We’re almost a week into the 2024 Tour de France, so to celebrate – and inspired by Dylan Groenewegen’s peculiar, Batman-inspired aero beak – in the latest episode of the road.cc Podcast, we decided to unbuckle the Grande Boucle and focus on the strangest, daftest, and most crazy things, both on and off the bike, that we’ve witnessed at cycling’s biggest race over the years.

Oh, and there was maybe a bit of chat about a certain Manx sprinter and the number 35…

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, or become adept at turning off the TV as soon as you hear Question Time’s twinkly theme, then you’ll be well aware that the next UK general election is fast approaching. And with under two weeks to go until the polling stations open, all of the main parties have launched their manifestos, setting out the key reasons why you should vote for them on 4 July.

Which leads us to the big question in this week’s special election-themed episode of the road.cc Podcast: What are the parties saying about cycling?

Helping him dive headfirst into the key parties’ manifestos – and scavenge any scrap of detail from them about active travel (which was more difficult than you might think) – Ryan was joined by road.cc stalwart Simon MacMichael and Sarah McMonagle, director of external affairs at Cycling UK.

With Cycling UK launching its own five-year plan for active travel recently – which has called on whichever party takes the keys next month to No. 10 to boost cycling funding considerably and reconsider how our cities, towns, and neighbourhoods are planned – Sarah, Ryan, and Simon dissect the good, bad, ugly, and frankly non-existent of the different parties’ pledges related to getting about by bike.

Oi, you there! You can’t record your podcast around here…

We’ve got a special bonus Dauphiné and election edition of the road.cc Podcast this week, because surely you didn’t think we were going to ignore THAT incident, involving a seemingly super top secret new Pinarello Dogma and a stubborn British team at the key pre-Tour tune-up race, did you?

So, with everyone (including a few other podcasts) talking about our tech team’s run-in at the Dauphiné with the Ineos Grenadiers – who were steadfastly obstinate about refusing to allow any filming or photography around their shiny new bikes (despite said bikes appearing on TV all this week) – Jack, Ryan, Jamie, and Mat decided to go behind the scenes (or the team car, or the hedge) to discuss what really went on in France, and why pro teams continue to ‘play the game’ when it comes to new bike tech.

We also chat about the other new bikes Mat and Jamie spotted at the Dauphiné, and where bike tech is headed in the future. Oh, and why white handlebar tape is back in fashion…

Meanwhile, in part two, Ryan and Jack were joined by Cycling UK’s Sarah McMonagle to discuss that other big topic of the moment, the general election, and why cycling policy needs a reset come next month – before digging out our crystal balls to find out what active travel pledges (if any) will pop up in the major parties’ manifestos over the next few weeks…

For episode 78 of the road.cc Podcast, we donned our reading glasses, grabbed our bikes, and headed over to the National Cycle Network, that underfunded, unwieldy, often fractured, but very important collection of routes used by cyclists across the UK and which forms the subject of Laura Laker’s brilliant new book, Potholes and Pavements.

Part one features an in-depth behind the keyboard chat with Laura, a respected journalist and longstanding road.cc contributor, discussing her inspiration for the book, the pros and cons of the NCN, how to make cycling infrastructure better, the cycling culture wars, and why riding a bike is really all about the people we meet along the way.

We then turn our attentions in part two to the upcoming general election, and what its outcome may mean for cycling and active travel, with Dr Maya Singer Hobbs, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research, a think tank that earlier this month claimed the UK was “travelling in the wrong direction” when it comes to transport.

It's episode 77 of the road.cc Podcast, and arguably one of our most thought-provoking episodes to date.

In part 1, Jack and George sit down with leading barrister Martin Porter KC on the same week that the Government announced tougher laws are set to be introduced for 'dangerous cyclists' who kill or injure. Highlighting recent high profile and exceptionally rare cases involving cyclists and pedestrians as a focus for the discussion, listen to get the view of one of Britain's leading personal injury specialists on why he thinks bringing in tougher laws for cyclists will be detrimental.

It's also Mental Health Awareness Week, so in part 2 Jack is talking to Elaine Curtin - not only road.cc's commercial director, but also a trained Human Givens psychotherapist - about how cycling can be great for your mental health. Elaine also tells us more about the human givens approach, and how you can identify if you or someone you know might be struggling with mental health.

If you need help, the NHS has a fantastic Your Mind Plan feature. For more direct help, other NHS services can be found here, and for more urgent assistance The Samaritans can be called for free on 116 123. For more information on the human givens approach, visit the Human Givens Institute website.

In episode 76 of the road.cc Podcast, we're talking about... another podcast! Well, we'd like to think it goes a bit deeper than that, because our discussion with Lauren O'Brien - representing 'the cyclist' in a recent debate title 'Should cyclists stay in their lane?' with researcher and journalist James Woudhuysen - delves into how cycling is generally portrayed in the non-cycling media. Do debates like this lead to progression, or just drag up disagreements that are already there? Was cycling fairly represented on the show? Tune in for a fascinating behind-the-scenes discussion.

In part 2, Dave sits down with George Gilbert, the founder of fledgling indoor cycling platform IndieVelo, and e-sports journalist Christopher Schwenker to discuss the progression of indoor cycling, and Indievelo itself. What can be done to take cycling e-sports to the next level at the elite level, and where is virtual cycling heading for the rest of us? If you’re partial to riding indoors, this chat is well worth a listen.

PS: You may have also seen Tony’s blog about our decision to stop flying out to bike/product launches, and there’s a bit of an explainer from George on this between our two main segments. Enjoy!

It's time for episode 75 of the road.cc Podcast, a two-parter that is as chalk and cheese as we've ever recorded in cycling terms... but that's how we like it!

Part 1 is all about folding bikes, and more specifically a fascinating chat with Mark Bickerton, whose father Harry invented arguably the first properly practical, lightweight folding bike in the early 70s. By the early 80s the Bickerton Portable was a big British success story, boosted by a certain low-budget TV ad that became embedded into the public consciousness for various reasons (listen to find out why!)

While Bickerton isn't the folding force it once was, the brand name and bikes are still going strong, with Mark also now the main man in the UK behind the very popular urban bike brand Tern. The chat with road.cc editor Jack covers a brief history of Bickerton and folding bikes in general, what's going on with Bickerton and Tern today and Mark's take on these turbulent times for the bike industry.

In part two, Ryan and Dan delve behind the scenes at last week’s Paris-Roubaix, where Ryan was lucky enough to head over to northern France and hitch a lift in a team car. Up for discussion is whether the world champ Van der Poel’s domination of the cobbled classics is ‘boring’, British star Pfeiffer Georgi’s hopes for the future, and the thrills and spills of watching a monument from the team car.

During his time at the race, Ryan also caught up with 18-year-old Yorkshire-raised Irish rider Patrick Casey, who was making his debut at the Junior Paris-Roubaix for the Grenke-Auto Eder team. Casey’s path to the pro ranks is somewhat different than other riders from these shores in the past, but the lessons he’s already learned during his time in Europe – such as the folly of turning up with two right-hand track mitts to the hardest race of the year – are steadfastly old school…

With Paris-Roubaix, arguably the most hotly anticipated weekend on the pro cycling calendar, approaching fast around the next cobbled bend, episode 74 of the road.cc Podcast features two representatives of the past, present, and future of the Queen of the Classics: Canyon-Sram’s father-daughter duo Magnus and Zoe Bäckstedt, 20 years on from Magnus’ career-defining Roubaix victory.

The 2024 Paris-Roubaix not only marks the 20th anniversary of Bäckstedt Snr’s victory at the Hell of the North, but also the first time the Canyon-Sram sports director will be taking on cycling’s most famous one-day race with daughter Zoe as one of his charges, after the 19-year-old joined the German team from EF Education last autumn.

The pair discuss Magnus’ 2004 win, what it’s like working together, Zoe’s adjustment to the Women’s World Tour after dominating as a junior, and why Roubaix is the race everyone wants to win.

Meanwhile, in part two, British adventurer and explorer Oli France joins us, mid-marathon packing session, just before setting for the west coast of the United States, where he will be taking on phase two of his record-breaking attempt to travel from the lowest geographical point to the highest on every continent, by bike and on foot.

He chats about his approach to training and preparing for extreme temperatures and the different physical demands of cycling and climbing, and why – after six weeks slogging through deserts, over tough, sapping roads, and in the freezing cold on his bike – climbing a mountain at the end of it all seems like the “easy part”…