Casquette

I wear a cotton cap under my road cycling helmet all year round...

A casquette keeps the sweat from running down your face. In winter it keeps your head warm and keeps rain off your face. It will extend the lifetime of the helmet liner pads and, in summer, it stops your nose from getting sunburnt and if you are bald (like me) or have a shaved head it saves you looking like...

Holiday and training

The family holiday this year was in Ceret, a small town in the Languedoc Rousillon region of France. The town is surrounded by Cols and close to the border with Spain, so, as you probably gathered by my previous post, my son and I took our bikes.

My (soon to be 11 years old) son has now started his own list of mountains he has ticked off with the Col de Llauro and Coll de Boussells.  Both were tough climbs and great achievements, especially given the 30+ degrees centigrade temperatures.  The Boussells climb took him a few attempts and it reminded me of the story of the great Gino Bartoli who, in his youth, would ride home from school on his fixed wheel bike and attempt to climb the 18% hill at Moccoli, each time getting a few metres higher before having to stop and walk.

The ride to Boussells follows a marked out route with AR painted on the road for a 20km Sportive Event. We followed the AR-se (chuckle) signs and on the first attempt my son couldn't conquer the 8% section so we turned back and completed the shorter, 6km AR-se route (twice!).

As we descended we passed another cyclist on his way up.  The rider was on an old bike, was wearing a big floppy hat and he was maintaining a good pace, looking 'useful', like a Grimpeur; a climber.  My son and I wondered whether we had just seen the reclusive Robert Millar out stretching his legs.

During our two week holiday there was a huge forest fire nearby which created a fabulous sunset...

The intent was clear...

We turned left onto the start of the local training climb and I spotted another father and son cycling grupetto emerging from their driveway. I gave a pleasant 'Bonjour' but I could see the 'look' as they quickly tried to get the measure of us.

I shifted up two sprockets - tok, tok - then reached over and put my right hand on the small of my son's back and gradually raised our pace. "Why are we going so fast dad?" my son asked and the answer was obvious; my Silly Commuting Racing instincts had flared and I wasn't going to lose our scalps to Monsieur Bianchi et fil.

We didn't receive any competition on the five mile climb to the top of the Col de Llauro but I imagine it has seen some great battles and time trials regaled in the local cafes.

One of the best cycle racing stories I have read recently is Three Bent Links by Jon Wyatt. The third short story in the e-book is written so imaginatively I genuinely felt part of the hard-fought commuter race. The other two short bike related stories are as good and the book is worth spending the few pennies to read on Kindle.

This is the view from near the top of Col de Llauro and you can just make out the Viaduct de Rome in the background.

Look

Slaying the Badger - Richard Moore.

Apart from alternative uses for cotton cycling caps, I learned a huge amount from this great book - Look skiing designs applied in the invention of clip-in pedals, why a Mondrian design jersey is better than black, how La Vie Claire sponsored a cycling team and how the battles between LeMond and Hinault panned out.

I have to admit that Look bicycles did nothing for me though - until now. Crap in your cap and throw away your Venge frameset as Look have raised the bar.

Magazines

For the last couple of years I have had a subscription to Cycle Sport magazine and avidly followed all the news on pro tour road racing, but I have found that the reports have been getting a bit repetitive with the same set of cyclist being interviewed, so I have been looking for alternative publications, ideally covering the whole gamut of cycling.

 I was aware of Rouleur magazine but, for some reason never bought a copy and just watched in disbelief at how collectors were paying over £100 for early editions.  I was given the latest edition in the goodie bag from the Smithfield Nocture and I can see the attraction as the photographs and articles are great. However it is a little too specialised to give me a one-hit fix of all things bikes each month.



Sadly I can't find anything which combines all-things-bicycle related in one magazine and so I am probably going to become one of those annoying people you see at WHSmith who appears to be thumbing through every magazine.

Surely there's a publication with what I'm looking for. A combination of:

• Rouleur
• Cycle sport
• Cycling weekly
• Bicycling
• Cycling Plus
• What Mountain bike
• Single Track World
• and more...

Where can you read about road, mountain, single speed, downhill, bmx, grasstrack, polo, cyclocross, northshore, 4X, track, touring, folding bikes, commuters' stories and feedback, unbiased reviews of clothing, bikes and kit (including long term usage evaluations), write ups on sportives, racers' own reports... and the best cycle friendly cafes?

Hay fever cure?

I find that cycling cures my hay fever -well, it delays the symptoms until the pedal ends and the adrenaline wears off.

My hay fever has occurred later this year, probably due to the jet stream position and related climate change and I've recently been suffering with sneezing fits, a nose that turns into a tap, itchy eyes and an itchy roof of my mouth. All the more reason to get out on the bike and continue cycling as much as possible, but this year I have had a new symptom.

At the Smithfield Nocturne I experienced a pain in my throat as though I had swallowed a big fly and I couldn't stop coughing.  I have had recurrences and suprisingly only when cycling.  So far it happens in London on my commute and I guess it might be due to the pollution but I don't remember experiencing similar before this summer.

I suppose one solution is to get a Bane mask, which might also help scare people out of my way on the commute. Now there's an idea...

Another option is to stay out of London and work from home during the Olympics. Like!

Kaboom!

Initial impressions are great, especially for the price.

I've tried the Halfords own brand, the Pedros green fizz, Hope sh1t sh1fter and Muc-off and the Kaboom concentrate mixed with 1.1litres of water in an old spray appears to be equally as good.