In fairness to Terézia Ciriaková and her WCC Team colleagues, it's better this happens with one of the most talented professional riders of your generation than by a couple of unserious chatting club riders on a Sunday morning while you're doing your best just to keep things moving forward... no, no idea how I've got such intricate knowledge of that particular scenario either...
Today Tadej Pogačar passed the UCI WCC team and he said even 'Ciao'🥰
Video: https://t.co/bjPe9EG66Epic.twitter.com/hkyUsSDGO8
— Lukáš Ronald Lukács (@lucasaganronald) January 22, 2024
On the climb, in your rhythm, this is okay, legs hurt a bit, not breathing too easily any more, hard enough... then the zoom past accompanied by a cheery, unconcerned greeting, in this case 'ciao'. As we said before, better that's Tadej Pogačar rolling past with ease than a home counties club rider whose just getting away from the kids for a couple of hours.
They’re probably going at a pace that would kill a normal cyclist and he goes past like they aren’t moving!!!
— Greg Ireland (@indie_arcade) January 22, 2024
Another favourite of the genre was back in February 2022 when a cyclist in south west London was pootling along the river, enjoying a midweek spin when a rather bling-looking rider passed at speed while drafting a camera bike... wait a minute... is that... Wiggo?!
> Pesky cyclists not using cycle lane! Oh..wait...that's Wiggo!
Be warned, if you happen to be passed by a flying Remco Evenepoel and by some minor miracle are able to follow, he might not be too pleased...
> Remco Evenepoel tells amateur to stop following him during interval session
"Yeah, mate, could have followed him but I know he likes to train in his own space, so didn't want to bother him... yeah of course that's the only reason..."
Forgive us for going all gossip mag for a second, but a celebrity has said something bikes so we just had to go there.
Speaking to Matt Morgan's podcast, former Oasis principle songwriter Noel Gallagher is claiming a small win out of his divorce from music publicist Sara MacDonald:
"I can get on the bike and go up to King's Cross, and go down to the canal," said Gallagher.
"And get on the canal outside my wonderful ex-wife's house and give her a little wave, and go, 'You didn't take this from me!'"
Some might say the bike is small change when this divorce is reported to be in the region of £20 million, but it doesn't seem like Noel is crying his heart out too much. He's currently said to be spending most of his time living at Claridge's hotel - where most of the rooms cost over two grand a night - and says that he's finding London "f**king great at the minute". Will the concierge at Claridge's be pumping his tyres up and giving the bike a spit and polish for that price?
Anyway, it's another one to add to our list of celebrities who love cycling, albeit Mr Gallagher's reason for riding is a bit of an odd one...
Miki Nawlatyna will set off from Oxfordshire on his 1,500 mile bike trip, hoping to arrive in Kyiv on 7th April.
The 25-year-old is raising money for Shade for Children, a charity that supports orphanages in Ukraine, and funds will go towards building a new home 'for 8-10 children who have been orphaned or deprived of parental care'.
Nawlatyna said: "Just at the start of the war I found myself together with my friend Paweł at the Polish-Ukrainian border; we were delivering supplies to the fire station where the refugees were being brought from the border. I will never forget walking into that big hall full of children at 3am. They looked so helpless not knowing what’s happening and where they are… The instant shock you go through and realisation what is happening. The thoughts that run through you when you imagine the scale of it and how much you’re willing to give to protect the innocent."
Over £2,500 has been raised so far, and the JustGiving page is here.
Is it just us, or are bike prices starting to seem less outrageous right now? That's certainly the case at troubled retailer Wiggle, where you can get a size extra small entry-level Brand-X road bike for £119.99. Yep, a whole new road bike (it's here if you don't believe us)... who would have thought it three years ago when bikes were as rare as rocking horse droppings?
There are numerous things going on here, of course, and the recommended retail prices of new bikes coming out are still mostly in line with what we'd expect. In any case, the road.cc tech team are busy researching a feature on the price of cycling in 2024 to see how dramatically the situation has changed in 12 short months, when we published our feature on the rising cost of cycling. Stay tuned...
Seem familiar? Maybe not, but the mockumentary Tourist Trap is now on BBC iPlayer apparently. Worth giving it a go for this cycling-themed scene, surely.