The Sustrans Bike It Virtual Bike Race 2010 is a community based project which encourages cycling for school children, parents and staff when they go to school.

The Bike It program is a four-week virtual race. Wellington Primary in Tower Hamlets, London has surpassed their 8,408km virtual route. They are now the leading school on the program, having cycled 9,403km.

The race is still ongoing. With 400 plus schools participating in the program, not every one of them has submitted their daily tally yet. The runners-up are still vying for local and regional awards and prizes.

The virtual challenge is that a virtual kilometre is given to each cycle commute. The schools have to accumulate virtual kilometers to reach the 8,408km in UK. The number would depend on the size of the school to keep things fair across all schools. Currently, there are 61,497 cycle journeys have been ridden. The Wellington Primary completed their virtual kilometer target in five days from the start of the program last March 1.

The grand prize is a school visit from the famous Team M.A.D. Mountain Bike Display Team. There are also seven regional prizes of a bike workstand, a fully kitted out toolbox and kids’ helmets.

More…

Xtracycle now opens preorders for their newly redesigned longtail bike Radish. The deliveries will begin on May 2010. Grant Petersen of Rivendell Bikes was the one who created the improved design on the cargo bike’s loaded and unloaded handling.

Radish gets a makeover in terms of frame geometry, brake and drivetrain components. The downtube was lowered to allow easier mounting by short people. For tall riders, the effective top tube length was maximized making the distance from the seatpost and the headset wider.

Another feature that makes the Radish a must-have for longtail cyclists would be its 4130 chromoly steel which is stronger than the hi-ten steel. It is of superior quality when it comes to strength, durability, and longevity. Chromoly is commonly known as “aircraft tubing”. It is much lighter than the High Tensile Steel.

Xtracycle limits its release of the Radish to fifty bikes. This is to emphasize their serious drive to promote quality rather than quantity. Radish is the ideal family bicycle. Its pannier or basket is convertible and can be utilized for groceries and home supplies. In addition, it is great for picnic biking trips for the family with its passenger seat suitable for toddlers and older children.

Affordable and practical, the Radish can be your trendy ride, transportation to the office, riding for health reasons and for family get-together rides.

More…

Several major races have confirmed their commitment on adhering scheduled launches. This would be due to the acquisition of major sponsors that would help making the races a reality.

The Tour of Utah, is one of them. They have recently shared Monday that a new title sponsor will be joining them. Zions Bank is proud to back the Tour, together with all the 2009 sponsors of the race.

The event shall have a prologue and five stages. The final stage, deemed to be the most difficult one, will finish at the Park City to Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort.

The remaining stages would be the Heiden Davidson Orthopedics criterium in downtown Park City, the XANGO Thanksgiving Point to top of Mt. Nebo road race, the University of Utah Health Care Ogden to Research Park road race and a team time trial at Miller Motorsports Park. The detailed race route will be announced once it is finalized.

The Tour of Utah will be on August 17 to 22. There will also be a non-competitive ride for bicycle lovers the Saturday before the race. It’s called “The Ultimate Challenge”. Details on this ride will soon follow.

More…

The first stage of Paris-Nice 2010 goes to New Zealand cyclist Greg Henderson. Riding under Team Sky, he beat Grega Bole of Slovenia during a sprint finish that gave him first place for this round.

Henderson recalls the race and shares how happy he was for the victorious result for himself and for Team Sky. “This year I picked up Sky’s first victory, but it’s great to win this time after such a nerve-wracking day. We spent our time accelerating, braking, then accelerating again. I was lucky to find myself out in front.”

However, the yellow jersey is still with Lars Boom, Rabobank’s Dutch cyclist, who won yesterday’s prologue. The peloton had Romain Feillu of France and Albert Timmer of Netherlands leading the way but they fell back after the 146 kilometres mark of the stage.

Alberto Contador finished three kilometers behind. He blames it on his injury last fall because he still feels the pain from it. He explains, “It is not the 17 seconds lost that concerns me right now but mainly how I will feel tomorrow (Tuesday) morning.”

There were also other cyclists who took a stumble like Pierre Rolland and Levi Leipheimer but they all got to finish the race still. The second stage on Tuesday will be between Contres and Limoges, a 201km ride.

More…

The Maremma Cup on its second year featured two cross-country races in the town of Massa Marittima with a challenging four short-track events that stretched out to other historical sites and towns which run within the period of two weeks of exciting races.

In the overall ranking of open men, Marco Aurelio Fontana won the Maremma Cup in Italy. He was followed by Florian Vogel in second place and Nino Schurter on third.

The race began with Fontana, Vogel and Ralph Näf in the lead. They placed an eighteen second distance between them and the rest of the pack. It was quite unfortunate that Näf could not maintain the pace he set and was soon separated from the lead.

Näf was soon replaced by Schurter who edged over Absalon. This was similar to what happened in 2009’s World Championships in Canberra, Australia.

Back at the front, Fontana and Vogel were neck to neck until the latter experienced some mechanical difficulties. This was the opening Fontana needed and he took it, making him the champion and Vogel coming in, less than thirty seconds later.

Together with his victory last February 28, Fontana’s win at Massa Marittima this weekend, he became the overall champion of the 2010 Maremma Cup.

The women’s race was as exciting as the men’s. The two contenders for gold were Eva Lechner and Nathalie Schneitter. Both women are from the Colnago team. They set the pace for the rest of the riders and come second lap, they managed to place an advantage of one minute between them and the other cyclists like Cecile Ravanel, Tereza Hurikova, and Blaza Klemencic.

Hurikova had to stop after breaking a gear on the third lap, putting Ravanel on third place while Lechner breaking away from Schneitter on the third lap swooped down alone to the finish line. She finished with almost a 2 minute margin ahead of Ravanel and a 46 second advantage over Schneitter at the end of the race.

More…

On May 19-23, Cumbria Tourism and Ordnance Survey sponsor the Keswick Mountain Festival. This cyclosportive event is a challenging race around three of the Lakeland passes in Keswick. The festival is open to 400 riders.

Now on its fourth year, the event will have three stages that cater to different abilities. Ian Mulvey, the mastermind of this sportive, challenges the participants, “These are really demanding routes with little time to recover between the climbs up the passes. We’re hoping those who can’t tackle the big one will have a go at one of the two smaller ones. No matter what level you try, it will be a tough challenge.”

The first level is called the little one. This route will have two climbs that totals to 1,290 metres or 4,230 feet. The run will be 28 miles or 46 kilometres. The second level is the medium one. It will have four climbs with a total of 2,700 metres and over 90 kilometres on the road. The last one is what they call as the big one. This road will travel for 65 miles and will climb 10,200 feet.

The Keswick Mountain Festival will have the Crow Park as its start and finish. It is located beside Derwentwater at the Festival’s Adventure Base. The director of the event Lucy Bennett remarked, “There should be something for everyone, whether this is your first Sportive or if you’re a seasoned competitor.”

There is an entry fee of £30 which in return, you will be provided feed stations, maps, route cards, mechanical support, a meal voucher, a memento and more. Find out more at Keswickmountainfestival.co.uk.

More…

CelticXtreme 2010 is a mountain bike race from June 6 to 11. It will take place in southwest of Ireland. The organizers aim to combine different racing routes that took place in the area. It will be a long distance mtb race which will include offroad terrain.

This race will be a challenge for mountain bikers since the race was designed to test their navigational skills and their speed in making repairs if needed on each stage of the race to finish them on time. There are six stages in the race that will provide scenic beauty since the cyclists will be passing through forests, old castles, monasteries and mystical landscapes.

CelticXtreme will begin at Coillte’s Ballyhoura Mountain Park on the single track built by Daffyd Davis. The route will then go towards Mallow, mimicking Lance Armstrong’s trail in 2009 for the Tour of Ireland. The race will go past Boggeragh, Dhoire na Saggart Mountains, McGillycuddy Reeks and will end in Sneem.

There will be a 12,000ft ascent and 11,000ft downhill. The race calls on to anyone who thinks they are up to the challenge of a 425km race that will test their skills and drive in mountain biking. The competition is also open for teams.

More…