The PezCyclingNews Features section is where you'll find some of our best stories, the kind that make us want to ride our bikes, and remind us why we love cycling and cycle sport so much. With over 1000 original articles posted so far, there's plenty of great reading here to entertain, whether you've got 5 minutes or 5 hours. Or let us serve up a tasty dish of random stories - just click the Randomizer for a completely random selection of stories pulled from our entire database - just click the 'infinity' button in the header, and enjoy!
2017 marked the 200th anniversary of Baron Drais's ride around Mannheim on his Laufmaschine, generally held to be the predecessor of our carbon-framed, electronically-shifted disc-braked wonder bicycles. From then to now, with its detours, fashion victims, and astringent personalities, is the subject of well-known British author Michael Hutchinson's latest book.
PEZ Holiday Greetings: 2018 is over and we head into another season of cycle race excitement. The PEZ Crew has maneuvered their way through the New Year's Eve fairly unscathed, hang-overs apart, to give you their thoughts on the year past and the year to come. Happy New Year to all and have a great 2019.
Peter Sagan is, without doubt, one of the most interesting riders in the pro peloton, combining elements of the Class Clown with exceptional athleticism, tactical nous, and a relentless will to win. His new memoir, as written by cycling author John Deering, provides an interesting insight into the sport's preeminent colourful personality.
For many of us, a bike ride is the opportunity to escape from everyday life. We can think about things undisturbed or just concentrate on the ride itself. For Paul Maunder, the author of “The Wind at My Back,” cycling is a chord that is strummed through the passages of his life, blending exertion, landscape and philosophy.
Gravel Series Intro: I’ve ridden and raced on the road for more than 30 years now, but over the past decade, cyclocross has served as my gateway drug into the emerging world of gravel. It’s about time that I start spreading the gospel, so we will start a regular series in 2019 about all things gravel.
In spite of what we think here, professional road cycling (well, all pro cycling, actually) is a pretty marginal niche sport. Hence the perceived need for books to explain, in the most basic terms, all the elements that make up road racing. But even the cognoscenti can benefit from some of these and the latest iteration, “Racing Bicycles-The Illustrated Story of Road Cycling”, is a worthy addition.
I’m sure PEZ readers around the world are all familiar with Greg LeMond’s epic ride on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on July 23, 1989 to snatch victory from Laurent Fignon and win the Tour de France by a mere 8 seconds. I can still remember watching it on TV. And I still have on VHS (as well as functioning VHS tape recorder!) The 1989 Tour de France: Greg LeMond’s Incredible Comeback!
Ed's Rant: The winter nights are drawing in and Ed Hood has been ruminating over the Grand Tours - Where are they going wrong and what can be changed? Ed has a long list of short-comings and improvements. Constructive criticism or the rants of a madman?
Obituary: Paul Sherwen died on Sunday at home in Africa. Paul was known in every corner of the cycling World, from rider, team manager and TV commentator he was half of the 'Voice of Cycling' with Phil Liggett. Ed Hood pays his respects to a legend in the sport we love.
One of the most remarkable sportsmen in cycling history came not from what we typically consider the heartlands of cycling and did not make his mark on the track or in famous stage races. In an age of hard men, Sir Hubert Opperman, “Oppy,” as he was universally known, is the subject of a new book by Daniel Oakman about the very full life of a public figure, both as an athlete and a politician.
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Book Review: Books related to cycling can take many forms—a racer's biography; an account of the Tour de France; training tips; accounts of epic journeys; custom bicycles—but the story of the bicycle as the subject of an actual business enterprise is fairly rare. A recent book gives an insider's account of the rapid rise and fate of Canadian brand Cervélo, history writ recent.
It was the Giro that made Austin Walsh do it - Invest so much time and money into his collection of cycling memorabilia which now threatens to overwhelm his bike shop. The Italian race started on the Emerald Isle in 2014 and Austin was so smitten by ‘The Pink Race’ that he decided to turn the bike shop, which he’s run since 1995, into a bike racing shrine.
Film Review: The Pursuit. If it was the title of heist movie, it would be about cops in pursuit of robbers. If it was a crime thriller movie, it would be about the pursuit of unraveling the mystery of whodunit. But in this case, The Pursuit is actually a double entendre: it’s a documentary about four British riders’ pursuit of glory on the boards in the team pursuit.
November 11 marks the end of World War I, the “War To End All Wars,” as it turned out to be inaccurately described. Throughout the world ceremonies will take place to note the end of that conflict 100 years ago, but also to remember those who died in other wars, both those serving their countries and civilians who lost their lives or suffered through the trauma.
The roads, fields and forests of France that are today the perfect picnic spot to set up camp and awaiting passage of the world's greatest cycling race, were once fields of fire where killing the enemy was the only thing that mattered. As time claims the last survivors of the Wars and rob us of their living memories, remembrance of the sacrifices of those thousands is even more important.
Book Review: Ed Hood's recent autumn break reading list has reawakened some of the best moments from his cycling youth. Like every true British fan, Ed loves time trialing and one of the most famous riders was Alf Engers. Ed offers his review of Paul Jones' book 'I LIKE ALF: 14 Lessons from the Life of Alf Engers' and the legend behind the fast-man.
For those of you whom riding around the velodrome or meandering on an unpaved road on your new gravel bike for the day is not enough—well, there is the open road to Tajikistan. That's crazy talk, man—but how do I do it? A recently published and beautifully illustrated book will both whet your appetite and give practical advice on that truly epic ride for which you hunger.
Last week we lost six day Great, Germany’s Dieter Kemper. It was Brit now resident in Canada, Norman Hill who passed the sad news to us. Norman was himself a professional track and road contemporary of Kemper in the 60’s and 70’s; but rather than surfing the nostalgia wave that many of us ‘old guys’ do, he’s a pragmatist and his views make interesting reading.
Obituary: Just days after we penned our tribute to departed six day Great, Germany’s Dieter Kemper, we find ourselves having to write another tribute to a track star. This time, one of Britain’s own, twice World Amateur Pursuit and twice British & Commonwealth Games Pursuit Champion, Norman Sheil.
