BiciSport in Flanders in 2023 - BiciSport is proud to announce collaboration with the Force Cycling Team based at Nieuwkerken in East Flanders Belgium for a three year period.
BiciSport will join Force Cycling as a sub sponsor with the name ‘BiciSport Australia’ along both sides of the jersey collarbone/shoulders. The Belgian sponsors are Sack, IT Figures, De Wilde, Bofi Boon, Zelfbouw, BiciSport Australia & Get Up Nutrition. The Belgian Team Principal is Nick Felix and the clothing manufacturer is BioRacer. The release of the 2023 Force Cycling team jersey (front & rear) is above/below.
The collaboration presents BiciSport riders with a unique opportunity to develop future contacts in Belgium should they wish to race in the heartland of Belgian cycling.
Sydney Christmas Track Carnivals @ 28-30 Dec - Davide Browne (BiciSport Happy Wheels) took 4th place overall in B grade at the Sydney Track Carnivals
BiciSport Belgium & 31 Dec @ St Niklaas Belgium - Koen VerHulst avoiding the harsh Belgian winter wishing his Aussie friends a Happy New Year.
BiciSport Belgium & 31 Dec @ St Niklaas Belgium - Koen VerHulst somewhere in the “Italian Alps”
Wallers Arenberg Forest cobbles @ 19 Dec - The Arenberg Forest is famous as “the” cobbled section in the Paris Roubaix Classic. The picture above was taken on 19 December with a dusting of winter snow. The Arenberg cobbles look somewhat ‘sleepy’
Wallers Arenberg Forest cobbles - Marty Wright & Mike Lawson (BiciSport Anytime Fitness) on the same Arenberg Forest cobbles when the snow has disappeared
Eric Dole (BiciSport Happy Wheels)
National Road Championships are in Ballarat from 6-10 January
RACe ENTRIES SLIDE POST COVID AND HITS ECR & WEST HEAD
Race entries obviously were put on hold during the pandemic with numerous races cancelled. Post pandemic and restrictions have eased but race entries have most certainly not recovered.
Waratah Masters recently announced that Masters A grade is now open to any rider over 19+ years (a 6 month trial commences in January 2023). This switch relates to just A grade and not the lower grades that remain Masters only. Times they are a changing and Waratahs have a monopoly on Masters only racing yet this isn’t enough.
These trends are replicated at other races around Sydney, including those at West Head where the recent Wall Handicap saw a marked drop off in race entries (from pre Covid versus post Covid)
RACE SEEKER - THIS WEEK
6-10 Jan
National Road Championships (Ballarat, Vic)
8 Jan
Landsowne Park Criteriums (Waratah Masters)
Tumut Classic Cyclosportive
10 Jan
Presentation Tour of Spain 2023
17 Jan
Heffron Park Tuesday Night Criteriums @ 6pm
BICISPORT TRAINING RIDES
Tues 3 Jan
Waratah Peloton @ pass the corner of Yulong Ave & McCarrs Creek Rd Terrey Hills @ 8.00am 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
Centennial Park Lower Loop from 5.30am to 7.45am
Thurs 5 Jan
Belgian Waffle Ride @ Centennial Park @ Spruce Goose Cafe @ 10.30am for Park laps
Waratah Peloton @ pass the corner of Yulong Ave & McCarrs Creek Rd Terrey Hills @ 8.00am 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
Sat 7 Jan
Coffee @ Sandstone Cafe Miramare Gardens @ 9.30am
Gerben Karstens racing the Paris Tours Classic on a single speed bike.
Gerben Karstens at the finish of the 1965 Paris Tours Classic. Karsetens rode for the dutch Televizier Professional Cycling Team. Televizier was a dutch TV magazine.
In 1965 something unusual and no longer repeated happened in the classic Paris-Tours Classic
The controversy alive at that time related to the course profile being completely flat and there were those who defended it as adequate evidence to the "sprinters" - who were entitled to have a race on the professional calendar as proof of their single ability to just sprint.
The organization decided to take an unusual step - no gears but riders could only use a single freewheel that could be changed mid race (but no gear could be changed whilst still riding).
In this way the choice of the single gear ratio became fundamental (that’s an understatement).
Jacques Anquetil chose a 52 front chainwheel & a 16 single rear cog, Raymond Poulidor chose 51 x 17 at the start and then changed to 49 x 13 and then finally to 51 x 15. Gerben Karstens opted for 53 x 16, which would be replaced by 53 x 15 for the final sprint 25 km from the finish.
The race was furious but the escape that succeeded was that of the Dutchman Gerben Karstens. Karstens attacked with vigour and nothing could overcome it. Gerben Karstens was able to accomplish the feat of 246 km at an average of 45,029 km/h - setting a new record of the race (the current record belongs to the Ukrainian cyclist Andreï Tchmil - recorded 47.,539 km/h in 1997). The unusual experience of using single gears was not repeated again
Gerben Karstens (now riding for the then TI Raleigh team)
Gerben Karstens (right) passed away in October 2022. RIP Karstens.