BEAT Cycling Club, one of the leading teams in the UCI Continental circuit have been extremely proactive in these unprecedented circumstances. As the UCI has outlined a new race program for the end of season, we caught up with Luuc Bugter, one of the eleven riders making up the BEAT road team, about how he is coping and training in preparation for races resuming.

After a strong debut season for BEAT in 2019, which included a GC win in Tour d’Eure et Loir (UCI2.2) and a solo victory in the PWZ Zuidenveld Tour (UCI1.2), team road captain Luuc was looking to a strong 2020 before COVID-19 hit.

AL: Where are you based during this lock down? What affect has this outbreak had on your daily life?

LB: I have been based at my home in Arnhem, Netherlands. My life has actually been simplified quite a lot due to this situation. Normally I am hardly ever at home due to a busy race schedule, where we go from hotel to hotel, away from home working or spending time with the family. This has been the longest time I’ve not had to pack my suitcase for a while!

AL: What does a typical training week look like now and how do you stay motivated?

LB: I find the same training laps and environment get boring pretty quickly. Therefore, I decided to mix my road training with some gravel riding to explore new areas and trails I cannot ride down on my road bike. With this in mind, I set myself some new goals on the gravel to motivate myself. On Saturday, May 30th, I will be participating in the ‘Dirty Kanzelled’ ride via Strava. It is going to be a ride of around 200 miles (320km) with the majority of the route on gravel trails, I am curious to see how well I will complete it as I have never ridden so long before! It will certainly be a challenge!
I have used this time to work hard off the bike too with the focus a lot on strength training. As we cannot go to a gym, I have got creative and built my own home gym in my garden!

AL: What is the hardest part about lockdown?

LB: For me the hardest part about this situation is the unknown and uncertainty of everything. When are we going to race again? When will life start back up normally? Nobody knows a definitive answer yet so those thoughts I keep asking myself inside my head. It’s a very hard situation mentally, not only for me but for everyone! For us as a team it is very important that we can start back racing as soon as it’s possible to show off our partners. I am keeping myself in good condition so that as soon as racing restarts, I’ll be ready!

AL: How does being in a team like BEAT help in this sort of situation?

LB: BEAT have been great throughout this whole situation. The team is coming up with new ways to expand and engage with our community members, this has been through some new platforms to me such as Zwift and eRacing. On here we can ride and compete against our club members from the safety of our own homes. On top of this I’ve been helping BEAT spread cycling as a lifestyle choice more on the various social media platforms. It’s great that we have some top partners on board with the team to help us through these times. For example on my ‘Dirty Kanzelled’ ride this weekend I am able to test the Koga gravel bike, this sort of help really keeps morale high.

Thanks to Luuc for his time, if you would like to follow his ‘Dirty Kanzelled’ ride, tune into the BEAT Cycling Club’s Instagram!

Deep in the Swiss Alps, Morgane Charre transcends time - and the trail - on the Firebird. From her home in France, the newest member of Pivot Factory Racing takes us to a rugged and hidden corner of our mountain biking Universe.

In Southwest Switzerland on the French and Italian border, across the valley from Zermatt lies one of Morgane Charre’s favorite destinations: Valais Canton. There are more than 46 summits over 4,000m height in Valais, including the Matterhorn. It's also home of the longest glacier in Europe: Aletsch (24km long). The climate is dry, making for great riding all year round.

"Valais Canton is full of amazing places to ride. Martigny and Verbier trails to Zermatt, through Crans Montana and Saint Luc Bike parks - there are also many bike-friendly hiking trails on every mountain accessible by lifts, buses, or pedaling. The playground is infinite. And with 2,000 hours of sunshine per year, Valais Canton never disappoints."
                                                                                                      —Morgane Charre

Words By Laura Weislo, Cyclingnews.com

After a successful virtual Redlands Classic, Project Echelon Racing is following up with a virtual Tour of the Gila, creating a second opportunity for North American and international men and women's elite teams to compete and give their sponsors publicity amidst the coronavirus pandemic. The invitation-only race will be held from May 22-24 and have a unique feature - a virtual team time trial.

Project Echelon Racing director Eric Hill hopes to build off the success of the virtual Redlands Classic which drew 20 of the top North American teams and almost 100 riders to the virtual start line.

"Not only did the event draw in the nation's top talent, but it inspired cycling fans from across the globe to continue to pursue their passions no matter the circumstances and share their stories with us on social media," Hill said in a press release. The live stream, produced by Nathan Guerra and Dave Towle at Zwift Community Live, was watched by over 25,000 people.

The virtual Tour of the Gila is open to USA Cycling registered domestic elite, UCI Pro and USA Crit teams and will differ from other Zwift races in that it will require riders to complete every stage in order to start the next day and the race forbids the use of power-ups. Riders must weigh in before the stage by photographing themselves on a scale and be prepared to weigh in again as a further control after the stage.

The team time trial takes advantage of the third party Zwift Power. Riders use regular bikes in allow drafting in the virtual realm as Zwift's time trial bikes prevent the benefit of being behind another rider. Teams will be given specific start times and communicate verbally over voice chat. The app gives a 30-second countdown during which riders cannot pedal, then all start together. The time is, like in the real world, taken on the fourth rider across the finish line.

The team time trial will be the opening stage, being held on the Sand to Sequoias Watopia course. The women's teams kick off the racing at 6:45PM Central time with the men following at 8:00PM.

The second stage will be a 67.4km circuit of the Big Foot Hills in Watopia with an early intermediate sprint bonus after 2.6km to get the race rolling. Further bonuses come at two KOM points at 22.5km and 35.2km and a second sprint at kilometre 50. The course is reminiscent of the Tour of the Gila's Fort Bayard stage with a fast, flat finish.

Stage 3 is a 72.6km route on the Medio Fondo course that finishes atop the Epic KOM - a solid approximation of Tour of the Gila's queen stage to Piños Altos. There will be a sprint 13.6km into the stage and KOM points at 19.5km and at the finish atop the Epic.

Men and women will compete on the same courses and the same distances, with the men racing first on stages 2 and 3 at 11:00 CDT and the women at 1:00PM CDT and will be streamed on Zwift Community Live.

"Project Echelon Racing is excited to have the opportunity to bring these events to the elite women's teams across North America and to give them the same opportunity as the men to show their talents and represent their sponsors and causes. Having their presence will only help to bring the cycling community even closer together and ensure the growth and sustainability of our unique and beloved sport."

After USA Cycling suspended all racing, camps and clinics through May 31, forcing races to be either cancelled or postponed until later in the season, teams faced a conundrum on how to provide value to their sponsors. Hill runs Project Echelon Racing and its affiliated non-profit Project Echelon that aims to empower veterans and help them heal and become more healthy by facilitating and promote physical activity, and he's had to get creative to keep fulfilling both missions.

The team is sponsored by Saris, who also support a professional eracing team Saris-The Pro's Closet, and that relationship and Hill's friendship with Nathan Guerra of Zwift Community Live helped the virtual Redlands and now Tour of the Gila come together in just a few weeks.

"Pulling together these events hasn't been easy, but the effort has certainly been worth it," Hill said. "It has been inspiring to see how the cycling community has come together in this unique way and how we have been able to help close the gap between e-sports and "In Real Life" competition. It's always good to be agile and think with an open mind. I truly believe that there is an opportunity for cycling to come out on top of the current COVID-19 situation if we do this right."

The event will be professionally broadcasted LIVE on YouTube by Zwift Community Live, which will allow cycling fans from across the globe to interact with the competition and teams.

Rider & Author: Hannes Klausner
Photography: Christoph Beiner

Not a special background or a special topic, but rather a trip to a special location in hopes of creating a spectacular experience. I mean look at this unforgettable landscape combined with all these amazing natural forms that mother nature created for us to appreciate.

I have wanted to come to the Cappadocia region of Turkey for years now and finally made it happen, and I´m blown away more than I ever expected.

While the region is relatively small in relation to Turkey itself - make no mistake, if you're here, you'll experience it way bigger than it actually is. Such an intense place and full of beauty.

And it´s not just that, it´s amazingly fun to ride as well.

Natural bob sled runs, flow trail sections and some classic free ride lines that are truly one of a kind.
Riding my bike right in the middle of all that was such a great experience. I came for the great rides and left with so much more.

Enjoy!
Hannes