The Knowledge: Rohan Dennis on the need for speed

The Knowledge: Rohan Dennis on the need for speed

Featuring Mini Coopers, Ducatis, the Hour Record, and Willis the Akita

Bahrain Merida Mini Cooper Racing Rohan Dennis The Knowledge

Rohan Dennis (Team Ineos) and Willis

It’s a 1998 Mini Cooper. It has hit 165kph, that I know of, but it gets a bit of wobble in the front end at that speed… We got it in 2014.

I probably drive my Ducati motorbike slower than I ride my bike. I know how dangerous it can be and it’s not really worth it.

I don’t think I am OCD, but I might be on some kind of spectrum. I count a lot, but it is always in fives. I don’t know why. The radio volume has to be on five, ten, 15, whatever. Same with the TV. I always try to get up stairs in multiples of five. Our house has six, ten, ten, then three. But if I go from the garage, I try to make it 15.

I will count pedal strokes on training rides and in races. The whole thing I thought about during my Hour Record was: hold, float, pedal and accelerate out of the bend. For 209 laps. Over and over.

Mentally, you are fried after a Grand Tour. Completely gone. I was more tired after any Grand Tour I have finished than after the Hour. But I couldn’t sit on a saddle for four days after. And sitting generally was difficult. If not for the saddle issues, I could do it again the next day. I might not perform as well, I might do better – I don’t know – but it’s like a big time-trial. That’s all it is, really.

 

The post The Knowledge: Rohan Dennis on the need for speed appeared first on The world's finest cycling magazine.

Bahrain Merida Mini Cooper Racing Rohan Dennis The Knowledge

READ MORE

Alpecin and UAE delight but Visma and Red bull struggle - rating the teams' performances at the Spring Classics

Alpecin and UAE delight but Visma and Red bull struggle - rating the teams' performances at the Spring Classics

With the curtains closing on the Spring Classics, Rouleur looks back on the winners and losers of this year's campaign 

Leggi di più
Tadej Pogačar in the pink jersey at the 2024 Giro d'Italia

How to watch and live stream the Giro d'Italia 2025

A guide to where you can catch all the Giro d'Italia action from home or on the go

Leggi di più
Writing history: Why Kim Le Court’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège win is so important

Writing history: Why Kim Le Court’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège win is so important

The Mauritian trailblazer took the biggest victory of her career on Sunday after a challenging road to the top of the sport

Leggi di più
The race for second place: It is time for a new approach to try and beat Tadej Pogačar

The race for second place: It is time for a new approach to try and beat Tadej Pogačar

Another solo win for the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider in Liège–Bastogne–Liège once again highlights that the rest of the peloton needs to anticipate rather than...

Leggi di più
From the Editor: No. 135 - Giro

From the Editor: No. 135 - Giro

Dear Reader, Johnny Green was the former road manager of the Clash, a sardonic, literate, poetic and sharply dressed chancer from Kent whose natural habitat...

Leggi di più

READ RIDE REPEAT

JOIN ROULEUR TODAY

Get closer to the sport than ever before.

Enjoy a digital subscription to Rouleur for just £4 per month and get access to our award-winning magazines.

SUBSCRIBE