Cycling

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Ridley’s multi-time World Cup winning X-Night cyclocross bike is completely new and now comes with SRAM Red 22...

Carousel short title: SealLine Urban Backpack Small Price: £89.99 Gallery Image Reference: Seal Line Urban Backpack Small Gallery Reference: Seal Line Urban Backpack Cascade Design's SealLine Urban Backpack shows that Ortlieb don't have the waterproof cycle luggage entirely sewn up – or rather, seam-sealed. For that is what this is: a welded-seam, waterproof, roll-top backpack aimed at commuters. And very nice it is too. Road.cc verdict: Well made, waterproof roll-top backpack at a premium price Road.cc rating: 8 Weight: 880g Contact: www.seallinegear.com read more

Folds in a second, eliminates chain-related anguish read more

Rogers, Kreuziger and Spanish climbers line up with former champion

Alberto Contador will attempt to win his third Tour de France title this year. Photo: Graham Watson | www.grahamwatson.comPARIS (AFP) — Two-time champion Alberto Contador of Spain will headline Saxo-Tinkoff at the Tour de France, which starts on June 29, the squad announced on Wednesday. The Spaniard won the three-week grand tour in 2007 and 2009, but was stripped of a third victory (2010) for doping. Sky’s Chris Froome, the runner-up behind teammate Bradley Wiggins last year and one of the favorites this time around, said on Tuesday that he viewed Contador as his biggest threat. “We enter this year’s Tour de France with the objective to win the race with Alberto,” Saxo’s sports director Philippe Mauduit said. “So obviously we’ve tried to pick the riders that fit the best to our overall goal, and we’ve tried to identify and bring together the competencies needed in the team to give Alberto the best possible support and protection over the three weeks on both flat roads and hectic finals, the hilly terrain, the mountains and the time trials.” Mauduit added: “We believe we have come up with a really strong lineup, a great all-round team with a lot of valuable grand tour experience.” Saxo-Tinkoff for the 2013 Tour de France Michael Rogers (AUS) Roman Kreuziger (CZE) Nicolas Roche (IRL) Matteo Tosatto (ITA) Daniele Bennati (ITA) Sergio Paulinho (POR) Alberto Contador (ESP) Jesus Hernandez (ESP) Benjamin Noval (ESP)

When listening to presentations at this year's Velo City Conference in Vienna, Austria about various city's newly unveiled bicycle strategies, it was easy to see which will be most user-friendly and adaptive to change. Among other criteria of course, the new cycle tracks (or cycle lanes, since some presenters' cities were not onboard with the Copenhagen style...) must boast widths to accommodate cargo bikes.To promote the cargo bikes' viability as present-day and future transport options for delivery and freight services, we are proud to serve as local partner in the EU project called CycleLogistics. We hope to work with a smorgasbord of nine other cities to replace smelly, antiquated delivery vans with gleaming new cargo bikes. The project is truly a game-changer, pushing the boundaries of bicycles for transportation.Here's a snapshot of the innovators who represented CycleLogistics' diverse ideas, innovation, and forward thinking via a Velo City 2013 lecture entitled, "Back to the Future: Cycle Logistics and Advanced Sustainability". Their bike enterprises and projects are hitting the ground running. A return to the Dutch or Danish heyday of cycle-led logistics can and will return like a tide.Outspoken Delivery-- Rob King represents Outspoken Delivery from Cambridge, UK. Why rely on heavy, polluting trucks when this delivery service can pick up goods from city outskirts and deliver them within the city? The service is called "last-mile delivery"-- goods are consolidated, instead of relying on vans that on average are only half full. The goal is to create transit hubs outside the city, where trucks would load cargo onto delivery bicycles instead of vans. But just how much could a bike carry, you ask?...A hefty 250kg with one model and 60kg with another. Check out the presentation slides and don't miss the snazzy video embedded in the Prezi, while you're at it.Susanne Wrighton of FGM-Amor & Franz Hoelzl of Spar Salzburg, Austria discussed a local initiative from major food retailer, SPAR. Their Bike & Buy campaigns encourage shoppers to do just what the name entails. In total, the 15 Shop by Bike campaigns orchestrated by CycleLogistics will reach up to 3000 people in pilot projects of 1-2 months. Susanne Wrighton and mobility research/ communication company, FGM-Amor in Graz, Austria enlisted 400 participants to shop only by bike. 9 out of 10 said they would continue using their bicycles to return home from shopping after the program's end. Even better, 7 out of 10 said they would cycle for other uses and to other places. Biking is, as we know, infectious.Retail companies are also jumping on the cargo bike band wagon, as Ton Daggers describes, owner of International Bicycle Consultancy from the Netherlands. His work begins by asking whether bicycles can take the place of conventional traffic vans within cities. His answer, of course, is yes. His company has promoted bicycles for the last 20 years. The bikes he showcases in his presentation are used within the fleet of "big box" retailers and other commercial entities. Some of the bicycles are two-person outfits that enable the transport of even larger quantities of goods. Wouldn't it be cozy to buy a bed from Ikea with your partner and rest assured (no pun intended) that you wouldn't need to get a hold of a car to transport it to your new home?Originally working from the angle of positive health and movement promotion, Dr. Randy Rzewnicki now works on several projects with the European Cyclists' Federation, based in Belgium. With pure joy and enormous enthusiasm he documented the diverse array of cargo bikes he's seen during his first couple days at Velo City--at the bicycle fashion show, in city streets, and represented in media. He described how DHL now uses cargo bikes to deliver mail and packages. When they buy these bikes, they make a corporate promise to use the bicycle to actually replace one of their vans. Additionally, the FahrRADhaus or "Bicycle House" (play on the

Cannondale's Ted King will make his Tour de France debut next week and will ride in support of Peter Sagan. Photo: Graham Watson | www.grahamwatson.comTed King’s Tour de France debut comes thanks to putting in the miles for Cannondale’s star, Peter Sagan. After a successful run in the classics and years of domestique duties, the 30-year-old American will line up for cycling’s biggest event on June 29. “I wouldn’t register it as giddy, but it’s something I’ve been striving for for a long time,” King told VeloNews in a telephone interview Wednesday morning. “The crux of my 2013 season has been to make the Tour team — I’m absolutely thrilled. And it’s still almost two weeks before the race starts, still plenty of time to absorb this and get ready for the race.” King trains at altitude this week in La Molina, a ski resort high up in the Pyrenees and a one- or two-hour drive from his base in Girona, Spain. It is a just setting for him to reflect on his accomplishments this season and what is in store at the Tour de France. Sagan, a 23-year-old from Slovakia, was strong from start of the year through the classics. Though he failed to win any of the Monuments, he was near the bull’s eye throughout. King assisted Sagan each time, helping him place second in Milano-Sanremo, second in E3 Harelbeke, first in Ghent-Wevelgem, second in Ronde van Vlaanderen, and first in Brabantse Pijl. The Italian team wants that same support for its star in the Tour de France, where Sagan won three stages and the green jersey in his debut last year. “You look at the roster we’re sending and it’s heavy on supporting Peter, almost exclusively. He’s calling it the perfect team for him,” King said. “He has huge aspirations to go for a second green jersey and, absolutely, the goal is to be working for him. That’s most likely where I punch my ticket.” King said that with Sagan, the pressure is minimized. “Peter is such a trust-worthy captain. He knows his job, handles the pressure exceptionally well for someone in his position and for someone as talented and proven as he is,” King said. “The short answer is no, we don’t feel any undo pressure, we know the job at hand, to be racing for Peter. If you look at the season he’s having, the career he’s having, at a young age, I’m not concerned at tackling any bullet points: whether it’s one win, three wins or five wins, whatever.” First timers Garmin-Sharp has yet to announce its team, but Andrew Talansky is expected to help lead it. Out of the Americans due to start, he and King will be Tour first-timers. King, who raced the Giro d’Italia, says the Tour checks another box on his list. “It’s been a goal. I got a late start in the sport, I started in college when I was 18-19 years old, it wasn’t the aspiration when I was eight to nine years old like a lot of typical cyclists,” he said. “To find myself at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Giro or Paris-Roubaix, they have all been phenomenal and exciting, but you race them for what they are. The Tour is a similar one. It’s definitely sort of the last big check mark on the races I’ve wanted to do.” Besides Sagan, King will race with Maciej Bodnar, Alessandro De Marchi, Kristjan Koren, Alan Marangoni, Moreno Moser, Fabio Sabatini, and Brian Vandborg.

Thames Valley Police renew appeal for witnesses to incident that left driver needing hospital treatment read more