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A Year With No Summer

During scary and transformative times like these, we often look to history to provide insight, answers or comfort. When have similar calamities befallen mankind in the past, and how did we react? Did new innovations result? Was there eventually a silver lining? There is one historic parallel which should be of great interest to the cycling community. In early April of 1815, on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa — just east of today’s popular resort island of Bali — a volcano named Mount Tambora began to rumble. On the 10th of April, the mountain exploded. Huge columns of fire shot from the mountain; plumes of ash and smoke reached 25 miles into the atmosphere. Superheated pyroclastic flows poured down the side of the mountain at 100 miles per hour, destroying everything in their path. 10,000 people were killed almost instantly. Nearby towns were buried with ash, enough to collapse most...

RAAM – The Toughest Event in Cycling?

Around here our focus is mostly on the core cycling events of road, mountain and track racing, though the sub-sector of gravel racing has certainly picked up in terms of popularity over the past few years. Besides these three main sectors, the UCI also manages and promotes several other cycling disciplines – including BMX, paracycling, cyclo-cross, trials and indoor cycling. But well outside and beyond this whole sphere lies the lesser-known, extreme and sometimes crazy world of ultra-cycling. What is ultra-cycling? Even though the sport has its own governing body, no one seems to know exactly what it is. One simple definition says that to qualify, your ride must be “long, uncomfortable, and eventually painful.” Another describes it as any event which forces the cyclist to go beyond what he or she considers achievable with maximum effort. A more specific definition of ultra-cycling is...