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Interesting Facts Road Cyclists Are Passionate About
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Apr 1, 2025
Road cyclists are a passionate bunch and they really do love their sport. This can lead us into caring a bit too much about something's which maybe we shouldn't. Cycling Weekly's Sam Gupta runs through nine different aspects of the sport that maybe we should let go of in the pursuit of getting back to the core of why we really love road cycling.
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We as cyclists are a bit of a funny bunch, there's no disputing that. We get obsessed over the small
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details and are pretty well known for sweating the small stuff. Now I'm sure like most of you
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geeking out on the details is actually really quite fun and satisfies a weird part of our brains
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Quietly thinking about every detail of my bike and the parts that I may wish to upgrade in the
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future consumes more of my brain activity than it probably should. But recently I took a step back
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and realised that there's actually quite a few dumb things that we as cyclists probably shouldn't
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care about. So let's get into them. Bike weight is one metric which is poured over more than most
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Most people generally want a lighter bike. The reason being that lighter bikes take less effort
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to power over climbs. They feel more responsive and generally make the experience of cycling a
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lot more fun. However, while enjoying the difference, a one kilo saving is something that everyone can
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do. If you already have a bike that is between seven and eight kilos, you really do start to
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fall into a game of diminishing returns. Sure, it might be possible to save 50 grams with a change
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of pedals or 100 grams with a change of saddle. But when you consider what that difference is
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as a percentage of overall bike and rider weight combined, you're not even close to making a 1
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improvement. Also, the thing that makes me laugh is the fact that you can have a beautifully
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lightweight bike and then slide in a full bottle of water, which will usually weigh in at more than
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700 grams. Also, I believe that the smallest of weight savings should probably be reserved for
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riders who might not have much weight to lose themselves. If you are carrying a little bit of
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extra timber, perhaps riding your slightly heavier bike could actually net a larger weight saving gain
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and make you faster in the process too. The latest trend of pretending your bike is completely
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cable-less and brake hose-free is Rife. Massively helped by the widespread adoption of integrated
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carbon bars, those which allow for the cables and hoses to be rooted inside the bars themselves
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and then down through the head tube mean we left with something which is rather aesthetically pleasing While I not going to argue against the clear improvement in aesthetics in my opinion
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at least, the resulting aero saving gains are slightly questionable and it's those aero
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efficiencies that these bars are often marketed as offering. I'm sure tucking the hoses out of the
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does create a saving. However, that saving is not going to be more than a couple of watts
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So if you are a rider who wants to be as slippery as possible, perhaps spend more time thinking about
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the width of your bars and your position rather than whether your cables are exposed. I can
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guarantee you will find a bigger saving. Another one for the diminishing returns brigade are
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ceramic bearings. They are absolutely mesmerizing when you give either a wheel or a chain set a spin
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and then they spin seemingly endlessly. However, before you go and get yourself to the point of
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investing in such an upgrade, ask yourself this. Are you staying on top of your steel bearing
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maintenance? Are you keeping your chain clean and using a high quality lubricant or wax
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Are you ensuring your tire pressure is correct before every ride? All of these things will net
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a greater improvement compared to ceramic bearings and on the whole cost a fair bit less too
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So while ceramic bearings do have their place for those who can extract the benefits of their
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silky smooth ways, I think the majority of us really don't need to worry ourselves too much with them
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There's nothing quite like having someone ask you what your FTP is
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only to have to justify it with what your watts per kilo are. At least that's true in my experience
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But really, should we even really care what our FTP is? Sure, it does give you an indicator as to
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what your fitness level is, but it can also be a pretty flawed metric. For those who undertake a
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20-minute test and then minus 5%, it's not really the best way to calculate how much power you can
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sustain for an entire hour, which is what your FTP should tell you
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For a lot of people, the maximum amount of power that you can sustain for an hour
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can only be found out by doing just that An hour of pain Additionally for most people we never actually riding at pure threshold for an hour or even just 20 minutes The open roads throw up too many
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variables. So perhaps don't worry about what your FTP is, but instead think about your explosive
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high-end power, which is the stuff that's great for getting you away from a set of lights in a
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flash, your ability to smoothly and safely ride the wheels of your fellow riders and building up
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your anticipation of what the other road users around you might do. Mastering these things will
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increase your real world speed. Another one that I am guilty of is caring too much about shaving my
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legs. I've always been pretty upfront about the fact that I just like the way that it looks
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rather than caring about any sort of aerodynamic or injury related benefits
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Sure, it is handy when getting a massage, but I for one know that it's a problem when I can't go
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and meet my mates for a ride unless my legs are freshly shaved and moisturised. Certainly one I'll
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try and grow out of, but some habits do die hard. If it's not on Strava, then it doesn't count. A
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phrase that I have heard maybe a thousand times and have probably even repeated myself. We're all
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very obsessed about recording every meter we cover by bike, but should we be? I know for sure that
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some of my favourite rides have been ones where I've left the head unit at home and just ridden
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without having a little screen to stare at. Sure, GPS computers are great and they do provide a wealth
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of information right at your fingertips. But really, not every ride has to be recorded
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It's totally fine to just head out and just enjoy being outdoors with zero distractions
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If anything, it's a bit better. The weather is yet another thing which I am guilty of caring too much about
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It's very easy to write a day off if the wind is too strong or the chance of rain is slightly
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too high. But if the conditions aren't deemed to be unsafe, then just go for a ride
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It so rare that you feel worse for it and the chances are the conditions will be better than you may expect The only reason to pay attention to what the forecast says is to ensure that you got the right kind of clothing on and
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to check which way the wind is blowing in case you want to go for a KLM attempt
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Much like FTP, constantly monitoring your average speed is kind of pointless. For a long time
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all I cared about was always increasing it by another mile an hour. But when I realized how
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easy it was for the metric to be influenced by wind direction, traffic lights and other road
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users and a dozen other variables, I started to care a lot less. Sure, it's really nice when you
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head out and end up getting around your local loop a lot faster than otherwise you may have expected
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But if getting faster is what you really care about, then get yourself a power meter and monitor
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those numbers instead. They really are a much better reflection of where your fitness is really
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at and when you complete power-based training sessions it's inevitable that your average speed
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will start to creep up as a by-product. People have been riding bikes for a really long time
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so much so that our beloved sport is steeped in tradition. But this has led us to a point
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where perhaps we might care a little bit too much about cycling's long history
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On one hand, it's great to understand and learn about the roots and heritage of a sport
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but that shouldn't come at the cost of embracing the future and understanding that change is inevitable
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It's no surprise that we're living in an era of intense innovation
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and that can often come with some growing pains. But with the beauty of perspective and hindsight
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the end result is often something that is better than what it replaces. It may just take a few
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product cycles to get there. For example, steel frames to carbon frames, rim brakes to disc brakes
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and mechanical gears to electronic gears. I know that a lot of you love to celebrate and enjoy the
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tech of yesteryear, and that's great, but maybe try and keep an open mind for what's to come
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it's not all bad. Let me know down below, what do you think cyclists care too much about
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If you enjoyed the video, then please do drop it a like, subscribe to the channel for more content, and I will see you again very soon
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