I am a software developer, a former road racing cyclist (at the amateur level), and a science enthusiast. Also an animal lover! I write about cycling on this website, cycling-passion.com. I also take care of stray cats & dogs. Please consider supporting me on Patreon.
Tarmac is the top-of-the-line model of Specialized’s road bike series. Specialized Tarmac 2015 is developed in a partnership with the British Formula One constructor McLaren.
Most recently, team Saxo Tinkoff’s Spanish rider Alberto Contador won the Vuelta a España 2014 using a Specialized S-Works Tarmac bike.
Italian bike manufacturer Bottecchia has revealed its 2015 model road bikes. This year there are eight different road bike models.
Bottecchia was founded by Ottavio Bottecchia in 1924 (1 August 1894 – 14 June 1927), the first Italian to win the Tour de France (1924, 1925). He was the first Italian who won the French grand tour and the first cyclist who wore the yellow jersey from the first to the final stage.
Headquartered in Cavarzere, Italy, Bottecchia Cicli S.r.l. offer about 70 models that include road, mountain, trekking, city, BMX, folding, cyclo-cross, and electric. Some high-end frames are produced in Italy, the rest in Asia and all the bikes are assembled in Italy.
Today’s historic photo of the day: KAS rider Alfred Achermann crashes heavily and retires from the race on the Paris-Roubaix cobbles, in the Arenberg Forest. 86th edition of the “Queen of the classics”, Sunday, April 10, 1988.
1988 Paris-Roubaix surprisingly won by Belgian Dirk Demol (later, he was the Directeur sportif of the UCI Pro team RadioShack). With 27 km to go, a group of unknown riders broke away. The peloton did nothing to chase them down. It was on a section of cobblestones outside Roubaix that Swiss rider Thomas Wegmuller (KAS) and Dirk Demol (AD Renting) broke away from the lead group to search for the victory.
Today’s historic photo of the day: Serse Coppi kisses his elder brother Fausto Coppi after winning the Paris-Roubaix 1949 edition.
For the first and only time in history, there were two winners in Paris-Roubaix, and Serse was one of them. The other was team Stella-Dunlop’s French rider André Mahé.
1949 Paris-Roubaix, the 47th edition of the race was held on April 18. There was great chaos at the end of the race. The two winners finished separately, they were separated by four other riders and they both even reached the line by two different routes!
In September 2013, UCI Road World Championships have been held in Florence (Firenze), Tuscany, Italy. Chesini wanted to celebrate this event with a limited bike series: Chesini Florentia MMXIII (MMXIII equals 2013 in Roman numerals). The artisanship of Chesini and the creativity of SAK_ART DESIGN, a known brand in industrial and lifestyle design, have come together and with a common passion created these unique bicycles. You can read the whole story in the article titled Sak_art design.
“The Obree Way” is a book written by Graeme Obree aka “The Flying Scotsman”, who broke the world hour record twice, in July 1993 and April 1994, and was the individual pursuit world champion in 1993 and 1995. It explains Graeme Obree’s radical insights into technique, training, psychology and diet, and the logic behind them.
After I got the book, the first thing I noticed was the comment on the back cover, from Sir Chris Hoy (see notes 1), saying:
Many cyclists, especially commuters will love this: Efneo Gearbox is a front gearing system that has one cog and three internal switches. Inspired by internally geared rear hubs, it replaces a bike’s front derailleur, probably the most disliked part of bicycles.
Switching the chain between the chainrings in the crankset is an arduous process, and there’s always some risk to drop the chain, especially if the drivetrain is not in perfect condition. Efneo gearbox aims to make things more effortless, quicker, and smooth while switching the front gear.
Beautiful, wonderful, amazing… You should see this. “The Ridge” is a brand new film by Scottish trials cyclist Danny MacAskill. For the first time in one of his films, Danny climbs aboard a mountain bike and returns to his native home of the Isle of Skye in Scotland to take on a death-defying ride along the notorious Cuillin Ridgeline.
I recommend you to watch the video in High Definition and full screen.
Jaegher is a Belgian company, building tailor-made steel frames since 1934. It is founded by Odiel Van Eenooghe, a Belgian cyclist who participated in Milan-San Remo and in 1932 he won the toughest stage in the Tour of Belgium.
Their slogan is “the steel feel is impossible to translate into numbers & tables”.
Eddy Merckx was also a customer of their frames.
Today’s historic photo of the day: after the Paris-Roubaix 1959 edition, Fausto Coppi, covered with mud. It was the latest Paris-Roubaix of “il campionissimo”, before his premature death in less than nine months.
The final three seasons of Coppi’s life, between 1957 and 1959, saw his inevitable decline. He remained a living legend, but as the champion’s power fade away, he wasn’t winning big races like the Paris-Roubaix anymore.