The Disappearing Entry-Level Road Bike, Part 2

Junior racing. Disappearing Entry Level Road Bike

Part 1 is here. So, what’s behind the disappearing entry-level road bike? Several reasons.  They include: reduced market competition, increased component integration, disc brakes, and gravel riding. The market has fewer companies. When it comes […]

Cross Season Should Start Now

Mud Queen

I’ve been racing cyclocross a long time. It’s awesome, but it’s best as a cool- and cold-weather discipline.  Cross season should start now. September, thanks to global warming, has become a late summer month.  October […]

How The Maryland Cycling Classic Came To Be

  The Maryland Cycling Classic came back for a second edition this past Sunday, September 3, 2023.  The inaugural edition, in 2022, was the first pro race in the United States of America since 2019, […]

A Crit Series with City-Based Teams? Good idea. It’s been done.

National Cycle League Boston Banshees 1995

Meet the NCL To many American bike racers, it seems like a natural fit.  A criterium bike racing series based in cities.  Crits are short, fast, entertaining, and over quickly; good for the short attention […]

Cav’ wins the Prix de Hugativite

When I first started following the Tour, one of the many things that surprised me about pro racing and racers was their emotions.  Compared to what I seemed to be seeing with American pro sports, […]

Goals

Winter Ride With clouds and sun

I have mixed feelings about goals.  They’re necessary, but can’t be fixated upon. Martin Buber would probably have said that a goal is like mistaking the finger pointing to God as God. Goals, while seemingly […]

Le Tour de Crash: A Theory on Increased Carnage

The opening stage of the 2020 Tour de France was largely neutralized by the riders after a spate of crashes on the tiny, twisting, rain-slicked roads the route took around Nice. Looking at all the […]

Setting Up for a Hot Day’s Ride (video)

Just in time for that late summer heat wave. Or just keeping the warm days cool. How to Ride in the  Heat–Prep Tips from a Roads Scholar.

Radical Brake Design takes Everesting Record and Strade Bianche in One Week!

An earth-shattering rumble was heard in Europe last week, as the Everesting record was shattered by a relative unknown, taken by 23 minutes, and an up-and-coming star stormed to a comfortable solo victory at Strade […]

The Tour of California Is Slow

The Amgen Tour of California is slow.  I love watching bike racing, but when I see the racers on wide roads, rolling through towns on eight-lane highways, even most finishing stretches, it always looks like […]