News Shorts - 25 May

Note your diary for the BiciSport Tour de France Dinner which is set for Saturday 22 August as Le Tour is scheduled to start a week later.

Special guest at the dinner is Chris Sutton (rode for Cofidis, Garmin & Sky pro teams). Chris will give his thoughts on the current state of play with European cycling then take your questions on all things cycling. The picture above is Chris’ stage win at the 2011 Vuelta.

Dinner venue details to be confirmed shortly.

Sydney traffic is back to its best (being worst) on Monday 25 May. Its a matter of leave earlier or leave later, or not leave at all …

Berowra Waters Ferry is closed for upgrades from 1 June to 13 July

PELOTONS UP TO 10 RIDERS FROM 15 MAY & RACING FROM 1 AUGUST

• Local training pelotons can go up to 10 riders from Friday 15 May

• Racing has been suspended until further notice with a revised CycNSW road racing program starting from 1 August.

CYCNSW SINGLETON TEAM TIME TRIAL -

TRAINING FROM 23 AUGUST & RACE DATE OF 7 NOVEMBER

• CyclingNSW has done a great job in revamping the NSW Open race calendar and if the coronavirus restictions are eased its a super hectic second half of the year

• Details are in the BiciSport Special Events section of this website with TTT training to potentially commence on Sunday 23 August at Terrey Hills.

FLANDERS CLASSICS - THE BEST YOUTUBE EVER

• A bit bored watching the Sports Channel replaying old reruns ? …. If you want some great Flanders YouTube then go to Flanders Classics and go to Flanders 100, 101, 102 and beyond. Simply brilliant behind the scenes documentaries.

BICISPORT NOW ON FACEBOOK AT BICISPORT.SYDNEY

This is a new (closed) Facebook site (your membership needs to be approved) and can be found at -

• Bicisport.Sydney

• Email is - Bicisport.Sydney @gmail.com

WEST HEAD & MCCARRS CREEK ROAD - WEEKEND CORONAVIRUS CONGESTION

• The need for “essential” family outings has now switched to the Ku Ring Gai National Park using the McCarrs Creek-West Head Road.

• Recent Sunday’s have recorded in excess of 400 cars through the (bottom) McCarrs Creek Road toll booth by 12.30pm. On the weekends - best be off the West Head Road by 9.30am and only use the Akuna Bay Road loop (in both directions).

• Also avoid McCarrs Creek Road (both directions) after 9.30am. The Akuna Bay loop is much quieter than either McCarrs Creek Road or the West Head Road

Social distancing european style …. the wind blows from the right, then misery arrives on the left courtesy of everybody gutter grovelling.

Remember from 15 May that NSW training bunches are restricted to 10 riders & social distancing provisions apply.

BICISPORT TRAINING RIDES THIS WEEK

• 26 & 28 May - Waratah Peloton @ pass the corner of Yulong Ave & McCarrs Creek Rd Terrey Hills @ 8.05am for Akuna Bay, top of McCarrs Creek Rd climb at 8.40am, then direction Duffys Forest, then return Terrey Hills shops @ 9.15am then to St Ives for coffee

• 27 May - Wise Monkey Cafe Gruppetto @ Berowra Railway Station @ 7.30am for 60k to Calga & return

• 28 May - Happy Wheels Waterloo Ride @ 6.00am @ Happy Wheels bike shop at Waterloo. Chairmans Ride @ Centennial Park @ 10.30am @ Spruce Goose Cafe

• 30 May - BiciSport Coffee at Miramare Sandstone Cafe (enter off Myoora Rd) @ 9.30am

BICISPORT SPECIAL EVENTS NEWS

Special Events have been added & updated on the BiciSport website which includes -

• Eastern Creek Raceway (Masters)

  • Several weekends to choose from with the next ECR Masters tentatively booked for 9 August

• Revised 2020 into 2021 BiciSport Special Events now updated

BiciSport Bikes from the Retro Peloton # 2 - this time its an Eddy Merckx Titanium [LightSpeed] from the mid 1990s

The Eddy Merckx Titanium was sourced from the Australian Agent for Eddy Merckx bicycles. Unlike Rob’s Molteni (featured last week), it is a generic size frame set. The frame set tubing is unusual in that Eddy Merckx only briefly manufactured bicycles in titanium (low density and high strength), making it a collectible edition.

Specifications - Titanium tubing, 57cm down tube, 57cm top tube, Campagnolo groupset is a mix of Campagnolo Record and Chorus components, Saddle – yellow San Marco leather, Livery– Eddy Merckx factory decals only, raw titanium metal finish.

What do you love about this bike ? “It rides like a steel bike and yet it is much lighter.”

Giro # 1 (reprise) … the Giro would have just finished and we may yet to see a 2020 edition towards the end of the year.