A major motivation behind the OTB Cycling Digest is that we enjoy the aesthetic of cycling culture. Bicycles can be as beautiful as they are functional. The materials employed in frame building as well as the angles, curves, and shapes become sculptures in motion. Moreover, the natural landscapes inherent in the most famous venues of road cycling are extremely photogenic: the Alps, Pyrenees, and Dolomites invoke feelings of the sublime so often noted by the greatest Romantic poets. The peloton itself can be a swirling swatch of colors pleasing to the eye and reminiscent of an impressionistic painting. So, we hope you enjoy today’s cycling-as-art content.

wheels we’re following

kit we’re eyeing

where we’re riding

café-stop reading

It may seem cliché to suggest that cycling is art, but we’ve never shied away from cliché. Which is why we are not sharing our own thoughts about cycling as art and instead suggest that you take some time to read Momentum Magazine’s recent review of artists who are using the bicycle as inspiration for their art.

off the back of the newsletter

Watch former pro-cyclist Juan Antonio Flecha hone his photography skills in this GCN+ documentary. Listen to Ed Pickering and photojournalist James Strait discuss Rouleur’s on-going feature Art Cycle. As the weather turns colder and you spend more time inside, fuel your cycling lust with James Hibbard’s The Art of Cycling. As if you didn’t know, Roglič is going to Bora-Hansgrohe. The Jumbo-Visma-Soudal-Quick-Step merger seems to have collapsed. Pogacar completed an Il Lombardia hat trick over the weekend. For some wild reason, the UCI did not provide broadcast coverage for the Women’s Gravel World Championship race. Unacceptable. This t-shirt is an homage to grand-tour road art.

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