Bulgarian Open 2015

Did you know that the Bulgarian Open 2015 is going on right now? According to wikipedia, Bulgarian Open is a professional and amateur, minor-ranking snooker tournament. No, we're not turning this bicycle blog into a blog about snooker. We just felt a need to complain a little. Because today, when we were watching TV we zapped by Eurosport. From 8:30 to 20:30 they were, and are, broadcasting live from the Bulgarian Open. They are broadcasting twelve hours of live snooker! How is snooker even considered a sport?

Snooker fans all over the world might exult, but we would consider having to watch twelve hours of snooker a cruel punishment. And honestly, twelve hours live? You really couldn't find anything else to fill your tableau with, Eurosport? Especially considering that there almost always seems to be some snooker tournament going on somewhere - how important are these tournaments anyway? Is snooker really that popular? We would prefer watching Tour de... South Dakota, or Kalaallit Nunaat Grand Prix, to watching more snooker. Actually, we would prefer watching almost anything, to watching more snooker.

In the meantime, in the 2015 UEC Cyclo-Cross European Championships, today. Admittedly, cyclo-cross isn't our favourite sport, but it sure would have beat snooker. Anyway Sanne Cant won the women's title, and Lars van der Haar won the men's title, so congratulations to them both. Well done!

And luckily we have other things to do anyway. Like writing this blog post. Or learning to build bicycle wheels (it's harder than one would think). Or reading a book!

Ride safe!

Giant ATX 777

I got a Giant ATX mountainbike today, from one of my neighbours. Or rather, I got a Giant ATX mountainbike frame. My neighbour had found it somewhere when he was out riding, he wasn't particularly interested in it for himself but since he knows that I'm into bikes he wondered if I wanted it. "Sure" I replied, thinking that if I won't be using it myself I could donate it to the bicycle kitchen. He didn't know much about the bicycle and neither do I. It's an aluminum frame, 26" wheels (I think), probably from 2013... Obviously someone took it to pillage for parts. So it misses... well, pretty much everything. And the parts that are left... well, the pedals look as if someone just went at them with a rock or something and the crankset is rusty and in a pretty bad state. It also has gotten a dent in the chainstay.

Well, either way, whatever I decide to do with it, I have to report it to the lost property office of the police first, and then wait for at least three months.Which means that I might not get to do anything with it, of course, but it's the right thing to do. If it is a 2013 frame someone might really miss it. And anyway, if it was my bike I know what I would want other people to do. But here it is right now.

 Man, did you hate these pedals?

 Fiona inspects the frame.

 She's very thorough!

 The dent in the chainstay.

 The frame still looks pretty straight, though...

An Acera front derailleur, a rusty crankset and a dry leaf.

Ride safe and take care of your bicycles!

Hallo Deutschland!

We will be going away for a little while, to Germany. We will be back quite soon, but we wanted to tell you. Also we wanted to take the opportunity to show some pictures from Germany. Germany is fast becoming one of the best cycling countries in the world, which is super cool, because what do you think of when you hear "Germany"? No, lay off the nazi jokes, that was 70 years ago. And put the "eating meat and drinking beer" aside too. OK, really, you could think of a lot of things when you think about Germany. Like a beautiful country. Good music (Kraftwerk, Alphaville, Atari Teenage Riot, Kruder & Dorfmeister... and so on). Good films (Good bye Lenin!, Barbara, Lore... and so on). Friendly people. But honestly you also think about cars, don't you? Mercedes. BMW. Audi. Porsche. Opel. And the now infamous Volkswagen...

But you don't think very much of bicycling, right? However, that might be changing soon. Pictures from Berlin and Munich are making us really impressed and glad. And hoping that we could see the like over here too. So check out this cool article from the European Cyclis's Federation.

And ride safe!

A cyclist in Cologne. Chic and cool. (We borrowed this picture from European Cyclist's Federation. Hope that's OK!)

A traffic area in Munich... and how cool is this? Will we ever see something like this in Gothenburg? (We borrowed this picture from European Cyclist's Federation. Hope that's OK!)

A bicycle lane in Berlin. This is how it's supposed to look. Note how the pedestrians are not standing in the middle of the bicycle lane! (We borrowed this picture from European Cyclist's Federation. Hope that's OK!)

Product review 1: Knog tools

In January we wrote that we had products that we were going to test and evaluate, and then review. Since then we haven't really done that, but now is the time! Or, actually we wrote about the K-Edge chain catcher on the 5th of May, so in a way this is the second product review. But it is the first product review to get that headline.

The Knog foldable monkey wrench (or shifter spanner), to the left, and the Knog 20 tool, to the right. It began with the foldable monkey wrench. I found it at a good price, thought it looked kind of cool and also thought that a monkey wrench is a good tool to have, and this one would fit in my saddle bag. So I bought it and put it in my saddle bag. Then it simply stayed there for some time, because I didn't need it. (That always seems to be the case, doesn't it?) But after some time eventually I used it... I was trying to remove a saddle from an old bike, needed to loosen a bolt, took the Knog foldable monkey wrench out and... the bloody thing slipped and bent. To be honest, the wrench had felt a bit flimsy from the start, but now when I used it the adjustable part just bent. Not much, not more that 2-3°, but that still made the spanner completely unusable. Not a very good thing, now is it? I was furious.

The really cool thing, though, is that when I wrote to Knog and made a complaint about it, they offered to send a new tool to me completely for free, when I could show them the receipt (or rather, a photo of it). They have a two year warranty on their products. Now they didn't stock any more monkey wrenches so instead the sent me their 20 tool. A small (50x50x22 mm) tool containing:

2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 mm hex keys
A T25 torx screwdriver bit
A Philips screwdriver
A flat head screwdriver
8, 10, 13 and 15 mm open wrenches
3.22, 3.30, 3.45 and 3.96 mm spoke wrenches (I haven't measured them, but according to Knog that's them)
A chain tool
A bottle opener

20 functions! Not bad! So far I have only used the Allen keys and the bottle opener, so I can't really say anything about the other functions, but the Allen keys and the bottle opener work just fine. And this tool feels more solid than the foldable monkey wrench too. The only complaint I have is that the T25 torx bit have a tendency to come loose, but since you fold the tool at least it doesn't get lost. Other reviewers, like Bikeradar, who have tried the spoke wrenches and the chain tool have said that these functions are crap. Also, since the tool is short, square and a bit bulky, using it in hard-to-get-to places on your bicycle might be hard or even impossible.

Knog are super consistent. Their products are not about "form follows function", it's totally "function follows form". But I rather like that. You instantly recognise Knog tools, and they are good-looking. (This 20 tool even matches the colour of my bicycle.) They also seem to be really nice people, environmentally conscious and Australian. And eventually, by taking it out and gently tapping it with a hammer, I managed to straighten the bent bit on the monkey wrench, so now it works again. It still feels flimsy, though.

So the bottom line:

Would I recommend Knog tools? Yes. That is, should you find the foldable monkey wrench at a good price, go ahead, buy it and then use it patiently and carefully. You'd be hard pressed to find another monkey wrench that fits in your saddle bag. (However, it looks as if this tool is now out of production.) And the 20 tool I recommend with the same conditions: Buy it at a good price. The functions are useful but might be hard to use, it is solid, easy to fit in your pocket or your saddle bag and good-looking. Also, the soft edges on both tools makes it less likely to damage inner tubes also lying around. That's really good.

Ride safe!

Product review coming up

Anyone knows what this is?

Ride safe!

Enkhjargal Tuvshinjargal

We are impressed with Enkhjargal Tuvshinjargal, the Mongolian rider who participated in the UCI Road World Championships in Richmond last week. So we did a search on her on the internet and tried to find out a little more about her. Now, finding information about her isn't that easy. It's not easy to find information about cycling in Mongolia, to begin with. There exists a Mongolian Cycling Federation and they have a facebook page (no, we really don't understand much of it). We did, however, find an interview with Enkhjargal Tuvshinjargal made a couple of years ago here. And we hope that it's OK if we repost that interview here (with some corrections), on our blog, as well. Here it is:

That's Enkhjargal Tuvshinjargal in the middle. (We borrowed this picture from Japan Cycling Federation. Hope that's OK!)

Ilaria: Hello Enkhjargal, please introduce yourself. How old are you and when did you start racing?

Enkhjargal: I'm 20 and I bought my first bike in 2005 just for fun. (Enkhjargal Tuvshinjargal was born in 1992, and this interview was posted in November 2013.)

Ilaria: Why did you start? How did you pick up this sport?

Enkhjargal: My coach Davaatogtokh suggested I do this sport and he said to me: If we start training we go for a big goal. National champion isn't enough, I'd like a Worlds and Olympics winner. We met in 2012 March.

Ilaria: You told me in Florence - after the ITT race - that in Mongolia few women race by bike. Has it been difficult  for you to get to this level? What difficulties did you face?

Enkhjargal: In Mongolia there are few women racing by bike but now many girls and children are insterested in cycling and are about to start. It has been hard for me, of course, but one year and half it's very few to get to this leavel. I'm really happy.

Ilaria: You told me you race on the road but that in Mongolia roads are not good. How can you train? Do you train there or also abroad?

Enkhjargal: In Mongolia roads aren't good and there is also a lot of traffic. Training is very dangerous. So I use to train far from the city. But in winter is very cold - 30 degrees - and I have to use an indoor trainer.

Ilaria: Do people use bike to daily move in Mongolia?

Enkhjargal: Not really, but in summer riding as a sport and as a healty execise is quite popular.

Ilaria: From where in Mongolia do you come?

Enkhjargal: I live in the capital city Ulaanbaatar.

Ilaria: Is your family happy? Do they support your sport activitiy or did you have to persuade them?

Enkhjargal: I live with my mother, when I was six she made me start with sport. She supported me a lot so far.

Ilaria: What kind of rider - and person - are you?

Enkhjargal: I'm very patient and also outgoing.

Ilaria: What's your "dream race", the race you'd like to win?

Enkhjargal: I have already rode  my "dream race", that's Cycling Worlds. Also I'd like to race and win the Olympic.

Ilaria: How is a your typical training day?

Enkhjargal: Sometimes my day is very busy. I wake up early to go far from the city. It takes time. I train three hours, then I eat my lunch and rest for one hour. In the afternoon I train by MBK for ability or I go to the swimmingpool and do some easy exercises. After that I eat my dinner and study English. In add every night I write in my diary what I learnt and what I have to learn.

Ilaria: How did you feel taking part in Worlds?

Enkhjargal: I'm really happy because I have raced together so many good famous athletes. I wanted to know where I stand, what's my level. Now my coach and I found a criterion to set my training and we understood where I must improve.

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

And just to be clear again: We did not do this interview with Enkhjargal Tuvshinjargal. Originally it was made by someone name Ilaria (obviously) and was published here. We hope that us reposting the interview is OK. Other than that we are even more impressed with Enkhjargal now. We have been riding bikes in -30 degrees and it's horrible. So we wish her the best of luck in the future and hope to see more of her in all future races!

Ride safe!

Just a quick note

... about the results from the UCI Road World Championships in Richmond, that ended yesterday. And actually just about the results from the Women Elite Road Race. Because what is there to say about the Men Elite Road Race? Peter Sagan won, Michael Matthews came in second and Ramunas Navardaukas was third. 110 out of 192 contestants finished, 82 did not. (That's 57% of the riders finishing the race.) And there were no Finnish riders in this race.

The Women Elite Road Race, on the other hand, was both interesting and fun, as there were no clear favourites for this race. There were some crashes, a couple of attacks and for a while it looked as if Małgorzata Jasińska from Poland could win, but with 900 metres to go Lizzie Armitstead attacked, then dared Anna van der Breggen to begin the sprint which she did, but being cool, calm and collected Lizzie Armitstead won. Congratulations! Lotta Lepistö came in 40th. Unfortunately our favourite rider in this race Enkhjargal Tuvshinjargal didn't finish the race and Laura Vainionpää, the second Finnish rider, didn't start. 88 out of 138 contestants finished, 50 did not. (That's 64%.)

Lizzie Armitstead sprinting to the finishing line. (We borrowed this picture from UCI. Hope that's OK!)

40th out of 88 really isn't that bad! Especially considering that for example The Netherlands had seven riders, so had USA, Great Britain had six riders, so they were able to employ tactics, the whole team working for one selected rider. When you're alone you have to fight so much harder. We're not saying this to try to diminish Lizzie Armitstead's achievement, we're saying this to explain that 40th place is actually really good.

Anna van der Breggen from the Netherlands, Lizzie Armitstead from Great Britain and Megan Guarnier from USA. (We borrowed this picture from UCI. Hope that's OK!)

And Enkhjargal Tuvshinjargal... How can you not like a cyclist from Mongolia? She's pretty good as well, she won the individual time trial at the Asian Cycling Championships in 2013 and she is the 2015 National champion of Mongolia. Too bad she couldn't finish the race!

Enkhjargal Tuvshinjargal at the race. (We borrowed this picture from Heaton Johnson's Flickr page. Hope that's OK!)

(All small cycling nations deserve a little extra respect, we think.)

Ride safe!