🐐Stage 51: How to build a World Champion bike

the GOAT returns to the mud and the best cycling tweet EVER.

Hi, how’re you doing?

Welcome to another newsletter. This week we have it all, from the CX World Championships, and the making of a rainbow-winning bike, to the best Tweet I’ve seen. There’s also a gravel-specific Q&A and the best cycling storage solution on the market. We’ve also got one of my own articles, which is all about preparing for the season.

I’ve got a busy day coming up as I’m heading to training camp in Italy tomorrow. I’m packing up my bikes to return them to the team, and I’ll receive a new shiny one in return. We’re told to pack light and travel only with hand luggage, we’ll return with a suitcase bursting with a new kit - it’s like a second Christmas.

Training camp is one of my favorite times of the year. It means racing is just around the corner. Training camps are always physically hard, yet the vibe around camp is usually good too. You get to know new teammates, and hang around in a cool hotel for almost two weeks, what’s not to like?

This year, we’re heading to Tuscany. I’ve visited Italy numerous times both for racing and holidays, but I’ve never spent longer than a weekend in the country. I’m looking forward to exploring a new region in a country I haven’t been too much. I have high hopes for both the breakfast coffee and the evening pasta.

Enjoy your week pedalling,

Joe

Feel free to email me at joe@nplus1.cc if you have any questions, or feel I’ve missed something that is worth putting in the Newsletter.

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📖 Read

#cyclocross

The cyclocross calendar culminated this past week over the pond in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It was Tom Pidcock who dominated the Elite Men’s race, with a solo masterclass to bring home the rainbows. For the women, Marianne Vos who backed up her claim to be the GOAT of cycling by winning her EIGHTH world title in the mud, 16 years after winning her first.

5-minute read

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#behindthescenes #prolife

This is shameless self-promotion. I often get asked what life is really like as a full-time/pro-cyclist. There is a lot more than meets the eye in planning for the season, and all of the logistics. In this piece, I take you behind the scenes of a January as a pro-cyclist, enjoy.

7-minute read

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#tech

World Championships are the pinnacle. You can guarantee that Worlds will always bring out the highest quality equipment too, nobody will be bluffing. The biggest things that caught my eye: there is a LOT of crank-rubbing in CX, and somebody raced worlds on a metal bike.

5-minute read

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#retirement

What’s it like on the other side? Nico Roche was a road pro for 17 years and rode for some of the most illustrious names in cycling history. But, how do you know it’s time to stop? From presenting on GCN/Eurosport to performing on the Irish “Dancing with the Stars”, he’s doing a bit of everything. This article gives an interesting perspective into what comes after professional sport.

10-minute read

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#training

So long as you train, you can maintain and (hopefully) build your fitness levels. However, what happens when you stop? Stopping training will cause a decrease in ability, obviously, but each component of fitness will drop at different rates. This article takes an imaginary well-trained cyclist and observes what happens to their body over a period of six months following the complete cessation of training.

10-minute read

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📱Tweet of the week

CyclingTips @cyclingtips

Just wait for it...

I feel personally attacked…

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🎧 Listen

Gravel, it’s taking over the world, quickly. With the growth of a new discipline, there is inevitably a whole host of questions. This NerdAlert podcast from CyclingTips is a gravel tech Q&A with Geoff Kabush, who’s both an engineer and an off-road pro. From product development to the quality of equipment, this podcast will answer all of your gravel queries.

57-minute listen

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👀 Watch

Tom Pidcock is a talent, yet it’s attention to detail like this that makes a World Champion. Pinarello designed a bike to win the World Championships, and it worked. This video is a masterpiece.

4.5-minute watch

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👋🏻 Introducing

In this new part of the Newsletter, each week we’re going to introduce one of the brands that we work with at N+1.

Introducing… Altar

Designed and made in Italy, Altar is more than a bike hanger. It has been made to organise both your bike and equipment in the most elegant way possible. It’s a total storage solution and I’m tempted to buy one myself…

Be sure to download our app and browse their collection!