{"id":582982,"date":"2026-05-14T05:02:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T05:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/582982\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T05:02:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T05:02:12","slug":"shenanigans-tech-and-everything-you-missed-from-off-the-back-in-april","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/582982\/","title":{"rendered":"Shenanigans, tech, and everything you missed from Off The Back in April"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"elk-54223097-887f-45b3-a912-f46f7fefd31a\"><a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/news\/introducing-our-newest-podcast-off-the-back\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/news\/introducing-our-newest-podcast-off-the-back\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/news\/introducing-our-newest-podcast-off-the-back\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Off the Back Podcast<\/a> is our weekly podcast where the Cycling Weekly team chat all things cycling, bike racing and tech, offering you a quick and convenient way to get up to speed with everything happening in the world of cycling each week. You can find Off the Back on <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@OffTheBackPodcast\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@OffTheBackPodcast\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">YouTube<\/a>, via <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/go.redirectingat.com?id=92X1623320&amp;xcust=cyclingweekly_us_1097813081210977312&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fpodcasts.apple.com%2Fus%2Fpodcast%2Foff-the-back-a-cycling-weekly-podcast%2Fid1875076480&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cyclingweekly.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"sponsored noopener nofollow\" data-url=\"https:\/\/go.redirectingat.com\/?id=92X1623320&amp;xcust=cyclingweekly_gb_1274490339810770867&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fpodcasts.apple.com%2Fus%2Fpodcast%2Foff-the-back-a-cycling-weekly-podcast%2Fid1875076480&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cyclingweekly.com\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"skimlinks\" data-google-interstitial=\"false\" data-placeholder-url=\"https:\/\/go.redirectingat.com?id=92X1623320&amp;xcust=hawk-custom-tracking&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fpodcasts.apple.com%2Fus%2Fpodcast%2Foff-the-back-a-cycling-weekly-podcast%2Fid1875076480&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cyclingweekly.com\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\">Apple podcasts<\/a>, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.<\/p>\n<p>April is a big month for bike racing, so it was also a moment for some heated debate. Not only was it time to wrap up the Spring Classics, but the Off The Back team only mentioned <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/news\/21-things-you-didnt-know-about-tadej-pogacar\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/news\/21-things-you-didnt-know-about-tadej-pogacar\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/news\/21-things-you-didnt-know-about-tadej-pogacar\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tadej Poga\u010dar<\/a> once or twice, and James was in Austria for the <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/racing\/giulio-pellizzari-romps-to-final-stage-and-overall-victory-at-the-tour-of-the-alps\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/racing\/giulio-pellizzari-romps-to-final-stage-and-overall-victory-at-the-tour-of-the-alps\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/racing\/giulio-pellizzari-romps-to-final-stage-and-overall-victory-at-the-tour-of-the-alps\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tour of the Alps<\/a>. The serious stage racing started with the Tour de Romandie, of course. And arguably the biggest tech-talking-point of the month was <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/products\/did-a-piece-of-gbp15-plastic-cost-mathieu-van-der-poel-his-chance-of-victory-at-paris-roubaix\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/products\/did-a-piece-of-gbp15-plastic-cost-mathieu-van-der-poel-his-chance-of-victory-at-paris-roubaix\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/products\/did-a-piece-of-gbp15-plastic-cost-mathieu-van-der-poel-his-chance-of-victory-at-paris-roubaix\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Mathieu van der Poel&#8217;s pedals<\/a> and, of course, <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/reviews\/tyres-and-wheels\/forget-28mm-tyres-the-rise-of-wider-road-bike-tyres-is-here-and-if-you-ride-your-gravel-or-all-road-bike-on-the-road-pay-attention\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/reviews\/tyres-and-wheels\/forget-28mm-tyres-the-rise-of-wider-road-bike-tyres-is-here-and-if-you-ride-your-gravel-or-all-road-bike-on-the-road-pay-attention\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/reviews\/tyres-and-wheels\/forget-28mm-tyres-the-rise-of-wider-road-bike-tyres-is-here-and-if-you-ride-your-gravel-or-all-road-bike-on-the-road-pay-attention\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">big road tyres<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">Patrick&#8217;s full dissection of the <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/news\/his-dynamic-riding-meant-that-he-was-among-the-leaders-and-within-podium-reach-man-on-stolen-bike-being-pursued-by-police-almost-wins-race\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/news\/his-dynamic-riding-meant-that-he-was-among-the-leaders-and-within-podium-reach-man-on-stolen-bike-being-pursued-by-police-almost-wins-race\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/news\/his-dynamic-riding-meant-that-he-was-among-the-leaders-and-within-podium-reach-man-on-stolen-bike-being-pursued-by-police-almost-wins-race\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">brazen criminal who not only stole a bike but then tried to join a bike race <\/a>is definitely worth a read. The guy couldn&#8217;t have stolen a faster getaway vehicle, one of the <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/group-tests\/best-road-bikes-461550\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/group-tests\/best-road-bikes-461550\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/group-tests\/best-road-bikes-461550\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">best road bikes<\/a>, the <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/reviews\/road-bikes\/specialized-s-works-tarmac-sl8-how-does-it-stack-up-12-months-on\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/reviews\/road-bikes\/specialized-s-works-tarmac-sl8-how-does-it-stack-up-12-months-on\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/reviews\/road-bikes\/specialized-s-works-tarmac-sl8-how-does-it-stack-up-12-months-on\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Specialised Tarmac SL8<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Back to big tyres \u2013 which already feels like the most talked about tech issue in 2026 \u2013 with even bigger ones reportedly on the way, thanks to the launch of the outrageous <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/products\/new-open-wi-de-2-0-takes-gravel-clearances-to-a-whole-new-level-with-provision-for-gargantuan-66mm-tyres\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/products\/new-open-wi-de-2-0-takes-gravel-clearances-to-a-whole-new-level-with-provision-for-gargantuan-66mm-tyres\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/products\/new-open-wi-de-2-0-takes-gravel-clearances-to-a-whole-new-level-with-provision-for-gargantuan-66mm-tyres\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Open WI.DE 2.0 gravel bike <\/a>raising questions about whether the <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/group-tests\/adventure-road-and-gravel-bikes-a-buyers-guide-187448\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/group-tests\/adventure-road-and-gravel-bikes-a-buyers-guide-187448\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/group-tests\/adventure-road-and-gravel-bikes-a-buyers-guide-187448\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">best gravel bikes<\/a> really need 2.6&#8243;\/66mm of tyre clearance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">Finally, so you don&#8217;t feel short-changed by my intriguing headline, during a lively discussion on the <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/news\/cycling-can-make-your-brain-fitter-according-to-a-new-study\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/news\/cycling-can-make-your-brain-fitter-according-to-a-new-study\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingweekly.com\/news\/cycling-can-make-your-brain-fitter-according-to-a-new-study\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">benefits of cycling for the brain,<\/a> Adam rightly pointed out that the hippocampus is not, in fact, a university for Hippos.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-collectionwidget-bf2e564db49c623f0f469141bf8da3ee\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"elk-c6c90d0d-1ad6-4d66-ada0-c0f9911ed58e\">In April, the team recorded a bumper 6 podcasts of the podcast. If you missed any, you can, of course, head over to your preferred platform to listen, but make sure to like, subscribe and set to automatically download. If you want to listen to them now, you can find all of April&#8217;s episodes below:<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-94aaab0d-6b92-4a57-a6a4-bab6dae2aff3\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><a id=\"elk-03239ab1-deda-43c9-b09c-590c75db4546\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><a id=\"elk-5da28419-668f-483a-8f2f-9b4a8f3ba24c\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><a id=\"elk-f16dee7a-85c9-4798-8f84-b942916d83d7\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><a id=\"elk-b98827f3-9078-4ee0-a410-caae371dae18\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><a id=\"elk-25b605df-d9ce-4b77-8dfe-462fa8daee53\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Today&#8217;s best deals on all the products featured in this article&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Off the Back Podcast is our weekly podcast where the Cycling Weekly team chat all things cycling, bike&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-582982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}