Table of contents for December 2021 in Cyclist

Both the men’s and women’s versions of the race had the added frisson of muddy, slippery cobbles, which made for edge-of-seat viewing as the racers fought to stay upright on surfaces more suited to Dancing On Ice than riding a bicycle. And both races were compelling – but in different ways. On the Saturday, the women’s race saw Britain’s Lizzie Deignan strike out alone with 80km to go, meaning that for the next couple of hours she was forced to defend a narrow lead while skidding around like she was riding a broken shopping trolley, bleeding from her hands, and with the world’s greatest-ever rider, Marianne Vos, chasing like a demon two minutes behind. It was more tense than watching an England penalty shootout, only with a much more satisfying…

Since its launch in 2009, London-based brand Quoc has always prided itself on classic, stylish designs, but the new Mono II shoes claim to be Quoc’s ‘most advanced road shoe to date’. Certainly they look racier than the outgoing, all-Velcro enclosure Mono shoes these replace. Starting from the bottom, the Mono II is based around a unidirectional carbon fibre sole to maximise power transfer, with a vibration-absorbing insole on the other side to help dampen the road vibrations super-stiff soles are liable to transmit. There’s also padding around the heel and a choice of three inserts for customised arch support. The new two-piece upper has been borrowed from Quoc’s Gran Tourer gravel shoe and selected for its weather-resistant durability, albeit here it gets a highly perforated treatment to increase breathabiltity.…

Stuttgart is known as Germany’s Motown. Not for its music but because it is home to the country’s biggest car manufacturers. And for Till Nsoga, who first learned his way around metal doing an apprenticeship with Mercedes-Benz, the music of preference is reggae anyway, taking his business’s name, Yaad Cycles, from Jamaican patois for yard. A native of Stuttgart, Nsoga first got into cycling as a child riding trials bikes before moving onto BMX, taking part in street and ramp events for over ten years. However he learned the real tricks of his trade after he left high school and got that apprenticeship with Mercedes in Fine Precise Mechanics. For three years he was trained in brazing, tooling and filing to thousandths of a millimetre. ‘I was in a department…

The view from inside the peloton All eyes were on the Belgian team as the World Championships descended on Flanders. A week after Wout van Aert and Remco Evenepoel stood either side of Filippo Ganna (who else?) on the time-trial podium, the same duo was part of the home team widely expected to put on a show in the road race. Unfortunately for them, the French team refused to stick to the script. Once his teammates had made the hilly race as hard as possible, defending champion Julian Alaphilippe made a decisive move on the climb of Sint Antoniusberg with 21km remaining after two earlier softeners. The 29-year-old showman then soloed to a magnificent win in Leuven to secure a second successive year in the rainbow stripes amid boos from…

Under section 12 of the Licensing Act 1982, it is illegal to be drunk in a pub; a piece of legislation passed in the Commons in 1986 made it an offence ‘to handle salmon in suspicious circumstances’; the Metropolitan Police Act 1839 still maintains it is a criminal offence to fire a cannon within 300 yards of a dwelling, while another act from 1854 still outlaws beating a carpet in the street before 8am. Britain sure does have some interesting and archaic rules, and so it is with deer hunting – it is illegal to shoot deer from a moving vehicle, which includes aircraft, and presumably precludes listening to Ride Of The Valkyries as you do it. It is also only legal to hunt most deer in the UK from…

TRY 3 ISSUES OF CYCLIST FOR £5 + FREE MUC-OFF SHAVING KIT GREAT REASONS TO SUBSCRIBE • 3 issues of Cyclist for £5• Free Muc-Off shaving kit (RRP £29.98)• Free delivery of every issue• Save up to £57 a year your on subscription• Exclusive collectable subscriber-only covers ORDER ONLINE TODAY AT dennismags.co.uk/cyclist OR CALL 0330 333 9492 QUOTING THE OFFER CODE D120 Calls to 03 numbers will be charged at your standard local rate. Gifts limited to the first 100 orders only. Please allow 28 days for delivery. UK only offer. Cyclist reserves the right to replace this gift. You will be able to view your subscription details online at ManageMyMags.co.uk. Saving applicable over a year if you take our print and digital subscription package.…

Notoriously irregular, and therefore difficult to pace, Hautacam sets out its stall early There are no statues on Hautacam. Its summit is devoid of monuments to past victors or the stories written on its slopes. That’s not to say there haven’t been spectacular feats of climbing during its five appearances in the Tour de France; it’s just that all bar one lives in infamy rather than legend. This dead-end road, set for its sixth Tour appearance in the 2022 race, is surrounded by climbs that have etched themselves into the glorious history of the Tour. To the south lies the Tourmalet with its summit statue of Octave Lapize; to the east, Pla d’Adet is adorned with a plaque to Raymond Poulidor; while 15km down the road is Luz Ardiden, which…

To download this route go to cyclist.co.uk/120lochlomond or scan the QR code. From the centre of Drymen take the paved Old Gartmore road – National Cycling Network route 7 – for 7km. Take the wide gravel track on your left and bear immediately left then right, ignoring a turn-off that goes uphill. Stick to this track for 24km. After descending a gorge, bear left and follow the track until you cross a wooden bridge. Turn left down a track signposted ‘Comer’. The road goes to Comer Farm but you have to turn right through another gate to a track that rises to the ridgeline above Loch Lomond. Follow the track down to the loch, where it joins the West Highland Way. Turn left (so the loch is on your right)…

Over the past six years, FiftyOne has forged a reputation for making some striking custom road bikes in its native Ireland, but the Assassin marks a departure for the frame builder. First up, it’s a gravel bike; second it’s made in Asia. But there are compelling reasons for this. Gravel bikes are made from increasingly complex tube shapes that can’t be fabricated with the tube-to-tube method FiftyOne employs in Dublin. To hit the gravel high notes, a largescale factory had to be employed to execute the company’s ideas, of which there are quite a few. The Assassin fits both 650b and 700c wheels, with a maximum tyre size of 47mm in both cases; both chainstays are dropped to afford tyre clearance, preserve stiffness and allow space for double chainsets as…

Mountain Of The Stars p60 Kask Mojito 3 helmet, £130 velobrands.co.uk 100% S3 sunglasses, £139.99 freewheel.co.uk Alé PR-S Bullet SS jersey, £115 paligap.cc Alé Graphics PRR Strada bibshorts, £100 paligap.cc Alé 18cm Team socks, £18 paligap.cc Giant Surge Pro shoes, £274.99 giant-bicycles.com Hautacam p88 Rudy Project Spectrum helmet, £169.99 bikeloungeonline.com Rudy Project Spinshield sunglasses, £89.99 bikeloungeonline.com Giordana FR-C Pro jersey, £104.99 bikeloungeonline.com Giordana FR-C Pro bibshorts, £119.99 bikeloungeonline.com Giordana FR-C Pro Lyte gloves, £34.99 bikeloungeonline.com Socks: Giordana FR-C Tall Cuff socks, £15.99 bikeloungeonline.com Bont Helix Reflex shoes, €379 (approx £320) bontcycling.com A Load Of Trossachs p118 Giro Aether Mips helmet, £259.99 zyrofisher.co.uk SunGod Velans sunglasses, £140 sungod.co Endura GV500 Reiver jersey, £89.99 endurasport.com Endura GV500 Foyle shorts, £79.99 endurasport.com Endura BaaBaa Merino Stripe socks, £9.99 endurasport.com Giro Privateer Lace shoes,…

What do you say about a lube that’s marketed as ‘fast’? You might describe the claim as ‘ludicrous AF’, yet Muc-Off assures us its latest project is ‘the world’s fastest race lube’. Tested by Ineos Grenadiers in back-to-back Giro d’Italia victories, Ludicrous AF claims to be 3%-5% more efficient than nearest competitor Synergetic. It achieves this through molecules in the formula that create a sheer plane with the chain’s surface, which reduces friction and thus increases efficiency. Muc-Off says it also self-lubricates over time, meaning longer between reapplications.…

Like all good sequels, the Vertix 2 is bigger and badder than the original. Screen size is up by 3.3mm and weight has gone up to 89g, but it packs in extra goodies too. The main difference is enhanced GPS tracking thanks to Dual Frequency connection to all the satellite systems, so it should be super-accurate even when there’s tree cover or tall buildings nearby. Also new is an electrocardiogram feature for health monitoring and music playback for, well… playing back music. Battery life remains up to 60 days (claimed), but one feature that has gone is ANT+ connectivity, making it trickier to pair to your power meter.…

Plenty of things can cut a winter ride short – black ice, punctures, collisions with reindeer – but frozen hands are by far the most common. Extremities tend to be the first body parts to feel the cold, which is why it’s so important to keep them well insulated from the outset. Hardy cyclists of decades gone by would shield their hands from the elements with simple woollen gloves. Look at photos of Fausto Coppi from the mid-1900s and you’ll see him sporting knitted mittens during his winter training rides. Warm? Yes. But the slightest bit of rain or road spray would inevitably render them sodden and useless. Thankfully purpose-built winter gloves have come on leaps and bounds since then. Brands today are using innovative design elements and technical materials…

Things you might think about when you think about Portugal: the beaches of the Algarve; the ancient streets of Lisbon; the vineyards of the Douro Valley; Cristiano Ronaldo. Things you probably wouldn’t think about when you think about Portugal: pine forests; ski resorts; boulder-strewn mountains; rain. And not just any rain, but the kind of rain that is so hard and persistent that gutters on rooftops turn into a mini-Niagara Falls, and people dashing from their cars to the hotel are drenched by the time they make it to the foyer. As I look out of the window, the buildings across the road are invisible, obscured by thick mist and a veil of water. The temperature has dropped into single figures and I’m beginning to regret my lack of warm…

The Road machine has a bit of an identity crisis. BMC presents it as a ‘high performance all-rounder’, but it’s not a race bike like the super light Team machine or aero Time machine. BMC also says it is designed for ‘smooth pavement or rough back roads’, but it’s not a gravel bike like the company’s URS. It’s really a ‘comfort road bike’ but that doesn’t sound very exciting so BMC sells it as a dynamic mash-up of its other bikes. Yet for those of us who aren’t racers, comfort is really what we need most. Fear not, the Road machine is still light enough (8.3kg for this size 58) and nimble enough to smash it up and down hills, but it doesn’t beat you up while doing it. That’s…

If you build it, they will come. As the crowds filtered into Vélodr drome André - the Pétrieuxto await arrival of the first edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes, the (misquoted)words from themovie Field Of Dreams rang as true for cyclingas they did for df baseball on the screen. For 125 years the Queen of the Classics had been with held ld from the women’speloton, its rich history of mudand pain being written only by themen. Yet this year, on 2nd October, children in the stands were finally able to witness women competing on the fabled cobblestones of cylcycling’s most celebrated one-day race. Before the race, a young girl was seen riding on the five-star Carrefourdel’l Arbree sector, testing out the pavé for herself. The promotion and inspiration of women’s cycling to…

The muscular forks and boxy geometry give the Grevil frame a ‘pumped-up’ appearance, which you’ll either love or hate. Fortunately I’m in the former camp. The aggressive shape somehow inspires confidence if you’re going off-grid and the sculpted seatstays and chunky, asymmetrical chainstays all contributed to a consistently comfortable and compliant ride, despite a variety of challenging and technical terrains. The Grevil comes with a disappointingly entry-level wheelset, so I upgraded to Hunt’s 650b adventure carbon wheels. Shod with WTB Sendero 47mm clinchers, these cushioned every impediment I came across and kept their grip on the loosest of gravel. There were no qualms with Pinarello’s choice of Ultegra groupset however – the shifting was smooth and consistent throughout. The RX800 rear derailleur includes a clutch that keeps the chain taut…

It’s finally here – all hail Shimano Dura-Ace 9200. But what’s new besides its semi-wireless nature? From the top (take a deep breath)… Lever hoods point inwards slightly, offer 4.6mm longer reach, are slightly taller and shift buttons are longer and wider spaced. Shifting is a claimed 58% faster at the rear, 45% faster at the front; the front mech has a 33% smaller frontal area; the groupset is now 12-speed; brake pads are 10% further from the rotor to reduce noise, and lever control offers 13% more modulation; the dual-sided power meter accuracy has improved from +/-2% to +/-1.5%; the disc rotors and chain are now shared with Shimano’s toptier mountain bike group, XTR; brake bleeding is possible without removing the calliper from the frame thanks to a new…

1 UNITY PERFORMANCE SUPPLEMENTS From £41.10, unityperformancelab.com Unity is the new sports nutrition company founded by ex-Arsenal players Mathieu Flamini and Mesut Özil, and its products, made with the help of scientists, are clinically proven to help release energy, aid recovery, boost immunity and increase performance under pressure. We bet Arsène Wenger wishes he’d had a subscription. 2 MASTER & DYNAMIC MW08 EARPHONES £279, masterdynamic.co.uk It’s always better to take a spider out instead of killing him… grab a few beers, have a laugh, he’ll tell you all about being a web designer. And it’s always better to turbo train to music, and better still if it’s provided by these wireless MW08s, which feature huge 11mm beryllium drivers, noise-cancelling tech and an ‘awareness mode’ to allow for ambient sound too.…

In the mid-1990s a small British pro cycling team, sponsored by a Rotherham nightclub, hired a new soigneur. He was unqualified and untested, but that didn’t really matter. ‘If you had a massage table and a tub of baby oil, you were in,’ said John Herety, the manager of Neilson-Tivoli. The soigneur was Dave Brailsford. His father, John, was well known in the mountaineering world and inventor of a revolutionary climbing nut (the Acorn, or ‘Brailsford nut’), but Brailsford junior was a cyclist and as a teenager he left Wales and went to France to pursue his dream of turning professional, returning to the UK when that didn’t work out. Nobody who worked with Brailsford at Neilson-Tivoli could have imagined the impact he would have on cycling, far less that…

‘This was June 2010,’ writes Mark Cavendish in his second autobiography At Speed. ‘The Tour was three weeks away and I was a mess. Lonely, miserable, out of form, unpopular with journalists, fellow riders and even fans, after the highs of the previous two years I’d somehow fallen into a pit of despair. I had three weeks to crawl out.’ To say the first six months of the 2010 season were difficult for Cavendish is an understatement. Twelve months earlier he had wracked up 13 individual wins including Milan-San Remo before the Tour’s Grand Depart. In 2010 his tally stood at three. But it wasn’t just the lack of victories that troubled the sprinter – there was plenty of controversy as well. Cavendish’s pre-season had been impacted by agonising abscesses…

Block 1: Weeks 1-4 • In Week 1 take a test – 20 or 60 minutes FTP (functional threshold power), or a MAP (maximal aerobic power) test with a coach – to gauge your fitness and set training zones. • Rather than aiming for a distance, aim to complete so many hours per block – that will be personal to you depending on your goals. • Do three long rides, upping them by 15 to 30 minutes each time. • Include some MIET (medium intensity endurance training) in those rides, starting at 20 minutes and lengthening a little each ride. • The rest of the training should be short-to-moderate duration endurance work. • In Week 4 reduce all sessions by 40% to freshen up for the next block. Block 2:…

TRAVEL Cyclist flew to Porto in northwest Portugal, which is a three-hour drive away from the hotel on the upper slopes of the Serra da Estrela. You can get from Porto to Covilhá (at the foot of the mountain) by train, but it will add a lot of hours to your journey. ACCOMMODATION The Luna Hotel Serra da Estrela sits 1,470m up the national park, making it a great base for exploring by bike or on foot. It has a faded grandeur vibe, with small but comfortable rooms, a swimming pool and decent buffet. See lunahoteis.com for details. THANKS Many thanks to Adriano Placidi of Volta Pro Tours for his help. Volta hosts cycling holidays in Portugal that are challenging but also luxurious, such as the N2 Challenge, a week-long…

‘Rapha is a cult, but a good one,’ says Rapha’s CEO and founder Simon Mottram. ‘People aren’t buying Rapha because they want a badge that says they’re a cyclist, or a certain kind of cyclist. It is much richer and deeper than that. It’s about how much they like cycling and about who they are as a person.’ Rapha’s popularity is undeniable. The British clothing brand grew 30% last year and is on track for the same growth this year. And it has longevity on its side too. Rapha’s Classic jersey is still one of its top ten most popular products, more than 17 years since the company launched in 2004. ‘The boom in cycling over the pandemic exposed us to lots of tailwind,’ says Mottram. ‘We’re one of those…

The glens, mountains and lochs that form the Trossachs just north of Glasgow have a history of clan warfare, political rebellion and land disputes. Most were resolved violently. The most recent turmoil to afflict these parts, however, was crushed by the local highways committee and several thousand litres of yellow paint. Double yellow lines have appeared on even the quietest country lanes that lead to the beauty spot of Loch Lomond in response to the volume of traffic generated by a perfect storm of coronavirus lockdown and an unprecedented Scottish heatwave. Thousands of refugees from Scotland’s nearby and densely populated central belt have all been waking up and thinking, ‘What a lovely day. If we can’t fly abroad, let’s escape the crowds by going somewhere no one else will think…

It took a Flower of Kent apple falling from a tree and hitting him on the head for Sir Isaac Newton to have his ‘eureka moment’ in developing the laws of motion and universal gravitation. For Specialized engineer Peter Denk, all it took was finite element analysis (FEA), a giant supercomputer and 1,000 simulations to have his own ‘eureka moment’ of reimagined tube proportions and efficient positioning of carbon fibres. The result was the 585g frame at the heart of the Aethos, the world’s lightest production disc brake road bike (see issue 109). A year later, Denk’s epiphany has been applied to Specialized’s cyclocross model, the Crux, to arrive at the all-new Specialized S-Works Crux, which at 725g (56cm) is now the lightest cyclocross/gravel frame on the market. Shedding the…