Cycling News & Blog Articles

As much as we’d like to “stay in our lane”, sometimes circumstances compel us to venture outside of it, like right now.

The situation regarding trans rights in Arkansas may seem like a purely political topic, but it does actually affect the cycling community as a whole, so it’s worth all of us talking about it. What should be done here? What shouldn’t be done? How should you navigate the situation so you can decide for yourself? Why should you care?

There are no easy answers to this, but in this conversation with longtime cycling industry advocate (and PR/marketing veteran) Chris DiStefano, maybe we can all at least figure out a way to somehow move forward.

If you want to make your voice heard here is a resource with an example letter to send to brands, race promoters, and those who hold power within cycling in the United States.

The post CyclingTips Podcast: The Muddy Waters of Arkansas appeared first on CyclingTips.

TrainerRoad offers training plans and workouts for the individual rider and has always been focused on making us faster. They recently launched an Adaptive Training method that combines machine learning and science-based coaching to adjust training plans based on coaches feedback. The goal? “So you get the right workout, every time”.  

This week Ronan chats with TrainerRoad co-founder and CEO Nate Pearson about the new Adaptive Training and explains just how it knows what it’s doing. They also discuss what the future might hold and if Adaptive Training can replace coaching as we know it. 

The post Nerd Alert Podcast: Can computers make us faster cyclists? appeared first on CyclingTips.

Abby, Loren, and Amy are joined this week by Gracie Elvin to chat Tour of Flanders and all the surrounding stories.

Gracie also fills everyone in on the Cyclists’ Alliance new mentoring program, within the sport but also for riders ready to retire.

The post Freewheeling Podcast: Gracie Elvin returns to discuss the Tour of Flanders appeared first on CyclingTips.

The team chats 2021 Tour of Flanders. The men’s race featured controversy, heartbreak, and an unexpected winner. In the women’s race, a clear favourite did not disappoint. 

For this week’s edition of Nerd Nuggets James discusses the tyre + wheel choice of the Tour of Flanders winner. 

The post CyclingTips Podcast: A whole lot of Flanders appeared first on CyclingTips.

Ronan Mc Laughlin joins us in this week’s Nerd Alert episode to go over the details of the hyper-optimized bike he used to shatter the Everesting record. Weight matters a lot here as you’d expect, but so does aerodynamics.

The conversation then returns to our regular format. Canyon’s precious container of new bikes is finally free from the grips of the Suez Canal, Enve announced its new custom carbon fiber road bike program, we question if we’re all worrying a little too much about weight (and paying the price as a result), and we finish up with a discussion of whether it makes sense to build your own bike from scratch using open-mold frames and parts since new bikes are nowhere to be found.

The post Nerd Alert Podcast: Ronan’s crazy-light Everesting bike appeared first on CyclingTips.

Abby, Loren and Amy recap Gent-Wevelgem and Dwars door Vlaanderen and discuss the postponement of Paris-Roubaix. With the Tour of Flanders mere hours away they talk about the excitement to come.

In the second half of the episode (@ 36:40), Abby chatted with Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig while she was at team camp with FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope. They discuss growing up in Denmark, Cecilie’s future as a TikTok influencer, and her upcoming season. 

The post Freewheeling Podcast: Flanders anticipation and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig appeared first on CyclingTips.

This week on the CyclingTips podcast…

Ineos dominated the Volta a Catalunya, sweeping the general classification podium.

There were also three WorldTour one-days for the men and two for the women. All five of the races featured interesting tactical choices by many of the top teams.

For Nerd Nuggets, James gets into Enve’s new bike frames.

The post CyclingTips Podcast: One-day races and Bouhanni controversy appeared first on CyclingTips.

This week on the Freewheeling Podcast…

Loren, Abby, and Amy discuss the Oxyclean Brugge-De Panne and Trofeo Alfredo Binda, both won by spectacular solo breakaways, as well as what’s to come for the women’s peloton at Gent-Wevelgem. 

If you want to check out POC’s Devour sunglasses, click here. 

The post Freewheeling Podcast: What better way to win than solo appeared first on CyclingTips.

You’ve heard us talking about the supply issues currently facing the booming cycling industry, so this week we dive into what it’s like designing bikes when things are in such short supply. 

Our guest this week is Sydney-based materials engineer and bike designer Dave Musgrove, someone who’s deep in the industry and in touch with the industry’s Covid-related supply issues. From two year lead-times on certain components to slower and more expensive shipping, this conversation details why you may want to hold onto your existing bike for a little longer.

Dave Musgrove is the brand manager for Polygon Bikes in North America and Oceania, a consumer-direct bicycle manufacturer sold through bikesonline.com.

The post Nerd Alert Podcast: Designing bikes when there’s no stock appeared first on CyclingTips.

With Ineos’ curious tactics at Milan-San Remo and Trek’s fantastic tactics across the board. 

Then, James digs into a new pedal-based power meter from Garmin that is SPD compatible, meaning it’ll work for your mountain or gravel bike. 

Check out Continental’s video launch of their new Ruban and eRuban tyres here.

The post CyclingTips Podcast: Big races in Italy and Garmin’s power SPDs appeared first on CyclingTips.

James, Dave, Caley, and Zach discuss a wide range of topics in this week’s Nerd Alert episode, like how much Speedplay’s revamped pedal lineup matters relative to the changes to its dealer service, whether MIPS really is a must-have when it comes to helmets given lingering questions over human scalps and hair, and what drastic changes in Cervelo’s sales figures indicate about changes in the drop-bar bike market.

And then in this week’s Ask a Mechanic segment, we tackle perhaps the most important repair and maintenance question of all: what’s the sketchiest repair job Caley has ever done?

The post Nerd Alert podcast: Is MIPS really a must-have? appeared first on CyclingTips.

On this week’s Freewheeling Podcast Abby, Loren, and Amy revisit Strade Bianche and the Healthy Ageing Tour. The biggest takeaway from the season so far is that SD Worx has the numbers. Can other teams catch up? We will get to find out at the next Women’s WorldTour race, Trofeo Alfredo Binda. 

Abby also caught up with Hannah Ludwig of Canyon-SRAM to get to know the young German rider. 

The post Freewheeling Podcast: SD Worx is winning the numbers game appeared first on CyclingTips.

In the latest of our deep dives with the people behind new products, we sit down with Chip Hawkins, the founder of Wahoo, and Ian Boswell, a former WorldTour pro and now Wahoo athlete, to talk through the company’s acquisition of Speedplay, their plans for a power meter, and how they’ve improved the pedals themselves.

This episode is brought to you by Wahoo. As always, we ask anything we want. 

The post The Wahoo Speedplaycast appeared first on CyclingTips.

This week on the CyclingTips podcast…

We discuss Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico. Two fantastic weeklong stage races full of controversy, heartbreak, and wonderfully exciting wins. Abby quickly breaks down the Healthy Ageing Tour, and everyone looks forward to the last 15 km of Milan-Sanremo. 

Nerd Nuggets this week features Ronan Mc Laughlin answering some of the questions about Wahoo’s newly reintroduced Speedplay pedals. 

Lastly, you can find Ostroy’s Black Cycling Pioneers Resort Shirt here. 100% of the proceeds go to Ride Up Grades, let’s get more kids on bikes!

The post CyclingTips Podcast: Double the weeklong races, double the drama appeared first on CyclingTips.

Team Deceuninck-QuickStep and Bora-Hansgrohe — together with sponsors Roval and Specialized — have been doing a fair bit of experimenting with their wheels and tires over the past couple of years, gradually moving away from traditional tubulars to tube-type clinchers for time trials and tubeless clinchers for road races. In an unusual move, both teams say they’re now wholly committed to clinchers and latex inner tubes for everything — even possibly (but not likely) Paris-Roubaix.

To find out more about the surprising decision, James and Dave have a chat with Roval engineering manager Jeff Meyer, as well as three key players from the Deceuninck-QuickStep team: technical director Ricardo Scheidecker, team scientist and coach Koen Pelgrim, and head mechanic Nicolas Coosemans.

The post Nerd Alert Podcast: Clinchers and inner tubes at Paris-Roubaix? appeared first on CyclingTips.

This week on the CyclingTips podcast…

The whole crew is still excited about the men’s and women’s editions of Strade Bianche over the weekend. Italian racing wasn’t the only action, however. Paris-Nice is on, and Cavendish is (almost) back. 

James has even more power meter news to discuss, this time in the form of power meter…shoes?

The post CyclingTips Podcast: Who doesn’t love Strade Bianche? appeared first on CyclingTips.

Happy International Women’s Day!

Over the past couple of years, the number of female-identifying cyclists has grown. More women are finding cycling, the joy and the freedom that accompanies hopping on a bike and taking off on an adventure. What continues to bring more women to cycling is the community, the atmosphere that comes along with riding a bike.

To get a sense of where the cycling industry stands when it comes to female-identifying cyclists Abby chatted with two women who are immersed in the industry.

Elorie Slater, marketing manager of Pivot Cycles, has put a lot of thought into how to get more female-identifying riders on bikes. Through her experience at a bike shop and within the marketing world of cycling she has connected with other cycling companies to put aside their differences and band together to make cycling a more inclusive and welcome environment.

Luisa Grappone, an aerospace engineer for Hunt bike wheels, came to the cycling industry after working on planes. She has a unique perspective of being a woman in a male dominate field.

This week on Freewheeling Loren and Abby are joined by Amy Jones to talk about Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and it’s prize money debate. Abby also caught up with Emma Cecilie Norsgaard to ask her about her first two races with Team Movistar. 

Later the three dive into Strade Bianche and what they hope to see from the first WorldTour race of 2021.

Finally, Abby chatted with Marta Cavalli (FDJ Novelle Aquitaine Futuroscope) at her team camp to get to know the Italian a little better. 

The post Freewheeling Podcast: The great prize money debate of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad appeared first on CyclingTips.

Mathieu van der Poel didn’t let a little broken handlebar on his Canyon Aeroad keep him from finishing a cobbled race in Belgium today, but why did it break? And what’s up with the flexy seatposts on those bikes, anyway?

We share our thoughts on those topics and then look into a Specialized patent for a wacky flexy seatpost design of its own. And is the wait finally over for power meter pedals for Shimano SPD-SL pedal fans? It sure looks that way.

Last but not least in this week’s episode, we bring back the “What Bike Should I Buy?” segment to discuss the ultimate one-bike solution — or if it even exists.

The post Nerd Alert Podcast: Broken handlebars and flexy seatposts appeared first on CyclingTips.

This week on the CyclingTips podcast…

There was a lot of races to discuss, between the Opening Weekend in Belgium, a small race in France, and the finale of the UAE Tour.

Dane and Abby debate the best transfer of the women’s peloton.

For this week’s Nerd Nugget segment, James called up Jamie Milroy of DASH Rides in the UK to talk about their bike subscription program. The concept of leasing instead of buying a bike is one that has been discussed on the podcast before, so we dive into it a little deeper. 

The post CyclingTips Podcast: Would you lease a road bike? appeared first on CyclingTips.