At Red BullBORAhansgrohe, joy and disappointment are currently unusually close together. While Remco Evenepoel is causing euphoria with strong performances, the Tour de France has ended prematurely for Florian Lipowitz after a serious crash. Zak Dempster, the teams Head of Performance, then spok...

The Trump administration wants to reduce the size of the area surrounding Chaco Culture National Historic Park that has previously been withdrawn from available mining leases. An environmental assessment was released on July 15, 2026, triggering a 14-day comment period. Learn more and find a link to comment hereThe post BLM Proposal Threatens Native American Heritage Along Tour Divide Route appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.

UPDATED July 22, 2026 BY Guest Author IN Road to Valhalla no comments The Road To Happiness? What Scandinavia Is Teaching UsArjuna Boucher-Pertuisot is the Content Creator on the 2026 Road to Valhalla Cycling Tour.I have always wanted to visit the Scandinavian countries. For years, I have wondered what they do differently to consistently rank among the happiest places in the world and whether some of their habits could be brought into my own life. Is it their connection to nature? Their strong communities? The balance between work and personal time? The saunas, cold plunges and endless coffee breaks?Now, cycling 3,000 kilometres through Finland, Sweden and Norway on the Road to Valhalla, I finally have the chance to experience this way of life from much closer. At first, however, happiness was a little difficult to see through rain-covered glasses. We left Helsinki beneath a grey sky, cycling through steady rain with soaked gloves and water finding its way into places we had hoped would remain dry. It might not sound like the beginning of a story about happiness. Yet Finland, Sweden and Norway all sit near the very top of the global happiness rankings. Three of the worlds happiest countries, connected by one long bicycle journey.The World Happiness Report is not simply counting smiles. It asks people to evaluate the overall quality of their lives, taking into consideration factors such as social support, health, freedom and trust. Those ideas can feel abstract when viewed on a chart. But after cycling through Finland and into Sweden, slowly, and quite literally kilometre by kilometre, I am beginning to understand what some of them might look like in everyday life.Nature Is Part of LifeHere, nature does not feel like somewhere you escape to on the weekend. It is built into daily life. Forests begin at the edges of towns. Lakes sit beside homes, parks and bicycle paths. Islands are connected by small ferries, while docks and swimming platforms appear almost everywhere there is water. Even the cities make room for it. Helsinki opens onto the Baltic Sea, Turku gathers around the Aura River and Stockholm spreads across islands with parks and water woven throughout. People are not necessarily doing anything extraordinary outside. They are walking, cycling, swimming, sitting beside the water or sharing coffee. Nature does not need to become an expedition before it can be enjoyed.Finlands Everymans Rights and Swedens Right of Public Access also give people the freedom to walk, cycle and spend time across much of the countryside, as long as they respect the land, wildlife and those living there. The idea is wonderfully simple: nature should be part of everyones life, but that freedom comes with responsibility. Our rainy departure revealed something else. People here do not seem to wait for perfect conditions before going outside. The rain arrives, jackets come out and life continues. Plans are adjusted rather than abandoned. I am fairly certain no happiness survey asks whether you enjoy putting wet socks back on in the morning, but the weather is not treated as an obstacle standing between you and life. It is simply part of life.Time for FikaOnce we reached Sweden, another part of Nordic culture began appearing in cafs and village bakeries: fika. At its simplest, fika is a break for coffee, usually accompanied by something sweet. But calling it a coffee break does not quite capture the idea. Fika is also about deliberately making time for other people.On a cycling tour, this makes immediate sense. Helmets and gloves collect on the table. Coffee arrives. Someone orders a simple pastry or a slice of cake to go with it. Stories from the morning are exchanged and the group reconnects before returning to the road. Connection does not always require a major event or an elaborate celebration. Sometimes it is built through an ordinary ritual repeated often: coffee, something sweet and enough time to be present with the people around you.Heat, Cold and the Finnish SaunaAnd then there is the sauna. In Finland, sauna is not simply a spa treatment or something reserved for a holiday. It is part of ordinary life, found in homes, apartment buildings, lakeside cottages, hotels and public spaces. After a long cycling day, its appeal is easy to understand. You sit. You breathe. Tired legs begin to relax. Nobody needs to be productive, and there is nowhere else to go.Then, for those willing, comes the cold lake or sea. The first contact with the water removes every thought from your mind except one: this is extremely cold. A few moments later, however, you feel intensely awake. You return to the heat and begin again. There is something distinctly Nordic about finding pleasure not by escaping the cold, but by moving between cold and warmth.Maybe We Already Know the RecipeOf course, it would be too simple to say that forests, fika and saunas explain why these countries rank so highly. Happiness is also influenced by economic security, health, freedom, trust and strong social systems. But after spending time here, the everyday recipe does not seem quite as mysterious as I expected. Perhaps it is not so far from what many of us already know. Good company. Good food. Time and space to be quiet. Staying close to nature. Moving your body. Going outside even when the weather is far from perfect. Sitting together around a table. Sweating in a sauna before jumping into water cold enough to make you question every decision that brought you there. It all sounds remarkably simple.And the more I think about it, the more I realize that TDA might have already understood at least part of the recipe. Every day, we go outside and move, whatever the conditions. We share meals, coffee stops, difficult climbs and long stretches of road. There is time to talk, but also plenty of time to be quiet. Time to think while riding alone, followed by evenings spent laughing around a table with people who may have been strangers only a few weeks earlier. Maybe this helps explain why so many riders return for a second, third or even thirteenth tour. They may come back for the countries, the roads and the next big adventure. But perhaps they are also returning to this particular rhythm of life: moving every day, sharing simple moments and becoming part of a small community travelling together.A cycling tour is certainly not a perfect model for happiness. There are sore legs, mechanical problems, headwinds and moments when the next destination feels impossibly far away. But even those difficulties create connection. Someone waits at the top of a climb. A rider helps another with a flat tyre. Coffee tastes better after hours in the rain, and dinner feels more meaningful when everyone has worked hard to reach the same table. Perhaps happiness is not only about comfort. Maybe it also comes from challenge, purpose and the feeling that you are moving forward with other people beside you.For now, I am still beginning to make these connections while riding every day through Scandinavia. Maybe it is only the honeymoon phase, the long summer evenings or some kind of Nordic placebo effect. But I do feel very happy here, happy enough that six weeks is beginning to feel a little short, and part of me is already wondering what it would be like to stay longer. We will see whether I still feel the same way by the time we reach Trondheim.RELATEDTOURRoad to Valhalla Valhalla, also known as the Hall of Heroes, was the goal for all real Vikings. Ruled by the Norse God, Odin, only the bravest and fiercest of warriors... Related Posts:Leave a Comment for "The Road To Happiness? 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Alpecin - Premier Tech are a team of classics specialists and today's stage 17 at the Tour de France was a day where that ability became incredibly useful. Jasper Philipsen took a victory from a breakaway sprint; mentored by Mathieu van der Poel and aided by their teammates that were constantly in t...

Two-way cycling is now allowed on the north bank of the Grand Canal between La Touche Bridge at Richmond St/Rathmines Road and Harolds Cross Bridge in Dublin. Althought, the Portobello Plaza is still under construction, so for now a longer detour will be needed at one end.The otherwise one-way street, Windsor Terrace, has been marked by Dublin City Council to allow two-way cycling without any cycle lane or separated space. While the concept of contra-flow cycling without lanes can often seem daunting at first, this kind of provision is the norm on similar low-traffic, low-speed streets in cities in the Netherlands, France, Belgium, and other countries. While it might not be for everybody, it allows people who want to cycle two-way on the street to do so legally without having to take significant detours or make awkward manoeuvres on busy junctions. Windsor Terrace fits the bill for being low-traffic, low-speed, and with a short distance where the street is one-way before it opens out to areas where people cycling or driving can wait for somebody coming in the opposite direction where needed. Internationally, transport authorities and advocates note that allowing contra-flow cycling on such streets is simply legally facilitating what is already happening, and that would certainly be the case here. Dublin City Council has for decades provided such arrangements on a small number of streets, but up until recently, national guidance was lacking. As reported last November, guidance in the Traffic Signs Manual has been changed to allow contra-flow without separate or, indeed, any lanes.Current examples in Dublin include at Royal Canal Bank and Leinster Street North, both in Phibsborough; Hammabille Park, and Terenure Park, both in Terenure; and on Molesworth Street in the city centre. Most of these have operated for decades with little or no issues. ALSO READ:How can two-way cycling be safe on narrow one-way streets?On Windsor Terrace, heres the view from a driver entering the street from the with-flow direction: This is the current view of the otherwise no-entry side of the street this setup is not fully in line with the guidelines, but its likely a clearer setup than text-based exception plates:

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The Tour heads into the Alps for a ski station summit finish. Tadej Pogaar got beaten the last time the race came here and he remembers it but this should be for the breakaways given the bigger Alpine stages to come.Classique du Dauphin: the Tour de France is many things and among them a game of musical chairs. Come the third week and the music plays louder as riders and teams get desperate for a seat and this is not limited to small teams and unheralded riders. If anything theyre the ones already beaten down and struggling to find an opening. So a humdrum transition stage comes alive with plenty of big names making moves. The top-10 to come was worthy of a classic but the race was even better as everyone had to make their moves from the start and keep going.With the Col des Prs and the Alpine part of the stage done the moves kept going against a backdrop of scenic lakes and mountains on the roads of the ancient Dauphin region.We got an early split in the field with Pogaar, Evenepoel and Seixas in a front group with Del Toro and others on the wrong side but it came to nothing, UAE behind were willing chasers only they did not have to as more waves of riders tried to get clear.With groups of riders spread like confetti over the course a group of five went clear with Jasper Stuyven, Ben Healy, Mads Pedersen, Felix Engelgardt and Edward Planckaert. Pedersen won the intermediate sprint and but with Planckaert playing policeman for Mathieu van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen, Stuyven attacked with 25km to go and he was looking good for the stage win but behind a larger group swept up the quartet hed distance which in turn was caught by more and so a 50 rider group was bearing down on Stuyven and crucially with several helpers working for their sprinters.The moves kept going, the group was hard to control and the last one saw Josh Tarling try a flyer in the streets of Voiron. He was closed down and we got a sprint with Mathieu van der Poel able to lead-out Jasper Philipsen and he pulled his team mate clear of the rest to leave Philipsen well clear of Mauro Schmid and Olav Kooij.For Adam Yates the stage in the Isre rhymed with misre, thanks to illness. He was dropped and at times seemed to struggle to turn the pedals but made the time cut. The big question is whether he can recover.Someone more happy was Jordan Jegat, 9th in the morning at over 22 minutes with several riders not far behind on time. He infiltrated the breakaway and thanks the time gain of almost nine minutes finished the day still 9th overall but now 14 minutes while other top-10 contenders were behind.The points competition comes alive with Pedersen in green but now only seven points ahead of Jasper Philipsen who narrowed the gap with 50 points for the stage win; Lidl-Trek will be ruing how things turned out as Pedersen at one point looked like he was a contender to win the stage and Philipsen was out of the picture; although he was never distanced and Pedersen was sapped. Theres a contest and Pedersen is forced to go raiding for fear of losing out in Paris where the finish is a 50-pointer and the intermediate sprint on the Champs-Elyses could be crucial too.The Route: 185km and 3,900m of climbing. Theres 20km on the flat until the race first goes up the road up to Lans via Engins, its not the most scenic road into the Vercors and 11.4km at 5.4% sounds gentle for a first category climb, it is especially as its an even climb up, but its a big prize for the mountains competition, a carrot to move early.Once out of the Vercors and past the town of Vif theres barely a flat road as the race heads for the Champsaur area of the Alps and then onto Orcires.The Finish: a ski station summit finish that was long heralded thanks to the Tour stage in 1971 where Luis Ocaa got the better of Eddy Merckx for once, and by eight minutes. However the race came back in 2020 and a headwind saw the lead contenders huddle between the hairpins and it turned out that the history books and magazine articles supplied more thrill than the days sport. Its still a summit finish but a gradual and even one, all on a wide road.The Contenders: Tadej Pogaar (UAE) came here in 2020 and was beaten in the finish by his senior Primo Rogli, something he evoked on TV after Stage 17 so he may wish to correct the record but at the same time in his interview he said the focus is on Alpe dHuez. Still he gets a chainring because if the breakaway cant get clear, then why not gobble up another stage?Otherwise the breakaway has a great chance, the GC contenders and their teams will want to save energy ahead of the two stages to Alpe dHuez. The summit finish means the stage is almost reserved for a climber, or someone capable of a 20 minute effort uphill.Richard Carapaz (EF) will get tipped for the next three stages and even if he wins here hell be a pick again and hes after the mountains competition too. Ditto Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-Quickstep). Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X) and Einer Rubio (Movistar) were on the move in the Vosges and should feature again but dont have the same finishing kick to deliver a win.Two new names for the breakaway are Sep Kuss and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-LAB) now they dont have a leader to work for. Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos) is better suited to the bigger mountains to come but has been trying already, if he can make the winning move his challenge is find a way to win from it.Finally Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) keeps making the breakaway and if this poses a problem for both the GC contenders and the breakaway hes likely to keep trying.CarapazVP-P, Kuss, Arensman, PidcockPogaar, Jorgenson, THJ, Tejada, Healy, RubioWeather: 27C and sunny. A light 10km/h NW breeze means a tailwind for much of the stage.TV: KM0 is at 12.50 and the finish is forecast for 5.15pm CEST.The post Tour de France Stage 18 Preview first appeared on The Inner Ring.

Some stories are turned right on their head in the final few lines - Atonement Ewan McGregor being a classic example. And so it was with stage 17 in the Tour de France, when Lidl Trek's Mads Pedersen's grip on the green jersey, which looked like it was going to be utterly unbreakable for most of the day, was dramatically loosened by an extraordinary fight back from Jasper Philipsen, who secured his first victory of the 2026 Tour, helped by a team effort from the Alpecin-Premier Tech squad.After yesterday, Pedersen had a 31-point lead in the points classification, and he rode aggressively all day, being named the most combative rider of the day for his dogged refusal not to be part of any group that tried to escape and extending his lead at the intermediate sprint. But after Philipsen was launched into the finish straight by Mathieu van der Poel, to take a memorable victory in Voiron and bagging 50 points in the process, the gap was slashed to seven.It was a proper s**t day, Pedersen said at the finish. Super disappointed I didnt get the job done. Its a big loss of points. But it is what it is, we just have to deal with the situation.The mood at the Lidl Trek bus was equally downbeat. "Its tight," conceded Kim Andersen, the team's sports director, when Cycling Weekly caught up with him. "He has to pick up some points. Of course, he was hoping for more, but it is like it is. It was a good fight. He's still in front, so..."I think we didn't calculate that others would help them out, because if it was just Philipsen it would have been okay, just Alpecin in it, things would have been okay," he continued. "But now it gets a bit tight."Philipsen, buoyed though he might be by the result, cannily played down his chances of taking the green jersey. "It'll be very hard," he said in the press conference after the stage. "He [Pedersen] also took 25 points in the intermediate today. He was in front, so he made it very hard. "The next three days are very tough with the intermediate, the chance I will not be there is pretty high. Pedersen is climbing well so he can gain some points again. We will see where we are in Paris on Sunday, and we'll see what's possible." What is for sure, is that in a race that some people have said lacks unpredictability and drama, due to the undeniable dominance of Tadej Pogaar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), the story of who takes home the green jersey this year still promises a few twists. Jasper Philipsen achieved atonement for his finish-line loss to Ben Turner here in Voiron during the 2025 Vuelta Espana, but will it be enough to propel him to victory in the race for the green jersey in the 2026 Tour de France? We may have to wait until the final page and the much-anticipated Parisian stage to find out.

Tadej Pogaar tackles stage 17 of the Tour de France 2026 with the calm that comes from a solid overall lead, but without losing sight of UAE Team Emirates XRGs broader goals. On the start line, before a day he views as tougher than the profile suggests, the Slovenian made it clear the team will st...

Dom Richard's latest video offers a reflection on his first bikepacking trip. It asks the profound question, What happens when you dont chase your dreams? Set along the picturesque English coast, its an insightful look at his journey through modern life. Watch the nine-minute video and find an introduction from Dom belowThe post The Secret to Feeling Free Again (Video) appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.