Jana Kesenheimer of Austria finished the 2024 Transcontinental Race yesterday in 11 days, 3 hours, and 57 minutes, becoming the first woman to finish the roughly 4,000-kilometer race. Find photos and a brief report from the organizers here...The post Jana Kesenheimer Wins Womens 2024 Transcontinental Race appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.

The Olympic Games road race will take place tomorrow for the men and World Champion Mathieu van der Poel will only discover the final circuit when he is at the race. The Dutch team are staying just outside of Paris in order to avoid the confusion and danger of training within the Olympic city, but t...

Our Reader's Rig of the week comes from builder Daren Beenen of Woodpecker Cycle Co., who offers a short and sweet look at the custom "Grocery Shredder" e-bike he built for his partner as an upgrade to their recumbent trike. Check it out here...The post Readers Rig: Darens Custom Woodpecker appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.

Remco Evenepoel comes into the Olympic Games' road race and could not come in any better mindset. The Belgian has just come off a third place and stage win in his debut Tour de France and right away made the trip to Paris where he won the time-trial event. There is no pressure whatsoever for him to...

Be it rural or urban greenways, cycle paths or bus and rail projects, too many of us, especially comfortable home owners, have lost the concept of the collective good.Comment & Analysis: Not many politicians these days would get away with saying something like ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country.The context or sentiment which President John F Kennedy might have been more wide-ranging than in this article, but sometimes its worth looking at how inspiring words could apply on a more focused level.People took their own meaning of inspiration of what Kennedy had in mind. Today his meaning might be reversed. Country in his line might be misunderstood by some as meaning the Government or the collective institutions of the State. Rather than the collective of everything that makes a country, mainly its people.So, what does this point have to do with footpaths, bus lanes, bus gates, cycle paths or rail projects?While its rare that any project is perfect, too many people start off with defending the status quo theres well-proven psychological theory around status quo bias. Humans catastrophise about change.Change can be hard, but its rarely as bad as people think. With sustainable transport and other projects any negatives are usually far outweighed by the positives. The opposition to greenways, especially rural greenways, is a classic case study on this: As they are mainly totally off-road they rarely have any impact on car drivers etc but a huge amount of opposition, usually after someone who is disgruntled starts spreading misinformation and gets everyone annoyed.The claimed negatives include anti-social behaviour (which is nonexistent on rural greenways), that theyd be used for casing out farms to rob (which is daft), that they split farms (greenways are not motorways and working with authorities is the best way to develop routes to avoid distribution) and even that theyd aid townies in their adventures to fornicate (thats not a joke, it was covered in a local newspaper as a one of the reasons objectors gave).Sorry to be blunt here: But none of these fears stack up and they definitely dont outweigh the benefits. And with greenways the benefits are often mostly felt by locals greenways arent just good for tourism and the local economy, they are highly beneficial in terms of health in getting locals out walking and (lesser so) cycling, and in connecting people in ways which havent been seen since cars have taken over so many rural roads.Much of the same is true for urban projects.Survey after survey, the majority of people support sustainable transport projects, even where space is taken away from cars.Of course, when it comes to implementation, some of those people may change their minds. What happens after that again and again is that once projects are built and people get used to it. Usually only a small dedicated few (who can sound loud) keep complaining.Dublin has a number of examples where modal filters (mostly bollards and planters) were installed on more minor roads in places like Grangegorman and Drumcondra which were being used as rat runs. It was claimed these would cause life to be unbearable but when trialled opinion shifted to supporting the filters.Other projects are harder to trial.An example I have in mind is the Killala Road in Ballina very personal to me as its the main road between where I live and the town centre. Its where my children have got their school bus for years and where they walk, cycle and get driven to places.The road has suffered from linear development without any significant upgrades in the road design since I was in secondary school. It hosts a load of estates, maybe the largest factory in Co Mayo (Coca-Cola Ballina), schools and childcare facilities, and a few other workplaces. Theres no bypass of the town and the road is used by a number of quarries and oil delivery depots.As Ive written before on this website covering how a road safety and accessibility scheme could fit into the current road space.That could be done without touching anything but public land, and, when thats the case, theres next to no possibility that upholstery purchased orders will be used.But what if, not just for my local road but many other similar roads around Ireland, people came together and asked what could they do for their area?In a lot of cases, a small area of 1-4 metres from larger gardens could make a huge distance to redesigning a road or street to make it safer, more accessible, greener, more attractive, and more sustainable (from allowing alternatives to cars to greenery to water management).But what if the community came together, acknowledged the problems on their road and put it up to the council to say not just things have to change but that we support it, we want it even to the point of giving over a few metres of a garden to aid in a better road or street? For it to work people would have to look at it in the round you could squeeze in cycle paths, shared paths or basic road crossings. But with a bit of extra width, many roads and streets could be made to work better for everything including more green buffers between roads and homes, and easier turns into driveways than if things were just squeezed into the current road layout.To be clear here: This has limits. It wouldnt suit everywhere and Im definitely not suggesting cutting smaller gardens. And no process is perfect, thered have to be care taken not to unduly pressure people into giving up space because their neighbours are.Much like other processes, people would have to have their boundary walls and greenery set back and restored by the council and not left out of pocket. Arrangements for changing other elements such as driveway widths or offering alternative access points or on-street parking reserved for residents where that makes sense, etc should also be in the mix.In some locations some of the existing boundary greenery including trees could be integrated into the design of the road or street.I dont have all the answers. But Im asking: What if we applied ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country to greenways and cycle paths? How would this community up approach work? Could it work as a partnership between the community and the council?Would it produce better results than people getting caught up in anger about cycle paths or greenways? Could it even work on a town or district level? How many people could a community group even get on board, will there always be a significant number of people objecting regardless?

This weeks Debrief features mail-in derailleur rebuilds, the Soma Rufus, the SL 70 XPLR handlebar, a 20-year photography project, two events to follow live, and more. Find it all hereThe post Friday Debrief: Mail-in Derailleur Rebuilds, Soma Rufus, Hot Taco Bike Race, and More appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.

Get ready to hear more beats on the trail Trek is making it easier than ever to bring your tunes with you on your next adventure. The appropriately named BellBeats is a combination digital bike bell that doubles as a Bluetooth speaker, all in a compact package that can easily mount to your handlebar or the included belt clip. As a bike bell, the BellBeats includes 8 pre-loaded sounds that range from cheerful hello to more urgent get out of the way! The bell tones are activated by the two-function trigger with a single press or long press controlling different functions. Theres also an option for continuous looping bell tones to act as a bear bell or trail bell where required. The other part of the name, the Beats portion operates as a high quality blue tooth speaker with audio optimized by Harmon. The USB-C rechargeable device offers up to 6h of music playtime with an IP67 waterproof rating and integrated battery life indicator. That speaker can obviously be used for music or podcasts, but it can also be used to play audio navigation cues from a connected smartphone. The included belt clip will work many places off the bike as well, so youre never without your tunes. Just remember to rock out responsibly so you dont annoy those around youTrek BellBeats sells for $99.99 and is available now. trek.comThe post Trek BellBeats Electronic Bell is also a Bluetooth Speaker appeared first on Bikerumor.

All the teams and riders set to bid for the medals at Sunday's road race

While the world champions rivals Wout van Aert, Remco Evenepoel, and Julian Alaphilippe tested out the cobbled climb to Montmartre ahead of Saturdays road race, Van der Poel reckoned it wasnt worth the effort due to the speed limit

CyclistRanking the gold bikes of cyclings Olympic championsTheres no better way to brag about your Olympic gold medal than by racing on a golden bike. The bikes arent quite made of 24-carat precious metal, but since 2004, the mens gold medalists on the road have been keen to show off their success.The UCI have tried their hardest to police the amount of Olympic gold that is allowed in the peloton. There is a mandated shade of gold permitted on a riders jersey. Paolo Bettini wore a gold jersey in his first race after his win at Athens 2004. Alexander Vinokourov tried wearing an Olympic rings jersey in 2012 but was also asked to drop that.To keep this list non-exhaustive, each Olympic champion will have one bike selected for this list. The choice is based on style, razzmatazz and relevance. In total, seven riders have used gold bikes. After winning last weekend, we await Remco Evenepoels gold rework on his Specialized time-trial bike. Similarly, another road race champion and future gold bike owner will be crowned in Paris on Saturday 3rd August, and hopefully well see gold on the womens gold medallists bike in future too.7. Primo Rogli, Tokyo 2020Tim de Waele/Getty ImagesAfter crashing out of the 2021 Tour de France, Primo Rogli travelled to Tokyo with few optimistic about his chances for gold. However he defeated all opponents on the long course around the Fuji Speedway in Japan. The gold bike we have chosen is his Cervlo P5 from last years Vuelta.The design is fine. Thats an ample way to describe it. The forks are gold, as is the Cervlo lettering. Apart from that, theres nothing else of note. I guess gold isnt welcome on aero-optimised time-trial bikes. Overall, its just a bit boring, they just switched out the team-standard yellow, and it barely looks different.On the bright side, at least Rogli wasnt with the team long enough to get a gold edition of the intergalactic-looking Giro time-trial helmet.6. Samuel Sanchez, Beijing 2008Tim de Waele/Corbis via Getty ImagesSamuel Sanchez scored Spain their first gold medal of Beijing 2008, making him the first Spaniard to win a medal in the Olympic road race, an event that has been part of the Olympics since the Games modern inception in 1896.The Orbea Orca, captured above in 2010, was Sanchezs bike of choice during his post-Olympic high. There is a Versace-style gold white and black colour scheme through the frameset. The gold accents provide a real dynamism and flow to the bikes design.Sanchez embraced golden bar tape and golden cabling, and it even looks like the end of the quick-release skewers are gold-accented. The beauty is in the detail here.His non-bike add-ons provide some real character to this setup. He wore special Olympic ring socks throughout his golden tenure and opted for a hideous ring-themed helmet for some races. If you look closely at the shoes, you can spot the Olympic rings, with the Olympic colours repeated on the heel and gold dashes across the Sidi shoes. This list is about the bikes, not the clothing, but chapeau.5. Greg Van Avermaet, Rio 2016Getty Images/Tim de WaeleGreg Van Avermaet became Golden Greg in 2016 after he defeated Jakob Fuglsang in a reduced sprint by the Copacabana beach to win Belgium a gold medal. In honour of the fallen BMC WorldTour squad, we pick up Van Avermaets gold BMC TeamMachine SLR01 from the 2016 Qubecois classics.The bike is very clean. The frameset is wrapped in gold all around. The clean lines and bike also feels very classic. The black lettering on the down tube and forks provides a muted contrast. Its not as loud as the bikes used by Olympic champions before. The subtle dashes of Olympic ring colours on the top tube feel effortless and slick. It doesnt distract from the gold theme.The gold accents on the saddle add some intrigue up top as well, countering the lack of gold on the seatpost and cockpit. However, theres no commitment to gold cabling, unlike Sanchezs bike.Theres not much creativity going on, Ill be honest. Then again, theres nothing offensive here. I want a gold bike, and this is just that.4. Bradley Wiggins, London 2012Bradley Wiggins had a few gold bikes made in honour of his Olympic victories over the years. On the road, he adopted the golden time-trial bike after winning the time-trial at London 2012. The Pinarello Bolide shown here is from 2015, just after Wiggins took the world time-trial title.The Papal white and gold returns on Wiggins bike. Theres a dash of gold on the head tube and the brakes, and the bikes branding is applied in gold. Alongside the white of the rainbow jersey, this feels very clean and consistent.What sets this bike apart is the detailing on the top tube. Theres a golden portrait of Wiggins himself. Its garish, a little boastful, but mostly playful. Next to the portrait, theres a British flag flying in the wind. The Olympics is all about countries, so its good to see a flag finally make the cut. Further personal touches such as Wiggins roundel logo and the Wiggo nickname are included on this special bike.Overall, its different to the rest. The border-line bonkers portrait is what moves this bike so high up this list. 3. Alexander Vinokourov, London 2012SirottiThere are few victories as rogue as Alexander Vinokourovs road race gold medal at the London 2012 Olympics. When all eyes were on the sprinters, the Kazakh veteran broke free with a fresh-faced Rigoberto Urn on a flat course around the British capital. It still baffles many to this day, but that only adds to the mystique of Vino.The bike chosen is from Vinokourovs final race, the 2012 Clasica San Sebastin. Specialized sent Vinokourov a custom-made Tarmac SL4. The bike is far from humble, its a full gold-wrapped frame. The gold, however, is balanced out by the Kazakh baby blue. Surprisingly, these two colours match remarkably well. I understand that there was maybe a two-week turnaround for this bike to be rolled out for Vinos last race, but the cabling needs some work. It looks like a dodgy iPhone charging cable rather than the crisp Olympic gear cables. I am also underwhelmed by the lack of gold on the saddle.Looking at the wheels, theres a lot going on. Of course, the gold rims look pretty swish, but the spokes are a whole feast for the eyes. I dont believe these wheels are UCI-permitted anymore.Vinokourov also released more gold bikes despite retiring quite literally the month after winning gold. Despite never being used in competition, I suggest you check out his final gold bike releases ahead of the 2016 Dubai Tour.2. Richard Carapaz, Tokyo 2020Tim de Waele/Getty ImagesRichard Carapaz is the most recent Olympic mens road race champion. The Ecuadorian claimed the title in Tokyo after escaping from the peloton with 10km to go. Since then, hes capitalised big time on what will be the shortest reign as Olympic champion in the Games history.To celebrate his Olympic champion status, Pinarello gave Carapaz a crisp golden Dogma. The image above was shot in 2022 ahead of the Giro dItalia. The frameset is split in half between black and gold. The transition happens at a slightly upward angle reflecting the geometry of the bike.For me, the cleanest part of the design comes towards the rear. The layered transition of gold in the seat tube is marvellous. The golden seatpost is a nice touch too. Theres a real lack of shiny seatposts in the peloton and this keeps the gold motif running all the way to Carapazs derriere.This is one of the more tame designs, it is simple but well-executed. Sadly the taped timing chip on the fork takes away from the gold rushing through the bike and the gold running through the O of Pinarello on the down tube feels a bit out of place. The text is contained nicely throughout the bike, however. Overall, it looks a little more menacing than the others on this list. It honours that Olympic-jolly but also looks scarily fast.1. Paolo Bettini, Athens 2004Tim de Waele/Corbis via Getty ImagesThe cultural zeitgeist of the mid-2000s was truly harrowing. However, it was from this era that the gold bike convention was birthed. Between the internet boom and a sense of impending global recession, Paolo Bettini scored the Olympic gold in 2004 and made gold bikes the norm.As the father of this tradition, his Time bike from 2005 and 2006 feels like the blueprint for all those to come. Im glad I now know where the gold bar tape and cabling trend came from. Its a simple nod to the Olympic gold and its also a good way to keep the gold in view from a head-on shot.The gold, red and black accents through the bike are consistent and not too overboard on the gold. The gold bleeds onto the seatpost and Bettini rides a gold saddle to match his gold helmet and shoes. The gold certainly does not match with the blue of the QuickStep kit, but hey, Im willing to look past that.The gold chain is awesome and deserves extra recognition. This is the cherry on top for me.What do you think? Let us know in the comments or on social media. Related Posts The Olympics needs to add these five cycling events Should the Olympics feature a road cycling stage race? Who are the British cyclists competing at the Paris 2024 Olympics? Paris 2024 Olympics Cycling: Events, schedule, TV guide and everything you need to know The post Ranking the gold bikes of cyclings Olympic champions appeared first on Cyclist.