Sunny weather at last, so no excuses not to go cycling. Next week I’ll post a short easy route which everyone should be able to do. In the meantime, this might be a good opportunity to give your bike a quick clean, especially if you haven’t seen it since last year. Once you’ve cleaned it, go mad, oil the chain and pump the tyres.

Next week’s ride will be very manageable, so why not organise a few friends or family members to join you?

Braking News

• The top news of the week has to be Floyd Landis’ sudden and surprising revelations about performance enhancing drug taking in the professional peleton.  Landis was the winner of the 2006 Tour de France, a position that he held for four days, until a positive dope test proved that he had been cheating. He was stripped of the victory and fired from his team. He had vehemently denied any wrong doing until this week, when he sent emails to the Wall Street Journal and ESPN.com implicating some of the biggest names in the sport.

• A new(ish) website created by cycle touring stalwarts Darren Alff and Alistair Humphreys – to name but two – is helping to get first-time cycle tourists on the road. The Bicycle Travel Network has distributed eight micro-grants to help people who are either on tour now, or who are setting off soon. Go to http://bicycletravelnetwork.com/
  

• You may remember me mentioning the boxed set of the new book by Michael Barry; ‘Le Metier’ in the And Finally bit of the blog. I can now tell you the price: £100.

• If you are a person who wants to carry a very serious amount of luggage or a mass of merchandise, then check out this review of utility bikes from one of my favourite cycling websites; Cycling Gypsies http://cyclinggypsies.wordpress.com/2010/03/13/a-tale-of-two-longtails/
  

• Cannondale is entering the electric bike market in partnership with Bosch. This new bike, which promises to be unlike anything in the market place at present, will be revealed at the Eurobike show in September at Friedrichshafen in Germany.

• Jumping in on the Football World Cup, which starts next month, Raleigh have brought out an England themed BMX Chaos Burner. It does come with an alternative sticker set, if things don’t go England’s way.

• If you can cycle quite quickly, and you’d like to do a John O’Groats to Land’s End ride in September, in the company of 99 other cyclists  including Around the World rider James Bowthorpe, them log onto http://www.jogle2010.org/
  

• Last week was a week that Lance Armstrong would rather forget I’d imagine: mentioned in Floyd Landis’ doping confessions, and stitches in the elbow and below the eye following a crash in the Tour of California.

• In an attempt to cut down on congestion during school hours, Cycling City York is offering one to one lessons to parents and guardians at a greatly reduced price. Cycling City York feels that many parents lack the confidence to accompany their kids to school, and they hope that by doing this, they will overcome this barrier.

• The Brompton World Championships will be held at Blenheim Palace on the 3rd October this year. Now in its fifth year, the entry list has been increased to allow 750 riders to take part.

Entries are now being taken, and grid positions are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Don’t forget that riders have to wear suits or blazers, and shirts and ties! http://www.brompton.co.uk/bwc/2010/

And Finally,

Don’t forget the Rubis Town Criterium next Sunday 30th May. If you missed the Tour de Bretagne, here’s  another chance to see pro riders in action, racing around the streets of St.Helier. The event starts at 11.40am with Youth Academy races and finishes at around 5.00pm with the Pro Elite race.

Don’t miss it!

Arthur Lamy is a freelance tourist guide and writer specialising in cycling www.cycleinjersey.com