Over the years there have been thousands of tests and reviews that essentially ask the question “will X help you ride faster for longer”. Usually the focus is on the aero, weight or power transfer benefits of a particular bike or component, but never before has there been a scientific test that compares the effect that the colour of a bike has on performance.

Always eager to push the frontiers of bicycle science, London Phoenix took the opportunity of the Devil Ride – held in glorious Wales – to do just this. The colours we chose to compare were blue and red, and the widely held opinion in the club was that the red bike would be marginally faster.

The experiment started at around 8.30am in what can only be described as ‘Welsh’ weather conditions. The red bike looked strong from the off (especially on the short, sharp climbs), and showed it could accelerate explosively. However, after the first couple of hours it began to look like the blue bike might be marginally faster. This became more apparent on the brutal 25% climb known as the Devil’s Staircase, where the blue bike was able to create a considerable gap.

On the very windy sections along the breathtakingly beautiful lakes and forests of the Brecon Beacons National Park the combined effect of the blue frame AND matching blue tires really began to show. By now there was no real doubt that the red bike, although excellent, was no match for the speed optimised blue version. Red tires may have helped the red bike of course, but the black ones it came with certainly didn’t offer any advantage.

Another surprising and unexpected advantage of the blue bike was its ability to calm wild horses and effectively sheperd flocks of sheep, which it did during the latter stages of the ride.

So, in short, the Devil Ride was a great testing ground, and in the end we showed that in those kinds of conditions and over those kinds of distances, blue is really the way to go.

This weekend saw London Phoenix send 7 brave riders to Wales for an endurance and survival test known as ‘The Devil Ride’. Set in the beautiful but damp Brecon Beacons, the first challenge was to cope with a night spent under canvas and torrential, non-stop rain.

The morning saw a brief 10 mins of sunshine, which was followed by the arrival of the next weather front and more rain. Mark Jessett managed to get lost at the first turn and went on a 14 mile excursion, while the rest of us pressed on – into the relentless wind.

Despite the conditions the beautiful scenery and great company made the Devil Ride a classic, with everyone putting in strong performances on the day…

Quite why the crazy French to decided name their hardest sportive after a shy relative of the ground squirrel remains a mystery, but don’t let the cute name fool you – the Marmotte is considered a challenge for even the strongest riders and no one goes unprepared.

The 174km circular route takes in three legendry climbs – the Col du Glandon, Col du Telegraphe and Col du Galibier before returning to Bourg d’Oisans and finishing with the classic 21 hairpin bend climb to the ski station of L’Alpe d’Huez. In total there is 5,000m of climbing on the day, which also means there are some spectacular high speed descents down some of the fastest alpine roads in Europe. The scenery is incredible, the organisation impeccable and the atmosphere at the start electric.

This year LP sent five brave souls to join the 7,000 who attempted the route, together with a team from BNP Paribas. Everyone managed to complete the course, with LP getting 4 riders within the Gold standard, so a great result all round and we’ll be sure to be heading back in years to come….

As a commercial pilot Guy usually gets to look down on the Italian Dolomites from his office window, but this weekend he got up close and personal when he joined LP’s Italian maestro Georg at one of Europe’s classic sportives – the Maratona dles Dolomites. Originally created to mark the tenth anniversary celebrations of the local Alta Badia-Raiffeisen Cycling Club, the Maratona has quickly established itself as one of the most important cycling events in Italy and attracts thousands of rides from across Europe. To find out how they got on read Guy’s report here.

Phoenix all star Alex Christians put in a great effort on his beautiful new track bike to get a win and second place in a hotly contested track event at Herne Hill last week. You can read his full report here

A beautiful morning on Wednesday 3rd July required a tough decision for the evening’s activities: take the MTB to work and ride the first Beastway at Hog Hill, or head down to Herne Hill for the regular summer Track League meeting. It was tough decision, but although I love Beastway and have raced it for years, this year there are only four races, and I know I can’t make two of them. Herne Hill then!

I now keep my track bike in a container at the track, so getting there is a doddle from work. The League races change format slightly from week to week, but the races are a mixture of sprints, points races, ‘Devil Take the Hindmost’ and scratch races. They sometimes throw in a pursuit for good measure. The seniors are divided into A’s (roughly cat 1/2 equivalent) and B’s (think 3/4). I am racing in the B’s, although I raced in the A’s for the ‘Devil’.

The atmosphere is really nice, with breaks in between races (the juniors and youths race too). It’s pretty sociable and laid back. Some Cat A riders are even used as makeshift dernys to allow the youths to ride a keirin and derny paced race! As usual, Brian Taylor of VCL was incredibly strong all night, but yours truly ended up with a first in the B Sprint (”Skinny Climber in Sprint Win Shocker!!!”) and a second in the points race. In the points race, we raced 10 laps, with points awarded for the first 3 over the line every other lap. This can be pretty tiring, but after grabbing a second in one sprint, I decided to keep going and got a 100m gap to allow me to get first in the next sprint. The evening ended with a 20km scratch race as the sun began to set – all in all a great night. As luck would have it, a sponsor was giving out special prizes this week, so I won some pocket money for the kids too.

Don’t forget the LP Track Day is on Saturday 22nd August where we will have our own instructor and you can experience all of the above action (bikes provided). We also hope to have a proper derny for some keirin action of our own! See you there. Alex

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