Giro d'Italia 2015. And 2013. And 1967.

In ten days Giro d'Italia - the 97th edition - starts. Are you pepped up for it? Are we? Well... a little bit. To be honest it's not the biggest event in our calendars, but it's fun. We probably won't write much about it here either, but we found a couple of things that we wanted to share with you.

We could start with giving you the link to the official Giro d'Italia home page. Here it is. There you can even count down the seconds until the Giro starts!

First out are here though, are the leaders' jerseys for 2015. Or actually... Let's start with going back to 2013. We thought that it was nice that Paul Smith designed the Giro d'Italia leaders' jerseys in 2013. We like Paul Smith. His clothes, and all other things that he designs, are really expensive but nice. Not that the 2013 jerseys were that different - of course he had to include the sponsors' logos and use the associated colours. And the one very visible difference - the red piping on the pink jersey and the pink piping on the red jersey... Let's just say that it's really hard to combine pink with red and make it look good, and we are not sure that we think that Paul Smith really pulled it off. (And if Paul Smith can't do it...) But we love the patented (kind of) Paul Smith stripes on the left sleeve. However, judge for yourselves!

(We borrowed this picture from Podium Café. Hope that's OK!)

But here are the jerseys for 2015. We think that they look really good! They are designed by the Italian brand Lebole, which we have to admit that we don't know much about.

(We borrowed the picture from Italian Cycling Journal. Hope that's OK!)

And finally, we found this absolutely lovely stamp from 1967.

(We borrowed the picture from Martin Klasch. Hope that's OK!)

There's not much to say about it. It was made by the Italian post for the 50th Giro d'Italia and it's beautiful. Some things went missing as we all started writing e-mails and stopped writing paper letters. There's really no substitute for a letter written on paper, put in an envelope, with a beautiful stamp on it. Not that we miss any "good old times" - just today we had to contact some big companies and the police, and we're really glad we could do it via e-mail and didn't have to write them a letter, put it in an envelope, go out, buy a stamp, put it in the mailbox and then... wait weeks for a reply.

Oh well, we just have to wait for the 100th Giro, don't we? Which should be in 2017!

Ride safe!

Report from last weeks Snicksnack session

We said that we were going to try to give you a report from last weeks Snicksnack session. And we thought that a Monday is a perfect day for doing that! (And in case you wonder, snicksnack isn't really used a lot, but it means chitchat.)

It was both nice and interesting. There were about 25 people attending it, it was quite gender balanced (a few more men than women) and the average age was... well, we have to guess here. Was it 50 years? Or more? 60? Yours truly sat in the back of the room and had a pretty good view of the event, but judge for yourself.

We can begin with saying that social planning and social planning events and debates will probably never be glamorous or trendy. Thing is, social planning is at its best when you don't think about it. When you can commute to work swiftly and safely in the morning, when you like where you live, when it's convenient to do your shopping, when you know that your kids are happy and safe... That's when social planning (and the society at large, naturally) works. Social planners are really unsung heroes!

(None of the people in the pictures are members of Ensliga Bergens cykelklubb.)

But anyway the event consisted of two lectures. The first lecture was about the bicycle planning strategy in the city of Gothenburg. A lot was said. For example that in 1999 there were 260 kilometres of bike lanes in Gothenburg and 13 years later, in 2012, there were 486 kilometres. That's an 87% increase. Impressive! If it wasn't for... this. Now, to be honest we did get a reply from the traffic department of the city of Gothenburg later on, but still... There are a lot more bike lanes in Gothenburg now than there was when we first began riding on the streets here and we notice and appreciate improvements every now and then, but that doesn't mean that everything is dandy. Just saying. Furthermore, though, we were told that the city of Gothenburg had (or has - we didn't quite get that) two goals:

1. To increase travelling by bicycle.
2. To decrease the number of bicycle accidents.

Goal #1 hasn't been reached, but goal #2 has. There are also thoughts to make all bike lanes one-way lanes (Hurrah for that!) and how to make bicycle parking optimal.

The second lecture was about bicycle(s)/-ing and economy, where the lecturer argued that we should use economic arguments for bicycling, and not just public health and ecological arguments. For example the city of Copenhagen, which really invests in bicycling, has calculated that for every kilometre ridden by bicycle the city saves € 0.15, but for every kilometre driven by car the city loses € 0.09. (Please don't take our word for it, though - check the numbers out for yourselves.) Food for thought.

And that was it, after the event was over we rode home.

It was a beautiful, but cold, evening.

Ride safe!

Four bicycle races, that have nothing in common, really.

Except that they are all bicycle races then. Let's go through them!

1. La Flèche Wallonne Féminine. So, Lotta Lepistö didn't enter the race. The race ended pretty well for her team - Bigla Pro Cycling Team - though, with team mates finishing in second and fourth place (and 29th, 75th, 80th and 89th). Lizzie Armitstead finished in 21st place.

2. Lotta Lepistö will, however, enter the EPZ Omloop van Borsele, in the Netherlands, tomorrow. We doubt they will show the race on Eurosport, right now Eurosport seems obsessed with snooker. But we wish her the best of luck in the race!

3. And on Sunday it's time for the last spring classic: Liège Bastogne Liège. That will be shown on Eurosport. (Could that be because Liège Bastogne Liège is a men's race?!)

 (We borrowed this picture from Nalini voorjaarsklassiekers collectie. Hope that's OK!)

We like these jerseys, from Nalini. Especially Liegi Bastogne Liegi (that's Italian for Liège Bastogne Liège) 1892 and Milano San Remo 1907.

4. Kalmar Grand Prix. This is where we (some of us) are from! It's on the 1st of August, it only costs 395 Swedish krona - € 39.74 (for the 70 km version), everyone who finishes the race gets a medal and a goodie-bag, you start and finish on the Larmtorget square - a cobblestone/pavé square in the middle of Kalmar and since it's in Kalmar there are no hills in the race. (Sometimes it's just nice to not have to ride up hills.) We usually don't promote things here on our blog, but we are really pepped up about riding the 70 km version. You can find out more about it here. (Swedish only.)

Race safe!

Today

"Today is the greatest day I've ever known
Day I've ever known
Can't live for tomorrow
Tomorrow's much too long"

(Smashing Pumpkins)

No, not really. Today is, however, La Flèche Wallonne Féminine and La Flèche Wallonne. We'll be cheering for Lizzie Armitstead and Lotta Lepistö in the women's race. In the men's race we actually really don't have a favourite.

Today is also Snicksnack - a debate evening, organised by Föreningen För Samhällsplanering - The Association For Social planning, and today's topic is how to plan for bicycles and bicycle riding. No, it doesn't sound very sexy but it is darn important! Ensliga Bergens cykelklubb will be there, and we hope to be able to give you a report afterwards.



In the meantime: Allez les sportives and allez les sportifs!Ride safe!


Edit: We just discovered that Lotta Lepistö won't ride the race today. Lizzie Armitstead will, so we'll just cheer for her. Pity, though!

La Flèche Wallonne Féminine

(And for the guys just La Flèche Wallonne.)

We don't usually write about cycling sport events, because... well, we don't usually participate in any. There are a few exceptions. This year, for example, some of us will participate in the Göteborgsgirot race and the Nationaldagsloppet race, here in Gothenburg. Not really to win, just to get decent results. That's the level of our ambitions.

That doesn't mean that we don't follow at least the bigger races. Last year, for example, we were really glad when Vincenzo Nibali won the Tour de France, because he seems like a really nice guy. And it also meant that Vincenzo Nibali could join the great riders who have won the big three - Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España.

Right now, though, is the time of the Spring classics - Milano San Remo, Ronde van Vlaanderen, Paris Roubaix, Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège Bastogne Liège. (Yes, and a couple of other races.) This year John Degenkolb has been really strong, winning both the Milano San Remo and Paris Roubaix. And in a few days is Amstel Gold Race and La Flèche Wallone (both for the girls and the guys).

We will especially try to follow La Flèche Wallonne Féminine, to cheer for Lizzie Armitstead and Lotta Lepistö. Lizzie Armitstead because she seems like a cool woman (and yes, her being a vegetarian is part of that) and Lotta Lepistö because she seems like a cool woman (and her being one of very few professional cyclists from Finland of course helps). Lizzie Armistead rides for the Boels Dolmans team and Lotta Lepistö rides for the Bigla team.

 Lizzie Armitstead (We borrowed the picture from MTC. Hope that's OK!)

Lotta Lepistö (We borrowed the picture from Bigla Pro Cycling Team. Hope that's OK!)

 Allez les sportives!

Look who's gone!

Remember the abandoned Bakfiets Classic, from De Fietsfabrik, that we wrote about half a year ago? (If not, you can read about it here.) Well, apparently it isn't abandoned anymore. And we promise, we didn't have anything to do with it! When we passed by the bike stand that it had been chained to, today it was gone. What made the owner change his or her mind? Or was it a bike thief who took it? Whatever happened we hope that the bike's coming to good use.

Ride safe!

Animals have rights too!

Right now we are really upset, over the decision by the Canadian government to allow the "hunting" of baby seals. What the "hunters" do is they shoot, club or bludgeon baby seals to death. There is not much hunting to talk about - these baby seals lie on the ice with no way of escaping their assassins. To make things even worse, the baby seals are then dragged across the ice with metal-hook–tipped clubs, sometimes still conscious. Seal mothers screaming as they see their children being slaughtered in this utterly barbaric way just breaks our hearts.

Why is this done? Because some people still wear fur. We don't know who. (Isn't it just really old ladies who wear fur?) Anyway, we prefer our fur breathing.

(We borrowed this picture from Buzzerg. Hope that's OK!)

So what can we do, as cyclists? Well, thankfully no bicycling products include fur. But we can contact the Canadian government and tell them what we think of their decision. We can support PETA or other organisations who oppose animal cruelty. We can speak out, as human(e), sentient beings.

This post really hasn't had that much to do with cycling. So here's a picture of Lizzie Armitstead, whom we have been told is a vegetarian. She is also an English cyclist, who have won several medals, including silver in the 2012 Olympic games. Respect!

 (We borrowed the picture from Roadcycling UK. Hope that's OK!)

Ride safe, and be kind to animals!

Sweepsalting - sopsaltning

It's spring here in Gothenburg now. We think that we can safely say that winter will not return, until in October-November (touche du bois!). But before we lay this winter completely behind us we would like to talk a little about the combination of bike lanes and snow, because this year the City of Gothenburg tried something different for it.

For years the traditional way of reducing the numbers bike accidents in the winter was to spread massive amounts of gravel, crushed rock, over the bike lanes. The idea was that if you ride on ice or firmly packed snow your tires wouldn't get any grip, you would skid around, fall and break your bones. With the gravel spread over the ice and snow your tires would get grip. So did it work? Well... Yes. Kind of. Since the gravel consisted of millions of small sharp rocks you would get flat tires all the time, and hence not ride your bike so much. And as a consequence you wouldn't fall and break your legs. When the ice and snow had melted away this layer of gravel on top of the asphalt was also really uncomfortable to ride on. And the combination of a layer of gravel + asphalt, when your wheels start to skid... Brr! Because, ironically, that combination is about the most slippery bedding there is. Encountering that on a downhill slope is something we have nightmares about.

 

This is what it used to look like. (And, to be completely honest, this is what it still looks like on some bike lanes. These photos were taken in February this year...)

But this winter the city of Gothenburg has tried a new concept: Sopsaltning, which roughly translates to sweepsalting. The idea is that you spread salt on the bike lanes, so that when it snows the snow melts away, and you also brush the lanes with sweepers. You can read more about the concept here. So does it work? Well, yes.

 
(The text translates to "This you will like - Sweepsalting makes you not have to tumble". In Swedish it rhymes. Did we tell you about the Gothenburg humour?)

(On this photo you clearly see the pattern of salt.)

This is what one of the bike lanes looked like in January, and in February respectively. Actually these last two photos were taken on the same ride as the two first photos in this blog post. We are impressed with how well (some of!) the bike lanes were kept. So good work, City of Gothenburg!

Ride safe!

Bon voyage!

To the tones of The Avalanches' "Since I Left You"... Julie was sold today. We wish both her and the new owner the best of luck in the future. Bon voyage Julie!

Julie - Peugeot Mont-Blanc (1988)

I have decided to sell my Peugeot Mont-Blanc, from 1988. I bought the bike about five years ago, in 2010. I was curious about road biking, I wondered if it was something for me. And I thought that the best, cheapest way to do that was to buy an old road bike. Then, if I thought that riding road bikes was not really for me, I'd sell the bike. And if I thought that riding road bikes was awesome, I'd sell the bike and buy a new one. I wanted a Peugeot, because when I was younger a guy who I used to see riding a road bike looking kind of cool had (and probably still has) a Peugeot.

So I found a Peugeot Mont-Blanc, from 1988. When I bought the bike it was... crap. I mean, really. The paintwork was chipped, the wires were a mess, the wheels unusable with spokes broken and bent, and the smell when I pulled off the old, once white, bar tape... Eeew! But it was mine for 500 Swedish krona - about € 50 - and I was happy anyway, because it was a Peugeot and it was lavender purple. When I had changed the wires, bought new wheels (I had them custom made with the old hubs), a new saddle and bright yellow bar tape I thought it looked really good too. I named her Julie.

And it was fun to ride! An old steel bike, but it was fast and just plain fun. Changing gears on the frame took some getting used to, but I learned the trick. As you can guess, I decided that road biking was indeed something for me. And I have bought a new bike. So Julie is going to find a new owner. Best of luck to her!

Ride safe!

Our 100th blog post!

Yay! We have reached 100 blog posts! Who would have thought? Actually, we had our doubts when we started, but we're glad we stuck out. We have had visitors from so many countries all around the world and we are glad for every visit. (We would be even happier to get comments from you as well!)

And since 100 blog posts is something to celebrate, and since celebrating is all about having fun today we are simply going to list things that we like and enjoy, in no particular order:

We like Campagnolo:

http://www.campagnolo.com/WW/en/

They're Italian, so their customer service is virtually non-existent. Their products are quite expensive. They're proud, verging on snobbish, about their history. But the products they make are as high quality as they are beautiful. Campagnolo products simply work and look great, and they keep on working and looking great for years. And if that wasn't enough the products are made in Italy and Romania, which means  they're not made in dictatorships, who occupy other countries and have no environmental legislation to speak of. And they are not made by convicts, dissidents or by underpaid workers. (But actually we like Shimano too. Especially on our mountain bikes.)

We like peloton magazine:

(We borrowed this picture from Red Kite Prayer. Hope that's OK!)

http://pelotonmagazine.com/

We like peloton magazine for the beautiful photos and for the articles that sometimes make you wonder "Whatever has that got to do with cycling?!" But that's just the point. Cycling to us is about so much more than the lightest frames, the most exact and fastest shifters, the newest jerseys, or the results from Volta Ciclista a Catalunya. And first and foremost cycling to us is about passion. peloton magazine have gotten that. Whether they write about new bikes, espresso machines or about a trip to Taiwan which resulted in almost no cycling at all they do it with passion. And while we may not get that much out of an article about a butcher in Nice, France (we're vegetarians) (#22, July/August 2013) that's cool. You probably shouldn't love everything in a magazine, anyway.

We like Crank Brothers:

(We borrowed the picture from Bike Rumor. Hope that's OK!)

http://www.crankbrothers.com/

Crank Brothers is a company that make mountainbike wheels, tools, components and more, but they are probably most famous for their Eggbeater pedals. And Eggbeater pedals are the best looking pedals ever. Period. In fact we think that they look so good that we are thinking about getting them for our road bikes as well.

We like knog:

(We borrowed this picture from I ♥ Freemoving. Hope that's OK!)

https://www.knog.com.au/

For bicyclists Knog make lights, locks, bicycle computers and tools. We like Knog because they stick out, they have a consistent form language, because they really think about the environment, because they're nice and because they're Australian.

We like films:

Fixed On Fixed - a short film clip profiling five female bicycle riders and their love of riding fixed gear. Watch it here.

Urban birds - documentary about female cycle couriers working in London. Watch it here.

We like durable, high quality kids' bikes:

(We borrowed the picture from Helkama. Hope that's OK!)

So that children can learn to ride bikes and start to discover the world. Please, no more rickety children's bicycles with rusty chains and cracked saddles. Give your child's bike some TLC!

We also like Mums and Dads who teach their children to ride bikes:

(We have still borrowed this picture from Claudia Clement's flickr page. Hope that's OK!)

We like that more and more people are starting to ride bikes, all around the world:

http://www.worldbicyclerelief.org/

And we like people who have a sense of humour about cycling:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEhySzO14ik

And just so you know, we haven't received any free products whatsoever from any of the companies mentioned above. We even had to pay €13 for a Campagnolo replacement screw. Thanks for that, Campagnolo customer service!

Ride safe, and see you soon again! Let's make it 200!