The Passionate Italian Weekend

Aprile 2018

Ciao a Tutti,

It has been a long time that I have not written something about Cycling Experiences to share with all our followers.

AYRTON SENNA MEMORIAL

I will try not to bore you too much.

Few weekends ago a group of 16 from the SaddleDrunk Cycling Friends Club ( join us on Strava via this link ) went for a long weekend in Faenza, Emilia Romagna, Italy, Europe, Planet Earth.

They flew out early friday morning from the beautiful London to Bologna, capital of the some of the best Italian food…Like Bolognese Sauce the way it is called outside Italy,  Ragu another good one, Cappelletti, Tortellini, Ravioli , Tortelli, la “ “Mortazza” (Mortadella) & much more…not to mention that Bologna host the oldest university in Europe….

Agriturismo La Sabbiona

SD staff & I pick them up from the airport and whisked them away to Imola to have an amazing lunch inside the tragically famous Formula 1 race track  where 2 pilots lost their lifes long time ago…RIP Ratzenberg & Senna where we visited their memorials. Really a big touch feeling for me as I saw it with my eyes that tremendous weekend…

OK!!..let’s get a grip and bang on Cycling…We got to the lovely Agriturismo La Sabbiona, after check & prepared out bikes we headed out to the lovely Brisighella a Medieval town.

Local Delicacies

After our lovely ride in the hills to get new fresh oxygen in our lungs, plenty of fun during the ride including a lovely crash in the first downhill.

We refreshed ourselves & headed out to Town for a meal in a traditional Osteria.

Osteria la Sghisa as usual made us feeling at home with their friendly staff and the astonishing food where we partied until late to celebrate Laura's Birthday.

Laura's Gluten Free cake

The Saturday, we woke up gently by the sounds of the "Galletto" in the farm.Followed up by an Italian & Intercontinental breakfast fuelling up for our day on the bike. 

We spent all day on a bike touring around the hills and preparing for the Granfondo Le Cime Di Romagna 2018 the following day organised by the Gruppo Sportivo Ciclistico Avis Faenza.

Local Art

In the evening we had another amazing meal at Casa Spadoni where everyone was able to enjoy more culinary delicacies from the area of Emilia Romagna. 

Italian Style Aperitif Time

A team photo at the feed station!!

The Sunday morning we had an early wake due to the 7:30 start of the event.The 3 various distances were perfect for the different group abilities. The distance covered were Corto, Medio & Lungo. 

Everyone had great fun,and we all enjoyed the “LOCAL’s” attentions, the friendly event’s staff,the well organised event and routes and the well stocked feed stations.

We were awarded 2 trophies due to be the furthest team. The trophies were a really long & thick      “ SALAMI “ and a big ceramic vase from one of the local ceramist in Faenza.

Faenza is very well known in the world thanks to be the home of Ceramics.

Prize Ceremony to be the farthest travelled Team.

The last day of our trip was a realxing day where we had a really slow where we enjoyed our breakfast.

Our local host Serena owner of La Sabbiona, prepared our class room with flour,eggs, rolling pins, chef’s hat & all other items needed to complete the cooking course.

At the end of the course all the “students” were able to eat the food made during the class & well earned after sweating.

As the weekend was more than amazing, we will make this an annual event for the club.Therefore if you like to be part of just join us at ride@saddledrunk.com

I hope you enjoyed the reading and remember to be safe on the road.

Ciao

SD 

Setting new best FTP's while making Pasta.

BLINKERS

Zurich, CH.

Velohub, a Swiss start-up based in Zürich that specialises in developing smart technology for cyclists, is today pleased to announce the launch of its first product, Blinkers. Blinkers is a new smart lighting system that makes the urban cyclist visible, predictable and respected by everyone else on the road. The smart lighting system including front, rear and laser lighting is available to buy from www.blinkers.bike with prices starting from £89/€99/$120

Cycle use has been increasing in the UK with 1.9 million people cycling every day and more people cycling at least once a week. With so many bikes and 71% riding on roads, safety is paramount as cyclists are among the most vulnerable users of the road. Using two wheels to balance, no chassis to protect them and only able to communicate by hand with other vehicles, they are often left in risky situations particularly when riding in a busy city. With cars and bikes always struggling to share the road together, the concept behind Blinkers is to allow cyclists to communicate with fellow road users more efficiently and become a more natural part of the road.

Along with communication benefits, Blinkers aims to be the next generation of bike lights by giving cyclists the ability to use extra safety functionalities including turning indicators, brake lights and laser projection with a simple remote control. With two-thirds of cyclists’ injuries or fatalities occurring at, or near, a road junction with T-junctions and roundabouts being the most commonly involved, the benefits of turning indicators is clear and a safety precaution that should prevent confusion and give all road users peace of mind.

Blinkers smart lighting works in many of the same ways that road users are already familiar with, allowing a smooth transition for all on the road. The Blinkers indicate the direction of the turn the cyclist is taking, by blinking to the right or to the left, with the rear Blinker using a red light that becomes more intense when the cyclist is braking. The laser set allows users to project half a circle on the ground, which will increase visibility during the night and to give cars a better understanding of the cyclists’ positioning on the road and the space the cyclist requires. All of these features are controlled by a wireless remote control on the handlebar of the bike to make the communication and use as simple as possible.

The lights can be charged by USB and are designed to be used for approximately 20 hours. They can be put on any bike with universal attachments on the handlebar, the saddle and the rack. Blinkers can be easily removed from the bike due to a magnetic system, so that users can take them off whenever the bike is locked or left unattended. The system works with radiofrequency and a light on the remote control indicates when the Blinkers should be charged so that cyclists will be aware of when the battery is running low.

Previously, Blinkers was on Kickstarter in June 2016 and gained support from over 500 backers, including from within the UK, raising over €50,000. The feedback from both backers and beta testers was overwhelmingly positive with one backer, Elaine, commenting: "How come this kind of product hasn’t come out before? I am so looking forward to receiving mine, roads here in the UK are everything but safe". Beta testing of the Blinkers solution confirmed that cyclists found it easy to use and intuitive.

Electricbikereport.com also tested a pre-production model of Blinkers and though it wasn’t the finalised version, stated, “Blinkers are the best indicators I’ve tested yet. They are practical and work pretty much as you would expect.”

Since the completion of the campaign, Velohub has partnered with Zühlke Engineering and Sapetti Design studios to craft a premium quality product and improve Blinkers even further for users, in terms of functionality, durability, user-friendliness and design. After over a year of product development and negotiating with suppliers and manufacturers, Blinkers has finally hit the UK market with a full solution that aims to be the new essential piece of kit for road cyclists. It is being produced in Switzerland and in Spain (assembled in the European Union).

Blinkers are available in the 4 different packages from £89/€99/$120 for the rear light without laser, to £175/€199/$240 for a complete safety solution (the rear and front light with laser), shipping included from www.blinkers.bike.

About Velohub

Velohub is a bike accessory developer based in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 2016, Velohub launched its first product, Blinkers, at the end of 2017, and thousands of cyclists around the world are already using it. Velohub’s vision is to develop a full portfolio of products that deliver intelligent solutions for urban cyclists that are not only safety related, but also user experience related.

Tel Aviv presents The First Olympic Velodrome in the Middle East

Tel Aviv, Wednesday May 2nd 2018, The City of Tel Aviv unveiled Israel's newest Velodrome, the most advanced indoor bike racing arena in the Middle East. The Velodrome’s unveiling took place a few days before the start of the Giro d’Italia in Israel, one of the world’s most significant sporting events scheduled to reach Tel Aviv on Saturday May 5th, marking the first time a segment of the Giro d’Italia is held outside of Europe. The Velodrome will be seen by billions of viewers from around the world this upcoming Saturday, as the Giro d ’Italia cyclists will ride passed it during the Tel Aviv leg of the race.         

The unveiling took place yesterday, Tuesday May 1st in the presence of Mr. Ron Huldai, The Mayor of Tel Aviv-Yafo, The Chairman of the Israel Cycling Federation and professional cyclists from the Israel Cycling Academy, who tested the race tracks for the first time together with Sylvan Adams, the Honorary President of the Giro’s “Big Start” in Israel.  The tracks have also been tested by Gilles Peruzzi, the Director of the Velodrome Department at The International Cycling Union (UCI) who ensured that the tracks meet the UCI standards in order to be able to welcome international competitions at the facility. In addition, The Israel Cycling Union has submitted its candidacy to host the UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championship in 2021.

At the event, the Mayor of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Mr. Ron Huldai said: "3 years ago, Sylvan Adams told me that it makes no sense that a global city such as Tel Aviv-Yafo doesn’t have a professional cycling facility. The Municipality took on the challenge, and in a few months we will inaugurate the Velodrome, the first Olympic racing arena in the Middle East.”

“Thanks to Sylvan, the Giro d’Italia is held outside of Europe for the first time and will be departing from Israel this weekend. We decided that this is a great opportunity to reveal this wonderful arena, which was built on the grounds of the National Sport Center.

In honor of Sylvan Adams’ generous contribution to important social projects in the city and his love for cycling, we've decided to name the velodrome after him.”

“In Tel Aviv the "bicycle revolution" happened a long time ago; bicycles are a daily mode of transport for most Telavivians, and a perfect alternative for private cars. The velodrome will provide cyclists a place to train and will promote professional sports activities in the cycling field and will also contribute to the development of the cycling industry in Israel. This weekend we will host one of the most important cycling competitions in the world and thanks to this amazing arena, we plan to host the most significant international indoor cycling competitions as well."

Sylvan Adams, The Honorary President of the Giro’s “Big Start” in Israel and the initiator of the Velodrome in Tel Aviv: “The new Velodrome aims to encourage local youth to experience the cycling world as well as promote physical activity and sports. This is the most advanced cycling facility in the Middle East and we aspire to host international competitions here with the participation of our neighboring countries. This Velodrome will allow us to use sports as a medium to foster closeness and good neighborliness between our bordering countries. Today, cycling teams from Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates landed in Israel in order to take part in the Giro, they will ride in Israel, experience the velodrome and understand that they are always welcome here and we can compete and train together!”

The Velodrome is an Olympic training arena for track cycling featuring steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights.

The ride is carried out on an elliptical wood path, with 45 degrees banking. A 3-story complex is being built adjacent to the Velodrome, and will include a cafeteria, a bicycle store, changing rooms and a doctor’s office. The two structures will be connected via a tunnel.

The Velodrome is located next to the National Sports Center in Tel Aviv and its construction was made possible through a Municipal investment of 70 Million NIS.   When completed, the velodrome will meet the Olympic standards of a 250 meters cycling track. The Velodrome comprises 900 tons of steel, 620 seats, 17 thousand connecting plates and 100 thousand screws and aims to attract cyclers from Israel and around the world.

Thank you for the infos Tel Aviv International Press.

Good luck for Giro....

The City Cycle Hub Survey

Our Friends @ The City Cycle Club have asked us to share this with our followers/Commuters living in London....

Hello!

This is Jamie and Oscar from Living Proof. We’re excited to be working with The City Cycle Hub to help build the look and feel and functionality of their prospective new facilities for active commuters The City Cycle Hub.

To get that right, we’re keen to get as many interested opinions as possible.

Do you commute into London on a bike – or would you with The City Cycle Hub services? Do you have 30 minutes to help shape the future of City Cycle Hub?

We would love to speak with you.

We are professional researchers, and are asking after 20-30 minutes on the phone. All feedback will be anonymous so you can speak freely – because your opinions really matter to us.

If you are available, please contact 

oscar@livingproofstrategy.com 

and we will get in touch to arrange a good time.

Oscar and Jamie

SaddleDrunk Cycling Friends Club

Ciao A tutti,

it is the time of the year to start cycling or improve your cycling fitness.

MENS SANA IN CORPORE SANO

If you live in Ealing or anywhere in West London come and join us.

All levels are welcome.We cater for all genders, abilities, ages..

Within our club we have a variation of individuals that will be helping YOU in learning to ride a bicycle or improve.. We have British cycling qualified coach, experienced riders ,mechanics and much more for you to find out. 

Get in touch via email at ride@saddledrunk.com or via our FB,Insta or Twitter account #SADDLEDRUNK  for more infos.

Our membership gives you:

• Free SaddleDrunk Jersey( RRP £ 60)
• 10% Discount on every SD products
• Free End of the Year Party
• Great peoples to socialise
• Plenty of coffees & cakes to share with
• Trips Abroad
• Long rides 
• Gran Fondo & Sportifs participations
• Many other benefits

We meet up on the pavement outside Munson's Coffee in St Mary's Road, W5, Ealing. 

Have a good week everyone.

SD TEAM