Father and son cycle round town dressed as Batman + Robin to cheer people up; 72% of bike businesses report losses; RAB postponed until 2021;De Gendt hopes Bkool can handle huge power; Mikel Landa shows what he thinks of the turbo + more on the live blog

Suspending all their six events with five of those now not set to take place until next year, Threshold Sports have postponed the Ride Across Britain until 4th-12th September 2021. 

In a statement they said: "This is not a decision we have taken lightly, but after detailed discussion and listening to feedback from you the participants, we believe it is the best option to protect the interests of everyone involved, including the general public. We strongly believe we all have a responsibility to tackle this challenge together. The pressure on the core Threshold team and our wider network of incredible suppliers has never been greater as we look to respond to a rapidly changing situation.

"Our aim remains to make our 2021 events the best yet, just a little later than we all hoped."

While some corners of the bike industry were reporting a lift in sales of indoor trainers after lockdown measures were enforced, it's not all good news as a survey by Cycling Industries Europe found that 72% had seen a decline in revenue. 

The survey found that most businesses including shops and brands had evolved to survive the crisis, but workforces, marketing activity and investment are expected to be hit longer term. CIF say most companies are in their "survival" stage of the crisis, and worldwide the industry has been lifted by classing bike shops as essential; some in the UK even reported being busier than ever as the isolated public turn to two wheels to get their once-daily permitted exercise fix, and more key workers are cycling to avoid public transport. 

67% of companies surveyed had applied for state aid to weather the storm, and 41% had reduced their workforce. 13% reported been down in revenue by as much as 80%. bikeshare has been heavily affected with 79% of companies reducing staff, and up to 400,000 cycling tourism jobs are at risk across Europe. 

It's not all doom and gloom, with 95% of cycling businesses confident they can pull through the crisis. CIE Chief Executive Kevin Mayne said: “Thanks to CIE’s members we can publish the first report that shows the impact of COVID-19 right across European cycling businesses. Their leadership means that we can understand the scale of the challenge and direct our resources to where they can most help businesses to survive and recover. Our industry needs this information now."

Corbyn is on his bike after nearly five years as Leader of the Opposition... wonder if he'll treat himself to a nice new shiny carbon number now he may have more time on his hands?

Front-end integration is nothing new on TT bikes. Hiding more things from the wind helps with aerodynamics and that’s precisely what Zipp is attempting this their new range of TT bars.

Eating for cycling: time trials — get the best fuel to beat the clock

Most notably, Zipp has designed a set of extensions that can house the brains of a Sram eTap AXS groupset. The carbon extensions come complete with a set of Sram Clics extension-end shifters as well as Sram Clics buttons for shifting at the brake lever. They have a 90mm rise and an integrated computer mount.

They cost £750 and Zipp says that they’ll work with 90% of the integrated aerobar systems currently on the market. Crucially, Zipp say, this removes the need for a Blip box.

Marcin Bialoblocki rides 100 mile time trial in 3:13:37, smashing the British competition record

The new Vuka Aero base bar is also carbon and designed to hide your Sram Blip box inside the centre cap nose cone. According to Zipp, “the Center Cap smooths the center of the bar into the CFD proven wingshape of the bar”. You also get “market-leading adjustability in pad fore-aft, width, height and angle” for your £895.

While those rather pricey options are rather eye-catching, Zipp has also released a new aero aluminium base bar, carbon and aluminium extensions without the eTap AXS integration, and a new Vuka aluminium set of clip-on extensions.

zipp.com

 

 

 

 

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I'm sure there's been some time for actual work and family life too... #cycling #infographic #lockdown #roadcycling #indoorcycling #training #CV19

A post shared by The Handmade Cyclist (@thehandmadecyclist) on Apr 3, 2020 at 3:19am PDT

We will be present. @Lotto_Soudal https://t.co/y9QOmrHtD0 pic.twitter.com/0TX6dcWxsN

— Thomas De Gendt (@DeGendtThomas) April 2, 2020

In a boxing-style trashtalk during a live video 'press conference' held by Sporza, De Gendt referenced his Zwift ride earlier this week that was flagged as suspicious due to his monstrous power output, and hopes that Bkool's system can handle him a little better. 

De Gendt boasted in front of his virtual rivals Wout van Aert, Jasper Stuyven, Remco Evenepoel and Ruben Van Gucht: "I will test again today or tomorrow whether this system BKool can handle my values." 

The Lockdown Edition of the Tour of Flanders will take place over the final hour/last 32km of the race at 3.30pm on Sunday 5th April, with 13 pros taking part. Organisers promise a special event, with radio coverage via cyclinginflanders.cc and the race live on Bkool's training platform. 

London's Cycleway 9, which will run from Kew Bridge to Olympia, is starting to take shape ... although work is currently suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic. Here's the dog casting an eye over the protected lanes being put in at the junction at the north end of Kew Bridge ...

Brompton's mission to deliver up to 1000 bikes to support NHS staff to travel for free during the COVID-19 pandemic is nearing its £100,000 target, with over £92,000 raised at the time of writing - click here to donate to WheelsForHeroes. 

pic.twitter.com/m03qlnMpHE

— Landa Meana (@MikelLandaMeana) April 2, 2020

In this somewhat disturbing 26 seconds of europop-soundtracked madness, we witness Bahrain–McLaren's Spanish superstar destroying (or about to destroy) an old-school turbo trainer, interspersed with rather distasteful footage from a funeral. 

Clearly Landa isn't a fan of being confined to his household, but was there any need for this weird clip? Hopefully he didn't actually destroy the trainer, as most bke shops are clean out and someone could probably make use of it... 

A catalogue of "unexpected factors" have led to the collapse of the Utah-based suspension fork specialists, which began when parts of their Asian supply chain began to shut down in January due to the COVID-19 outbreak. They say the company has officially "paused" and hope to be back in some capacity after the pandemic is over, saying: "We have given every waking hour over the past few months to find a path forward, but to no avail. Trust Performance, like the rest of the world, will be a different company when life is back to normal."

Despite some retailers and manufacturers reporting a boom as people purchase items for indoor cycling, this isn't the first bike industry business to fall victim to the crisis and won't be the last - off.road.cc will have a full story later today. 

👏 https://t.co/1FSVn62arn

— Chris Boardman (@Chris_Boardman) April 3, 2020

The e-cargo courier and taxi firm have been putting their load-carrying ability to good use during the coronavirus pandemic, delivering food parcels to those who are self-isolating. The bikes can pretty much carry a car's worth of goods...

Solid loading effort from Ana earlier, to help us deliver food to shielded individuals in the most cost effective manner possible. pic.twitter.com/NwSjhU42uJ

— Pedal Me (@pedalmeapp) April 1, 2020