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The ‘Bikes from the Bunch’ interviews from #RIDE74 were done in Andorra. The first vox pop has Iolanda talking about her Canyon…

– Interviews by Les Clarke.

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Iolanda

Rehabilitation medic 

  • Age: 33.
  • Height: 160cm.
  • Weight: 57kg.

 

The bike?

“It’s a Canyon Aeroad CF SLX that I’ve ridden for about two-and-a-half years now. It’s about seven kilos, which isn’t the lightest but it’s not too bad, either.

“I’ve done close to 24,000 kilometres on it and haven’t had a problem – that’s a pretty good run, by anyone’s standards.”

 

The Groupset?

“Shimano Ultegra Di2. I used to ride with a mechanical gruppo but the Di2 is so much better! It’s smoother and more intuitive – for me that makes it much easier to use.

“Being a woman I have smaller hands and the shifters are much better suited to enjoying more control over the changes. Because you only have to make small taps to change, it’s also easier to ‘dump’ a bunch of gears when you need to without having to throw your hands across the right shifting paddle like some other groupsets. That’s particularly useful in races!

“With the amount of climbing you have to do in Andorra, I find the 52-36 mid-compact chainrings very useful – you can find great ratios for climbing quickly.

“With an 11-32 cassette on the back it allows even more freedom in the big mountains as you can spin a lot easier.

“I’ve also been using an InPower power meter to measure my training efforts and it’s been a piece of equipment with which I’ve become not only accustomed but kind of reliant upon, like many people who switch over to using power. It’s been great.”

 

Kilometre count?

“This year I’ve done 10,500km but most of the time I train by hour count – in summer I do 14-15 hours per week while in winter I’ll typically do less, up to nine hours per week.”

 

Good points?

“This bike is very comfortable,  it handles fantastically and I’ve had no problems so far, so that counts for a lot! I’ve put 25,000km on it and it hasn’t let me down.”

 

Bad Points?

“I could go a little lighter with the build – closer to the UCI limit. That would be an advantage!”

 

Miscellaneous

“I ride events in the Copa España and Copa Catalunya – these are high-profile national and regional championships – and I race for a team called ‘Cycling No Limit’ and this bike holds its own in competitive scenarios or just out training. 

“Also, when I consider the bikes I’ve ridden, it’s worth noting that I’ve been using Rotor cranks for about four years; I like the elliptical chainrings and see it as a way of preventing knee problems, as the action of this type of crank allows for more ‘downtime’ during pedal revolutions. I will admit, the sensation was a little strange to begin with but I soon became accustomed to it.”

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The interview was originally published in print in #RIDE74 (November 2016).

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‘Bikes from the Bunch’ was a regular feature of RIDE Cycling Review magazine for almost 20 years. For more interviews with riders talking about their bikes, search ‘ridemedia’ and ‘bikes from the bunch’.

 

Interviews with riders from Andorra talking about the bikes they ride:

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