Cycling Weekly | 24 August, 2023 | 51 Will it reduce my ability to oxidise fat? It’s tricky to tell from the literature, but we know that carb availability isn’t the only factor determining the amount of fat that’s burned during exercise. Another important factor is training intensity. Training for a long time at lower intensities, irrespective of your carbohydrate consumption, can improve your ability to burn fat as a fuel. Are all carbs equal? No, they aren’t, but that’s not to say particular types of carbohydrates are ‘worse’ or ‘better’ for you. Upon consumption of carbohydrate-rich food, the digestive system breaks down longchain carbs into glucose, facilitating their entry into the bloodstream. The higher the Glycaemic Index (GI) of a food, the more quickly it is broken down. LowerGI foods such as whole grains, brown rice or brown pasta should be eaten the evening before a long or hard session, whereas more refined forms of carbs such as dual-source sweet drinks and gels, white bread or white rice are suitable immediately before or mid-session. Is it right for me? The scientific literature suggests that anyone looking to maximise their performance should aim to consume 90g per hour of carbohydrate on the bike. Conclusion Each of the above fuelling strategies has its own benefits and drawbacks, as well as its own supporters and detractors. The right approach for you depends on your training and your objectives. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. LCHF is a good approach for anyone seeking metabolic efficiency for longdistance, lower-intensity events, while FFTWR is great for riders comfortable with counting calories in a search for optimum performance, and a high-carb diet is the safest approach for riders wanting to train hard while minimising the risk of underfuelling. potentially harder too. Secondly, training with high carbs allows athletes to tolerate higher volumes of carbs in competition, a capacity that is itself associated with improved performance. What does the scientific literature tell us? A meta-analysis published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism in 2005 concluded that “a conclusive endorsement of a high-carbohydrate diet based on the literature is difficult to make”. Essentially, they found that the protocols differed too widely to draw firm conclusions, but time to exhaustion was increased across the board. Gut training has also been studied extensively and has shown that the ability to absorb carbohydrates is trainable. “The right approach for you depends on your training and objectives”
I started out in rowing in 2012 and tested well indoors but never fully committed to the training. Someone convinced me to sign up to an Ironman, and over the next few years I built up my confidence on the bike, but most of my early riding was done on Zwift. In fact, I did so much indoor racing that in 2019 I was invited to do my first elite race on Zwift, leading to my selection for the UCI eSports World Champs this year. On the strength of my one to fiveminute power from Zwift racing, I am now also road racing with Wahoo-Le Col. To prove myself on the road, I spent much of last year hunting QOMs in the Surrey Hills, and most of them are now mine. I took part in the national road race champs this June, made a solo break and ended up finishing 14th. I live with my husband [Matt Brooke] – who’s also a triathlete – in our twobedroom flat in central London. The second bedroom is our living room, and the kitchen area has to double-up as a gym – that’s what you see here. We each have multiple bikes and kit, so it’s a very bike-orientated home. I’m actually doing more training now than I did as a triathlete – 16-20 hours every week. My ultimate goal is to get to WorldTour level, and I’m going to take part in this year’s Zwift Academy, as it’s a great opportunity. I know I have good strength, and I’m working on my technical skills to take me to the next level. M Y T R A I N I N G S PAC E 52 | 24 August, 2023 | Cycling Weekly P R O F I L E Age: 33 Height: 5ft 9in FTP: 310W Ridesfor: Wahoo-Le Col Lives: London Occupation: Bike-fitter Proudest cycling achievement: 14th – British National Road Race Champs (2023); 2nd – RTTC National 100-mile Champs (2023); 11th – UCI eSports World Champs (2023) lizi_brooke Lizi Brooke F I T N E S S T H E B IKE S I have a BMC Time Machine TT bike, which is the bike I use for Ironman and TT racing. The Time Alpe d’Huez is my team race bike, and I love its ride characteristics; it has stiffness in exactly the right places. My previous race bike was the BMC Team Machine
Words David Bradford Photos Richard Butcher Cycling Weekly | 24 August, 2023 | 53 Want to show CW around your training space? Email a pic to: david.bradford@ futurenet.com T R E A DM I L L This was a Christmas present for my husband when we were planning to take part in the Zwift Tri Academy. I don’t use it anymore, now that my focus is on cycling M ULT I SC R E E N S One screen is for Netflix and entertainment, the other is for Zwift. My favourite training distraction recently was the Tour de France Unchained series on Netflix O C E A N V I STA We both love the ocean, so chose this picture, and the race numbers are from Kona – we both qualified, raced there and spent our honeymoon there H I S ‘ N ’ H E R S M E TA LWA R E Over six years of Ironman, between us we won quite a few trophies. I’m probably proudest of my Ironman Tallinn win from 2021 – I’d been working hard on my time trialling, held my target power and still ran a 3:11 marathon T H E T R A I N E R My Wahoo Kickr bike is the machine I do my Zwift racing on, as it’s the most solid, stable platform. We also have a Kickr Steer, as steering will be allowed from this year’s elite racing season on Zwift – it should make the racing more realistic
54 | 24 August, 2023 | Cycling Weekly 4. C. Emons (…a3crg) 34.29 5. J. Spencer (Swindon Wheelers) 34.40 6. J. Wilkie (Cheltenham & County Cycling Club) 36.31 Tandem: Rachael Elliott and Ian Greenstreet (Newbury Velo) 28.39 Road bike men: Dave Dent (GS Stella) 33.28 Road bike women: Lynne Scofield (Rockingham Forest Wheelers) 42.36 North Tyneside Riders 27 (Rothbury,Durham): Men: 1. John Bowman (Muckle Cycle Club) 1:10.26 2. A. Storey (GS Metro) 1:11.40 3. D. Robson (Muckle Cycle Club) 1:13.43 4. C. Atkinson (Muckle Cycle Club) 1:15.30 5. K. Whitelaw (Vector Racing) 1:18.08 6. S. Emsley (Velo Culture) 1:18.39 Women: 1. Natalie Lye (Muckle Cycle Club) 1:22.53 2. L. Burnie (Blaydon CC) 1:31.55 3. T. Bayliss (Reifen Racing) 1:34.11 4. C. Michie (Alnwick Cycling Club) 1:35.09 5. A. McGurk (Blaydon CC) 1:43.37 Road bike men: Alexander Storey (GS Metro) 1:11.40 Wigan Wheelers 30 (Sedgwick, Cumbria): Men: 1. James Holloway (Ribble Collective) 1:03.04 2. A. Taylor (Wigan Wheelers Cycling Club) 1:04.34 3. M. Lovett (Congleton CC-MyWindsock) 1:04.42 4. A. Whiteside (Springfield Financial Racing Team) 1:05.37 5. A. Heyworth (Pendle Forest Cycling Club) 1:05.47 T I M E T R I A L S SUNDAY, AUG 20 Southdown Velo 10 (Chichester, West Sussex): Men 1. Cris Coxon (Brighton Mitre) 19.59 2. M. Renardson (trainSharp) 20.17 3. N. Mackley (…a3crg) 20.23 4. L. Wiltshire (Chichester City Riders) 20.25 5. P. Main (34 Nomads CC) 21.09 6. P. Thompson (Epsom CC) 21.45 Women: 1. Kirsty McSeveney (…a3crg) 24.08 2. R. Lamont (Portsmouth North End CC) 27.02 Bec CC 25 (Steyning, West Sussex): Men 1. Christopher McNamara (Sigma Sports) 51.43 2. P. Burton (Paceline RT) 51.49 3. R. Llewelyn (Imperial Racing Team) 55.45 4. M. Siwicki (Addiscombe CC) 56.25 R A C I N G R E S U L T S D O M E S T I C R E S U LT S Leicester Forest CC road race Where: Lutterworth, Leicestershire When: Sun 17 September Fourteen and three quarter laps of a six-mile rolling sporting circuit around the villages of Ashby Magna and Peatling Parva make the crux of this event. It’s a National B level race for Cat 1, 2 and 3 riders and will set you back £31 in entry fees. At the time of writing there were 80 places left. Stevenage CC two-up TTT Where: Guilden Morden, Cambridgeshire When: Sat 9 Sept If you fancy something a little different why not try this 12-mile two-up test against the clock? The course is rolling rather than flat and is sure to test your pacing and teamwork skills. Entry is just £15 per person but teams need to be entered by midnight on Tuesday 29 August. C O M I N G U P 5. M. Phipps-Taylor (Paceline RT) 56.42 6. O. Thomas (Sussex Revolution Velo Team) 57.59 Woman: Hillary Briggs (Serpentine Running Club) 1:09.21 Road bike: Paul Burton (Paceline RT) 51.49 Northampton&District CA 10 (Sawtry, Cambridgeshire): Men 1. George Fox (George Fox Cycling Solutions)20.14 2. P. Pardoe (Peterborough CC) 20.21 3. Sam McDonald (St Neots CC) 20.36 4. Ryan Witchell (Team Salesengine.co.uk) 21.04 5. Jamie Murray (Peterborough CC) 21.35 6. Simon Smart (DRAG2ZERO) 21.44 Women 1. Melissa Denman (Velo Bavarian) 24.10 2. Hayley Moore (Ilkeston Cycle Club) 25.11 3. Lindsay Clarke (Fenland Clarion CC) 25.15 4. Ann Shuttleworth (Cambridge CC) 27.18 5. Dawn Donaldson (St Neots CC) 28.26 6. Sarah Bentley (Fenland Clarion CC) 29.00 Road bike men: Caspar Raynard (University of Leeds Cycling Club) 22.22 Road bike women: Lynne Scofield (Rockingham Forest Wheelers) 30.55 St Christopher’s 25 (Bishopton, Renfrewshire): Men: 1. Douglas Watson (GTR-Return To Life p/b Streamline) 49.14 2. C. Smart (GTR-Return To Life p/b Streamline) 49.42 3. S. Goldsworthy (Ryan’s Bike Surgery-Thomson Homes) 52.00 4. A. Wilson (Dundee Thistle) 52.14 5. R. Graham (GTR-Return To Life p/b Streamline) 52.30 6. M. Anderson (GTR-Return To Life p/b Streamline) 52.52 Women: 1. Lorna Breetzke (Vanelli-Project GO) 59.26 2. L. Lumley (Ayrodynamic Triathlon Club) 1:00.34 3. P. Baird (Ecosse Performance Cycling Club) 1:02.18 4. L. Todd (Ayrodynamic Triathlon Club) 1:03.40 5. L. Ball (Valley Striders Cycling Club) 1:05.25 6, F. Davidson (Dundee Wheelers CC) 1:05.27 Road bike: Karl Farmer (VC Glasgow South) 58.18 Newbury Velo 15 (Hoe Benham, Wiltshire): Men: 1. Jamie Witcher (Bournemouth Cycleworks-Vitec Fire-Ford Civil-Trek) 29.15 2. G. Williams (Twickenham CC) 30.31 3. S. Hourigan (VeloRefined Rule 5) 30.49 4. T. Chapman (Frome and District Wheelers) 31.01 5. D. Legg (North Hampshire RC) 31.29 6. L. Francis (Velo Club Bristol) 31.44 Women: 1. Charlotte Hodgkins-Byrne (Team Boompods) 32.43 2. K. Hickson (Newbury Velo) 33.55 3. C. Clark (Swindon Wheelers) 34.18 Gail Lowe (CongletonCC) on herway to second place attheManchester BC25
Cycling Weekly | 24 August, 2023 | 55 6. S. Henderson (Team Bottrill) 1:06.10 Women: 1. Susan Semple (Legato Racing Team) 1:17.28 2. R. Maxwell (Border City Wheelers) 1:19.45 3. S. Cheetham (North Lancashire Road Club) 1:19.52 Kent Cycling Association 10 (Hamstreet, Kent): Men: 1. Nic Fennel (Thanet RC) 19.31 2. K. Tye (VeloRefined Rule 5) 19.52 3. W. Taylor (Go Fast Turn Left) 20.04 4. A. Meilak (VeloRefined Rule 5) 20.05 5. P. Robertson (Lea Valley CC) 20.34 6. M. Hill (VeloRefined Rule 5) 20.59 Women: 1. Hannah Graveney (AWOL O’Shea Worx) 23.57 2. M. Sparks (Ashford Wheelers) 24.19 3. D. Percival (Kent Velo Girls/Boys) 25.57 4. E. Martin (Eastbourne Rovers CC) 28.48 Road bike men: Paul Burrows (Thanet RC) 21.13 Exeter Wheelers CC 25 (Smeatharpe,Devon): Men: 1. Liam Bard (GTR-Return To Life P/B Streamline) 56.22 2. Simon Marshall (Cranbrook Cycle Club) 56.35 3. Jimmy Richards (Pure Endurance) 1:01.01 4. James Wood (Exeter Whs CC) 1:01.35 5. Mark Sanders (Mid Devon CC) 1:02.04 6. Ashley Scott (Royal Navy & Royal Marines CA) 1:02.58 Women: 1. Alice Lake (Cranbrook Cycle Club) 1:07.46 2. Gemma Waterjohns E V E N T # 1 6 1 C O U R S E : T E M P U S F U G I T W E D 1 6 A U G U S T Z W I F T R E S U LT S C YC L I N G W E E K LY C LU B 1 0 T T Words Snowdon Sports Photo Brian Jones /Kimroy MEN (Team Tor 2000 | KALAS) 1:09.13 3. Lindsay Philp (Wadebridge Coasters Cycling Club) 1:13.49 4. Wiebke Rietz (1st Chard Wheelers) 1:13.51 5 Gail Wong (Holsworthy Peloton) 1:16.14 Road bike men: Julian Wilkes (1st Chard Wheelers) 1:02.40 Road bike women: Gail Wong (Holsworthy Peloton) 1:16.14 Manchester Bicycle Club 25 (Uttoxeter, Staffordshire): 1. Adam Duggleby (ADDFORM Vive Le Velo) 46.04 2. S. Wilson (HUUB WattShop) 46.15 3. A. Ribbands (Congleton CC-MyWindsock) 49.01 4. K. Waligora (360cycling) 49.59 3 4 V I S I T S T O T H I S C O U R S E F A S T E S T M A N Will Lowden 9:53 (Week 15) F A S T E S T W O M A N Frances Owen 21:46 (Week 2) C L U B 1 0 A T T E M P U S F U G I T Do n ’t m iss n e x t we e k ’s e v e n t, We d n e s d a y 3 0 A u g u st a t 6 p m o n t h e I n n s b r u c k ri n g c o u rs e C Y C L I N G W E E K LY S T R A V A C L U B Join the club at www.bit.ly/cwstravaclub week ending 13 August; UK/Ireland riders only WOMEN 1 Adair Broughton CMCC 21:51 4.8w/kg 360w 2 One Gear ZRScot 22:00 4.3w/kg 356w 3 Ian Shaylor Wahoo Le Col 22:27 4.3w/kg 281w 4 Toby Turner - 22:54 4.1w/kg 275w 5 E L Buitre - 23:35 3.9w/kg 261w 6 Paul Quine Squadra Castelli 24:36 3.6w/kg 224w 7 Colin Robinson TRC 24:40 3.3w/kg 229w 8 Luke Kiernan - 25:24 3.3w/kg 226w 9 Nick Shangolis - 25:49 3.3w/kg 235w 10 Chris Ashton - 25:55 2.9w/kg 274w 1 Claire Stringer-Phillips BBB 22:34 4.4w/kg 263w 2 Ruth Wilson Angles 29:39 2.0w/kg 150w Most miles 1 Theresa White 523 2 Lee Barber 498 3 Paul Todd 417 Longestrides(mi) 1 Benjamin Bates 200 2 Ben Sigsworth 163 3 Mike Churcher 128 Most elevation gain (ft) 1 James Bailey 30,148 2 Neal Humphries 29,405 3 Charlie Lacaille 27,077
56 | 24 August, 2023 | Cycling Weekly 5. D. Parkin (Velotik Racing Team) 50.05 6. M. Hamer (Legato Racing Team) 51.36 Women 1. Sarah Harrison (Trek Sheffield) 59.19 2 G. Lowe (Congleton CC-MyWindsock) 1:00.35 3. L. Ho (Newcastle Staffs Tri Club) 1:06.29 VC Baracchi 50 (Harleston, Norfolk): Men: 1. Dan Blackburn (Epic Orange Race Team) 1:49.32 2. A. Williams (St Neots CC) 1:50.49 3. S. Gloyn (Army Cycling) 1:50.54 4. D. Ackerley (Team JMC) 1:51.30 5. M. Ash (Cake Gang) 1:53.08 6. D. Bloy (Kings Lynn CC) 1:54.01 Women: 1. Davina Greenwell (Plomesgate CC) 2:06.24 2. L. Franklin (Stowmarket & District CC) 2:07.24 3. K. Brennand (Newmarket Cycling & Triathlon Club) 2:14.27 4. V. Grice (Beccles Tri Club) 2:26.30 5. L. Whitelegg (1485 Tri Club) 2:28.57 6. A. Radley (Swindon Wheelers) 2:33.45 Road bike men: John Manlow (Ely & District CC/B&T Motor Repairs) 2:01.30 Road bike women: Kerry Brennand (Newmarket Cycling & Triathlon Club) 2:14.27 SAT, AUG 19 Wigan Wheelers CC 10 (Levens, Cumbria): 1. Chris Smart (GTR-Return To Life p/b Streamline) 19.02 2. G. Bigham (HUUB WattShop) 19.27 3. J. Holloway (Ribble Collective) 19.29 4. D. Parkin (Velotik Racing Team) 19.33 5. J. Bateman (Pendle Forest CC) 19.49 6. R. Graham (GTR-Return To Life p/b Streamline) 19.52 Women: 1. Deborah Moss (Springfield Financial Racing Team) 22.01 2. L. Scupham (Jadan Vive Le Velo) 22.27 3. C. Boothman (360cycling) 23.24 4. T. Taylor (Springfield Financial Racing Team)25.03 5. K. Handy (Valley Striders Cycling Club) 25.19 6. V. Sharrock (Lancashire RC) 26.14 Road bike men: 1. Thomas Brazier (HUUB WattShop) 20.32 Road bike women: Debra Crook (Liverpool Phoenix CC Aintree) 28.20 R O A D R A C I N G SUN, AUG 20 The RyedaleGrasscrete Men’sGrand Prix (Ampleforth, North Yorkshire): E,1,2: 1. Harry Birchill (Saint Piran) 161 kilometres in 3:54.58; 2. Z. Kyffin (Saint Piran) +0.08; 3. A. Lewis (Saint Piran) +1.45; 4. F. Crockett (Saint Piran) +6.49; 5. B. Symonds (Saint Piran); 6. E. Morgan (Wales Racing Academy) +7.46 The RyedaleGrasscrete Women’sGrand Prix (Ampleforth, North Yorkshire): 1,2,3: 1. Millie Couzens (Fenix-Deceuninck); 2. T. Keep (Hutchinson-Brother UK); 3. M. Wilkinson (Team Boompods); 4. A. Smith (EF EducationTIBCO-SVB); 5. L. Lee (DAS-Hansling Bikes); 6. E. Jamieson (Liv Cycling Club-Halo Fims). Giant Leamington Spa&RLSCC Friz Hill RR 2023 (Wellesbourne, Warwickshire): Men 3,4:1. Adam Charleston (High Wycombe CC); 2. A. Wade (unattached) +0.02; 3. D. Cherruault (Avid Sport); 4. B. Dodd (Royal Leamington Spa CC); 5. I. Duffield (PMRR); 6. J. Masters (Uni of Bath CC) +0.03. R A C I N G R E S U L T S Y O U R R A C E B I K E Ryan Williams’s 2017 Giant TCR Advanced Pro is in largely stock spec with mechanical Ultegra and even the Giant Contact saddle the bike came with. He has splashed out on some deep Walker Brothers wheelsthough – slippery. WANT US TO F EATURE YO UR R ACE B IKE? S E N D A PIC AN D I N FO RM AT I O N TO CYCL I N G@FUTURE N E T.COM Photo Andy Jones
58 | 24 August, 2023 | Cycling Weekly Cyclists’ first complaints about the quality of the road surface occurred minutes after the invention of the first primitive bike in Germany in 1817. Karl Friedrich Christian Ludwig Freiherr Drais von Sauerbronn went for the world’s first bike ride, and came back to complain that the Mannheim council was simply going to have to do something about that bloody road. In the 1870s, British penny-farthing riders had it even worse. The traditional way to improve a road surface was to dump some large stone blocks in the road and rely on iron-tyred cart wheels to break them up. The inevitable result of hitting one of these on a penny-farthing was taking a header straight over the bars and landing face first on the next stone block. By the 1890s, things had got so bad that instead of just complaining, cyclists actually did something about it – they held charitable events for road menders, to encourage them to ever greater efforts. At least in some areas this worked – many major routes in the late 19th century were rather better looked after than they are today. This was particularly the case in Surrey, where these days no road is complete without a complex network of potholes. The most contemporary form of complaint is post-injury legal action. This is one of the few methods of communication modern councils understand. Although bear in mind that Karl Friedrich Christian Ludwig Freiherr Drais von Sauerbronn’s case is still ongoing. The Doc’s eye for detail stops at bicycles – everything else is an insignificant blur, especially the garden One of the first columns I wrote was about the typical cyclist’s garden. The grass growing above the windowsills. The nettles. The skeletons of the BBC Natural History Unit’s film crew who ventured in one night because they heard a rumour that the last living Tasmanian thylacine was in there somewhere, and then couldn’t find their way out. And, meanwhile, the garden’s owner is out racking up the miles and keeping their tan-lines sharp. I was surveying my own jungle recently and realised that, for me at any rate, I only pinned down half the problem. It’s not just the time. It’s the astonishing contrast in approach. I have a dedication and an attention to detail in cycling that I simply can’t summon for anything else. Look at it this way – I spent two months building a rig for testing the efficacy of different chain lubes. I’ve also got at least three enquiries from organisations who’d like me to do some freelance work for them, and who are willing to give me money for it, money that I could then exchange for, let’s say, food. I’m unlikely to reply to any of them because I’m going to be filling in my lube-efficacy spreadsheet, which I’ll then be able to exchange for nothing at all. I sometimes wonder what Mrs Doc makes of this. I have a focus on cycling that overshadows all. The contrast between ‘cycling Michael’ and ‘everything else Michael’ must be as aggravating as it is baffling. How can the same personality that wears the same T-shirt for three weeks also clean a cassette with a cotton bud? I wasn’t even a cyclist when we met. I was a very promising, imaginative young lawyer. By the time I was 22 I’d already found a glorious loophole in European law, one that other people have been making holiday-home sized quantities of money out of ever since, while I’ve been measuring the thickness of inner tube valves with a Vernier caliper. It’s not like my friend Bernard complaining that his cycling destroyed Great Inventions of Cycling 1817: Complaining about the roads The byway hath rendered my bicycle useless
Cycling Weekly | 24 August, 2023 | 59 A British friend living in the US tipped me off about a work colleague of his who came over to the UK for the Glasgow World Championships. He got a lot of his trip right – the dates, the flights etc – but made one fatal flaw. Based on a very cursory examination of the map he decided that London would be a nicely convenient place to stay. Cross-examined when he got home, my snitch quotes him as saying, “I thought the whole place was about the size of Manhattan Island, and I was planning to ride over to Glasgow on my bike every day while the family visited the London sights.” A C T S O F C Y C L I N G S T U P I D I T Y “Having strayed fromhis natural habitat, one can only assume the cyclistisforaging for grub screws” Photos Alamy, Shutterstock his chances of becoming chief executive of a FTSE 100 company – that claim is fatally undermined by the fact he’s not even very dedicated to his distraction. Mrs Doc might have imagined that all was going to be well when I ended up with the opportunity to make a living in cycling. If bikes and riding them is something I’m so meticulous about, something I deeply want to do, then surely I was right onto a winner? What this logic overlooks is that some personality types are irresistibly drawn to what doesn’t matter. Even if I’m totally immersed in cycling, I’ll still find a way to really drill into the wrong bit of cycling. I spent several weeks earlier this year concentrating on my National 24-hour Champs campaign, which yielded a respectable fourth place and cost me a fortune. When a pro bike rider got in touch part way through the training phase to ask if I’d coach him for the rest of the year, I said no, because I “didn’t have the time”. When he offered me more money, I blocked his emails. Why, I reasoned, would I want to make money when I’d found such an effective and rewarding way to spend money? The whole episode just inspired me to buy a new disc wheel for the race. What’s worse, even in my preparation that didn’t matterfor a race that didn’t matter, I was well capable of being distracted by details of biomechanics and saddle angle when, even if you take my own demented approach to life on its own terms, I’d have been bettertrialling nutrition strategies, ortraining more. It’s an unerring ability to focus on the wrong thing, at a more and more microscopic level. It’s actually kind of impressive in its wilfulness. But I’m guessing Mrs Doc would tell you it’s not much fun to live with. But I haven’t asked. Obviously.
60 | 24 August, 2023 | Cycling Weekly F R O M T H E A R C H I V E Photo Getty Images Arace between delivery boys all carrying newspapers sounds like it ought to be a lot of fun. However, the organisers of this event, held in Paris in 1953, had clearly taken a leaf out of the book of notoriously hard taskmaster Henri Desgrange, founder and organiser of the first Tours de France. The delivery boys (most of whom look well out of boyhood) rode bikes that were surely no lightweights to begin with, but in addition they were made to carry a 30lb (13.6kg) stack of newspapers throughout the event. The race went on to finish at the top of the steep hill at Montmartre, which would have been challenge enough for a fit rider on a lightweight bike. Desgrange, who had died 13 years previously, would have nodded approvingly, we are sure. Delivery boys’ race in Paris 1953
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62 | 24 August, 2023 | Cycling Weekly C L A S S I C B I K E The bike that was nearly inventor Mike Burrows’s crowning glory Mike Burrows, who died last year, is best known as the British engineer behind the iconic 1992 Olympic pursuit-winning Lotus 108. Less well known is the story of how he took his genius to Taiwan with his Giant MCR. Burrows, having fallen out with Lotus who he claimed had blocked further production of the 108 while retaining the patent, signed a contract with Giant in 1994. At the same time he publicly accused Raleigh, Britain’s largest bike manufacturer, of ignoring him. He told the Guardian: “If I can give Giant the technological edge there’ll be no stopping them. Raleigh won’t be there in five years.” And his verdict on Lotus? “You need to feel sorry for them.” Perhaps even more insultingly, he might have copied a Lotus design for the MCR. The LotusSport monocoque mountain bike had a humped, top tubeless shape that was said to be inspired by jumping dolphins. Crucially, Lotus didn’t own the intellectual property. More recently, Stuart Moss claimed to GCN that Burrows used an undergraduate project that he pitched to him in 1995. Moss’s monocoque had a very similar shape but it was single sided, like the Lotus 108, with a drivetrain enclosed inside the frame and brakes in the hubs. Burrows’s MCR, which first appeared in Giant’s 1996 catalogue as the Giant AR-1, could have been influenced by either – or neither. Paul Greasley, monocoque historian, points out:“If two countries design a passengerjet to fly across the Atlantic at supersonic speed they will probably both look like Concorde.” Regardless, since the Lugano Charter of 1996 outlawed it for UCI competition from 2000, the MCR had a short production life, wasn’t made in large quantities and is therefore relatively rare. But last year Giant’s premium brand Cadex launched a triathlon bike which looks suspiciously like a jumping dolphin crossed with a supersonic jet… Giant MCR Words Simon Smythe Photo Photographed at Golden Age Cycles by Richard Butcher/Future N EXT WE EK’S I S SUE ON SALE EVERY THURSDAY Essential Tour of Britain guide Vitus Venon EVO-RS on test On the training comeback trail S C A N T O SU B S C R I B E ! SUBSCRI B E GET CW DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR DOOR M AG A Z I N E SDI R ECT.C O M/C39U FRE E L E Z Y N E C A D DY + L I T E PU M P WO R T H £7 3
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