July: Adidas appoints fashion designer Stella McCartney to design uniforms for Team GB and official merchandise for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Mercian Cycles of Derby launch a website that lets you assemble your dream bike on line, and tells you the cost as you add upgrades.
Alberto Contador wins the Tour de France for the third time. As I write this, Contador is awaiting a verdict on suspected clenbuterol use during the race. If he is found guilty, he will forfeit the victory.
August: Nik Wallenda sets a new high-wire cycling record at Paradise Island Atlantis in the Bahamas, by cycling 260 feet above the ground.
Hammersmith Police put out decoy bicycles in an attempt to catch cycle thieves. Each bike has a tracking device built into it that starts up as soon as the bike is moved.
Olympic track star Sir Chris Hoy crashes his Jaguar into a Vauxhall Vectra as he leaves Manchester velodrome.
September: A Tube strike in London sees London cycle dealers’ sales rise by as much as 20% on the day of the strike.
Vin Cox has his ‘Around the World’ by bike record ratified by Guinness World records. His time of 163 days, 6 hours and 58 minutes beats Mark Beaumont’s record by about a month.
Two young offenders, who were doing time for assault and robbery, escape from a cycling proficiency course using the bikes provided.
October: Smart, the ‘cute car’ manufacturer develops an electric bike. As well as looking cool, the bike has a range of up to 90 kilometres, a recharge time of two to three hours, and uses a smartphone as a speedometer and navigation device.
Only ten weeks after going live Barclay’s Hire Bikes notch up their millionth journey. Since the launch on 30thJuly, 92,000 people have joined the scheme, and 20,000 journeys are made every day.
Frenchman Florian Bailly rides 13,000 kilometres across Europe and Asia to Tokyo on a solar-assisted bike.
November: Following the anti-tuition fee riots in London, Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg is advised not to cycle between his home in Putney and his office in Downing Street.
The Under 23 edition of the 2011 Paris-Roubaix cycle race is cancelled due to rising costs.
In a consumer satisfaction survey, online bike shop Chain Reaction Cycles comes top, beating household names such as Amazon and Marks and Spencer.
December: The home furnishing company, Ikea, gives all its 12,400 American employees a bike as a Christmas bonus.
Around-the World cyclist Mark Beaumont is chosen as Top Scot in the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards sponsored by The Scotsman Newspaper.
French tyre manufacturer Hutchinson announce a 100% puncture-free tyre. The secret is the special insert that replaces the inner tube.
Sprint Bonuses
Vickie Pendleton, Olympic Gold Medallist cyclist and the face of Hovis the breadmaker, has recently recorded a new advertising campaign that encourages working mothers to eat breakfast. Ideally a breakfast involving some Hovis bread of course! Hovis have used the Audrey Hepburn film classic ‘ Breakfast at Tiffanys’ as the basis for their advert.
Here’s a clip of the making of the advertisement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zz0iXLifzo
New for 2011 from Clarks Cycle Systems are a range of coloured chains, suitable for everything from single speed to 10 speed bikes. These come in, black, cerise, turquoise, red, white or blue. They have also brought out a limited-edition Skeletal hydraulic brake set which comes in either red and white, or green and white. These are supplied with a free pair of colour-matched handle bar grips and a spare set of disc pads.
See more: http://www.clarkscycles.com/
At last, what has been loosely known as the Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project has finally got a name and a full description of its backers, sponsors and stake holders (No Alberto Contador jokes please!). Team Leopard Trek has an impressive line up including the Scleck brothers, Fabian Cancellara, Jens Voigt and Stuart O’Grady. We’ve become aware of the strength of the team as the project has progressed, but now the final details have been released. The team will ride Trek bikes with other sponsorship coming from Mercedes-Benz, Schwalbe, Oakley and Northwave.
It must be said that the team looks very strong on paper: the Schlecks’ performance in last year’s Tour de France stands out immediately, but the team also has winners of the early season classics as well, so this could very well be a team that wins from the off.
Here’s the bikes they’ll be using: http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/story/leopardtrek
News that Scotland is putting in a bid to host the start of the 2017 Tour de France must be very encouraging to cycle sport fans north of the border. EventScotland have been in talks with Tour director Christian Prudhomme, but the outcome will no doubt take some time before it is announced. To have the Tour starting in your city is a tremendous coup, this would be the first time that the event has ever taken place in Scotland. Despite the cost; it’s usually in the order of £5million, the resulting economic benefits for the area repay this several times over.
This year’s Tour starts in the Vendee region of France, in fact the first stage starts on the island of Noirmoutier and the riders will have to ride across the notorious Passage du Gois, a road that gets covered by the sea twice a day. The last time the Tour crossed the Passage, in 1999, the slippery surface caused a massive pile-up.
See all it happening in this YouTube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T66LLvqgZS4
And Finally,
No blog next week because I’ll be at The Outdoor Show, which rather conveniently is taking place next door to the London Bike Show. So expect some news from that when I return.
Arthur Lamy is a freelance writer specialising in cycling: www.cycleinjersey.com
