Innehållsförteckning för December 2018 från Cyclist

I have never been very successful at collecting things. As a kid I once tried to start a shell collection, inspired by finding a number of attractive shells on a beach near my home in Scotland. However it didn’t take long before I realised that all the other shells on the beach would be pretty much identical to the ones I had already found, and that to extend my collection would require more exotic travel than I was able to facilitate as a 10-year-old. Then I started a stamp collection. That lasted about a week before I concluded that stamp collecting is really, really boring. Collecting trainers proved to be too expensive, as did collecting old Marvel comics. Eventually I was rescued from my attempts to establish a genuine collection…

£275, giant-bicycles.com The big idea behind the Giant Surge shoe is the ExoBeam sole. Rather than having a carbon fibre plate right across the bottom of the shoe, the Surge has a narrow ‘beam’ of carbon that links the forefoot and heel. ‘When you’ve got a traditional plate last, what you are effectively doing is strapping the foot onto the footbed, which restricts the natural movement of the foot,’ says Giant’s Rob Lyne. ‘The ExoBeam maintains a stiff bed for power transfer but it allows the foot its natural torsional movement, which takes the pressure off the ankle and knee during the pedal rotation.’ The ExoBeam was present on the previous version of the Surge, launched three years ago. This latest update keeps the technology, but has refined the aesthetics.…

Core £80, Kinetic £60, Wearable £50, zyrofisher.co.uk Ever found it a chore having to turn all your lights on individually? Us neither, but just in case, CatEye’s new Sync lights talk to one another and your phone via an app to coordinate their illumination. While that may not seem immediately useful, the Sync collection is actually rather innovative. The app displays battery life and can be used to configure each light’s mode selection and notify you of any firmware updates. Up to seven lights can be linked and switched on with the press of one button. The range consists of a 500 lumen Core headlight, 50 lumen Kinetic rear and 40 lumen Wearable button. The Kinetic also contains an accelerometer, which allows it to act like a brake light, getting…

£TBC, ceramicspeed.com The original objective was to achieve a 99% efficient drivetrain,’ says CeramicSpeed’s chief technology officer, Jason Smith. ‘Wasted rider energy from frictional losses is a definite limitation in a traditional drivetrain, so why not break with tradition altogether?’ In terms of power transfer, regular drivetrains can be anywhere from 90-97% efficient. Smith says upgrading that system with CeramicSpeed’s existing products – such as its Oversized Pulley Wheel System and UFO chain – can push that up to 98%. Yet to take that next step up to 99%, the company found it was necessary to scrap traditional drivetrain rules and start again from scratch. In place of a chain and derailleurs, the Driven system uses a 21-bearing roller pinion shaft attached to the underside of a raised driveside chainstay,…

Cycling was supposed to be accessible – the sport of the people. It drew people from the mines of France and the fields of Belgium to seek a life of less drudgery Dear Frank Is it me, or has the price of bikes become insane? All the big brands are now asking five figures for their top road models. Can this really be justified or are we being taken for mugs? Anonymous Dear Anonymous It is amazing the speed with which our expectation of, and our acceptance of, the cost of the goods we consume becomes inflated. A case in point is the mobile phone. My stepson is saving his money to buy a $1,000 mobile phone. He is 13. What an absurdity. When the first iPhone came out, it…

The pricetag hints that Giant’s entry-level model is neither the lightest nor most aero of machines, but it has just about everything else you need for a long day in the saddle over a challenging parcours. Giant regulars will recognise the frame’s distinctive shape, with steeply sloping top tube and an awful lot of exposed seatpost. ‘Endurance Shaping Technology’ is what Giant calls it, which sounds like marketing guff, but it does the trick. I’ve ridden Giant Defys for several years now and can vouch for their comfort and compliance. This 2018 model comes equipped with hydraulic disc brakes – great for confident braking but with an associated weight penalty – and a wide ratio cassette that goes up to a 32t sprocket. All of this was appreciated – and…

ivid blue skies, a gentle breeze, golden leaves that conceal grey roads with an ethereal hue... as autumn turns to winter, it warms the soul. That is unless you’re a road cyclist, of course, where the romance is somewhat chilled by falling temperatures. As an active roadie you’re left with three options: (a) face the elements and continue to ride outdoors, (b) turn to the turbo trainer or (c) lock your bike away until the clocks spring forward. Bravely you choose option (a), which in the UK means dealing with temperatures that plummet to a mid-winter average of 3.7°C. Throw in a further windchill drop of 5-8°C, depending on your average speed, and despite your best intentions the conditions either freeze your motivation or, thanks to your bulky bike jacket,…

It might be a universally recognised distance, like three kilometres or ten miles. Or it might be something more personal or arbitrary – to the end of the road and back, or the 19.5km to your parents’ house that you always tell yourself is 20km away. Whatever it is, after a while anyone who rides a bike usually starts testing themselves against a benchmark. We just seem to have this in-built desire to see how we measure up to some sort of set criterion. It’s why Strava is such a success. The Col de la Madone de Gorbio (generally known just as the Madone) is perhaps the ultimate climbing benchmark in cycling. A few people will be furrowing their brows at that and muttering something like ‘Alpe d’Huez’ or ‘Ventoux’,…

TRAVEL Airlines such as Air France and Easyjet have direct flights from the UK to Bastia, though they can be infrequent. Cyclist took the option of flying to Nice, then hiring a car and taking the ferry to Bastia. The crossing takes five to seven hours depending on which ferry company you use. ACCOMMODATION The official race headquarters are located at Camping San Damiano on the beachfront near Bastia ( campingsandamiano.com ). The campsite is the ideal base for doing the BikingMan, and has a range of different accommodation options from tent pitches through to self-contained bungalows. It also has excellent modern amenities and the beach is the perfect setting for post-ride recuperation. THANKS Many thanks to Khaled Khayati and Forever Living Products Middle…

£45.99 each, extrauk.co.uk Very few major tyre brands don’t have a tubeless option these days, and you can now strike Pirelli from that list. While its initial range of clincher tyres were true to the brand’s roots in racy performance, Pirelli has opted for a slightly different tack with its Cinturato tyre. It uses the brand’s ‘SmartNet Silica’ compound for low rolling resistance but combines that with more robust ‘Armour Tech’ nylon and aramid layers for extra protection and durability. Sizes are on trend, with the narrowest width available being 26mm, so the Cinturato looks to be just the ticket for long winter miles. As an aside, rumour has it that Continental – which as yet doesn’t have a tubeless option – has a big product launch coming up very…

€1,399 (approx £1,225), lookcycle.com Pedal-based power meters are the obvious option for anyone who wants to be able to easily swap their power meter between bikes, yet some systems are often fragile and plagued with reliability issues. Look, a brand with 34 years of experience in clipless pedal design, has linked up with SRM, which has 32 years of experience in power meter development, to make a product that attempts to iron out the shortcomings of previous power pedal set-ups. Considering SRM’s knowhow, it’s no surprise that the Exakt claims an accuracy of +/-1.5%. This is despite all the workings being fully integrated into the pedal body and the whole system weighing just 155g per pedal, which is only 20g more than Look’s equivalent regular pedals. Rechargeable lithium batteries support…

Primož Roglič  Age: 29 Nationality: Slovenian Team: LottoNL-Jumbo Honours 2018 4th overall, Tour de France, 1st, Stage 19 1st, Stage 4 and overall, Tour of the Basque Country 1st, Tour de Romandie 1st overall (and Stage 4 and 5), Tour of Slovenia 2017 1st, Stage 17, Tour de France 1st, Volta ao Algarve 2nd, Individual Time-Trial World Championships 2016 1st, Stage 9, Giro d’Italia 1st, National Time-Trial Championships Cyclist: This year’s Tour de France was your first Grand Tour riding for the General Classification, and you finished fourth. A lot of people were surprised, but were you? Primož Roglič: Not at all. The thing is, I never expected too much of myself because if you do then you can become easily disappointed. It was my first attempt at racing…

There’s a lot of gratuitously energetic activity going on in the Gorge de la Méouge this morning. On our right, people are descending a rocky path to a river to swim in one of its many natural pools, while others are crossing the arches of a 500-year-old stone bridge to begin a day’s hiking in the craggy folds of a dark and twisting ravine. Hundreds of metres above us, spread out along the length of a ridge like giant moths waiting for a lightbulb to be switched on, are the colourful canopies and sails of various types of glider as their pilots wait patiently for the thermal currents to rise. Riding our road bikes through this corridor of ivory-coloured limestone seems rather pedestrian in comparison. Emerging from the Gorge the…

Dt might not have been your first bike, but there was this bike you had. It was second hand, a bit too big for you. The tyres were a bit crap but you threw everything you had at upgrading the rear mech, because rear mechs are the most important part of a bicycle. The rear brake cable was frayed and scratched your leg, which took a weirdly long time to stop bleeding. You cleaned it on a Sunday morning with Fairy Liquid. You rode it. You had no worries. OK, I’ll admit that probably isn’t everyone’s experience – I saw one young lad on a very nice Colnago C60 the other day that I suspect never made him bleed and already had full Dura-Ace – but it was my experience…

With 5.5km to go in this year’s Milan-San Remo, Italian cycling fans came alive when their hero, Vincenzo Nibali, attacked on the Poggio to go clear of the field by the tiniest of margins. Could he hold on? In a superhuman display of strength, and with the best sprinters in the world bearing down on him, Nibali won the race by barely enough for him to put his arms in the air. It was the most courageous way to win a Monument. This was the bike that Nibali rode to victory at La Primavera (albeit the rim brake version). With the margin of victory so small, he would have been drawing on every milliwatt of help that Merida’s latest aero race bike could provide him, so I was keen to…

Assos Mille GT Winter jacket (black) £215, Assos Mille GT Ultraz Winter Eisenherz jacket (red) £260, assos.com Assos’s Mille GT collection is best described as where everyday dependable kit meets race-tuned performance. The jackets are made to cope with a broad spectrum of conditions, but they use technical, high-stretch fabrics to keep the fit sleek, stylish and aero. The Mille GT and Mille GT Ultraz jackets are both new to the line-up, with the former designed for winter conditions and the latter for deep winter conditions. Both use Assos’s new in-house fabric Neos, which the company claims is highly breathable, water repellent and fully windproof, while still being soft and stretchy. Different weights of fabric are used in different places – heavier on the front panels for extra protection, and…

£180, sciconbags.com Scicon is best known for its bike bags, so a saddle might seem like a strange addition to its product line-up. However it’s more understandable when you learn that, as part of the ASG Group, it has ASG Bike Science at its disposal, an industry-leading team of medical professionals, sports scientists and bike fitting experts. The short-nosed, cut-out design also has a wide (148mm) seat area and a slightly dipped profile that aims to reduce pressure and increase bloodflow when you’re riding in an aggressive or aerodynamic position. Constructed with a carbon fibre-reinforced polymer shell and carbon rails, the Elan weighs just 199g.…

VFC fighter Conor McGregor is currently licking his wounds after losing his comeback fight with Russian Khabib Nurmagomedov in October. He’s also smarting from the five days of community service he picked up after a bust-up with the Nurmagomedov camp in a Brooklyn car park. The Irishman suffered another loss back in August 2017 after swapping the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s Octagon for the boxing ring to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr, when he was TKO’d in the 10th round. The blow was no doubt softened by the £76 million pay packet he reportedly scooped for the bout. Why is this relevant? Because Conor McGregor is currently riding a custom-made FiftyOne bike as part of his training regime, and it’s virtually the same as this bike here. Ladies and gentleman, in the…

1 APPLE WATCH SERIES 4 From £399, apple.com My wife said it would be impossible to make a car out of spaghetti, but you should have seen her face when I drove pasta. Likewise it was thought impossible to improve upon the Watch, yet somehow Apple has, with the all-new Series 4 chock full of new features including a heart rate monitor, walkie-talkie mode, automatic workout detection and bigger screen and re-designed ceramic body. 2 NAMEDSPORT NUTRITION From £1.50, namedsport.com What’s in a name? Rather a lot if you’re a pub. There’s the Moody Cow (Ross-on-Wye), The Fawcett Inn (Portsmouth), The Legend of Oily Johnnies (Cumbria, sadly now shortened to ‘Oily’s’). And so too if you’re an energy supplements company such as Named, as it’s actually pronounced Na-med, which is…

To download this route, go to cyclist.co.uk/81france. From Salérans head east along the D942 towards the Gorge de la Méouge. After the Gorge, turn left at the crossroads in Châteauneuf de Chabre, then left onto the main road towards Laragne. Just before Laragne, and before the bridge crossing Le Buëch river, take the unmarked road on your left. Follow this to a crossroads, and turn left. Head through Orpierre and Laborel, where the climb to the Col de Perty starts. On the descent, follow signs for Montauban sur-l’Ouvèze and Saint-Auban-sur-l’Ouvèze. Rejoin the D546 towards Mévouillon and turn right for Aulan. Follow this road to Montbrun-les-Bains turn left on the D542 and start the climb to the Col de Macuègne. Turn left at the col and descend to Séderon, then follow…

‘Mother-of-three becomes fastest human being on a bike at 183.9mph’. That’s how The Daily Telegraph announced the news that Denise Mueller-Korenek from San Diego had just smashed the world land speed record for riding a bicycle. No human – man or woman – had ever travelled at a higher speed under their own steam on a bike, so was Mueller-Korenek annoyed that a lot of the media coverage seemed to fixate on her being a mother in her mid-forties? ‘You know, I don’t see that as demeaning in any way,’ she tells Cyclist in the days after her record-breaking ride in September. ‘It’s just part of who I am. It’s a descriptor, just like my name.’ Despite beating the previous record held by Dutchman Fred Rompelberg, who set a speed…

I'm close to empty, both physically and mentally. Every part of my body hurts or aches, but as much as I want to lie down and close my eyes, I have to gather myself for one last effort, one final push to the finish line. The problem is it’s still 150km away. Everything I’ve been through during the past 36 hours will count for nothing if I don’t somehow muster the strength to continue on into the evening. Soon day will give way to night. Darkness will engulf the mountains and again I will be alone with only the voice in my head for company. It’s been just the two of us for the best part of a day and a half now, riding against a backdrop of incredible beauty…

We’ve never had it so good. Recent road bikes launched for 2019 really do feel like they have taken giant strides forward. Disc brakes have revolutionised stopping power, and are no longer a hindrance to aerodynamics and weight. Just look at the likes of the new Specialized S-Works Venge and the Cannondale SystemSix. I’ve tested both bikes recently, and they’re both incredibly fast, light and relatively comfortable to ride – at least as far as super-stiff aero road bikes are concerned. Trek may not be happy with me mentioning two of its biggest rivals in a review of its own new flagship race bike, the Madone, but it’s necessary in order to put it in context. My point is, the Venge and the SystemSix have set the bar very high,…

Shadow Of The Giant Poc Octal helmet, £180 2pure.co.uk Oakley Jawbreaker sunglasses, £175 uk.oakley.com Galibier Sportif jersey, £36 galibier.cc Galibier Echelon base layer, £22 galibier.cc Galibier Campionissimo leather mitts, £25 galibier.cc Galibier Peloton bibshorts, £58 galibier.cc Galibier Classique socks, £7 galibier.cc Sidi Shot shoes, £350 saddleback.co.uk Col de la Madone Specialized Prevail II helmet, £175 specialized.com Oakley Radarlock sunglasses, £195 uk.oakley.com dhb Aeron Lab Raceline jersey, £110 wiggle.co.uk dhb Aeron Lab Raceline bibshorts, £130 wiggle.co.uk dhb Aeron Lab socks, £15 wiggle.co.uk Specialized S-Works 7 shoes, £325 specialized.com Bikes TREK Giro Aether Mips helmet, £259.99 zyrofisher.co.uk Shimano S-Phyre sunglasses, £139.99 madison.co.uk Castelli Cyclist jersey, £75 shop.cyclist.co.uk Castelli Cyclist…