ShanghaiVelo

China: If you are a cyclist be scared.

2010-08-01T02:51:00.001-07:00

Ok I splurged for an external VPN and now we're back.

Are you a cyclist in China? If you are, I would like you to stop for a moment and step back. You are doing long term damage to your body here - simple and clean.

Please consider figure A below.

This is not just a photo to show off how strong and toned my legs are getting (please no fan mail). On Saturday I went for a bike ride - I rode about 90k's. The weather was strikingly clear. There was nary a cloud in the sky. In fact, I leave the house so early in the morning now, that there is barely any traffic. This is a huge feat in one of China's largest cities.

This photo is to show you how polluted the air is here on even the most clear 'high visibility days'. Please not the amount of 'particulate matter' around the upper shin and knee area.

Please note exhibit B.

Note sock line. . . and please note exhibit C

. . . . . . . . I was riding in a totally secluded tree area. There was no car traffic, no people, no nothing. Now imagine if I was riding in an urban area . . .

BLOCKED

2009-08-18T18:42:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

As you may have noticed our blog has not been updated in some time (SORRY!). Unfortunately, like many others we have been denied access here in China.

For all of you who can still see our blog we are working on something very exciting right now!!!!

keep an eye on:

www.cyclingnewsasia.com

Currently coming soon. . . . .

For more details or to advertise please contact me at rlamb@cyclingnewsasia.com

RIDER PROFILE: JAI CRAWFORD

2009-05-13T14:51:00.000-07:00

Recently Mrs. SV has been looking at some exciting options for our site and during her R&D she started researching riders who have had an impact on the Asia cycling scene. Mrs. SV, being Australian, naturally gravitated towards Audalia Ren!

From her work, we have been hugely fortunate to have been put in touch with Mr. Jai Crawford! Please see the start of our conversation below:

JC in Jelajah Malaysia

Mrs. Shanghaivelo: How long you have been riding and how did you get started?

Jai Crawford: I've been riding XC Mountain Bikes and Road Bikes for about 8 years. I started out in MTB with my eldest brother and eventually started racing and progressed from there.

MSV: Some information about your current team:

Jai Crawford: I'm riding for Australian Continental team Savings and Loans. The team has been around a few years but this is my first year with them. We have a strong group of riders who work well together and an excellent Director Sportif in Pat Jonker, one of Australia's best ex professional road cyclists.

Tour de Langkawi, 2009. 2nd place.

MSV: What was your first race in China?

Jai Crawford: I first raced in China in 2007 at Tour of Qinghai Lake. I struggled with the altitude and didn't ride as well as I would have liked.

MSV: Tell us about your current Bike(s):

Jai Crawford:I'm riding my team issue Avanti Quantum Team road bike and TT bike. Both bikes are exceptionally good, they ride as well as any of the popular European and American bikes I've used over the years. We are using 2009 Shimano Dura Ace on our bikes and I have to say that its proven be excellent.

MSV: How is your race calendar looking for 2009? Any season goals you have?

Jai Crawford: Our next race is Tour of Korea in early June. The main goals of my season were to finish on the podium at Tour de Langawi and Tour of Qinghai Lake. I was able to achieve the first one riding with my National Team and right now I'm preparing for Qinghai Lake. A result in that race should secure me a contract on one of the bigger European teams in 2010, so I'm really focussing on that race and really none of the other races matter to me this year. We will be doing a few of the events in Australia, including the Herald Sun Tour. Hopefully we will have a start in Tour of Hainan and few other events in Asia.

(Please note excellent sock height and colour - ed.)

MSV: Your favourite cyclist of all time?

Jai Crawford: I'm a fan of Jan Ulrich, as much for his character as his incredible cycling ability.

der kaiser. . . he looks fast even in slow motion. . . . actually he isn't even moving. . .

MSV: Your role model?

Jai Crawford: I don't really have a role model. I am who I am and I live life according to the way I see it.

MSV: What is your favorite race in China, and why?

Jai Crawford: Tour of Qinghai Lake would be my favourite if it didn't rain and get so bitterly cold! The mountains there are right up my alley. Tour of Hainan has a much more comfortable climate but the race a little too flat for my attributes.

MSV: What motivates you to ride hard?

Jai Crawford: I started out riding hard because I liked to, I enjoyed riding and feeling pain was a sure sign you were doing it as you should be. Now, as a professional athlete, the work I put in and the pain involved in training and racing is far too excessive to be motivated solely by a love of the sport. Money plays a role now, cycling is my job and if I didn't pursue prize money and bigger contracts I would be doing a pretty poor job.

MSV: What was your biggest ever cycling fashion faux pas?

Jai Crawford: I remember I wore a pair of thick, black Explorer socks that came up to my knees during a 24 hour indoor roller event, they were pretty untidy and quite amusing for all involved.

We like this outfit on him better... Polka Dot Jersey, Wellington, NZ.

MSV: What do you like to do other than ride?

Jai Crawford: I enjoy cooking, and I especially enjoy eating. I had some great Chinese food whilst living in Nanjing last year and I can't wait to go back for a holiday and eat some more. I try to spend as much time as I can with my wife when I'm not training, she's my best friend as well as my wife!

MSV: Your favourite place (anywhere on earth) to ride?

Jai Crawford: Tuscany in Italy, its hilly, beautiful, you get respect from motorists and the food is great.

Quite a few people concur... Tuscany 2009

MSV: Your best book about cycling?

Jai Crawford: I haven't really read any books about cycling that stand out as great ones.

MSV: Your shoe size?

Jai Crawford: 43.5

So there you have it! It seems the average Shanghai Velo rider has the perfect shoe size to make it pro! Jai Crawford has the same size shoes as JP. Coincidence? I think not.

Huge thanks to Jai! Good luck in your up-coming races. Jai Yo, Jai Yo, Jai Yo.

http://www.macaframa.com/

2009-05-12T14:32:00.000-07:00

Ok, so after spending some time in Chains shop on Fuxing it made me realise that singlespeed culture is definitely on the rise in Shanghai - I have been a singlespeed devotee since 2000 when I bought my first - a completely chrome track bike that my good friend, and fashion devotee Peter Odegaard had won nationals on.

for this reason I though I would share a favourite site with everyone

http://www.macaframa.com/

go to the site and click on movies - there are some extremely cool trailers in a lead up to a full length movie these guys are doing. They are basically a bunch of singlespeed riders in San Franscisco who want to demonstrate the beauty of riding a fixie, one of them went to film school and the other used to make skate videos. . . .simpy awesome stuff - it will make your day (BUY THE DVD!!!!)

Do you have any favourite sites you would like to share with our international group, are there stories or info you would like to see more of on our blog? This is a community site - so it needs community involvement! Email them to me and I will post them and or research the topics

rob_w_lamb@hotmail.com

QUESTION TO OUR READERS

2009-05-09T15:39:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

A few companies have approached our blog to advertise.

The question I want to post to all of you is:

What do you think of advertising on our Shanghai cycling blog?

Good idea? Bad Idea? Down with the establishment?

post your comments to this post please!

GIRO D'Italia

2009-05-09T15:36:00.000-07:00

The GIRO starts today! For all of you who haven't followed the Giro previously - it will be worth having a look at:

www.cyclingnews.com and
www.pezcyclingnews.com

just to see the new TT bike under Fabian Cancellara!

THAILAND! Tour of Friendship

2009-05-07T14:53:00.001-07:00

Final day of racing. Like every day, hot at the starting line, already 30 degrees, to reach a high of 35 at the finishing line. Remember this is air temperature in the shadows, not the actual temperature on the road (no clouds either). Fortunately, as always, the motorcycles were riding next to us with ample water to fill our bottles and more over our heads.

Due to road construction, the course was shortened to flat 97 km. Andre took his shot early one, 1 km out of the start, he got a 300 meter lead on the pelaton but no one joined and he was caught after another 4 km. First half of the race saw multiple attempts to get away, no one even being allowed off the front as the lead teams held the race tight. Halfway through the race, our average was 37 kph, with lots of lulls in the action, until finally three riders escaped.

At 70 km, Shanghai's very own Paul Toohey waited until another breakaway attempt was pulled in, then launched an attack with massive speed, quickly pulling away. After he got 400 meters, the pelaton responded, but just as we were about to catch him we came to an overpass and the pelaton slowed just so slightly, and Paul was gone again.

Ten km from the finish, the pace picked up to 45 kph, never to get below that pace again. I moved into the 10th position and was able to bridge to a three man break at the top of an overpass, but the pelaton wasn't in a mood to let it get away and pulled it in quickly. The final several km had several overpasses and turns, the pace sneaking up to 50+ kph, by the time the 3km sign appeared I was struggling to hold my front position, and soon was struggling even to hold a wheel. The key to winning was being one of the first few around a u-turn with 1.1 km to go; no one from Shanghai could hold the fast pace that long.

In the 50+ category, Chang-chi did honors to Shanghai by earning second in a group sprint.

As always, solid Thai food ready shortly after the finish.

Dead tired, very happy, looking forward to next year.

Thank you again Allen!

SPECIALIZED RIDERS CLUB!

2009-05-06T06:16:00.001-07:00

Hi All, I hope you have heard (as I am late in posting this) but Specialized has launched a riders club aimed at getting more people together to ride. If you are free tomorrow night they are even throwing a party!!

May 7! Music, food/drinks and hot chicks (?) Click on the above for all the details!

THAILAND Tour of Friendship! The Paul Toohey show!

2009-05-06T06:12:00.000-07:00

The honor of Shanghai has been restored - Paul finished 4th in the 30+ year category, and Chang-chi 5th in the 50+ year category!

The race started well to the west of Bangkok and ended up to the northwest of the city, a meandering 143 kilometers with gentle rolling hills the first 50 km, limited to overpasses the remainder. In the 30+ category, the only two breaks to get away were at 5km and 10km respectively, with Paul being in the first one. Over 20 attacks during the remainder of the stage were all futile.

Paul was riding with four Thai riders who had mobile communication devices, telling them they had gained four minutes on the peleton. The best moment was after a hard pull, he fell to the back of the paceline and took refreshments from the motorcycle following. As he was struggling to open it (rubber band), the other four attached! But he lived through it and made the podium in the end.

The rest of us stayed in the pack, spurts followed by slow stretches, with the first 100 km average only 36 kph. Then the teams got going, we averaged 40 kph the rest of the way. The only disappointment was that the finish came 10 km before advertised; I was feeling good, only to find some (local) guys sprinting and then seeing a red line on the road marking the finish. Alex rode with the peleton the entire way to guard his 13th place GC ranking.

A HUGE WELL DONE TO ALL RIDERS AND A SPECIAL WELL DONE TO PAUL FOR A GREAT FINAL EFFORT.

MORE DETAILS AND PICS CAN BE FOUND AT http://www.touroffriendship.net/

THAILAND Tour of Friendship!

2009-05-05T14:36:00.001-07:00

After our 220+ km ride, we enjoyed a gourmet dinner outside, overlooking the River Kuai, some of us even brave enough to down a Singha trying to replenish the 6700 calories we used. Well out of Bangkok, the only things we could see from the hotel room were green trees and mountains, a nice change from Shanghai.

Stage 3 started with attacks upon the left turn out of the hotel driveway, and didn't let up until about 8 riders got away at 10 km, when the pace settled down. The gentle rolling hills where already causing pain, when after 40 km the first climb -- 300 meters in 4 km -- of the day came. Andre, Alex, Paul, Hawk, Michel all went over strongly while Allen and Jim lagged at the back of the pack. Allen ended up dropping out after 82 km with a sore back, while Jim pushed through to the finish line.

The second half of the race was divided into many small groups, with small steep hills leading up to a final 200 meter climb over the final 3 km. Michel almost got on the podium in the 50-59 year category, finishing 8th. Alex, with scabs all over his body, finished 16th for the day, bringing him up to 13th in the cumulative standings. Andre worked hard, pulling a pack of 20 along before finishing in the middle of the pack. And Paul, after dropping out at 130km the day before, showed that boys from Shanghai can climb: at the base of the climb (the most steep section), he took off and quickly dropped 8 of the 9 riders with him, with the final pursuant falling off shortly thereafter, gaining 41 seconds on the final ascent.

Thanks Allen! Keep at it there will be more Singha's to come!

THAILAND Tour of Friendship!

2009-05-04T14:07:00.000-07:00

Thank you to Allen Leuth for this race report:

There was a rolling start of 31 km, plus the race of 195 km, total 225 km. Even the rolling start was full of energy, with an average of over 29 kph.

Race got off to a smooth start with the pack staying together at a pace of 36 kph, with occasionally stretches much faster, when someone went down in the middle of the pack. Alex got hit hard and has blood and bruises everywhere; I managed to pull off to the side and stop without hitting the rider in front of my, only to get hit from behind (later spoke broke, rim started rubbing the brake). Meanwhile, the leaders, seeing their chance, picked up the pace to put us away. Then Andre went down in anther crash 4 km down the road.

Alex & I where in a small pack, after 50 km averaging aroun 40 kph, caught the lead peleton, including Paul who managed to escape the crash. Paul wisely pulled off at 130 km for a nice lunch.

At 169 km into the race (26 km from the finish) we entered a hilly area, with the final 4 km at almost 10% climb. I fell off the pace & lost 30 minutes over that stretch. Alex, with all his wounds, managed to stay with the pack until the final climb.

Jim finished in the 40+ group, and our two Taiwanese friends both finished in the 50+ group. No trophies yet...

From the ed: A HUGE WELL DONE TO ANDRE TILLMANS WHO FINISHED THE QUEEN STAGE IN 35 OF 55 FINISHERS. THIS SEEMED TO BE A MASSIVE BATTLE OF ATTRITION AND ANDRE SURVIVED SOME HORRIBLE CRAMPING AND SOME TIME WITH THE AMBULANCE STAFF - WELL DONE ANDRE!

RIDER PROFILE: JP Dawance (Voted: Best Overall Cyclist Shanghai!)d

2009-05-02T18:54:00.000-07:00

JP on the front!

Shanghaivelo: How long you have been riding?

JP: I started when I was 13 years old, hence long time ago... However, there were in between several long periods off the bike like from 17 to 19 to resume football and then later for studies, for football again and then for some jobs abroad in “cycling incompatible” countries. No more long interruptions since I restarted in 1998 with two seasons in Belgium and then two seasons in France. A clear peak in 2003, thanks to my meeting with Mr. Doug Cousineau (my guru), as well as Gudo Kramer, the manager of the Marco Polo team (who helped fulfill my dream of riding a professional race)… and the SARS!

JP Spreads the love. . . .

Shanghaivelo: How you got into/started cycling?

JP: I started riding when my father who had been a good runner decided to resume with sport in his late thirties. I was 13 years old and playing football, pretty much the only sport activity at that time. Two years after, having reached the age of 15 years old, hence the minimum age for racing, I thrown a bomb at home when announcing I would be stopping football. How could I even consider this?... The second bomb came 30 seconds later when my parents found out the reason behind was to race. After several months of negotiation, the “no way” became a “yes with conditions”. I was finally on the start line. My weak results drove me quite naturally back to the football pitch where I could succeed. Football is the most beautiful game in the world. Cycling is the most epic sport.

Shanghaivelo: Some information about your team?

JP: TCR (TREK China Racing) is a very strong team with a fantastic team spirit. You saw only a fraction of it in the 2008 FHL series as most of the racers are from Beijing area. Despite this, we had a good share of victories and podiums. Todd is perfectly managing the blend of experienced and younger talented racers. Some of you could witness the near perfect race in Suzhou last autumn (only a stellar Chia was able to counter our plans) but what a pleasure to get handshakes and congratulating words from people we do not even know for the way we shaped and conducted the race. Recruitment for 2009 is ideal. We shall be in a better position to contest also the team general classification in 2009.

JP in third wheel even without TT bike and funny looking helmet!

Shanghaivelo: Your Bike(s)?

JP: A TREK Madone 6.9 Pro Trek-Marco Polo team 2008 that you will discover at the first FHL race of the season on March 28th. A rocket! Prepare your camera! ;-)

A TREK Madone SSL 6.9 Discovery Chanel-Marco Polo team 2007 that I used in Shanghai last year until July but which is now my racing bike in Belgium. Very stable and so keen to accelerate. A piece of art also.

My wife’s preference: the first one ever being tolerated in my living room for short stays!

A TREK aluminium 2500 1999 which is my first Trek and my first aluminum. I bought it as Trek did a special effort to give me a very attractive price when they hear it was a kind of “non budgeted emergency” as it came to replace my previous bike, stolen after a race. After 10 years of very loyal services, my elder son now uses it when he wants to go (fast!) to her girlfriend place without me knowing…

A Cannondale CAAD 7, my winter training bike.

And finally a heavy steel Scott mountain bike which I promise I did not steal from the museum; Once it was new!

Shanghaivelo: What you do for training?

JP: Nothing really special anymore… Since few years I privilege the fun of riding with the FHL group but trying to be consistent. Few weeks before my holidays in Belgium, I usually intensify and tailor a bit in the sense that races over there have nothing in common with the long stretch of the A30! But only group rides, even at fast pace, are not good enough if you wish to improve… I am going to change this and put a bit of discipline into this!

Shanghaivelo: Any season goals you have?

JP: With TCR for FHL races, this is clear: To win. Together as a team or individually, whatever, but to win. And as much as possible.

For my summer break, I would also love to have fun again in racing in Belgium meaning not having to let the race go on around me but being able to impact it a bit. Would be great to do some Flemish races with Herman again!

Shanghaivelo: Your favourite cyclist?

JP: When I was a kid I have to tell you that my family was in the Roger De Vlaeminck side when Belgium was split between the Merckx-ist and the De Vlaeminck-ist. My parents were quite neutral at early stage, admiring pretty evenly the exploits of both champions until Eddy Merckx was made kind of honorary chairman of the Racing White, a rival football club of our ever supported club. He disqualified instantly from getting any kind of consideration from us!

What a talent this Roger De Vlaeminck! During is first season as junior, he took part to 25 races, amongst them the Belgian Championship. He only finished second to one of them! He is one of the greatest cyclists in history, actually the most talented real classics rider of his generation, but he had to battle Eddy Merckx for supremacy throughout his entire career. He is one of the great professional cyclists also to have claimed the cyclo-cross world championships title. Such ability enabled him to win nearly all classics amongst them Paris-Roubaix four times, still a record, and to defeat Merckx several times in the process, including by the record winning margin in the race.

Once again I am able to find a photo with both great (Hinault on the front with Roger De Vlaeminck - this photo was taken at Paris Roubaix . . . such talent (me not them)

Today, I am happy to follow Philippe Gilbert.

Not only because he comes from my village and is born the same day (not same year!) as me but for his offensive riding style and his sense of attacking right!

Shanghaivelo: Your role model?

JP: Bernard Hinault. What a man!

Hinault in the Yellow Jersey

The last great champion who was able to win the first and the last classic of the season and the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France in between. As teenager, I was impressed by his no-bounds courage, his very strong personality and his way of talking direct. A real example for me at that time!

Shanghaivelo: What one pro tour race would you like to do and why?

JP: If only I could...Without hesitation, I say loud and clear the “De Ronde” (de Ronde van Vlaanderen = Tour of Flanders). And yes, I am from the French speaking part of Belgium, so what?

This is simply the most beautiful race in the world, no discussion.

2009 Ronde. . . . a picture is worth a thousand words. . .

This race has everything. This is the most epic one! Just imagine to have your name on the starting list of the race having on its winning list names such as Buysse, Van Steenbergen, Schotte, Magni, Impanis, Bobet, Forestier, De Bruyne, Van Looy, Godefroot, De Vlaeminck, Leman, Merckx, Planckaert, Martens, Vanderaerden, Criquielion, Van Der Poel, Van Hooydonck, Museeuw, Bugno, Van Petegem, Tchmil…

If you win this one, you change your status from Mr. Nobody or even from Mr. Champion to the most prestigious “Lion of Flanders” title, which is ranked somewhere next to God!

Shanghaivelo: What motivates you to ride hard?

JP: Strange question…Is it possible to do differently? Joke aside, before I take my bike I like to decide what I am going to do, if this is either to recover or to seriously exercise. There is nothing in between but comfort and this does not make you progressing. Except when on holidays, my free time is rather limited so I do not have time for enjoyable but useless long rides at moderate speed. Now of course, there are multiple ways of riding hard, multiple ways to train one aspect of the race.

Shanghaivelo: What stuff do you do other than ride?

JP: Nothing. I mean no other sport anymore. However, you have to know that after most of the Sunday ride, while you are taking your shower, I have to play the World Cup Final of football against my younger son. He is nearly 8 years old, runs faster and faster and start to have pretty strong and accurate skills. Soon I shall not need to pretend anymore I am losing against him…

Shanghaivelo: Where you work and what you do?

JP: I am the Technical Director for Nestlé Waters in China. My office is located in Jinqiao. I have however to travel which is not helping to reach my fitness peak!

Shanghaivelo: What you like to eat before training?

JP: I am not too picky about that. What I found in the fridge will be my meal. I sometimes go for sweet or even a chocolate bar, telling to myself that anyway I am going to burn these extra calories out soon after.

Shanghaivelo: Your favourite training routine?

JP: A recovery ride with the team and friends the day after a victorious race. Chat ride with heavy sore legs. The yesterday race told, told and re-told. Pure happiness. You know, in Belgium, it is virtually impossible to train without meeting other bunches. Sometimes you can be accompanied with racers you/your team just beat 24hours ago. What a good feeling when they feel the necessity to repeat the race again –but 24h too late!- and you just decide to let them go…

Shanghaivelo: Your favourite place (anywhere on earth) to ride?

JP: To the same question two months ago, I would have replied the Vosges (hills and plains East of France) for the scenery and for the variety of good roads and of course my place in Belgium located at the edge of the low flat land and the Ardenne (the Bulge), the hilly part where Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Flèche Wallonne take place.

But now, I am definitively adding Melbourne where I had the chance to spend Christmas and New Year (with Damian and his family who entertained us like if we would be prince!). The Aussies are so incredibly welcoming and the cycling culture there is really impressive. To ride at Christmas time short sleeves along the bay and to stop for a real Italian coffee is really great! Ready to go back there Down Under anytime!

Ya Victoria seems an OK place to ride - see a photo from the area 2007!

Shanghaivelo: Your best book about cycling?

JP: The Rider, by Tim Krabbé. The entire book, only 150 pages is about a one-day French road race during which you can feel the thrill of his emotions and physical sensations of racing his bike! On the top of this, it actually encompasses the entire experience of what means to live the life as a bike racer.

Shanghaivelo: Your shoe size?

JP: 43.5

JP on the front again!

THAILAND Tour of Friendship!

2009-05-02T06:41:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are unaware, Shanghai is represented in Thailand by a total of seven riders, including Andre Tillmans, Alex Baumstark, Allen, Jim Hadden, Paul Toohey, Hawk Chiang, and one of his friends. The first day was a 7km time trial. Andre finished in 8th place in his time category with an average speed of over 40 kph!! Well done Andre! Allen gets the bike handling skill award; on the ride back from the TT, the bicyclist in front of him went down. Allen rode over his sliding leg and managed to stay up . . . . . .there was no mention of how his leg faired. . . Tomorrow is a huge 210km race with a mountain-top finish.

GO SHANGHAI!

RACE REPORT: DISHUI LAKE TT PICS

2009-04-30T07:40:00.001-07:00

Everyone say: You have no idea the pain we are about to endure!

Not only is he the president - he is also a client!
Check the right quad. . .

And off goes the yellow jersey. . .

RACE REPORT: DISHUI LAKE TT

2009-04-30T07:26:00.000-07:00

Category A						Distance:	25.0	# of Racers:	33
名次	出发顺序	号码	姓名	英文名	车队	出发时间	到达时间	用时	平均速度	积分
1	49	A013	崔朝飞	Simon Cui	Specialized中国队A队	12:24:AM	12:58:31 AM	12:34:31 AM	43.5	231
2	47	A005	崔尹浩	Cui Yian Hao	TCR	12:23:AM	12:58:44 AM	12:35:44 AM	42.0	230
3	17	A007		Todd McKean	TCR	12:08:AM	12:43:48 AM	12:35:48 AM	41.9	228
4	23	A018		William Neijssen	Specialized中国队A队	12:11:AM	12:47:23 AM	12:36:23 AM	41.2	225
5	39	A015	许伟端	Eric Koh	Specialized中国队A队	12:19:AM	12:55:26 AM	12:36:26 AM	41.2	221
6	55	A009		Jacob Johansen	Chain's Sprockets链轮单车	12:27:AM	1:03:43 AM	12:36:43 AM	40.9	216
7	16	A111	吴刚		MaxSHracing	12:07:AM	12:44:43 AM	12:37:13 AM	40.3	210
8	6	A078	姜恩博	Jiang enbo	合利兄弟	12:02:AM	12:40:39 AM	12:38:09 AM	39.3	203
9	34	A017	李改堂	Li Gaitang	Specialized中国队A队	12:16:AM	12:54:44 AM	12:38:14 AM	39.2	195
10	9	A071		Keith Hosli		12:04:AM	12:42:29 AM	12:38:29 AM	39.0	186
11	5	A079		TONY ORVAIN	合利兄弟	12:02:AM	12:40:55 AM	12:38:55 AM	38.5	176
12	24	A031		James Hadden	Chain's Sprockets链轮单车	12:11:AM	12:50:57 AM	12:39:27 AM	38.0	165
13	13	A064		Fredrik Croneborg	PANARACER-起点１队	12:06:AM	12:45:27 AM	12:39:27 AM	38.0	153
14	38	A001		JP Dawance	TCR	12:18:AM	12:58:20 AM	12:39:50 AM	37.7	140
15	48	A016	孔宪嘉	Kung Chia	Specialized中国队A队	12:23:AM	1:03:21 AM	12:39:51 AM	37.6	126
16	7	A075	王磊	Wang Lei	合利兄弟	12:03:AM	12:43:08 AM	12:40:08 AM	37.4	111
17	27	A003	王开元	Wang Kaiyuan	TCR	12:13:AM	12:53:11 AM	12:40:11 AM	37.3	95
18	46	A058	罗佳敏	Luo Jiamin	PANARACER-起点１队	12:22:AM	1:02:42 AM	12:40:12 AM	37.3	78
19	14	A039		EDWARD CORK	MaxSHracing	12:06:AM	12:47:10 AM	12:40:40 AM	36.9	60
20	4	A080	赵凤鸣	Zhao fengming	合利兄弟	12:01:AM	12:42:12 AM	12:40:42 AM	36.9	41
21	28	A026		Andre Tillmanns	Chain's Sprockets链轮单车	12:13:AM	12:54:18 AM	12:40:48 AM	36.8	21
22	41	A036		Robbie Trapp	MaxSHracing	12:20:AM	1:01:09 AM	12:41:09 AM	36.5	21
23	43	A024	李佳跃	Li Jiayue	MaxSHracing	12:21:AM	1:02:25 AM	12:41:25 AM	36.2	21
24	18		程滨

MTB World Cup win for Chengyuan Ren

2009-04-29T14:26:00.000-07:00

A huge win for China's Chengyuan Ren in the world cup as she won round two in Offenburg, Germany. Ren launched a strong attack on the 5th lap climb!

For the full story see http://www.cyclingnews.com/mtb.php?id=news/2009/apr09/apr30mtbnews

RACE REPORT: FHL TIME TRIAL DISHUI LAKE

2009-04-28T16:25:00.000-07:00

The 'B' Files - by the lovely but cuddly Mr. Zennon Capron! For those of you who don't know, Zennon is not only a catchy name, but also a talented writer (see below), a cyclist, and the man behind Kapron Asia http://www.kapronasia.com

The Race Report from the 25th TT:

Di shui hu roughly translated into English means ‘F*&!ing windy lake.” Anyone who has ridden there knows that any time of the year, in any part of the season, there is a strong headwind that lasts for 7.9km of the 8km loop around the lake followed by a tailwind that last for about 100m. Sunday, the lake lived up to its namesake and there was a bitterly strong headwind that actually caused a Belgian TCR rider to get off his bike and walk it across the finish line muttering about how if it were a wet cobbled road like home his dimpled Zipps, it wouldn’t have been a problem.

The wind kept up as the race started at about 09:30 and the A-category got going. The biennial FHL time-trials are typically the best attended races of the year with closet triathletes and TT-heads coming out of the woodwork to be almost as common as the Euro-pro triathlete-haters that attend the other races throughout the year. This year was no exception with the likes of the undisputed uber-taskmaster of the Shanghai spinning world Jacob Johansen, uber-China Trek boss Todd McKean, and Shanghai uber-triathlon legends Fredrik Croneborg and Tony Orvain all making appearances at the race – and they helped push the top speed – making this year’s race one of the fastest yet and had the old-hands like Allen Lueth panting at the finish line “Damn that was fast…”

The most obvious difference between the A and B categories on Saturday was the equipment. With flashy Treks, Cervelos and Zipps of every depth, the A category was not only a test of strength and grit, but of technological innovation. “Wheels that shave 20s off a 40km TT? I’ll take them.” “Water bottle not aerodynamically placed, forget water – don’t need it.” I’m sure Shanghaivelo will very shortly post a ‘most pimp ride’ award shortly. Was it the Specialized Transition? Todd McKean’s Trek Equinox? Or Edward Cork’s Specialized ‘Test Bike’? Yet ironically, if you looked at the top-10 finishers in Category A, most, while riding different brands, most were quite similarly equipped with at least an TT-specific frame, aerobars, and two deep rim wheels if not a deep front and a disc rear. Yet, the time difference between the top finisher and the 10^th, was just over 4 minutes.

Looking at the B category, it was a much more mixed bag with most riders on their road bikes with aerobars and some deep-rim action, but nothing to the extent of category A, yet the difference between the 1^st place and 10^th place riders was only 3 minutes – indeed only 12s separated the top-4. Had I known the difference would’ve been so slight, I would have begged/borrowed/stole my own set of ‘minus 20 second over 40km’ Zipps, which would’ve catapulted me into first with a few seconds to spare. So, the moral of the story?

1. Never buy Zipps so at least you have an excuse

2. Buy them, but make sure they’re last season’s, so at least you have an excuse.

The course itself, despite the wind, was quite nice. Almost a near perfect 8km with very little traffic and a good road surface, there were few flaws that one could point to besides the wind. The local police and security kept most of the cars, but not the wind, off the course which made it easier for riders to focus on catching the rider in front of them rather than avoiding cars. As mentioned, the B-race was tight and windy, but due to seeding, it was a bit difficult to tell who the competition was as many of the top-finishers went off in the beginning and some at the end – riders seemed to be seeded in general by team. This was unlike the A-race (also windy), where riders were seeded based on quite a complex and effective system designed by the organizers which more or less had the fastest rider going last. The wind also seemed to pick up during the B-race, but it was difficult to tell as it always seems less windy at the start line.

The finish line was about 500m before the starting line and, you guessed it, the last 1km coming to the finish was some of the most punishing wind on the course. As one rider stated before the race, “push harder until you go cross-eyed, then you can back-off a bit,” – well if it were going to happen, it would’ve been at the finish – directly into the wind.

A-results were released about an hour after the race and B-results yesterday. B saw the boys from Panaracer dominating the top spots with a few MaxSH, Specialized and Proair’s filling out the top-10.

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DOPPIO ESPRESSO - SV does Como!

2009-04-20T02:27:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I digress. On our second to last day in Milano I decided to brave the group ride! I left the holiday in early and headed to the meeting spot. On the way to the ride I rode up behind a rider in full Team LPR kit. I decided to try my best Italian and ask where I can find a 'groupetto'. As per usual I was met with helpfulness and hospitality! He introduced himself as Achille and kindly escorted me to where the group was meeting. He explained on the way that there was two races on the day so the group may be quite small. It was a slightly overcast morning and the riders met in front of a beautiful local church. See the boys and Achile in his LPR kit in the centre above (Trent - please note the white arm and leg wawrmers. . . ). We set off across Milan and had a great chat about the usual cycling topics (which wheels you feel are the best right now and our favourite riders). Achille was a huge Alessadro Petacchi fan (Another vote for the gentleman sprinter), and we settled on the Campagnolo Bora as the 'wheel of the moment'! As the ride went on I met more of the local riders who were amazingly hospitable and spoke excellent English - I was embarrassed at the poorness of my French and Italian!

The topography slowly started to roll, and suddenly we could see mountains on the horizon. Achille kindly explained that we would ride to Como today! Imagine my luck - I then told the boys that I was getting married on the Lake! I was lucky enough to have my trusty camera with me (see upcoming review) so I took a short video of riding with the boys in Milano! (Kids don't ride with no hands while filming other riders!).

Incredible riding as we snaked towards Como (city). Road quality was very, very good and we were given a great deal of space and respect by motorists. One thing that I found amazing was the sheer number of well presented serious cyclists,this was brilliant for the morale. Once we reached Como is was time to ride the climb where Paolo Bettini attacked during Lombardy! It was an excellent feeling just knowing you were pedaling along at a spot where cycling history had been made - I was also lucky enough to have a commentary on the climb from one of the local riders.

Overall an excellent 120k's with a few epic climbs, and very good company - if you are going to Italy and have time to get a ride in in Milano please contact me at rob_w_lamb@hotmail.com and I will put you in touch with the local guys who rode me around! Stay tuned for some snaps of milan tomorrow!

DOPPIO ESPRESSO - SV Does Bergamo, Tuscany. . .

2009-04-16T23:14:00.000-07:00

It has been a little while since the last post – I can explain. As a wedding present, my now ‘almost wife’ got me an amazing present – 8 days in Tuscany! We stayed on an organic biological olive oil farm (extremely cool – have a look at www.agrifuturismo.com but make sure the volume is DOWN on your computer should you be viewing this page at work).

After our last few posts when we were in Milan. We then went to Bergamo. I must admit a very strong liking for Bergamo. Not only because I was able to ride part of the Giro course from 2007 – right at the spot where Gilberto Simoni attacked near the finish, only to be caught by a flying Stefano Garzelli (one of my all time personal favourites) only to complain that Garzelli had used the moto to catch him and win the sprint. See video:

Do not try this at home kids. . .

But also because of the wonderful hospitality of our hosts at L'angolo del poeta (Poets Corner? This may show my soft spot for Robbie Burns. . .) http://www.http://www.angolodelpoeta.com/ Certainly one to see for great riding, excellent topography, some pretty good bike shops and brilliant food.

This guy finished his training and went straight in for a small cake and espresso . . heaven! Please note impeccable bike choice. . .

Our 'place' in Bergamo. . .

Before we arrived at Tuscany (we stayed between Firenze and Sienna for you Geography buffs out there) we went to La Spezia for a few days. I will credit Andrew Hay with the ‘first to recognize the home of Alessandro Petacchi” award. Yes, La Spezia is where he grew up, and if you were to visit La Spezia you would know why he is such a great sprinter – he was in a hurry to get the hell out of there. Once out of the city centre however was when the riding became brilliant. La Spezia is surrounded by oceans and mountains. Have a look at these pictures (as usual - click to enlarge)!

I took in a long climb to get you this photo. . .

We stayed at the Jolly hotel right on the water, and while a bit on the pricey side, it was certainly an advantageous spot for riding.

dodgy picture from Hotel room window. . .

Amazing riding here and I really enjoyed myself - I would strongly suggest it for a cycling specific vacation spot but little else. . . . .anyone from La Spezia out there? Should you bring your cycling spouse there is also the option of seeing La Cinque Terre (also outlined by Andrew. . .).

More to come soon - now get back to work. . . SV

MATT FILE: Training races are for mistakes?

2009-04-15T03:59:00.000-07:00

Matt: Second row - red jacket

Training races are for making mistakes right? Well I’ve now done 4 of them in Vancouver over two weekends and made a bunch of mistakes, almost all of which I really should know better then. They run the full gauntlet from eating at the wrong time (a little too late and timed almost perfectly with a fairly harsh acceleration on a hill, resulting in me getting gapped), remembering to think I should pack warm gloves while packing (without actually packing them and then racing in cold rain) to watching the race making break form from the second row of the peleton and thinking it would come back or getting bored in the opening K at piano pace and making the first attack (really just rolled off the front on a climb and set a steady pace but it probably wasn’t the smartest move). All the above being said I did actually manage to finish one in the group, and truth be told it’s early and I’m really none too worried about it.

Anyways, real racing arrives this weekend in the form of the Tour of Walla Walla, which is 4 stages over three days. Not feeling super confident about my form just yet, as last weekend was spent in bed riding out a cold instead of out on the bike, but a couple of people on the team are going pretty well so I’m hoping for the best.

I will let you know how the weekend goes. On a side note, this will actually be my first time racing in the states, so I’m a little curious myself to see how it goes.

Matthew O’Hagan

Doppio Espresso - Image Gallery Milan

2009-04-04T02:03:00.000-07:00

A selection of images to help you switch off during your busy work day. . . . travel around the sites of Milan with SV

Watching over Milano from the rooftops. . .

Gothic architecture at its finest at Il Duomo. .

Fresh rasperries from the market down the street from our hotel - offered up to us in a crisp brown paper bag to trap the freshness!

Extremely cool street art down an alleyway . . . .

Il Duomo. . . .

Pigeons near the church.

The FIAT Panda - a classic

See you tomorrow. . . the bike has arrived. . .

TREK Marco Polo Update!

2009-04-04T01:46:00.000-07:00

COURTESY OF CYCLINGNEWS.COM

The Trek – Marco Polo Cycling Team is getting set to embark on a long Asian Tour after finding success in South Africa in the early season. The team's upcoming Asian program starts with the Tour of Thailand (April 4-9) followed by a training camp in Thailand before ending the month at the Jelajah Tour of Malaysia (April 19-26) and Tour of Singkarak in Indonesia (April 30 – May 3).

The vision of the Marco Polo team is to combine western and Asian riders and staff to learn from each other and bring the Asian talents to the highest level of cycling. The team in Asia will be led by Kwanchai Nualchanchy from Thailand and Rob Conijn from the Netherlands.

European riders Eric van der Meent (Netherlands) and James Spragg (Great Britain) will join Xing Yan Dong from China, Genta Nakamura from Japan, Ahmed Haidar Anuawar who makes his debut in the team and Loh Sea Keong from Malaysia

More information about the Trek – Marco Polo Cycling Team: www.marcopolocyclingteam.com

Doppio Espresso - SV Does Milan DAY 2!

2009-04-02T00:31:00.000-07:00

We finally arrived at our hotel - what a relief! The only issue is I am missing one large piece of luggage - MY BIKE! I have done my legal research now and based on the Montreal Convention, even if Lufthansa did lose my bike they would only be liable to pay me around EUR 1,100 - HELP! That bike has carbon Campy on it and a lot of 'chi-chi's! Any lawyers out there willing to help me. . . . . ? There wasn't much point in getting upset. I'm in Milan! Alex and I travel quite a lot, and quite well together. Usually our first day in a new city is filled with 'the walk'. Quite simply, we just put our shoes on and walk. There is no plan, no destination, we simply aim to get a feel for the city. First impressions of Milan are brilliant - beautiful people. Alex commented that it seems like the milanese men are more beautiful than the women! (Note to self: do not take future wife to a city where she makes comments like this. . . ). As we have started to explore you start to notice what makes this city so special. There is a surprising mix of architecture that puts modernism beside Renaissance beauty, and Rococo beside art nouveau. One thing we have already fallen in love with is dropping by a bar in the late afternoon and discovering a spread of beautiful snacks laid out - all you have to do is order a drink (or 2) and you eat for free! Similar to Shanghai, the beauty in Milan comes from taking a detour past the designer shops and chic boutiques and having a look at the beautiful green courtyards hidden behind the buildings. There are many surpises inside the churches, museums and cemeteries.

The beautiful tiny details of Milan seen here under the soffits of a local home

The Duomo - Italy's throw down to the gothic!

So! To get back on track - what do you do on your first proper day in Milan - GET A HAIR CUT! O.K. so I'm sure there were other ideas, but I went straight for a Milanese barber. In Milan appearance is key, so I wanted to tidy up. As well, you don't want to have a bad haircut on the podium . . .

I would like to introduce everyone to Mr. Tommaso Gagliardi! The man, the legend. . .

I couldn't resist the barber with the painted picture of the Venus de Milo on his sign. The shop was called Acconciature Maschili - Pulizia Viso -. Now I speak NO italian so we had to make do with French - I think this means "Mens Hair - Face Shave or Clean Face" and this is exactly what Tommaso gave me! We discussed that because I am too skinny that I needed a specific type of hair cut! He also explained that he had studied in Rome under a master coiffeur many years ago. The man was a legend - and lets be honest I still have 3.5 weeks until my wedding - I can stand a bit of a risk. When Tomasso finished he explained that the spiky look was very 'moderne' and that all the men right now are wearing it forward which was a terrible mistake. . .I should keep the spikes! Ok, I haven't worn my hair in spikes since I was 6, but Tomasso is a proper professional! From here we said Arrivaderci! And walked to one of Milan most famous spots:

The Galleria - one of the most famous shopping centres in Europe - check the dome!!

Here you can see the most recent and cutting edge fashion for some of the worlds top fashion brands. . . . . . .

Prada. . .
LV. . .
Macca's. . . . . wait a minute. . ?

But 'wait' you say! What about caffeine?

. . . . How about an espresso at GUCCI? (It was EUR 3.50. . .) the lovely Mrs. SV!

Ciao!

Doppio Espresso - SV Does Milan!

2009-04-01T22:07:00.000-07:00

As many of you may know I am spending the month of April in Italy. I will be aiming to bring you the sites, and culture of this beautiful country with a distinct caffeinated SV twist!

A few people have asked why are you going to Italy? I am finally getting married to my beautiful partner Alexandra whom has been with me for the last 7 years! She has a Milanese heritage and I have a cycling heritage - hence Italy!

To bring you up to date on what has happened so far:

I arrived at Shanghai Pudong airport at 9:30pm on Tuesday the 31st of May.
I was dropped off by Mr. King the lovely lorry driver/minivan pilot who always assists me to move my bike box to and from various airports
I spent 35 minutes in a line-up to get on Lufthansa
When I finally got to the check in I was greeted with "Hi, What do you want?" (quite obviously I was waiting in a nasty twisting line for 35 minutes just to see your pretty face love - nothing to do with getting on a plane. . . .)
I was told they had recently changed their policy and I needed to give them $200 USD to get my bike on the plane . . . even though I was underweight (not me, my luggage. . . )
I told them that was a huge amount of money, and that I had flown with them before and had not been charged.
They told me that I could simply leave the bike there if I didn't like it. . . .
I paid $200 USD.

I arrived in Milan after a brief stopover in Munich where I was pushed in front of by almost everyone from Shanghai. Some of those who traveled with me even went under the barriers to jump the queue. This really upset the Italians who started pushing and yelling at them. The Munich airport police looked on like they had seen this 100 times.

When we finally got through the mayhem of the customs in Munich - our customs lady seemed surprised we spoke English. . . we literally RAN to our flight as it was scheduled to leave 25 minutes BEFORE we got through customs. Luckily we are both fit young attractive people, and running with 300kg with of luggage was good training.

An interesting fact: if you run around Munich airport, stand in line, are pushed and shoved and RUN to catch your adjoining flight for 3km's, you will find that your departure gate is literally BESIDE the one at which you arrived.

We arrived in Milano at around 9:30am in the morning after a beautiful flight over some of the most majestic mountains I have ever seen. The weather in Milano was a bit rainy, but it was a beautiful feeling just to arrive. . .

By the way. . . . . Lufthansa has lost my bike. . . . and I still don't have it. . .

Stay tuned. . . "day one - Milano" will be posted soon. . .

Tour of Vietnam - stage 2 - GO TCR!

2009-04-01T10:26:00.000-07:00

In recent race news, TREK China Racings' (TCR) rider Hangkai Naran (20years, Mongolia) won the 2nd stage in the Tour of Vietnam yesterday! Currently, he lies in 6th overall on the General Classification.

Go Hangkai!!

The 1st stage was a Team Time Trail and our Mongolian friends finished second.

Full race details are a bit sketchy at the moment, however this seems to be a very hard fought race, which has been very competitive. If anyone has a better contact on this than me please email me on rob_w_lamb@hotmail.com so we can offer good, thorough race coverage.

A HUGE Thank you to Tom Lanhove in Beijing - www.cyclosportchina.com

FHL RACE#1: The 'B' Files - by Mr. Zennon Kapron

2009-03-30T15:09:00.000-07:00

Hi All, A big thanks to another guest writer in Mr. Zennon Kapron. (Ya, we call him Mr. . . . have you seen the guy? Don't mess with him. . . . )

After a cracking A-race the B-race started shortly after. The total length of the race was meant to be around 38km, so a bit shorter than the A-race, but ended showing up as about 40.5km on my speedo, so a bit longer than advertised. The race started quicker than normal, which might be expected in the first race of the season, at about 38km/h, but then settled into a more typical 36km/h. The square format of the race definitely helped as the group tends to be a bit less organized than the A-race and corners sometimes could be difficult – yet we still we had one rider down about half-way through at the far corner from the start line.

Unlike the A-race where many of the riders have switched teams in the off-season, the B riders were pretty much all the usual suspects from the usual teams. Our Maxsh team was limited to just three riders during this race which proved slightly difficult when dealing with the Panaracer threat as a few of the Max riders have either moved away or moved up to A. Overall the race was a bit slower than normal with the average speed hovering around 35km/h and a finish of 45km/h or so.

Throughout the race there were a few attacks with a few people going off the front, but none seemed to hold much promise or were too organised, so were largely ignored by the pack who were content to just slowly reel them back in. Part-way through the race the group overtook a group of MTBs from the race that started a few minutes behind us. One of the mountain bikers had found an innovative aero-position by reaching under the bars and grabbing the top of his suspension fork – likely a bit dangerous considering the going back and forth in the pack itself. The mountain bikers’ presence received mixed reactions from the group, but was mainly a big ‘why the hell don’t you ride your own race and stop drafting off us?’ from the group. The course was very short and there was little other choice but then to start them right after the B-group, so understandable.

The group was still together as we were about 1km from the finish, but then the pack started to break open with about 500m to go with the sprinters taking their cue. The finish was fast and contested by a few, but panaracer came out on top.

Thanks Zennon - a nice, tidy summary - ed!

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ROBS' RACE - FHL #1

2009-03-29T03:01:00.000-07:00

Ok, so after the race today I had an idea - why not post all of my race data from todays' race for ALL to see! I feel it's somewhat like what Lance is doing with the whole "A Doctor will post my values" thing.

Our race report from today will be out soon - but here's how I measured up:

For the sake of detail I use:

The Polar S725X with a Cadence Sensor and Speed Sensor. . .

FHL TREK SHIMANO RACE#1

Lets start with the warmup - I rode to the race. I took the 7:30 Fuxing Ferry from Puxi across to Pudong and rode out to the import/export zone with the Master of Style.

WARMUP TIME: 57:40
DISTANCE: 25.77KM
AVERAGE HEART RATE: 142BPM
AVERAGE SPEED: 27.6KM/H
AVERAGE CADENCE: 88RPM

NOTES: I do not have my heart rate monitor on Autostop, so if we stopped at a light (which we rarily do - KIDS DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME) my monitors time keeps rolling.

The A race started a little past 9am:

RACE TIME: 1:36:43
DISTANCE: 59.328KM
AVERAGE HEART RATE: 165BPM
MAXIMUM HEART RATE: 183BPM
AVERAGE SPEED: 36.8KM/H
MAXIMUM SPEED: 58.3KM/H
AVERAGE CADENCE: 92RPM
MAXIMUM CADENCE 124RPM
KCALORIES: 3128
PLACING: ??? (Will update. . .)

I then rode home for a total day of 111.5km and an overall average speed of 31.9km/h.

NOTES: OK, so today my job was to cover breaks and shut down possible threats. Overall I had a crack, but certainly was not a protagonist. I would like to thank TREK for making my day more comfortable in my new TCR kit, and new OAKLEY glasses. All support is appreciated! Pictures to come!!

RACE REPORT: Shanghai, FHL Race #1

2009-03-29T00:15:00.000-07:00

The first race of the season was postponed yesterday due to weather, and when I woke up this morning I was SURE it was going to rain. I'm happy it didn't . . . . The first FHL race of the season supported by TREK and Shimano (2009崔克上海自行车联赛2009赛季：金桥SHIMANO杯) started this morning, with the 'A'grade riders leaving the start around 9:15am for 60km. B Grade would do 38km, with the MTB riders doing 29km. It was nice to see everyone in their new team kits, as well as some new and familiar faces. It was obvious that Specialized and TREK were well represented with 6(7?) and 5 riders respectively. MaxRacing was also well represented, even though they have had a couple of departures over the offseason, and Panaracer/Bikehome was lucky enough to grab Paul Toohey recently to help round out its team. There was also 1 additional rider on the line. . . . . . although no one had seen him before, and his name is still unknown. He was dressed completely in black, and wearing a cape and mask. He is known to us only as FOREVER MAN, and he officially was awarded BEST BIKE IN THE BUNCH.

There he is. . . . to some a mystery, to some a hero, to some a great lover, to others a guy in a cape. . .

Notable absentees were Andrew Hay, and Alexander Baumstark from MAXSHRacing. The A Race started (as usual) with a hard attach from Cui Yinhao of TREK. For those of you who are unaware, Cui was in a bad crash in Huangshan last week and has not been able to ride (walk) this week. The TREK team was not sure he would be able to start, let alone attack off the gun! The first few laps were filled with attacks with the bunch consistently pulling them back. One rider of note was certainly Kaiyuan Wang of "MOST IMPROVED RIDER" status who was involved in 3 long breakaways. He rode extremely hard and came close to pulling this one off! Special note to aggressive riders Allen Leuth and Robbie at team MaxSHRacing who also rode aggressively on his BEAUTIFUL new Wilier (please send me a pic - ed!)

Trent and Eric were common figures near the front. . .

At around 10 laps to go Kaiyuan and Simon Cui of Team Specialized China broke away from the bunch and worked hard to slowly get off the front of the bunch.

There they go. . .

As the laps went by, the consistently increased their lead over the charging group with some VERY strong riding. At 3 laps to go they were still away and the group was almost asleep with a few riders going off the front. At last the group came aroung a corner at 2 laps to go to realise that Simon had ridden away from Kaiyuan and all hell broke loose.

Rob, Eric and Chia. . . .

TCR (TREK China Racing) worked very hard at the front to try to bring Simon Cui back but it was too late. . .

Simon was the strongest, and in his typical style - won in a break!

The (sprinters?) podium

Specialized took 1-2 with Chia Kung winning the group sprint over Cui Yinhao (TCR).

Full results and a write-up on 'B' to follow soon! Stay Classy!

RIDER PROFILE: Trent Iliffe (aka MASTER OF STYLE)

2009-03-25T14:20:00.000-07:00

Shanghaivelo: How long you have been riding?

Trent: 20 yrs

Shanghaivelo: But you don't look at a day over 19! How did you get into/start cycling?

Trent: My Uncle is a World Champion, so I was influenced by him

Shanghaivelo: Some information about your team?

Trent: Trek China (TCR) - 8 in the team ( . . . . there is one more now - ed.)

Shanghaivelo: Your Bike(s)?

Trent: C50 and Extreme power Colnago's, Campag Record

Shanghaivelo: What you do for training?

Trent: Moganshan hills every 2 weeks in summer, 3 weeks in France in July, FHL weekends

(Left - Right) Pierre Geagea, Trent Iliffe, and Your Author - looking very stylish all round. . .

Shanghaivelo: Any season goals you have?

Trent: Team Wins in all races

Well he does have some experience with wins. . .

Shanghaivelo: Your favourite cyclist?

Trent: Mario Cipollini

Why Mario Cipollini? THAT'S WHY.

Shanghaivelo: Your role model?

Trent: Mario Cipollini

Shanghaivelo: What one pro tour race would you like to do and why?

Trent: Paris Roubaix, History, a hard man race with a hard sprint at the end around the velodrome

Shanghaivelo: What motivates you to ride hard?

Trent: To see how hard I can push myself

Shanghaivelo: What stuff do you do other than ride?

Trent: Snow Ski and surf

Shanghaivelo: Where you work and what you do?

Trent: Real Estate Development Aust /China

Shanghaivelo: What you like to eat before training?

Trent: Rolled Oats and Banana's

Shanghaivelo: Your favourite training routine?

Trent: 2 x during the week 50km before work, Sat hard long ride in Moganshan and Sunday 80 km rolling hills

Shanghaivelo: Your favourite place (anywhere on earth) to ride?

Trent: Cote D'Azur

Shanghaivelo: Cote D'Azur certainly suits your Cipollini fetish. . . your shoe size?

Trent:. .. 42

MATT FILE: Yoga, Back Country Snowboarding and a New Bike . . .

2009-03-24T05:37:00.000-07:00

So the common consensus on flexibility from what I’ve read is that being flexible is good, but being extremely flexible results in a loss of power for on the bike. Now I’m not sure exactly what qualifies as “extremely” flexible but I doubt being able to touch ones toes does, and I’m… well… well short of that. So in light of this I’ve done something I’ve been meaning to do for far too long without actually doing and actually started to take Beginner Yoga. Hopefully it works, seems like it should

Winter has been hanging on pretty good around here so to break up the monotony of the trainer rides I let a co worker drag me out for a couple after work back country snowboard sessions. Working up in pass it’s right there and the snowshoe up is great fitness. Plus we hit probably the sickest pillow line I’ve ever done this past week, untracked, fresh powder with nice drops for pretty much the full run, so that was cool to say the least.

So onto the more cycling relevant part of the last little bit for me. Team bikes showed up a couple weeks ago in Vancouver so I ran down that weekend and picked it up. It looked pretty sweet, unfortunately the weather here was anything but cycling friendly, see the above snowboarding comment, so it’s been not too much more than an attractive room decoration. . . .

(White bikes are best. . . . agree with the 'attractive room decoration comment. . . what's with the steerer sticking out? - ed)

Spring seems to have finally started to show here so I finished building it up other then chopping the steer tube and took it out for a short spin last Friday to get it fully dialed in, weather was less than stellar so it really wasn’t very long. Sun came out to play on Saturday so I took the bike out on a 'stock' out and back training ride for around here down to a ferry landing, round trip about 115k from where I’m staying.

One would think since I did pretty much the same kind of duration ride my first ride in Victoria in January and have not done anything over an hour and half on the trainer since I got back that I’d have know what to expect. Very much not the case, I bonked, and there was no convenience store with a chocolate bar this time either. So yeah, last 20min or so was pretty much done at a painful crawl.

On occasion I do actually learn from my mistakes so the next day I had significantly more food on hand for the same ride and even felt good enough to tack on a little extra distance. VERY NICE to be outside on the bike again I must say.

In response to Thomas’s questions

Thanks. Training since I got back from Victoria has been pretty consistently 4 trainer rides a week generally in blocks of 3-4 days consecutively. Rides generally consisting of about 5-7min warm up, about an hour at a high but sub TT pace then a cool down of about 5min. And yes, Giro or Tour DVD’s and Mp3 player make this possible. Now that it’s actually ride able outside, but still not a lot of available daylight after work I will see what I can fit in and take it from there as I’m pretty well burnt out of trainer riding. My nutritional plan is a little laughable, I try not to pig out or under eat too often, it’s pretty high carb and fairly minimal in actual junk food (I will admit to mild chocolate addictions from time to time though, but dark chocolate is supposed to be healthy right?).

RACE REPORT: Huangshan MTB RACE

2009-03-23T14:25:00.000-07:00

MENS 20km名次号码姓名时间国家城市俱乐部
1 463 胡浩0:49:17 China 南京无限单车俱乐部
2 444 江旭华0:49:27 China 江苏单车网
3 346 吕佳西 0:49:37 China 兰州飓风国际高山探险队
4 276 查显奇0:49:52 China 宁波TREK宁波力量俱乐部
5 510 田海兵0:50:23 China
6 461 缪礼龙0:50:24 China 南京无限单车俱乐部
7 459 戚云0:51:03 China 南京无限单车俱乐部
8 301 张俊0:51:25 China 芜湖VOODOO安徽一年又一年俱乐部
9 273 冯志明0:51:35 China 广州广东联队
10 458 郑屹0:52:10 China 南京无限单车俱乐部
11 304 康思佳0:52:13 China 芜湖VOODOO安徽一年又一年俱乐部
12 282 杨汉杰0:53:04 China 宁波TREK宁波力量俱乐部
13 274 朱荣华0:53:10 China 广州广东联队
14 279 蔡君0:53:15 China 宁波TREK宁波力量俱乐部
15 465 卢子怡0:53:32 China 南京无限单车俱乐部
16 434 钟北平0:54:55 China
17 285 Robert Lamb 0:55:01 Canada Shanghai Max Racing
18 302 张飞0:55:03 China 芜湖VOODOO安徽一年又一年俱乐部
19 435 沈周杰0:55:09 China 常州代表队
20 311 赵胜彬0:55:15 China 芜湖VOODOO安徽一年又一年俱乐部
21 312 袁伟禾0:55:20 China 芜湖VOODOO安徽一年又一年俱乐部
22 303 张坤0:55:25 China 芜湖VOODOO安徽一年又一年俱乐部
23 411 王建宇0:55:30 China 黄衫人无限单车俱乐部
24 505 汪鸿升0:55:30 China 南昌
25 310 顾佳昂0:55:40 China 芜湖VOODOO安徽一年又一年俱乐部
26 348 张曉宇0:55:45 China 上海specialized中国队
27 371 万锐0:55:48 China 上海上海起点俱乐部
28 488 张居正0:55:58 China 北京西行路单车俱乐部
29 277 温丰远0:56:03 China 宁波TREK宁波力量俱乐部
30 305 刘文超0:56:14 China 芜湖VOODOO安徽一年又一年俱乐部
31 309 孟鲁超0:57:15 China 芜湖VOODOO安徽一年又一年俱乐部
32 506 胡紫云0:57:35 China 南昌
33 399 余立聪0:58:25 China 九江江西自行车运动联盟
男子20Km成绩表/Male 20Km Result List

RACE REPORT: Huangshan MTB Race - Anhui Province

2009-03-21T16:59:00.000-07:00

Huangshan by Nordicways ( www.nordicways.com ) is starting to become a staple of our early season racing routine. The race is well organised, relatively easy to get to, comfortable (not the racing part) and all in all filled with some solid competition. Last year saw Li Fuyu take out the win and take with him a great deal of local and national exposure. the 2008 top 5:

2008:
Placing Rider Nationality Time
1 李富玉中国 2:06:21
2 Piers Touzel Australian 2:07:12
3 唐志强中国 2:07:53
4 朱志华中国 2:08:31
5 高刚照中国 2:10:26

As you can see a lot of very strong Zhong Guo Ren! As usual the perennial Piers Touzel coming in just after the Discovery channel rider (can you blame him?)! Your author brought in a 33rd last year taking a solid drubbing of more than 20 minutes to Piers!

The 2009 edition was also set to be a classic, however this year saw the event shortened to 40km on a very similar track to last year. The 40km race would see the top man take home CNY 8,000 and the top woman CNY 4,000 (I agree it should be equal but there were only 10 women signed up. . . . c'mon ladies GET OUT AND RACE!!).

For those of you who haven't raced Huangshan, the course starts with approximately 1.5 km on road. The start is dead straight leading into a right hand corner, on to another straight then a right into the old town of Huangshan which snakes its way out towards the base of the mountain.

2008 saw the champion boys and Li Fuyu ride away never to be seen again. . .

Once through the old town you ride up slowly into the mountains via a series of tiny capo or little rolling hills (these are killer on the legs!). There is even a bit for the cyclo-cross crowd with a 50 metre run up some mountain stairs. Once this is finished its time for the 3km road climb to the top!
This climb was killer last year and I was put deep in the 'pain locker', but this year I overdosed on Marco Pantani videos the night before, so I was able to keep changing my tempo and got out of the saddle to maintain some pace.

Once riders got to the top it was time for the "TUNNEL". . . .

Now I have to be honest here. This photograph shows the most light I have ever seen on that road. The photographer must have had a flash the size of a bus. IT IS DARK! but the perfect place to really get the pressure on the pedals and get COOKING! After this it is almost all down hill back to the finish.

Saturday morning it looked, and felt certain to rain. You could feel there were many nervous riders, and with a quick walk out front of the hotel, many stood in the parking lot looking up! Luckily it waited until after the race this year, which left the track in brilliant condition.

The mens 40km race started hard, seeing Piers Touzel riding on the front with a large number of other racers sitting back and watching. It seemed like the "Piers Show" as the rest of the field seemed to wait to see what he would do next. In a smart move, Piers seemed to wait for another rider to make a move and this saw some strong riding from Feng Kuanjie. It was a hard fought race, however the talented Feng Kuanjie was able to take first place before former winner of Huangshan MTB Festival - Piers Touzel in the Mens 40 km. Tang Zhiqiang from Guangzhou took the third place.

Similarly in the mens 20km race, one rider rode off the front (YOUR AUTHOR!!!) with many riders sitting on his wheel. Unfortunately your author is not the cyclist of Piers Touzel, so he decided to ride the first 5km on the front while other (smarter) cyclists sat on his wheel in anticipation of the single track. The great part was that Your Author got all the camera time from CCTV 5! CCTV 5 sponsored the event and were out en masse, with numerous cars and even a lead van for the start. Your Author faded and isn't sure where he finished after a bit of a tussle with a local rider in the final 3km. Suffice to say after numerous efforts by this rider to CHOP Your Author (chop meaning, the rider would abruptly move towards the side I was trying to pass on to edge me out, or take out my front wheel), I had had enough and grabbed his jersey and pushed him backwards. . . . . .c'mon lets get real; you're gonna try to chop me in a sprint for 15th place?

RANT: KEEP YOUR LINE!!! IF YOU ARE GOING TO LINE UP AND SPRINT IT IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND DOWNRIGHT STUPID TO TRY TO TAKE SOMEONE INTO THE BARRIERS OR THE CONCRETE PILLARS IN THE ROAD. IF YOU ARE GOING TO DO IT AT LEAST MAKE IT SUBTLE!

To cut a long story short, In the mens 20 km-Hu Hao from Nanjing Unlimited Cycling was the strongest. The rest rounded out to be 2) Jiang Xuhua at 0:49:27, and 3) Lv Jiaxi at 0:49:37.

Again this year there were some incredible efforts by the womens field!

Women 40km: 1) Sun Chen, 1:55:1, 2) Zhang Rui, 1:55:2, 3) Zheng Rufang, 2:06:5
Women 20 km: 1)Li Lei, 1:05:4, 2) Zhao Lijun, 1:05:5, 3) Tang Linna, 1:06:0

This race is highly recommended due to its professional organisation, great course, friendly locals (except for the late night hotel staff) and BEAUTIFUL countryside. For more information or questions please email me at rob_w_lamb@hotmail.com or see www.nordicways.com the Nordic Ways staff are professional, reliable and very knowledgeable!

Full results to be posted soon.

SPOTLIGHT: TANG's PHOTOS!

2009-03-18T14:41:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone, we have had so many emails and so many comments regarding some photos which have been posted that I wanted to do a specific post for Mr. Lawrence TANG!

Lawrence has been taking photos at FHL and now our Cross races for as long as I can remember, and I must say (and I went to art school!!!!) that he is a talented and passionate guy.

Please take 5 minutes to have a look at

www.fotop.net/TANG/090315/

Lawrence also makes his living by selling his photos which are VERY REASONABLY priced. I strongly suggest you contact him should you see a photo you would like to purchase. He also has the ability to print, matte and frame photos to your liking.

This is the kind of stuff that really build our local community! THANK YOU MR. TANG - FANTASTIC WORK!!!

SHANGHAI CYCLOCROSS #2 - RESULTS

2009-03-17T15:16:00.000-07:00

PHOTOS!!!!
http://www.fotop.net/TANG/090315
http://bbs.bikehome.net/diz/thread-73598-1-1.html
http://bbs.bikehome.net/diz/thread-73573-1-1.html
http://bbs.bikehome.net/diz/thread-73589-1-1.html
http://bbs.bikehome.net/diz/viewthread.php?tid=73620&extra
http://mogu8.net/bbs/redirect.php?tid=690&goto=lastpost#lastpost

Points Race 2 Points Race 1 Total

William Neijssen 15 12 27
Eric Koh 12 15 27
ED Coew 10 0 10
Thomas Lecoq 8 0 8
Chia Kung 7 10 17
崔尹浩 6 7 13
Christian goesker 5 4 9
Kai Yan 4 7 11
Rob Lamb 3 8 11

Well done to all racers - this was some great prep PRIOR to the start of next weekends Huangshan race as well as the upcoming Crit and road racing season!

Well done and stay classy!

RIDER PROFILE: KAIYUAN WANG

2009-03-16T15:20:00.000-07:00

After a strong showing in his first cyclocross race in shanghai, and winning SHANGHAI'S FHL'S MOST IMPROVED CYCLIST 2008, Shanghaivelo caught up with Kaiyuan Wang:

Is he smiling? The course must have been too easy. . . .

ShanghaiVelo: How long you have been riding?
KW: 4 years

ShanghaiVelo: How you got into/started cycling?

KW: I started from a cycling tour in 2004. My first trip is from Urumqi to Yili (Xinjiang Province) for 850km, on my full steel Bridgestone city bike with the Shimano internal 3-gear hub... Started road cycling in March 2005.

ShanghaiVelo: Some information about your team?
KW: TCR - Trek China Racing. The best (quality/quantity) team in Shanghai. Will be stronger this year.

ShanghaiVelo: Your Bike(s)?

KW: Cannondale CAAD9 + DA7800 group + Fulcrum Racing 1 wheels and a new CX Bike. . .
ShanghaiVelo: What you do for training?

KW: Ride, suffer and recover.

ShanghaiVelo: Any season goals you have?
KW: To do better than last season especially on those technical courses.

ShanghaiVelo: Your favourite cyclist?

KW: The new king of the spring classics -- Philippe Gilbert

Your role model?
KW: JP

ShanghaiVelo: What one pro tour race would you like to do and why?
KW: None. Never think of that.

ShanghaiVelo: What motivates you to ride hard?

KW:

1. Racing

2. My job

3. JP once said I had the potential to be a good rider,and he is always pushing me to do my best!

ShanghaiVelo: What stuff do you do other than ride?

KW: Browsing the web, MSN, WII...

ShanghaiVelo: Where you work and what you do?

KW: I work at Decathlon Jinqiao store as the manager of the bicycle/roller/workshop department. Satisfying sportsmen is my job.

ShanghaiVelo: What you like to eat before training?

KW: Cereal with skim milk

ShanghaiVelo: Your favourite training routine?
KW: The German Center to A30 & the Century Park

ShanghaiVelo: Your favourite place (anywhere on earth) to ride?
KW: Sichuan -- Tibet (will do it in the future!)

ShanghaiVelo: Your shoe size. ..

KW: EU42

WOOT WOOT KAIYUAN!!!

RACE REPORT: Shanghai Cyclocross #2

2009-03-15T15:45:00.000-07:00

"The forest of pain"

Yesterdays race was held under sunny skies with a light wind. A beautiful day for a race, and a course that was tacky, but not overly muddy (mostly. . . .).

A new record 42 racers started with celebrity rider, and Cyclocross promoter, Paul Toohey lining up for the 10am start. Special thanks again to our volunteers again who did a brilliant job keeping everyone organised.

As the starting gun (well, actually we didn't have a gun so we just yelled GO! really loud. . . ) went off it was a blistering start with Specialised leading the charge to the turnaround. As the race charged towards the holeshot, there was a crash at the start of the trail by a number of riders at 'bunny-hop-curb'. This crash also took down Chia Kung who was favoured to place highly.

As the race entered the dirt it was very strung out with many riders pushing to get to the front. At the end of the first straight there was another crash as the pack cornered left towards the 'River'. Unfortunately your "author' went down here and a good 15 people went past! Up we got, and back on the run towards the 'River'. Upon arrival I could see that someone had politely changed my course, moved the tape, and placed some neatly positioned large rocks across the water. THANK YOU ASSISTANT COURSE DESIGNER WHOMEVER YOU ARE. . . . .

Just after the rocks on the remount there was another crash (you are seeing a theme) which your 'Author' went down in with one other rider. I can tell you I am a little tender this morning. . . . once again another 7-8 riders went past as I tried to work out how my chain got wrapped around my crankarm. . . . .?

From here the mayhem seems to have let up some, and Specialized was back on the front going hard with Eric Koh and William going hard on the front. Not too far behind them was Cui Yinhao of TREK, and Chia Kung (Specialized). There were a few more minor crashes, also some road rash and sun burn, but the race went smoothly from here. Your 'author' went into 'don't panic' mode as he tried to make his way back up to the front from the back.

A beautiful sunny day saw another dominant day for Team Specialized in Shanghai Cross. There was a little bit of movement on placings towards the end with a last minute charge by Kaiyuan Wang (TCR), resulting in a bad flat, but overall a consistent finish by the favourites.

Full results to come soon!

NEW LINK: MAGNUS BACKSTEADT COFFEE

2009-03-11T15:17:00.000-07:00

http://www.magnusbackstedt.com/MB/index.cfm

One of the riders I have always liked now sells something that we have always liked. . . . .
.COFFEE!

Just some fun facts:

Magnus Backstedt
Born: 30:01:1975
Linkoping Sweden
Professional Since: 1996
Current Team 2008: Slipstream

Favourite Stuff
Race: Roubaix...are there other races on the calendar?
Food: Pizza
Drink: Coffee (Of course)
Film: Happy Gilmore, Pulp Fiction.
Music: Anything thats pumpin!!
Holiday: HOME! I travel so much during the season!
Car: HUMMER H2 Super charge, Imagine a house being shot out of a cannon!
Gadget: Laptop, NOKIA Communicator, MP3 player (SONY of course!)

Sum yourself up in a maximum of ten words:
Pain heals, chicks dig scars, glory last forever!

2007
Sweden National Champion

2005
4th Paris Roubaix
2nd Stage 7 Tour de France

2004
1st Paris Roubaix
2nd Gent Wevelgem
2nd CSC Classic

The site has a heap of interesting stuff including NEWS, a photo Gallery (JP - there may be some beautiful pics in there, although none of topless girlfriends. . . ), Bikes, and most importantly of all COFFEE PURCHASING!

To make you feel good, all proceeds from his coffee go towards supporting young and upcoming cyclists. The coffee foundation now directly funds their continental professional Team Cyclesport.se We aim to bring the highest level of support and management to the entry level of
the professional ranks. They are now aiming to provide a motivating, secure platform to allow riders from Sweden, the UK and USA to turn professional and reach the highest level in the sport.

ENJOY!!!

GETTING STRONG: Winter Training Part 3c

2009-03-07T18:53:00.000-08:00

Reprinted with permission Richard Pestes http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/ also with thanks to Sim Green resident semi-pro who rides for Bouygues Telecom’s feeder team C.A.Castelsarrasin in southern France.

After some strong riding on the A-30 Yesterday, I thought it appropriate to get us back on track with some group riding skills which will also assist once the racing starts!

. . . . Rule 4 (see previous blog entrieson GETTING STRONG for the first 3 lessons):

Pulling Through When the two riders ahead of you peel off, it is your job to come through to the front and pull the group along. If you do not want to ride at the front because you are tired or less fit than the rest of the group, it’s too late to avoid it now. Once you are in second wheel, you MUST come through to the front. Do not speed up, and do not get out of the bar-to-bar formation. Maintaining a steady speed, squeeze through the gap and go to the front (Fig 3). When the two riders ahead of you peel off, don’t slow down and look around as if you don’t know why on earth they would be pulling off to the sides of the group. Maintain your speed and go straight through without hesitation.

Rule 5: Too Tired To Go To The Front If you do not want to go to the front

Sit at the back and let the riders coming back from the front of the group slot in ahead of you. It is not acceptable to work your way up to the front of the group and then look around acting lost and confused, slowing down because you don’t feel strong enough to be at the front. If for whatever reason you do find yourself at the front, go through and take what is known as a “token pull”. You go to the front for a couple seconds, agree with the rider beside you that you are both peeling off, and go to the back.

Rule 6: Gaps

There should be NO gaps in a group ride. As soon as you see a gap, fill it by riding into the space in a steady and controlled manner. There is no need to sprint into the space and then slam on the brakes, just gradually fill in any gaps as soon as you see them.

Rule 7: Moving About In A Group

If you need to go to the back of the group, or need to move out away from the side of road because the road is damaged (for example), just steadily move in whatever direction you want to go in. The key to all group riding is to do things gradually and steadily. Even if there is a rider right next to you as you pull out to the side of the road, if you do it gradually, the other rider will naturally have time to move over with you. If you do anything sudden you will likely cause a crash. This is also very important when “peeling off” and “filling a gap”.

Any questions?

The pros at training camp demonstrate this fundamental well - obstacles and other such problems of the road are easily indicated with a simple point. . . Stay classy . . .

CYCLOCROSS SHANGHAI

2009-03-06T14:00:00.000-08:00

(start humming the theme for JAWS in your head. . . . got it? O.K. now hold that tune). IT'S COMING. . . . .JUST WHEN YOU WEREN'T EXPECTING IT. . . . . (and you haven't been training). . . . .IT'S BIGGER THAN YOU REMEMBER. . . . . . .AND IT'S RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER . . . .

SHANGHAI CYCLOCROSS #2 MARCH 15TH AT 10AM!!!!!!!!

BE THERE SO YOU CAN TELL YOUR FRIENDS YOU RACE CROSS.

Racing will start at 10am please disregard the error on the poster. .

Kaiyuan sent us this link a while back - sign up and watch the pros race for some good tips:

http://ccx.nathanspear.com/

YOU MUST RACE. . . . .

RIDER PROFILE: SIMON CUI

2009-03-05T14:43:00.000-08:00

Winner of the coveted BEST SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD and the current FHL leader (2008) Simon is always in the bunch and an easy man to like (of course we like him less when he attacks late in the race when we are suffering. . . . . )

Below are some questions and answers to some things you may not know about the man in the 'S' jersey!

Shanghai Velo: How long you have been riding Simon?

Simon Cui: 5years . A pure rookie!

SV: How did you get into/start cycling?

Simon Cui: I went into a bike shop and started . It’s nature!

SV: Some information about your team?

Simon Cui: Specialized. Everyone knows . . . .

SV: Your Bike(s), what are you riding?

Simon: I have a Giant windspeed – giant tcr composite the standard bike for FHL during 2004-2006. A Trek Madone 5.9sl, a Look 595, and some Specialized ( roubix , SL , SL2 , mountainbike sworks ).

SV: (thats a hell of a bike stable. . . ) What you do for training?

Simon: I have a plan for every year, and I hope I can be a real cyclist in ten years. I ride about 20000km every year.

SV: Any season goals you have?

Simon: Yes. Every year is different . This year is to keep the title of the FHL Shanghai series.

SV: Your favourite cyclist?

Simon: Jens Voigt

SV: Your role model?

Simon: Anyone who is the core of the team, and an expert of break aways and TT's

SV: What one pro tour race would you like to do and why?

Simon: Tour of South china sea or Tour of Hainan island. This tour is possible for an amateur cyclist.

SV: What motivates you to ride hard?

Simon: Nature, it comes from the inside.

SV: What stuff do you do other than ride?

Simon: Nothing

SV: Where you work and what you do?

Simon: I work at a foreign company as their National sales manager.

SV: What you like to eat before training?

Simon: Noodles plus banana.

SV: Your favourite training routine?

Simon: Pudong airport

SV: Your favourite place (anywhere on earth) to ride?

Simon: Moganshan

SV: The best book about cycling?

Simon: The Polar user manual

SV: Something about you we may not know?

Simon: I will be father in this May.

THANKS SIMON FOR TAKING TIME OUT TO DO THIS - BEST OF LUCK TO YOU AND TEAM SPECIALIZED IN THE UPCOMING RACES!

MATT FILE

2009-03-03T04:59:00.000-08:00

Hey.

My name is Matthew O’Hagan and I’m an amateur cyclist trying to make it to the professional level on the road and a friend thought some of you might be interested in following the trip, so I’m going to give this blogging thing a shot.

I’m currently based out of Revelstoke BC, Canada, admittedly not your typical cycling destination, but some of the training around here is top notch once, and a key once at that, the snow has retreated up the mountains a bit. Winter training came down to a mix of skate skiing, pushing weights in the gym, and a couple times a week on the trainer/rollers. The last week of January and the first week of February I spent in Victoria getting in some solid base rides up to 6 hours in length in and now am back in Revelstoke working and putting in some quality trainer time.

ITT in the Velocity Stage Race, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Racing sits just around the corner (and hopefully summer weather too as it snowed outside again today), I have a couple training races coming up later this month and then I’m moving into stage races of stage races in April, Walla Walla being the the first, pretty excited for it, 3 days, 4 stages and full rolling enclosures for the road stages. Also in April is one of my favorite BC courses in Race the Ridge which has a pretty significant climb every lap. Later in the year I should be getting to a number of other stage races including Banff, Tour de White Rock, and the Cascade Classic in Oregon, as well as an assortment of crits and one day races.

Matt (the blur in silver far left) going fast at the Banff Criterium 08'. You have to go pretty fast to become a blur. . . .

A bit of background on my athletics. I grew up playing the traditional Canadian sport of hockey, was decent but was forced to retire due to a shoulder injury late in high school. Decided to try my hand at cross country mountain bike racing, really wanted to try down hill racing, but couldn’t afford the bike so cross country was what I did, raced for a year and was able to move up from Junior Sport to Junior Expert where I got soundly beat for the rest of the season (didn’t quite get caught by all the elite women at nationals with a 3 minute head start). From there I moved onto some rowing with the University of Victoria, found that didn’t work so well outside of school so bought a used road bike and started learning. Was super excited about that bike and loved it. It was the GT team Lotto-Mobistar replica frame in the super obnoxious florescent lime green.

In between all of that I’ve found a bit of time for snowboarding and more recently I’ve been enjoying rock climbing, which brought a tiny bit of balance to my athletics last season.

I will keep you posted as the season progresses and hopefully you enjoy,

Matthew

ADVENTURE TRAVEL - Mongolia!

2009-03-02T14:48:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone,

It has become a tradition that each year that we arrange a MTB expedition, in the true sense of the word, to outer Mongolia.

Last year, we were 10 riders on a mission to promote democracy.

Please see for pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/Cyclosportschina/Mongolia2008#

The trip is organized by the Mongolian Cycling Federation and Cyclo Sports China. A few Mongolian riderslive in Beijing and their colleagues at the Federation have asked me to launch their new routes in the North of Mongolia.

Last year, we rode in the far West near Kazachstan. This year we’ll go north towards the direction of Russia.

We will be an expedition with MTB mounted on jeeps, local drivers and equipment. We’ll stay in hotels andYurts along the outback.

Expect to go in a few hours from desert, to shrub land, to mountains to end near glaciers. Mongolia is simplyastonishingly wild and remote.

The expedition is a way for the Federation to supplement their meager income and budget. In return, we are able to use their resources, guidance and expertise to organize a unique trip.
We have a limited window period to organize this trip (or multiple trips depending on the dates and turn out):

Basically, we have 3 “good months”: June, July and August to ride in Mongolia. Other months are too cold!

Therefore, I have proposed to them the following three periods for travel.

• 9 days in June: From Friday June 12 until Sunday June 21
• 9 days in July: From Friday July 17 until Sunday July 26
• 9 days in August: From Friday August 21 until Sunday 30 August

The cost of the ride will be determined on the amount of riders. We need a minimum of 5 riders and can accommodate many more.

We will organize for you: accommodation, transport and sustenance during the trip. A ball park figure for this trip, assuming a 5 person group, will be 12,000RMB excluding airplane tickets from Shangers.

To reduce the price we need the group(s) to be as big as possible. If you are interested in this trip, please contact me directly with your preferred date to travel.

Tom@cyclosportschina.com / cell: 139 102 80053

Also, if you think you can get a group of 5+ persons together outside these periods, we can work on that too.

Finally, please let me know what other questions or concerns you may have about this trip!
Cheers,
Tom

Tom Lanhove runs cyclosportschina.com and has been in China living and riding (and working) for quite some time.

MATT FILE

2009-03-02T04:14:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

recently while training a few local riders at the gym, one of them asked me "how do I become a pro?" and "If I was a pro, would I be doing the training we are doing now?"

Both good questions! (Of course I wouldn't waste their time with NON-PRO training! What do they take me for. . . . ) This got me to thinking - WHY NOT ASK A PRO!

PLEASE LET ME INTRODUCE YOUNG AND UPCOMING CYCLIST MATTHEW O'HAGAN.

Now, Matt isn't Chinese, doesn't speak a word or Mandarin or Cantonese. . . he's not even Asian. So this doesn't fit too well with Shanghaivelo (but what the hell!). He is VERY close though - he is Canadian (I understand a few of you are scratching your heads. . ).

Matt is a very good friend and aspiring pro (he is right on the cusp!) and I have invited him to write about the trials and tribulations of TRYING to get to the top right here on our blog! Each post will give you some insight into the effort and hard work Matt is putting in to live the dream.

This is Matt. Expect to see his installments soon . . . . we will also have an "ASK MATT" so please emails your questions to rob_w_lamb@hotmail.com

CYCLOCROSS 101 (general advice only. . .)

2009-02-28T20:18:00.000-08:00

Robs bike before. . .

Before, during, and after our last cross race I was lucky enough to meet a number of cyclists who have now got the CROSS BUG! This is great news for SHANGHAI CYCLING!

Many of you have asked me a number of questions pertaining to racing cross. I wanted to put a post up with some useful links, pictures and tips to help you for the upcoming race March 15th. As usual if there are any questions or queries please email me directly at rob_w_lamb@hotmail.com

So you have decided that you enjoyed the last race so much you want to do a bit of cross specific training? Well you haven't got much time but some basics:

If you have a big road race coming up - running and road racing DO NOT MIX (well - actually hill runs stimulate similar muscles to cycling but that is an entirely different entry!)
Your general training for cross shouldn't be that different to your road or mountain bike training except for spending some time 'on foot' . . .
Around mid week do your cross workout. . .this could take many forms but some suggestions are: threshold work - cross is 'one hour as hard as you can go' so you need to train your body to work at its threshold. This will emphasise both speed and strength. Aim for as many minutes at Lactate Threshold as possible (this could be 15 - 20 minutes) . At the end of the effort I like to throw in a dismount run 5 steps and remount for 'specificity's' sake.
Run! Start easy with ten to fifteen minutes per session. This will allow your body to start to adapt. If you build to being a strong runner you will be in the exciting position to smash those roadies when you hit the run-ups in.

Robs bike after. . .

There you go with some really basic tips. Get out there and ride - the next race is only around the corner!

CLUB AWARDS #1 - BEST OUT OF TOWN CYCLIST SHANGHAI, 2008

2009-02-27T17:19:00.000-08:00

While you were all out riding this morning I was slaving over a hot computer. . .

This year we had so many races. There were so many exceptional battles, so many exceptional athletes who truly showed their bravery, guts and determination. Today's ballot asked you to choose, out of ALL of these outstanding athletes, no matter where they were from, out of all their achievements and hard work - THE 1 that stood head and shoulders above the rest.

I have selected to present the Top 4 riders. These riders ALL received numerous votes. ALL won races this year. ALL trained, sweated, SUFFERED, and triumphed.

They are the TOP Men in Shanghai Cycling:

4th Place - Cui Yinhao or MaxShracing.com

3rd Place - Martin Breuvart of Trek China Racing (TCR)

2nd Place - Simon Cui of Specialized China

1st Place - MR. Chia Kung of Specialized China

Mr. Chia Kung

Such a buildup - I AM EXHAUSTED!

Coming up we will interview each of the winners and get their training secrets (BUY A NOTEPAD!!!!). Well done once again Chia. This is a huge honour and many, many of your local friends and fellow athletes voted.

Everyone - please assist to congratulate Chia on this huge accomplishment in FHL's first ever #1 Cyclist Award - a truly historic achievement.

CLUB AWARDS #2 - BEST OUT OF TOWN CYCLIST SHANGHAI, 2008

2009-02-26T15:39:00.000-08:00

(aka Sven Nijs)

THE WINNER OF BEST OUT OF TOWN CYCLIST SHANGHAI, 2008 IS NONE OTHER THAN:

JP DAWANCE of TCR
(Trek China Racing)

Tomorrows posting will be the BEST IN SHANGHAI - this should be the rider whom everyone was trying to sign this year. . . . so stay tuned!

JP received more than 3 times the votes of the second place Martin Breuvart. Both cyclists are extremely deserving of this honour and clearly stood out in this years race series. With last years most improved cyclist in Kaiyuan Wang also a TREK rider this season may prove to be an exciting series of battles!

(JP In front of Martin literally and figuratively . . . )

Stay dialed in to www.shanghaivelo.blogspot.com as we will be posting some rider interviews over the next week with the winners from this years ballot (Simon Cui, Eric Koh, JP Dawance, Trent Iliffe, and Kaiyuan Wang).

FHL AWARDS # 3 MOST IMPROVED LOCAL RIDER

2009-02-25T04:56:00.000-08:00

PHOTO: http://www.fotop.net/TANG/AokleyCUP/Aokley44 (You guessed it TANG!!)

THE MUCH DESERVED WINNER

Kaiyuan Wang

Kaiyuan dominated the votes for his hard work with TCR this year. Well done Kaiyuan - we expect to see you at Cross #2.

In second place - Cui Yinhao.

SHANGHAI CROSS #1 RESULTS

2009-02-24T15:39:00.000-08:00

MORE PICS (copy and paste the link):
http://www.qqride.com/bbs/thread-4280-4-1.html

LAP 6 FinishTime
1. Eric Koh 47.57
2. William Neijssen 48.33
3. Chia Kung 49.45
4. Rob Lamb 50.25
5. 崔尹浩 50.40
6. 袁伟禾 51.25
7. #21 51.40
8. Christian Goesker 52.10
9. 赵胜彬 52.40
10. Warran Hoy 54.20
11. 张晓宇 54.50
12. 刘汉强
13. 王钢
14. JP (Sven Nijs)
15. Chris Walnksle
16. 陈远 ?
17.陈远 ?
18. 顾珺
19. R Oliver
20. Mark Medruno
21. 王钢
22. 郭岩
23. 宋松
24. 郭岩
25. 姚起军
26. 韦姚
27. 徐立
28. 韦姚
29. ??
30. 陈远

SHANGHAI CROSS #1 (EVER!)

2009-02-22T15:09:00.001-08:00

incredible photos here: http://www.fotop.net/TANG/090222

After a lot of organising between deepbluephatboy and Your Author the FIRST EVER SHANGHAI CYCLO CROSS RACE took place this morning at 10:30am sharp.

We arrived at the course at 7am with the plan of having the course ready for everyone to preride at 9am. We were welcomed by the TREK Sponsored Tents already set up! This was a brilliant surprise, and certainly set the scene for a smooth start.

We would like to personally thank TREK for their support.

Let me immediately express our thanks to all the volunteers!!! I must say, we never take volunteers for granted, but with the amount of organization that goes into a cross race our helpers were a blessing. We had volunteers assist with setting tape, Robbie on the tools setting up barriers and the cheerful girls helping take registrations. Once again – this race would not have been half as brilliant without your help – THANKS! The weather was excellent and the organizers set up the course, and laid about 5 kilometers of tape by approximately 9:30am. Another personal thank you to MaxSHracing (http://www.maxshracing.com/company.php) Bikehome (www.bikehome.net) and TREK (www.trekbicycles.com)

The race started at 10:30am with 30 keen racers on the line. The weather decided to transform the race immediately as the clouds opened up to greet the start with rain! We had an excellent range of cyclists and we were very happy to see so many smiles – even if many of them had mud in their teeth!

The course had a fantastic mix of challenges (says he who designed it. . .) but the plan from the start was to string out the group. We started with 700m on the road to line everyone out. Eric Koh from team Specialized entered the single track first with a smooth bunny hop from tarmac to trail (MUD). Eric was followed closely by Your Author, Chia, Cui Yinhao and 2 other Specialized riders. There was a long line from there including Sven Nijs who had a tough start. . . .

Once riders hit the mud it was time to pick your lines as the rain turned the course into a series of deep ruts, puddles and slippery rocks. At the end of the first lap it was a Specialized 1, 2, 3 with Your Author in 4^th followed closely by MaxSHRacing teammate, and perennial strong man, Cui Yinhao.

As the laps went by the course got slower and sucked the energy from all riders. After riders exited the first section of trail they entered onto the second short section of road before jumping back into the trees. By mid race this area had degraded to the point where it was one long run. Throw in some barriers and we kept all riders on their toes! In similar fashion the second set of trail was great on the first lap but turned into pure running after the barriers as the rain continued.

A huge well done to all participants on completing such a demanding and energy sucking Sunday!

Full results will be posted in the next few days, however the final top 5 were:

1. Eric Koh (Specialized China)

2.Tom Simpson (Specialized China)

3. Chia Kung (Specialized China)

4. Robert Lamb (MaxSHRacing)

5. Cui YinHao (MaxSHRacing)

More pics and news to come. . . .

CLUB AWARDS #4 BEST ALL AROUND CYCLIST SHANGHAI

2009-02-21T13:38:00.000-08:00

We are getting down to the cold, hard, nitty, gritty of the awards in a hard fought category. Today, we will release the winner for best all around cyclist SHANGHAI as voted by your peers: Riders who received multiple votes were:

SIMON CUI (SPECIALIZED)
ERIC KOH (SPECIALIZED)
MARTIN BREUVART (TCR)
JEAN PIERRE DAWANCE (TCR)
CUI YINHAO (MAXSHRACING)

TWO LOCAL TEAMS REALLY DOMINATING THE TOP 5! The Winner of best all around cyclist, including climbing, time trails, crits and point to point racing is: a TIE!!!!

MARTIN BREUVART AND JP DAWANCE - WELL DONE BOTH AND WELL DONE TCR!!!
Sorry I (strangely) couldn't find a pic of martin. . send one if you have one. .

The official award for this category (I Know you didn't think you would win anything. . . will be to be featured as our"banner boy" for the next year!!!

Tune in tomorrow race fans - and until then, Stay classy San Diego.

CLUB AWARDS #5 BEST SPORTSMANSHIP

2009-02-19T14:29:00.000-08:00

An interesting one here in Shanghai where we are passionate about our cycling - sometimes emotions flare and we aren't 'the nicest bunch'. However some riders do stand out. Riders who received votes were Allen Leuth, Kaiyuan, Chia, and Simon Cui.

THE WINNER: MR. SIMON CUI!!

Not only does he have great tan lines, and an ability to be kind to others even on his bad days - Simon is also one of the top cyclists by results as well!
Well done Simon!

CLUB AWARDS #6 - BEST DRESSED SHANGHAI CYCLIST

2009-02-15T14:46:00.000-08:00

This category was NOT a huge competition. Only one OTHER rider got a (single) vote. . . . .

THE WINNER: MR TRENT ILIFFE. . . . .

Congratulations TCR. . .!

Always the wearer of white socks, the rider of Italian steed, the wearer of Adidas shoes. . . . .and when off the bike Bulgari sunglasses. . . we here at shanghaivelo feel that the Australian may have a fake passport and may actually be Italian. . . . . .watch this space as Mr. Iliffe may have some words as a guest columnist to keep you looking TIGHT on the bike. . . and don't let him catch you without white bar tape. . .

GOING NATIONAL! CYCLOCROSS IN BEIJING

2009-02-14T22:09:00.000-08:00

One of the main goals of shanghaivelo is to bring the cycling community in China closer together. I have been speaking with Tom Lanhove at www.cyclosportchina.com and he is doing some amazing things in Beijing - definitely have a look at his website!

Tom has added me to his mailing list to keep me posted on Beijing riding and racing news and to cut to the chase - they have fantastic riding and racing community running. Recently the Beijing winter racing has been written up in INTERNATIONALLY!!!! Please take 5 minutes and have a look at

http://cyclosportschina.com/?p=421

SOOOO COOL! I would once again like to take a line and thank TREK BICYCLES for all the hard work they are doing in China to build racing culture - a big thank you to Todd McKean and all his dealers!!!

CLUB AWARDS #7 - FAVOURITE PRO RIDER (MALE)

2009-02-14T17:14:00.000-08:00

On the group ride yesterday morning this was hotly debated (luckily there was only one fist fight - OHHHHHHHH the passion!).

A number of riders received votes and I must say a number of highly regarded riders were missed (in my opinion!). Riders who received votes were:

Jens Voight, Alejandro Valverde, Cadel Evans, Philipe Gilbert, Andy Schleck, and Svein Tuft (my personal vote - highly underrated rider who you should all read about at http://blogs.symmetricscycling.com/ ) The winner in this category was actually a tie!

THE WINNER(S): JENS VOIGHT AND PHILIPPE GILBERT!How on earth did he manage to get a photo with both of them? He is so talented!

Philippe has a website at http://philippegilbert.com (french language) and Jens at http://www.geocities.com/jens_voigt2001/welcome.html (OK this isn't his main site but wait until you click. . . . )

Gilbert turned professional in 2003 by joining the French team Française des Jeux. During this season he recorded his first victory by winning a stage in Tour de l'Avenir. In 2004 he began by winning a stage in the Tour Down Under as well as the young rider classification. He participated in the men's road race at the 2004 Summer Olympics where he finished 49th. He also won the Paris-Corrèze. In 2005 he won several races in France, which allowed him to win the Coupe de France de cyclisme sur route. This victories included Trophée des Grimpeurs, Tour du Haut-Var and the Polynormande. He also took stages in Four Days of Dunkirk and Tour Méditerranéen.

2006 would become his most successful year when he won the prestigious Het Volk after repeatedly attacking until he got away alone with 7 km to go.^[1] During the season he also won GP de Fourmies and GP de Wallonie as well as stages at Dauphiné Libére and ENECO Tour.

Gilbert started his 2008 season winning the King of the Mountains competition in Tour Down Under and the overall classification al well as two stages of the Vuelta a Mallorca. He later won Het Volk for second time in his career after a solo attack with almost 50 kilometers to go. He finished the year by winning the classic Paris-Tours race in a late breakaway where he won a sprint between his three breakaway companions. The peloton finished four seconds back.

Jens Voigt (born 17 September 1971 in Grevesmühlen, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) is a German professional road bicycle racer for UCI Pro Tour Team Saxo Bank. Voigt is known as affable with a propensity to attack, and for his positive racing attitude. He is capable of repeated attacking, holding a high tempo, and breaking away from the peloton. He has worn the maillot jaune of the Tour de France twice, though Voigt has never challenged for the overall title due to his lack of ability in the mountains.

He is the riders' representative on the UCI ProTour council, for the Cyclistes Professionels Associés (CPA),^[1] and Voigt has spoken against doping.^[2]

Tomorrow: THE BEST DRESSED SHANGHAI CYCLIST. . . .

CLUB AWARDS # 8 - Favourite PRO RIDER FEMALE

2009-02-13T14:35:00.000-08:00

Continuing with our awards we move into the FEMALE PRO Cyclist who received the most votes as YOUR favourite: Riders who received votes were Nicole Cooke, Marianne Vos, Nadia Triquet, Guo Shuang. . . .and the winner (drum roll. . . . )

GUO SHUANG!
with a close second (by a tire width) to Marianne Vos

Doesn't look like she worked that hard to win . . . . . overall this was a good category which surprised many of you (although NO LADIES voted!!!)

Guo Shuang (born February 26, 1986) is a Chinese professional track cyclist. She won two bronze medals at the 2006 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, in Sprint and Keirin, and two silver medals at the 2007 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, again in Sprint and Keirin.

Guo had an eventful semi-final in the sprint at the 2008 Summer Olympics, having won the first heat and conceded the second to her opponent Anna Meares, the third heat saw Guo come down the banking too steeply and her front wheel slipped from beneath her. The heat was re-run and although Guo won by a few millimetres, she was relegated for coming down the tack and pushing Meares onto the côte d'azure on the final lap. This put Meares through to the final ride-off for gold. Guo went on to win the final ride-off for the bronze against Willy Kanis.

See you tomorrow . . . . . . .:)

CLUB AWARDS #9 - TEAM BIKE SHANGHAI!

2009-02-12T14:13:00.000-08:00

The battle of the Teams! We received votes for Forever bicycles (I hope no one raced one of these classics in the A grade!), The Cannondale CAAD 9 (I'd like to be on the team that was racing these !?), The Specialized SL2 and the TCR Marco Polo edition. The Winner was. . . .

The Specialized SL2!
Second place goes to the Trek Team Marco Polo

Congratulations to Eric and his merry men on the sexiest team bike in Shanghai! The SL2 was also rated 4.42 out of 5 on roadbikereview.com.

Eric could you email me a description of what specialized set out to do with this bike for your victory lap?

CLUB AWARDS #10 - Favourite Team Bike 2008

2009-02-09T16:11:00.000-08:00

This was a hard fought category, and one that seemed to have many of you quite passionate! Votes came in for the Specilized SL2, Colnago Team Tinkoff, Trek Astana, and the Wilier Cento - Team Lampre.

After sorting through, and tabulating the votes the final #1 placing went to:

TEAM CSC CERVELO

A Pro Tour favorite, the Cervelo R3 gets spec'd up with an exclusive, light, and elegant package. Built complete at 13.9lbs (54cm) with pedals makes the Cervelo R3 a bike that needs no upgrade while aesthetically stopping every rider it goes by.

Nice voting guys - tomorrows results will post our favourite team bike in Shanghai!

CLUB AWARDS #11 FAVOURITE INTERNATIONAL PRO TEAM 2008

2009-02-07T14:17:00.000-08:00

THE FHL TRIBAL COUNCIL HAS SPOKEN - YOU VOTED FOR:

WINNER: TEAM CSC
http://www.csc.com/cycling

Other teams you voted for included Team Garmin Chipotle in second place, Team Lampre, Rock Racing (BOOO HISS!!), and Team Silence Lotto. All of whom registered numerous votes.

From 2001 through 2008, CSC sponsored Team CSC, one of the best-managed and most successful sports franchises in the world. The cycling team shared with CSC a global reach and embodied the common themes of experience, results and teamwork as they competed in more than 80 races per season. In every race, Team CSC cyclists reinforced the message that they, like CSC, were leaders in their field and committed to excellence.

Good voting! Tomorrow we head into uncharted waters with . . . . . FAVOURITE TEAM BIKE 2008

CLUB AWARDS #12 Favourite China Pro Team

2009-02-06T18:13:00.001-08:00

ITS HERE! THE MOMENT YOU HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! Over the next 12 days we will release the winners of the different AWARDS Categories for the 2008 FHL Awards and Survey.

#12 FAVOURITE CHINA PROFESSIONAL TEAM (AS VOTED BY YOU) 2008:

#1 TEAM MARCO POLO CYCLING
(http://www.marcopolocyclingteam.com/en/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1)

#2 The China Womens Mountain Bike Team

The year has started well for the ‘Marco Polo family’: rider Fuyu Li and founding father Nathan Dahlberg have both become fathers of newborn babies:

Fuyu is the proud father of his first born son (16/1), Nathan and Linna are very happy with their beautiful daughter Isabelle (22/1)! The Trek - Marco Polo Cycling Team is the first professional cycling team from China. The team is an international team with the best Chinese/Asian riders integrated between experienced western riders. Management is from Europe, but the sportive target is the Asian UCI ranking, in which the team is currently ranked 3rd. The Trek - Marco Polo Cycling Team is an unconventional and international team, in a traditional and Europe-oriented cycling scene. The team is named after Marco Polo, who brought the best of China to the outside world. Which is what the team is aiming to do in cycling.

The 2008 main sponsor of the team is Trek bicycles, which guarantees the best possible bikes for the team. Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France 7 times on a Trek bicycle. In 2007, Discovery Channel and AMD supported the team, where as GE Energy is supporting the team in some races (Tour of Georgia; Tour de Qinghai Lake) in 2008.

Tomorrow: Favourite Professional Team International!

GETTING STRONG: Winter Training Part3b

2009-02-03T23:50:00.000-08:00

Story courtesy of Simeon Green/ PezCyclingNews http://www.pezcyclingnews.com

. . .As with everything, there is an exception to the rule. If there is an uneven number of riders in the group and you don’t have anyone to ride along side, you should place yourself in between the two riders ahead of you, with your front wheel between their two rear wheels. This allows the riders behind you to remain bar to bar and to keep the group tightly together. The riders behind you should ride with their front wheels either side of your rear wheel. It’s not acceptable to sit directly behind the rider ahead of you and leave a gap to your side.

Now, before you spark up and say that riding between the wheels of the riders preceding you is unsafe, let me point out, that if everyone is riding bar to bar as they should be, you are guaranteed the space of a handlebar’s width within which to move, which should be ample. So even if the two riders ahead of you knock into each other, you should have plenty of space. This is a pretty safe place to be.

Rule 3: Peeling Off
When you are tired of riding at the front, and you feel it is time for you to go to the back, make sure the rider beside you knows you are tired and want to go back. Once you have both established that you are going back, check briefly that there isn’t someone overlapping your back wheel, then both riders slowly and gradually move to the outside and let the group come through the middle. Do not suddenly veer off to the side, peel off in a steady and controlled manner.

Rule 4: Pulling Through
When the two riders ahead of you peel off . . . . . I will explain what to do in a few days on my next post - I am off to the trainer and my new cyclocross videos!

GETTING STRONG: Winter Training Part3

2009-02-01T14:38:00.000-08:00

A big THANK YOU! To Richard Pestes for allowing us to reprint this story courtesy of Simeon Green/ PezCyclingNews ( http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=6731&status=True&catname=Latest%20News ) http://www.pezcyclingnews.com

"Being strong is one thing, but knowing how to ride safely in a group is quite another. PEZ’s own resident semi-pro Sim Green who rides for Bouygues Telecom’s feeder team C.A.Castelsarrasin in southern France, offers some guidance as we prepare to get back on the roads.

There are a series of basic rules to follow in order to ride properly in a group, and yet it is often surprising how few people know these rules.

You might think this doesn’t apply to you, after all, you are a Cat 1 and winner of the Thursday night or Saturday morning World Championships… so like I said, it’s amazing how many people don’t know how to ride in a group. If you are new to the sport, this will help for your next group ride, if you are old to the sport, this should be a useful recap of what you already know.

Rule 1: It’s Not a Race a
A group ride is NOT a race. You are not to “Attack” off the front or try to show everyone how strong you are. That’s what races are for.

Rule 2: Bar-to-Bar
This is probably THE most important rule. Whenever riding in a group you should be riding 2 by 2, side by side (with only a few centimeters between you, you should not be able to fit a bus between you and rider beside you) and be perfectly handlebar to handlebar. SEE PICTURE ABOVE

Do not at any time sprint ahead and disrupt the flow. Even if there is a corner coming up, stay side by side and go through the corner like a well oiled machine. Riding with your bars ahead of the rider beside you is called “half-wheeling” and is a major faux pas. It’s up to you to keep up with the speed of the slower rider next to you. And for goodness sake, please try to keep to the side of the road, there is no need to take over the whole lane and annoy car drivers. . . . More posted soon. . . .did you take notes?

GETTING STRONG: Winter Training PART2

2009-01-28T14:53:00.000-08:00

A few posts ago I mentioned posting a basic weight training routine. Firstly, I want to say the usual - if you are someone who has been unfit (living the expat life in Shanghai) or have not been to see a Dr. in years I STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU DO SO prior to starting ANY strenuous activity. There, now that I've pleased the lawyers amongst you . . . I would also like to offer I am uploading these programs such to assist those athletes who do not have a personal coach. To get the most out of these programs you will need to customise the program to fit YOU. One item of note for the 'newer' cyclists reading this is that you probably have the most to gain from basic strength training and weights use; for the more experienced cyclists you will really need to look at how we can make your current training regime more efficient to ensure weights can offer advantages. The key to all of this is specificity.

At this time of year in Shanghai and on the China mainland in general, cyclists are offered a unique opportunity - sit in the pub, drink dark beers and talk about how good they "used to be" or get into the gym (preferably without the dark beer) and build some strength for the upcoming season. There may be numerous benefits to a bit of time spent in the gym:

Better resistance to injury (when performed properly)
Improved fatigue resistance in muscles (when performed properly)
Improved upper body stability (when performed properly)
Greater ability to deal with local fatigue (when performed properly)

Please see below a general strength and weights routine which will get you started. As usual - email me at rob_w_lamb@hotmail.com with questions or queries.

Bench press 2 X 12-15
Dumbbell flys 2 X 12-15
Lunges 2 X 12-15
Inverted leg press 2 X 12-15
Abdominal crunches 2 X 18-30
Lumbar hyper extension 2 X 20-30
Wide grip lat pull down 2 X 12-15
Seated shoulder press 2 X 12-15
Hamstring curls 2 X 12-15
Calf raises 2 X 12-15
Bent knee hip flexors 2 X 20-30
Twisting sit-ups 2 X 20-30

To get started choose a weight on each where you can initially complete 11-13 repetitions.

As soon as you're easily completing 2 X 15 increase the weight and go back to 2 X 12, building up the reps progressively as you get stronger. For those of you living close to, or attending Megafit on Huai Hai Road I will be starting a morning circuit training workshop with Jacob Johansen at SpinninginChina (see link top right corner to his website). Email me for more details at rob_w_lamb@hotmail.com

SHANGHAI CROSS

2009-01-25T00:41:00.000-08:00

IT IS FINALLY OFFICIAL! TREK BICYCLES HAVE COME ON BOARD AS OUR TITLE SPONSOR! A big thanks to TREK!
(you may also want to have a look at their website for your new Trek X01 Cross bike!!)

We have also been hugely supported by Bikehome.net, Nestle and MaxSHRacing!Click on the poster for a larger view and START TRAINING! I will post a small plan soon to get you fit for CROSS!! Stay tuned..............