Eddy Merckx. The Cannibal. The GOAT: Greatest Of All Time. As with Muhammad Ali in boxing or Pelé in football, if people only knew one cyclist around the time of the moon landings, it was that Belgian...
Like Novak Djokovic on any surface of tennis court, or Michael Phelps in any swimming discipline, Merckx won across every type of race. Track, cobbles, mountains, sprint. Hour, day, week, fortnight. The lot. (There are comparisons to another great, albeit more superficially: as a young man, he resembled Elvis.)
In the late 1960s and early 1970s Eddy conquered all, relentlessly, mercilessly. Sometimes by, literally, miles. Five Tours, five Giros, a Vuelta. All five 'Monuments' (Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders, ParisRoubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Giro di Lombardia). Countless titles and records. He almost literally won everything: every classic race except Paris-Tours.
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GANARY A COALMINE
The James Brown tune 'It's a Man's Man's Man's World' comes on the radio, filling the coach, and does nothing for my pre-event nerves as I sit surrounded by serious-looking, wiry, tanned men in Lycra. It's 6.30am, pitch black outside and I'm feeling very out of my depth as a relative newcomer to the world of clipless pedals and hurting for fun. Last night's stress dream involved being very unprepared to get married and being handed my great-grandmother-in-law-to-be's hideous silver dress with lace trim to wear minutes before the ceremony was due to start. I'll let you psychoanalyse that one.
BORDER PATROL
British travel writer Tim Wild heads on a pilgrimage to Arizona's gravel Mecca, and isn't disappointed
COLD SNAPS
Chris Lanaway dons the deepest winter thermals for the Abloc Winter Challenge in southern Sweden
Master Age-group racing
Tips to keep you on the race course as you get older
Guava Spot Force AXS
£4,950 Big-value, Barcelona-born bike that hits the spot for gravel riding
Seasonal disorder
Pinpointing the start of the cycling season is no easy task, writes Ned
Ride all winter
10 scientifically proven ways to bolster your immunity
Joined-up thinking
Connecting more rail stations to the NCN is long overdue
Castelli Gabba
Castelliâs breathable, close-fitting yet waterproof and windproof jacket marked a watershed in cycle clothing
Air Apparent - Pollution hasn't gone away. It's still there in every lungful, even if we can't see it in the air or on the news. But there are reasons to breathe easier, thanks to pioneering projects using cycling 'citizen scientists'. Rob Ainsley took part in one...
The toxic effects of pollution have been known about for years. 'Just two things of which you must beware: Don't drink the water and don't breathe the air!' sang 1960s satirist Tom Lehrer.Over recent decades, though, pollution has dropped down our list of things to worry about, thanks to ominously capitalised concerns such as Climate Change, AI, Global Conflict, Species Collapse, etc. That doesn't, unfortunately, mean the problem has expired. Air quality often exceeds safe limits, with far-reaching and crippling effects on our health.
