I was rather fascinated by one or two articles that I read over the past few days which refer to a new breed of cyclist called a MAMIL, which stands for a ‘middle-aged man in lycra’.

I had heard that cycling was the new golf, but didn’t realise that it was going mainstream, or should I say as mainstream as the Mid-Life Crisis gets.

Recent figures- the Mintel Report that I wrote about last week- suggest that the affluent are turning to very expensive bikes in an effort to recapture their youth.

By expensive, we mean team replica, or possibly better; bikes in the order of £6,000 to £7,000. We’ve all heard the old chestnut ‘ you could buy a car for that!’, and it’s true that the toys these chaps usually buy have wheels, but they are normally significant statement vehicles, at least Harley-Davidson or Porsche.

What’s causing this upsurge? Who know? If it is role-models, well Sir Alan Sugar has three £7,000 bikes and Sir Paul Smith is quite partial to a mile or two by bike. Could it be the assumption that just pedalling a bike is the mark of an athlete? Or is it that cycling is simply great fun and good for you?

Is it happening here? It is difficult to measure, given the usual number of top-class toys around. I think that the only thing to do is to count how many MAMILS you see around. Sounds like a job for BIll Oddie!

Sprint Bonuses

• Transport for London has just released a series of five YouTube films about cycling in London. Among the people promoting cycling in the capital are; Radio One DJ Edith Bowman and X Factor presenter Dermot O’Leary. The films feature the Barclay’s Cycle Superhighways and the Barclay’s Bike Hire Scheme.

Check them out here: http://www.youtube.com/transportforlondon

• Have you got a 2009 Felt B12, B16 or S32 triathlon bike? If so pop into your local dealer as there is a voluntary recall on these models. A very small number of these bikes have had fork problems. http://www.saddleback.co.uk/

• Sounds like an event for me; Ibbo’s Cake Quest is a sportive held around Surrey on 26th September this year. There are a number of different distances to choose; 150kms, 110kms, 60kms and a 20kms off-road ride. The sportive raises money for The John Ibbotson Fund which is a charity that raises money to send young riders to the Continent to get a taste of professional riding.

The event website is: http://www.ibbocakequest.com/

• Regular readers may remember the Copenhagen Wheel which I wrote about way back in 2009? Well despite the usual scepticism, it has just won a heat of the James Dyson Award.  Many people say that the design is just too complicated, see what you think: http://www.jamesdysonaward.org/Projects/projects.aspx

• The race for Pro Tour licences has begun for 24 teams hoping to get into the big time next year. Altogether the UCI are awarding 18 licences, with 10 teams already going into 2011 with valid licences. The other eight places are open to existing teams hoping to renew their licence; like Mark Cavendish’s HTC-Columbia team , or complete newcomers like the Schleck brothers’ Luxembourg Cycling Project.

• The world-wide debut of the DaaHub electric bike conversion will take place at Eurobike at the beginning of September. Easy to fit to most bikes, the unit only weighs a scant 5.5kgs, but nevertheless has a powerful 36V 12Ah motor.

http://www.itundbuero.com/eb-en/press/novelties-  worldwide.php? lid=472&sMode=detail

• The Leed’s  CyclePoint opened its doors for cycle/rail commuters on Wednesday. The facility, which is based on a Dutch idea, lets commuters park their bikes, or get them serviced, at the station while they are at work. There are also a small number of hire bikes available, and bike and accessory sales. Northern Rail, together with Abellio: a European bus and rail operator, set up CyclePoint.  The site will be run by Evans Cycles.

And finally,

A recent study presented at the American College of Sports Medicine annual meeting at Baltimore suggests that cycling is a valuable tool against anger in men. Here is the quote from the press release:

“The major novel finding from this study is that exercise protected against angry mood induction, almost like taking aspirin to prevent a heart attack,” said lead investigator Nathaniel Thom, Ph.D., a stress physiologist. “In other words, exercise really is like medicine. However, exercise did not change EEG responses during elicitation of angry emotions in our subjects.”

That last bit means that if some driver pulls out in front of you, overtakes with a few inches to spare, or does any other life-threatening manoeuvres, you will get angry!

Arthur Lamy is a freelance writer and cycle tour guide: www.cycleinjersey.com