A float day is when all the planets align and the weather gods smile down on the time triallist, with perfect conditions. No wind and warm. Fast to the turn, fast on the way back. With the same power output, your times are 2-3 minutes quicker, and after the race, you see many people looking […]

A reader offers this comment about cycling on rural roads: I have cycled most of my life in a city. I’ve recently taken early retirement so now cycle purely for pleasure. Last night I went for a ride which took me through some rural roads and also busy A roads. On the narrow country roads […]

It’s a funny feeling the day after a long hard bike ride, (e.g Nat 50). When I was young, the height of excitement was visiting Alton Towers and going on all the roller-coasters. The day after going on the big dipper, I would still have  a residual feeling of going up and down the roller […]

This year’s national 50 mile time trial championship was in Wales – between Abergavenny, Raglan and towards Monmouth. To say it was in the heart of Wales, it was surprisingly flat. There can’t be many 50 mile stretches of roads that are so flat in Wales. I was off number 60 at 9.00am, with the […]

In the pecking order of cool cyclists, triathletes are generally pretty low on the ladder – An eager triathlete using tri-bars is probably put below even sportive riders racing downhill for a strava segment, whilst wearing a replica World Champion jersey. The coolest cyclists are those road racers who follow THE RULES. Time triallists  chasing […]

A few weeks ago, I was riding the Buxton Mountain time trial. After the race, I had a brief chat with Mike Cuming, asking him how his season as professional at Rapha  Condor JLT was going. He replied. ‘not great. It’s been a tough year.’ It made me realise the difference between an amateur and […]