Di Herbie Sykes • 23rd April 2012 • Postato in Rouleur
What’s astonishing about bike racing is that you’re never going to get even remotely close to the bottom of it.
When Stalin hermetically sealed off half of Europe in 1949, he simply turned the lights out. The Eastern lander of Germany, for decades her most fertile breeding grounds for cyclists, vanished. In Poland cycling had been the most popular of all sports between the wars, her riders huge stars. Now, though, they were lost to us. Cycling was tremendously popular behind the iron curtain, but it existed in a vacuum. A sporting black hole.
Leggi post completo »
Di Guest Author • 1st December 2011 • Postato in Rouleur
WORDS: Jack Thurston | PHOTOS: Wig Worland
Extract from Rouleur Annual 5, on sale now
By the third night, the roads are strewn with bodies. “It looks as though a serial killer has been on the loose, wantonly slaying cyclists and laying their bodies in a ritual manner at the side of the road,” says Kieron Yates, slurring into an audio recorder he carried while riding the 1,230km from Paris to the western tip of Brittany and back, in the company of the world’s toughest cyclists. “Occasionally they are covered with bin liners or a bit of matting, a silver survival blanket, as though a generous member of the public wanted to hide the bodies from the view of the other passing cyclists.”
Leggi post completo »
Di Guest Author • 12th September 2011 • Postato in Rouleur
Words: Christian Vande Velde | Photos: Yazuka Wada
Extract from the Rouleur photography annual volume 4
La Vuelta Espana is the least known Grand Tour of the ‘big three’. It lacks spectators, TV ratings, the massive ambition that the Tour and the Giro bring, and of course, the history. However, almost all of these traits are because of where it falls on the calendar year. And we all love it for that. Smashing through the arid countryside at speeds unfathomable to almost anyone (including myself sometimes), all for the sake of racing. If you are motivated, fresh and have goals past the month of August, at the Vuelta you have already won.
Leggi post completo »
Di Guest Author • 22nd August 2011 • Postato in Rouleur
Photos: Paolo Ciaberta | Words: Rohan Dubash
Photographer Paolo Ciaberta witnesses Aldo Gios re-building the legendary blue machine ridden to victory in the 1977 edition of Paris-Roubaix by Roger de Vlaeminck. Rohan Dubash casts his expert eye over the components.
Cinelli's 1A stem is a classic use of forged alloy, an item of pure elegance and simplicity and a world apart from today's industrial (but far more practical) Ahead-compatible offerings. The solid construction allowed manufacturers to get creative and personalise the riders' bikes.
Leggi post completo »
Di Guest Author • 8th July 2011 • Postato in Rouleur
Words: Guy Andrews, editor of Rouleur magazine
Where have all the heroes gone? I do wonder. In the over-calculated, controlled and predictable racing world, is there any room for panache?
I’d like to suggest that it’s something you ‘have’ rather than ‘show’? Some riders just look classy whatever they do. And sometimes panache is about throwing it all into the race and having a go, after all, is panache all about winning and good luck? I also wonder if it’s a cultural thing too; the Belgians are a class apart when it comes to style and Phillipe Gilbert has it in spades. On the other hand George Hincapie (and most US riders, to be frank) have a lot less.
Leggi post completo »
Di Guest Author • 28th June 2011 • Postato in Rouleur
WORDS: Jonathan Bacon
“Just like Beggar’s Canyon back home!”
And that is it really. My approach to cycling psychology. My go-to technique when needs must. I’ve read Shrosbee and Carmichael and a fair few others and written plans and weighed myself. I’ve attached myself to a heart rate monitor, although never a Powertap, and I’m guilty of fiddling with various nutritional nonsenses but, really, it all comes back to the Death Star.
Leggi post completo »
Di Guest Author • 20th June 2011 • Postato in Rouleur
Words: Ian Cleverly | Images: Timm Kölln
Extract from Rouleur issue 24, coming soon.
A series of missed calls and voicemails between David Millar and myself evolved into text messages. “Sorry for not answering”, I wrote, “but I was derny training. Call now?” The reply came straight back: “No. I’m at the cinema.”
Leggi post completo »
