We now carry 2XU compression clothing. These products are designed to maximize performance by improving circulation and recovery, reducing fatigue and damage to your muscles and heightening your natural abilities. All this, just from wearing some different clothing!
2XU Compression Clothing
Track cycling is great. For the uninitiated, it means riding round a banked indoor track (velodrome) on a fixed wheel bike. The video below was shot at the Newport Velodrome in Wales, riding with the Newmarket Cycling & Triathlon Club:
If you haven’t ridden a fixed wheel bike before it’s hard to explain the feeling. You’re solidly clipped into the pedals, there’s no freewheel and no brakes. You slow down simply by pushing back on the pedals – and there’s no chance of stopping pedalling once you get going. Adding to the fear factor is the 45 degree slope at the ends of the track. It sounds terrifying to beginners but once you’re caning round the track at 25mph it feels just great.
So, what do you need to have a go? Obviously it helps to go with a club (or your mates) – particularly if you haven’t done it before, but the only bit of specialised equipment you need is cycling shoes with Look Delta Cleats. You don’t even need these if you’re happy to use toe-clips on your trainers.
Now, can we please have a velodrome somewhere in the East of England?
Turbo training during the cold, dark winter months can sometimes be the only way to keep up the fitness.
But whirring away on your own staring at the garage wall can soon start to test anyones motivation and dedication. Here are some ideas to liven up those turbo sessions:
I’ll try to put more turbo session ideas on here as the winter goes on. If anyone else has tips they’d like to share then please add them!
Keep pedaling!
Newmarket C&TC Turbo Session
Tonight at 20:00 on BBC1, Watchdog will be investigating flat-packed bikes from the likes of ASDA and Argos. It should make entertaining viewing. “Friends don’t let friends buy bicycle shaped objects” is a quote from John Stevenson’s article: Watchdog gets its teeth into bicycle shaped objects – again. “Bicycle Shaped Objects” or BSOs is an industry term for something that looks like a bicycle, but really isn’t.
Update - Here’s the show.
In the past I’ve contributed to the Bicycle Shaped Object Blog Hall of Shame, to highlight some of the problems with these cheap “bikes.” These BSOs are simply not good value for money. You’re so much better off buying a good quality 2nd hand bike than wasting any money (no matter how great the deal) on new junk. Why? Because they simply don’t work. There are other good reasons not to buy these bikes:
- They fall apart, and end up filling our landfills with cheap plastic, rubber and broken components (at least the metal can be recycled).
- They decrease the perceived value of 2nd hand bikes (“I can get a new bike for that!”) meaning these bikes too end up in the same landfills
- They de-value the true cost of a good quality, workable bike. People who are not bike experts struggle to justify spending £250 on a good quality bike when they can see a BSO for half the price that “looks” the same. Then they buy it and end up spending a fortune keeping it on the road (or they just throw it away).
- They put people off cycling. The riding experience is so unpleasant, because of constant breakdowns, weight, dragging components and a poor riding position.
- They encourage the idea that bikes are disposable, worthless items that don’t need to be looked after or protected from theft. Bike theft is simply not taken seriously enough.
I once had an email from a wholesale supplier of BSOs who wanted me to sell his products. Here’s part of what he said to me: “I do make my living in the volume cheap end area of the market… …do the job,take the money and wait for the next K___head that doesn’t know how to assemble them!”
Don’t be a K___head!
The first of the Thetford winter series races was a wet one. We had heavy rain just before the start, and there were strong winds around as well. Only James and I were there for the Revel Outdoors team - Neil off riding 100 miles on the road at the Exmoor Beast, and other riders either taking time off or avoiding the mud! The course was non-technical but had plenty of climbs in it, and as the day wore on the tracks became more slippery and slow, making for hard work at the end. I rode with a small group for the first lap, but after that spent the rest of the race on my own in about 7th place. Right at the end I saw 6th place up ahead and tried to chase him down, but instead was overtaken by a flying Chelmer cyclist, to finish 8th. James came in a few minutes later in 20th.
We’ve been spoilt over the summer with such dry races – it was quite a shock to have to trawl through mud again, and go through all the post-race cleaning…
As usual, my Garmin 305 was recording all the race data.
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