Table of contents for February 2018 in Cycling Plus

My usual New Year’s resolution is to never make a New Year’s resolution… However, I’m going to break with that strategy for 2018 and share my goal for this year with you. I’ve been at Cycling Plus for a decade and have yet to take part in one of the most iconic events in the calendar, so I’m resolving to complete L’Étape du Tour on 8 July. This means I’ll have to ride more and take my training seriously, but luckily I’m going to be part of Team Alpecin. And two of you have the chance to join me! Head to alpecincycling.com to register your interest, and if picked you’ll be riding the Étape on a top of the range Canyon, wearing Alpecin team kit. You’ll get a pro bike…

CYCLING PLUS BEST ON TEST CUBE ATTAIN GTC SLT DISC £2099 The Cube features aggressively geometric frame profiles, thru-axles both front and rear, plus the latest Shimano Ultegra 8000 series disc groupset with direct-mount rear mech. All wrapped up in a lightweight, large tyre friendly package, it doesn’t get much more cutting edge than the Attain. We love the hood shape of Shimano’s 8000 series Ultegra. The direct-mount brakes look sleek on the skinny fork and squared chainstays, and the whole bike is 160g lighter than the De Rosa. Even though they’re not the latest ‘filled in fin’ spec, the 160mm rotors give outstanding stopping power, whatever the weather. SPECIFICATION Weight 8.44kg (54cm) Frame GTC Twin Mould monocoque Fork Full carbon Gears Shimano Ultegra 8000 50/34, 11-32 Brakes Shimano Ultegra…

The motivation for the world record attempt stemmed from a desire to raise awareness and funding for British Rescue Trust, a new charity Aaron and I founded, along with a friend Edward Ghilks. Aaron and I are keen adventure cyclists so this wouldn’t be the first major ride we’d embarked upon, but it became one of the most demanding. We chose a route that took in 14 countries, 10 of which I’d never been to before. In seven days we cycled from Poland to the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary and Slovenia then through the Balkans - Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania and Macedonia - before reaching Bulgaria and finishing the 1800km trek in Greece. We rode through Kosovo, but this isn’t recognised as a country by Guinness World Records.…

The latest technology and riding trends mean it’s a great time to be making new bikes. Innovations such as disc brakes allow designers to fit wider, tubeless wheels and tyres into frames and secure them with thru-axles, creating a smoother, more robust ride with better braking control. Carbon fibre lets designers tune the ride qualities of a frame to a much greater degree than before. Deep aero tubes can now be comfortable and squeezing through tight spaces between components doesn’t have to create a weak spot. Lightweight frames can be strong enough to skip along farm tracks but still sparkle on a smooth road climb. Flex can be built into some parts and locked out of others, just by the choice and alignment of sheets of fibre, and some companies…

You’re out on your bike and perhaps your seatpost or stem needs tightening, or you want to adjust the cleats in your shoes. Or maybe you just want to tweak your saddle. Which is why most of us carry a hex key-based multi-tool when we’re out for a ride. And what a world of choice we have. From simple, inexpensive devices that have just have hex keys and maybe a Torx or screwdrivers, to those with chain tools, spoke keys, bottle openers, knives, tyre levers, CO2 cannisters and spanners. The latter are now irrelevant for many of us, but if your bike has cantilever or V-brakes they could still be crucial. While the majority of these multi-tools have decent quality hex keys made from corrosion-resistant chrome-vanadium steel or similar, we’re…

WE SAY Surprisingly practical and versatile package that comes in a neat soft pouch Weight 114g Size Two 70x15mm sticks Fix It Sticks hasn’t quite remade the wheel, but its replaceable bit multi-tool is a nifty reinvention, or at the very least a reinterpretation, of the cycling multi-tool. The original version consisted of two sticks with permanent bits. This version has eight replaceable ones – 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6mm hex, Torx 25 and a Phillips. The bits firmly attach to the 70mm-long all-steel sticks using strong neodymium magnets. The real trick is that the sticks slot securely into each other, aided by the magnets, to form a long T-handled tool that can access the hex bolts other keys can’t reach. With a maximum torque of 54Nm, the only…

WE SAY A great piece of kit that’ll be handy for cycling holidays and training camps CYCLING PLUS HIGHLY COMMENDED Weight 230g Size 120x80x30mm The Silca T-Ratchet + Ti-Torque Kit is a great piece of equipment. It lives in a waxed canvas case, small enough for a jersey pocket or bag, and good enough to take on cycling expeditions and holidays, as well as days out. It consists of a reversible ratchet, a torque beam made of titanium, a steel extension bit and handle. You can use it as a wrench or a ratchet, it comes with hardened steel 2-6mm hex bolts, T10, T20 and T25 and a Phillips P2 driver. All are held securely in by magnets, but the clever bit is the titanium torque spring in the red…

During the 1990s, when aluminium bikes ruled the market, and carbon was just some plastic used for small components, all I wanted was a titanium bike – the Litespeed Ultimate to be precise. Titanium was an unobtainable material for a post-grad junior designer/bike tester like me. We got to test titanium bikes occasionally, experiencing how the steel-like ride character added life and its toughness and anti-corrosion properties made the investment seem worth it. As carbon fibre innovation has gathered pace, its lightweight and strength properties now unparalleled as a material for pros and amateurs alike, titanium has become something of an outlier. So, should we give up on the shiny stuff? I don’t think so, and thankfully neither does Lynskey. The Lynskey family has been involved with titanium manufacturing for…

INSPIRATION FAT FIGURES 990 CALORIES BURNED 55kg (8st 6lb) female cyclist riding at 18mph/29kph for 90mins (burning 660kcal/hour) equivalent to a Subway 12in Meatball Marinara sandwich and a regular cola NOW 11st 6lb (74kg) THEN 14st 4lb (92kg) WHAT WAS YOUR LIFE LIKE BEFORE THE BIKE? I can’t recall! I used to ride mountain bikes in the early ’90s and was invited to join an amateur road cycling team when I was 16. Since I arrived in the UK from Sao Paulo in 2006, and started working in catering, my weight ballooned to almost 100kg. WHAT GOT YOU BACK ON THE BIKE? I was about to turn 40 and realised that things were not going to get any easier, so I decided to increase my cycling and see a nutritionist.…

LOCATION Switzerland DISTANCE 105km GRADE Difficult, three of the toughest climbs in Europe, one after the other, for 3078m elevation. You can at least take heart from the relatively compact distance. GET THE ROUTE ridewithgps.com/ routes/4425742 It’s surprising, given they’re not exactly inconspicuous, that the dizzying heights of the Swiss peaks remain something of an untapped gem, a region often eclipsed by the lure of the French Alps, Pyrenees or Dolomites that have been made famous by the drama and razzmatazz of Grand Tour pro racing. To many these are the ultimate playground that a cyclist can dream of and, truth be told, I’d turned a blind eye to Switzerland in favour of the more established mountain passes elsewhere in Europe. I don’t have many demands for my bike rides…

LOCATION France DISTANCE 105km GRADE Intermediate; neither the distance nor the climbs present too much difficulty GET THE ROUTE mapmyride.com/routes/view/1851482081 There are few better places to ride a bike than France. In fact, if any such place exists we haven’t found it yet. Italy, Spain and Belgium all offer something different, but the perfect mix of varied terrain, fine lunch stops and quiet roads with quality surfaces exist across the Channel like nowhere else. Cyclists from the UK and around the world flock to the famous playgrounds of the Alps, Pyrénées and Provence every summer, but the whole country is worth exploring: from the cycling heartland of Brittany in the north to the sun-soaked hills around Nice and Monaco that have proven to be a fertile training ground for four-time…

Here at Cycling Plus we take our testing seriously and have been putting road cycling products through their paces for 25 years. Our test team, led by senior technical editor Warren Rossiter, is the best in the business. They’ve got decades of cycling experience between them and know what makes a good – and bad – bike, accessory, gadget or garment. That means you can trust us to bring you honest assessments of every product we feature. If it gets our seal of approval then you can be sure that you’ll be bagging a great buy! FIRST RIDE First Ride sees our test team bring you their first impressions of the most exciting new bikes available. As soon as they’re out, we’re riding! ROAD TEST Before you buy a bike,…

SPECIFICATION Weight 7.72kg (M) Frame Canyon Inflite CF SLX Fork Canyon One One Four Inflite CF Disc Gears SRAM Force CX1, Quarq Prime carbon crank with 40t, 11-36 Brakes SRAM Force hydraulic disc, 160mm/140mm Centerline rotors Wheels Reynolds Assault LE Disc Finishing kit Canyon H31 Ergo cockpit CF integrated bar and stem, S13 VCLS CF carbon seatpost, Selle Italia SLR Lite saddle, 33mm Schwalbe X-One All-Round LE tyres Designed to race in the diverse conditions, technical terrain and obstacles of modern cyclocross courses, the new carbon Inflite is the best ready-to-race out of the box ’cross bike we’ve ever ridden. The kinked, flattened top-tube is faster to pick up, and creates a larger main triangle that’s easier to flick on to your shoulder, plus the amount of exposed, flexible seatpost…

Ending a self-imposed Strava exile recently, I noted just how many workouts were now through Zwift. It’s easy to see just why it has exploded like this: an intoxicating mixture of the sort of gamification (gamedesign elements and principles in non-game contexts) that’s served Strava so well, along with a virtual reality world that brings bike racing into your spare room or garage. Aside from brief flirtations in my youth I’ve never been much of a gamer, always preferring the physical and social benefits of sport. I’d wager, as a cyclist yourself, you’re similar. Video games, the notorious World of Warcraft especially, are known, at their extremes, to elicit behavioural addictions in people. However deep you go, though, games trigger the same dopamine responses in the brain like that of…

Stage two of the 2014 Tour de France came through the Calder Valley, wherein lies the busy commercial and manufacturing town of Halifax. You can enjoy some of that route on our rides. The area has outstanding scenery and challenging hill climbs, packed into narrow valleys or snaking across open moorland. For a more relaxing day, the NCN Route 66 takes you along the valley bottom. ROUTE ONE Wind and wuthering, 62 miles Plenty of fresh air on tap Heading deep into Brontë sister country, the steep climbs begin at once. Cross the valleys to Howarth, where you can make a loop or cut to the main challenge – the climb onto Oxenhope Moor. There’s another hard shunt out of Mytholmroyd to take you around the head of the Ryburn…

FOCUS PARALANE CARBON 105 £2199 It might be one of the cheapest bikes here, but Focus’s carbon Paralane is loaded with practical innovation. The cunning quarter-turn Rapid Axle Technology thru-axles are the fastest we’ve used, you get very neat looking and lightweight flat alloy mudguards for protection, plus Shimano wheels, stop and go gear. Is it a shaker, a rattler or a good time roller on the road? SONDER COLIBRI FORCE 22 £2199 Fresh out of the mould just in time for this test, the Colibri is a seriously light and smooth, high-speed distance machine from Peak District-based, direct and own-store seller, Sonder Bikes. It certainly scores points for its low weight and high value, but is this newcomer practical and polished enough to steal sales from under the nose…

PIRELLIP ZERO VELO 4S WE SAY Pirelli’s P Zero Velo 4S rides like a fast road tyre wearing a wetsuit CYCLING PLUS BEST ON TEST £43.99 The details Despite 145 years of tyremaking experience, Pirelli is a newcomer to cycling. The P Zero Velo 4S clincher comes in 23mm, 25mm and, for £2 extra, 28mm widths and has the SmartNet Silica rubber compound shared by all three of Pirelli’s road tyres. Our 25mm tyres weigh in at an average of 221g each, and inflate to 26mm wide on our 24mm rims. Feel Despite being slightly heavier than the Fusion 5 tyres, in cold, dry conditions it’s almost impossible to notice any difference between the Pirellis and the Hutchinsons. Inflated to 85-90psi, the Pirellis’ acceleration is swift. They feel responsive and…

Inside Information QALVIN BLE The Qalvin app has been around for Quarq power meters for a while, but as the meters prior to DZero were ANT+ only you needed an accessory dongle to get the app to communicate with your meter. Now, thanks to the introduction of Bluetooth, it’s a simple touch of your smartphone’s screen. With the app you can install firmware updates and run diagnostics. It also checks the battery voltage, and for those who are very tech orientated you can set zero offsets for multiple bikes, and change the power meter’s slope using the inbuilt calibration software routines. QUARQ POWER METERS have always impressed us, with previous generations offering accuracy and reliability, and priced reasonably compared to the likes of SRM. Older Quarq units were straightforward to…

CYCLING PLUS BEST VALUE WE SAY All the tools most of us need in a small package and at a small price HIGHS Great ergonomics, quality tools and a very neat package LOWS We might have swapped a Torx for a 6mm hex key Weight 92g Size 65x35x15mm For those who believe small - and indeed light – is beautiful there is this Mini 10, from Topeak, one of the emperors of the multi-tool world. By its very nature it features a minimalist range of tools – 1.5, 2, 3, 4 and 5mm hex keys, T10, T15, T20, T25 and a Phillips 2 – but they’re made from quality chromevanadium steel in an extruded aluminium skeleton. In spite of its dimensions its bits aren’t that short, about 40mm, and we…

WE SAY Good price, wide range of tools with everything except spanners Weight 164g Size 73x55x15mm Right, where to start? Well, this little chap will cover pretty much all your needs for outon- the-road emergencies. The 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8mm hex bolts and the T25 Torx are joined by a disc brake wedge, flat and Phillips screwdrivers, five different spoke keys, three of which are on the very chunky 9-11-speed chain tool. Oh, and a bottle/can opener. There’s also a small serrated knife and metal tyre lever for good measure, though we’re not sure we’d let the latter (or the former!) loose on an expensive carbon rim. The forged and CNC-machined bits are made from chrome-vanadium for corrosion-resistant longevity, and even the side plates are steel…

The best technology and tips to help you hit spring faster and fitter, whether you are hiding away indoors or taking winter on the chin TRAINING HERO HACKS! ALARMING Whether you wake up to a pulse rate/Fitbit sleeping pattern-calibrated whale song or Slipknot, put your alarm out of reach. As soon as your feet hit the floor, you are two very significant steps towards getting fitter in the next hour rather than getting fatter because you pressed snooze and rolled back over. ROOMY IS COSY Don’t force fat socks into thin shoes as that can reduce blood circulation. Use thin wool or silk socks, or size up on winter boots, for wiggling room to keep toes warm. If you aim for three sessions a week and you miss one, it’s…

NUTRITION Coffee is obviously, and most notably full of caffeine, one of the most proven performance-enhancing aids that is easily bought and consumed. How much? To really feel like you’re flying, taking at least 3-6mg per kg body weight is recommended, with no additional performance enhancement effects over 6mg. If you’re buying your coffee when you’re out on a ride, as a guide a typical espresso contains 75-80mg of caffeine, a small Americano contains two espresso shots, a medium three shots and a large four shots. Not up for a coffee? Caffeine tablets and even chewing gum are available now. Having tried both, I can say I’m a fan. I’m not always in the mood to have a big drink so these work perfectly! Taking your caffeine hit 60 minutes…

Cavendish wins his 31st stage of the Tour de France on Alp d’Huez The silly season of riders messing around on Zwift and turbo trainers has been completed, and pretty soon the racing will start again. Well, when I say start again, what I mean is we’ll be treated to months of TV coverage and tweets from riders enjoying life in the Southern Hemisphere at races that are nothing more than glorified training camps in the sun. Anyway, it’s probably time for a few predictions for the coming year. The problem with predictions is they’re ridiculous. They’re either really obvious and accurate (Chris Froome will win something big and finish second in something else big) or they are daring and wrong (Romain Bardet will win a time trial). Either way…

Here are five reasons you should consider the Ride Across Portugal… 1. DISCOVER HIDDEN PORTUGAL Outside of Lisbon and the Algarve, Portugal is still relatively untouched by the tourist masses. The upshot is that many roads outside the big cities – including long stretches of the N2, the backbone of Ride Across Portugal (RAP) – are some of the quietest in Europe. Even cyclists are a rarity, as Portugal has yet to be discovered in the same way as the Alps, Majorca and Tenerife. Arriving at some of the villages on the RAP route is like stepping back to a time when people rode heavy bone-rattling frames for necessity rather than as a tool for bagging Strava segments. The event starts in Chaves – a beautiful, medieval town just 10km…

SPECIFICATION Weight 7.75kg (54cm) Frame Carbon Fork Carbon Gears Shimano Ultegra 52/36, 11-28 Brakes Colnago B1-K direct mount Wheels Vision Trimax T35 Finishing kit Colnago HB-02 alloy bar, FSA SL-K stem, FSA Powerbox alloy power meter chainset, Selle Italia for Colnago SLR saddle, 25mm Hutchinson Fusion S Performance tyres The original Colnago Concept dates back to 1986, where collaboration between the technical experts at Ferrari and Ernesto Colnago led to a bike based on a carbon fibre frameset, the first in Colnago’s history, and an integrated gearbox. That proved too expensive and hefty to produce beyond the concept stage but it was the beginning of a long association with Ferrari that still stands. The new Concept is a straight-out aero road bike, developed in the wind tunnel and has been…

An outstanding want-to-ride-itas- much-aspossible bike We’ve spent months since the first bike arrived ramping up the ride challenges and mileages to shake a final conclusion. The Sonder looks great value on paper and initial road rides were smooth. When swapping between other bikes on the same rides it became clear the soft feel through the pedals isn’t repaid with extra comfort on rougher surfaces. Tight tyre room and lack of mudguard mounts limit versatility too. The Scott is steady rather than speedy, but the light carbon frame and reinforced tyres soak up grief. While the Scott feels muted, Focus’s flexstay Paralane is a spring lamb when it comes to ride feel. The frame flex and heavy wheels can sap speed and the mudguards can’t cope with rougher riding. Choosing between…

WE SAY Great fit and support, but that comes with a ‘Killer’ price tag £390 › Boil in the bag custom shoes FORMER ITALIAN PRO rider Danilo Di Luca may have had a chequered professional career, but post-racing he’s put together some interesting Italian-made bikes, and has now launched perhaps the most bling shoes ever to arrive at Cycling Plus. The all-new KS1’s custom fitting follows in the footsteps of Bont and Lake’s cook-to-fit protocol, but instead of going in the oven, you put them into the supplied bag, which goes into a pot to be soft boiled for 15-20 minutes. Once boiled, pop the shoes on and sit down with your knees at a 90-degree angle and wait for 10 minutes or so until the shoes have moulded to…

JOIN US FOR L’ETAPE DU TOUR 2018 When it comes to stunning European rides few match the history and kudos of L’Étape du Tour. The Etape is your opportunity to ride a stage of the Tour de France, and we’ve teamed up with Alpecin to offer two lucky readers the opportunity to tackle the 169km and 4000m of climbing in the French Alps that make up the 2018 edition of this famous sportive. It’s not just the chance to conquer famous climbs, including the Col de la Croix Fry, Montée du plateau des Glières, Col de Romme and Col de la Colombière, that we’re offering. For the 2018 L’Étape du Tour, you’ll be part of Team Alpecin, a multi-national peloton of amateur riders. As well as your Etape entry you’ll…

Cycle coaches work to improve the performances of riders whose desire to ride far outstrips the time they can devote to doing it. As a result, these coaches need to deliver big results through relatively small alterations to training technique, riding routine, diet and lifestyle. We asked a team of experts for their advice… Get more out of your climbs “Never avoid a climb. When training alternate between hills of differing gradients and lengths,” suggests Nigel Hale-Hunter, specialist cycling coach at BPMCoaching.co.uk. “The more you do the better you will become, climbing uses different muscle groups than flat riding, as does mixing your climbing up in training by both sitting and standing. “Choose a route with five to six climbs of various gradients and lengths of between perhaps 300m to…

WE SAY A simple, classic design that manages to incorporate a couple of spanners too Weight 183g Size 90x6.7x20mmm With such an array of tools there are always going to be compromises, but this fits in the hand nicely to offer sufficient leverage from the 3cm-long chrome-vanadium steel tools. These include 2-8mm hex keys, three screwdrivers and T10 and T25 Torx. There’s a nine- to 11-speed chain tool, a couple of spoke keys and 8 and 10mm spanners, which can be handy if you’re running old-school cantilevers or V-brakes. Phew. The chain tool works very well but you do have to rotate the whole, quite chunky, tool to drive the chain rivet out. While the chain tool is designed to fit neatly within the multitool’s sidebars, a rubber band or…

WE SAY Very well-thought-out tool and the detachable ball-ended hex keys are excellent Weight 196g Size 85x50x22mm Forget minimalist multi-tools, this is an all-singing, all-dancing gizmo for your every need. Okay, so you’ll be carrying 196g (nearly half a pound) of metalwork with you, but apart from tyre levers this has just about everything – including a knife (in a plastic sheath). It’s a super-neat piece of design too. It has all the usual hex keys from 2-8mm, but the 2, 2.5, 3, 4 and 5mm are detachable with ball-end and standard ends. If that’s not enough, the 8mm bit is hollow so you can use it with other keys for more leverage. The 7-11-speed chain tool is also a clever piece of design, as it includes a disc spreader…

It was like the third act of Home Alone, where the hapless antagonists Harry and Marv clatter through a series of progressively wretched booby traps. Here I was, lurching from crumbling tar roads to horribly steep gravel tracks, through flowing streams and desert and back again. Twenty riders ploughing their way through this quagmire, puffs of fine sand billowing out, onto our faces, into our eyes and up our noses, mixing with the water on our feet to create a gloopy paste with the consistency of wet concrete. Some stack it ungracefully, face first into the sand, others struggle to keep their bikes upright despite gravity’s unwanted interventions. Nobody’s going anywhere fast. This, it seemed, was the ‘singletrack’ we were promised the night before in our stage briefing. “More like…

This might come as a bombshell to my parents, but I once skipped school. It was just for the afternoon, and it was only to head into town – which as acts of rebellion go is pretty minor. But as a (largely) strait-laced youth it was well out of my comfort zone. Truancy never much suited me, since all I could think about was the prospect of being hauled in front of the head, with my ‘disappointed’ parents watching on. I didn’t do it again after that – not as a pupil, student or employee. Until now. The question was: what would I do with a day bunking off now, as a grown-up? At the very least I’d want to make more of it than skulking about a shabby northern…

Eighty professional cyclists can’t be wrong, can they? When dozens of elite riders and multiple teams choose to live and train in Girona, it has nothing to do with Ryanair flights being cheap – it’s because the surrounding hills are steep, the road conditions neat and the climate sweet. And that’s before you factor in the area’s phenomenal gastronomical reputation. Pro riders eyeing podium finishes can’t enjoy the sublime fruits of the vine and other temptations of the Empordà’s epicurean scene too often. But the rest of us can, in blowouts earned by calories burned on the classic climbs that wend into the Pyrénées. Velo culture and viticulture collide spectacularly, making it perhaps the tastiest place on the planet to explore via a road-riding tour. We put this claim to…

LOCATION France DISTANCE 248km (three days) GRADE Difficult; day one in particular GPX DOWNLOAD Day 1 mapmyride.com/routes/view/1788346379 Day 2 mapmyride.com/routes/view/1788348356 Day 3 mapmyride.com/routes/view/1788349319 Everybody has their favourite ‘Alp’. Maybe it’s the breathless, skyscraping moonscape of the Col de la Bonette and the Mercantour National Park, or Alpe d’Huez and its surrounding mega climbs steeped in pro cycling’s rich history. Magical climbs, descents and landscapes fill the region. Not an Alp but an expansive mountain range, I’ve always had a soft spot for the Aravis, roughly an hour’s drive southeast of Geneva depending on where you end up. Beautiful and accessible, that they were the scene of my first-ever Alpine cycling experience in 2012 is just part of it; the place where I discovered what it’s like to ride up a…