly tweaked tube profiles and exceptionally low total system weight of 6.8kg. Giant’s in-house component brand Cadex supplies the rolling sock – pictured here are Ultra 50 hookless wheels wrapped in 30mm Aero Cotton tyres. The wheels are not only an impressively aero option but are also very light and come tricked out with a R3-C40 Aero hub and carbon spoke configuration.

Unsurprisingly, the Giant is built around a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset, complete with a 55/40T, 11-34T chainset, and power meter, and 165mm crankarms. The bike also benefits from a 3D-printed Cadex saddle and integrated Giant Contact SLR Aero handlebar configuration.

An interesting observation is the stack of 2.5cm spacers under the stem, a move that prioritises comfort over a three-week Grand Tour – and something I listed in my 2026 Tour de France tech trend predictions.

Other notable bits and bobs include a 3D-printed race number holder, Fouriers chain catcher, Elite Leggero Carbon bottle cages, Shimano Dura-Ace pedals, and a fabric transponder strip on the fork.

Giant Propel Advanced SL specs

• Frame: Propel Advanced SL
• Cockpit: Giant Contact SLR Aero
• Seatpost: Giant Vector integrated
• Groupset: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2, 54/40T, 11-34T
• Wheelset: Cadex Ultra 50, 50mm
• Tyres: Cadex Aero Cotton, 30mm
• Saddle: Cadex Amp 3D

At 07:00 (CET) last Saturday morning, Mark Kowalski cycled across the border from Bulgaria into Greece, came to a stop, pulled out his phone and dialled his fianceé. He had news. With that final border crossing, the London-based Canadian ultracyclist and bikepacker had just broken a bike-riding world record.

Kowalski’s tracker showed that he had just cycled exactly 2798.59km, averaging 404.25km per day for the last week. But the record he’d just stamped his name on had nothing directly to do with distance. Since setting off at 09:00 (CET) on the previous Saturday, from a border town in The Netherlands, Kowalski had pedalled through 21 different countries in seven days, beating the previous tally of 20 nations.

In the end, the 40-year-old finished his race against the clock with two hours to spare. But for the entirety of the previous seven days he had been living on his nerves. “The whole trip was super stressful,” Kowalski tells me. “Before starting, I was 65% sure I could do it. But I had enough doubt that I didn’t tell anyone about it until just before I left. Even towards the end, I was never completely confident. Never at any point did I think it was a shoo-in.”

“My strength isn’t speed,” he admits. “I’m slow and steady. The first day I rode for 12 hours, and the last day I had no sleep at all and rode for 24 hours. But my usual pattern was to get up at 2am and ride for 19 hours, with about 1 hours pause time built into that.”

A three-time veteran of the 4000km Transcontinental Race, Kowalski is no newcomer to enormous self-supported cycling challenges, but this was a bit different to anything he’d done before. Chasing the erstwhile record, he had a dot on his tracker, showing where he need to be.

“That red dot never slept,” he tells me on the phone from Greece, with fatigue still evident in his voice. “I’d go to sleep ahead of it and then wake up and have to chase it. At the beginning it was very stressful. I was riding through a heatwave. I called my partner on the second day, really doubting myself. It wasn’t until around day four that I came out of the doldrums and I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

From Vaal – which is conveniently positioned on the border with the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, enabling him to tick three countries quickly off the list – Kowalski went south, passing through Luxembourg, France and Switzerland. Tracing Lake Constance, he crossed into Austria, collected Liechtenstein then went east through the Tirol.

After darting south from Innsbruck into northern Italy, he steered northeast to visit the Czech Republic, then dropped south through Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro – doing a quick out-and-back to touch his tyres on Albanian soil – and then continuing east to North Macedonia, Bulgaria and finally into Greece.

“My partner asked me to give the Transcontinental a break, and so I came up with this idea instead,” he tells me. “But when I first started researching it, I thought the record was 19 countries. I’d had worked out that I could do 20, or 21 at a real push. Then I discovered that the record was actually 20, set by Craig Nilsson in 2025. That was a blow!”

“I was designing my own route, and then I looked at Craig’s, and it was so obviously the best one. I did try and vary it, but when I did I mostly went wrong. Like when I ran into a fence trying to reach a bike trail along the Danube, and had to backtrack. I hit a stretch of gravel and it felt wrong. I was riding alongside this fence thinking ‘I’m just going further and further in the wrong direction here’. In the end I only lost about 20 minutes.”

A Green Party councillor in London, Kowalski used his ride to raise money for Action for Refugees in Lewisham. Confined to the capital, for the most part, he prepared for his expedition by doing endless 6-hour indoor training sessions, and working on a nutrition plan that meant he could stomach taking on 100g of carbs per hour. “Wine gums and mints are great,” he confides. “Mentos are basically 100% carbs!”

During his odyssey, he was riding a Reilly Titanium Reflex gravel bike. “It’s got aero bars and a massive dish on the back for the hills,” he says. “But really it was built for comfort, and I had Redshift suspension seatpost, which really helps with back pain. I put a whole new drive chain on it, but it kept slipping. I just kept going – I wasn’t going to take it to a repair shop to wait hours, only to be told they couldn’t fix it.”

Fully loaded, he estimates the bike weighed about 20kg. “I carried some spare clothing, an emergency sleeping system – a bivvy and blow-up mattress, which I used once. I carried tools – I was probably over prepared in that sense.”

Slippage aside, he got away likely with technical issues, and only suffered two punctures during the entire trip, while running Continental GP5000 32mm tyres.

Does he worry about Nilsson coming back to reclaim his record – something he’s already done once? “Not really,” he tells me. “To reach another country, you’d have to ride another 300km. To do that you’d need to be Victor Bosoni [the young French rider currently winning events like the Traka].”

Prior to the time trial stage of the UAE Tour earlier this year, Ineos's Josh Tarling admitted that, on the whole, he’d have quite liked it if Remco Evenepoel had been somewhere else for the day. He said it somewhat tongue in cheek, but still, I liked the honesty.

There are unwritten rules of bike racing. Among them is the idea that you, as an athlete, always want to measure yourself against the best. Every day of your racing career, you want that opportunity to stand with the biggest stars, race mano-a-mano, and see your place in the firmament.

But I think I speak on behalf of athletes everywhere when I say that there are only so many times you need to measure yourself against the very best before you’ve learned everything about taking a thrashing that you are ever going to.

Eventually your thoughts turn to more parochial matters – like the chance to go home waving a medal and give yourself a fighting chance of convincing your nearest and dearest that you’re not wasting your time at this “cycling” thing.

I was privileged to spend quite a lot of my career with Sir Bradley Wiggins as my perspective-provider. And it was always an honour to have him crush me under his wheels. But there were also days when I would definitely have preferred it if he’d stayed in Tenerife and enjoyed the sunshine and the altitude training. I would not have admitted to this thought, obviously.

Occasionally you get your wish. I once won the British Individual Pursuit championships. This unexpected turn of events came about because it was a Commonwealth Games year, which prompted most of the UK’s best pursuit riders to skip the championships.

And let me tell you, it’s a lot more fun being self-deprecating about the championship jersey you won because all the country’s best pursuiters from Bradley Wiggins to Steve Cummings (inclusive) weren’t there, than it is telling people for the fourth year running that fifth place was pretty good considering.

I was always a little flattered that my friend Bernard never wanted to race against me. It acknowledged what he wouldn’t want to admit directly, which is that in any race that ran without incident, I would beat him.

But it was curious to me that any time I went to race at a major event, Bernard was keen that I get beaten by as much as possible. On the one occasion I raced Tony Martin, Bernard had a viewing party, bought popcorn, and had a sweep on how much the reigning World Champion would beat me by. He optimistically picked eight minutes. (It was a 50 km time trial, since you ask.)

It wasn’t quite that much – it was about five. Bernard was still happy-ish. He didn’t like that I’d won the sweep, but said he could still see the bigger picture.

“But Bernie,” I pointed out, “The bigger picture is that by the transitive property of people beating each other, him beating me by five minutes means he’d beat you by about ten.”

“That’s all right. I mind the idea of the World Champion beating me by ten minutes a lot less than I mind the idea of being beaten by five by some bloke from the next village who borrowed my hedge clippers and cut through the cable.”

I suppose the truth of the matter is that even at second hand, what Bernard was doing was the same as any of us do when racing star riders in person – getting a simple thrill from a direct handle on how good some of the big riders are.

The difference for him being that the novelty of measuring-against-the-best would never have worn off:

“It’s just a shame that Tony Martin is too busy to do that to you every week,” he said wistfully.

Acts of Cycling Stupidity

I was at a book festival recently, and signed a book for someone who said, “My son is a professional cyclist.”

I asked who it was. He said, “Oh, you won’t have heard of him. He was watching the Tour when he was ten and just thought he’d like to be a pro cyclist, and asked me if I’d pay him to ride his bike. So I agreed to pay him £2 a week.”

“That’s cute,” I said. “Maybe he’ll be a real pro one day.”

“I doubt it,” he said. “He’s 22 now, and I’m still paying him £2 a week.”

Great Inventions of Cycling: Shorts (1886. Then again in 1919 and again in 1946.)

In the beginning, bicyclists wore breeches and knee-high leather boots. This was to provide protection from the front wheel of a bone-shaker or penny-farthing, which would pass between their legs like a giant meat slicer.

Shorts only appeared after the safety bicycle. Even then, they were only worn by racers – gentleman leisure cyclists wore breeches or plus-fours and stockings, lady cyclist wore skirts or (if they tended toward the scandalous) some variety of baggy trousers.

This continued until after the First World War, when women (and only women) started to wear shorts. Men stuck to their plus-fours, unless they were racing, in which case they wore black woollen tights that could absorb several times their own weight in water and rubbed most of the skin off a rider’s knees on any ride longer than a couple of hours.

Shorts were in fact prohibited by the racing rules in Britain – when the hour was first beaten for a 25-mile time trial, it was in Ireland, a liberal paradise where shorts were permitted. Every time triallist in Great Britain scoffed that anyone could go that fast if they were allowed to wear shorts.

After the next war, everyone was finally allowed to wear shorts for racing. These shorts were still made of wool, like cut-off versions of the tights, and were generally very short because if they weren’t they rucked up around a rider’s inner thighs and abraded the skin off those instead.

Finally, in the 1970s, stretchy synthetic shorts arrived, and everyone breathed a huge sigh of relief and put away their E45 cream. They’ve remained more or less unchanged since.

After announcing his resignation in January, Jon Dutton’s tenure as British Cycling CEO has now come to an end, with an interim CEO put in place until a permanent replacement can be appointed.

Dutton joined British Cycling in 2023 after a five-year period as chief executive of the Rugby League World Cup. He has been appointed to one of the most prominent roles in British sport as the new CEO of the British Olympic Association.

British Cycling board member Lee Gibbons has been drafted in as interim CEO, beginning the role on the 13th of July.

“Gibbons brings a wealth of experience from the sports agency sector, other sports rights holders and commercial brands, including nine years at adidas where he ran the sports marketing division,” read a British Cycling statement.

British Cycling say that recruitment for a new CEO is now in its final stages and Gibbons will remain in post until a new CEO is able to join the organisation.

These changes come at a time when the organisation’s board is without a chair, following Frank Slevin’s decision to step down from the position in March due to a bowel cancer diagnosis. Slevin held the role for eight years.

Andy Cook and James Davies have shared the role of acting chair in Slevin’s absence. British Cycling say that a new chair of the board will be announced soon.

Dutton came on board with British Cycling at a turbulent point in its history, during which the organisation lost around 200,000 members shortly after petrochemical company Shell made an agreement to become a major sponsor - a deal which was struck before Dutton’s stint in charge.

British Cycling has also faced recent criticism for its policy that stopped transgender women from competing in female racing categories.

Dutton led a period of strategic change within British Cycling, seeking to boost its social impact and instilling a new mission statement to ‘bring the joy of cycling to everyone’, while working to grow the sport as one that is more accessible and inclusive.

He told Cycling Weekly last year that he hopes to see Great Britain & Northern Ireland's Olympic selection over the coming cycles “to be truly representative of society.”

“We want cycling across Great Britain to represent society, and it is clear in some areas that is not the case,” he added.

Under his tenure, British Cycling played a key role in bringing the 2027 Tour de France grand départes to British soil and also stepped in as the organisers of the Tours of Britain.

“The finish line has arrived far sooner than I had anticipated,” Dutton wrote in a post on LinkedIn signalling the end of his time with BC.

“This journey has been a rollercoaster of challenge, joy, and everything in-between. I’m eternally grateful for the humbling opportunity to lead such a magnificent organisation.”

“It’s been a privilege, an honour and a pleasure,” he added. “I’ve made mistakes, some will cheer my time on while others will jeer, but I leave knowing I’ve given it my all.”

Defending Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar goes into Stage 1's 19.6km team time trial on a new Colnago time trial bike, code-named the TT2. The Slovenian was spotted using it during the Tour de Romandie prologue in April already - no doubt a move to get some race-effort miles on it in preparations for July.

According to Colnago, complete bikes, including a solid-disc rear, can be built to the UCI weight limit of 6.8kg, which is an incredible feat. The TT2 is some 580g lighter than the model it replaces, with savings said to come from across the bike to improve stability and weight distribution and to aid performance on modern WorldTour TT courses and uphill finishes. Of course, it's faster, too, thanks to a new-fangled front end with a conventional steerer (no bayonet here) that is claimed to save 2 watts over the TT1 and cull weight.

The new bike is also bang-on trend to accommodate wider tyre clearances – up from 28mm to 30mm. Based on what we examined, that might be considered overkill, as Tadej's bike was fitted with 25mm Continental GP5000 TT TR tyres.

The bike is built with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 components and adorned with Carbon-Ti trim here and there. Up front is a one-by-specific 64T Carbon-Ti chainring with an 11-30T cassette out back, driven by 160mm cranks – a balanced gearing configuration for the flats but something that will pose a notable challenge for the double-kick ascent up Montjuïc hill to the Olympic Stadium.

Despite the narrow-wide profiling of the Carbon-Ti chainring, Pogačar is using a UAE-branded K-Edge chainkeeper to ensure retention across all terrain types.

An interesting move was the fitment of 25mm Continental GP5000 TT TR tyres – the narrowest size we've seen across all the teams we visited at the Grand Depart weekend in Barcelona. Despite the 22mm internal rim width of the Enve SES Pro wheels, the tyres will - at the most - inflate to between 26-27mm, which suggests it's been employed as an aerodynamic move. UAE Team Emirates-XRG have also been running 28mm tyres on their Colnago Y1Rs and V5Rs road bikes, again an aerodynamic ploy, according to the mechanics.

Pog's Colnago TT2 rolls on a pair of Enve SES Pro wheels with a 100mm depth up front and a solid disc at the rear.

The touchpoints come compliments of Enve and Fizik. The Slovenian's cockpit is a custom one-piece Enve solution that mounts directly to the basebar via dual risers. For extra support, there's a bridge near the top that doubles as a Wahoo computer mount.

After parting ways with Prologo at the end of the 2024 season, UAE Team Emirates-XRG are now using Fizik saddles, with Tadej opting for the 192g 3D-printed Aeris 1.0 TT model.

We spotted some interesting hacks on the Colnago TT2. For hand retention during cornering, the base bar has grip tape mounted over a layer of black electrical tape – not the prettiest solution, but these rudimentary solutions have become part of the discipline.

Closer examination of the front end reveals an extra shifter button that has been hot-glued onto the Dura-Ace Di2 ST-R9180 STI TT brake levers. Given that these levers already have a remote shifter button, the extra shifter offers an alternative for shifting with the index finger rather than the thumb.

Other details worth noting are the gold Bikone ceramic bottom bracket, gold Carbon-Ti UDH-compatible dropout and axles, 140mm front/rear disc rotors, and Shimano Dura-Ace pedals. Sadly, no baby Hulk sticker was to be found.

Colnago TT2 bike specs

• Frameset: Colnago Carbon monocoque
• Fork: Colnago Carbon fork with 25mm steerer
• Cockpit: Custom Enve bar and extensions
• Seatpost: Colnago Aero
• Groupset: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2: 64T, 11-30T
• Wheelset: Enve SES Pro front, SES Disc Pro rear
• Tyres: Continental GP5000 TT TR 25mm
• Saddle: Fizik Aeris 1.0 TT

The 2026 Tour de France begins on Saturday with a team time trial in Barcelona, Spain.

The course, 19.6km long, opens on the city's seafront, before heading past the Sagrada Família and south to Montjuïc, finishing on a double-header of climbs: first, the Côte de Montjuïc, 1.1km at 5.1%, before the Côte du Stade Olympique, 800m at 7%, at the top of which the finish line is drawn.

Tour debutants and wild-card invitees Caja Rural-Seguros RGA will be the first team down the ramp at 17:05 CET (16:05 BST).

The remaining 22 teams will then set off at five-minute intervals, with UAE Team Emirates-XRG, the team of defending champion Tadej Pogačar, the last to begin their effort at 18:55 CET (17:55 BST).

The stage is expected to finish around 19:15 ET (18:15 BST).

It is the first time since since 1971 that the Tour has started with a team time trial.

This year, the race organiser, ASO, has introduced a new timing system at the race: times will be recorded individually, not as a team.

ASO has been trialling this system at Paris-Nice since 2023, and did so again at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes last month.

The winner of the stage is the entire team, rather than the fastest individual. However, individual times will count towards the general classification, and the race's first yellow jersey will go to the fastest rider across the line on the day.

Any riders who finish outside an extra 30% of the winner's time will be eliminated from the race.

Below are the start times for all 23 competing teams. For information on how to watch the race, visit our streaming guide.

Stage 1 team time trial start times

Tom Pidcock and Pinarello Q36.5 kick off their 2026 Tour de France campaign with a challenging 19.6km team time trial around Barcelona's iconic roads on Saturday.

Pidcock comes into the three-week Grand Tour among the GC favourites and will be looking for the best possible start, which will require a strong, well-executed team effort. As the leader of Pinarello Q36.5, he has a host of riders to support him, including newly crowned British National Road Race Champion Fred Wright.

As a multi-discipline rider, Pidcock has myriad bike options at his disposal, but will naturally be riding a Pinarello Bolide F time trial bike. While his teammates will use the same bike, albeit with the regular navy-blue-and-gold livery, the Yorkshireman will ride a unique black-and-gold-themed machine.

Let's get into the details.

The Pinarello Bolide F underwent an update in 2024, borrowing technologies from the Bolide F HR – the bike used by the men’s and women’s Italian track teams in the Olympic endurance events. Look closely, and you'll notice the ribbed, drag-reducing edging on the seat tube and seatpost called AirStream technology.

The front end is fairly high, with a dual-stack, five-spacer system that supports custom one-piece bar extensions by Most. While the cups use standard foam padding, two 3D-printed strips - like the lattice structures you'll find on some saddles - are located on each extension to support the forearms.

The Bolide F is outfitted in a full SRAM Red AXS groupset, including a power meter. Pidcock has opted for a fairly traditional 1x gearing configuration comprising a single 60T chainring that drives a 10-36T cassette via very short 160mm cranks. While the X-Sync narrow/wide tooth profiling should keep the chain in place, there's a Wolf Tooth chainkeeper for added security.

Look closely, and you'll notice that the BB ends of both crankarms have been filled with 3D-printed plugs to smooth the surface and possibly save a few watts . There's also a waxed chain.

The wheels come compliments of Zipp. In this case, an 858 NSW front and Super-9 solid rear disc wrapped in surprisingly 'narrow' 28mm Vittoria Corsa Pro Speed tyres – no doubt a personal choice and aerodynamic decision. The Bolide can accommodate tyres as wide as 32mm, so the chosen configuration is far from maxed out.

Because SRAM only supplies its wireless blips with adhesive tape, to improve the look and ergonomics, Pidcock has used a 3D-printed Leap Components Aero Grip Blip Mount for the brake levers and TT Shift assembly to neatly house the blips. It looks super refined and also adds extra grip when holding the basebar during cornering. While Leap products are becoming popular among riders and teams who use SRAM, we're told Pidcock sourced these items himself.

The Prologo Predator saddle has become a popular choice for riders during time trials, thanks to its aero and ergonomically optimised shape. Pidcock's one is the new 02 version, which gets added padding and grip from Connect Power Control technology strips along the top. This model is constructed from injected carbon fibre and uses a standard Nack (nano carbon-fibre) 7x9mm rail - and is compatible with any seatpost. At £520 a pop, it's not a cheap component, but at 163g it is light and promises a 6.4-Watt saving over the previous model.

The finishing touches include a pair of Shimano Dura-Ace PD-R9100 pedals and a Taxc time trial bottle cage.

With many fully built time trial bikes tipping the scales at between 9-10kg, Pidcock's Pinarello Bolide F weighed in at a feathery 8.85kg.

Pinarello Bolide F TT bike specs

• Frameset: TorayCa 1100G, TiCR
• Fork: Bolide TT Onda Fork with ForkFlap
• Cockpit: Custom Most TT basebar and extensions
• Seatpost: Pinarello Aero
• Groupset: SRAM Red AXS 60T, 10-36T
• Wheelset: Zipp 858 NSW front/ Super-9 Disc rear
• Tyres: Vittoria Corsa Pro Speed 28mm
• Saddle: Prologo Predator 01//TT
• Weight: 8.85kg (with pedals)

Time passes and things change. Kids don’t do paper rounds anymore (many won’t touch a newspaper in their entire lives), and it seems that young Saturday staff in bike shops are experiencing a similar extinction event. And this will cut off an entry point into the cycling world that has existed for decades, a leading industry body has said this week. But why are many bike shops no longer employing weekend staff?

According to Jonathan Harrison, Director of the Association of Cycle Traders (ACT), it is mainly down to rising costs and onerous employment obligations. However, retailers we spoke to cited changing bike trends, such as electronic gears, hydraulic disc brakes and tubeless tyres as major factors.

In a press release this week, Harrison argued that the combination of minimum wage increases, holiday pay entitlements and new sick pay requirements introduced in April is deterring independent bike shops from taking on young part-time staff, which is choking off an entry point into the industry.

"The Saturday lad or lass has been how generations of people fell into the cycle trade," Harrison said. "They came in for the love of bikes, learned the ropes, and many of them went on to build careers in the industry. That pipeline is now under serious threat."

The release goes on to quote Paul Kenchington, director of The Bicycle Chain in Bridgwater, who said: "In the early days of our business the Saturday lad or lass worked for the experience and the staff discount, with a small wage as the bonus. Some of our best people started that way. But the product is now complex, the marketplace is cut-throat, and the cumulative cost of employing someone one day a week has reached the point where many of us are simply stepping back."

When Cycling Weekly spoke to some independent bike shops, it was actually the complexity of the modern bicycle that came up as the biggest barrier to employing weekend staff, over and above any concerns about improved employees’ rights.

“We haven’t been able to employ any Saturday staff for some time,” said Sid Soanes from Soanes Cycles, an independent bike shop that began life in Colyton, Devon, in 1902 as Liberty Cycles. Back then, bikes were handmade in the shop, and Sidney J Soanes (Sid’s grandfather) joined the business as a mechanic in 1910. Over a century, and four generations later, the bike shop is still owned and run by the same family, but a lot has changed.

“Saturday is our busiest day, and bikes are just too technical these days for an untrained young person to do anything meaningful with. Now we’re dealing with electronic gears, hydraulic brakes, tubeless tyres – you just don’t get the minor repairs and servicing that a Saturday lad might have been able to work on without supervision.”

“It’s the same with work experience,” continues Soames. “We used to take loads of kids on work experience, but it’s not doable now, because bikes are far too technical and complicated. It's a shame, but we can’t spend enough time with them to make it worthwhile for them or us.”

Tom Armstrong, an elite rider who races for Wheelbase CabTech Castelli and placed second in this year's Rutland–Melton CiCLE Classic, works for JE James Cycles when he’s not riding, and he agrees.

“At one time, you could start as a Saturday lad in bike shop, sweeping the floor and so on, and when there was a spare minute learn how to true a wheel or something, but it's not like that anymore,” he told Cycling Weekly.

“Bike shops have to range e-bikes, of course, and then you’re dealing with motors and batteries, and you almost have to be an electrician. But even ‘standard’ bikes are incredibly technical. Now, when we do a handover and give a bike back to a customer, you need to be there with a laptop, asking them what phone they use, talking to them about apps and all sort of things.”

“Weekend jobs still exist in big bike shops, but they’re different. Now, unless you’re a fully trained mechanic, you’re likely to be out on the shop floor, showing customers what’s available – basically working as a sales assistant, but not getting your hands dirty.”

Harrison did also acknowledge this issue, recognising that the demise of Saturday jobs isn’t purely down to cost: "The job itself has changed,” he said. “Customers expect expert advice on e-bikes, on fit, on technology. That's a lot to ask of someone working one day a week, and when the financial risk of employing them has also risen, many shop owners are simply deciding it isn't worth it."

This is something Armstrong has seen firsthand, and he agrees that it’s having a big impact, not just on the industry, but also how kids get into the sport. “The bike shop that really helped me out when I was a young rider, Broadgate Cycles in Preston, has just closed,” he explains. “It was a family business and had been passed down from generation to generation, but the times are so tough and margins so tight, that they decided it wasn’t worth it. I got my first and second bikes from there – I’m very sad to see it go.”

The ACT, which is part of the Bira Group and represents cycle traders and retailers across Britain, championing independent bike shops, is appealing to the government to review the impact of recent employment legislation on small independent retailers, and to consider whether targeted exemptions or support for young and part-time workers could help preserve entry-level roles that are vital to the future of the trade.

When, in 1982, Gerald O’Donovan, then head of Raleigh’s elite Specialist Bicycle Development Unit (SBDU), discovered that Tommy Godwin was riding time trials at the ripe old age of 61, he didn’t hesitate to build the veteran Olympian a bike suitable for a champion.

“As well as being a remarkable engineer with a natural gift for marketing, Gerald was one of the most generous people I have ever known,” explains current owner, Dave Marsh, of the Universal Cycle Centre, Rotherham.

Godwin was a cycling icon for decades. He won two bronze medals at Herne Hill during the London 1948 Olympics, managed the British team at the Tokyo 1964 Olympics, and was, at 91, an official ambassador and torch bearer for the London 2012 Olympics. Marsh first met him trackside after winning the Masters category of the 1997 National Championship points race at Manchester Velodrome.

“Tommy presented me with my medal,” Marsh fondly recalls. “Little did I suspect that I’d be buying this bike from him four years later at a Kidderminster cycle jumble.”

Godwin was having a clear-out that included his TI Raleigh Team Bike. “We did a meticulous restoration,” remembers Marsh, “including a respray by talented ex-SBDU frame painter Phil ‘Skill’ Insley, who first painted it back in ’82. Even the decals are original.”

The frame is built entirely from heat-treated Reynolds 753 tubing, a stronger, thinner-walled version of 531. The rest of the build is almost entirely ‘no expense spared’ Campagnolo Super Record. The training wheels shown feature 28/32 spoke Mavic Mach 2 CD grey anodised rims shod with durable Vittoria Rally tubulars, but Marsh also owns the original TT-ready 28/28 spoke Arc-en-Ciel rims that Godwin paired with fast silk tubulars.

The Saba stem evokes ’80s nostalgia. It’s a Cinelli, but pantographed by Italo Berigliano, whose London-based company Saba imported lust-worthy bike components from Italy. The bars are also Cinelli, a 42cm width model 64.

Bike racing fan or not, once July hits, there’s a different energy in the air. It’s time for the Tour. But whilst the Tour de France may be the oldest Grand Tour, there’s another French event that predates it, and some might say it’s even tougher.

Paris-Brest-Paris is a 1200-kilometre ride that ping-pongs riders between the two locations in under 90 hours. And that time includes everything: riding, sleeping, eating. Once the clock starts, it doesn’t stop until the rider returns or the time is up. Whichever comes first.

The first Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP) was a competitive event, held in 1891 and imagined by Pierre Giffard, an editor at Le Petit Journal. He wanted to create an event that celebrated the resilience of cyclists and showcased what a bicycle could do. The winner, Charles Terront, completed the route in 71 hours 22 minutes, riding without sleep.

The event continued as a competitive race until 1951. Nowadays, PBP is an amateur event that takes place every four years, but riding it is certainly not as simple as just strolling up to the start line. I would know, having completed my first PBP in 2023.

Since then I’ve taken on multiple long-distance routes of this nature, including the 1200km Midnight Sun Randonnée (riding through the Arctic Circle), the Humboldt Coast 1200km (along the shores of Oregon and California) and the Gamblers 1000k (Reno to Las Vegas, through Death Valley) to name a few. Next up for me is the UK’s infamous LEJOG (Land’s End to John O’Groats), in August. Needless to say, I've fallen in love with this sport.

WELCOME TO RANDONNEURING

Randonneuring — or Audax in the UK, India and Brazil — is the sport of endurance cycling, not ultra racing. It's a subtle but distinct difference. Think of courses with time limits, not winners. The spirit of randonneuring is really in the name: from the French word “randonnée”; the sport is about exploring, adventure and seeing what you’re capable of, not fighting for the podium.

Like most sports, randonneuring also has its own language. Here’s a quick start guide to get you up to speed:

• Brevet: The name of each event. There are standard distances and each brevet has a maximum allowable time limit: 200km (13.5 hrs), 300km (20 hrs), 400km (27 hrs), 600km (40 hrs), and 1000km+ (75 hrs).
• Randonneur/Randonneuse: A rider who participates in randonneuring. Randonneur is masculine, randonneuse is feminine, though "randonneur" is often used as the general term.
• Control (or Contrôle): A checkpoint along the route where riders must get proof of passage. Sometimes a stamp on a brevet card, a receipt from a local shop, answering a question about the location’s landscape or simply passing through with your bike computer.
• Brevet Card: A paper card (sometimes digital) stamped at each control to show proof of passage.
• ACP (Audax Club Parisien): The most notable randonneuring club in the world as this is the “local” club that hosts Paris-Brest-Paris. Plus, they oversee randonneuring internationally, including setting the rules for brevets worldwide.
• Super Randonneur (SR): Completing a full series of brevets, 200km, 300km, 400km, and 600km, all within a single season (a calendar year). This is the qualification required for PBP.

THE ROAD TO PARIS-BREST-PARIS

The next edition of Paris-Brest-Paris is coming up in August, 2027. If you’d like to be one of the thousands of riders toeing the line in the official start town of Rambouillet, there’s some real work you need to accomplish in 2026.

Step one: ride your first brevet in 2026. It can be any length, from 200km up to 1000km or longer — but there's a strategy to consider. PBP pre-registration opens first to those who've completed a 1000km brevet (or longer), then 600km, then 400km, 300km, and 200km.

According to the ACP website, the number of participants will be capped at 8,000, but keep in mind 2,500 of those spots are reserved for French riders until March 31, 2027 (it is the Parisienne club after all). After this date, any remaining spots will be open for anyone to pre-register.

If you miss your 2026 brevet, there’s still a way to pre-register without a brevet — it just depends if there are any spots left.

For context, in the 2023 edition, there were over 6,400 riders from 66 different countries. So if you're worried about securing your spot, the smart move is to complete the longest brevet you can manage this year.

COMPLETE YOUR SUPER RANDONNEUR SERIES IN 2027

Your 2026 brevet only earns you a place in the registration queue — it doesn't qualify you to actually start. Step two happens the following year: before the deadline of June 30, 2027, you'll need to complete a full Super Randonneur Series of 200km, 300km, 400km, and 600km, to confirm your place on the start line on Sunday, August 27, 2027.

Each of these brevets must be completed with a randonneur club (you can’t simply ride your own route and submit it). Plus, routes must be ACP approved, which means the brevet has been verified by the club in Paris and will act as a qualifier towards your Super Randonneur Series.

FINDING A RANDONNEUR CLUB

To find a club visit RandonneursMondiaux.org, or if you’re in the US, you can visit RUSA.org. UK cyclists can go straight to audax.uk.

Costs are very reasonable, sometimes less than the price of lunch, for a year’s worth of riding. But this is not a glitzy Gran Fondo. Riders take part self-supported; there are no SAG (support) wagons or follow cars, and no elaborate feed zones. You’re in charge of your ride, and to be honest, this is really part of the appeal. Just you, your fellow randonneurs, and the road.

Keep in mind, you’re not just joining a club. You’re joining a community. Brevets and all of the club activities are possible thanks to the dedicated volunteers. Giving back to the organization is how these rides happen. Which means, even if you’re not riding, you can still participate by volunteering. Oftentimes, that’s just as fun.

IS IT WORTH ALL THE HASSLE?

That’s really a question for you to decide. But I’d give a resounding ‘yes’.

When was the last time you rode a piece of history? Being able to pedal through picturesque villages, and participate in a ride with thousands of people, from cities and towns all around the world, not to mention the fact that this ride is unlike anything else.

With such deep roots, there are generations of people who have been coming to the roadside to support: grandmas cheering at 2am, townsfolk handing out food and encouragement. It’s a special experience with a unique spirit of camaraderie and connection.

WANT TO RANDO?

You still have time to do your pre-qualification ride. Find a club near you and sign up for your first brevet. And even if PBP isn’t in the cards for this upcoming edition, it’s still worth giving randonneuring a try. It’s a challenge without the anxiety of pinning on a race number.

After all, racing doesn't have to be the only love letter to cycling. Sometimes the longest letters are the ones that say the most.

The full route details for the five stages of the 2026 Lloyds Tour of Britain Men were revealed on Wednesday by British Cycling, which gets underway on Wednesday 2 September and runs until Sunday 6 September.

The course will see some of the world's top riders racing across 910.3k (565 miles) of Britain, from Michaelgate in Lincoln, via the Yorkshire Dales to the Lammermuir Hills, just across the border in southern Scotland, tacking 8814 metres of ascent enroute.

"The route brings unique challenges to the riders, while delivering a backdrop which shows the best of Britain, from the beautiful coastline, across the highways, through our stunning countryside, and up some iconic and challenging categorised climbs,” says Jonathan Day, Director of Events for British Cycling Ventures.

Stage one, Lincoln-Lincoln, Weds 2 Sept 2026, 187.6km

This is the first year Britain’s biggest professional men’s cycle race has visited Lincoln, but riders will see plenty of the city on this 187.6km stage, which takes rolls out of town into the Lincolnshire Wolds and through Market Rasen, riding north to visit Caistor in the West Lindsey District, before wending west through Waddingham and then south to head back towards Lincoln via Ingham.

Once back in the city, with 120km already on the clock, riders will climb Michaelgate (11.3% average gradient) five times while doping crowd-pleasing laps of the famous Lincoln Grand Prix circuit, a prestigious part of the Lloyds National Road Series.

Stage two, Boston–Skegness, Thurs 3 Sept 2026, 185.2km

Day two will see the race start further south, in Boston, with riders heading north past Coningsby (WWII base of the 617 Squadron - better known as the bomb bouncing 'Dambusters') and pedalling through Woodhall Spa, Horncastle and Wragby, before heading east back into the Lincolnshire Wolds, where the route intersects with the stage one course at Binbrook.

The peloton will then ride east, via Louth to meet the coast and ride beside the North Sea through Mablethorpe and Sutton-on-Sea, with a climb close Langton Hill, before dropping to end in a sprint finish into Skegness.

Stage three, Hull–Beverley, Fri 4 Sept 2026, 200.6km

The tour starts north of the Humber on day three, with the peloton departing Hull and heading up England's east coast, pedalling through Withernsea and continuing up to Hornsea and Skipseam before bearing inland to Burton Agnes.

Riders face a sequence of climbs en route to Driffield before descending into Wetwang, racing four times around a 16km circuit in Beverley, with the finish line positioned atop a testing uphill final stretch to the racecourse.

Stage four, Helmsley–Leyburn, Sat 5 Sept 2026, 170.5km

Riders face 2459m of ascent during the toughest stage of the 2026 Tour, as the race moves into North Yorkshire and tackles terrain that will likely prove pivotal in determining the final General Classification standings.

From the market town of Helmsley in the North York Moors National Park, the course winds through Easingwold, Boroughbridge and the cathedral city of Ripon before entering the Yorkshire Dales National Park. From Pateley Bridge, a stiff climb out of Greenhow Bank (4km at 7,2% average gradient) takes riders west towards Grassington and Wharfedale before the course head north to Buckden.

Between Cray and the finishline in Leyburn, the peloton will pass through some spectacular scenery - familiar to those who spectated the 2014 Tour de France Grande Depart - as riders climb Kidstones (2.9km at 6.3% average gradient and 12.6% max), race past Aysgarth Falls and tackle the climbs of Greets Moss (4.4km at 6.9% average gradient) and Grinton Moor (4.4km at 5.3% average gradient).

Stage five, Earlston–Earlston, Sun 6 September 2026, 166.4km 

On the final day the race heads into southern Scotland, to the Berwickshire town of Earlston, making its debut appearance on the Tour of Britain.

Heading east, through Smailholm towards Kelso, the route then elbows north to visit Hume, Greenlaw and Duns. Riders will then do battle during climbs in the Lammermuir Hills, passing Whiteadder Water before ascending to Redstone Rig and Duddy Bank. The route then returns to Earlston, where riders will race around two circuits of a 19km lap to the final finish line.

Further details about the routes of all five stages, and more information about the race and host venues, is all available on the BC website.

Tour of Britain 2026 stage table

The French retail giant Decathlon has invested in Britain’s largest bike manufacturer, Brompton with a strategic partnership aimed at turbo charging the brand's iconic folding bikes penetration into key markets, specifically Germany and China.

In a deal thought to be worth about £18 million, which became public knowledge on Tuesday morning, reported on in The Guardian, Decathlon Pulse (the investment and innovation arm of Decathlon) have secured a 10% stake in Brompton Bicycle, while BA Capital (a Shanghai-based venture capital firm) have bagged a 5% interest.

Founded by inventor Andrew Ritchie, Brompton bikes were born in London in 1975 and now, 50 years and 1.2 million bikes later, the signature three-way folding mobility machines are available in 47 markets around the globe, along with electric versions of the bikes, powered by the brand's proprietary e-Motiq system, and the more-recently launched G Line model, which gave the bikes gravel riding capability.

“For over 50 years, Brompton has been dedicated to helping people move around cities in a way that is simpler, more flexible and more enjoyable," said Will Butler-Adams, Brompton CEO, who opined that the European bike industry was “over the worst” after a slump in sales following the Covid-created boom and insisted that “cycling is in the ascendant.”

"As demand for smarter and more sustainable urban transport continues to grow, we see a tremendous opportunity ahead," he continued. "Decathlon Pulse and BA Capital bring complementary expertise, global networks and a shared belief in our mission. We are excited to welcome them as long-term partners as we continue to grow while staying true to who we are.”

Decathlon has previously partnered with – and added some financial heft to – brands such as bike computer and bike light manufacturer Magene and smartwatch makers Coros. And despite the significant size of the investment, spokesfolk for the brand are anxious to stress that the quality and style of the steeds will not change, saying 'Brompton will remain Brompton'.

"Brompton embodies a unique combination of performance, durability and community engagement that perfectly complements our approach," added Franck Vigo, CEO of Decathlon Pulse. "This partnership is about scaling that model while preserving what makes Brompton truly unique. This partnership is about scaling that model while preserving what makes Brompton truly unique.”

As much as the Brompton brand masters attempt to reassure their existing customers and fanbase, however, the immense gravitational pull of the Chinese market, and transformative potential of penetrating it, is writ large in the deal.

“The rise of experience-driven consumption is reshaping China’s consumer market," enthuses Michael Zhang, Managing Partner of BA Capital. "As health awareness grows and outdoor lifestyles gain momentum, cycling is expanding beyond sport into everyday occasions such as commuting, travel, and social activities. Brompton’s strength lies not only in its product leadership, but also in its unique ability to bring together products, culture, and community.

“We believe globalisation is a two-way journey. As China becomes an increasingly important market for international brands, we are proud to be part of Brompton’s long-term journey in China as it brings exceptional cycling experiences to more consumers."

Joe Whittingham met me from the future over a virtual call. It was 9am for him in Xiamen, China, 9pm for me in Philadelphia, USA. He had a head start on the day, and in many ways, so do the brands he works with. Whittingham is the founder of Panda Podium, an English-language retail platform for Chinese cycling brands. A former teacher who moved to China 17 years ago, he stayed, learned Mandarin, and found himself living within driving distance of most of the factories he now sells for.

From those factories come bikes with lighter frames, better-value specifications and greater customisation options than comparable offerings from familiar Western brands. Chinese bike and component brands have crept from the corners of weight-weenie forums and AliExpress rabbit holes into World Tour races and the shopping lists of riders who, not long ago, would have sniffed at them.

The question for real-world road riders is no longer whether Chinese bikes are any good, but whether the trust, service and warranty infrastructure has caught up with the product. That is before you even consider the industry's open secret: many of the Western bikes riders already own were quietly built in those exact same factories.

Whittingham offers a sharp insight into why weight, not aerodynamics, has shifted perceptions. "Every brand claims to have the fastest bike in the wind tunnel," he says. "They can't all be right." Weight, by contrast, is easily measured. Chinese manufacturers chased grams with a single-mindedness that appealed directly to the riders who cared most: the weight obsessives, the people drilling holes in their carbon handlebars at midnight. By satisfying those extreme early adopters, the brands built real credibility. Now the mainstream is catching up.

Economical elitism

That cultural shift has produced its own status economy. For decades, cyclists bought expensive brands the way drivers bought German cars - for social status. These days, that logic is being turned on its head: boasting rights come from finding a product of comparable quality at a much lower price. "If your friend buys Enve wheels, you buy Farsports," Whittingham picks up the thread.

"It's not to show you have more money. It's to show you've spent half what they spent and your wheels are lighter." The bike, in other words, has begun to signal something other than wealth. It signals attention, research, critical thinking and the willingness to look past the down-tube logo. Quick Pro, Magene, Tavelo: names that mean nothing to a casual rider and everything to the trend-setter at the top of the pyramid, whose opinion the level below is quietly watching.

At this year's Sea Otter Classic, the largest consumer cycling expo in North America, the asymmetry was hard to miss. In a field of over 900 exhibitors, one mainland Chinese brand was making its road debut: X-Lab, the consumer-facing arm of manufacturer XDS, whose premier aero road bike, the AD9, developed with input from former pro Alex Dowsett, retails at about £6,000, or £9,900 for the Astana spec, undercutting comparable halo models - many of which are made in the XDS factory - from established names by around 40%.

Panda Podium was also at Sea Otter for the first time, its booth a few places down from Specialized and across from Shimano, drawing a near-constant queue of interested riders. Among the bikes on display was the Quick Pro AR:One that Harry Hudson rode to a junior world title. Trek did not exhibit. Specialized, Giant, Pinarello and Canyon were all there - but, for once, they didn't own the spotlight.

Unbeatable value

To understand why brands like X-Lab, Winspace, Yoeleo, and Farsports are unsettling the established order, it helps to remember how that established order works. Most Western bike brands do not own their factories.

Typically, carbon frames are contracted to one manufacturing partner, alloy frames to another, wheels to a third. Each link in the chain adds margin. A frame with an actual cost of a few hundred dollars can end up retailing for thousands by the time it reaches a shop floor.

XDS, by contrast, owns its entire process, as CW discovered when we became the first western media brand to visit its factory in Shenzen this year. XDS produces its pre-preg carbon fabrics from dry fibre, cuts its own multi-piece steel clamshell moulds, and hydroforms its aluminium tubing in-house using proprietary alloy blends.

Robot-welding, painting, testing and assembly all happen under the same roof. The company claims to produce around eight million bikes a year as a contract manufacturer: more than 20,000 frames a day, including weekends. When XDS launched X-Lab as its own consumer-facing brand, it did so with three decades of refined infrastructure already behind it.

"They're kind of holding all the cards in a lot of ways," tech journalist James Huang told me. "Their OEM clients aren't going to find it easy to leave." The result is pricing that puts a smile on the face of the budget-conscious modern consumer. Compared to Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL8, which costs from around £12,000, X-Lab's AD9 is literally half the price; a Trek Madone SLR lists at £10,000.

At the entry point, X-Lab's RS5 - an alloy road bike with a dual-sided power meter and a one-piece cockpit - retails at £1,050. Patrick Pan, X-Lab's head of international growth, frames this keen pricing not as undercutting but as correction. "Prices have been inflated artificially," he told me.

We put questions to the biggest brands. Specialized, Trek, and Giant all formally declined to comment. Ribble and Canyon did not respond, nor did several of the Chinese brands we approached, including Quick Pro, Farsports, and Light Bicycle. Strict non-disclosure agreements and guarded trade secrets mean neither the mega-factories nor the legacy brands will officially confirm whose frames are made in whose plants.

Manufacturing expertise

"Ninety per cent of the leap forward in carbon frames is manufacturing," says Shawn Small of Ruckus Composites, a US carbon-fibre repair specialist. "The material itself hasn't changed that much in 30 years. It's how we're using it that's smarter." The Asian workforce that has spent two decades making frames for Western brands has, in the process, become extremely good at it.

In the book Apple in China, journalist Patrick McGee argues that Western companies did not simply exploit Chinese factories: they educated them. Apple deployed its own engineers on factory floors, transferred precision techniques at scale, and in doing so built the very capabilities that now power its domestic competitors.

The cycling industry has been running a quieter version of the same experiment for 30 years. Every spec sheet sent to a contract manufacturer, every quality rejection, every technical back-and-forth is a transfer of expertise. XDS did not arrive at World Tour-quality carbon manufacturing by accident. The brands currently declining to comment helped get it there.

Phil Gaimon, a former World Tour professional now sponsored by Panda Podium, takes a pragmatic approach to Chinese tech. His own set-up is a mix: Chinese wheels and accessories sourced through Panda Podium, a Shimano drivetrain, and a State Bicycle frame - an Arizona brand whose carbon is made in Taiwan.

Partial trust, in his telling, is not a contradiction. It is a rational position built over years of sampling - he trusts what he has found to be dependable. What marketing researchers call country-of-origin bias, or the instinct to judge a product by where it was made rather than how it performs, is fading in cycling, and may soon disappear entirely.

Aftermarket qualms

None of this means the question of trust is settled. Distribution hubs, warranty turnaround, replacement parts, crash replacement, after-sales service: this is the unglamorous infrastructure that established brands have built over decades and that newer Chinese brands are still constructing.

"Local support is going to be really important," says Huang, drawing a comparison that will sting for some: even SRAM, one of the largest component manufacturers in the world, once left Canyon owners unable to source UDH derailleur hangers for a period. Some, like Light Bicycle, now hold stock in American and European warehouses. Others do not.

A Western rider buying direct is buying performance and pricing, but accepting a different relationship with what happens after the sale. A Farsports client who recently destroyed a rear wheel on a pothole received a 35% crash discount within days. That is not the same as walking a cracked rim into your local shop, but it is arguably no less convenient.

Safety testing sits in the same grey area. ISO 4210, the global benchmark, was largely designed around steel and aluminium in the late 1990s and has notable gaps - carbon steerer tubes carry no required test at all. Dan Chabanov, a tech editor at Bicycling who tests wheels professionally, has spoken to engineers at multiple major Western brands who describe the standard as inadequate: a product can pass it and still fall short of what the industry would consider genuinely safe.

The question worth asking any brand, Western or otherwise, is whether they test beyond the minimum. Zipp and Roval, for instance, say they do, but many brands do not advertise this information. For UK riders buying direct, there is a further consideration: pursuing a claim against an overseas company with no domestic presence is a different legal proposition from a dispute with a brand that has a British importer behind it.

Among enthusiasts, the wheels argument is largely settled. When Chabanov recently received a set of 55mm Light Bicycle wheels for review, Zipp had just released a new lightweight 35mm wheelset. The Zipp came in at around 1,090g and retailed at £3,150.

The Light Bicycle set was 20mm deeper, weighed 20g more, and cost around £1,180. "If you're shopping on price, weight, and depth," Chabanov says, "you have to ask, what am I missing with the Light Bicycle that I would get with the Zipp?" One rider on Trainer Road's forum bought a Light Bicycle set three years ago, put 12,000 miles on them, and immediately ordered an identical second set.

Frames are a different conversation. UK-based experts offer a more nuanced view. Alex Thomas at Peak Torque, an engineer who has tested Yoeleo and Winspace, remains measured; his reservations focus less on build quality and more on geometry. "The Chinese brands care more about the aesthetic than actual biomechanics," he says, pointing to short head tubes as an area of concern.

Reviewer Dan Chabanov found the Silverstone-validated Seka a "genuinely strong alternative" to the Tarmac, at half the price, with a finish that gave no cause for concern. Cyclingnews has tested an X-Lab AD9, saying it sets the stall out for Chinese bikes being more than a match for western brands.

Whittingham is careful to qualify his position. "Not all Chinese stuff is good," he says. "Everyone's gone from 'it's all dangerous' to 'it's all fine.' Neither is true." Brands like Farsports and Light Bicycle have review histories, race provenance and established customer bases. The unreviewed product on a marketplace platform, with no accountable brand behind it, is a different proposition entirely.

The challenge is on

Imagine walking into your local bike shop and seeing the usual line-up of Specialized, Giant and Trek carbon alongside a carbon road bike from X-Lab and a hand-built steel or titanium frame from a boutique maker, British or otherwise. Three price points, three philosophies, three different types of road bike buyers served. Today this looks unlikely, but it may be the reality within a few years.

Most of us are not looking for a revolution. We're looking for a bike we can afford and that looks good, from a brand we know we can trust. A fresh-looking carbon frame at an affordable price tag may not reflect a "Chinese takeover". It may simply be the correction the industry has been postponing for years.

The irony worth sitting with is this: the very brands democratising the market today could be the ones that monopolise it tomorrow. "If no one else is going to compete with them," Huang asks, "why wouldn't they want to make more money?" If manufacturing giants like XDS drive enough mid-tier Western brands to extinction, the resulting market won't be a paradise of consumer choice.

Instead, we could be left with a hollowed-out industry - a handful of global mega-brands, a thin layer of ultra-premium niche makers, and not much in between.

Aaron Stinner, whose Stinner Frameworks operation has grown from 30 titanium and steel frames a year to around 3,000, with a team of 12, is not panicking. But he is paying attention. "The big brands are going to have to be on their toes," he told me.

"They're going to change the game." He means it as a compliment to the disruptor and a warning to the incumbents, more or less simultaneously.

For now, the riders are the ones already adjusting. They scroll the forums, watch the YouTube reviews, click through to Light Bicycle, and compare the savings against the weight. The established brands will catch up, or they will not. Many riders have already decided not to wait and find out.

This feature was originally published in the 21 May 2026 print edition of Cycling Weekly magazine – available to buy on the newsstand every Thursday (UK only) while digital versions are available on Apple News and Readly. Subscriptions through Magazine's Direct.

Keegan Swenson and Sofía Gómez Villafañe won the 2026 editions of SBT GRVL presented by Wahoo on Sunday in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Swenson claimed his fourth title at the 108-mile Black Course while Gómez Villafañe held off a determined Sarah Lange in the final kilometre.

SBT GRVL is one of the marquee events on the American gravel calendar, drawing thousands of riders to the champagne gravel roads of Routt County. The 2026 edition returned to downtown Steamboat Springs after last year's race was held on a modified circuit in nearby Hayden. Each SBT GRVL course started and finished on Yampa Street, with the new 2026 Black Course featuring favourite sections of previous routes plus with entirely new segments. There were also separate starts for elite men, elite women, and amateur categories in 2026, as well as a rolling safety enclosure.

How the race played out

After beginning the 2026 season with a devastating hip fracture, Keegan Swenson has made a brilliant return to form. After an early breakaway featuring Adam Roberge got away, Swenson forced a selection partway through the race. Following the steep gradients of Wahooligan Hill, Swenson bridged across to Roberge along with Cobe Freeburn and Henry Nelson.

Swenson wasn't going to wait around for the sprint, so with 20 miles to go, he went solo. With a healthy gap to the field, Swenson nabbed his fourth SBT GRVL title ahead of Alexey Vermeulen who came impressively out of the chase group. Freeburn sprinted to third on the podium, while Nelson finished fourth, the best result of his young career.

Swenson's approach at SBT GRVL is consistent and dominant: make the race hard early, reduce the group, and solo to the line. "You have to push all day and break the group up and whittle it down," he said after his third title in 2024. "You don't want to come to the line with a bunch of guys, ideally you want to come solo or with just one other. You slowly want to turn the pace up, see how everyone else is doing." The same was true in 2026.

Result: SBT GRVL men's 2026

1. Keegan Swenson
2. A. Vermeulen
3. C. Freeburn
4. H. Nelson
5. A. Roberge

SBT GRVL Women's race

In the women's race, everyone had their eye on Unbound Gravel winner Sofia Gómez Villafañe. The Specialized Off-Road rider arrived as the pre-race favourite and former Steamboat winner, but it was another rider who made the decisive move of the day.

Sarah Lange led the small group of leaders over the top of Wahooligan Pass, and with a few miles to go, Lange still had a gap. But then came the charging figure of Gómez Villafañe. A two-up sprint seemed imminent, but Gómez Villafañe had other ideas. The Specialized Off-Road rider launched just inside the final kilometre and Lange had no answer. Gómez Villafañe took the win with Lange in second, and US gravel national champion Lauren Stephens in third.

For Gómez Villafañe, winning SBT GRVL was about more than the place on the results sheet. In fact, she almost didn't line up for the race, saying, "Physically and mentally you don't always get to show up at 100% for events, and that's kinda what I felt here. Once I got into Cow Creek, I found the Sofia that I know, the Sofia that knows how to race hard."

Result: Sea Otter Gravel women's 2026

1. Sofía Gómez Villafañe
2. S. Lange
3. L. Stephens
4. P. Onweller
5. C. Decker

Becky Mursell is buzzing, and well she might be. Her work – a photography project called The Everyday Cyclist that has been four years in the making – has been launched and is on display in the stunning grounds of Osterley Park in London. More than that, the message she wanted to send is now out there: cycling is very much for everyone, whoever you are, whatever your background.

Working in a London bike shop, Mursell was surrounded by the usual slick marketing bumpf with which we're all well-versed: models draped in nice kit riding fancy bikes in beautiful locations. But it wasn't long before she realised that the people in the images weren't really representative of the people she was serving in the shop.

"I was on the shop floor selling bikes, and I was like, oh, I don't really relate to some of this imagery, you know?" she tells Cycling Weekly. "At the time I just had a hybrid, and it's not really the people who I see coming to the shop, people who I see out and about on the roads. As I started to get more photography commissions, I did drop the bike shop job, and I thought, well, I'll do a project, like a personal project, and fuse my passions."

That was back in 2022, and since then Mursell has become a full-time photographer, enabling her to start The Everyday Cyclist project in earnest. It saw her ultimately gather more than 120 subjects from all over London, riding no less than 3,500km in the process and spending time photographing them in spots that meant something to them, and talking to them about their passion for two wheels.

Thanks in part to a highly successful crowdfunding appeal that enabled her to fund the exhibition, those subjects and many of their stories are now being exhibited to the general public, for free, in Osterley Park.

It was a "surreal" experience, Mursell says, seeing the exhibition finally come to fruition and open up for the first time.

"When I went back for the first time to the park – after the install day – and saw members of the public stop and interact with the artwork, it took a moment for it all to sink in that I had actually pulled this all off," she says. "I've even had a few people come up to me in the park with really positive feedback, which makes it all feel worthwhile."

Mursell found her subjects from all over, beginning with friends and then progressing to reaching out to others and even getting London Cycling Campaign involved. There were even occasions where she encountered other riders while out on her bike, and asked whether they would be involved. The response, she says, has been overwhelmingly positive.

"I've never done the portrait off the bat," she says, "but a few people I have been out and about cycling, spotted somebody, and then literally cycled up to them: 'Hello, my name is Becky'. And then, a week or two later, we're actually on the shoot."

Some of those Mursell photographed will be recognisable to Cycling Weekly readers, including Pinarello Q36.5 pro rider Fred Wright, and broadcasters Rebecca Charlton and Jeremy Vine.

But most are not famous at all. People from all walks of life who have a mutual enjoyment of riding a cycle of some form, include adaptive machines that allow those who are unable to ride a standard bike access to transport, fresh air, and freedom.

Mursell gives the example of Quailyn, who suffers from epilepsy and pelvic arthritis and was only able to get around using lifts from family and friends – before getting an e-trike through the Wheels For Wellbeing charity.

"It's been an absolute game changer for her," Mursell says. "Suddenly she's got her complete independence. She says that before, sometimes she'd have to use a walking stick briefly, but because she's moving about because of the trike, her physicality has got better."

Mursell adds: "Notoriously the imagery around adaptive cycles is really poor, so as I started to kind of get connected into that world, I was like, this is really important to show a good variety of those bikes that share those stories, display them equally – it doesn't just have to be sports."

"I'm just trying to encourage cycling to be a more welcoming space, because I think too many people don't see themselves [in it]. They're like, oh, I have to be a certain type, I have to have a certain bike, that kind of thing," she says.

The Everyday Cyclist displays in Osterley Park until 6 July, before moving to Brockwell Park in Brixton on 8 July until 31 August, after which Mursell says she hopes to tour the exhibition more widely.

Last week, Dr Sarah Ruggins arrived in Nordkapp, in the far north Arctic-tickling tip of Norway, exactly 13 days, 20 hours and 27 minutes after setting off on her bicycle from Tarifa in southern Spain. Her total riding distance was 6,042km, and just to put that into context, last year’s entire Tour de France was 3,301.9km in length, spread across 21 stages and three and a half weeks.

In completing her epic journey in such a blisteringly fast time, the Canadian-born athlete and adventurer not only smashed the existing world speed record for riding from the bottom to the top of Europe – knocking over three days and 32 off the time set by Dr Ian Walker, in 2019 – she also set a new record for the greatest distance ever ridden by a woman in a week, riding 3,364.08km in seven days.

These figures are phenomenal in anyone’s book, but when you consider that Ruggins couldn’t even ride a bike just three years ago, they’re nothing short of incredible. Now a triple-record holding ultra-cyclist (she also holds the John O’Groats to Land’s End and Back record), Ruggins only began cycling in 2023, after spending 10 years recovering from a rare autoimmune condition.

A promising track and field athlete as a child, with realistic Olympic aspirations, Ruggins was diagnosed with the condition when she was 15, and the illness left her bedridden and in need of 24-hour care. A couple of years before setting her LEJOGLE cycling record, Ruggins was planning to run from Land’s End to John O’Groats, when she run collapsed with series of dreadful injuries as result of her illness, suffering two broken ankles, and fractures in her femur and pelvis – just weeks before the planned start.

Undeterred, she secured an entry for the Transcontinental Race, a 4,000km unsupported race across Europe, and then bought a bike and started training. Ruggins crashed out of the 2023 event, but returned stronger in 2024, and finished near the front.

But, even having proved herself capable of climbing such a steep training and learning curve, Ruggins achievement over the last fortnight is jaw dropping. So, how on earth did she manage to pull off such an incredible ride, let alone in the heatwave conditions she started off in last month?

Dr Ruggins has a PHD in finance – suffice to say, she knows her way around an abacas, and number discipline was obviously a crucial factor to achieving what she has done over the last couple of weeks.

With that in mind, Cycling Weekly spoke to the rider and some of her support crew earlier this week, when they were enroute back to Britain (where Ruggins is now based), and together we have gathered the stats and stories that tell the tale of this extraordinary double record-setting ride.

Riding by numbers

One – Ruggins rode the entire route on a single bike, the Liv EnviLiv Advanced SL (also much beloved by Cycling Weekly tech writer Hannah Bussey). She also rode the entire route on one chain.

12 – Number of croissants with cream cheese eaten per day by Ruggins during the latter part of the ride, after she overcame the nausea that plagued her during the early stages.

Nine – Countries passed through during the continent-crossing adventure.

Two – Number of punctures Ruggins suffered during the entire ride.

14 – Number of times Ruggins listed to Salt by Ben Camden during her mammoth cycle. “I felt very overstimulated,” she says. “I had my earbuds silent most of the time. But this track reminded me of my partner, Ryan. My second most-listened to track was Hymn by Charlotte de Witte - that one kept me awake at night!”

90 – Minutes of lie-down sleep Ruggins allowed herself every day until she broke the seven-day distance record (after which she treated herself with a 3-hour kip)

Four – The maximum number of off-bike micro rests Ruggins allowed her during each day (five minutes of which were taken up with eating and medical checks, leaving 5 minutes for a quick nap)

8,623 – Amount of money, in GBP sterling, that Ruggins has so far raised for World Bicycle Relief, a charity that helps people and communities around the world by providing them with life-changing bikes.

Two – Number of fingers Ruggin’s has no feeling in (temporarily, we hope) after suffering nerve damage during her ride. “I was unable to use the aero position for much of the ride, because of saddle discomfort,” she told us. “So I was riding on the hood for most of the way, and I'm paying for it now!"

35,000 – metres climbed during the 6,042km ride

22 – Hours spent in the saddle every day during the challenge

11,000 – calories consumed on average every day

20 – Number of kilometres of mud, sand and gravel Ruggins was forced to ride her road bike across when she encountered some unexpected road works whilst leaving Poland.

35 – Degrees of heat (in Celsius) that Ruggins was riding in during the first few days of her record attempt, while racing across Spain and France. “Nutrition, especially hydration, was very challenging, in those conditions” she says. “I was taking on 2 litres of electrolyte-loaded liquids every hour, and the only thing I could eat was gels.”

11,748 – Kilometres driven by Ruggins’ media and support car

500 – Number of Buffalo Bicycles Ruggins is aiming to provide to people in poor rural regions around the world.

Read an interview with Sarah Ruggins in the current print edition of Cycling Weekly – subscribe here!

Sometimes as a writer of columns I find I’m writing a column that’s a sort of “Part 2” to a piece I did a few weeks earlier. Perhaps I didn’t quite finish the thought first time, or I came up with a decent joke after I’d filed the copy, or I changed my mind and wanted to pretend I hadn’t been stupid enough to write the first one.

And sometimes I realise I’m writing a whole series of themed columns that you could collate into one long whinge. To wit, I’ve noticed that a recurrent motif of recent years has been, “Gosh, hasn’t cycling got expensive?”

In general I’ve been against this trend. But, last weekend, as I tried to find something in my overly-cluttered bike store I found myself thinking differently: “If everything had been as expensive ten years ago as it is now I’d have a lot more space in here.”

In fact a bit of quick maths suggests that the increased cost of bikes and the consequent reduction in my ability to buy them would save enough storage space that I could get off with a smaller house. Financially I’d actually come out in front.

The advantage is actually two-fold. First, as mentioned, you can afford less. Second, to upgrade you have absolutely no choice but to sell something you already own. This saves even more space. You can’t conceivably afford to keep anything you don’t use.

I’ve only preserved one bike from my racing career as a memento – it’s a TT bike that I won quite a lot on, and which was perhaps the prettiest of my race bikes. Its aesthetic qualities are, however, hard to appreciate because it’s surrounded in its storage unit by a mighty collection of some of the best wheels, bars, saddles, and random bits given to me by sponsors down the years that I hadn’t intended to keep, but somehow did.

I’m not a hoarder. But if the Hoarder Police raided my unit, they would have questions I’d struggle to answer.

Why do I still have all these things? The problem is that when things were cheaper, their second-hand value declined to nothing even more quickly than modern equipment. If you were a sponsored rider looking to squeeze a bit more out of the deal by selling your team equipment, you had to do it very fast.

I’ve got one friend who used to do well on Ebay, but insisted that speed was key. If the prize haul at a race included something like a pair of sunglasses, he normally had them listed for sale before he even got home. (“Exclusive pro-only promotional colourway” was, he told me, the secret to turning ugly Italian sunnies with over-sized logos into a new video game.)

He still looks back fondly on the year he broke his collarbone in mid-September and got to sell everything his team had given him a month earlier than usual.

For those of us a bit slower out of the blocks, the cash value of most things dropped below the it-might-come-in-useful-one-day value in a matter of months.

Leave it sitting for a year or two beyond that point, and you had things that no one would take even if you gave them away, like rim-brake tubular-tyre wheels. You find yourself at the local recycling centre asking a dude in a high-viz jacket what skip you should put carbon fibre in. That’s pretty heartbreaking.

Which naturally means that I don’t even do that with it – I just keep it. I tell myself that one day the value will go up again. Like an exquisite, chromed Cinelli frame from the 1950s, perhaps people will one day pay big money for old rim-brake aero wheels. And if they do, I’m going to be so rich I’ll be able to afford a modern bike.

How To… Be a Good Winner

Everyone knows the importance of grace in defeat, even if they prefer not to actually demonstrate it. Similarly, it is important to know how to win while maintaining a spirit of generosity towards your vanquished opponents or, as we winners think of them, the losers.

For example, you can help them improve their own performance for next time. Pinpoint for them any mistakes they might have made: “Mate, I just couldn’t believe my luck when you launched that incredibly stupid attack over the top of the last climb. Wow, you really handed it to me there.”

You might like to suggest that your performance was really just down to luck: “Mate, I’m just lucky. I have a lot of innate genetic talent, but as well as that I’m lucky enough to be the sort of person with a real work ethic and a will to just find ways to keep improving. Next time that could just as easily be you.”

Recognise that your opponents might not have had all of your advantages: “Mate, I think you did pretty well to be that close to me. I mean, you’ve got a lot of limitations as an athlete.”

Make sure you show them you understand the pain of defeat: “Mate, I know how hard you work. I know that you’re out training every day, sacrificing time with your family. It must really hurt to do all that and still come up short. I mean, I’d be bloody raging if something like that had happened to me.”

Acts of Cycling Stupidity

A long time ago, there was a fad for L-shaped cranks – cranks with a 90-degree bend in them. Supposedly they made it easier to pedal over top-dead-centre. Of course they did no such thing. There was maybe a visual illusion, but nothing more.

I was surprised to find an old photo of a friend of mine using them. I messaged him, mocking his credulity.

“Not a bit,” he replied. “I knew they didn’t work. But I’d also overheard one of my main rivals telling someone that he was desperate to get a pair because he was convinced they were brilliant. So I borrowed a pair and rode up and down in front of him with them at the race HQ before that year’s national championships. I’d killed him before he even got on his bike.”

The British bike charity Cycling UK announced the opening of a brand new, multi-day bikepacking trail this week, called Gallovidian Gravel, which traverses the terrain of Dumfries and Galloway in the south of Scotland.

Cycling UK has established a growing network of riding trails across the country, including the Royal Chilterns Way, King Alfred’s Way, Rebellion Way and Traws Eryri - but this is its first route located entirely north of the border, in Scotland.

The circular route, which starts and finishes in Dumfries, offers adventure-seeking gravel bike and MTB riders 330km of off-road cycling with a total of 4,002 metres of climbing, as it rolls around the wild region's rugged and history sodden landscapes, exploring remote mountains, secret lochs, ancient abbeys, volcanic coastlines, evocative ruined churches, iron age hill forts and character-filled Lowland towns and villages as it wends along forest tracks and coastal back lanes.

Designed to be done over a long weekend or half a week, riders can arrange B&B or pub-based accommodation along the way or punctuate days on the trail with wild camping experiences under star-strewn skies.

The trail, which has been designed and implemented with the help of route designers and bike-tour guides Guy Kesteven and Kieran Foster, includes unique highlights such as the artistic fishing town of Kirkcudbright, and (apparently) the world’s fanciest cow shed. Cyclists can also encounter all kinds of wildlife beside and above the trail - from eagles and ospreys to majestic red deer and wild goats.

“We’ve worked hard to create a moving story of an adventure that takes in traffic free paths and quiet back lanes, linking trail centres, craggy coasts, smugglers coves, seemingly endless forests and wild mountainscapes," said Guy Kesteven.

“Despite being the closest part of Scotland to England, the area remains largely overlooked and undiscovered," he continued. "It’s somewhere you can experience the wild solitude of Scotland’s dark sky parks, whilst also taking in deep history, delightful towns, villages, remote farms and stunning scenery at every turn.

“In short, it really has been the perfect biking area to build a route in. Similar to when we made Royal Chilterns Way, we’ve built in three distinct sections that are linked. That makes Gallovidian Gravel one of our most accessible routes yet for those without the time to tackle the full adventure in one go. We guarantee even the shortest ride in Galloway will grab your heart and make you want to return as soon as possible though.”

According to stats collected by the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF), cycling tourism generates more than €44 billion annually, and supports myriad small businesses across Britain and the continent, from B&Bs to bike shops.

Survey data collected by Cycling UK along its King Alfred’s Way route in 2020 backs this up, revealing that on average each person riding the route spends £107.61 per day. With some 1.23 million overnight biking trips being made by adventure cyclists annually, the charity estimates that backcountry riders generate £520m per year.

“Cycling can be the best way to truly experience a place, because you’re travelling slowly enough to take everything in but fast enough to cover great distances," said Cycling UK's commercial director, Katie Hammond. "It’s always exciting to be able to unveil a new route, knowing that at the same time, it’ll boost the local businesses and communities, connecting more of our cities, towns and villages.

“Multi-day routes also offer a much greener and healthier way to travel. You get to see incredible places that are often inaccessible by car, and I’m so pleased to be revealing our first Scottish route. By joining Cycling UK, anyone can help support the creation of even more routes that make cycle adventures accessible to everyone. You’ll also be the first to know when we launch something new.”

The day has come, it's the fourth and final day of the Amazon Prime Day cycling deals. As we all know, all good things have to come to an end, and that end is midnight tonight, June 26th! Fear not, Cycling Weekly's resident deal-hunting experts are back in the hot seat one last time, bringing you everything the summer sale has to offer for cyclists.

This year's Prime Day deals have not disappointed. There have been so many discounts that I feel like we haven't even scratched the surface. There have, however, been some standouts that should not be missed before the midnight deadline. Aaron could help but wax lyrical yesterday about the $100 saving on the Garmin Edge 550, which he believes is Garmin's best-kept secret—and the 11 electric bike pump deals I spotlighted should be at the top of everyone's list.

Final Reminder: If you aren't a Prime Member yet, get your skates on, Prime Day deals end today! Become an Amazon Prime member, and you will not only get access to all the best Amazon Prime Day cycling deals but also free and fast delivery year-round.

All the best Amazon Prime Day Cycling Deals 2026

USA

• Amazon US - Today's Best Prime Day Bike Deals
• Massive 28% off - Shimano Dura Ace Pedals
• In excess of $100 off - Garmin Edge 550
• Save up to 29% - GoPro Hero 13 cameras and bundles

UK 

• Amazon UK - Today's Best Prime Day Cycling Deals
• Save 19% - Airbank Mini Electric Bike Pump
• Big discounts across - Magicshine Bike Lights
• Save up to £95 off - Wahoo ELEMNT Roam

Beyond Amazon - Live deals not available on Prime

• Top cycling deals - Decathlon
• Save up to 40% off on bikes - Competitive Cyclist
• Over 500 products on sale - REI
• Discounts on hundreds of bikes - Sigma Sports
• Discounted bikes, apparel, & accessories - Mike's Bikes

Our deal-hunters top Prime Day picks

Top US Picks

Top UK picks

Good Morning & welcome back!

Its Day 4 of the Amazon Prime Day cycling deals, and the final day. Which is good for me, as its been a long week, but it does mean the summer savings come to an end tonight at midnight June 26th.

Once again I'm Cycling Weekly's resident deal-hunting expert, and ill be with you for next few hours bringing you the best Prime Day deal for cyclists.

Lidl-trek Trainers anyone? I think it goes without saying I wasn't tempted

Before we get into the deals, did anyone spot these in the Lidl middle aisle this week? I wonder how many Lidl-Trek branded trainers they have sold?

I think it goes without saying I wasn't tempted.

Something I am tempted by...

I am just penning my final thoughts on this Wahoo Kickr Core 2 deal, as I am very tempted.

For a while, I have been watching my weight only increase, and, with family life, I have been struggling to get out on the bike consistently. So, I'm thinking it might be time to come out with my tail between my legs and admit that I probably need to consider a bit of indoor cycling. Given how good our resident indoor cycling expert, Aaron, thinks the Kickr Core 2 is, combined with this Prime Day deal, it might have to be the one for me.

The rise of the chinese manufacturers..

The rise of Chinese manufacturers has been widely reported recently, so much so that our Video Manager, Jamie, took a trip to China for an exclusive look at the XDS bike factory. It's not just bikes, frames and wheels, it's tech as well. While we are still in the process of organising some test units, brands like IGPSport and Magene are trying to muscle in on the best-bike-computer market.

iGPSPORT BiNavi Bike Computer is 15% off in the Prime Day deals, which doesn't sound like much, but when you see the features list and the fact it's only £200 to start with, you've got to question what brands like Wahoo and Garmin are up to.

It wouldn't be a Prime Day without me mentioning the RockBros Bell 🛎️

I know there is some controversy surrounding the RockBros classic-style bike bell, and while I do appreciate Spur's efforts to keep manufacturing in the US and to an insanely high standard. It is just a bell, and for £15.99 it does a perfectly good job. It's loud enough, it's been more than durable, and now it's just £12, with 20% off.

Let me lubricate you with one last deal, before I pass over to Pat

This Kryptonite Keeper U-Lock is available for a steal!

Bike theft is the great scourge of the modern era, so securing your steed with a decent bike lock is extremely important. This Kryptonite Keeper U-Lock is a heavy-duty anti-theft U-lock, which features 12mm Shackle and 10mm x4ft length braided-steel security cable, and it comes with a mounting bracket and (of course) keys.

And, it's currently available with 51% off the usual asking price - an absolute steal!

Get Shorty! Decathlon are selling cycling apparel for dirt cheap prices at the moment

It's always worth looking beyond Amazon during Prime Day. Decathlon are also running a sale at the moment, offering some really good deals on bikes and cycling apparel, such as these FDX All Day Men’s Cycling Shorts.

These road-biking shorts come in four different colours and feature 3D padding and side pockets, and they are available online at the moment for just £14.99 (a saving of 61%).

It's hot but so are some of the cycling deals I've spotted for you

Hello all - Aaron here. I'm the Cycling Weekly tech writer with special interest in tech such as power meters, cycling computers, wheels, smart turbo trainers and, of course, bikes. You've got me for the next hour so I'll try my darndest to point you in the right direction of any deals I think are as hot as the current temperature outside. Stay tuned for some killer deals.

Garmin's best-kept secret. The Edge 550 now on sale

I'm a huge fan of Garmin's best bike computer range, and it's the brand's Edge 850 that impressed me most recently. The bright screen, metric tracking, and navigational properties are just a few attributes I praised it for - but it sure is pricey. Thankfully, I've managed to source an incredible Amazon Prime Day deal on the Garmin Edge 550. It's the same size and has the same screen and battery life, but loses out to the Edge 850's touchscreen, digital bell, and audible navigational prompts, which are merely nice-to-haves if anything.

Pedal, damn it!

Yes, that's a quote I've stolen from Niner Bikes, but it's a pretty apt description of Shimano's fabled Dura-Ace PD-R9100 pedal system. Lauded by many for its lightweight, carbon construction and easy-to-clip-in/clip-out interface, it's one of the most popular, if not the best, road bike pedals on the market. And now you can own a set for yourself with this mega 28% off Amazon Prime Day deal.

Hello, Adam Becket here again, ready to furnish you with a couple of deals...

Cycling in photos

My colleague Hannah spotted a deal earlier this week on a great book of cycling photography, The Art of Suffering by Kristof Ramon.

Captured through the eyes of Belgium-born pro cycling photographer Kristof Ramon, the images share an insider's view of what it takes to perform at the top of races such as the Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix, and Strade Bianche, weaving a thoughtful narrative into each photograph, taking us all on a storytelling journey through the professional peloton.

Keep hydrated!

In the summer, we all need to probably be drinking more water than we currently do.

Usefully, Camelbak have money off their Podium bottles on Amazon for Prime Day.

Wahoo time

Yesterday, we wrote about how Wahoo had all of their latest bike computers on offer on Amazon. Now, there are other bike computers to consider, from Hammerhead to Garmin, but my go to has been the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt for years now, and I'm currently rocking the third-generation version on my bike. You can too, with this fantastic deal.

Is your chain clean?

If you answered no to the question above, then don't worry, none of ours are either. After all, it's much more fun riding your bike than cleaning it.

So why not leave the latter to a smart, little gadget? Park Tool's chain cleaner tool has dipped under £30 on Amazon. They even throw in a bottle of degreaser and a scrubber.

Stock up on gels

With a whole summer of riding ahead, now's a good time to fill the cupboards with discounted energy gels – it'll save you paying full price last-minute.

Plus, with this pack of 30, you won't have to keep going to the shop to buy more.

Strike a pose

Knee, neck and back pain are among the most common injuries reported by cyclists. The truth is, most of us love pedalling, but we don't always do the strength and conditioning to support it.

How about some yoga? This book gets great reviews: 4.5/5 starts on Amazon. Plus, it's 60% off this Amazon Prime Day.

OMG I need to cool down!

In the UK right now, no one is going anywhere near their turbo trainers. We're into our third day of record breaking heat and we don't deal with the heat well at the best of times. I've had to resort to putting my laptop in the fridge to get it working again #truestory (This actually works. I didn't believe it until I tried it.)

My point is, we're all trying to stay cool and fans are selling like the proverbial hot cakes. Once the summer is over, this fan from Cycplus can be relocated to your training space and help with our indoor workouts. It's even bluetooth enabled, so you can control it from your phone as you pedal / lie in bed tonight.

An upgrade for the ultimate training space

"It's the middle of summer, why are you showing us deals on indoor training kit?!" I hear you shout. Well, indoor training and e-racing is a year round activity, and by the time we get to winter, these items will be back in demand. And for those who are serious about it, a rocker plate is an ideal addition for your training space. AKA pain cave.

Attach your turbo and bike (or smart bike) and the rocker plate (essentially two bits of plywood with some tennis balls sitting inbetween) will move with you, allowing a more natural feel when you get out of the saddle or rock from side to side.

Ride in comfort with 37% off Muc-Off

It's surprising how much we end up talking about chamois cream during our tech team daily stand ups! Who uses it, who doesn't, if bike fit and saddle fit is really the key to comfortable riding... however, the truth is some riders like chamois cream, and others don't.

If you're pro the gloopy stuff, then Muc-Off is a cult favourite, and, it's currently reduced by 37%. This formula features aloe vera, shea butter, witch hazel and sunflower oil to keep your skin feeling chafe free and hydrated.

Roll slick with Panaracer

Panaracer tyres have had some solid reviews across Cycling Weekly. The Panaracer GravelKing Semi Slick Plus TLC model clocked 4 stars out of 5, whilst the full-fat Panaracer GravelKing X1 TLR scored 4.5.

This Slick iteration is more suited to tarmac with a little of the rough stuff. The deal is in the 40c version, which will give you tons of squish at a low pressure.

So, which deals have been flying off the shelves?

The Cycling Weekly team has been all over Amazon Prime Day cycling deals, but which products have been getting the most interest?

Well, Cycplus electric tyre inflators have been extremely popular, and so has Smoove Lube chain lubricant. However, those deals are sadly sold out (at time of writing).

The next most popular is the Garmin Varia Radar light.

CW writer Simon Fellows recently tested a host of radar lights, which alert a rider to vehicles approaching from behind. He originally dismissed them as "an expensive gimmick, a rich boy’s toy", however, he became a convert. When Simon tested Garmin's most recent version, he awarded it 5/5 in his review. The model reduced by 25% is slightly older, but tester Paul Grele tried the RCT715 and scored it a near-perfect 4.5/5.

It's little wonder you've all been snapping these up. The deal is still available.

Once you go steel, you'll never go back

I remember CW writer Matt Ischt-Barnard waxing lyrical about the Stainless Steel bottle from CamelBak. It'll keep your drink cool, features a leak-free design, and the steel material contains no harmful chemicals. You can bet it will be robust, too! And yes, it will fit most cages.

Shine bright with MagicShine

MagicShine lights consistently top the charts with Cycling Weekly readers, and you'll find models within our best bike lights guide.

This 300-lumen beamer also comes with a built-in motion sensor, so it'll turn on automatically when you're braking. There's a day-mode option, and you can get two hours of light on a full charge.

Well, I'm handing the deal hunting baton to Matt

I've been Digital Editor, Michelle Arthurs-Brennan, and I've enjoyed hunting deals for you! I'm handing the baton over to Matt Ischt-Barnard, who will be pulling the next CW deal hunter's shift.

Don't forget to check the very best Amazon Prime Day deals in our Quick Deals section, which is full of great options if you're after an offer and short on time.

Evening in the UK, and I hope you are enjoying Friday lunchtime in the US. If you don't know by now, I'm Matt, and I'm back for the last stint of the Prime Day deals.

I'll probably be with you for the next hour or so, to round up the last few deals and, of course, give you all a gentle reminder to place those orders before it's too late.

Limited time offer! a new deal this late in the day, surely not? and possibly the lowest price I have ever seen on the Edge 1050

I find it hard to believe I have only just spotted this deal, having spent the last 4 days in the Amazon listings. Which must mean it is truly a limited-time offer.

The Garmin Edge 1050 is the tech giant's flagship and best bike computer, and as far as I can tell, it's just popped up in the US with 25% off. It might be late in the day, but the Prime Day deals just don't stop. For those who might have been considering other Computer deals we highlighted this week, such as the Wahoo Element Roam V3, this might be your lucky day.

Let's talk Mirrors for a minute

The humble best bike mirrors are a somewhat divisive topic amongst cyclists, but a review North American Editor Rook wrote on the Spurcycle mirror got a lot of traction, somewhat surprisingly. Maybe it was the mention of the descending wizard, Matej Mohorič, in her headline, or maybe we are secretly interested in bike mirrors?

While the lovely Spurcycle one isn't on discount, one of our top picks is:

Blackburn Road Mirror

For those on flat bars, like Hybrids or ebikes, the bar-end mirror is heavily discounted

Blackburn Mountain Mirror

It's not real LEGO, but it is kinda cool

The big topic in the CW meetings for weeks now has been the Lego Road Bike. Either discussing how we could make some cool content with it, or asking Rook how she is getting on with building hers.

While it is very cool, it is a shame there aren't more options. Hopefully, this is the opening of the floodgates. Lego must now know there is some serious interest from cyclists.

Anyway, in passing, I happened on this cool 'faux Lego' kit. It's in a classic Dutch bike style, but it does the same things as the 'real' Lego version. For example, you can pedal it, but this one comes with a little dog, what's not to love?

Now 44% off, the Pantasy Vintage Floral Bike Brick Model with Spring Picnic Accessories

Did you know you can also get an LED kit for the LEGO Road Bike already?

With 20% off the BrickBling Lego Road Bike Compatible LED Kit

I keep going on about them, but it's time we all made the swap to electric bike pumps 💨

I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but with these Prime Day deals, some of the best electric bike pumps are now as cheap or cheaper than their old-school manual brethren. If you want to see all the best deals I have stopped this week, I brought them all together in one place earlier in the week.

11 electric Bike pump deals not to be missed

If you want to get straight to the best options and the broadest range on offer this Prime Day, go straight to the Cycplus listing on Amazon.

"And it's goodnight from me". and "And it's goodnight from him".

That is me done for this Amazon Prime Day. I will continue to bring you the best cycling deals throughout the summer, of course. However, as far as Amazon is concerned, I will be back for the Pre-Black Friday Prime Day, which usually falls around mid-October.

Happy Shopping!

Three years ago, I wrote an article for Cycling Weekly about how cycling needed to open itself to newcomers and become more welcoming. I'd only been riding for a year or two at the time, and I'd soon realised, with a certain discomforting shock, that - as a young, female rider - I was in a minority, and that cycling was very male-dominated. To an experienced rider, that might sound obvious. Cycling has long been a predominantly white, male sport, but as a new rider with a fresh pair of eyes, I was grappling with a sense that the sport I was falling in love with wasn't meant for me. Herein lies the problem.

That feeling isn't unique to me. Barriers to cycling have the power not only to deter newcomers, but to make whole groups of people feel unwelcome. Women, ethnic minorities, those on low incomes, beginners - all must overcome hurdles, if not to participate, then to feel they belong. My views have evolved since writing that piece in 2023. Speaking to riders, campaigners and community leaders who are paving the way for real change, I feel brighter about where cycling is headed. But change is still needed, with exclusionary factors including cost, infrastructure, representation and perception continuing to deter certain people from cycling.

The question isn't simply how to get more people riding. It's what needs to change to make cycling genuinely accessible and welcoming - for women, for under-represented communities, and for anyone who's ever felt that the sport isn't for them. Here is my manifesto for how to make that change, or at least how to make a start.

Closing the gap

The gender gap in cycling is one of the clearest indicators that access isn't equal. Department for Transport (DfT) stats show that, on average, men are nearly three times more likely than women to make a journey by bike. Despite growing female participation overall, women remain sorely under-represented in certain areas, from elite racing through to everyday riding and clubs. It's a gap that Cycling UK says is still overlooked in the government's active travel plan.

Safety is a major factor. A recent YouGov poll found that the barriers to cycling have actually widened between men and women over the last seven years, with 58% of women saying they cycle less because of safety concerns, poor infrastructure and intimidating driver behaviour. "The barriers many women need to overcome simply don't affect men in the same way," explains Sophie Gordon, campaigns manager at Cycling UK. "We've heard from so many women who are put off cycling because of intimidating driver behaviour." Women are more likely to feel vulnerable in traffic, less catered for by existing infrastructure, and intimidated by other road users, instilling a fear of cycling long before they get in the saddle. "Our roads don't just belong to cars - it's important we call out bad behaviour and educate all road users on sharing space," adds Gordon. The problem is self-perpetuating: the fewer female riders on the road and in clubs, the fewer women feel like cycling is for them. But breaking that cycle requires investment. "What's really key is that we build safe cycle routes designed with the experiences of women in mind, while also calling out bad behaviour," Gordon says. "When women see other women out on bikes, they start to feel it's a realistic option for everyday trips - but investment needs to come before we can see that virtuous cycle."

Safety isn't the only barrier. Many women turn to group riding to build confidence in the saddle, yet traditional cycling clubs can feel intimidating. That gap is what led Lucy Eastoe, Emma Keyes, Phoebe Rylatt and Megan Redding to found Lila, a female-focused cycling club designed to make cycling accessible to women. "All four of us faced challenges at the start of our cycling journeys," says Eastoe. "Joining clubs that felt intimidating or didn't quite suit our level, and not having friends who wanted to give it a go made it hard to stay motivated. We wanted to create a space where women could feel supported, and draw motivation and confidence from riding alongside like-minded others." In practice, that looks like no-drop rides, beginner-specific sessions and bike maintenance workshops. These all help remove the pressure to be fast or confident from day one. Interventions like these have the power to completely change the experience for new female riders. But the end goal for women isn't just about riding with other women; it's about feeling confident to ride freely with everyone.

A broader church

It's not only women who experience exclusion from the sport. Cycling has long been associated with middle-aged white men, and its diversity problem is visible at every level. Of the 148 British-registered riders racing for UCI teams in 2025, just one was from an ethnic minority. It's a sorry precedent that filters down to grassroots participation. In the UK, just 14% of ethnic minorities, 12% of disabled people and 19% of LGBTQ+ individuals cycle regularly.

The issue isn't simply about participation figures. Perception shapes participation just as powerfully as safety and affordability factors. "One of the biggest things that needs to change is the perception of who cycling is and isn't for," says Yannick White, co-founder of inclusive cycling team Chain Gang Cyclists. "When people only see a certain type of rider represented, whether that's in cycling clubs, the media or online, it can create the feeling that the sport isn't meant for them." That perception is shaped everywhere: advertising, social media, club culture and professional racing. And when representation is narrow, it sends a quiet but powerful signal about who belongs in that space. More visibility of diverse riders and communities is one of the most important levers to address. "Coming out of the pandemic, there was a huge influx of new cyclists from various backgrounds," says White. "Now is the perfect time and opportunity for brands to stand up and be the change that we all want to see."

Andy Edwards published the 'Diversity in Cycling' report in 2022 to encourage cycling to be more inclusive and help demystify it for newcomers. In the report, he offers practical, real-life solutions on how to promote diversity within the sport: increase representation across media and marketing, actively invite riders from different backgrounds into cycling spaces, and encourage existing cyclists to reflect on their own role in shaping those communities. "I sometimes come across white guys in my age group who question the need for diversity," he says. "My response is: listen to more people from different backgrounds, and you'll hear a range of perspectives you might never have considered." Edwards also points to simple but effective interventions, prompting anyone who rides in a club to consider ways to welcome new riders. "I like to mix things up and run guest rides, purposefully inviting riders from different groups and backgrounds for a coffee ride." It's small acts like these that can have an exponential impact. "More newcomers mean more potential coaches, ride leaders, and race organisers. At a global level, new audiences increase the commercial impact." Groups like Chain Gang Cyclists are proof that progress is being made, but Edwards is clear-eyed about the pace of change. "Progress isn't linear; it ebbs and flows. We must stay positive and keep going."

The cost of entry

Cycling is often framed as an affordable mode of transport, but the reality is more complicated. At the very least, you need a bike and a helmet to participate. For those on low incomes, that can be out of reach, given the added cost of maintenance, kit and basic repair tools.

The upfront costs of a bike and helmet are just the starting point. "Cycling has the potential to be one of the most affordable and empowering forms of transport," says Ozgur Korkmaz, founder of London Cycling Club, based in Edmonton, in Enfield, north London, one of the most deprived areas in the UK. "Yet for many people, the barriers are cumulative rather than singular." Maintenance, repairs, storage and security all add to the financial load. "If someone cannot afford repairs, or lives in a flat without secure storage, cycling becomes unreliable," Korkmaz explains. "If they lack road knowledge or confidence in traffic, it can feel unsafe." In lower-income communities, these challenges can be difficult to overcome.

Structural changes are needed to make cycling a real option for those who can't afford a bike. Since 2022, London Cycling Club has run a Bike Library programme allowing residents to borrow a refurbished bike for £10 a month, with fees waived entirely for those in financial hardship. But the solutions need to be as layered as the problem. "We need long-term bike borrowing schemes, free bike maintenance education and access to tools in bike hubs," says Korkmaz. "Safe cycling facilities in parks, particularly in lower-income areas, and secure bike storage in estates and flats are also crucial."

These interventions tackle multiple barriers in tandem. "When cost, skills, infrastructure and confidence barriers are addressed together," says Korkmaz, "cycling becomes not only viable, but transformative for low-income communities. If we want cycling to be truly inclusive, we must design systems around those currently excluded, not just those who already ride."

Paths to participation

Statistics show that safety concerns are the leading deterrent putting people off cycling. A recent study by the DfT revealed that nearly half of all potential cyclists are deterred by perceived risks. To put the risk of riding on the road in perspective, there is one cyclist fatality for roughly every nine to 10 million cycle trips in Britain. Of course, even one death on a bike is too many, but fears around safety are often out of proportion with the actual risk.

Still, busy roads, fast traffic and poorly designed junctions are an intimidating prospect for less experienced cyclists. To encourage more newcomers onto bikes, the importance of proper infrastructure cannot be overstated. "The number-one thing that helps more people feel like cycling is a real option for them is well-designed, high-quality cycling infrastructure," says Gordon.

The impact of investment is already visible in cities like London, where the cycle network has expanded from 90km in 2016 to over 431km in 2025. Since 2019, daily cycling journeys have risen by 43%, with the majority of Cycleway users reporting that they feel safe most or all of the time. High-quality infrastructure makes a huge difference to both real and perceived safety - and in cycling, perception is half the battle. Segregated cycle lanes protected by bollards, not just painted lines, and bike-friendly traffic light systems are crucial to ensuring cyclists feel safer, especially at major junctions. The next step is to build these systems into commonly used routes across the country. "To make cycling truly accessible, it's not enough to just build cycle lanes along commuter corridors," Gordon explains. "We need well-connected networks that also service neighbourhoods and high streets, to allow for school runs, shopping and daily errands." This makes cycling accessible for everyone, not just commuters.

Snuffing out sniffiness

Beyond practical barriers, elitist attitudes and intimidating club culture can make newcomers feel nervous about entering the cycling space. Fast rides, baffling jargon and photos of perfectly dressed riders on social media make new riders feel like they're on the outside looking in - something White has experienced first-hand. "One club told me that they only admit new participants once a year, and another that I'd need to be able to hold a set average speed. It made me realise that joining a cycling club isn't always like joining a local gym or turning up for a casual football game. There can be unspoken barriers that make people feel like they need to prove themselves before they're welcome."

This aura of elitism isn't always intentional, but it's reinforced by deep-rooted behaviours and traditions. Something as simple as an off-hand remark about clothing style or brag about FTP has the potential to make someone feel like an outsider. The solution? "Clubs need to think about how they create entry points for beginners and recreational riders," says White. "They can co-exist with performance and race-focused athletes. We've done exactly that in CGC, so it's more than possible."

Beyond clubs, social media is increasingly where cycling makes its first impression. A growing wave of female content creators are sharing their cycling experience in honest and relatable ways, such as buying their first bike or making their first attempt at clipping in, showing what starting out actually looks like. CGC is proof that a welcoming approach works. "A big part of our growth has come from sharing our rides on social media. Every week we hear from new riders who saw our content and simply wanted to find like-minded people to ride with," says White. "When someone joins our rides and says it feels like home, that's when we know we're doing something right."

How to drive the change?

Cycling's accessibility problem isn't driven by a single issue. Safety concerns reduce confidence, and low confidence limits participation. Limited participation reduces visibility and, in turn, a lack of visibility reinforces the perception that cycling isn't for everyone. Add cost and cultural barriers into the mix, and the effect becomes self-perpetuating.

So what actually needs to change? Structural, physical and cultural barriers all need an overhaul. Safer roads, inclusive clubs, affordable bike schemes and improved visibility of marginalised groups in cycling are key to opening up the sport. Crucially, cycling becomes more accessible when it stops asking newcomers to adapt - and starts adapting to them. Because ultimately, making cycling inclusive isn't about getting more people onto bikes for the sake of it. It's about ensuring that everyone feels they have the right.

The disconnect in data

3x: Men in the UK are nearly three times more likely than women to make a journey by bike

58%: The percentage of women who report cycling less due to concerns over road safety and intimidating driver behaviour

1: The number of British-registered riders racing for UCI teams in 2025, out of a total 148, who were from an ethnic minority

43%: The surge in daily cycling journeys in London since 2019, following a 340km expansion of the Cycleway network

14%: The proportion of people from ethnic minority backgrounds in the UK who cycle regularly

This feature was originally published in the 16 April 2026 print edition of Cycling Weekly magazine – available to buy on the newsstand every Thursday (UK only) while digital versions are available on Apple News and Readly. Subscriptions through Magazine's Direct.

One thing’s for certain, this is not Eddy Merckx’s bike, it’s far too large for him. Instead, it’s a team bike, sprayed in Molteni colours, which, among other clues, dates it to the early 1970s.

It was almost certainly ridden by Merckx’s loyal, taller teammate Joseph Bruyère, a rider blessed with a talent of such magnitude that he was only eclipsed by ‘The Cannibal’ himself. The bike now forms part of Dave Marsh's collection.

Identifying the builder of this bike is a trickier proposition. The list of those who made frames for Merckx around this time reads like a roll-call of the most skilled artigiani who ever lit a brazing torch – Masi, Colnago and De Rosa being the most iconic.

However, the frame is later than Merckx’s Masi period, and it predates De Rosa. The Molteni-era Colnago frames often include an Ace of Spades emblem somewhere, often on the fork crown, but there’s no sign of a logo on this bike.

The Reynold 531 decal on the rear face of the seat tube does provide a clue. It practically rules out any Italian builder (Colnago occasionally specced Reynolds) and instead points us towards Belgian bike brand Kessels.

Fernand Kessels fulfilled orders from Merckx during this period, with many bikes featuring Reynolds 531 double-butted tubing throughout. However, he was not a builder, and instead relied on others to construct the frames for him. So, we’ll probably never know the builder behind this bike.

The components are mostly Campagnolo Nuovo Record – the outer chainring is Super Record – augmented by a Cinelli 1A quill stem and deep drop 66 pattern bars. The wheels feature Mavic Pro Rims laced to Campagnolo Record large-flange hubs. The sharp-eyed will notice that the Brooks Professional saddle has been modified by Ottusi of Milan.

It was 20 years ago that the bicycle was voted the best invention ever in a BBC poll, taking 59% of the vote ahead of the radio, internet and nuclear power. Its appeal and value lie largely in its simplicity and affordability and while ‘the humble bicycle’ is now more than 130 years old, it has been constantly refined in an effort to make it, perhaps, a little less humble.

Some of these efforts have proved revolutionary; others failed to make the grade. While the derailleur, high-pressure valves, and clipless pedals became cycling staples, other innovations showed early promise but never took off, or were snuffed out by circumstance. We take a look back at the tech that fell by the wayside – and ponder which new creations might, or might not, break the mould in coming years.

1. Shimano Biopace chainrings

For a time in the Eighties and early Nineties, there was something that did not look quite right about a vast range of off-the-peg road bikes. The standard bicycle has grown up with a comforting triangles-and-circles aesthetic that was now being challenged by the industry giant that was Shimano – with an oval chainset. Except it wasn't oval, not exactly.

The less wieldy but more accurate description would be non-round, and it was called Biopace. Its non-conforming shape, which was somewhere between an egg and a square, was designed to improve pedalling efficiency by ironing out the ‘dead spot’ over the top of the crank revolution, where power is much harder to put down.

Launched in 1983, it was embraced by many, attracted to the futuristic new look. The design snowballed to a point that, in the early Nineties, many road and mountain bikes came specced as standard with Biopace. So what went wrong? Bike tech expert, the late Sheldon Brown, said that Shimano shot itself in the foot by overcomplicating the marketing – in particular the claim that Biopace was optimised for a cadence of 90rpm. “Many interpreted this as an indication that Biopace chainrings would somehow interfere with pedalling faster than that," Brown wrote. "[and] the conventional wisdom arose that Biopace was bad for high-performance cyclists for this reason."

More recently non-round rings made a reappearance, with Sir Bradley Wiggins even winning the Tour de France on his Osymetric rings, and Chris Froome using them too. Did they really boost performance? According to then-Team Sky head of performance Tim Kerrison, "performance-wise, there is very little in it either way". It wasn't a team policy, he said, just a personal rider preference.

2. Campagnolo Delta brakes

There was a lot to love about racing bikes in the Eighties, at least 50% of which was all the gorgeous polished alloy that hung on them (the other 50%, of course, were the lithe steel frames that held all the shiny bits). Groupsets were a thing of beauty that were being refined aesthetically with each new iteration – and then, in 1985, Campagnolo raised the game with its Delta brake.

Known officially as the C-Record brake, the Delta got its nickname from its triangular shape (like the Greek letter) and was famously bad at actually doing what it was designed to do – stopping the bike. However, it looked beautiful. Unlikely as it sounds today, there are numerous groupset components from the Seventies and Eighties that might be referred to as iconic – and few would omit the Delta from that list.

Beneath a polished alloy cover adorned with the Campagnolo logo nestled a series of pivoting arms that the Italian firm called an articulated parallelogram. Between 1985 and its eventual demise in 1992, the Delta was released in five iterations, including a lower-tier Croce d'Aune edition. It has been labelled 'the greatest worst brake ever' by Bicycling, which probably sums it up rather well. Either way, it still has a dedicated following, as eBay prices of £1,000 and upwards for a NOS brakes attest.

3. Direct mount brakes

While we're on rim brake systems… They’ve slowly improved over the years, and despite the advent of discs, rim brakes have very much stood the test of time. We've seen them offered in all sorts of formats, from early rod brakes to the dual-pivot design most modern riders have used, or at least seen – perhaps on the group ride, along with a sticker proclaiming “I heart rim brakes” or similar. While the trusty dual-pivot is the modern iteration, direct mount saw it refined even further. Unfortunately it was a design that came along just in time for cycle manufacturers to embrace disc technology.

The direct mount design is very similar to that of the dual pivot – but instead of those pivots using the standard centre bolt, they are both mounted to the frame either side of the fork or seatstay, effectively bracing the brake across the rim. This means less flex and, as a result, better modulation. They are also more accommodating of wider tyre size than the standard-drop dual pivot, but only up to a point. 30mm, for example, so don't go looking for a gravel bike with direct mount brakes.

Unlike Shimano Biopace rings or Campagnolo Delta brakes, direct mount brakes can still be bought brand new to service the plentiful frames fitted with the appropriate bosses. Thus, they have far from died off, but the advent of disc brakes means they've not thrived as they otherwise might have done.

4. Shimano Octalink and ISIS

Anyone with a long enough memory to recall using square-tapered cranks may well also recall how vulnerable this system rendered your beautiful but rather soft alloy cranks – either from the bottom bracket spindle itself, or the tool used to remove them. The issue was that the cranks were effectively wedged onto the tapered spindle, with the mechanic's own judgement usually the only measure of how aggressively this should be done. Not enough, and the crank could work loose midway through a ride, and any attempt to ride gingerly home with a loose crank could easily round-out the square hole, rendering it useless.

Alternatively, tightening the crank too hard could lead to the opposing problem – a crank that was an absolute brute to remove, with threads that could readily be stripped out by the removal tool. Again, a useless crank was the result.

Surprisingly, square-taper cranks lasted more than 50 years by the time they began to be phased out.

In their place came Octalink (a Shimano offering) and ISIS (International Spline Interface Standard), which was essentially open source. Unlike the square taper, the cranks were mounted rather than wedged onto a splined axle, meaning users were able to remove the cranks without losing their dignity or turning the air blue.

Like direct mount brakes and square taper bottom brackets, there is still a market for both these splined BB standards so they are still sold. However, the 'big three' groupset manufacturers now predominantly use a design that sees the axle mounted to the cranks and the bearings mounted to the bike.

5. Shimano Flight Deck with gear sensor

The idea of having a display indicating what gear you're riding in sounds as though it ought to be appealing. After all, if you add up all the time spent looking down at your sprockets over the course of a ride, it would likely amount to an alarmingly substantial portion of it looking in precisely the opposite direction to where you're supposed to.

Shimano's Flight Deck, introduced in 1998 with the 25th anniversary Dura-Ace groupset, in theory did away with all that. It plugged into the STI levers and could display current gear and cadence, as well as the more usual metrics like speed, time and distance.

Nearly 30 years ago, such a gadget was pretty much akin to wizardry and, along with Campagnolo's arguably better Ergobrain unit, had plenty of buyers. However, set-up required Olympian levels of patience, and even once that was done, not everyone got on well with it. Opinions from one selection of users ranged from 'ultimate cool' to 'the best thing I ever did for my bike was take off the Flight Deck and chuck it in the bin'.

It was ultimately killed off by the advent of GPS units, and somehow nobody missed having a computer to remind them what gear they were in – although it is a feature that has made a resurgence in modern head-units.

6. Mavic Zap and Mektronic

The rise and fall of the then-ultra-futuristic Mavic Zap rear derailleur brings to mind the immortal line from Back to the Future, as protagonist Marty McFly attempts to explain away his before-its-time rendition of Johnny B. Goode: "I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet – but your kids are gonna love it". Electronic gearing like Shimano Di2 and SRAM AXS is, after all, unfailingly popular with modern riders – but back in the early Nineties it was a step too far.

There were, perhaps, a few reasons why Mavic's early attempt did not gain the traction it might have. For one, unlike the modern electronic mechs, the grey and rather ugly Mavic Zap looked like it was from another planet compared to the standard polished groupset fare.

Then there was the famously lofty price tag, and the fact it was made by a brand less popular as a groupset manufacturer (the Zap came as part of a full groupset that looked otherwise rather lovely). While Chris Boardman rode a Zap to Tour de France prologue victory in 1994, the wider buying public were less enamoured. The French brand tried again with the wireless Mektronic in the late Nineties, but it wasn't until 10 years after that, when Shimano introduced Di2, that electronic shifting began to catch on.

7. Spinergy Rev-X

The spectrum of mid-ride component breakages ranges from inconvenient at one end to catastrophic at the other. Wheels are at the extreme end of the latter. The closest I've come personally to this happening is having a worn rear rim surface blow out less than half a mile from home. I might consider myself lucky though, given I was for a time the owner of a pair of Spinergy Rev-X eight-spoke wheels.

These Nineties hoops were described by a former colleague as the James Dean of wheels, with a dangerous look and an even more dangerous reputation. From a distance these appeared to have four wide-bladed carbon spokes, but there were in fact eight, bonded in pairs. They looked great, and they were very fast, but they had a reputation for failing under the rider.

That didn't stop their use in the pro peloton for a time, which yielded various stories of their blade-like spokes inflicting injury in crashes. Eventually, in 2001, they were banned by the UCI after failing to meet updated impact test regs. Perhaps surprisingly, they continue to have a keen following and, if you really want, you can buy yourself a pair on eBay for a few hundred quid.

What comes next?

It is hard to imagine a top-tier modern bicycle feeling antiquated but it's written, indelibly, in the stars. As new technologies and new science come down the line, the future becomes current, and current becomes old. But what exactly might those new technologies look like? Here are five things that could happen or perhaps already are to some degree. Whether they are eventually written about in years to come in a feature about technology that never made it, only time will tell.

14-speed cassettes: currently, none of the 'big three' produce such a thing, though Campagnolo and SRAM are currently on 13 and Shimano, by all accounts, is almost there too. However, a 14-speed option available from Chinese brand Wheeltop shows it can be done – it's hard to imagine the big brands not following suit eventually.

Suspension tech in road bikes: with tyres get bigger and roads more poorly maintained, bike riders are beginning to realise that a lack of comfort is not inevitable. Elastomer-type road damping has been around for a long time on road bikes like the Specialized Roubaix and now, with the advent of all-road and recreational riders being less in thrall to pro peloton tech, expect to see more suspension options.

Abrasion-resistant clothing: crashes happen, and road rash is never fun. Cycling togs from the likes of Ekoi and Santini now feature in-woven abrasion-resistant fabrics to protect against tearing and grazes. While they're not a magic bullet against crash damage, any reduction in injury has to be a good thing.

Airbag tech: Still on crash protection, if you ever looked at the Michelin Man and thought he'd be well protected in the event of an 'off', you might be interested in one of the latest and most futuristic developments in cycling – airbag clothing. Already garments from the likes of Decathlon/In&Motion and Aerobag offer airbag vests for cyclists that can detect a fall happening and deploy instantly. Not particularly aerodynamic, but definitely more cushioned in a crash.

On-the-fly AI coaching: Should you go for that last interval set? Is today even an interval day? With AI already able to design coaching programmes, we can expect a system somewhere down the line that allows a wearable to interact with your head unit and advise you, in real time, on the course your ride should take – using your own physiological data to urge you on to greater efforts, or tell you that today, discretion is the better part of valour.

A curious, maybe portentous, image emerged from last week's racing at the Tour de Suisse. As the race passes through a postcard-beautiful riverside town, the spectators are nowhere to be seen – until you look carefully. Then they appear, sheltering in small groups in dark spots beneath trees and among bushes – not from the rain, but from the blazing sun.

It may not have escaped your notice that a blanket of scorching heat is currently being wafted across Europe. Unusually high temperatures approaching 40degC (100.4deg F) have been forecast for the UK and for Spain, while France, on the eve of the world's biggest bike race, has already suffered temperatures above 43C (109.4F). Scorching, oven-ready readings that add up to 50% to the seasonal average.

In my very British experience, I can vouch that people get rather excited when the mercury starts to rise. 'Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun', as the saying goes, and there's probably some truth in it – likely a symptom of living in a country where grey skies are the default setting and, a bit like when it snows, many of us feel a certain amount of childish glee when the UV rises.

But temperatures like this deserve to be taken seriously, as a resultant and tragic 20 deaths across France would attest.

If you're planning on spectating at a bike race this summer, you might want to go prepared. The current heatwave may not last into August, but that isn't to say another won't come along, while temperatures in-between spikes may remain high.

Dangers include sunburn, which with some planning can be mitigated for, and heatstroke, which is less predictable and poses immediate danger to life.

In the UK, the NHS advises against going outside in hot weather between 11am-3pm as a heatstroke avoidance tactic. Unfortunately, when it comes to spectating at a race like the Tour de France, that is exactly the time bracket that's likely to see you out under the sun. With the surrounding roads closed and the time between the famed Tour caravan arriving and the passage of the riders usually around two hours, it's no quick out-and-in deal either.

We're probably all sufficiently well-versed in sunburn prevention tactics. High SPF cream reapplied at intervals, hats and shady spots. Take it seriously and there's a good chance you can avoid the beetroot look.

Heatstroke on the other hand is caused when the body overheats and is unable to regulate itself, and can be fatal. It's also a very good reason to avoid any open and unsheltered spots from which to watch a bike race. If you start to feel ill and you're a 30 minute walk from shelter, you could find yourself in trouble of the most serious sort.

If you're determined to go watch a race and nothing – not even the ramblings of a Cycling Weekly writer – is going to persuade you otherwise, pick a town to do it from. Here, you are more likely to find air-conditioned shops that you can shelter in when you need to and will be genuinely cool, unlike a patch of shade under a tree. You'll also be able to find extra supplies and cold drinks, although given you'll need to take hydration as seriously as the riders, you'll no doubt have plenty packed already.

If watching a bike race isn't on your radar this summer, that doesn't mean you're off the hook. Everything from family picnics to short rides is going to require the same kind of planning, and consideration as to whether you might be better off leaving it for a cooler day.

And so concludes this public information message, coloured by the experience of an admittedly sun-cautious 50-something whose kids' devotion to daily UV ratings (higher the better, apparently), leaves him somewhat aghast. Stay safe out there.

Cycling Weekly's resident deal-hunting experts are back in the hot seat, bringing you everything the summer sale has to offer for cyclists. We are officially halfway through the sale, with just today and tomorrow left, with prime days deals ending at midnight on June 26th.

Yesterday was a busy one with deals coming in faster than we could write them. Surprisingly, one of the biggest hits of the day was the Van Rysel deals at Decathlon hunted out by Patrick. There is a growing appetite for deals outside of Amazon. We hear you, and we will keep an eye on that today! Paul's Garmin Varia RCT715 and Cycplus AS2 Pro remain very popular, and we will absolutely have more of them today.

Alongside these deals, the best bike computers are proving, as always, very popular. including the Garmin Edge 550 & Hammerhead Karoo 3.

Quick Reminder: As I said, we are halfway through the sale, so if you aren't a Prime Member yet, get your skates on! Become an Amazon Prime member, and you will not only get access to all the best Amazon Prime Day bike deals but also free and fast delivery year-round.

All the best Amazon Prime Day Cycling Deals 2026

USA

• Amazon US - Today's Best Prime Day Bike Deals
• Massive 28% off - Shimano Dura Ace Pedals
• In excess of $100 off - Garmin Edge 550
• Save up to 29% - GoPro Hero 13 cameras and bundles

UK 

• Amazon UK - Today's Best Prime Day Cycling Deals
• Save 19% - Airbank Mini Electric Bike Pump
• Big discounts across - Magicshine Bike Lights
• Save up to £95 off - Wahoo ELEMNT Roam

Beyond Amazon - Live deals not available on Prime

• Top cycling deals - Decathlon
• Save up to 40% off on bikes - Competitive Cyclist
• Over 500 products on sale - REI
• Discounts on hundreds of bikes - Sigma Sports
• Discounted bikes, apparel, & accessories - Mike's Bikes

Our deal-hunters top Prime Day picks

Top US Picks

Top UK picks

Good Morning! Prime Day Cycling deals are finally here. I am Matt, Tech and Ecomm Writer here at Cycling Weekly, and I will be with you for much of the morning, bringing you all the best deals the summer Prime Days have to offer.

I am just going to make a coffee, and we will get straight into the best deals I have already found in the listings.

Prime Day is a members only event!

Before we get into the deals, I just want to remind you all that Amazon Prime Day Bike Deals are for Prime Members only! Becoming an Amazon Prime member is easy, and you can even use the 7-day free trial for Prime Day and then cancel if you so wish. However, don't forget that once you are a member, you can enjoy free, fast delivery year-round and watch some of the latest movies and TV shows.

Deals, deals, deals!

Right..... let's get into it. I will focus my efforts on the UK this morning, since we are all awake and probably looking for distractions from the heat 🔥 or for fans, I know I certainly am after the lack of sleep my son and I had last night.

So, let's start there, with the Vacmaster Cardio54.

Our top trending product of the last 12 months 💨

The Cycplus AS2 Pro is once again on discount in the UK. It is by far the top trending product of the last 12 months, with just about everyone we know taking the opportunity to ditch their best mini bike pump in favour of the best electric bike pump.

Down to just £69.43 from £83.33, representing a decent 17% discount, the Cycplus AS2 Pro is at one of its lowest prices we have seen.

There is budget options too!

The Airbank Pocket SE surprised us in our best electric bike pump test, as we initially assumed that a pump that small and cheap would not be able to compete. However, its value for money is outstanding, even inflating and seating a tubeless tyre. If you aren't sure about electric pumps, still! The Airbank is the one to help with the transition, thanks to its low cost and now-healthy Prime Day discount.

More Coffee required...

I am hopping off for yet another coffee, but I will leave you with a deal on my favourite mugs... See you in five.

Suns out! 🕶️

I'm back after a quick sit in the sun and a brew. While I was sitting there, it got me thinking, I do need some new sunglasses. The team here at Cycling Weekly are big fans of Tifosi sunglasses, and my colleague Hannah just reviewed their latest offering, the Tifosi Vogel XC. As always, they performed well, with Hannah awarding them 4.5 stars out of 5, yet again delivering an excellent best budget sunglasses option.

🎧 What is your current earworm?

The CW Slack chat lit up this morning, first because it's Prime Day, but largely because Digital Editor Michelle's daughter was struggling to get her Amazon Alexa Echo Dot to 'Play K-Bop Barnaby'. What she actually wanted was, of course, K-Pop Demon Hunters, "Born to be", or for us who also have small children, we all know this as "Golden".

I am on a bit of a jazz binge myself, after discovering Snarky Puppy earlier in the year. Which is a bit out of my comfort zone normally, but I have been amazed at how much better Jazz sounds through a decent pair of headphones. You really start to notice the depth that I take for granted from Rock and Metal.

Guess what.... Prime Day has a ton of the best headphones for cyclists on offer, like these 3 examples below.

Good Morning, New Yorkers! 🗽

It's just about time for our friends over the pond to be rising. My watch says it's 7 am in New York, which, from the Times Square webcams, looks to me like a wet, misty start to the day.

So, let's get our first Amazon.com deal out of the way, and then it's time for a spot of lunch here in the UK.

Sticking with the best headphones theme, and the fact that all I can think about now is Frank Sinatra, Shokz are also heavily discounted in the US.

Hello, intrepid APD’ers! I’m Andy, and I’m here to take you through the rest of our evening. I love a bargain, so I’ll be digging around for some of my favourite bits of kit and bringing you the best deals I can find, right here on our live blog.

Matt has already flagged the amazing Garmin Edge 850 and 550, plus the Osmo Action 4, Cycplus, Airbank, and an awesome home training fan. You don’t have to be training today to appreciate it, though—my south-facing office is baking in 32-degree heat with no air conditioning. I’d pay far more than £79.99 for the brilliantly named ‘Vacmaster Cardio’ today, but you don’t have to.

In all seriousness, if you’re training indoors—even on cooler days—there really isn't a better or cheaper way of cooling your turbo setup than this. You really don't need the big brand stuff, when this does the job so well, for way less cash.

Now, I’m going to dig around for some decent tech that I personally use and love to see if I can top Matt’s deals from earlier today...

The outgoing Crux might be the smartest buy of the whole APD sale and it's not on Amazon!

My esteemed colleague Anne-Marije Rook said it best in her love letter to the outgoing Crux: snag one of the outgoing model frames while they’re still available.

Yes, yes, the fancier aero Crux has landed with a hell of a fanfare but that means the outgoing model – with it’s round tubes, excellent handling and way more practicality is now dirt cheap.

The 2022 model was lighter, simpler and a genuine do-everything bike. Just about everyone who has ridden one, loves it.

Sure, if you ride at average speeds of elite riders in UCI gravel events, then the new version *might* be faster, but smart money – my own money – would grab a 2022 version Crux whilst there’s still some left on the planet.

They don’t sell them on Amazon, but I’ve found them on sale at 26% off on Sigma Sports. It's not all about Amazon, this Amazon Prime Day week.

Hammerhead Karoo 3 headunit for a smidge over £300!

Our highest rated cycling computer, the Hammerhead Karoo, has been knocked down to £301.99 in the Amazon Sale – the lowest price it’s been all year, and it’s on sale in SRAM’s own Amazon Store, so no worries about where it’s coming from.

I have one of these on loan, and I’ve made no secret that I absolutely love using it with SRAM’s Force Groupset – which is in my view, the pound for pound best groupset on the planet – and, the Karoo fills the same kind of sweet spot.

Garmin’s menus can feel a bit unwieldy in comparison and the screen feels just as good as your phone, with brilliant mapping. It’s not the very cheapest way into a new head unit in the sale, but it is pound for pound, one of the most usable. Need more convincing? It won 'best overall' in our best cycling computer buyers guide, so what are you waiting for.

My favourite pocket drone that films you riding, is now just £113

If you love those swooping follow-me clips for your socials, but don’t have a deal with Red Bull that includes a helicopter, DJI has you covered. And it's 33% off in the Amazon Prime sale.

I use the DJI Flip, and NEO, and they are excellent. I actually crashed a Flip into the blades of a combine harvester, and it survived unscathed.

Honestly, if you’re just filming yourself messing about on your bike, the NEO is the one to go for, for both price and ease of use. In the Amazon Prime sale right now, you’re getting a whopping £56 off.

What’s cool about this one is that it takes off from your palm, automatically tracks you and shoots in 4k. The best bit is, it fits in your jersey pocket too.

Battery sounds short at 12 mins, but who wants to film or watch more than 12 mins of footage from your sunday ride with your mates? For reels, vertical video, and that influencer-feel to your content, the spec is absolutely spot on. Everything you need and nothing you don’t, and it’s fool proof. Just avoid combine harvesters in high winds.

For US readers, you’ve got you can take advantage too. The Neo is down from $199 to just $139.

Some bargain bike or shed security that's got to be worth a punt

I skim past a ton of stuff when I’m looking for cycling deals on Amazon Prime Day, but high-tech electronics is always a rich seam of bargains in the APD coalface. This one looks so good I just had to share it - it's down from £124.98 to just £24.99 and it's got to be worth a try.

Now, bear with me, because this isn’t strictly cycling gear, but if you’ve ever had your bike nicked (who hasn’t?), you might have considered getting extra security for the shed or garage.

We know you’re keen on the subject because every time we run a feature on bike security, it gets plenty of traffic. We ran a story recently about a guy who turned his shed into a fortress, and we also have some very busy buyer’s guides for the best locks, and plenty of good consumer advice on the best security available for your bike.

This Blink 4 set up comes with a camera and a doorbell, for less than £25.

With this setup, there are no wires, so there's no faffing about with fitting, and it might just be the thing that makes a thief think twice or head to the neighbour's shed instead.

If you're in the US, the deals look very good on these highly-rated units too with 66% off.

Beet-Doping on the cheap this Amazon Prime Day

This deal on Beet It shots is not to be missed if like me, you like to try new nutrition products for a little boost.

This Beet-cheat is 15% off—and it could give you a performance boost of up to 3%. Unlike some supplements, this isn’t snake oil; I’ve used beetroot for its performance-enhancing benefits for years.

The active ingredient at work here is nitric oxide, which supports your circulatory system and can provide a short-term performance boost—some studies even suggest an extra 3% in capacity.

I used to include it in nearly every evening meal at my Cycling and Triathlon Pro-Camps in the Alps. My athletes loved it, and they’d often return from Commonwealth Games, Island Games, or even Kona with their own tales of ‘beety-boosting’ obsessions that started right there at camp.

I still go through a ton of beetroot even though I'm not training at that level anymore. But if you don't want to roast it or mess with the boiled stuff – and if you don’t have a private chef on hand at an Alpine pro-camp – the easiest way to get your intake up, and give it a go, is via a shot.

One of the most well-known brands—and one I’ve used personally—is Beet It. With 15% off this Amazon Prime Day, you can stock up or give it a try for much less.

For context, if the 3% is to be believed, that's a full 45 seconds off a 25 min Park Run... I'll leave that there, Champ...

It is not currently on offer on US Amazon, but it's a relatively inexpensive and natural performance boost, so I've included a link to the US Amazon store below the UK deal links so you can give it a try if you want to.

Move over other brands – at this Amazon Prime Day sale price Garmin Fenix is still the best...

I’m wearing this watch right now. In fact, it rarely leaves my wrist. Having tested equivalent smartwatches from Suunto, COROS, and many others over many years, I can confidently say the Garmin Fenix 8 is a standout, especially with 28% off in the Amazon Prime Day sale.

It's the pricing of new entrants that must be giving Garmin some headaches lately. But, with the price dropped on Fenix 8 from £789.99 to £567.15, that isn't quite the problem it has been.

Don't get me wrong, watches like the COROS Nomad are brilliant and compelling at a third of the price of a Fenix 8, and at that much lower-than-Garmin price point, its few downsides are hard to argue with. It’s nearly two thirds cheaper.

However, if your budget today can stretch just a little further than the Corus, this discount changes the equation massively, and allows you to own arguably the best adventure smartwatch available for much, much less than the RRP.

Film your ride like the pros do – the best deal on Insta X4 bike bundle I've seen today

Just spotted the Insta360 X4 air with the Road Cycling Bundle - which includes chest mount, stay and bar mounts for your selfie stick, so you can get those dreamy POV shots, and access loads of angles in the edit. With 20% off this Amazon Prime Day.

We've raved about them. Creators everywhere swear by them, and this setup uses proper clamps, with secure fittings, so you're not risking throwing a cheaply made selfie stick straight into your carbon wheels.

Since X3 and earlier we've been using these for cycling content here at CW. The X4 got a huge upgrade, and whilst it has been superceded by X5 now, the X4 Air made all that power available in a smaller package, and still remains a solid choice. It films at 8k so you can crop into shots forever. At this price, with 20% off, its a real way into properly polished content creation at a great price.

If you ride a motorcycle and want to use it for that too, do select the motorcycle pack, as it uses much heftier clamps that are better suited for that purpose. I've found this bundle is perfect for cyclists concerned about weight, who need a proper video solution, and in that context, I wouldn't trust anything else.

Healthier coffee? Exhale is on a really good Amazon Prime Deal and it's really lovely stuff

Searching for deals is thirsty work. Time for a quick break and I'll be right back.

I've got Exhale Coffee, which is roasted in London, in Brixton in fact, not far from where I used to live, by Al and his wife. I paid full price for it, but today you can grab a sack for just £16.91. 28% off.

Long and the short of it. It's not mouldy. Apparently mould loves coffee. And if you've got any autoimmune issues – which I do – trouble can be hiding in more humble beans. No pesticides. No rubbish.

Hopefully it will get me through the next three hours of hunting down all these best cycling deals...

Handing over to Matt so thank you for having me, deal hunters

I hope I’ve brought a good mix of recommendations for exotic tech I actually use, and do know about, alongside valuable insights into some genuine performance-enhancing agricultural products.

The Exhale coffee is a great deal, but also a genuine ‘forever’ tip—and if you haven’t tried beetroot for performance, get on that stuff. It’s potent.

The deals are out there, and we'll keep finding them for you. If you stopped by or clicked on something since I've been with you, thanks for coming along for the fun. I hope you've saved a few bob and picked up bargains galore in this veritable carnival of two-wheeled capitalism.

May your carts bulge with the fruits of our toil, and may your postman's back bend under the weight of your good fortune.

Good evening, is there something going on today??? ⚽️

Evening all, Matt here again, reporting for duty from the beautiful but roasting South Coast of England. I didn't expect to be back today, but the deals just keep coming, and luckily for the CW team, I care not for football. I have had a swim in the sea, seen my son off to bed and now back on the hunt for some Prime Day cycling deals.

If you, like me, believe cycling is the greatest sport on earth, you're in the right place this evening. So, stick around, and we will find some bargains in the Amazon Prime Day sale.

How to spot and get the best Prime Day Cycling Deals?

Before we jump back into the deals, I thought I'd cover a question I get a lot, from friends and family. There is, of course, no hard and fast rule; however, follow these four tips, and they will at least help you make informed decisions about your purchases and guide you towards what is a good price or a good product:

• First stop: Check reviews from the Cycling Weekly Team.
  We test hundreds of products every year across almost all cycling disciplines. If we haven't reviewed it, it's likely we have reviewed the same model in a different specification or a very similar product.
• Why not try other retailers?
  Prime Day is, of course, designed to get you to shop exclusively on Amazon. However, we increasingly see cycling and sports retailers offering better pricing on a wider range of products at the same time.
• Check the price.
  There are two really useful tools I always use: camelcamelcamel and Keepa, which track millions of prices on Amazon. What is most useful is that it tells you the lowest price the item has been sold for and whether it was listed before the event. So, you always know if you are getting a deal.
• Read the Amazon reviews carefully!
  Amazon reviews used by sellers to boost their ratings are easy to spot. While Amazon has clamped down on this, it is not a foolproof system. Look out for overuse of these five things:
  - A very high percentage of five-star reviews,
  - Lack of detail in reviews and vague praise,
  - Generic review titles like “Nice product” or simply “Awesome”,
  - Poor grammar and spelling mistakes,
  - Multiple reviews on specific dates (especially if there are long gaps between them)

Right back to the deals - Starting with Wahoo!

Earlier today, my brilliant colleague and deal-hunting extraordinaire, Paul, spotted that Wahoo had all of their latest computers on offer. The most significant being the 18% off, the Elemnt Roam V3, which is arguably the closest competition to our best bike computer, the Hammerhead Karoo 3.

Sticking with Wahoo for a second... This might be the steal of the week!

This is an interesting one. Earlier, I spotted that Wahoo is still selling the Elemnt Roam 2. I assumed it had been discontinued long ago, since we reviewed it in 2019 and launched it even earlier. Even last year, when Wahoo announced the refreshed range and the Wahoo Elemnt Roam 3, the outgoing model was still hugely popular with amateurs and pros alike.

Well, in the UK, you can still get the old Roam, and it's a decent 24% discount. Of course, the updated version got a touchscreen and a whole host of upgraded features. For those looking for a feature-rich training tool for a reasonable price, this might just be the steal of the week.

Not nearly as old as the Roam, but a record equalling low price

It is nowhere near as old as the Elemnt Roam 2, but the people's favourite Garmin Edge 540 is back on sale, matching its lowest-ever price. I predicted that Spring Deal Days were the start of the end for the Edge 540. Yet 3 months later, here I am again, but how many more are there?

Could this be the last opportunity to grab one of the most user-friendly devices Garmin has ever produced, or will I be sitting here again on Black Friday, saying the same again? Who is willing to take the risk?

A quick detour before I sum up the day, and head off for the evening

A pretty stonking deal on a Bob and Brad Massage gun has just caught my eye. I am not a user myself, although I do think about it, as even at just 36, I feel like I am falling apart. A while back, we had physiotherapist Dr Graham Theobald conduct an in-depth review of the Bob and Brad C2 ice and heat massage gun.

It’s hard to know which massage guns are truly effective; however, Dr Graham gave the C2 4 out of 5 stars, noting its value for money relative to the market leaders and its effectiveness for its intended use. Which he claims is fine for areas such as arms, neck, and feet (actually very good for the plantar fascia), but when it comes to larger athletes and muscle groups, such as glutes, it is a little underpowered.

It's getting late (at least here in the UK) 🌙 time for some rest, ready for another day of deal hunting! I will leave you with this... Don't forget to shop around.

What a first day, I feel like we are only just scraping the surface! I will leave you with the following.

One of the first posts I made this evening was some tips for getting the best deals on Amazon Prime Day. The Second of which was.... Why not try other retailers? We believe Amazon offers some great deals, but it isn't always the best place for cyclists. We understand that.

So, I leave you with these cycling-specific retailers, all of which offer excellant deals on bikes, clothing, and accessories right now that you should take a look at immediately.

• Top cycling deals - Decathlon
• Save up to 40% off on bikes - Competitive Cyclist
• Over 500 products on sale - REI
• Discounts on hundreds of bikes - Sigma Sports
• Discounted bikes, apparel, & accessories - Mike's Bikes

Good Morning ☀️

Morning all, I'm back for day two of the Amazon Prime Day deals, bringing you all the best offers for cyclists.

It's hot here in the UK (speak to any in the UK today, and this is all you will get) I didn't sleep well, and more then every fuelled by vast quantities of caffeine. I have a little bit of housekeeping to attend to on the blog, and we will jump into the deals. Starting with the UK as ever, as our friends across the pond are getting their beauty sleep.

Quick recap on yesterdays hottest UK deals 🔥

There were a number of deals that seemed to catch your eye yesterday, but a few standouts are truly great deals and products:

• Airbank Mini - this small but mighty electric bike pump punches well above its weight and, even at RRP, is excellent value.
• Vacmaster Cardio54 - there is no denying it's hot here in the UK, and given this is maybe the 3rd or 4th year on the bounce we have seen such heatwaves, maybe it's time to invest in a fan. Fans like the Vacmaster can double as turbo fans in the winter as well.
• Le Creuset Espresso Mugs - My favourite coffee mugs finally came back on sale. Grab them while they are on a discount.
• Tifosi Vogel XC sunglasses - Probably the steal of the day. Top performance budget sunglasses at an even lower price!

Currently on test... The Cycplus AS2 Ultra!

We have waxed lyrical about the Cycplus AS2 pumps for at least the last 12 months. Two of them feature in our guide to the best electric bike pumps. Quietly, Cycplus released the AS2 Ultra towards the back end of 2025, and I have been testing it for a number of months.

The skinny is that it packs the punch and features of the Pro into a much smaller package, similar to the AS2 Mini. I'll be penning a full review very soon, but if you can't wait to find out, it is heavily discounted in the Prime Day deals, so you can find out for yourself.

Buying clothing and helmets on Amazon can be a minefield, but you can grab a bargain!

There is no easy way to shop for helmets and cycling clothing on Amazon; it is rare to find consistent discounts across a wide size range, and generally speaking, information on the products is sparse. Why this is, I have yet to work it out, but it does mean some bargains can be had. Check out this POC Onme Air MIPS.

First of all, you only need to do a quick Google search to see that the Onme Air is a £180 helmet. So, being able to purchase it at £86 is a bargain. Despite it only showing as discounted from £101. Which is the lowest price I found, and in a decent size as well, medium. This is usually where the discounts show up as quite low, but they only apply to very small options.

I just tested over two dozen pumps with this handy tool

Tech Editor Andy and I recently conducted a couple of big group tests, the first of which you can already see online in the form of the best mini bike pumps. Between those and track pumps, which are coming soon, we tested over two dozen pumps. To test the accuracy of all of these pumps, I used the very handy Topeak D2 Digital Gauge.

Mine is a few years old now, but I have found it even more valuable in recent years, given the issues surrounding hookless rims and their tyre pressure limits. You can, of course, use it on your car tyres, wheelbarrow, or mobility scooters, basically anything with a pneumatic tyre.

For me, I like to know my exact tyre pressure, espcially when I am testing new wheels, tyres, tubes, sealants, etc. Tyre pressure is such a valuable and free performance enhancer that more of us should be better in tune with the pressure in our tyres.

Time for something not on offer, but it's so cheap, you should consider putting it in your cart this Prime Day

The BananaSlip Tungsten All-Weather Lube from Tru-Tension is, according to ZeroFiction, one of the world's best, fastest and most durable drip lubes. It is just £10 a bottle in the UK!

This is a fairly recent discovery for me. I usually spend my hours reading bicyclerollingresistance.com testing reports until an industry friend mentioned ZeroFriction. It has been a fascinating read, and my suprise at finding a fairly unknown brand at such an affordable price was a bit of a suprise.

I have some of my favourite Peaty's All-Weather lube to finish up first, but once I have, I will certainly be splashing the cash on some BananaSlip to see what it's all about.

A must have for family bike rides this summer!

Okay, sorry, this is another product not on offer, but it is available via Amazon. Having spent the last few months testing it, I believe it's a must-have for all parents who want to take their kids on bike rides this summer.

This tow-rope from Kids Ride Shotgun has somewhat transformed riding with my son. We basically no longer need to worry about where we ride, including hills. We recently took a camping trip to the Forest of Dean, where the KRS Tow-rope really came into its own.

For the first time, we were able to really ride some proper trails and cover some proper distances. We have had great success with it in a number of places, not just trail centres, especially when I have been slightly ambitious with the mileage or underestimated how many snacks we would need.

One last deal before I sign off for the day...

Ill shortly be be relieved of my live blogging duties shortly by Andy once again. So, I will leave you with one last deal, this time on our best rear bike light.

Thanks, Matt. Those Magicshine lights are so good. I tested plenty this year, and they really are brilliant. Amazon Prime Day is perfect for picking up really good gear like that, for so much less.

That's got me to thinking about what other related tech could be on the best deals today. I'll have a dig around and come back to you shortly.

I'm Andy, tech editor at Cycling Weekly. I'll be with you till 3pm.

I'm going in...

Waterproof headphones are not just for triathletes – especially on this deal

I’m starting today with a strong 'buy recommendation,' like an outdoorsy stock trader. These H20 Audio Tri2’s are the best bone-conducting headphones I’ve ever used. With the current Amazon Prime Deal, they’re 30% off—the best price I’ve seen for these top-spec headphones.

Why do I rate them so highly? I live near the beach and train here, often including swimming. They provide a real boost during training and for race days. I used to find the pool boring without music too, but these change that entirely.

They’re also brilliant for paddleboarding. While bone-conduction headphones don't offer the same immersive sound quality as closed-ear models or high-end earbuds, they excel in this waterproof setup by allowing you to hear both your music and your surroundings.

Living on the Norfolk Coast, that means I can enjoy my music alongside the natural soundtrack of rare birds, the breeze in the reeds, and the water bubbling as the tide ebbs and flows.

At this price they’re worth it even if you’ve tried bone conductors before and didn’t think they were for you. They really are great.

For UK buyers sadly this deal is UK only, but with an Amazon Barclaycard / Giftcard, they're showing at £93.

'Flipper feet'? Check out these WIDE Fizik's in US/UK friendly sizing. These won’t hang around.

I am thrilled to have found these. While Fizik creates wonderful cycling gear, Italian brands are often known for lasts that don't accommodate many UK and American feet.

These Fizik Vento Proxy WIDE FIT are currently available in all sizes at the best price I have seen.

They are also marked as being at their lowest price on Amazon in over a month. Simon Fellows is massive – 6'6 ish tall – and he described these shoes as being made for 'Flipper feet' when he reviewed them. He meant that in a good way. I'm a little more average sized but these fit me perfectly too.

The white version is the one to get. And it's the one on sale, conveniently. IN ALL SIZES!

Worried about white? Don't be. Our editor, the CW Grand Fromage, insists on white shoes for cover shoots; whether he is the true gatekeeper of cycling style is up for debate, but these are genuinely excellent, stylish shoes available at a great discount today. US only kids, sorry UK. I'll keep searching!

It looks like the mad-popular Vacmaster 54 deal is back on discount, but it's being marketed as something different...

One of the surprise deals that went mad for the clicks yesterday was our Vacmaster 4 deal, on a cracking looking floor fan to keep you cool when training. Perhaps not that surprising given how hot it is in the UK today.

Well, SADLY, it’s no longer on sale in the UK. It’s back up to £100. Well done to those who acted fast.

BUT, we don’t give up that easily, and I’ve found another one hiding in another section of the Amazon Prime Deals US site, that might be even better. And US buyers can snap this one up.

It’s $69, less than yesterday’s price, for what looks like exactly the same item. This one isn’t labelled as an indoor training fan, but it’s fairly obvious its basically the same product. It’s even shown in use as a bike / indoor training fan in the pictures.

YES, you CAN pressure wash your bike - just be careful.

Ok, let’s talk about pressure washers. Because this Karcher is 50% off in the Amazon Prime Day sale.

Now, some will say you must NEVER pressure wash a bike. But that’s only true if you’ve no common sense. Whether you agree with that advice or not is up to you. This deal certainly makes plenty of common sense to me.

This brings a quality, premium product, way closer to reach, and perhaps more importantly, way cheaper than a ton of inferior options. This is genuinely one of the best Amazon Prime Deals you'll see today.

And of course you can wash the bikes, car, house, patio, barbecue, maybe even the kids if they get really dirty. I’m joking of course. Don’t pressure wash your kids... or your bearings.

Right, bargain hunters. Did you buy that pressure washer yet? 55% off!!!

That's me for another day. I'm handing over to the inimitable Adam Becket, our news editor, who's not only brilliant at sniffing out bargains, but he's also just had his hair cut, so he's looking super-sharp too.

Cheers all, happy bargain hunting, and thanks to Adam for jumping in next.

Hello! As promised it's me, Adam Becket, stepping forward into the breach of deal hunting. I'm currently melting in the west country, so it might be a time to take a look at some more cooling deals...

My colleague Matt talked about the Magicshine Seemee 400 earlier today, our best rear bike light, but that was the UK deal, so what about in the USA?

Wahoo time

Yesterday, we wrote about how Wahoo had all of their latest bike computers on offer on Amazon. Now, there are other bike computers to consider, from Hammerhead to Garmin, but my go to has been the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt for years now, and I'm currently rocking the third-generation version on my bike. You can too, with this fantastic deal.

Wahoo smart trainers on sale too

There's also a decent amount of money off the Wahoo Kickr Core 2 with Zwift Cog and Click.

My colleague Aaron wrote in his review last year: "The new features have elevated the overall package, boosting perceived quality while maintaining the realistic, refined user experience that the Core platform has built its reputation on."

It's now 15% off.

Keep hydrated!

In the summer, we all need to probably be drinking more water than we currently do.

Usefully, Camelbak have money off their Podium bottles on Amazon for Prime Day.

Airpods on sale

You can get almost a third off the Apple AirPods Pro 3s on Amazon at the moment. We don't necessarily recommend cycling with them in, but for off the bike, you don't get much better.

Right, that's me done for the evening! I hope if you're not too sweltering, you manage to have a lovely evening. Stay in the shade and keep hydrated, please.

Good Morning! Day 3 of 4, halfway through the sale. I'm Matt, and I back once again bringing you all the best Prime Day deals.

Day 3 represents the day to really dig in and find the hidden gems. All the headline deals are out there now, so today we will be focusing on those only true experts like the Cycling Weekly team can bring you.

I'm fueling myself with some caffeine after another very warm night here in the UK, and we will get right into the deals.

It' hot 🔥 in here!

As I said, it was another unyielding night of heat in the UK. I told myself I wouldn't moan about it this year, try and embrace it, but a just a slight breeze at night wouldn't go amiss.

What would help is investing in a fan, of course. As I found out in Lidl last night, trying to buy one right now is a fruitless mission.

Thats where smart trainer fans could be a good option. There seem to be loads in stock on Amazon, and you can, of course, use them year-round once winter comes with your best smart trainer. Given that this heat looks to continue until at least the weekend, with Prime delivery, you could still feel the benefits.

Here are a couple of great options:

Sticking with the heat & UK deals

Former Tech Editor Simon Fellows is a big fan of the Elite Deboyo stainless steel cycling bottle, awarding it 4.5 stars out of 5. His testing was largely done during the winter, in an attempt to save him some cash and time on coffee stops. It works both ways: you can use it as a coffee cup or a water bottle for hot or cold fluids.

It's something I'd like to see more water bottle manufacturers offer. There are alternatives, the Camelbak Podium Stainless and the colourful Bivo Bottles, which North American Editor Rook rates highly.

Secure your bike for a whole lot less 🔐

Last year, I put five angle-grinder-resistant bike locks through their paces, and of those five, there was one that stood head and shoulders above the rest, not just in its overall angle-grinder resistance, but also in use and in its absolutely incredible value. Even at its usual RRP, the OnGuard RockSolid is worth investing in. On the rare occasions it is on sale, you should drop everything to place an order.

In the Prime Day deals, you can now pick it up for just £128.

Wait hold the phone 📞

I can see Tredz actually has the OnGuard for nearly £10 cheaper. I should take my own advice and shop around even when its Prime Day!

• OnGuard RockSolid Just £119 at Tredz

What's trending in the UK? 📈

I thought we would just do a quick recap of the Prime Day cycling deals trending right now on day 3 of the sale:

• AIRBANK Pocket SE Electric Bike Pump: was £39.99, Now £32.29 at Amazon
• Tifosi Vogel XC: was £54.99, Now £43.99 at Amazon
• Vacmaster Cardio54 Fan with Remote: was £99.99, Now £79.99 at Amazon
• Apple AirPods 4: was £169, Now £125.40 at Amazon
• Wahoo Elemnt Roam 2: was £399.99, Now £305.49 at Amazon
• Garmin Fenix 8 47mm: was £789.99, Now £567.15 at Amazon

Not on offer, but they are dirt cheap

The focus of this week's blog is to highlight the best Prime Day deals, but not everything gets one, which means some great products don't always get a mention. Take the Muc-Off Rim Stix, they are only a fiver, and while the best tyre levers seem to really divide opinion, it can not be denied that they are an excellent choice. They are my go-to, and if you buy nothing else this Prime Day, these are so cheap, you could slip them in with your loo rolls or coffee capsules.

Stock up on this benchmark gravel tyre

If you ride gravel much, you'll very likely be aware of the Panaracer GravelKing, one of the OG gravel tyres and often used as a bit of a benchmark. Of the extensive GravelKing range, the SK (small knob) version is the original. In our experience, great for a bit of three-season razzing around trails and paths of all kinds.

They've always been a good value pick, but we've just seen them reduced on Amazon UK, so now they're even better. Stock up!

Now you're torque-ing!

We're all aware to some degree or other that most of the bolts on our bikes should be tightened to a certain level and not beyond. But weighed up against replacing tyres and chains and buying new kit, shelling out on torque wrench is something that's easy to put off for another day.

Well, with numerous deals around, perhaps this is that day. We found this one on a Lexivon set that should cover pretty much every bolt on your bike.

The deal is on Amazon US, but the set is also available on Amazon UK at the full price.

Major savings on this Peloton bike

Half of Europe may be under threat of melting under an unseasonably roasting sun, but we all know that the weather will cool and, eventually get cold again. At which point you may well want to get back to riding in the shelter of the micro-climate of your kitchen / shed/ garage (delete as appropriate).

In which case you could do worse than this stonking 35% Amazon UK deal on this Peloton indoor trainer, which comes with an HD swivel screen. (membership required to access all features).

Cheap fuel anyone?

If you're riding in red-hot weather, such as we're experiencing right now, then you really need to keep on top of your nutrition and hydration, and in particular replace those essential electrolytes that have been dripping off your face for the last few hours. Nice!

With that in mind, why not stock up on some tubes of Phizz Daily 3-in-1 Electrolytes, Multivitamin & Hydration Tablets, especially since they available with 43% off at the moment?

Get ahead, get a helmet (for a great price)

Don't forget that there are plenty of deals to be found beyond the realms of Amazon at the moment, like this lovely lightweight lid from Oakly, which is being offered by Decathlon for an absolute bargain online-only price at the moment.

The Oakley Light Red ARO5 Race Mips Cycling Helmet, featuring ace ventilation and brain protection would usually set you back almost 200 quid, but at the moment you can pick one up for £67.99.

Does it work? Just ask former British time trial champion and Katusha-Alpecin Alex Dowsett, who publicly thanked his Oakley ARO5 lid for protecting his head during a nasty crash.

Take a seat!

A camping chair that's light enough to take bikepacking, the brilliantly designed Helinox Chair One collapses down into a tiny package that will fit into bar bags. With a sturdy frame and a comfortable bucket seat design, it's ideal for kicking back and looking at the stars at the end of a day's ride, or take it along to the next bike are you attend as a spectator.

As absolutely ace and lightweight as they are, South Korean-designed Helinox products do tend to put a big dent in your wallet, so when you see a chair like this with almost 25% off, it's worth sticking it in your basket.

Glow Jacket Required - save up to 78% on this this waterproof high-vis cycling shell

Another ace deal from Decathlon here. It might be very hard to imagine wearing anything much beyond shorts and the thinnest of summer cycling tops at the moment, but we all know this weather won't last too long, and this looks like being a very wise time to bolster your riding wardrobe for autumn.

This J20 Men’s Waterproof Cycling Jacket is lightweight and breathable, and offer wind as well as rain protection, while also boasting reflective flourishes to keep you safe on the road. And it's available with up to 78% off the usual asking price at the moment, with the high-vis yellow version costing just over a tenner! I'll get my coat…

Save a pretty packet on these Pearl Izumi Quest road cycling shoes

Another great example why it's well worth looking beyond Amazon during Prime Day, these Pearl Izumi Quest road cycling shoes are available with a fabulous 40% discount at REI right now.

Boasting a breathable upper and a stiff chassis made with full nylon soles, to reduce foot fatigue, they have quick fasten velcro straps and work with 2- or 3-bolt cleats. EVA foam and rubber heel bumpers make them stable and comfortable to walk or ride in, and they have BioViz powerful reflective elements that can been see 100 metres away at night.

Lids for keeping kids safe

There's nothing more important that keeping you kids' heads safe when they're adventuring, and this Ouwoer children's bike helmet is good for everything from cycling to scootering.

Available in various fun colors, and equipped with ventilation holes, it's fully adjustable, so will grow with your child (to a point…).

And it's available today for a bargain price, with a 15% discount applied.

Be smart and get in shape with a bargain-priced indoor trainer

Built for hard efforts and structured training, the Wahoo Fitness KickR Core Zwift promises to deliver road-like feel and smooth resistance.

Our man Symon Lewis loved the Kickr Core when he reviewed it for Cycling Weekly, giving it a four-star rating. “In use the Wahoo Kickr Core feels pretty realistic,” wrote Symon, “just like the Kickr it’s virtually silent and the only sound you’re likely to hear is from your drivetrain."

The unit's integrated WiFi delivers faster pairing and automatic updates when connected to an active WiFi network, and this smart indoor trainer is available at the moment with a 15% discount.

Get (bike)packing with this nicely priced frame bag

Another outside-of-Amazon Prime Day deal we've spotted, this nifty REI Co-op Link Frame Bag - a great bikepacking bag - is currently reduced by 40% to under $50.

Perfect for bikepacking adventures and/or cycle commuting to work, the REI Co-op Link frame bag is designed to fill the main triangle of your bike frame and is the ideal place to pack heavier items as well as anything you'd like to easily access through the day.

If you were a fan of last week's futuristic and, in theory, super-safe Canyon Predict concept, you may well enjoy the company's latest release. The Roadlite:On e-bike is close to mass production and features the V2X (Vehicle 2 Everything) system, which allows cars and bikes to communicate with each other.

Like the Predict, it will be showing at Eurobike next week, but unlike it, the Roadlite:On is production-ready.

The V2X tech, which Canyon has trialled alongside Volkswagen (VW), includes a nano-board in the downtube and a GPS antenna in the headtube, which can send signals to vehicle displays, alerting drivers to the presence of the bike. For the cyclist, the e-bike will send vibrations to the left or right handlebar grip, and visual information can be displayed on a connected smart device, such as a phone, watch, or computer.

Where cities are trialling infrastructure that pairs with these systems, the bike can communicate via the likes of “bicycle specific ‘green waves’ at traffic lights”, according to Canyon. The tech is standalone and has been adopted by VW already across a number of models, with Toyota and Cadillac among the pioneers.

The Roadlite:On also features a dynamic braking light and radar system, which can alert drivers to a rider’s intended actions. More prosaically, it's powered by a Bosch motor and battery.

Launching the system, Canyon stated in a press release: “The technology aims to address a growing safety disparity on modern roads. Over the past decade, cars have become inherently safer, and motorist deaths have fallen. As it stands, though, the bike industry has not kept pace with the auto industry, and the number of cyclists killed or seriously injured on our city streets is rising.”

Official statistics bear this out. In the USA, cyclist deaths have risen dramatically over the last 10 years, from 902 in 2014 to 1,392 in 2024, according to the National Safety Council. In Germany, where Canyon is based, cyclists killed in road accidents have risen 20% in 10 years; car occupant deaths have fallen by a third. UK figures are trending downwards, from 113 to 82 during the same time frame.

It's hard to criticise any attempt to improve road safety. Loss of life destroys families, and serious injuries, which are far more numerous than deaths, can blight lives. Anything that seeks to reduce this can only be a good thing. But the question has to be asked – are we getting this the right way round?

The idea that cyclists need to invest in a machine dripping with safety bells and whistles to defend against inattentive drivers won't sit well with everyone. Neither will the implication that a lack of safety features on the average bicycle mean the cycling industry is not pulling its weight. Yes, cars are becoming safer, but much of that safety comes from the occupants being more insulated than ever, in cars that are only growing in size: in other words, hit something and you're more likely to be absolutely fine.

That said, this sort of tech can also help protect inattentive bike riders, and Canyon's adoption of the V2X system is surely a positive step. It, or something very much like it, seems destined to be part of the future of road safety for everyone.

So let's see more of the world's auto manufacturers step up and work towards fitting such things as standard. The tech is there – it just requires the will. And an acceptance of accountability.

A “blur” and an “influx of words” is how Rebecca Charlton describes receiving her cancer diagnosis to me. “It was just knocking me sideways. It was a string of chemotherapy, cancer, spread… it was the biggest shock of my life.”

The cycling journalist and commentator had arrived for what she expected to be a “routine” appointment, resulting in perhaps a “course of antibiotics”. Instead, she heard the words: “I'm really sorry, it's cancer.”

The former Cycling Weekly writer and author had given birth to her second daughter just a few months prior, and now faced a fight against an aggressive form of breast cancer. Hours after that appointment, she was live on TV, enthusiastically guiding fans through a chaotic sprint finish on day three of the Tour de France Femme Avec Zwift, eventually won by Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx–Protime).

“That world of bike racing became my escape. I couldn’t control what was happening with the cancer. I could control focusing on doing my job well; I could focus on Pauline Ferrand-Prévot getting up that mountain first, and it helped me immensely,” she recalls. “That initial period of time was really dark. Cycling is such a constant in my life, and once again, it came to the rescue.”

Being the face and voice of live TV coverage requires laser focus, “there isn’t time to let intrusive thoughts in,” says Charlton, “I love the adrenaline of live TV, and once that countdown happens, and you're into the stage of a race like the Tour, you're fully immersed in that. You're trying to constantly think one step ahead the whole time, you can't think about cancer.”

Charlton has kept her diagnosis private for the best part of a year, eventually opting to commentate off-screen. “As my lashes and brows and things all fell out, and I suddenly looked like a cancer patient, I suddenly looked very unwell,” she recalls. “So I wanted to hide that, but what the joy of commentary brought was that no one could see me, and I still got to just be me and talk about what I love.”

With active treatment now concluded, Charlton will be presenting highlights of the Tour de France and Vuelta a España this summer on Channel 5. “From the darkest low to the brightest high, this is a dream come true,” she told me. “I’ve watched the Tour religiously since the 90s and this is a true pinch me moment.”

No warning signs

Before her diagnosis, the only alarm bell Charlton had had that something might be amiss was a lump under her armpit. In the sleep-deprived haze of the newborn bubble, the lump was initially put down to breastfeeding and the huge changes that take place postpartum. A nurse told Charlton, “‘we're dotting the i’s, crossing the t's, everything's going be fine.” Her mammogram was clear, as was her ultrasound; Charlton didn't expect bad news at her follow-up appointment, but a biopsy showed up cancer cells.

What followed was months of waiting; by the time Charlton finally arrived at the first of two surgeries – which would leave her unable to pick up her newborn baby – she was eager for the treatment to begin. “It's a very bizarre thing to say, like you want to get under the knife, you want to get into chemotherapy. These are things that you know are going to be hideous. But I was excited to get started. I wanted to fight it. I wanted to be proactive, I wanted to get back some control.”

Next, Charlton endured a course of ‘dose dense’ chemotherapy and weeks of daily radiotherapy. Having spent a decade working as a fitness editor at Cycling Weekly, her go-to response was to square up to treatment like it was a very, very tough bike ride.

“I really likened the whole process of recovering for each [chemo] session to interval training. If you're doing a VO2max test or a ramp test, you're just focusing on ‘how long can I keep going when I'm absolutely depleted on the floor, and I've given it everything, how can I get back up again?’ - I was seeing chemo like that.

“I had days when I was lying on the bathroom floor, so unwell, I didn't think I could ever get to the next session. But I started keeping a diary, and I knew that on day seven, I would be quite bad, and then things would start to improve and, all being well, I could get back up again. And that's absolutely how I viewed it: ‘this is interval training, and I've just got to get myself well enough again, so in two weeks’ time, [I can] get bashed, knocked to the floor, and get back up again’.”

Get up again she did, using cycling as and when possible to limit symptoms. Finding a research paper that suggested that short, targeted bursts of exercise could reduce the chance of developing peripheral neuropathy - which Charlton describes as “crippling nerve pain” - she combined this with wearing compression garments, finding relief from previously “excruciating” pain.

“All the pain - having been on morphine to control it - started to subside. I'm not saying that this is a miracle cure for everybody. But by doing that research and treating it like I would have done if I was training for a bike ride or a bike race really helped me. It also kept my mind calm, thinking, ‘what can I do? How can I help myself?”.

Of course, Charlton cautions that balance is key. Looking at the broader cycling landscape, and the trend towards riders taking a more holistic approach to training - something she did herself when using Zwift to stay fit through two pregnancies - she says: “I think we're - in so many ways - starting to realise that actually just going harder and faster all the time isn't necessarily the best route to longevity, to getting fitter, to keeping your health topped up. And that's something again that cancer has taught me: pushing through that pain barrier isn't always the answer; if it feels like too much, you have to rein it in and listen to that.”

Though riding outdoors was rarely possible, the indoor community on offer via Zwift was a lifeline, Charlton remarks that jumping on, “even if it's not for a long ride, just fills me with joy and positivity.”

A community that supports its own

The support of the cycling community is a topic Charlton returns to repeatedly in our conversation. From the anaesthesia team who recognised her - and sent her to sleep before both surgeries with a mind full of bike racing - to Jo Rowsell, who comforted her in the commentary box immediately after her diagnosis, and Dani Rowe MBE who “held” her and “stocked the fridge” with healthy meal replacements when food was just too much. But the influence of Sir Chris Hoy - who was himself diagnosed with incurable cancer in 2023 - has been a lifeline.

Having read his book All that Matters before her own diagnosis, she notes “it might sound like a cliche, but I am able to appreciate everything. The sun comes out, that’s brilliant. If I have a moment with my children, reading them a lovely book that they enjoy, everything is heightened, and I'm just so grateful for everything.”

Charlton’s has now finished active treatment. “There is more to come for me,” she acknowledges, adding that she will be sharing her journey through any future treatment. She observes “there's no guarantees in this situation”, but adds “I am just so grateful for everything now.”

Sir Chris’ charity ride, the Tour de 4, takes place in September, having last year raised over £3 million for cancer charities. “Research matters so much,” Charlton says, “I am not only looking for hope for myself with advancements in treatment, but for everybody affected now, affected in the future, who's already been affected in the past,” she says.

“[Cancer] is becoming more prevalent in younger people below screening ages,” Charlton adds, noting that her young age “added to the shock…I thought ‘it's a risk in my lifetime, and honestly, that's something I have to worry about later along the road, that's not a now problem’, but it did happen now, and I think that's why it's so important for people to check themselves.

“I didn't, unfortunately, have any warning signs until it had spread [to my lymph nodes], but I'm so glad I went to the GP that day, and he took it seriously. So you've just got to speak up if you think something might be wrong.”

Charlton’s demeanour throughout our interview is one of immense positivity, and that’s in part a viewpoint she’s learned: “[After my diagnosis] the first thing I wanted to do was find other people that have been in my situation and that were positive and in a happy, good place having come through a diagnosis and treatment.

“I want to be that - if possible - for anybody else hearing those words and going through the darkest time that I could have imagined going through, I would be so heartened to be that person that makes somebody else feel a little bit less alone and a little bit better about it.”

A balancing act like no other

“There is no good time to get a cancer diagnosis, is there. But to have it postpartum was brutal. Not only was my focus having and feeding and staying up all night with a newborn baby, but I had a toddler as well,” says Charlton. She and her partner opted to tell their now four-year-old that “mummy had a poorly arm”, since the PICC line used to administer drugs was a visual cue, but Charlton notes “it was pretty heartbreaking, not being able to tell her why. I was coming back from the second surgery, trying to read bedtime stories, having just been under general anaesthesia. There was a lot to cope with, but I just had to keep going for the kids,” Charlton recalls.

Thankfully, support is available, in the shape of a specific charity fundraising to support women who are diagnosed during pregnancy or shortly after: Mummy’s Star.

“My partner Paul was absolutely incredible, I cannot put into words how much he has done. I was really lucky to have this brilliant support network, but knowing there is support out there with charities like Mummy’s Star is huge as well,” Charlton says.

Check your breasts once a month

One of Charlton’s many supporters during her treatment was Dr Liz O'Riordan. A former consultant breast surgeon herself, O’Riordan is also a cancer survivor and avid cyclist. She talked us through how and when to check your breasts, and what to do if you’re worried. You can also watch her guide on her YouTube channel.

Ideally, you should check your breasts every month. If you are still having periods, it's often easier to do it mid-cycle, because that's when your breasts are less lumpy. If you're not having periods every month, put a reminder in your phone. And if you're at the screening age and you're still having mammograms every three years, you should still check every month, because cancers can appear between scans.

To check, look in the mirror at your breasts: are there any changes, dimpling, lumps, bumps, changes to the nipple that you can see? Then lie down and firmly press your breast tissue, pushing the breast tissue with the flat of your hand against your rib cage, trying to feel a lump. And, the final thing you do is have a feel in your armpits.

Most women we see in the clinic with a breast lump, or breast pain, don't have breast cancer. But the only way to find out is to be seen in a breast clinic, where we can scan and examine you.

The survival rate of breast cancer is increasing all the time. There are new treatments that have been developed, about 20 new treatments in the last five or six years. Though it's awful seeing stories when young women are dying, lots and lots of women are surviving and living long, healthy lives after a cancer diagnosis.

I would tell anybody, if you're worried, don't wait, get it checked out; it's probably nothing, but we need to put your mind at ease.

If the issues raised in this story have affected you, you can get help and support now. Contact Breast Cancer Now on 0800 448 0822, or visit breastcancernow.org.

The USA Cycling Professional Road National Championships concluded in Charleston, West Virginia, on Sunday with mountain biker Kate Courtney (She Sends Racing) and Lidl-Trek's Quinn Simmons claiming the elite road race titles and the stars-and-stripes jerseys for the coming year.

For Courtney, the victory capped a remarkable transition to road racing in 2026 and delivered her first elite road national title. For Simmons, it marked a third elite road race title after previous victories in 2023 and 2025.

The road course was a punchy challenge, featuring 1,126 feet of elevation gain per 13-mile lap. The women's elite peloton covered six laps, for a total of 113.8 km (70 miles) of racing, while the men's race consisted of 10 laps, or 198.6 km (123.4 miles).

A big win for Courtney

Kate Courtney capped a remarkable spring on the road by sprinting to victory in the elite women's race ahead of national gravel champion Lauren Stephens (Aegis x Leaders of Enchantment).

The former XCO world champion and reigning mountain bike marathon world champion has enjoyed a breakthrough road campaign in 2026, including a stage win at the Tour de Féminin in May. Her victory in Charleston earned the 30-year-old her first elite road national title and the stars-and-stripes jersey for the coming year.

The women's race was animated early by gravel pro Paige Onweller (Trek Driftless off-road), who attacked on the second lap and spent much of the day alone off the front. Her advantage grew to nearly three minutes before a chase group featuring Courtney, Stephens, Ashley Frye (Cynisca), Grace Arlandson (Aegis x Leaders of Enchantment) and Kira Payer (SpeedBlock p/b Terun) gradually reeled her back in on Charleston's demanding circuit.

The decisive moments came on the final lap. Stephens accelerated on the last ascent of Bridge Road, with Courtney the only rider able to follow, and the pair soon closed on Onweller. Another attack from Stephens on the final climb of Wertz Avenue dropped the gravel racer, leaving the two riders to battle for the title in downtown Charleston.

Courtney launched her sprint out of the final corner and quickly opened a gap, crossing the line five seconds ahead of Stephens. Arlandson completed the podium in third.

"This was a really special one," Courtney said afterwards. "To pull off a National Championship again and to pull on that jersey, it's beyond words."

The Californian, who launched her She Sends Racing program this season, said she embraced the uncertainty of competing outside her traditional discipline.

"I really needed to give myself a chance to experiment and put myself in new, uncertain situations where I didn't have expectations, and I could really go for it," Courtney said. "I did that today, and it worked out."

Women's Podium

1. Kate Courtney (She Sends Racing)
2. Lauren Stephens (Aegis x Leaders of Enchantment)
3. Grace Arlandson (Aegis x Leaders of Enchantment)

That's Three for 'Captain America'

The elite men's championship was decided by a late attack from Simmons (Lidl-Trek) after nearly 200 kilometres of attritional racing around Charleston, West Virginia.

A series of aggressive moves throughout the day failed to stick as a reduced lead group formed deep into the race. The winning move came on the penultimate lap when Simmons attacked on the Wertz Avenue climb, quickly opening daylight on his rivals.

Kevin Vermaerke (UAE Team Emirates XRG) responded strongly, distancing Ashlin Barry (Visma | Lease a Bike Development) and Lawrence Warbasse (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) in pursuit, but Simmons was gone. The rider already known as "Captain America" on the WorldTour continued to extend his advantage and crossed the finish line solo, with a comfortable two-minute lead.

Behind him, Vermaerke won the sprint for second place, with Warbasse rounding out the podium.

The victory is Simmons' third elite men's road race national title.

"I knew as long as I could make it to the point where everyone else is tired, there was a good chance I could get away," Simmons said. "It's a special feeling. It’s really important for me to wear this jersey."

Men's Podium

1. Quinn Simmons (Lidl Trek)
2. Kevin Vermaerke (UAE Team Emirates XRG) 
3. Lawrence Warbasse (Tudor Pro Cycling Team)

Just 14 days into her Around the World Faster ride, Lael Wilcox has abandoned her Guinness World Record attempt due to health concerns brought on by the ongoing heat wave in Europe.

Wilcox had been battling heat exhaustion for days and was ultimately encouraged by her support team to stop riding.

"I’ve been nauseous every day and finally threw up in the first hour of my ride this morning," Wilocx shared. "It's kind of a miracle I haven't just passed out."

In a video message announcing her decision, Wilcox fought back tears as she explained why the ride had to end.

"I've never tried so hard," the ultra-endurance star said.

After becoming the fastest woman to circumnavigate the globe by bicycle in 2024, Wilcox set her sights on the overall around-the-world record, held by ultra-endurance cyclist Mark Beaumont since 2017.

To best Beaumont's record, Wilcox would have had to cut 30 days from her 2024 time, and she has left no stone unturned in preparation.

Wilcox entered the attempt in the best riding shape of her life; spent time in the wind tunnel at Specialized's headquarters in Morgan Hill, California, to optimise her position and equipment; and even shaved her head to improve comfort and efficiency. For the first time in her ultra-endurance career, she also undertook the challenge with a full support crew.

The weather, however, remained outside of anyone's control.

After battling rain and headwinds across North America, Wilcox arrived in Europe earlier this week and rode directly into a severe heat wave in Spain. Despite 4 a.m. starts, ice socks, and aggressive hydration strategies, the extreme temperatures quickly took their toll.

"We were expecting [the weather] to be a big challenge, but not a health problem," Wilcox said.

As conditions worsened, she began falling behind the pace required to challenge Beaumont's record.

"This is the hardest thing I've ever done and I'm giving it everything I can. I have to take it one hour at a time," Wilcox said on June 20, calling it "the most humbling ride of my life."

Wilcox later described the experience as "a lesson in climate change," noting that increasingly extreme weather is something endurance athletes are being forced to contend with more often.

On June 21, Wilcox officially ended the attempt roughly 3,000 miles into the ride.

"Honestly, I'm amazed I've endured the past 14 days. Conditions have been really tough," she said. "I hate to quit, but it’s the right choice this time. I just can’t manage race pace in the heat.

"Thanks to everyone for cheering me on and riding with me— truly great to see people coming together & celebrating the sport."

In 2024, Wilcox set a new women's around-the-world record, completing the 18,125-mile journey in 108 days, 12 hours and 12 minutes. For now, Beaumont's overall record of 78 days, 14 hours and 40 minutes remains intact.

Has there ever been a more divisive commentator than Carlton Kirby? His puns and mixed metaphors have earned him legions of fans, but also hordes of detractors-making the 64-year-old something of a Marmite character on the mic. A veritable globetrotter, Kirby describes himself as "a bit of a journeyman" - although he's starting to feel most at home in the south-west London suburb of Molesey, where he lives with his wife and two teenage children in a rickety Tudor cottage.

Kirby grew up in the Sheffield suburb of Hallam in the 1960s, where he rubbed shoulders with Jeremy Clarkson and Michael Palin. His brother dated the sister of head boy Seb Coe, and Def Leppard were the school band. "I think there was something in the water," says Kirby, who stepped out with a supermodel and lived on a desert island before finding his calling through motorsports and cycling at Eurosport.

What was your first job?

A paper round in Sheffield. It's how I got into cycling. I only had seven papers to deliver but I was doing the hill farms, so it took me a couple of hours. I got really fit but crashed my Hercules Jeep so many times. My dad said the tyres were too thin, so I put fat tyres on, had a fork forged and put in straight bars. I'm still convinced I invented mountain biking.

What was your first memory of the Tour de France?

When I was 16, I got a summer job working in a biscuit factory in a place called La-Haye-du-Puits in Normandy. We would watch the Tour in a café with all the locals on our lunch break. Then, of course, one day it passed through. All the villages went mad and the factory closed. I remember seeing Bernard Hinault, who was in his pomp then, on a time trial bike - just ready to set off with his graded specs, looking fantastic. He was so charismatic. He was Elvis to me. I fell absolutely in love with it all.

Did you always want to be a broadcaster?

Yes. At Lancaster University, I joined the radio society but left with a dry degree in management sciences. I got a job for a marketing magazine in Carnaby Street, part of the Haymarket Group. Michael Heseltine, the owner, sacked me with the immortal words: "Men of renown never wear brown". And there's me in a fetching brown corduroy shirt with an amber cravat.

What did you do next?

I wrote about the lifestyles of the rich, famous and odious for Middle East Money magazine. I was so bored. So, aged 26, I did a postgraduate diploma in radio journalism at the London College of Printing and started dating a lovely student from the College of Fashion. She became a supermodel in the Eighties-the face of Diet Coke and a Vogue cover star. Then I got a job at BBC Radio Norwich and a door opened in the research department at Look East. I became the gatekeeper for all the weird stories from Norwich - from miniature earwax sculptures to sink holes. I was the original Alan Partridge. After a run-in with my editor, I got a broadcasting gig on the United Nations development programme on Funafuti Atoll on the tropical island nation of Tuvalu.

How long did you spend in the South Pacific?

I only lasted 14 months. I was bored after a week, completely divorced from the Western world. I'd met everyone on the island after 10 minutes because it was only a square-mile. I had no telephone and there was no internet. A mail plane came on Wednesdays. I had no idea that Pat Cash won Wimbledon or that the Berlin Wall had fallen.

How did you keep busy in the middle of nowhere?

I won the Tuvalu coast-to-coast cycling race-the Coconut Cup. I beat Ari Leppäniemi, a Finnish engineer, in the 350m race from the airport terminal to the diesel generator. There was a hotel opposite the radio with a bar, where we used to drink coconut milk with gin left behind from a royal visit. But I got stir crazy. In the end, I paid a Swedish freighter to take me off in the middle of the night. After 12 days we arrived in Fiji, then I flew back home.

How did you get into sports journalism?

An opening came on the sports desk at TV-am, where I wrote the racing tips for a certain Jeff Stelling. When he went to Sky, he tipped me off about Eurosport, which had just started. My first gig was voicing the Dakar Rally in the mid-Nineties, then, through the ASO connection, started on the mountain-bike Tour de France.

Where were you living at this point?

I couldn't afford anywhere in the UK but property in northern France was incredibly cheap. I bought a beautiful 300-year-old farmhouse in a village in the Pas de Calais. I'd drive my Sirocco to Dover, jump on a booze cruise, then get in my Renault 4 on the other side. I lived in France for three days a week and then went back to hot-bedding with another journo in Battersea.

How hard was it to break through into cycling?

Back then, the Midlands mafia controlled it all: you had Phil Liggett doing ITV, Hugh Porter on the BBC and David Duffield at Eurosport. They were the three kings. But I kept plugging away. For the Tour in 2012, I was doing all the background stuff for Eurosport. Then David Harmon lost his job, and I was parachuted in for the Vuelta. Soon, I was part of the Midlands mafia.

Do you have a favourite anecdote from those early years?

There was a Dutch commentator at Eurosport who knew sod all about cycling. When the regular guy was taken ill, he needed to step in for Mont Ventoux on the queen stage of the Tour. He thought it was his big chance. The riders came out of the woods, by Chalet Reynard, and past the sign that says 'Col Ouvert'. And the guy says in Dutch, "And here it is, the mighty, the one and only, Col Ouvert." The producer was livid.

You're a betting man. What's been your biggest win?

Best win was £10 at 66-1 on the nose for Milan-San Remo, when the French guy [Arnaud Démare] won after Fernando Gaviria crashed. I also backed Tom Dumoulin for a top 10 in the 2015 Vuelta at 66-1. I had a fiver on him winning at 1,000-1, so I came close to a huge pay day. Sean Kelly thought I was crazy but I had a feeling.

Do you prefer commentating mountaintop finishes or bunch sprints?

Anybody can call a mountaintop finish because it's in slow motion, while a sprint is probably the most difficult call in all of sport. You've got to say what's happening, what the plan is, who's helping who, who's moving where. My time calling speedway helped. Nobody ever screamed them home like me - but now it's a style that's everywhere.

And your most memorable moment?

The biggest, most cathartic moment for me - when everyone went, "Bloody hell!" - was the iconic Iljo Keisse win in Turkey. He crashes on a corner with an 18-second lead, gets back on the bike, chain comes off, gets off the bike, puts the chain back on, then holds off a charging Kittel and Petacchi by a metre and a half. "Joy for cycling fans globally! What an effort that was!" I screamed.

What are your main strengths as a commentator?

As you've probably gathered, I have an ability to carry. At Milan-San Remo, I do the hard work to get the viewers over the plains before the action starts. I find the banal and ordinary interesting. It's where I earn my crust.

There's an online petition to get you cancelled. How do you cope with the haters?

I have only sympathy and love for the haters. Anyway, that petition has been going for 10 years and it's only got 2,500 signatures! Sometimes it gets nasty. Then again, a Carlton Kirby fan club wrote my name on the road during the Tour, so there's also a lot of love.

What's been your diciest moment covering the Tour?

I came very close to being beaten up by one of Oleg Tinkov's henchman after scratching his massive gold coach with my wing mirror while getting off the Galibier. [Sean] Kelly said, "Just f***ing drive!" so I put my foot down.

What are your hobbies outside cycling?

I still row - a bit with the Molesey club on the river, but mainly to keep fit with an ergo in the garage. I absolutely love walking in the Derbyshire hills. I'm also a very good chef, and a good artist and photographer. My dad was an artist, my sister's an art teacher and my brother's a renowned Hollywood set designer.

What would be the epitaph on your gravestone?

"Joy for haters globally. What an effort that was!" Yeah, that's it, I think.

Quick-fire with Kirby

What was your first bike? Hercules Jeep. Second was a violet Carlton Corsa.

Biggest cycling bugbear? The traffic.

Rim or disc brakes? Rims 100%.

Best Grand Tour? I have the most fondness for the Giro.

Best Monument? Am I allowed to say Strade Bianche? If not, Flanders.

Pogačar or Vingegaard? Pogačar.

How many Tours can Pogačar win? He's young enough to get 10.

Dogs or cats? Cats - we have two, Steve and Bob.

Favourite sport to watch? Shinty-Scottish hurling.

Favourite sport to commentate on? Nothing beats a Grand Tour. But 24-hour motorcycle or car races have something amazing about them, too.

Most sprint wins in 2026? Matthew Brennan. He's getting better and better.

Final meal before death row? Tinned salmon and cucumber sandwich on rye bread.

Rider you respect the most? Cadel Evans - a quirky but lovely man.

Six Days or World Championships? The Worlds are special, but I do love a Six Day.

Favourite Kirbyism? "It's fun. It's mental. It's fundamental."

This feature was originally published in the 2 April 2026 print edition of Cycling Weekly magazine – available to buy on the newsstand every Thursday (UK only) while digital versions are available on Apple News and Readly. Subscriptions through Magazine's Direct.

Coffee and cycling go together like, well, coffee and cycling. The mid-ride café stop is a time-honoured tradition for good reason. If you follow any professional cyclists on social media, there’s a good chance you’ve seen them post a photo of cappuccinos and baked goods on a table, or else a shot of a bunch of fellow pros sitting in their respective team kits grinning at the camera.

Café stops aren’t just for pros, either. Coffee shops offer easy, accessible places to refuel for anyone on a bike, whether on a long day out or as a spot to meet up with friends or a handy departure point for a group ride.

Professional cycling and coffee have a formal history together. Notable examples include espresso machine maker Faema’s sponsorship of a pro team in the 1950s and ’60s, for which Eddy Merckx famously rode. More recently, Italian coffee company Segafredo was the co-sponsor for the squad currently known as Lidl-Trek for several seasons.

The effects of caffeine on endurance athletes are well-documented at this point. It provides a boost that allows for longer and harder efforts on the bike. Along with sugar, it’s one of the most helpful legal substances one can consume.

Mid-ride espresso stops are not an option for everyone on a bike, however. Bikepackers, touring cyclists or those who live in rural areas may not have access to a café for their coffee needs.

Making one’s own coffee is the solution to this conundrum, and doing so has become popular enough that it has inspired communities of people to regularly meet up for "coffee outside" together. Fortunately, a variety of easy-to-use, lightweight coffee brewing methods are now available to meet the needs of those who are interested in making coffee on the go.

What is coffee outside?

The idea was first popularised on social media via a hashtag by Rob Perks of Ocean Air Cycles in California. It has since become an enduring cultural phenomenon that provides the opportunity for friends and fellow cyclists to socialise, refuel and relax by drinking coffee outdoors instead of in a coffee shop.

To participate, all you need to do is either bring or brew your own coffee while out on a bike ride (or other outdoor pursuit). If you’re interested in doing this with other people, you can check out the map created by Russ Roca on The Path Less Pedaled website, which includes coffee outside meetups all over the world.

Making one’s own coffee is often less expensive than going to a coffee shop, and brings a camping feel and pace to the whole experience. It’s an easy way to feel more connected to the outdoors, even for people who work in an office every day. It’s a sort of micro-adventure that fits easily into everyday life.

Where I live in Seattle, there are two regular coffee outside groups that I am acquainted with. Most participants join on their way to work, and stop in to hang out, network and share hot drinks and baked goods.

I spoke with Peter Hanchak, who organises one of Seattle’s coffee outside meetups, about how it fits into the community at large. He’s been organising the weekly meetups since 2017, and likes to think of it as “a way to meet new friends and old friends and to enjoy the beautiful corners of our city. [Keeping] it as a meetup vs. a ride [allows] folks to come and go as they please and not have to be on a specific schedule or ride at a particular pace. We have the ability to find new locations and explore parks and locations as they change and evolve around the city.”

For Hanchak, “the connection of making coffee with a stove outside connects nicely to the simplicity and self-sufficiency of a bicycle as a mode of transportation. Biking somewhere under your own power and then making a cup of coffee with equipment you’ve carried with you feels so simple and elegant.”

For cyclists who are travelling or new to an area, attending a coffee outside meetup is a good way to meet fellow cyclists and to expand your social network.

What is the best way to make coffee outside?

Some people take coffee outside very seriously and have developed elaborate brewing rituals. Others, not so much. People are free to participate in any way they wish.

The simplest way to make coffee outside is to put standard coffee grounds in hot water—true cowboy coffee. On the other end of the spectrum are lightweight Aeropress, espresso or pour-over setups. When coffee outside first became popular, many of these specialised coffee products did not exist. Since then, many new coffee brewing tools especially designed for outdoor use have become readily available.

I am not an everyday coffee drinker, but when I make it at home, I typically grind the beans with a handheld burr grinder and use a pour-over setup with a gooseneck kettle. This is a reliable method that makes good coffee without actually needing to know what I’m doing.

For making coffee outside or on a bike trip, I utilise a simpler setup that works with instant coffee. I bring filtered water in a metal bottle, and heat it in situ. My preferred system includes a lightweight backpacking stove, fuel canister, mug, spoon and lighter. These items nestle together easily for packability and weigh very little.

I have found two particular products that I like for making coffee on the go. The first is rather unusual: it’s a coffee extract that comes in a tube, made by NoNormal coffee from Switzerland.

It’s very simple to make: all it requires is stirring the coffee paste into water, hot or cold. The tube is made of aluminium and contains 100 grams of concentrated extract, good for up to 30 cups of coffee. You can also add it to other food items if you so choose. NoNormal recommends a ratio of 1 tsp of coffee paste to 100-150 ml of water, depending on how strong you like your coffee. Co-founder Alexander Häberlin’s personal favourite? “Anything peanut butter + the coffee. Snickers with some paste on top is a BOMB.”

I have found I prefer to make it on the stronger side and like it best hot, but it’s great how versatile it is, especially as it makes zero garbage (you can recycle the tube when you run out).

The other method I have found that makes consistently great coffee is the freeze-dried coffee from Pretty Great Instant, based in Sacramento, CA. It is available in either resealable larger bags (claimed for 30 cups worth), or single-use 2-ounce packets. According to Pretty Great Instant, each serving is the equivalent to two espresso shots. To make it, you simply stir a scoop, or the contents of the packet, into hot water. It’s extremely easy to use, even with less-than-ideal outdoor brewing conditions. No measuring is required, and the single-serving packets are extremely light and packable, similar to individually packaged tea bags.

Regardless of the technique used, for the best results, I recommend using filtered water if possible. It’s also useful to figure out a reliable way to measure the volume of water you’re using, in some form or fashion.

For people who are not interested in the rigamarole (and associated accoutrements) of brewing coffee outdoors, it’s also perfectly acceptable to brew coffee (or any other hot beverage) at home and bring it along in a thermos or other vessel.

Conclusion

Over the last decade, we have seen gravel cycling and bikepacking take off in popularity, two disciplines that, by definition, take people away from the comforts of home and easy-to-access cafés. People seem drawn to this kind of riding because it allows us to access new and different locales, and because it provides variety from the traffic and clamour of paved roads. Carrying your own food and coffee allows you to go farther and explore more, as well as tap into a vibrant community of people who like to do the same.

A little while ago, my CW colleague Andy Carr wrote a piece with the central idea that maybe it’s time the UCI stopped manufacturers from selling World Tour spec bikes to amateur customers.

The bikes are, he pointed out, vastly over specified for most people, yet a lot of us feel short changed by riding anything less. So we pay a £12,000 price tag for the bike we feel we need. If we weren’t allowed to actually have such a thing, and couldn’t feel jealous of mates who did, we’d all be richer and happier.

A World Tour bike would become a glamorous, unattainable brand-promotion item. It’s the system that F1 has worked on for decades. You can’t buy an F1 car, but you can buy a Mercedes or a Ferrari and feel you’ve got a bit of that brand’s aura.

I enjoyed his argument, even if at a fundamental level I disagree. I don’t think you need a World Tour bike either, but I will defend to the death your right to buy one if that’s what you want.

If cycling as a sport is anything, it’s a communal experience. Any of us can watch a rider suffer through a Tour de France stage and imagine what it feels like. Anyone who’s ever trained for anything knows what it’s like to head out on a winter day to get a hard session done. We’ve all fallen off at some point and known that microsecond between disaster and impact.

What really separates a World Tour performance from a Club Run ‘C’ performance is not the bike but the rider, and for that to have any value we need everything else to be at least potentially the same. As soon as the pros have access to a whole different level of technology that we’re not allowed to have, you don’t know where you stand. I rode a Strava KoM in Spain last autumn and came in five minutes down on Tadej Pogacar. It’s nice to know that’s all him. If I want to try to take the KoM off him, I can buy a bike like his, hire some friends like his to help, and have right at it.

The problem (if it is a problem) is more one of perception and tradition. For a long time cycling was one of the few equipment-based sports where “the best” was reasonably affordable for someone on a moderate income. That’s not the case anymore, but we’ve also lost track of the fact that the margin by which the best is better than the second or third best has shrunk.

The performance difference between a World Tour bike and one at half the price is almost zero. The Volkerwessels Continental Pro team uses a second-tier Specialized bike, and no one seriously thinks that if you gave the team the double-the-price S-Works version they’d be the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe World Tour team. There’s no way that any of us should feel pressured into shelling out for a World Tour bike because we think it’s going to make us faster in any measurable way. For a lot of us the aggressive geometry probably makes us slower on any ride longer than about an hour.

I’d love it if bikes were cheaper, and I mean all bikes. But still, if you have the money, and the inclination, you should be able to buy what you want. It’s how everything else in the world works.

In fact, in that spirit I called Mercedes F1 and asked if I could buy an F1 car. The guy who I eventually got put through to said yes. He reckoned about £20 million would do it. Although, he added, “Our servicing bill for it will probably bankrupt you.”

It’s probably not that much faster than a 2009 Fiesta anyway. Not if I’m driving it.

Great Inventions of Cycling: Committees

Committees are the only thing cycling loves more than a café stop. In spite of their central role in keeping progress down to as small a scale as possible over the last 150 years or so, the exact date of the first one is still uncertain. A committee was set up to look into it in 1995, and it’s still arguing about whether it was 1868 or 1869.

One of the very first committees was responsible for an early cycling competition, in Liverpool in 1868, where as a compromise between a race and a track-stand competition, they invented sword fighting on bicycles. Similar committees have been producing exactly the sort of sport everyone wants ever since.

The heyday of the cyclists’ committee came after World War 2, when the British League of Racing Cyclists started its civil war with the National Cyclists’ Union over the right to hold road races rather than just time trials.

All the members of the BLRC’s many committees were cyclists. Practically all the BLRC’s many cyclists were on committees. There was even a committee to decide what committees they needed. The NCU had a similar arrangement. After 17 years of battle, both sides lost.

Committees have become a lot less popular since then, because the increasing social acceptance of divorce means that many fewer people are stuck in unhappy marriages, so there is a much shorter supply of people needing to find to find something cheap to do every evening as an excuse to get out of the house.

Act of cycling driving stupidity

After the recent storms, I was about 15 miles from home towards the end of a long ride when I got stopped by a deep flood, about waist high.

I couldn’t face retracing to the only alternative route, because it would be about an extra 30 miles and it was getting dark, so I phoned my dad for a rescue. He turned up about twenty minutes later, but to the far side of the flood.

“It’s a longer drive to your side,” he shouted.

“I know!” I shouted back.

He made me wade through. I made sure to get in the car while I was still good and soggy, so at least it will stink of flood water for months.

Connor Kelly

The Calder Valley is home to some of the UK's steepest and most leg-sapping climbs. The southernmost of the Yorkshire Dales- though sitting just outside the National Park - this deep gritstone trough follows the River Calder, while the valley sides offer a mix of winding ramps and brutal pitches that make the whole area a climber's playground. Historically a textile hub, the valley floor is still dominated by the towering mills of the Industrial Revolution.

It makes for a claustrophobic riding environment, where ruins, rivers, and canals are squeezed into whatever flat land is available. But I'm not here to linger in the basin. Instead, I'm looking for the exit: nine vicious ascents that rise straight out of the post-industrial gloom. I start my ride in Halifax, at the sensational Piece Hall. This Grade I listed building is a remarkable feat of architecture that looks as if it's been plucked from the centre of Bordeaux or Vienna and dropped in a northern English town.

Composed of 315 separate rooms around its vast central plaza, it was opened in 1779 to sell the woollen goods produced in the valley's many mills. Since then, the Piece Hall has undergone a makeover, and now houses cafes, restaurants and other small businesses that make it the perfect place to start and finish a ride. Calderdale is famed in cycling circles for its cobbled climbs; in fact, it is second only to Flanders in this respect.

Out of a desire to explore something different, I've decided to avoid a cobble-fest in favour of some of the lesser-known but equally savage climbs. Of course, there will be a couple of stony kickers - it would be rude not to try them - but if you want to ride them all, I recommend the spectacular 'Ronde van Calderdale' sportive, which runs every spring and loops all the famous cobbled roads together.

Rolling out of the Piece Hall, my first task is navigating the carbuncle of Halifax's road network. I swear I take a wrong turn every time I visit; despite my head unit's best efforts, it is easy to tie yourself in knots in this asphalt tangle. Eventually, I find the A646- the spine of today's route - and head toward the first ascent: Halifax Lane.

Venue for the 2003 National Hill-Climb Championships, where Jim Henderson took the last of his five titles, Halifax Lane features 20% ramps and a few brutal corners to warm the legs. The official hill-climb course amalgamates this climb with Birch Lane and Raw End Road to reach the summit.

Legs already aching, I pedal on to Mount Tabor, then descend the famous Stocks Lane hill-climb course back into Luddenden. Here comes an amuse-bouche of cobbles: the dreaded, sadistic Old Lane.

My personal score with this climb currently stands at 2-2- two successful ascents and two "walks of shame". It's a brutal little road that demands total commitment; if a foot goes down on these gradients, it stays down. I carry speed into the base, but two-thirds of the way up, the stones become too slippery. My front wheel skews, I hit a patch of dirt, and it's game over. The scoreboard in my head ticks over: Old Lane 3, Old Cyclist 2. I'll be back to draw even.

High-level roads running parallel to the valley provide an escape from the congestion below, whistling through open country before dropping into Hebden Bridge. Once dubbed 'Trouser Town' for its textile industry, the town is now a bohemian creative hub and a key filming location for BBC dramas Happy Valley and Riot Women.

It's also home to The Buttress: a 21% cobbled killer omitted from this route because I've never successfully scaled it on a road bike- and have long since given up trying. Feel free to give it a go yourself, though.

There's an abundance of cafes in Hebden Bridge, but as I am only 20km into the ride, I choose to press on to the next climb, Mytholm Steeps, which very much lives up to the name. The village of Mytholm clings to a string of tight corners, twisting hairpins and 20% ramps, and this one drags me out of 'Happy Valley' with a ferocity that's anything but. Of all the roads I'm revisiting on this ride, this is the one that catches me most by surprise; how on earth had I forgotten what a leg-breaker the ramp up to the first switchback is?

After a brief stint up high, I plunge back into the valley to ready myself for the dreaded Dog House Lane. Rising from the back of Todmorden, this westward ascent kicks off with a 30% corner that has me breathing through my eyes. It is full-gas and unrelenting; I crawl upward in the shadow of a moss-covered wall before emerging past farm buildings to reach the open expanse of Todmorden Moor - a peaceful idyll a world away from the chaos below. I catch my breath and brace for the return leg.

My fifth climb of the day - the halfway point - takes me out of Cornholme and up Shore Road. Although not as spectacular as others on this ride, it's still a tough ascent that takes me up to higher ground and has me retracing my tyre tracks down Mytholm Steeps, slaloming through the hairpins and back into Hebden Bridge.

Again, I resist the temptation of the coffee shops, and instead take on another cheeky kicker, looping though Heptonstall via its neatly cobbled high street, and then back down into Trouser Town, where, finally, I can take my rest. While the previous climbs were short and vicious, Cragg Vale is a different beast. As the sign at the base confirms, this is officially the longest continuous incline in England.

The 9km road featured in the 2014 Tour de France and was recently renamed the Oliver Collinge Climb in memory of the local rider and teacher who died from a rare form of cancer in 2016 aged just 28. It's gentle by today's standards - 10% at its steepest - and, with only a gentle crosswind to contend with, I'm able to hack up it in the big ring.

The gradient fluctuates but never significantly flattens, the scenery opening up toward the serenity of Blackstone Edge reservoir, which marks the summit. I pause to take stock and let the fire in my legs die down before descending into the bustle of Sowerby Bridge for my penultimate foe: Sowerby Croft.

It was here, in the autumn of 1991, that I got the chance to race against one of my heroes. I was a hill-climb-mad teenager, and when the start sheet came through for the Condor RC event on Sowerby Croft, the man listed last was none other than Chris Boardman.

The then-23-year-old was my idol and the nation's premier climber, and I was eager to see how I'd measure up. That year proved to be a fine vintage for my ascending - my power was up and my weight was down - and I took eighth on the day. Boardman won, obviously, taking 10 for his efforts - and eight months later he would become Olympic champion in the individual pursuit.

With my trip down, or rather up, memory lane complete, it's time for the finale. My Calder Valley adventure ends not with a bang but an explosion, an atom bomb of a climb that gives legend status to anyone who makes it to the top without walking. It goes by the formidable name of Trooper Lane, and of all of Halifax's cobbled streets, this is the hardest - it's one of the toughest roads to ride up in England.

It's not as slippery as Old Lane, thanks to the sunlight, but it's steeper, much steeper, hitting 30% at its cobbled peak - a figure that makes Tour of Flanders climbs such as the Koppenberg or Paterberg fade into insignificance. Whose idea was it to finish up here? It's such an evil road that, once I'm at the top, I'm 10% sad the ride is over but 90% relieved that my legs have held out.

In the process, I've ticked off some of the toughest roads in the country, absolute classic climbs that never fail to disappoint. I could swear that Old Lane and Trooper Lane get steeper with each passing year - though I've no concrete proof of local tectonic activity, it's the only plausible explanation of my extra suffering.

All that's left to do now is complete the loop with one last descent back into the maze of Halifax's road system and return to the Piece Hall to taste the rewards of my labour. After my morning's toil in the Calder Valley, the goods I'm bringing to trade aren't pieces of fine cloth but sore legs and an empty stomach. Finding a suitable vendor among the Georgian colonnades, I feast on pizza and raise my bidon to this industrial masterpiece and the formidable terrain that surrounds it.

9 climbs to ride

Halifax Lane
Segment: strava.com/segments/6690955
KOM: Andrew Feather, 5.28
QOM: Annabel Fisher, 8.33
Length: 1,635m
Height gain: 172m
Max gradient: 20%
Avg gradient: 11%

Old Lane
Segment: strava.com/segments/3386216
KOM: Laszlo Panaflex, 55s
QOM: Jade Simpson-Field, 1.50
Length: 209m
Height gain: 43m
Max gradient: 23%
Avg gradient: 21%

Mytholm Steeps
Segment: strava.com/segments/16343511
KOM: Andy Cunningham, 8.57
QOM: Holly Page, 11.54
Length: 3,225m
Height gain: 223m
Max gradient: 25%
Avg gradient: 6%

Dog House Lane
Segment: strava.com/segments/19513443
KOM: Andy Cunningham, 8.58
QOM: Rachel Meredith, 13.43
Length: 2,999m
Height gain: 238m
Max gradient: 30%
Avg gradient: 7%

Shore Road
Segment: strava.com/segments/627919
KOM: Jude Taylor, 6.00
QOM: Laura Tring, 9.34
Length: 1,862m
Height gain: 196m
Max gradient: 22%
Avg gradient: 10%

Heptonstall Road
Segment: strava.com/segments/878156
KOM: Andrew Feather, 5.40
QOM: Annabel Fisher, 8.06
Length: 1,653m
Height gain: 171m
Max gradient: 14%
Avg gradient: 10%

Cragg Vale
Segment: strava.com/segments/16336054
KOM: Roberto Scottini, 14.49
QOM: Beth Harley-Jepson, 19.14
Length: 8,762m
Height gain: 288m
Max gradient: 10%
Avg gradient: 3%

Sowerby Croft Lane
Segment: strava.com/segments/19507981
KOM: Kiki Savdog, 2.32
QOM: Nikola Matthews, 4.38
Length: 781m
Height gain: 92m
Max gradient: 20%
Avg gradient: 11%

Trooper Lane
Segment: strava.com/segments/19508001
KOM: Kiki Savdog, 3.46
QOM: Tracy Healy, 5.51
Length: 769m
Height gain: 123m
Max gradient: 30%
Avg gradient: 14%

Canadian-born ultra-cyclist Dr Sarah Ruggins has set a new world record for riding from the bottom to the top of Europe.

The John o’Groats to Land’s End and back record holder rode from Tarifa in southern Spain to Nordkapp in Norway in 13 days, 20 hours and 27 minutes.

The Cirencester resident beat the existing record, set by Brit Dr Ian Walker in 2019, by 3 days and 32 minutes.

Her 6,042km route crossed nine countries and included around 35,000m of climbing.

Ruggins said: "To me, this record proves that women can compete alongside men at the elite level - and I hope it's a powerful statement to every woman who wants to try."

On her way to the record for riding across Europe Ruggins also bagged the record for the furthest distance ridden by a woman in seven days.

She covered 3,364.08km in the allotted time, over 100km more than the previous mark of 3,258.38km set by Alexandra Meixner in 2021. This record is still subject to verification.

Setting off from Spain nearly two weeks ago, Ruggins has been riding for up to 22 hours each day and sleeping for only three. She has ridden through temperatures in excess of 35°C in Spain and below 0°C in the Arctic circle.

To fuel her ride Ruggins has had to consume around 11,000 calories a day.

Ruggins only began cycling in 2023 after she spent 10 years recovering from a rare autoimmune condition that she was diagnosed with at the age of 15. It left her bedridden and in need of round the clock care.

She told Cycling Weekly last year: “All I remember was that the pain was so bad. People would ask me how I felt about not being able to run, and I didn’t care. I just cared about getting through the day. I couldn’t go to school. I couldn’t do anything. I remember just feeling fear, and feeling like I wanted to give up. I didn’t care about anything, and I thought it would never get better for me.”

Age 37, she set a John o’Groats to Land’s End and back (JOGLEJOG) in 2025 battling sleep deprivation and at one point had to be saved by a member of her support crew when she collapsed on her bike. “I’ve been told this – I don’t remember it,” she told CW. “I started swerving like a young child who’s just off their training wheels, and I was slowing down quite significantly.

She ended up knocking six hours and 39 minutes off the previous record with a time of 5 days, 11 hours and 14 minutes.

Ruggins carried those lessons into her cross-Europe ride. Speaking before she set off from Spain she said: “On a ride like this, the hard part is staying sharp when tired. The record will come down to thousands of small decisions, repeated hour after hour."

“It’s about focusing on the controllables that allow you to keep moving forward when the environment is not in your favour and your mind is telling you to quit. I’ve learned you can outwork most challenges as they arise if you adhere to your process and not your emotions.”

Ruggins’s European ride record was done in aid of World bicycle Relief, which provides bikes in communities where distance is a barrier to education, health care or work. You can donate to World Bicycle Relief online.

Ro Marshall tells me she’s “no one special”, which might be true if it were common practice for a mum to set off on a 1,000-mile expedition with her two kids in tow.

As it is, riding Land’s End to John O’Groats with a four and one-year-old is somewhat of an undertaking, but it’s perhaps Marshall’s “anyone can do this” attitude that’s built her a following of almost 160,000 on Instagram.

Launching her British Adventure Mum profile when her now four-year-old was just one, Marshall set about showing the world that motherhood - or parenthood - didn’t mean you “couldn’t do the things you love, you just need to adapt.”

After returning to Devon (UK) following a stint in California, Marshall launched the ‘90 Minutes from Anywhere’ series, and that’s when her British following skyrocketed.

The concept was simple: whilst her husband was working away for three months, leaving her to “solo parent [their] two feral micro besties”, she shared adventures that could be had just 90 minutes from her front door, and in doing so, inspired others to take on bite-sized escapades.

“It’s about sharing tips, and inspiration, and helping to empower women that you don’t need to be anyone special or an elite athlete to integrate your children into the great outdoors,” Marshall says.

A host of studies have shown that time outdoors benefits children physically, mentally and cognitively, and it also carries known benefits for parents. It's a trend Marshall sees in herself and her children; “I can notice the differance between their cooped up mentality [and how they are outside]. But I think as parents, as well, you're so much lighter outside,” she confirms, adding “I speak to so many women [who say] their motherhood journey has changed since they've introduced more outdoor time.”

In March this year, the UK government published new guidelines for parents in a bid to tackle what it called a “constant battle” with screens. Marshall says she's not “anti-screen at all” but rather believes in promoting a “healthy relationship” with technology; “we definitely utilise it, but it's about having a healthy boundary where it's not becoming something that's standard, that negatively dictates mood and morale.”

Cycling is just one of a plethora of outdoor pursuits the family enjoys, but Marshall observes it as one of the best. “Biking is the easiest thing to do with children, especially once they’re old enough to sit on the front of a bike [in a Shotgun style seat]. They’re really in the thick of it, you’re engaging, and you don’t need to say a lot - ‘bird, car, sheep’ - and it’s just escalated into something that now we do weekly.”

Anyone who has ever lost their temper over a pair of socks, or their mind over a pair of shoes, will no doubt question if Marshall’s past career may have been in Geopolitics style negotiation. Often, we want to get up and go, but our children don’t.

“It's just about finding your children's motivators”, Marshall suggests. “‘We’re going on a walk today’ is not the narrative I use. It’s ‘shall we go on an adventure today?’” she advises, adding suggestions such as making it a game to get outside, preparing the night before so that logistics don’t become a hindrance, and “taking things into the mindset of ‘what can I control?’”, such as your own mood and the timing schedule of the day.

Of course, riding LEJOG will take the family much further than 90 minutes from home. And, despite being due to set off on a 1,000-mile ride on Friday June 19, Marshall still wouldn't call herself a ‘cyclist’.

“To me a cyclist is someone that has all the lycra, the clip-in shoes, the drop handlebars, [is] going out for miles and [on] Strava. But for me, biking has sort has always sort of been a ways of a commute,” she says.

Arguably, the ride will be one very long commute. Completing the adventure over a planned seven weeks, Marshall is prioritising a “child-friendly pace.”

“I’m sitting at around 25 miles a day, with the occasional day that’s sort of 36, but we’re also sandwiching them between active rest days that are more like 15 miles.”

Elsewhere during the 24 hours each day affords, there will be playgrounds, ice cream stops, softplay as and when the UK weather doesn’t play ball. For some stretches of the ride, the trio will have support from Marshall’s own mum, who will set up their tent each evening and pack away in the morning, whilst during unsupported stretches, they’ll stay at hotels and B&Bs.

“I'll just be exposing them to things that otherwise they wouldn't have necessarily seen or done that day. And they're going to remember the beauty of the journey in a completely different way to me. And that's so fun,” Marshall says.

In terms of set-up, the adventuring mum will be riding a Genesis Croix de Fer gravel bike, with a Thule Chariot trailer and a bike seat. The trailer’s bright yellow hue is a topic we touch on as Marshall addresses her own feelings towards the road safety barriers that prevent many women from exploring the country by bike.

“I think for me, it starts with confidence on your bike,” she says, endorsing incremental growth through practice, perhaps hiring bikes to be used on cycle paths before hitting the road. “It’s also about being visible. And, when you know the Highway Code, you can utilise that to be bigger, to take up more space when needed.”

Another barrier of course is injury, something that many mothers may find themselves facing during the postpartum period. How can we get a bite of this active lifestyle if our bodies just aren’t playing ball? “For me, it's about immersing yourself in the environment that gives you joy or that you want to be a part of,” Marshall says, suggesting simply driving to a beautiful landscape or watching the sunset on the beach.

“I’m no one special. I’m just exposing myself, going out, and seeing what’s the worst that’s going to happen from building things incrementally. If it doesn’t work, and you wanted to run, and ended up walking, whether you walk a mile or run a mile, it’s still a mile. I’ve run at a speed where people have walked past me faster. But for me, it was just the joy of moving my body, and pushing the running buggy [that motivated me].

“It’s so healthy to just feel that you dont need to be anyone other than who you are. And who you are is enough. Especially as a mum, when you move further down the pecking order of the priority list,” she says. “Sometimes you don't need to do anything to do so much, and free yourself from that burden or expectation that in order to have joy you have to be productive.” For that answer, perhaps it’s fair to say that Marshall is someone special.

Ro Marshall will be riding LEJOG from Friday, June 19, fundraising for PANDAS, a charity that supports parents from conception to a child’s first birthday. You can follow her journey at British Adventure Mum, here.

With radar, AI, cameras and a display inside the bars, is this futuristic new prototype from Canyon going to revolutionise bike safety in the coming years?

The sleek new Canyon Predict will be appearing at the Eurobike show in Frankfurt next week and promises to raise eyebrows – not just for its safety features but for its looks too. Safety might have a dowdy and unexciting image, but it's nowhere to be seen on this bike, which has the appearance of a machine that could easily keep pace in the fastest of pelotons.

But its safety features are the heart of the bike. Radar and cameras and other sensors can see obstacles, interpret them and warn the rider accordingly, says Canyon in an introductory video. Those warnings come via flashing lights on the lever hoods as well as vibrations, not unlike the lane-assist on modern cars.

As well as spotting obstacles, the bike's 360-degree sensors can suggest cornering speeds and predict tricky road surfaces. The bike can even connect to Canyon's Stingr Smart helmet, with its drop down visor and data display.

Rather than connecting to the cloud, the bike displays information on a rectangular data screen on its aero-style bars, all powered by on-bike Edge AI. Canyon says this cuts out crucial split-second latency that could make all the difference in an emergency situation.

The seatpost, while looking ultra-aero, is actually a dropper-post, designed to help the rider through tricky moments by allowing them to lower their centre of gravity.

“We considered the numbers of people killed or seriously injured while riding, or the numbers who simply don’t cycle because they don’t feel safe, and we asked ourselves what we could do to address this problem, said Canyon’s head of design Fedja Delic.

“Cars have become inherently safer and motorist deaths over the last 10 years have fallen, but bicycles have not seen any significant safety improvements. In fact the proportionate and absolute number of cyclists killed or seriously injured is shown to be rising in many countries. While technology has made driving a car safer than ever before, riding a bike on the road has arguably become more dangerous than ever before. Yet with the technology available, significant bicycle safety improvements are more than possible.”

Being a prototype you're unlikely to find it available to buy any time soon, but it has already garnered admiration from Canyon's pro riders with Kasia Niewiadoma saying: "With this sort of new technology, it makes me eager to see where it can go in reality and what the next generation of bikes can deliver to the rider.”

Polished to perfection, Karl Barton’s All Chrome Carlton Flyer would have blazed like a comet with its tail on fire around the steep banking of Japan’s Hachioji Velodrome at the Tokyo ’64 Olympic Games.

At 5 ft 4 in (167cm), Barton was a diminutive rider yet a giant of the track. “I watched him race at Butts Stadium in Coventry,” recalls current owner, Dave Marsh, of the Universal Cycle Centre, Rotherham. “He’s a short guy, but very punchy - a dominant force on the UK track in the mid-1960s.”

The Carlton Flyer was immensely popular among Barton and his peers, not least because it was a formidable race weapon on both track and road. As Carlton’s hero product, Gerald O’Donovan, the brand’s manager, was quick to realise its marketing potential too. “It’s amazing how many pros were on Carlton Flyers,” says Marsh. “Gerald actively sought to provide every talented rider with one.”

Barton’s bike is memorable for several reasons. The scarlet headtube is, of course, noticeably short, but it’s the red, white, and blue bands on the seat tube that catch the eye.

They probably represent the UK’s colours but may celebrate Barton’s record as a British track champion. He won the British National Individual Sprint Championships in 1962, 1963, and, just months before Tokyo, 1964.

The frame is Reynolds 531 double-butted throughout, as are the round track forks. The Campagnolo Pista chainset is unusual by today’s standards because it’s fitted with a 23-tooth 1” pitch ring. Similarly, the rear sprocket has seven generously spaced teeth.

These are coupled with a 1” pitch block chain, which uses solid blocks in place of inner links. This construction makes the chain immensely strong, an advantage at a time when it wasn’t unheard of for powerful sprinters, like Barton, to break regular chains.

Ultimately, the podium eluded Barton in Tokyo, and his star waned. He went on to forge a successful career helping O’Donovan export Carlton bikes into North America.

A couple of weeks ago I returned from a ride with a friend in tow. Not the sort of friend who fist-bumps you afterwards and says 'great day, seeya next weekend'. Or even the sort of friend that might say, 'good to see you still have the FTP of an asthmatic ant, Shrubsall', with a conspiratorial wink. No, this was the sort of friend that might suck your blood while giving you Lyme disease. A tick, in other words and, actually, no friend at all.

My proud brandishing of the pin-head sized parasite was met with limited sympathy, or indeed admiration, from family members. Instead they recoiled in disgust and went off, I presume, to find the nearest plague mask. I went off to find the nearest pair of tweezers to get rid of the thing.

The chances are you know about ticks. You may well have had an encounter with one – they're not uncommon. They can be found in every UK county, and there are plenty in the USA too, particularly in the North-East and the West Coast. You may well also know that they can transmit Lyme disease, with one estimate putting the proportion of carrier ticks in the UK at 4%. In the US there's a pronounced variation, depending on where you live, ranging from less than 1% to 50%. There are other delights too, but Lyme is by far the most common.

Small (in some cases minute) spider-like critters, ticks lurk on foliage tips, latching on to humans and pets as they brush by. They'll then spend some time searching for a likely spot before biting on to feed, which is where any potential disease transmission occurs.

If you're part of the gravel fraternity and your rides take you along overgrown paths or through long grass it's worth checking yourself over when you get home. The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends showering within two hours, which can wash off any roaming ticks and gives a chance to spot any that have latched on. Covering up as far as possible, avoiding foliage and using tick repellent can also go some way to ensuring you never experience the pleasure of meeting one.

Tick removal involves pulling the offender straight out with tweezers – don't try to burn it or drown it. I can vouch from my own experience that this is easy and painless (though slightly icky). Standard recommendation is then to dispose of the tick by placing it in a sealed container or novelly, folding it in sticky tape and binning it. Not having read this and being of the 'live and let live' persuasion, I chucked my mate out the window. I rather regret this now: I can imagine it waiting in the lavender outside the front door, ready to strike again.

If you get bitten by a tick and are unlucky enough to have been furnished with Lyme disease, there's a good chance you'll notice an expanding red 'bullseye' rash (usually around the bite, but it can be elsewhere) within a few weeks. You may also experience flu-like symptoms. At this point, it's worth getting yourself to your family doctor, who will likely offer a course of antibiotics. Left untreated, it can spread throughout the body over time and cause all sorts of unpleasant symptoms, from severe fatigue to localised paralysis and more.

For me personally, I'm going to spend at least the next couple of weeks looking out for rashes and swiping at the foliage outside my door. But, equally, I feel more alert to the possibility of another bite while out riding, and if I do find another stealing my, quite frankly, precious blood supply, it's going to be in a whole lot of trouble.

Sixteen-year-old Camsmajaco rider Shane O’Brien died on Tuesday in a training incident in Ireland.

The teenager's team announced the news on Wednesday, describing him as a “talented rider who had a bright future ahead of him”.

Born in County Cork, Ireland, O’Brien was a first-year junior on the 21-rider roster of Camsmajaco, a British feeder squad paired with WorldTour team Netcompany-Ineos, and launched at the start of this year.

A statement from Camsmajaco read: “It is with immense sadness that we report the death of Shane O’Brien, a first-year junior with us.

“Shane tragically died yesterday in a training accident in Ireland.

“Shane was a talented rider who had a bright future ahead of him, and was a kind-hearted, gentle and positive young man. We were honoured to have him as a member of the team and he will be forever in our hearts.

“Our thoughts at this devastating time are with his family, friends, teammates and all who were lucky enough to know him.”

According to a report in The Irish Times, O'Brien struck a parked lorry in Ballygalane while training on Tuesday morning and was pronounced dead at the scene. Gardaí, the national police force, are appealing for witnesses.

O’Brien last competed on 7 June, when he finished the three stage Côte d’Or Classic Juniors in France. He also raced across Ireland, Belgium, the UK and the Czech Republic this year, as he looked to gain experience with a view to turning professional.

Cycling Ireland said it was “shocked and deeply saddened” by the news of O’Brien’s death.

“Shane, formerly of Fermoy CC and more recently with Camsmajaco was well known and loved in the cycling community. He recently made his national team debut at Course de la Paix in the Czech Republic and had shown great promise as an emerging talent,” the governing body said.

“Shane will be missed dearly by all in the cycling community in Ireland. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and teammates at this time of tragic loss. May he rest in peace.”

The 16-year-old’s older brother, Liam O’Brien, was competing for Lidl-Trek Future Racing at the Giro Next Gen this week, but did not start Wednesday’s fourth stage in order to return home.

“Our thoughts and prayers go to Liam O’Brien and his family, as Shane O’Brien, Liam’s brother passed away yesterday,” the Giro Next Gen posted on social media. “The Giro Next Gen sends their love and support in these difficult times.”

The USA Cycling Professional Road National Championships opened Tuesday in Charleston, West Virginia, with Taylor Knibb and Artem Shmidt (Netcompany INEOS) claiming elite time trial victories and the first elite stars-and-stripes jerseys of the week.

Knibb, a two-time Olympic medalist and three-time Ironman 70.3 world champion, captured her second elite women's national time trial title on the pancake flat course, finishing 45 seconds ahead of defending champion Emily Ehrlich (Virginia's Blue Ridge Twenty28). Gravel specialist and Life Time Grand Prix competitor Paige Onweller completed the podium, 1:14 behind the winner.

"It was a great race. I was thrilled to come back here after 2024," Knibb said after the finish.

Knibb previously won the title here in 2024, thereby earning a starting position in the Olympic time trial alongside her triathlon campaign at the Paris Games. Despite crashing multiple times on the treacherous rain-slicked course, she persevered to finish 19th in a field of 34 riders in what was only the third time trial of her cycling career.

With the Los Angeles Olympics less than two years away, Knibb's dominant ride suggests she remains a serious contender to represent the United States again in the discipline.

In the men's race. Netcompany INEOS' Artem Shmidt successfully defended his national time title. The 22-year-old Georgia-native held a steady 52.32 kph (32 mph) throughout the 33.4km (20.7-mile) course to best Lawrence Warbasse (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) by 10.17 seconds. William Barta (Tudor Pro Cycling team) rounded out the podium in third, 15.60 seconds off Shmidt's winning time.

"It was pretty windy out there, to be honest, but I was able to come away with the win, so I feel pretty good now, but during the moment, it did not feel good at all," said Shmidt at the finish.

Notably absent from the time trial were several top American riders currently committed to WorldTour and international racing schedules, including the likes of Brandon McNulty, Matteo Jorgenson and reigning Olympic road race champion Kristen Faulkner.

The elite championships continue Thursday evening with the criterium races in downtown Charleston. The women's race begins at 6:30 p.m. EDT, followed by the men's race at 8 p.m. Both events will be streamed live on FloBikes.

Then, on Sunday, the peloton is in for a punchy challenge in the road race with a course that features 1,126 feet of elevation gain per 13-mile lap.

In 2025, Kristen Faulkner and Quinn Simmons each claimed their second elite national titles, setting the stage for a potential hat trick in 2026.

The women's elite field will cover six laps, for a total of 113.8 km (70 miles) of racing, starting at 8 a.m. EDT. The men's race will consist of 10 laps, or 198.6 km (123.4 miles), starting at 1 p.m. Both races will again be streamed live on FloBikes.

Fresh off a milestone GC victory at the Tour de Wallonie and a spring spent racing some of cycling's biggest events, including Paris-Roubaix, George Hincapie's Modern Adventure Pro Cycling has secured a boost for its future.

Factor Bikes announced Tuesday that it is expanding its investment in the U.S.-registered team and will become co-title sponsor, with the squad set to race under the new name of Modern Adventure Factor Racing.

The increased commitment supports the team's long-term goal of reaching the Tour de France within five years while helping establish a more defined development pathway for American riders.

Factor joined the project as a founding equipment partner ahead of the team's debut season in 2026. Under the expanded agreement, the company will contribute to rider recruitment, athlete development, performance infrastructure, and closer collaboration between team staff and Factor's engineering and product-development departments.

A key element of the partnership is the integration of Factor Racing, the bike manufacturer's UCI Continental development team, into the broader Modern Adventure Factor Racing structure, creating a clearer progression from development racing to the professional ranks.

For Factor CEO Rob Gitelis, the project carries personal significance. The former American pro rider entered the sport during the 1980s, and followed an uncertain route through the domestic scene before making the leap to Europe.

"I know what it feels like to be a young American rider looking toward Europe and trying to understand how to get there," Gitelis said. "There was no easy pathway then, and it still isn't easy now. George and Dustin are trying to build something that gives riders a real structure, a real team, and a real chance. The ambition to reach the Tour de France within five years is bold, but it has to be. Factor wants to be part of that because we believe in the mission, and because we can contribute more than equipment."

Factor said the closer relationship will also create a more direct feedback loop between riders, staff, and the company's product-development teams.

Hincapie, who launched Modern Adventure Pro Cycling to create a sustainable pathway for American riders, said the expanded partnership strengthens his vision.

"Rob and Factor understand what we are trying to build," Hincapie said. "This is not just about putting great bikes under our riders, although that matters at this level. It is about surrounding the team with people who understand racing, development, equipment, and the long road it takes to reach the Tour de France. Factor is becoming part of the team in a much deeper way."