One of the biggest names in women's cycling,Pauline Ferrand-Prvot has long proven her capabilities across multiple disciplines. As she returns to road racing however, with the Tour de France Femmes an important target, a change of teams was somewhat forced upon the French star."They (INEOS Grenad...

Ive got some tasty news from renowned backpacking and rack specialists, Old Man Mountain. It seems that they have listened to all of their customers whove been asking for 3-pack mounts on the uprights of the popular, stout Pizza Rack. Thats right, now you can use the Pizza Racks large stable platform and cargo cages simultaneously. #ridebikesbringstuff(Photos / Old Man Mountain)The new Pizza Rack has all the necessary hardware to mount the rack to your forks eyelets. If your trusty steed doesnt have the eyelets needed, its cool. The Pizza Rack can attach to the axle via the Old Man Mountain Fit-Kits.The Fit-Kits can be mounted to suspension forks, carbon, steel, or aluminum forks.However, if want to ramp up said bikes versatility, then youll be happy to know that the Pizza Rack pairs very well with the popular OMM Basket. Plus, it works well with a Carracice porter bag as well. The new Pizza Rack utilizes stiffer, heavier-duty versions of the Y shaped uprights that youd find on the Elkhorn Rack. This allows for a weight rating of 35 lbs.(Photos / Old man Mountain)Pizza Rack Retail & SpecsRetail: $188The Pizza Rack is designed for use with 700c or 27.5 sized wheels. It can fit tires up to 700c x 50mm. (371mm from the mounting point to the underside of the deck). Front mountable3-pack mounts on the uprightsFits up to 157mm wide hubsMade from 6061 aluminum The rack frame is made of 13 mm diameter tubingThe deck measures 326mm x 255mmHeight from the mounting point to the deck is 378mmThe deck includes slots for easily lashing gear in place and holes for a light mountComes with standard, eyelet mount ready with optional fit kits available for thru axle or QR mountingLoad capacity of 15.8kgBacked by a Lifetime WarrantyCheck out all of the items to help you bring stuff along with you on your next bike ride, bikepacking adventure, or a trip to the store at the link below.OldManMountain.comThe post Get Your Pie & More with Old Man Mountains New Pizza Rack, now with 3-Pack Mounts on the Uprights appeared first on Bikerumor.

If you watch Path Less Pedaled you may have seen a bike called the Sklar Super Something:[Photo from the Sklar website]In fact Path Less Pedaled guy liked it so much he apparently sold three bikes to get one:To be clear, I have nothing at all against the Sklar, and if youre looking for a versatile steel bike that uses modern components it seems like a great choice. However, something about it has always looked very familiar to me, but I wasnt able to place it until this morning when I passed an old Specialized Crossroads and it all came back to me:I knew Id seen the Sklar somewhere before! And it even has the suspension seatpost, just like the Path Less Pedaled guys bike!It occurred to me that these old Specialized Crossroads would be prime candidates for gravel conversions, but as usual Craigslist is several steps ahead of me:With all due respect to Sklar, I think I might like that Crossroads better.Ah, the things you see whilst riding through YonkersAnd besides the vintage hybrids and discarded Citi Bikes, you also get dramatic views of the Hudson and the Palisades beneath the torrid skies as the remnants of Tropical Storm Post Tropical Cyclone Debby pass over us:Note that Ive de-Spinergized the Faggin, at least for the moment, lest the unsettled weather conditions blow me into next week:A ride on the ol Fagginator always puts things into perspective, because its a reminder that you can pull a decades-old frame out of storage, put it together with spare parts, and itll ride as beautifully as anything else you havethough at least according to this old brochure its all in the framebuilders art:[From here.]Is there something magical about the Italian road bikes of yesteryear? Maybe so. At the same time, people do get a little nutty over them. I was recently contacted by a very nice person who wanted a photo of the Cervinos bottom bracket shell; apparently theres some debate among the vintage bike cognoscenti about who actually made them. The decals on my bike say its Viner, and thats good enough for me, but apparently the bottom bracket shell looks more like the ones Olmo used or something. Youll also often see Internet threads in which people try to figure out what kind of tubing the vintage Italian frame they just picked up is made from: is it SL? Aelle? Tre-tubi? Linguini con vongole? Usually people will draw their conclusions from the seatpost diameter or the presence or lack of a front derailleur braze-on or else more circumstantial evidence like, Well, the frame has a Shimano 600 headset, and if its original its unlikely someone would have put that on an SL bike. These are fun things to figure out, but at the same time if discerning the difference between tubesets or even completely different manufacturers requires deep forensics and still yields inconclusive results you have to wonder how much any of this stuff matters at all, and its probably enough to say, For much of the 20th century the Italians built really good road bikes. Best of all, in 2024 if youre not hung up on names or which Columbus sticker the frame has you can put together a nice Italian road bike for about what a SRAM RED ASSPLR gravel cassette costs and find out for yourself.As for putting together a bike on a budget, it always helps to go with stuff thats out of of style and sells cheap, like Octalink cranks:Ive always liked the appearance of the 9-speed Ultegra crank, even though it looks kind of puffy like it needs a Benadryl:Speaking of which, shortly after taking this photo and thinking just that I was stung on the scalp by what I can only assume was a bee.When Gordon Ramsey crashed he told everyone to wear a helmet, and when Richard Branson crashed he told everyone to wear body armor. So in that same spirit Im telling to wear your beekeeping veil at all times:There really ought to be a law.

TaylorMade gloves are up to par for Emma Finucane and Katy Marchant

Paul Humphries hit a 4.7cm-deep pothole and suffered two cardiac arrests, a broken spine in two places, a severed spinal cord, a puncture to both lungs, numerous fractures and needed his leg amputated below the knee after getting sepsis

On the 10th of August we have got the first World Tour event following the Tour de France. The Clsica San Sebastin is often one of the most reputable one-day races, and every year sees a quality field of classics riders and climbers fight for victory. We take a look at it's startlist.The prelimin...

After a difficult few months battling Covid, Sepp Kuss returned to racing in style at the 2024 Vuelta a Burgos, securing the overall victory by just 5 seconds from Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL's Max Poole. As such, the American heads to Clasica San Sebastian and the Vuelta a Espana high on confidence....

CyclistThe 10 American and Canadian riders at the Tour de France FemmesThere will be ten American and Canadian riders on the start line at this years Tour de France Femmes on Monday 12th August, including Olympic gold medallists on the road and track. Heres who to look out for.The Americans Chlo Dygert (Canyon-SRAM)Sebastien Bozon /AFP via Getty ImagesAccomplished American time-triallist Chlo Dygert heads to the Tour de France Femmes having just won a team pursuit gold medal on the track at the Olympics. It was a journey that had been years in the making for American cycling and one disrupted by injuries such as an almost career-threatening crash for Dygert at the 2020 World Championships.On the road this season, Dygerts best result has been a sixth place at the Classic Brugge-De Panne, and at the Tour de France Femmes she will be part of the Canyon-SRAM squad helping Kasia Niewiadoma to potential victory. Watch out for a decent finish on the 6.3km Stage 3 individual time-trial in Rotterdam. Related Posts Cyclists Tour de France Femmes predictions 2024 Who are the favourites for the Tour de France Femmes 2024? The six British riders at the Tour de France Femmes 2024 Tour de France Femmes 2024: Route, start list, how to watch and all you need to know Kristen Faulkner (EF-Oatly-Cannondale)Zac Williams/ZW PhotographyAnother gold medallist. Kristen Faulkner surprised everyone including herself with her incredibly late gutsy attack during the road race at the Olympics. It was one that secured Americas first gold medal in 40 years for the womens discipline. She immediately followed this by being part of the quartet with Dygert to take team pursuit gold in the track too.On a high from the Olympics, expect Faulkner to be on the hunt for Tour de France Femmes stage wins for EF-Oatly-Cannondale.Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health)Chicago CyclingRuth Edwards returned to the WorldTour with Human Powered Health in 2024 after stepping away from road racing at the end of the 2021 season. The 30-year-old has since had a string of steady results after getting back into the swing of things following her first race back in the Tour Down Under.It was at the Thringen Ladies Tour that she truly shone. Multiple top ten finishes, including a second place on the opening day, resulted in Edwards winning the six-day race in Germany by over two minutes ahead of Mischa Bredewold of SD Worx-Protime.She immediately carried this form into the Giro dItalia Women, consistently making breakaways and finishing second on two of the hillier stages. With similar parcours in the Tour de France Femmes, expect Edwards to fight to get in the breakaway once more, potentially going one better with a victory.Lily Williams (Human Powered Health)Unipublic/Jennifer LindiniIts another Olympic team pursuit gold medallist! Lily Williams was racing alongside Dygert, Faulkner and Jennifer Valente on the way to glory on the track. She is free to race on the road, looking to target breakaways and additionally be a lead-out rider for Human Powered Health teammate Daria Pikulik.The CanadiansClara Emond (EF-Oatly-Cannondale)EF-Oatly-CannondaleClara Emond was the highest-placed Canadian rider at last years TdFF, finishing 23rd overall. She is looking to test her form after taking some time away from cycling after the Giro dItalia Women, but wont shy away from racing aggressively, something she says she finds fun. It was at the Italian Grand Tour that Emond took a sensational victory on Stage 4 with a 40km solo attack for her first professional win.At the Tour de France Femmes there are hilly days on Stages 4 and 6 before the real mountains on the last two stages. Expect EF-Oatly-Cannondale in the breakaways.Alison Jackson (EF-Oatly-Cannondale)A.S.O/Jennifer LindiniSocial media star Alison Jackson is probably dancing her way to the Grand Dpart in Rotterdam as we speak. She has already stated her intentions of being the dream maker at the Tour and helping her teammates to victory.Im going to be the teammate that says, And heres a stage win for you! And you! You get a stage win! And you get a stage win! I want to be the number one hype gurl for my teammates and support them non-stop.Jackson won Stage 2 at La Vuelta Femenina in April in a hotly contested sprint finish, avoiding the crashes on the slippery roads to Moncofa.Magdeleine Vallieres Mill (EF-Oatly-Cannondale)Grgoire CrevierMagdeleine Vallieres is eyeing Stage 4 at the Tour de France Femmes with its route to Lige similar to, funnily enough, Lige-Bastogne-Lige. She believes the EF-Oatly-Cannondale team can try something here for a stage victory, and is also looking to be in the mix towards the finish atop Alpe dHuez.Olivia Baril (Movistar)Alex Broadway/Getty ImagesMovistar enjoyed plenty of Grand Tour success with Annemiek van Vleuten, including multiple editions of the Giro dItalia Women, the Tour de France Femmes in 2022 and La Vuelta Femenina in 2023. Now the 41-year-old is retired and the team has to adapt to missing such an experienced and dominating leader in their ranks.That can also be a benefit, freeing up other riders to show what they can do. Olivia Baril is one who will race for Movistar at the Tour de France Femmes. The 26-year-old Canadian road race champion won the opening stage of the Vuelta Extremadura Fminas ahead of Brodie Chapman (Lidl-Trek) this year.Baril finished 29th at the last Tour de France Femmes while racing for UAE Team ADQ the second highest Canadian overall and will line up alongside teammates Liane Lippert, Emma Norsgaard and Floortje Mackaij. Simone Boilard (Uno-X Mobility) Luc Claessen/Getty ImagesSimone Boilard stepped up to WorldTour level this season after departing St Michel-Mavic-Auber93for Uno-X Mobilty. The team heading the Tour de France Femmes is stacked with champions, with Boilard joining Norwegian individual time-trial champion Katrine Aalerud and national road race champion Mie Bjrndal Ottestad, plus Finland road race and individual time-trial champion Anniina Ahtosalo.Maggie Coles-Lyster (Roland)Alex Broadway/Getty ImagesCanadas Maggie Coles-Lyster was recently seen in action on the velodrome at the Olympic Games, finishing eighth in the team pursuit. Shes a versatile rider across track, cyclocross and road, winning the Canadian Road Race Championship in 2022.Coles-Lyster is also one who stepped up to WorldTour level recently having joined Roland mid-season last year when the Zaaf Cycling Team had their licence revoked. She is making her debut at the Tour de France Femmes. Related Posts Cyclists Tour de France Femmes predictions 2024 Who are the favourites for the Tour de France Femmes 2024? The six British riders at the Tour de France Femmes 2024 Tour de France Femmes 2024: Route, start list, how to watch and all you need to know The post The 10 American and Canadian riders at the Tour de France Femmes appeared first on Cyclist.

The 2024 Vuelta a Espana is nearly here. Almost a week to go before the start of the last Grand Tour of the season, getting underway this year in Lisbon, on August 17. Moreover, it will be a very open edition without the presence of cycling's top stars as neither Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, nor...

CyclistDifferent times: 75 years of cycling with Ramsay MackayThe exercise bike in the middle of the converted attic is flanked by a pair of comfortable armchairs and a table, on which sits a portable typewriter with a half-finished document poking out of it. Scattered about the room are a red rotary-dial telephone, a wooden sculpture of a golfer mid-swing and framed black and white photographs of cyclists in woollen jerseys and Coppi-style sunglasses astride thin machines replete with leather saddles, toeclips and an alarming absence of gears.A skylight in the sloping ceiling looks out on the back gardens and bungalows of a quiet neighbourhood of Edinburgh. The titles among a small shelf of cycling books give a clue to the personality of the owner of this unlikely pain cave: Racing Hard, We Might As Well Win and Every Second Counts. Related Posts Love, sweat and gears at the 1985 Tour de France Rebuilding the worlds first pedal bike In celebration of the yellow jersey The story that connects all these elements will unfold over the course of the next three hours as I listen to the memories of 94-year-old Ramsay Mackay, a former Scottish Hill Climb Champion and veteran of the Tours of Britain and Ireland who, at the age of 16, rode all the way from Edinburgh to Dublin just to buy a tin of pineapple.It was 1946 and we hadnt seen any since the start of the War, he offers matter-of-factly. I was with two mates who I assumed knew how to go a bike as we all rode Post Office bikes in our jobs. But halfway to Glasgow I realised we were getting slower and slower. The overnight ferry to Belfast cost two shillings and sixpence each for us and our bikes; thats 12 and a half pence today [about 1.50 with inflation].Mackay, it will become clear, retains a forensic recollection of prices, distances and timings.From Belfast to Dublin is exactly 108 miles and about halfway there I thought we were getting even slower so I suggested to Jack and Roddy that they get the train and wait for me at the station in Dublin. I think they were quite glad and it was a pleasure being left on my own. I could finally get my head down, and I ended up arriving at the station before them. Thats when I knew I wanted to race bikes. And yes, we did get our pineapple.Mackay came to the attention of Cyclist after writing to congratulate us for producing the best magazine on cycling that I have ever read. His letter two A4 sheets immaculately produced on the typewriter at his side now (he doesnt use computers or email) continued: I only wish that such a magazine had been available when I started my working life and my cycling career on 12th June 1944 as a telegraph messenger on a single-gear Post Office bike which weighed the proverbial ton.Getting the miles inPicking up the story now, Mackay remembers he was assigned to the longest and hilliest delivery area in the Lothians that included a three-and-a-half-mile climb. We wore heavy uniforms in all weathers that we never dared take off in case someone reported us.I got very fit and decided to join my first cycling club, the Edinburgh Road Club. But I soon found they were very much a touring club and I wanted to race, so I switched to another Edinburgh club, Comet Racing Club.You never got any training or coaching advice other than, Get the miles in! Theres more good coaching advice in one magazine these days than I got in my whole racing career. The one useful tip was to avoid anyone in races who was wearing a crash hat you knew theyd probably be the one taking all the chances.In early 1952, when Mackay was 21, he and clubmate Laurie Wood combined a fortnights holiday with getting the miles in by taking the train to Paris and cycling from there to Genoa and back. They stayed at guesthouses Seven shillings and sixpence for dinner, bed and breakfast and lived off cheese and tomato baguettes during the day.But you never got any butter; it was always dry bread. I never saw a touch of butter for ten days and I loved my butter, he says. But the upside was I was reaching a level of fitness Id never known before. I got to the top of the Simplon Pass 18-and-a-half minutes ahead of Laurie, who was more of a time-triallist. The longer the climb, the better it suited me.Just outside Genoa this character appeared on a beautiful Bianchi wearing kit plastered in adverts, and his manager or coach was on a moped beside him. The pair of us jumped on his wheel and I will always remember the disdainful look we got. We had racing bikes, but we had saddle bags on them and I think this really annoyed them.The more we hung on, the more annoyed the manager got and he was calling this poor bloke every name under the sun. I eventually went past him and the manager just about had kittens. Ten days without any butter in my system and I was going like a train.On returning home, Mackay took his newfound form to the Brighton-Glasgow Six-Day race and finished 11th overall, earning him a place in the Scotland team at the Daily Express Tour of Britain.There were 78 riders racing over 16 days I think it was the longest Tour of Britain ever and two-thirds of the field were professionals. But us amateurs were really looked after by the Daily Express. For example, if you wanted to have another dinner somewhere after youd eaten at your hotel, all you had to do was keep the receipt and give it to the Express treasurer the next morning and youd get your money back on the spot.On the second rest day in Scarborough they provided massages for us at an upmarket spa. I was in line behind Ken Russell [racing for Ellis Briggs Cycles], who was on his way to easily winning the whole bloody race on his own! The Sunderland football team were staying there and the coach called all his players in to look at Ken, who was so fit he had muscle groups no one had seen before. The coach said, This is what you should look like if youre really fit.But things turned sour for Mackay when the race crossed the border into Scotland.The stage from Dundee to Edinburgh almost finished me, and I had a major falling out with our manager, Jocky Allan, he says, pointing to one of the black and white photographs on the wall of a thickset character sporting a woollen jersey, sunglasses and Brylcreemed hair.Now Jock was a great guy. He was a commando whod been a prisoner of war and who later opened a bike shop in Edinburgh. And despite being only five foot one, he had more girlfriends than there were days in the year. But on this particular day Im sitting pretty in the bunch at the front of the race on the climb up to Glenfarg when Jock comes up and tells me I need to go back for Dennis [Houghton] whos crashed. What he didnt tell me was hed crashed right at the bottom.I cycled all the way back and then me and Dennis did bit-and-bit for the next 60 miles, picking up stragglers as we went. I never recovered from that; it left me shattered for the next few days. Jock had only chosen me to go back because me and Dennis were from the same Edinburgh club [Red Lion Couriers]. He knew none of the Glaswegians would have gone back for him.Broken glass and blizzardsMackays toughest race was the 1954 Tour of Ireland, which covered 1,600km over seven days. A combination of factors political, meteorological and tragic meant that Mackay was the last of only 14 riders from a field of 108 to complete the race.On the very first day the IRA had been breaking milk bottles in the road and that took out about ten riders who fell on the broken glass. There was graffiti on the walls saying, Go home Englishman. How those bottles were supposed to differentiate between English riders and Irish I dont know. I avoided the pile-up by cycling on the pavement.On the fifth day there were six of us chasing a group down the mountains. We came around a broad, sweeping bend and theres this horse and cart with the horse foaming at the mouth clobbering up the road towards us. There was a bit of kerfuffle behind me but you dont stop. I found out later a rider had got the shaft of the cart right through his guts and died.At the start of the next day in Cork we were given black ribbons for our bikes. After five days of brilliant weather the sky suddenly went pitch black and about ten miles outside Cork we had a blizzard, a literal snowstorm. I think this was April. It was freakish.I remember Jocky saying there was no one else behind me and handing me a bottle even though I already had one. It was rum and Ribena. By the time we finished I was the happiest bloke in the race.Resistance trainingAsked if he ever cycled socially, Mackay screws up his face as if hes been told theres no butter in the fridge. When I stopped racing in my late thirties, I rode to commute, but I never fancied cycling socially. I took up golf instead.When pushed, he does admit to taking his first wife, Mary, on weekly tandem rides. But she wasnt used to it so for the last 20 or 30 miles I was pushing the tandem myself. Try that with a passenger with her feet up on the back and its great resistance training.His now-wife Frances has no interest in cycling, so Mackay, a father of three, grandfather of seven and great-grandfather of two, keeps fit by riding his exercise bike for 15 minutes most days and playing golf twice a week. His name regularly appears on the honours board at Prestonfield Golf Club.I still have that competitive edge, he says. Thats why I liked racing. Put simply, I was either racing or not cycling.Bamboo, bathtubs and BondThe career highlights of Ramsay MackayMackays proudest achievements are setting the Edinburgh-to-Glasgow-and-back tandem record in 1953 he and Dennis Houghton completed the 89 miles [143km] in 3h 31min 23sec after swapping out their alloy wheels for laminated bamboo rims to cope with the cobbles and tramlines and becoming Scottish Hill Climb champion in 1955. He also rode 12 and 24-hour TTs, once finishing 11th in the British Best All Rounder competition, all while holding down his job at the Post Office (where he worked until retirement).The Dundee-Perth road was very popular for TTs in Scotland because it was so flat so I was often up there. Id work at the PO counter until 1pm, then cycle home, put on my saddle bag and cycle the 65 miles to Dundee.One time, my usual B&B was full so I had to try the sailors home. The manager put a mattress in a bath for me, gave me bed and breakfast and threw in half a pint of milk for my supper for five [shillings] and six [pence]. Then I was up at 5am to cycle the ten miles to the start of the 12-hour TT. I did 230 miles. At the end I had a cup of tea and a sandwich and then rode the 65 miles back home, and was back in work the next morning.He also once shared the stage of Edinburghs Palais de Danse with a future James Bond.They would hold roller races before the band came on, four of us racing in front of the crowd. The singer who regularly came on after us was called Tommy Connery. He wasnt very good but he later became famous as an actor after changing his name to Sean. This article originally appeared in issue 155 of Cyclist magazine. Click here to subscribe Related Posts Love, sweat and gears at the 1985 Tour de France Rebuilding the worlds first pedal bike In celebration of the yellow jersey The post Different times: 75 years of cycling with Ramsay Mackay appeared first on Cyclist.