🎤 Stage 65: Eurovision meets cycling

a Giro d'Italia round-up and Strava's fastest pooch

This week’s newsletter brings tech that could change bicycle gears as we know them, as well as a story of Sir Willie the Weiner, a dog that wants to go fast. Women’s cycling royalty features on the podcast and Jumbo Visma have a bad day on our Tweet of the Week…

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Hello,

How’re you doing?

I’m still in the UK, although looking at getting back to Girona soon. My flight back has been pushed back a little while I’m waiting to see a specialist about a little niggle that I’ve been having. Hopefully, I’ll get it sorted out soon!

There’s not too much to report from my end. Being home means catching up with the family and just doing normal stuff. While it’s nice to be riding around on the roads that made me fall in love with cycling, I’m also longing for the mountains of Catalonia.

Happy 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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N+Read 🗞

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Giro d’Italia

Week one of the Giro d’Italia is officially over. There have been battles on the flat, up mountains and volcanos, and one man surprisingly sits in pink, Juanpe Lopez. The young Spaniard has taken to his role in pink, and it’s refreshing.

Elsewhere, we’re seeing one of the closest GC battles in a while, with no clear winner standing head and shoulders above the rest. For the sprinters, Cav has yet another stage win, but Demare is the man to beat.

If you haven’t managed to watch it all, here are some talking points from week one.

⏱ 6-minute read

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Revolutionary tech?

Is the front derailleur a thing of the past? Are we about to go back to the future and use hub-style gears for aerodynamic efficiency? If Classified have anything to do with it, then maybe. This past week, the Classified Powershift was spotted in the pro-peloton with Scandinavian team Uno-X.

The device allows a wireless two-speed rear hub to connect either to your electronic shifter or a separate shift button fitted to the handlebars using Bluetooth, effectively rendering the front derailleur inadequate.

⏱ 3-minute read

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Strava’s fastest dog

Sir Willie the Weiner is the dog of MTBer Alexey Vermeulen, and he’s after a coveted title, to become Strava’s FKD, aka, the fastest known dog. As part of a YouTube project with Pearl Izumi, Vermeulen has even enlisted the help of aero-specialists to help Willie go faster.

This story is a bit of light-hearted fun, but when I saw bikes and dogs, I knew it had to be shared.

⏱ 3-minute read

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Eurovision meets cycling

Eurovision is the annual European song contest that encapsulates a continent. The glitz, the glamour, and the outfits, it has it all. (Spoiler alert!) Ukraine won this year’s contest and one cycling journalist decided to compare Eurovision performances to Giro d’Italia teams, obviously.

Sit back and enjoy this weird, yet wonderful article.

⏱ 5-minute read

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From the other side

It is a strange feeling as a pro-cyclist when you go to watch a bike race. The immense fear of missing out as you see your colleagues in the peloton race around while you’re on the roadside watching. I know this because I went to watch my favorite race of the year last weekend, and I wrote a little bit about it too. What it is like to be outside the barriers, rather than in.

⏱ 4-minute read

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Cycling and cramp, a match made in hell

We’ve all been there at some point, a tough ride in the sun, and all of a sudden a muscle spasms out of nowhere. The funny thing with cramps is that even the biggest brains in the scientific world haven’t figured it out yet. There are some theories and some things we know that help to prevent them. This article covers it all.

⏱ 5-minute read

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N+Tweet 🎲

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Carlo Gironi @carlogironi

Like a Monday morning. @OutOfCycling @JumboVismaRoad

There is only one word that is appropriate for this video: whoops.

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N+Listen 🎧

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A legend of the Women’s World Tour, Tiffany Cromwell has had a glittering career on the road, but now she’s mixing it up and taking the loose stuff on. While she’s combining the two, her new love is gravel, and that’s what this podcast is all about. Cromwell sits down on Nathan Haas’ “Gravelog” podcast to chat everything two-wheeled and more, enjoy!

⏱ 42-minute listen

N+Watch 👀

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I mentioned the Traka 360, an epic endurance gravel race out of Girona, in last week’s newsletter. This week, I’m bringing you a video from Lawrence Carpenter, one of the guys who actually raced.

I’m not sure I fancy 360 km myself, so I’ll join you all and live through this video.

⏱ 13-minute watch

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N+1 New Brand 👋🏻

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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.

This week we are introducing… BONK CC.

BONK Cycling Club is a cycling apparel brand based in Belgium with a focus on casual wear. Their first collection came out in 2021 with a focus on showing that cycling does not have to be boring!

Be sure to download our app and browse their products!