Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2022 i Cyclist

At the time of writing, you can get 21.2 Turkish lira to the pound, when it was around 13 last year – that’s almost double the spending power. Two rakis for the price of one! Compare that to the United States, where the pound is now so weak that you’d need to sell a kidney to buy a bar of Hershey’s (although why anyone would is beyond me – the kidney would taste better). Turkey isn’t the most obvious destination for road cyclists. It doesn’t have the Grand Tour appeal of France, Italy or Spain, and I doubt that the average British cyclist could name any famous Turkish mountains or, for that matter, any famous Turkish cyclists, but Turkey pulls off the double whammy of having some amazing climbs within…

£179.99, chickencyclekit.co.uk First there were holey helmets, designed for coolness. Then came smooth helmets, designed for aerodynamics. Now we have the best of both worlds (see our helmet roundup on p26) and Limar’s new Air Speed helmet, worn by the pros at Astana Qazaqstan, is a prime example. To minimise the helmet’s drag, Limar spent time in the Magny-Cours wind-tunnel in France and the Boardman Performance Centre in Worcestershire to refine the Air Speed’s design for various types of riding and racing. The result is Limar’s most aero helmet to date, featuring 12 vents front and back to channel air straight through and keep the wearer cool but slippery. The Air Speed is also claimed to weigh 250g for a medium, which is the same as its airier Air Pro…

£185, saddleback.co.uk The transition seasons of autumn and spring never fail to pose a clothing conundrum for cyclists. Do you underdress and work hard to generate warmth or overdress and risk sweating too much? And that’s without even considering the occurrence of a disruptive rain shower just when you thought you’d pitched your layering correctly. It’s a minefield. Castelli says it has attempted to solve these wardrobe issues with its new Flight jersey, an adaptable garment the manufacturer says preserves the aerodynamic qualities of more aggressive race day kit. The jersey’s Nano Flex Light fabric is stretchy but wind and water-resistant, and it’s paired with a 3D Mesh fabric lining to promote insulation. The result is a versatile outer layer that, depending on conditions, can be dressed up or down…

I am the proud owner of four bicycles – the acceptable minimum for any civilised human being. All but one of those bikes has round tubes for the main triangle on the frame, and that’s no accident. That’s the way I like it. That’s the way it should be because the round tube is the best tube. Nature has proved it. Take a look at bamboo – Nature’s scaffolding pole – which is round in cross-section. Millions of years of evolution haven’t seen fit to square off the corners or ovalise it to enhance its compliance. And have you seen a pine tree recently? Those things stand solid against the worst that Nature can throw at them, and what shape of tree trunk seems to work best for them?…

Cyclist: This summer was your 20th spent covering the Tour de France. Can you remember that first one? Ned Boulting: I literally had no understanding of the Tour when ITV sent me – the only rider I’d heard of was Lance Armstrong. I remember sitting down with Gary Imlach, who’d been covering it for ten, 15 years, and expressing absolute shock to him that there were teams in the Tour de France. I simply had no idea – I thought it was every rider for themselves, and if Robbie McEwen is the fastest rider in the Tour de France, why doesn’t he win? It was 2003, Lance Armstrong’s fifth victory. He was absolutely at the height of his powers, his celebrity, but what blew me away was his status –…

Ask a sports scientist how caffeine boosts performance and they’ll tell you it lowers perceived effort, making exercise feel easier so you can push harder. Or more specifically, the caffeine found in tea and coffee is a methylxanthine, which binds to receptors that detect adenosine, a compound linked to fatigue. But that’s only part of the story. In a paper published in Medicine & Science In Sports & Exercise, Brazilian researchers subjected a group of ten male cyclists to various time-to-exhaustion tests after ingestion of placebo or caffeine (5mg/kg bodyweight, for context an average espresso is 75mg, a cup of tea 50mg). Muscle activation and blood oxygen was monitored. First, it was found that caffeine worked – time to exhaustion increased by around 14% compared to placebo times. Second, muscle…

How does training in winter differ to the rest of the year? ‘I can give two comparisons,’ says Jason Streather, head coach at PDQ Cycle Coaching (pdqcyclecoaching.co.uk). ‘When a racer gets to the winter, normally they’re quite fatigued from both racing and maximal efforts. They’ll have a steadier build up to winter training. A regular cyclist, however, might not have been doing those high intensity efforts. ‘Both should be doing a little bit more zone 2 – an endurance pace that you can hold for two to three hours. You’ll get out of breath while still being able to talk to the person next to you.’ Jasmijn Muller, endurance cyclist and owner of Be The Egg Cycle Coaching (betheeggcyclecoaching.com), adds, ‘With most of my clients, the volume of training is…

The beatific smile on the face of Biniam Girmay as he crossed the finish line to win at Wevelgem and Jesi were the moments of the cycling year. So much had precipitated those wins, so many difficult times, so many calls to answer the question: how much do you want this? The groundwork was laid back in Eritrea, only it wasn’t just about hitting the right power zones at altitude, riding up 40km ascents past camels and baboons. Every evening Girmay would journey to an internet cafe, upload his TrainingPeaks data and chat over a shaky connection with his coach. Even now, when we meet in a Brussels coffee shop, the suitcase in the corner tells of Girmay’s return from the Canadian embassy in Paris after having to arrange a…

The black and white photograph looks like a scene from a 1960s crime thriller. A group of sombre-faced people huddle in the pouring rain; one of them, a young woman wearing a transparent rain cape, looks lost in thought. Behind her, a young man with the dark, brooding air of a matinée idol is looking at the camera, the faintest hint of a scowl traced across his face. He’s wearing an immaculate suit and tie, forgoing a raincoat for the shelter of an umbrella. Looking at the scene, I realise I’ve stood here myself, like the people in the photograph, to pay my respects. It is where a fallen hero rests beneath a modest headstone on which are inscribed the words, ‘His body ached, his legs grew tired but still…

For the past few years the Trek Madone has been considered among the best aero road bikes at balancing aerodynamic efficiency with comfort. This was thanks to the inclusion of the IsoSpeed decoupler system, which Trek first introduced to the bike in 2015 and which has appeared in various forms on updated Madones ever since. Until now. The latest model has been given an aggressive overhaul to become a claimed 300g lighter and save the rider up to 19 watts at 45kmh compared to the last generation. Trek says this is the fastest bike it has ever made, even though a size 56cm Madone SLR 9 claims a weight of just 7.1kg. To achieve that, Trek has ditched the IsoSpeed and replaced it with a new system called IsoFlow. IsoFlow…

£55, specialized.com Did you know that Specialized’s first ever product was a tyre? It’s true, and the category has remained a well-regarded part of the bike brand’s portfolio ever since. The company recently overhauled its S-Works Turbo tyre range, reformulating its Gripton rubber compound from an entirely new recipe. The result is a range of tyres that claims to be grippier and faster rolling, yet more durable. The 2BR version sits at a sweet spot in the range. It should be tougher than the race-day Turbo Rapid Air variant but retains the benefits of tubeless, unlike the new tube-type Turbo tyre. The Turbo 2BR comes in 26mm, 28mm, 30mm sizes and, crucially, all of them include a tan-wall option.…

£349.99, wahoofitness.com The popular Wahoo Elemnt Roam has been updated with a host of new features that include improved GPS and a brighter display. Wahoo says the new Roam is its most accurate GPS computer yet, featuring better directions when riding off-road, as well as more accurate ride data. Compared to its predecessor the screen is a much brighter 64 colours, while colour-coded Summit Segments climb profiles allow you to see all the climbs on your ride, as well as their profiles, and follow your progress up an ascent. There’s no touchscreen but new convex buttons should be easier to use than the old concave ones, especially when wearing gloves. It also features an expanded 32GB memory.…

In a bid to spice up the 1927 Tour de France, race director Henri Desgrange unveiled the team time-trial format for all flat stages. With teams setting off every 15 minutes, the idea was to encourage the big stars to go for broke on the grounds that they could not see how their rivals were faring. The French Alcyon-Dunlop team proved themselves adept at this newfangled discipline, most notably winning the whopping 285km leg between Les Sables and Bordeaux. And once the race hit the mountains and the riders reverted to starting en masse, it was the team’s Luxembourg star Nicolas Frantz who established a commanding lead with wins in the Pyrenees and Alps. Jacek Berruti believes the bike he picked up for next to nothing in a vintage market…

1 PEATY’S HOLESHOT BIOFIBRE SEALANT £7.99 (120ml), peatys.co.uk Two-thirds of Roger Federer’s name is either an ‘e’ or an ‘r’, and if you removed them all, he’d be Ogfd. It’s not a joke, but makes you think doesn’t it? It’s the same with Peaty’s Holeshot sealant, which is at least some per cent ‘biofibre’ – little bits of stuff that clog to help seal cuts up to 6mm long. That makes you think a bit too. 2 PARK TOOL HBH-3 HANDLEBAR HOLDER £64.99, freewheel.co.uk Some good news! Dolly Parton just rewrote her famous song as ‘11 to 3’ to bolster spirits for our pending Winter of Discontent II. And also good news: if you’ve ever struggled with bars flopping all over the place when you’re trying to do things like…

THE PERFECT GIFT FOR CYCLING ENTHUSIASTS +FREE 16-PIECE GIVE THE PERFECT GIFT THIS CHRISTMAS • Free gift! 16-piece multi tool kit• Free delivery of every issue• Save on the cover price• Exclusive collectable subscriber-only covers ORDER ONLINE TODAY AT bit.ly/cycxp22 OR CALL 020 8752 8195 OR EMAIL hello@metropolis.co.uk QUOTING THE OFFER CODE CYCXP22 Free gift is only valid on a 1-year print gift subscription to new UK customers, one per household and while stocks last. Please allow 28 days for delivery.…

Bikes are getting better. Claims of ‘more aero, stiffer and lighter’ are frequently laughed off as marketing speak but they are, more often than not, true. However, as aero bikes are getting lighter and more comfortable, and lightweight bikes stiffer and more aero, can companies keep upselling separate high-performance bikes? Canyon thinks so, which is why it has just released the fifth generation of the Ultimate. The Ultimate has traditionally been Canyon’s lightweight climber’s bike, but the latest updates see it adopting more features from the company’s aero racer, the Aeroad, which begs the question: why not just buy an Aeroad? The answer, says Canyon, is that the Ultimate isn’t just a climber’s bike, it is a ‘classic road bike’. ‘We had big discussions as to whether we still needed…

Trade-offs are all too common in cycling products at the cutting edge of technology. Want your bike frame to be aero? You’ll need to add some weight. How about adding comfort? You’ll have to sacrifice some stiffness. Those trade-offs aren’t as stark now as they used to be, but they still exist. With the latest aero helmets, however, a case could be made to say that, of all performance cycling products, those design compromises are among the closest to being a thing of the past. Their claimed aero efficiency can now be achieved with little penalty to ventilation, weight or looks, while independent testing frequently shows they are just as safe as more regular designs. Take Giro’s Eclipse Spherical and Specialized’s Evade 3. Both use a dual-layered construction whereby different…

It is Monday 19th July 2010 and the riders of the Tour de France are in the Pyrenees for the race’s 15th stage – 187.5km from Pamiers to Bagnèresde-Luchon. On the menu are the climbs of the Portet-d’Aspet and the Port de Balès, the latter a 19km-long monster that tops out just 21km before the finish. Luxembourg’s Andy Schleck is in great form, riding in yellow and with one stage to his name already after winning in Morzine-Avoriaz eight days ago. The Saxo Bank rider assumed the race lead on the following stage when Cadel Evans, struggling with a fractured elbow, lost significant time on a day that took in the Aravis, Saisies and Madeleine climbs. Schleck has been in yellow ever since, and as he rolls out from Pamiers…

Turkey’s southwest coast is just the kind of place I would come for a holiday. Within a stone’s throw of Dalaman airport are beautiful beaches on the crystal waters of the Aegean, lively resorts bustling with bars, restaurants and nightlife, and sites of ancient historical interest. What I am not expecting to find is some of the hardest riding I’ve ever done. The culprit? A mountain called Kıran. The day before our ride, over a late dinner of tombik kebab on the way from Dalaman airport, my host, Cyclist Turkey editor Erman Öner, tells me it is the toughest climb he has ever ridden. I’m not exactly encouraged by that thought, but I have never met Erman before and, despite having no cause to challenge his credentials, he has more…

The map Colláu Fancuaya Country Spain Principality Asturias Start Villaldín Finish Colláu Fancuaya Roads AS-311, Bo. la Casona, Bo. Tiricueo, Bo. Llovendo, Ctra. Rutapico la Loral A long straight lies in front of you and it gets increasingly steep. Ten turns to 13, which turns to 15, 17 and finally 20% A lpecin-Deceuninck’s Jay Vine was heading for his second Grand Tour stage win in just three days, but the weather was doing its best to overshadow his achievement. Two days earlier, on Stage 6 of the 2022 Vuelta a España, the Australian had soloed to victory atop Pico Jano but it was so foggy and rainy he could barely be seen on the TV images. On Stage 8 he was at it again, arriving alone at the summit finish…

With road-going designs stretching back to the radical 001 and Vis Vires – featured in Cyclist way back in issue 26 – Factor is a brand with strong racing roots, but it was still one of the first names in gravel, releasing the Vista back in 2018. While that could have been dismissed as an ‘all-road’ bike – sitting somewhere between endurance and gravel – Factor’s follow-up, the LS, was unequivocally for riding off-road, albeit with a design that could tackle tarmac with a proficiency befitting Factor’s heritage. The LS was all about being lightweight, having been clearly influenced by Factor’s O2 VAM road bike. Factor’s newest gravel bike, the Ostro Gravel, follows that recipe of inspiration and modification perhaps even more faithfully. It is the off-road cousin of the…

Dom Mason launched the first Definition back in 2015, and it’s testament to the progressive nature of that original bike – one of the industry’s first ‘all-road’ bikes – that little has changed. Tyre clearance is 35mm (32mm with mudguards), there are guard and rack mounting points and an aluminium frame still beats at the bike’s heart. That frame is made from custom drawn tubes by Dedacciai, and although ‘made in Italy’ will be a big tick for romantics it is also much more than this. It has resulted in an exquisitely finished frame with very smooth welds – something aluminium doesn’t readily lend itself to – and one with some inspired design cues. The BB, for example, is BSA threaded for durability but its shell is oversized to afford…

The Turkish Alpe Lazer Genesis Mips helmet, £219.99 freewheel.co.uk Roka SR-1x sunglasses, £180 roka.com Santini Colore Puro jersey, £80 santinisms.co.uk Santini Tono Dinamo bibshorts, £160 santinisms.co.uk Santini Puro Block socks, £15 santinisms.co.uk Fizik Tempo Powerstrap R5 shoes, £139.99 fizik.com Colláu Fancuaya Lazer Vento KinetiCore helmet, £249 lazersport.com SunGod Airas sunglasses, £130 sungod.co Altura Icon jersey, £130 altura.co.uk Altura Endurance bibshorts, £90 altura.co.uk Altura Icon socks, £15 altura.co.uk Fizik Vento Infinito Carbon 2 shoes, £349.99 fizik.com Deep In The Forest p112 Met Trenta helmet, £200 met-helmets.com Oakley Sutro sunglasses, £144 oakley.com Maap Evade Pro Base jersey, £135 maap.cc Maap Team Bib Evo bibshorts, £195 maap.cc Stolen Goat Mikey Coolmax socks, £12 stolengoat.com Rapha Explore shoes, £230 rapha.cc Bikes FACTOR Met Manta Mips helmet, £220 met-helmets.com 100% Speedcraft sunglasses, £169.99 freewheel.co.uk Assos…