Dr Hutch: Hardriders events are strictly for the soft-headed

Hardriders events are strictly for the soft-headed, says the Doc, who has suffered through a few himself

The concept behind the Classics season is a simple one. You take all the elements that ruin a good bike ride — horrible road surfaces, mud, rain, cold, wind, ice, nasty little hills and Belgian industrial-estate access roads. You find somewhere where they all occur in the same place. And you stage a bike race.

This is also the idea behind UK time triallists’ traditional season-opener — the hardriders event.

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Michael Hutchinson is a writer, journalist and former professional cyclist. As a rider he won multiple national titles in both Britain and Ireland and competed at the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games. He was a three-time Brompton folding-bike World Champion, and once hit 73 mph riding down a hill in Wales. His Dr Hutch columns appears in every issue of Cycling Weekly magazine