So the bad news is that unless you won the giveaway Riv-away yesterday you didnt win:But the good news is that you can still buy yourself some credits. Thats called pulling yourself up by your bootstrapsor by the straps of your fine Sackville bag:[Photo: Rivendell]By the way, I dont know how many people who entered the Riv-away were sociopaths, but I do know that a full 50% of them had first names beginning with the letter J, which is remarkable, and all the proof I need that I completely own the coveted People-Who-Ride-Bikes-And-Have-First-Names-Starting-With-The-Letter-J demographic.Or, to put it another way, if you own a Rivendell and your first name is Jehoshaphat, I can virtually guarantee that you also read this blog.Speaking of Sacked-up Rivendae, I rode this bike to meet with a reader yesterday:While it was leaning jauntily (jauntily is the worlds most overused adverb when it comes to the act of leaning) on its kickstand outside the caf, a young fellow new to cycling approached and was rather effusive over it. What type of bike is that?, he wanted to know. Is it a road bike? Thats when I realized that bicycles have gotten to the point where someone younger than 40 has probably never seen a bicycle like this, at least in real life. Furthermore, humanity no longer even has the words to describe a normal, attractively-painted, sporty yet versatile bicycle made out of metal. This includes me, mind you, and I found myself blindly rummaging through the dark, empty space where other people have a brain for the appropriate term.Eventually I gave up, and replied with something like, Yeah, sure, its basically its a road bike, more or less, though thinking about it now, I realize it really doesnt have a category. Its just a bike. In fact, its probably the most Just A Bike of all my bikes, which is why I ride it as often as I do, and why its as grimy as it is. Its sporty and fast like a road bike, but its also comfortable. I dont need to put on any special shoes to ride it, and its never over- or under-geared. It has a headlight in case I get caught in the dark, it has fenders in case I get caught in the rain, and its just as suited to riding to the train station as it is to longer rides in the country. Really, the only thing it doesnt have (at least as configured) is racks to carry stuff, which I didnt expect to have to do on this particular occasion, but then the reader I met was kind enough to gift me a classic Silca floor pump:[Those things are real pussy magnets.]Fortunately I had minimal trouble riding home with it across my handlebars. (The pump, not the pussy.) Anyway, thank you, dear reader, and it was a pleasure meeting you.Moving on, dont miss your chance to immerse yourself in the Essence of Colnago:It has a true design language, that was designeddeliberately!The multi-piece construction also leads the C72 to have its own true design language, where the lugs become a feature of the bike rather than a detail thats hidden.The result is a frame that feels cohesive and refined where every interface is deliberately designed, not simply assembled, Colnago says.I dont know what any of that means, but I do know Im going for the one with the Shart wheels:Now youre speaking my design language!I bet with a bike like that I could even keep up with a Spanish Gran Fondo:Yes, as an American I can confirm were often amazed when we travel to other countries where people barely have to work and we experience what a life of leisure looks like:This was a local one, just outside of Girona called La Barroca, our US rider explained. I recommend it if youre ever in the area when its happening. Theres two routes, I did the shorter one which is 90km and 1,230m (of climbing). We finished in 2hr 40 min, 33 kph avg. I never drove pace, just tried to survive these cyclists are built different!This is me simply surviving in the front group of a GRAN FONDO in Spain.Why are these people so fit?Though in this particular case I suspect it was mostly the drugs:Hey, nobody said leisure was easy.

We first spotted the iconic red brakes on Specialized Gravity team race bikes last summer, but now Brembo is poised to offer their Gr-Pro mountain bike brake sets to the general public. Promising maximal power, easy-to-access modulation, and unparalleled control could these highly adjustable Brembo brakes set a new mountain bike performance benchmark? We had the chance to get some back-to-back test rides on the new brakes earlier this year, and can safely say that they offer some of the most accessible brake tuning weve ever used. With 3 distinct adjustments at the lever, you can truly change how the brakes perform & feel with ease. Does that mean you will dial in your braking for varying conditions, or just that you can independently adjust power & modulation to what feels best for you?Brembo GR-PRO gravity mountain bike disc brakes(Photo by Mirror Media for Bike Connection Agency/Brembo)Brembo calls their race-proven GR-PRO disc brakes, a complete high-performance braking ecosystem engineered for modern mountain bikes. With that said, so far theyve spent almost all of their development and fine-tuning on two types of riding elite-level DH racing and enduro-style eMTB riding. Both are heavy bikes and high speeds, where you need maximum power to bring the bike to a stop. But just as important is adjustable modulation to control all that power.(Photo by Rupert Fowler for BCA/Brembo)And this is where the new Brembo MTB brakes look to stand out. With more power, modulation, fit & feel adjustability than pretty much all mainstream mountain bike brakes, Brembo hopes to bring more manageable braking power to the masses. Directly derived from Brembos racing applications, GR-PRO leverages the companys experience in the UCI Downhill Mountain Bike World Cup, where Brembo products are already in use at the highest competitive level. This heritage ensures that the same principles of reliability, control, stability and consistency developed for elite competition are transferred into a system designed for aggressive mountain riding. These characteristics also make GR-PRO particularly suitable for todays eMTBs and gravity bikes, which demand higher braking power and greater thermal robustness due to increased mass and higher average speeds.First Riding Impressions(Photo by Mirror Media for BCA/Brembo)The best way to test new brakes is repeatable laps on a known track, so I hit some of our favorite home-away-from-home trails outside Massa Marittima back in February with Bike Connection Agency. My time was limited to a single afternoon, but I really wanted to get a sense for the adjustability of the new Brembo brakes. So, I stuck to one variable the 3-position lever ratio. And thankfully, I had an Amflow eMTB on hand with the powerful Avinox motor and a killer hlins suspension setup that let me quickly fly down a rough techy trail, then zip back up the hill for repeats.Back-to-back leverage ratio tweaksthat little S is for Soft leverage mode (Photo by Mirror Media for BCA/Brembo)I started with the same medium setting front & rear to get a baseline, then tried soft/soft, medium/medium, then hard/hard to get a sense of the changes. Immediately, switching to soft I realized how big a shift it was and how I didnt like the sensation at all, feeling like the braking power I wanted simply wasnt there. Back in medium felt better. Then, in hard, it was again too stiff, feeling like I was going to tire my hands out in just over 1km of quick descending. So, next I figured I needed to mix-and-match a bit.I tried hard front & medium rear, realizing that maybe hard would really be good when there was a lot of grip. Next, I swapped to medium front & soft rear, and got the same sense that maybe the soft setting could be nice in wet, loamy, or simply loose conditions. I still felt like medium/medium was my ideal feel. But when I looked back at my lap times, Id actually set a personal best, shaving almost 5 seconds off a 3.5-minute descent in the medium/soft setting.(Photo by Rupert Fowler for BCA/Brembo)Without even getting into the dead-stroke adjustment (which is where I would really want to spend more time fine-tuning), my clear takeaway is that the Brembo Gr-Pro brakes will be perfect for mountain bikes who love to tinker with their perfect setup. These brakes harness tons of potential for anyone looking to fine-tune their setup, or adjust it as conditions change, to get more speed out of your bike.I look forward to getting my hands on a set for long-term testing to see how far down the rabbit hole I can go!Tech detailsbig red brakes honestly, the first thing you notice is their color2-piece forged alloy 4-piston calipers with 18mm insulated pistons1-piece forged alloy master cylinder body with high lever force into a small diameter piston 3 independent adjustments at the lever: 3 levels of lever ratio/modulation adjustment: soft, medium & hard 7 clicks of dead stroke adjustment to fine-tune ideal braking point setting 40 clicks of tool-free reach adjustment positions to fit any hand size or preferred lever positionvery long 65mm aluminum brake leversbraided stainless steel brake lines with PTFE core2.3mm thick stainless rotors, inspired by motorcycle rotors with trailing-spoke legs (the opposite orientation of most MTB brakes)rotors available in 200 & 220mm diameters, separatelyone specially-formulated semi-metallic brake pad compound, which already won 3 DH World Cupsdirect MatchMaker shifter/remote mounts, available separatelyBrembo Gr-Pro MTB brakes Pricing, options & availability(Photo by Mirror Media for BCA/Brembo)For now, the new Brembo Gr-Pro mountain bike brakes will be available just as a complete brake kit without rotors, retailing for approximately 900, with VAT. But that does interestingly include a second set of brake pads, in addition to 2 levers, 2 calipers, your brake hoses, proprietary mineral oil, and the bleed kit. Adding a pair of rotors will add ~144. By the time you add a caliper mounting bracket for your frame and/or fork, or an adapter to hang your shifter and/or dropper to the brake clamp, it will likely cost between 1100-1200 to fit a complete new Brembo brakeset to your bike.Of note, even though European consumer pricing includes tax, Brembo officially lists Gr-Pro prices exclusive of VAT since the tax rate varies slightly from country to country in the EU. Without VAT, a brake kit is 750, rotors are 60, caliper mounts are 21, shifter adapters 30, and spare pads are 33.(Photo by Rupert Fowler for BCA/Brembo)The Brembo Gr-Pro brake kit will first be available in Europe only, starting in July 2026. Itll hopefully roll out to broader international markets later in the year.Brembo.comThe post Iconic Red Brembo Brakes Hit MTB Market with Unique Rider Adjustability: First Rides appeared first on Bikerumor.

Our spring member drive wraps up tomorrow, and with its conclusion comes our latest drawing for 20 fresh Collective Reward prize packages worth more than $9,000. See everything well be giving away to randomly selected site supporters hereThe post Collective Reward Roundup: $9,000 Worth of New Prizes on Offer! appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.

Miguel Martnez is a former Quick-Step rider and someone who was part of the pro peloton in his day. Most recently he even net a pro contract at the age of 44 back in 2020 whilst nowadays he works with Bahrain - Victorious, having been given the opportunity due to the signing of his son Lenny. He ta...

There are loads of options if you want to avoid flying for a cycling holiday this year

Paris-Roubaix is a chaotic race, but the riders are well aware of it. Hence in the moment Tadej Pogacar punctured with 120 kilometers to go, a defining period in the race, the lack of a teammate giving the World Champion a bike was quite a surprise for Tom Dumoulin who criticizes the Emirati team's...

The crash-battered world champions skinsuit that Tadej Pogaar wore when riding to victory in Milan-San Remo has been sold at auction for 95,100. At the end of March, when we first reported on the auction, with 13 days until it closed, the highest bid was 60,100. With the auction now over, the winning bid of 95,100 makes the skinsuit one of the most valuable cycling jerseys ever. The skinsuits new owner is American Karl McDonell, CEO of a US education and tech company, who will be presented with the jersey at this years Pogi Challenge in Slovenia. I would say meeting Tadej in person and receiving the jersey from him will be one of the most special moments of my life, a true bucket-list event, that I will forever remember and tell friends and family about for years, says McDonell. This years Pogi Challenge takes place at the end of July and has a simple premise: participants set off up Pogaars favourite 15km, 1,189m elevation-gain climb in Slovenia six minutes before Pogaar and try not to be overtaken by him. Last year, of 1,189 riders only one reached the top ahead of him. Andrew Feather, a 40-year-old British lawyer, arrived at the finish line more than three minutes ahead of Pogaar. Feather does have form though, having been UK hill climb champion in 2019. The skinsuit will be presented to McDonell by Pogaar at this year's Pogi Challenge. GalaBid.com McDonell already owns Pogaars white jersey from the 2023 Tour de France, when he was GC runner-up to Jonas Vingegaard, and intends to have the ripped skinsuit framed and mounted alongside it. Pogaar has pledged to match the winning bid, with the proceeds going to his Tadej Pogaar foundation, which supports children and young people facing serious illness. I am truly thrilled that the jersey reached such an incredible price. It means a lot to me to see this level of support, and I am deeply grateful that the funds will be directed into the programs of the Tadej Pogaar Foundation, Pogaar says.

Raymond Riotte has died at the age of 86. He had a career in two parts, a blazing debut and then seven years of more patient work as domestique to many top names.Born in 1940 to parents who were farm workers near Chablis in Frances Yonne department, Riotte was one of eight children. He wasnt interested in cycling at first, preferring football where he was a goalscorer for FC Chtel-Grard. France had compulsory military service and at the age of 19 Riotte was sent to Algeria, then a French colony, where he spent 28 months. Not knowing anyone on his arrival at camp, he found an ally from Le Creusot, a town the other side of the Morvan hills. This friend lent him his bike he told his local newspaper Le Journal du Centre and he got a taste for cycling.On return from Algeria, at the age of 22 he took out a racing licence and thrived. Starting out as a fourth category rider he moved up a level each year and by 1965 he was the amateur champion of Burgundy and earning good prize money most weekends. Sometimes professionals raced the local criteriums but there was a clash, the pros wanting to top-up meagre wages while for locals these were our Worlds, we wanted to impress the pros Riotte told Le Journal du Centre.During the Ronde de Seignelay in 1966, Riottes local race but also staged as a post-Tour de France criterium, Jean Stablinksi, captain of the Ford team that had just won the Tour de France pleaded to Riotte to stop showing up the pros. Accounts of this from Riotte vary across outlets but the synthesis is Stab noted Riotte might be earning cash but he was having to pay his own expenses when it came to kit and the Ford captain said something mid-race to the effect of leave us alone and youll get your own material. Riotte said he thought the remark would be forgotten once the race was over but he was suddenly offered a pro contract. Only it was 500 Francs [NB: per month, 725 in todays money] and I could get that in my local races in two weekends he told LEquipe in 2015. He turned down the offer.In the following spring Riotte won another local race in Nevers against pros and while the Ford team had become Bic that year it still wanted to recruit Riotte. Team manager Raphal Geminiani gave him an ultimatum: sign or we wont ask a third time. Riotte agreed and turned pro in the spring of 1967 for Bic team, joining the likes of Jacques Anquetil, Lucian Aimar, Julio Jiminez, Jean Graczyk, Vic Denson and especially Jean Stablinski. The two became good friends, one the son of miners, the other from farming. He may only have earned 500 Francs to start with but everything would change soon.He proved helpful in the classics, rode the Vuelta and come the summer won a stage of the GP du Midi-Libre, a now-defunct stage race before the Tour de France that was as important as the Dauphin. That summers Tour de France changed format and was ridden by national teams. Jacques Anquetil opted not to ride but team manager Marcel Bidot was still spoilt for choice with the likes of 1966 Tour winner Lucien Aimar, Raymond Poulidor and Roger Pingeon. Bidot had Stablinski as a road captain and he lobbied to bring Riotte. It may not have been an easy conversation to pick a rider who had turned pro just three months ago but Riotte had impressed in a short time and was hired to work as a domestique.On Stage 5 of the Tour de France the Tour was racing on the roads near Roubaix that were home to Stablinski and mid-stage he spotted Riotte and Pingeon lurking at the back of the peloton. Take Pingeon to the front right away ordered Stablinski and as they moved up a breakaway was going clear so Riotte sprinted to join it, towing Pingeon across. It was the right move and Pingeon was in yellow that evening and Riotte in green. Things were only going to get better.On Stage 7 to Strasbourg Riotte got in the breakaway only to get beaten in the finish by Michael Wright, a British rider but whod grown up in Lige and barely spoke English, he was seemingly in cahoots with Belgian rider Georges Van den Berghe who had grabbed Riottes jersey before the final corner to slow Riotte. This act of European co-operation in Strasbourg enraged Riotte who was fuming at the finish. Only for TV reporter Robert Chapatte to stun him by telling him hed got the yellow jersey.It was only for a day because the next stage was in the Vosges mountains and Riotte was adrift to the point of being worried about being eliminated from the race while wearing yellow. He finished and saw team mate Aimar take the race lead, as LEquipe said at the time it was impressive for a neo-pro who three weeks before did not dream of wearing the French tricolore jersey, let alone yellow.If only for a day it was special as Riotte made a name for himself, he even got a telegram from his local member of parliament, Franois Mitterand. This made him the darling of that years race, a feat heightened when he won the stage to Marseille. As the conclusion team mate Roger Pingeon won the race overall.The Tour over, Riotte went back the series of criteriums and exhibition races to earn his fill, the decision to take an effective pay cut to turn pro paying for itself many times over now as he earned enough in a few months to build a large home in Noyers-sur-Serein close to where he was born. The team tripled his pay too.The article above headlines that theres a lot to expect from Riottes return to the Tour de France in 1968 but as dramatic as Riottes first Tour proved, he was picked by Bidot to be a helper. It was this role that he took on for the rest of his career, riding in the service of Raymond Poulidor and Bernard Thvenet but just as Eddy Merckx was monopolising the scene. He rode the Tour de France seven more times. In his own words he was a model team mate rather than a winner and this self-description did not come across as a boast either.Riotte proved to be as much a roublard as a rouleur, a crafty type. He was adept at brokering alliances on the road between teams when there was a shared interest in the moment to chase or block others. Coming from Chablis, he would give out cases of white wine to the moto riders in the Tour de France, notionally to promote his home region but hoping they might repay the favour if he ever needed it on the road.He was a fixture at local races in retirement, on hand to hand out prizes and even design courses.In retirement hed keep up with former team mates, especially Poulidor, the eternal second who had never worn yellow. It meant if Poulidor visited then he had to see Riottes yellow jersey each time as had it framed and mounted inside a rim which hung in the hallway at home. At times it was as if Riotte had changed names because he was Riotte maillot jaune this and maillot jaune Riotte that. If he only wore yellow for a day it was also for a lifetime and will always be so.The post Raymond Riotte Obituary first appeared on The Inner Ring.

City of London Police says it issued 1,315 fixed penalty notices to cyclists between April 2025 and March 2026, an average of around 25 a week