An Exciting New Year's cycling ahead

Happy New year everyone

Despite all the financial doom and gloom, what a fantastic year there is coming up in cycling! 

We have:

The Olympics

A very competitive Tour circuit and what a Tour De France we have to look forward to - You never know a British Yellow jersey and British Green Jersey??  Not out of the Question!

An "AWESOME" British team in Team Sky - we will win things this year
The world Cycling Champs
Some Awesome coverage on TV with Sky, Eurosports and ITV4
We have some great innovations coming out, especially with the electronic gear shifting! Let’s hope the prices come down.  Sales galore get out there and get some kit! Wiggle, Chain Reaction, Evans all have superb sales on at the minute and what appear to be all year sales.  Also don't forget your local bike shop, they have some awesome and often bespoke made kit, they will also give you hands on advice which you won't get from an online store.

(As a hint, Evans also runs 2-3 hour basic cycle maintenance courses.  Last I looked they were free except for a £25 refundable deposit to ensure you turn up - If you want to know the basics book on and go join the Evans team - www.evanscycles.com)

Cycling is really starting to take off in a massive way with Sportive being sold out in hours rather than days.  Triathlon events are following suit.  Another great thing that we saw more of in and is set to continue in 2012 in the non-competitive bike rides, I did the Nottingham bike ride this year along with about 5000 others - racing was prohibited.  What a great way of encouraging participation in the sport.  I believe the sky rides are similar  Along with this many of the major retailers are getting in on the sportive act with Evans and Halfords both sponsoring a number of events or organising their one.

Some links:

Evans cycles Ride it events,
Halfords UK Cycling Tour series,
Wiggle Sportive,
Sky Rides

Or visit

British Cycling,
Triathlon Events,
British Triathlon,
CTC,
UK Cyclocross
If you have not already made a resolution to take part in an event I suggest you do.  Am I entering to win? Not unless miracles happen and I grow legs and lungs like Lance Armstrong but I am entering to take part and test myself.  It will also give me the excuse I am looking for to go from commuter to sporting cyclist.  However good?  It’s why I like cycling so much; it’s not always so much about beating others (unless they are ahead of me on the road and then they become the rabbit!!) but more about how you can compete with your own demons a self-doubt.

My training officially starts tomorrow; my knee injury was a little worse than expected so it’s kept me out from any serious training in the last month.

For any of you who care I thought I would post my 2012 goals and let you know how I get on:

1) Complete 1 mini triathlon (400m swim, 20km bike ride and 5km run) - full Tri next year
2) Complete 2 cycles sportive as well as the Nottingham Bike ride again
3) Complete 10,000 miles in the year
4) Get my fighting weight to 11.7 stone or 67kg (currently 12.5 stone or 72kg) - 5 bags of sugar
5) Complete 1 cyclocross event

I want to mix it up a bit this year a try a few new things, I'll keep you up dated as I go along

Good luck for the year ahead - Lets continue what we did in 2011 and continue to grow the importance of cycling to modern day society.  oh ye and have A LITTLE FUN along the way

Also

Don't be fooled and think you don't make a difference, your voice counts in the fight to improve services for cyclists throughout the world.  Get involved!!

Is Cycling Sexy?

Riding in at 5am this morning I started to ask myself is cycling is sexy?  A strange question you may ask, but what got me thinking was an advert for motorbikes in the local paper.  The advert, like many selling motorbikes included a scantily glad I might I add very attractive blonde model straddling was appears to be a very nice motorbike.  Was it a nice bike? no idea!, but the advert stood out and in all fairness being a red blooded male it caught my eye.

Now I have been reading Cycling magazines for a couple of years and I do not recall (although that is not to say it hasn't happened once or twice) a new road or mountain bike being sold using "sexy" images.  Whether that be half naked ladies, men or glamour style shots.  Bizarrely out of the 2 sports/activities cycling is the one which involves more tight fitting clothes and body conscious activities.  Not many other sports encourage men to shave their bodies for instance?

So why is it that the motor trade have bought into the fact sex and sexy images sells products yet the cycling world has not? 

Opposite are 2 typical adverts?  Which one is more appealing?  simply from a attractice advert perspective if nothing else?

A few of things instantly come to mind:

1) As a rule motorbikes and the motor industry as a whole is a male dominated sport and pursuit. Cycling may be more male dominated as regards participants but is not really seen as a male dominated activity.
2) The demographics of the cycling community appear to be different and so I am assuming the marketers are aiming towards this.  Maybe the demographics are too open and so a more blanket approach concentrating on the product has a higher perceived affect on the wider majority.
3) Could it be the fact that the environment in which the 2 vehicles are used is so vastly different?  As a whole bike shots involve great outdoor shots, stunning surroundings, great back drops of mountains etc.  A motorbike is predominantly a road vehicle and roads are boring.  They therefore need a pretty woman to add another feature to the image.

Whilst I admire the cycling fraternity for avoiding the need for sexy images I do think by doing so it also creates a belief that cycling isn't sexy, or flamboyant and exciting.  Yes participation is growing but to what real extent?  The stats do show more bikes are bought, how many are used to commute?  2% of journeys are by bike so not many?

I do think to get more people using their bikes to commute we not only need to improve our infrastructure and facilities but we need to increase the desire to do so.  Some of the challenge is the image factor.  Before I started commuting I would never have been seen dead in Lycra.  The same feeling is held by almost all of my non cycling friends who still believe I am a big girl and very wrong for wearing lycra to commute.  Sexy images sells products as it helps to create a desire, helps to create lifestyle image for people to look up to and strive for.

I must admit though as well that as like skiing and snow boarding there is a distinct split between road bikes and mountain bikes as regards the way it is portrayed.  Road cycling still has a stuffy airs and graces feel about it (Just to add I ride a road bike) where as mountain biking definitely has the fun and more lifestyle feel. Commuting long distances on a mountain bike is hardly practical and so if we are to encourage large droves of people to get out their cars and take up cycling for their 10-20 mile daily commute we need to do more to sell the activity as a true lifestyle choice.  To do this is needs to look and feel glamorous and offer a true desire to those reading the adverts and article.

Does cycling need sex? NO!, does it need to appear more sexy?  YES!