The Bicycle Club

Roubaix Race Report: The second women’s Paris-Roubaix was won by Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo). The Italian champion finished solo on the Vlodrome Andr Ptrieux in Roubaix, after attacking more than thirty kilometres from the line. Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) won the sprint for second place, just ahead of Lucinda Brand (Trek-Segafredo).Solo Roubaix win for Elisa Longo BorghiniThe second edition of Paris-Roubaix for women, the first held in the spring, started without Marianne Vos. The runner-up in last year’s edition had to miss this year’s race due to a positive covid test. Elizabeth Deignan, the winner in October 2021, was also not there, because she is expecting her second child. With Lotte Kopecky, Ellen van Dijk and Chantal van den Broek-Blaak,…

The discerning cyclist ensures that each commute is enjoyable and worthwhile. Finding your own cadence and choosing an ideal route will help keep a smile about the place. All of this is geared towards reaching your work in a good frame of mind.  Getting there without stress for me always meant routine and planning. A former job required me to wear a suit, so I would keep one at the office. I then sacrificed a day of cycling to take in the ironed shirts I needed for the week.  However, if you prefer to carry a suit to work (or wear one) modern suit design and packaging solutions on the bicycle offer a range of options for cycling to work…

We all tend to have preferred temperatures for our cycling, but is there a best temperature physiologically for exercise? And might there be a difference between men and women?Snow, rain, cold wind, grey skies…. Just no!We all have our weather Kryptonite when it comes to cycling – that set of conditions that makes your ride feel absolutely dreadful. For me, my Kryptonite are those days of 2-4C, grey skies with no sun to warm me, and howling cold winds that seem to cut right through me no matter how I bundle up. I actually rather ride in a sunny but sub-freezing day.A lot of this preference or dislike comes down to personal experience and cultural background. But is there a…

An age-old battle rages on our city streets between those who ride bikes and those who rob bikes.  It’s actually more complex than that when we consider there are drivers alongside us behaving like cyclists don’t exist!   Bicycle thefts fell from over 100,000 in 2017-18 to 77,300 in 2020-21. While answering the question ‘how common is bike theft’ this also highlights something more important. In whichever direction the statistics are trending, no-one wants to step out of a coffee shop, coffee in hand, to an empty space where your bike used to be. Cometh Apple to the rescue (yet again). 2021 saw the release of the Apple AirTag, a device manufactured to be used with Apple’s ‘Find My’ network to…

The Amstel Gold Race normally signals the start of the Ardennes Classics (although it comes before Roubaix this year) and the climbers come out of the woodwork. Raced over the hills, dales, and forests of south eastern Holland, the course selects its own worthy winner. Twenty-seven years ago it was Mauro Gianetti who was making the news.The final selection came down to Cassani and Gianetti.Gianetti rode for Polti back then and had just pulled-off the biggest win of his career, in the 1995 Liege-Bastogne-Liege – LBL was the week before the Amstel in those days. Some said that his win owed more to craftiness and luck than talent; Gianetti would soon dispel that notion.PEZ: Tell us about the Amstel, Mauro.Mauro…

The popularity of E-bikes is soaring. Although sometimes controversial amongst more traditional cyclists, they currently account for a large proportion of all bike sales. VanMoof bikes are one of the most popular brands, but are they worth the price? These bikes are renowned for their sleek, futuristic looks. They also make big promises around extended battery life, and come with a lot of built-in tech. If you’re wondering whether a VanMoof E-Bike is right for you, read on as we break down the important details. How Long Has VanMoof Been Around? VanMoof was founded in 2009 by the two Dutch brothers Ties and Taco Carlier. They established the company with the simple aim of developing a better city bike. Neither…

Sunday gave us the excitement we wanted from the Tour of Flanders. The result was far from expected, right up to the final metres. Mathieu van der Poel was a worthy winner, but what about strongman of the day: Tadej Pogaar? We have put together a collection of the best, or different shots from de Ronde, thanks to the lens of Cor Vos. Florian Vermeersch (Lotto Soudal) at the start The Tour of Flanders, or as it’s known in the native tongue, ‘De Ronde’, and it marks the grand finale of a series of Flandrian Classics that fall in the weeks before. This race represents bike racing in its purest and simplest form: one day, one chance, one winner! Flanders…

Cycling is great for the body and the mind. Not only is it healthy and fun, but it can also sometimes be the quickest way to travel. When commuting to work in the city, cycling saved me many painful hours of sitting in a car or on a bus, inching along on clogged-up roads. But one of the best things about cycling is that it’s eco-friendly. Those who cycle regularly can take pride in doing their bit for the environment, at least in the travelling sense. I’ve had many a warm, smug glow whilst whizzing past lines of smelly, congested traffic on my way to work. But was my smugness entirely justified? Is cycling really as green as we think…