Strong winds, lashing rain… it must be Scotland in summer! Day Two of our ride across Britain winds around the Highlands coastline

Words Marcus Leach Photography Gavin Kaps/Osprey Imagery

There’s a storm coming. Any hope that the weather, and in particular the wind, would have changed overnight disappears as I step out of my motorhome into a brisk breeze that is, somewhat depressingly, coming from the direction of the only road out of Scourie. Setting off the sky is blue, but a few kilometres in and heavy clouds have gathered ominously overhead.

Almost immediately the road starts to climb for a short distance before dipping back down, only to rise again, stunting my speed and setting what will be the pattern for the whole morning.

Despite the adverse conditions and undulating terrain I ride with a sense of joy that takes me back to my childhood, an innocent freedom that comes from just being on my bike, wheels rolling and eyes feasting on the world around me.

The road cuts between great slabs of fractured rock before sweeping down to Loch a’ Chàirn Bhàin, where I’m broadsided by crosswinds that threaten to force me off the road.

My presence startles a stag hiding in the dense heather that covers much of the land around me as once again the road rears upwards, revealing the sort of view I’d expect to see on a biscuit tin.

In the foreground is Kylesku Bridge curving gracefully across the loch, its concrete girders plunging down into the waters below.

The horizon is filled with mountains. They’re not the towering spires or jagged behemoths I’ve witnessed in the great ranges of the world; instead their appearance is softer and more rounded, but no less dramatic set among the waters of vast, mysterious lochs.

Once across the bridge my route hugs the water’s edge before abruptly turning right onto a road that appears on the map as little more than a trace.

Other than a sign warning that it’s unsuitable for caravans there’s little indication of what lies ahead, the single-lane quickly disappearing into the folds of the hills. It’s here that the storm hits, leaving me exposed and at the mercy of the elements.

Wet and wild

An unrelenting cascade of raindrops pricks my face, the pain intensifying to such an extent I’m forced to stop riding. I do so out of necessity rather than choice, self-preservation triumphing over my desire to push on and seek shelter from the tempest that has erupted above me.

Torrents of water run back down the road, reflecting a sky full of menacing black clouds. I fumble for my waterproof jacket – not that it will make much difference at this stage.

I’m annoyed I hadn’t stopped to put it on while it was still dry, but still the deluge has done little to dampen my spirits. I feel buoyed by a morning’s riding that has left me questioning why it has taken this long for me to explore Scotland on two wheels.

Great sheets of rain dance in the air, orchestrated by a swirling wind. I tentatively start pedalling again, reasoning that in such weather it’s better to be moving slowly than not at all for fear of a chill setting in.

A dense tunnel of lush foliage covers the road and but for the cool temperatures I could easily be riding somewhere far more tropical. Sporadic gaps in the vegetation provide windows out to sea, where patches of blue sky provide reason for optimism.

Then all of a sudden it stops. The storm and foliage clear in unison to reveal a remote coastline offering captivating views back over to Eddrachillis Bay and a smattering of rugged islands.

Inland the magnificence of Quinag mountain can finally be appreciated – that is when I’m not fighting up short, punchy climbs that regularly register in excess of 20% on my bike computer.

Small corners of sea lochs become visible as the road twists along, placid waters speckled with small wooden fishing boats, the shores tinged an earthy brown by a blanket of seaweed.

The beauty of the scene melts away the pain of riding through the storm and I drift through what increasingly feels like a different world. It’s hard to believe I’m still in the UK.

Lost in the moment, I realise I haven’t eaten since the start of the day. A combination of the storm, almost 1,500m of climbing in my legs and a lack of food have left me feeling weak and in serious need of sustenance.

I have a handful of gels in my back pocket but the very thought of them is enough to make me crave something more substantial.

It is in that moment that the cycling gods manifest themselves in the form of what has to be one of the most remote coffee and cake shops I’ve ever come across.

Rolling through the sparse coastal village of Clachtoll, with its scattering of simple houses, rundown vehicles and bedraggled-looking sheep, I stumble across a vibrant blue shack bearing the legend ‘Flossie’s Beach Store’ that serves as both coffee stop and local shop. Hot coffee and a selection of homemade cakes have never tasted so good.

For a cyclist there are few things more welcome than caffeine, sugar and a tailwind, but to be granted all three simultaneously is as rare as a Grand Tour winner from the nineties being clean.

Apart from the occasional languid sheep, the road leading south is empty, giving rise to the feeling that I have this little corner of the world all to myself. I couldn’t be happier. 

Or perhaps I could

The west coast of Scotland, as I’m rapidly discovering, is a place where every curve in the road seems to reveal a landscape more dramatic and beguiling than the one before.

The waters of Loch Bad a’ Ghaill appear gradually at first until suddenly they flood my view, stretching for miles only to be stopped by two great tablets of rock that rise seemingly vertically out of the water. Above their peaks shafts of sunlight pierce through gunmetal-grey clouds, lending an air of ethereal beauty to the scene.

There are moments where it feels as if I’m floating, carried by favourable winds on immaculate roads, so much so I forget I’m even riding a bike, only to be brought to my senses by the need to pedal with purpose when the road inevitably tilts back upwards. Even these testing inclines can’t wipe the smile from my face.

The illusion that I am the only person privy to this magical landscape is broken by two old VW campervans trundling past me, followed by the emergence of Ullapool on the horizon.

When I arrive at the town, it feels alien to be among people again, although thankfully the detour back into reality doesn’t last long and soon the road tacks to the right, heading into a mass of great whale-backed mountains.

Gone are the short inclines and in their place is a long, gradual ascent into the bosom of mountains whose names and appearance would not be out of place in Tolkien’s Middle-earth. It feels good to settle into a rhythm, methodically working my way higher with the omnipresent cry of the wind for company, safe in the knowledge that there will be a descent to match the climb. 

Sure enough the road eventually falls away, gradually at first and then more aggressively, sweeping through thickets of pine trees as it does so, the bike glued to the road through every turn.

I resist the urge to tap the brakes as my speed rises closer to three figures, the exhilaration of the descent a pure joy after so many kilometres ridden into headwinds. I feel alive, my mind totally free from all thought, my world containing little more than the space around me as I glide effortlessly through the air.

Free from the cover of the trees, the all-too-familiar battle with the wind resumes. Now though, fresh from descending, I feel strong knowing that whatever the last 20km brings the ride is almost done.

In keeping with the rest of the day the final hour involves further inclines better suited to riders half my size, forcing me to swerve my way up at a walking pace.

Two old men in bright yellow waterproofs collect mussels as I pass a small bay, the threat of rain brewing in the distance. I push harder in a bid to finish before I’m caught out but it’s no use, and fat drops of rain begin to splash on the road ahead.

Resigning myself to the fact that I’m going to get wet I slow my pace, embracing the weather for what it is and enjoying the freshness of the water as it washes away the salt and grime of a day that I don’t want to end.

The terrain has been equal parts brutal and bewildering, the elements unforgiving at times, but the memories and joy from riding through such landscapes bountiful.

It seems unbefitting that such a day should conclude on the side of a nondescript road on the outskirts of a remote fishing village, but such is the nature of a ride that covers thousands of kilometres. The end of each stage is based on practicality, and not what the day’s adventures actually deserves.

And so I climb off my bike, shoes soaked through and water running off my beard in rivulets. But I’m still smiling, safe in the knowledge there’s plenty more road ahead. 

Mapping powered by Komoot

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Essential JOGLE kit

No2: Castelli cycle apparel, saddleback.co.uk

I have always opted for practicality above styling when it comes to my cycling kit, and knowing I would be in the saddle for seven hours a day meant that comfort had to be paramount. But when I have a photographer following my every move for two weeks I also have to consider the aesthetics.

Enter Castelli, a brand I’d seen more often than Pret A Manger shops while living in London, but never used.

After more than 100 hours of cycling I’m sold, both in terms of style and most importantly the comfort and quality of the kit. The Free Protect Race bibshorts (£190), complete with double-layer side panels for extra protection, are among the comfiest I’ve worn.

I wrongly thought there would be little to no rain during the trip, what with it being the middle of summer, and I assumed my Castelli Idro 2 jacket (£260) would barely get a look in. It turned out to be my most valuable item and I have never used a better waterproof.

The jacket lived up to its own marketing hype, folding down smaller than a banana and proving to be incredibly waterproof thanks to the Gore ShakeDry fabric.

Thanks

We couldn’t have done it alone

Riding from one end of Britain to the other is a major undertaking, and Cyclist had help from a number of sources.

Firstly, thanks to komoot for help with creating a route that takes in many of the best parts of the country for riding a bike.

As the ride took place during the period just after Covid-19 lockdown, we couldn’t use hotels or B&Bs, so many thanks to Bailey of Bristol (baileyofbristol.co.uk) for the loan of an Autograph 74-4 motorhome, which proved to be an excellent moving base for the trip.

Thanks also to Mercedes (mercedes-benz.co.uk) for the loan of a Marco Polo campervan, as used by our photographer for the duration of the ride.

Good kit choices are vital on a challenge such as this to avoid unneccesary stops, and I couldn’t have asked for better than the Factor O2 Disc bike (factorbikes.co.uk), Castelli clothing (saddleback.co.uk), Giro helmet and shoes (zyrofisher.co.uk), Sungod eyewear (sungod.co), Wahoo Roam bike computer (wahoofitness.com), Garmin Vector 3 Power Pedals (garmin.com) and Supernova lights (supernova-lights.com).

Nutrition was supplied by Named Sport (namedsport.com) and post-ride recovery came courtesy of Reboots (reboots.de). Thanks also to Hutchinson (windwave.co.uk) for the spare tyres and inner tubes in case of blowouts, and to Ribble for the loan of the e-bike, which allowed our photographer to keep up on the hills when the going got too tough for the campervan.

Finally, thanks to my wife and kids, who proved to be the perfect support crew.

Where I live, Rule #5 (‘Harden the f*** up’) is a default setting. As Billy Connolly famously said, Scotland has just two seasons: winter and July (though even July can be wintry). North of the border, layering up with tights, gloves, hat, overshoes and thermal jacket is a regular ritual for up to six months of the year. So you learn to love winter riding. 

Getting out on the bike in winter – as opposed to sessions on the turbo – requires a special mindset.

The hardest part is getting from bed to shed, because knowing you face several hours of being very cold/wet/windswept doesn’t exactly inspire you to spring from the duvet straight into a pair of bibshorts.

Plus you know that when you get home, if you don’t apply brush, degreaser and water straight away, your bike’s expensive components are going to be eaten alive by all the salt, grit and other corrosive gunk you’ve ridden through.

Then there’s the risk factor. It gets dark earlier, so there might be ice out there, and all that windblown debris on the road increases the chances of flats.

But the negatives are easily outweighed by the positives. A Scottish – or British – winter does exactly what it says on the tin, which saves the faffing around over what to wear that you get with the lottery of a ‘summer’ ride. Up here on the east coast of Scotland we often get more hours of sunshine during winter than summer.

That means rural routes are at their most beautiful at this time of year: a panoply of frost-flecked or snow-dappled landscapes glittering beneath a glacial sky; tendrils of smoke from farmhouse chimneys synchonised with my own breath. 

I’m writing this in late November [2015] after the first Arctic snap of the winter. I’ve just done 50 miles in a windchill of minus five. On the downhills, the cold cut through my gloves, sleeves and merino collar like a razor. But by the time I got back home I was glowing.

Last night’s reheated pizza was a triumphal feast. I felt like the King of the World. All you get on the turbo is a puddle of sweat. Nothing can replicate the feeling of conquering, taming, or at least reaching a compromise with the elements.

It’s character-building stuff, not just for riding a bike, but for coping with all life’s little irritations and discomforts. 

I’m relishing the next few months. I’ve already switched to my single-speed, because there are fewer components to clean, replete with mudguards and 35mm tyres, which are perfect for ice, snow and assorted country road debris.

If the forecast is for ice I’ll switch to the flattest route I can find, which isn’t easy here among the undulating glens of Angus, and stick to the roads I know are most likely to have been gritted.

Above all I won’t be afraid to abort the ride completely if I sense the risk outweighs the pleasure. Rule #5 is all very well until a broken arm or worse stops you from riding at all for several months. 

If snow is forecast, however, my inner child takes over. I firmly believe that in an age of power meters and Strava segments, riding through fresh or falling snow is the most fun an adult can have on a bicycle. It’s so simple, and yet so maverick. 

Retired Classics specialist Juan Antonio Flecha used to spend weekends during the winter in the Pyrenees riding his road bike while his girlfriend was snowboarding. 

‘Under falling snow he developed resilience,’ says his former Team Sky teammate, Michael Barry. ‘His tolerance for extremes helped him perform in icy rain and blowing gales, which so often impact the early-season races.’

Two times Tour of Flanders winner and Belgian road race champion Stijn Devolder was another ‘hard man’ who relished winter riding.

Rather than join his Quick-Step teammates at a training camp in Spain, he spent the winter of 2009 riding his local roads in Belgium. ‘It hardens your character,’ he said.

I’m not the only rider up here who enjoys going out during what the Dutch call ‘stronweer’. The president of my local club, Angus Bike Chain CC, is audax rider Alex Pattison, a veteran of 15 Super Randonneur series, two Round the Year series (at least one 200km ride a month for 12 consecutive months) and holder of a Brevet 25,000 Award. 

‘Rule #9, as you know, says if you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass,’ says Pattison. ‘I’d say setting out in bad weather is way more badass than being caught in it when you’re already out.

‘A lot of it isn’t so much the enjoyment at the time – it’s more the satisfaction of having been out in bad weather when it would have been so easy to just stay indoors.

'Like most cyclists, I hardly ever regret going out in bad weather, but I always regret not going out! 

‘Another motivating factor is knowing that it all goes towards putting something in the bank for the spring – that when you get to the first events of the season you’re going to be a lot fitter than you would be if you’d just sat on your arse all winter,’ he adds. 

My love of winter riding is echoed by my stats. While there are no record average speeds or distances, I log more miles between November and April than I do the rest of the year, giving me a springboard for the season.

During the Ride With Brad sportive around his local roads in Lancashire a month after he’d won the Tour de France in 2012, Bradley Wiggins told me: ‘I remember riding these roads in December. That’s when the Tour was won.’

I can’t think of a finer endorsement of winter riding than that.

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Ben Tulett may only be a teenager but he is undoubtedly the next big thing for British cycling. He is a two-time cyclocross Junior World Champion, a teammate of Mathieu van der Poel at Alpecin-Fenix and, aged 19, the youngest rider to finish Liege-Bastogne-Liege since 1909.

Following in the footsteps of fellow young star Tom Pidcock, Tulett is showing a rapid rise towards the top of the sport and ultimately the dream he has harboured since he was five years old, namely winning the Tour de France. He is definitely one to watch.

The Cyclist Magazine Podcast caught up with Ben recently to discuss being teammates with Van der Poel, why racing Liege is like riding in Kent, having a Belgian fan club and his greatest accomplishment – holding the record at his local 10.

Here are some of the highlights:

Cyclist: So Ben, you’re a multiple World Champion and pro rider for Alpecin-Fenix but I know you best for your greatest achievement, holding the Q10/27 Bexley 10-mile time-trial record!

Ben Tulett: I set that back in 2018, it’s such a good 10. Up for five miles and down for five miles. It is so savage especially on the way out, you have to climb all the way up to the roundabout at the five-mile mark.

I really enjoy always giving that a good crack on a Wednesday evening. I mean, it's just so much fun to just go up there every Wednesday and it's such a friendly atmosphere up there.

It's competitive, but everyone's just enjoying themselves. It’s just 20 minutes of sheer pain and agony. And you just know you have to go really hard at the beginning.

I also set that record on junior gearing so was spinning like crazy on the descent to the finish. I think I will need a 55t chainring if I want to go under 21 minutes.

Cyc: But really, we should all be talking about the fact that, aged 19, you became the youngest rider to finish Liege-Bastogne-Liege since Victor Fastre in 1909. How was racing your first-ever Monument?

BT: I think one of the strangest things was looking at that race and seeing that it was 260 kilometres long. What I realised after the race was that 260km is so different to even just 200 kilometres or 210 kilometres, a distance which I'd raced two or three times previously.

That extra 50 or 60km is just a world of difference, especially after already doing 150km in the Ardennes before you hit the really hard final 100 kilometres of the race.

And that final 100km is really where the race is made. La Redoute, Roche-Aux-Faucons, all of the big climbs of the race, they're all literally in the final 50 kilometres of the race so you have to be fresh for hitting those climbs if you want to have a result there.

It's really hard to not think about not reaching the finish and you have to really put that in the back of your mind when there's still 70km to go or whatever.

Luckily, I never had the feeling that I wouldn't have finished – which was quite nice to have but I think it really hit me in that final hour of racing, you really begin to feel just absolutely knackered.

Cyc: You were also racing with at least 25 guys who were old enough to be your dad including Chris Froome and Greg Van Avermaet. Were you starstruck at all?

BT: You couldn't have put it better, I massively had that feeling. I found myself at one point in the race next to Chris Froome and it was just a massive shock to the system.

I felt like I had to pinch myself because you watch these legends of the sport growing up your entire life, and then suddenly, you're on a start line with them. And you're on par with them in the race.

It's a bit of a strange feeling but it was also really cool. I just loved every minute of racing and just took as much as that in as I could and tried to learn as much as well.

Cyc: How much harder is racing at WorldTour level?

BT: Ultimately, the race speed is incredibly high, especially in the final two to three hours of the race, so you really notice the difference in speed because it just gets faster and faster as you approach the finish.

I think that is a big difference between even compared to 2.1 races that are still professional races, the WorldTour events are just raced a lot harder from the gun.

Especially at Fleche Wallonne, for example, as the breakaway had 10 minutes of an advantage at one point so we really had to get a move on in the final 100 kilometres of the race to catch them back and we almost didn't.

Cyc: But you did amazingly at Fleche Wallonne, finishing 35th in what was your first WorldTour race?

BT: Yeah, I went into it not expecting anything and just giving it my best for the team and just seeing what would happen. So as the race unfolded, I found myself near to the front and just gave it a good go on the final ascent of the Mur de Huy.

It is a savage climb, I'm not gonna lie, but I think we actually have a really good sort of simulation of that type of race around where I live in Kent. We have things like Toys Hill, very similar types of hills to the ones that you find in the Ardennes Classics.

We also have York's Hill which has incredibly similar gradients to the Mur de Huy so I think we actually can replicate that type of race really well around where we live here.

Cyc: So what type of rider are you?

BT: My ambition is to ultimately be a GC rider, that has been my goal and dream since I began cycling, to compete in a Grand Tour has always been the biggest dream.

I’d love to target races like Liege but it is the GC, racing those long climbs – that's what I love most about cycling and hopefully, that is where I will make my name for myself.

Being on the Tour de France start line one day is enough of a dream, let alone anything else. But I’ve just got try and be the best rider I can be.

For more, listen to the Ben Tulett podcast below

Cyclist: Girona has become a hub for pro cyclists. Was this part of Spain popular with pros when you first arrived here?

Christian Meier: No, when I first came I was with Garmin-Slipstream as a stagiaire [amateur on a pro team] in 2008. Back then the pros here were mostly Garmin riders as they had the service course here, plus a few other guys like George Hincapie and Michael Barry. We were a dozen riders during the season, but in the winter we were three.

In winter it was a really sleepy town. The cyclotourism hadn’t picked up yet, but then more Anglo-Saxons joined WorldTour teams and they came to Girona because they knew people here.

There was a small community of Americans in Lucca, there were a few people in Nice and Monaco, but eventually Girona blossomed into the place with the most pro riders.

Cyc: You opened businesses in Girona while still being an active pro. How did you mix the business with sport?

CM: We opened La Fabrica cafe in 2015, Espresso Mafia [cafe and roastery] in spring of 2016 and the Service Course bike rental business in the winter of 2016, all while I was still racing.

It was actually great for my riding. The year we opened Fabrica was one of the best years of my career. It just distracted me from bike riding. Professonal athletes are chronic over-analysers – ‘How do I feel today?’, ‘What efforts do I need to do?’ – so I thought about the numbers while I was on the bike, but then I had the cafes to keep my mind occupied for the rest of the day.

The other thing I learned was that advice like ‘don’t stand when you can sit’ was all just a hoax. I would train all day then be on my feet all afternoon in the cafe and it was fine.

Cyc: There seems to be a big overlap in coffee culture and cycling culture – what do you put that down to?

CM: I think there are a few reasons. Part of it is historical – espresso being from Italy. Then another reason is definitely that getting going in the morning is easier with coffee.

Then I’d say it’s something you can become a little obsessed about. When you take an interest in coffee it’s endless what you can learn. Coffee is sort of like wine, but the pro lifestyle isn’t really suited to being interested in wine in the same way.

Coffee is also an important part of the pro training routine – a lot of our riding is actually social. I stopped on almost every ride and had a coffee.

I think companies have got wise to the link too. You can see what Rocket [coffee machines] have done in pro cycling. Basically anyone who wins a bike race will end up with a Rocket machine at home.

Cyc: Where did your fascination with coffee begin?

CM: It probably started when I was 21. I was on a Continental team in Canada and we were racing in Portland near Stumptown Coffee. It’s now a massive business, but back then it was just the one shop.

They had a small roaster in the cafe. The cappuccinos were so sweet, they just tasted chocolatey and the milk was super-dense and the foam had such great texture. I didn’t know coffee could be that good. I was just so blown away. That kind of started it and I got hooked.

In 2012 I bought my first Rocket and it escalated rapidly. I started roasting from home. Then I started roasting for pros living in Girona, because there was nowhere in Girona to buy speciality coffee. Then we opened La Fabrica.

Cyc: You’ve made a name for yourself from roasting coffee beans. What’s special about your process?

CM: This may take a few hours to explain! First we select quality ingredients – you cannot, through roasting, make a poor-quality coffee taste great. Then we roast with a lot of data. To me it’s sort of like training. You can train on feel alone and get pretty strong, but if you want to win the Tour de France you have to use data.

In coffee roasting, you have the old school – the idea that it is an art. I’m a bit more of the belief that coffee roasting is a mix of art and science. We have four temperature probes, so we can map out in real time exactly what’s happening with the roast. That gives us information you wouldn’t have from the colour or the smell of the coffee alone.

The other thing is consistency. If you have a coffee that tastes great, you want to be able to roast that again. So we’ve got all the data from every roast we’ve ever done, so we are able to get the same result each time.

Cyc: Does this attention to detail reflect the approach you had to training?

CM: Generally I looked at my power and my training numbers. I wouldn’t say I was as obsessive as some, but I was pretty into my data. There were a few guys who weighed everything they ate, but give them two months and there would be a big blow out.

I realised it was about balance. My theory was that I prefer to be good all year round, to be consistent and stable in my life and not be a grumpy bastard all the time.

Cyc: What changes did you see in the peloton from when you started to when you finished in pro cycling?

CM: The stress level has really been building. There’s pressure from teams to get results, and this nervous energy snowballs. The teams start riding early – they don’t ride easy for 100km at the start of sprint stages anymore.

You’re also missing those older guys. Guys like Robbie Hunter, who would pull you by the scruff of your neck if you did something stupid in the pack. There’s a little bit less respect now.

When I started the talented young guys still did a couple of years of working before becoming leaders. It gave you the time to understand racing, and made you a more seasoned leader. Now there are a lot more young guys leading teams. At Orica, Caleb Ewan was competing as a world-class sprinter at 21, and you have the Yates brothers who were team leaders at 22. It just brings a different dynamic to the sport.

Cyc: What’s the next step for you?

CM: The big motivator is the challenge. I think one big reason I decided to stop racing was the lack of growth ahead of me. I’d done everything I set out to do, and I could see clearly the next five years ahead of me if I remained a pro, and it was nothing different.

Now I’m aiming to expand the business to more locations, like Italy and France. It’s the same sort of feeling as when I started as a pro. I want to see where we can take it. I’m very motivated to see where the Service Course takes us.

There are people who do travel, people who do custom bikes, and there are people who do clothing, but I don’t think anyone yet has the complete package done really well. I think we can do it. It’s that challenge that keeps me going.

Discover the quiet roads and perfect climbs that make the Spanish city of Girona such a haven for pro riders

Words: Peter StuartPhotography: Juan Trujillo Andrades

In the early-morning light, a group of young women is dancing methodically around in a circle on some nearby stone steps and humming what sounds like a high-pitched sea shanty. I shoot a confused look towards my host, Louise.

‘It’s the Game Of Thrones theme,’ she says with a derisive smile. ‘It’s always Game Of Thrones.’ Many of the HBO series’ scenes were shot in the Old Town of Girona, and a fair number of the tourists who visit the city are here to see the filming locations.

I let out a snort of laughter as we clip in for the start of our ride, but then I wonder if when they gazed down at us, clad in Lycra, they might be thinking the same thing themselves: ‘Cyclists. It’s always cyclists in Girona.’

Look around the cafes in central Girona and you’ll notice an unusually high proportion of muscular, shaved legs, suspicious tanlines and a fair few hipster tattoos. Look a little harder and you might recognise a ProContinental rider here or a Grand Tour podium finisher there.

Girona’s current and past residents include Mark Cavendish, David Millar, Steven Cummings, Tao Geoghegan-Hart, Robert Gesink, the Yates brothers and one Lance Armstrong.

This city in northeast Spain has become one of the preferred hideaways of the pro cyclist, and I’m hoping today’s ride will show me why.

Image 2 of 24

Image 2 of 24

Cycling Mecca

With me is Thérèse, my partner both on the bike and in life in general. For today’s ride we’ve enlisted the help of Louise, who runs tour company EatSleepCycle here in Girona, although she originally hails from the UK.

So far she has downplayed her riding form, insisting she’s some way off peak fitness, but as an ex-racer who spends much of her time riding around the local mountains, I have the suspicion that a little modesty may be at work.

There’s an abundance of routes we could take out of Girona. There’s the 750m climb of Rocacorba, a favourite for most pros in the area and with a Strava leaderboard that sees top professionals bumped to the third or fourth page.

Also within 50km of Girona is the Mare de Déu del Mont, which offers 18km at a 5.4% incline, and if you can keep up with Simon Yates it will take you a few seconds shy of 50 minutes to get to the top. But neither of those climbs is on today’s itinerary.

Instead we have set our sights on the Costa Brava. It’s a fairly daunting 156km loop that heads up the coast before looping back inland, with enough rolling hills to accumulate more than 2,700m of climbing in total.

While I’d normally breathe a sigh of relief at any ride with less than 3,000m of elevation, Louise warns me that the lumps on the coast are steeper than most people realise, and the ride may feel more like a day in the Alps than we expect.

Rolling through Girona’s Old Town, the early-morning sun casts sharp orange patterns across the stone buildings. Wherever we look, other cyclists are also setting off on their rides. It feels as though we’ve stumbled into a cycling-themed model town.

After negotiating Girona’s cobbled streets we’re out of the city and onto the bigger roads. At this time of day they’re eerily quiet, but even at busier times a combination of cycling-friendly road design and courteous driving makes riding here far more pleasant compared to the threatening city roads back home.

An easy warm-up of 25km brings us to the town of Llagostera. With the sun still low in the sky there’s a pleasant morning haze over the surrounding fields, and Louise takes the opportunity to tell us a little about how she found her way from dreary London to the sunny climes of Spain.

‘My partner and I bought seven bikes on a credit card with our friend Brian, and we just started renting them out,’ she says. Today the business has grown to 200 bikes and 14 staff. It’s the sort of escapist dream that so many of my London friends harbour, and it feels almost surreal to meet someone who has made it a reality.

Once through Llagostera, the roads get narrower and hillier. We begin to ride up the first real incline of the day – the Alti de Sant Grau. It’s 8.6km at a modest 5%, but the effort is enough to see our conversation taper down from a vibrant chatter to the bare essentials.

The climb snakes up a forested hillside, and while it’s never quite steep enough to break our consistent cadence I do find myself wishing for an extra gear several times, especially as we approach the 10% summit. When we get to the top, a lean figure that I’m fairly sure is South African cyclist Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio shoots down the incline with the smooth whooshing sound that seems to be created only when pro cyclists’ tyres meet tarmac.

Sant Grau offers a consistent gradient that makes it popular with local riders doing hill reps – Jumbo-Visma’s Robert Gesink has about a dozen of the top 20 times on Strava – but the summit is unremarkable, enclosed as it is by forest. Louise assures us that we will have ample views ahead to make up for it.

Sure enough, as we pass the pretty chapel of Sant Grau d’Ardenya we start to get glimpses of the coast through the gates of sprawling estates. Then we take a corner and are met by the sight of the panoramic road curving ahead of us, and a vista of blue spread out behind it.

The descent down to the Mediterannean is so stunning that I irritate Louise and Thérèse with near-constant stops to take photos on my phone. A series of hairpins tucked into the hillside makes the journey to the beach town below look and feel like a rollercoaster ride.

The coastal mountains are impressively steep and carved into dramatic formations, and it feels as if we could be on the southern tip of Cape Horn overlooking the Pacific Ocean – only with a few more pro cyclists and beach resorts.

We shoot down the descent, taking full advantage of the wide road and open bends to keep our speed high. Once we reach the coast, however, any notions I may have had of a flat run along the shoreline are quickly dispelled. The road undulates in a way that requires repeated strenuous uphill bursts, but the payoff is regular undisturbed views out across the Med.

At the busy town of Sant Feliu de Guixols we spot the small beachfront area of S’Agaro Bay a few kilometres further along and decide it’s time for a quick coffee stop.

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Image 10 of 24

The Wild Coast

The Costa Brava translates literally as ‘the wild coast’, and is so named for its rugged landscape and abundance of forest and wildlife. Today, with a warm breeze whipping up white horses in the sea, the name fits perfectly.

Curiously, despite its reputation as a package holiday destination, before the 1950s the Costa Brava was a stranger to tourism. It was the intervention of the government and the vision of a handful of local entrepreneurs that started the region’s transformation into the holiday mecca we know today.

S’Agaro Bay, where we’re sipping our cups of coffee, is a particular favourite for the rich and famous, Louise explains. Sean Connery, Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro and Lady Gaga have all been known to holiday in this very bay.

Our espressos drained, we decide to set cleats to pedal again. With 60km of undulating coastal road to go before the route turns inland again, we have our work cut out for the next few hours.

Yet despite the steady burn of my quads, the kilometres fly by – as do a few pro riders, clad in immaculate team kit. First we see a group from Israel Cycling Academy (now Israel Start-Up Nation) sweep past on a shallow ascent, pedalling with an effortlessness that only five hours a day in the saddle can bestow; then we spot several EF Education First riders sitting on the beachfront sipping coffees.

The Mediterranean pops in and out of view. One moment we’re on the waterfront, the next we’re shooting through small lanes with our heads down in a paceline, surrounded by orange groves.

Despite her claims of poor fitness, Louise is predictably the natural climber of our group, dancing up the 15% lumps on the coastal hills. Thérèse has a natural proclivity for cruising along the flat sections at close to 40kmh, and I do my best to keep up on both fronts. It’s enough to keep us all healthily competitive, and our legs equally sore.

Further along the coast we skirt around the northern side of the town of Palamos. I’m told Truman Capote spent three summers here, and it was here he wrote his most famous work, In Cold Blood. Why he chose such a cheery spot to pen the tale of four gruesome murders we can’t even begin to imagine.

With the sun having pierced through the cloud and sitting directly above us, and nearly 90km of the ride done, we decide to make a strategic lunch stop. To find a restaurant means diverting slightly from the route, which causes my bike computer to spark into a discordant symphony of high-pitched beeps that accompanies us throughout the roll down to the town of Calella Palafrugell.

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Image 11 of 24

Sun, sea and steep gradients

We stop at a restaurant called Bar 3 Pins overlooking a sunny bay, and feast on calamari and an assortment of other seafood. While we eat we discuss the cyclists we’ve seen today, reflecting that it’s one of the few places where everyone from cyclo-tourists with maps mounted to their top tube through to wannabe pros – and real ones – on five-figure bikes seem to exist in harmony.

After soaking up the final remnants of our meal, it’s tempting to linger and watch the buoys bobbing in the bay for a while, but we agree that we should push on because there’s still the best part of 70km to go.

When we get going it occurs to us that a pause after lunch might have been a good idea, as the climb out of town is one of the most punishing of the day. It’s only 1.5km long but has several hundred metres at around 15%, which proves to be tough work on tired legs and full stomachs.

Louise doesn’t seem to be struggling too much, though, and while she sympathetically complains about her legs, I suspect she is just saying it for our benefit.

There’s ample reward for our efforts, however, because the last few kilometres of the coastal road are possibly the most stunning of all. We pass one cove after another as we roll up and down the jagged rock formations. And when we approach the town of Sa Riera it feels like we’ve ridden into a postcard.

Mediterranean stone pine trees hang over the road, framing views of a deep blue sea. On another day I’d be sorely tempted to descend to the beach and go for a dip, but I decide to save my energy for the Els Angels climb, which is the final challenge of today’s route. At least there is now a mild tailwind.

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Image 18 of 24

To Els and back

From Sa Riera we turn inland, and the next 30km showcases why pro cyclists love Girona so much. Quiet country roads, without a car in sight, stretch out in all directions.

It’s perfect for some steady training miles and in many ways reminds me of an unspoilt Mallorca. We ride three abreast through farmland and tiny villages before stopping in the town of Monells.

It’s spookily immaculate. The medieval streets and buildings of Monells have been preserved with unerring care, the roadsides are lined with potted plants and rustic walls are carefully draped in wisteria and rose bushes. We soak up the surroundings for a while, fill our bottles from the water fountain in the main square and ride on.

The climb of Els Angels (not to be confused with a cockney pronunciation of the well-known motorcycle gang) is possibly the most famous of the entire Girona region.

From a cycling perspective, that’s because it’s long, picturesque and in easy striking distance of the town. In the world of non-cycling it’s famous for a few other reasons, one being that the church at the top of the climb, Santuari dels Àngels, is the spot where the surrealist artist Salvador Dali was married in 1958.

As a climb, it has no figures to cause real concern. From Monells it offers up 10km at a mere 4%, including a short downhill stretch, but the climb proper begins after 4km, from the village of Madremanya.

That’s where it tilts up to a 6% average for the next 5.6km, with a few 12% stings along the way. For the pros, of course, it seems to be little more than a big-ring sprint, and American former pro Levi Leipheimer managed it at a fairly scary 27.3kmh average speed.

For us lesser mortals it’s the type of climb that has us sitting in the saddle and knocking out a healthy cadence at some points, but twisting our frames and praying for an extra gear at others.

With about 2km to go Louise seems to take flight. She stands up and sprints, and in my attempt to keep up I see 25kmh appear on my Garmin screen before she breaks loose and disappears around a sweeping bend to the left.

Once atop Els Angels we take a moment to visit the Santuari dels Àngels. Approaching it, we hear the sound of ferocious barking, and two large Alsatian dogs come into view. Louise and I anxiously discuss options for fleeing, but moments later Thérèse arrives, runs over towards the snarling dogs and is soon rubbing the larger of the two on the belly while the other trots happily around her.

I keep my distance, instead taking the opportunity to soak up the view from the other side of the church, where the sky appears to be brewing up an incredible sunset.

We say goodbye to our new four-legged pals and shoot off down the descent. With the roads empty we’re able to really push our limits, and it proves to be a perfect refresher with which to end the ride.

With a cool breeze on our backs, and chilled from the descent, we glide down into the Old Town feeling reinvigorated. All that remains is to settle down for a drink at Hors Categorie, a cycling-themed restaurant owned by Robert Gesink that’s equipped with a healthy variety of craft beers.

We’ve barely scratched the surface of Girona’s variety of riding, yet today’s ride has felt like half a dozen in one, taking in mountains, rural tracks and coast.

Around us, the tables are filled with cyclists who have come back from similar rides, each with the glow that a day cycling in the mountains bestows. Despite the town’s silver-screen fame, this must surely be Girona’s main attraction.

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Image 21 of 24

Costa Bravo!

Follow Cyclist’s route from Girona to the coast and back

To download this route, visit cyclist.co.uk/97girona. From Girona’s Old Town head south on Carrer de la Rutlla, heading for Fornells. After 5km, turn left onto the GIP-6631 and ride 13km to Caldes de Malavella. Turn left onto the GI-674 to Llagostera. Ride through the town then navigate onto the GIP-6821 towards the coast.

Reaching the coast, head north along the coastal road for 66km until the tiny town of Sa Riera, after which the road begins to head inland on the GIV-6502. Follow the road through Pals, Ullastret, Monells and Madremanya, before ascending the east side of Els Angels, which then descends back into Girona.

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Image 22 of 24

The rider’s ride

Factor O2 Ultegra Di2, £5,999, factorbikes.com

The O2 is the British brand’s all-round endurance racer (the non-disc predecessor to the O2 VAM reviewed on p122) and it couldn’t be more at home on the roads of Girona. In fact, it’s the weapon of choice for Israel Start-Up Nation, the new WorldTour team that includes Irishman Dan Martin, another resident of Girona.

Coming in at 6.6kg for a size 56cm, the O2 is well suited to the inclines of the Catalan coast. The lightweight frame is complemented perfectly by the super-light carbon wheelset from Black Inc, a company that, like Factor, is part-owned by Australian former pro Baden Cooke.

With aero trimmings and a rigid, highly tuned carbon frame, the bike mixes power transfer and comfort very well too, and it goaded me into a sprint whenever a signpost came into sight. For those a little less confident in descending, the disc brake version of the Factor O2 could be a good alternative, but that aside the bike does a fantastic job in all areas.

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Image 12 of 24

How we did it

Travel

We flew direct to Girona, which is serviced by several low-cost airlines such as Ryanair, but there are more options for flights to Barcelona, which has a 38-minute high-speed train connection to Girona. EatSleepCycle (eatsleepcycle.com) offers a very reasonably priced transfer service from either airport.

Bike rental

EatSleepCycle also offers a wide range of bike rental options – road, gravel, mountain, e-bikes and leisure bikes – from Ridley, Factor and Basso. We used a Factor O2, which was an excellent choice. Prices range from £120 to £420 for a seven-day rental.

Accommodation

We stayed at the Hotel Carlemany (hotelcarlemanygirona.com) in central Girona, which was a perfect location for riding out of the city.

Located just outside the Old Town and with quick access to the mountain roads, the hotel is supremely friendly to cyclists, with a dedicated secure bike garage complete with a bike stand, pump and an array of tools for maintenance.

Thanks

Many thanks to the entire team at EatSleepCycle and specifically Louise Laker who made our whole trip possible. EatSleepCycle offers fantastic holiday and training camp packages. The Classic Climbs of Girona tour starts at around £1,170 for six days, with fully supported rides, a stay in a four-star city centre hotel and meals at some of Girona’s best restaurants. Visit eatsleepcycle.com for info.

Thanks also to Jordi and Mònica at Hotel Carlemany for helping with accommodation during our stay.

Christmas is a time of giving and receiving – your stomach receives a year’s worth of cake and chocolate in a week, and you give your bathroom scales an almighty fright when you reintroduce yourselves to them on 2nd January. But we’re not killjoys and we’re not here to preach.

It’s safe to say that goose fat is never going to be declared a superfood and you might as well stuff that second helping of Christmas pudding straight down your bibtights, but how much you indulge is entirely up to you.

In fact there is some good and incredible news. Some of the things you eat at Christmas are good for you, quite possibly in ways you didn’t expect.

‘These foods cover all of the macronutrients – protein, carbohydrate and fats – and a lot of micronutrients from vitamins and minerals as well,’ says Mayur Ranchordas, a reader in nutrition and exercise metabolism at Sheffield Hallam University. So before you plan your online shop…

Turkey

Although it is of course the traditional Christmas dinner, a lot of people have moved away from turkey in recent years and in 2018 UK sales fell by 7% in the 12 weeks to 30th December compared to the previous year. The reason, it seems, is that people don’t want to be eating the leftovers for days/weeks.

‘Which is a shame, because turkey is high in beta-alanine,’ says Ranchordas. ‘This amino acid is something a lot of athletes take in supplement form because it produces carnosine, which helps to reduce the build-up of lactic acid in the muscles during exercise.’

Lactic acid is converted into lactate, which blocks the muscles’ ability to break down glucose for fuel and reduces their ability to contract. This causes fatigue, so anything that limits lactic acid will enhance performance.

‘Just 85g of turkey contains 2g of beta-alanine, and on top of that it’s probably better known that turkey is also a great source of lean protein,’ says Ranchordas.

Chestnuts

Chestnuts are worth roasting on an open fire regardless of whether Jack Frost is nipping at your nose when you head out for a ride over the festive period.

‘Most nuts are low in carbs and high in fat, but chestnuts are super-high in carbs so make for great ride fuel,’ says Rachordas. ‘One hundred grams of chestnuts contains 20g of carbohydrate, whereas most other nuts are around 2g. That quantity of sugar explains why they’re so sweet, and they’re a great addition to your Christmas Day nibbles if you’re planning to ride on Boxing Day.’

Brussel sprouts

These tiny green footballs of goodness tend to divide opinion. A handful of strange folk enjoy them all year round, but the vast majority of us shun them for 364 days of the year before gorging on them – willingly or otherwise – on 25th December.

‘They’re actually really good for you because they contain higher than average amounts of vitamin C and vitamin K, which are good for immune function and bone health respectively,’ says Ranchordas.

‘A strong immune system is particularly important at this time of year, because although the cold won’t give you a cold it can make you more susceptible.’

Strong bones are important on and off the bike for obvious reasons, and vitamin K is also needed for blood clotting, which may come in handy if you either have a scrape on the bike or get a nasty paper cut opening Christmas cards.

Cranberry sauce

The big complaint about turkey is that it can be dry, so two things: firstly, don’t overcook it. Secondly, add plenty of cranberry sauce, the traditional but often overlooked accompaniment to your Christmas bird.

‘Cranberry is rich in polyphenols, micronutrients packed with antioxidants that help to reduce muscle soreness and inflammation after hard exercise,’ says Ranchordas. ‘As an aside, cranberry sauce is also high in sugar, which as with chestnuts is no bad thing if you’re planning a big ride the following day.’

Broccoli

OK, broccoli is known for being healthy – it’s a vegetable, for starters – but it’s not always served up on Christmas Day.

‘I don’t think people realise how good it is,’ says Ranchordas. ‘Broccoli contains a combination of antioxidants that are important for both cycling and health: caretonoids are good for eye health, kaempferol for reducing inflammation, and chrysene, which along with broccoli’s high vitamin C content boosts the immune system. That’s a pretty good triple whammy.’

The extras

A lot of do-gooders at this time of year like to tell you what not to eat or offer silly food swaps. We’re not going to tell you to exchange your pigs-in-blankets for meat substitutes wrapped in wafer-thin ham, but you can make a few healthy additions to your Christmas menu.

‘Many people serve up three courses these days, and soup can make for a really tasty and nutritious starter,’ says Ranchordas. ‘Fill it with veg and you’re hydrating, topping up your electrolytes and getting at least two of your five-a-day before you’ve even got to the main course.’

And while jelly isn’t exactly a traditional Christmas desert, if you don’t like mince pies and can’t face Christmas pudding it’s ideal for cyclists.

‘Jelly is packed full of collagen, which is good for the ligatures and bones,’ says Ranchordas. It’s best to have it before a ride, so if you don’t fancy heading out on Boxing Day you could always go for a ride during the Eastenders Christmas special.

Finally, red wine is the perfect Christmas tipple if you’re going to indulge in a little booze.

‘A lot of advice around alcohol these days is to switch to spirits for the lower calorie count, but that misses two points,’ says Ranchordas. ‘Firstly spirits usually go with a mixer that may contain more calories than other types of alcohol, and secondly red wine contains more of those polyphenols that reduce muscle soreness.’

Two further points: don’t go for a ride if you’ve been drinking, and bear in mind that red wine is better than port. ‘While a glass of port may be traditional it takes longer to ferment, which means the polyphenol content is reduced while the sugar content goes up,’ says Ranchordas.

And, of course, the sugar from port won’t help you on the bike if you’re snoring in front of the telly on Boxing Day.

After seven Grand Tour victories in 11 seasons, Chris Froome will depart Team Ineos for Israel Start-Up Nation

WordsJoe Robinson

After more than a decade of success, Sunday evening saw Team Ineos and Chris Froome part ways as the 2020 Vuelta a Espana came to a conclusion in Madrid.

The seven-time Grand Tour champion rounded off 11 years of service by rolling in 98th on General Classification, collecting his trophy for winning the Vuelta nine years ago and, most significantly, rounding off his incredible comeback from near-career ending injury.

Froome's move to the Israel Start-Up Nation brings an end to one of the most dominant partnerships in cycling’s history with Froome taking seven Grand Tours in 11 seasons: four Tour de France victories, two Vuelta a Espana titles and a Giro d’Italia to round things off.

Below are the 10 defining moments of Chris Froome’s career at Team Sky/Ineos from his breakthrough at the 2011 Vuelta a Espana to his dominance as the greatest Grand Tour rider of his generation.

Chris Froome's top 10 defining moments at Team Ineos

Stage 17, 2011 Vuelta a Espana: The first glimpses of Grand Tour Froome

AG2R-La Mondiale and Garmin-Cervelo. Just two of the teams we now know Team Sky manager Dave Brailsford discussed the services of Froome with prior to the 2011 Vuelta a Espana.

Rolling in 85th overall at the Tour of Poland, it was deemed by Team Sky management that Froome was surplus to requirements after two seasons with the team. His results underwhelming, Brailsford was willing to offload the then 26-year-old.

His last hoorah with the team was going to be as a domestique in the service of Bradley Wiggins at the Vuelta a Espana. That was until Froome pulled out, arguably, the biggest performance of his career.

As Wiggins faltered on the Angliru, Froome was thrust into the limelight as team leader, albeit too late. By the time the team had switched its focus from Wiggins to Froome, the road had run and, despite a maiden stage win to Pena Cabarga, it was unexpected Spaniard Juan Jose Cobo who was crowned champion in Madrid.

Fast forward eight years, however, and Froome was retrospectively awarded the red jersey from this race after original victor Cobo found himself stripped of the title due a retrospective anti-doping violation.

Stage 11, 2012 Tour de France: Froome vs Wiggins

On the face of it, Britain’s first triumph at the Tour de France reads like the perfect story. Poster boy Bradley Wiggins takes yellow as loyal servant Chris Froome is rewarded with second on the final podium in Paris.

Except, it was far from rosy. In fact, those three weeks were riddled with Wiggins’s self-doubt, Froome’s belief he was the stronger rider and Brailsford’s failings to properly manage the situation – instead leaving it to sports director Sean Yates to sort out.

The manifestation of these issues was seen most overtly on Stage 11 of the race to La Toussuire. Froome attacked and Wiggins found himself dropped. Struggling, Wiggins then lost contact with rival Vincenzo Nibali and was fading fast. After being ordered to stop his push by Yates, Froome eventually sat up to rejoin Wiggins and guide him to the top, despite having the legs to go it alone.

That evening, Wiggins had packed his bag to leave the race, his confidence shattered while Froome found himself furious with his role of playing second-fiddle – yet again.

Ultimately, Yates was able to manage the situation sufficiently to ensure Wiggins was supported through to his yellow jersey victory but it was on the slopes to La Toussuire that we were first given a glimpse of Team Sky’s Froome-led future.

Stage 15, 2013 Tour de France: Rubber-stamped first yellow jersey on Ventoux

With Wiggins out of the way, Froome entered the 2013 Tour as outright leader of Team Sky and the standout favourite. In fact, after waltzing to comfortable victories at the Criterium International, Tour de Romandie and Criterium du Dauphine, it felt like it was Froome’s to lose, and so it proved.

After winning the first summit finish of the race to Ax3-Domaines on Stage 8, he cruised into yellow. By Stage 15 to the mythical Mont Ventoux, his lead over the likes of Alberto Contador and Nairo Quintana was comfortable but you could tell he wanted to hammer the final nail into the coffin.

As the race reached the exposed roads towards the climb's summit, Froome launched one of the most unbelievable attacks of his career, shaking off all his rivals, as he rode to a stage victory on one of the Tour’s most iconic climbs and to a maiden Tour victory.

Stage 11, 2016 Tour de France: And now for something a little different…

By 2016, Chris Froome was a two-time Tour de France champion, having guided Team Sky to its third triumph in four years the season previous. This was arguably the British WorldTour team at the peak of its powers, untouchable in the hunt for yellow.

But it was also the point in which certain opinions towards the team and Froome were beginning to turn. Some began to, rightly or wrongly, question their methods while purists chastised the team’s race strategy. While effective, many found the team’s mountain trains and Tour dominance boring.

A fair assessment that I’d be inclined to agree with but let’s not forget that Froome’s methods of victory at the 2016 Tour were rather unconventional.

Firstly, there was Stage 8 to Bagneres-de-Luchon in which Froome took the attack his General Classification rivals on the climb’s descent and then came Stage 11 to Montpellier.

A day for the sprinters, crosswinds in the closing stages began to see splits in the field. Sensing an opportunity, Froome escaped with teammate Geraint Thomas and Tinkoff duo Peter Sagan and Maciej Bodnar in an impromptu breakaway.

Ultimately, Froome only earned a handful of seconds over his main GC rivals but it was proof that he and Team Sky were more than just that much-maligned metronomic mountain train.

Stage 12, 2016 Tour de France: Running up that hill

Who knew Chris Froome was such a big Kate Bush fan? We jest, we jest. Obviously, looking back at Froome running up the side of Mont Ventoux is funny now but when it happened, it was far from it.

High winds at the summit of Mont Ventoux had forced the Tour organisers into a last-minute route alteration, bringing the stage finish 7km down the climb to Chalet Reynard. Trouble was, that meant 7km worth of fans that had originally lined the climb to the weather station were now packed like sardines in the final few kilometres to Chalet Reynard.

The result was carnage when Froome, alongside Bauke Mollema and Richie Porte, found themselves ploughing into the back of a motorcycle that had been brought to a halt by the swarm of spectators in front of it.

While Porte and Mollema managed to remount their bikes and ride on, Froome found himself with a broken bike and no replacement. Rather than just wait for a new one, he decided to do one of the most memorable things ever witnessed in a bike race: he began to run up Mont Ventoux.

Luckily, Froome eventually got a bike, all three escaped without injury and the commissaries awarded the trio of Froome, Porte and Mollema the time gap on their GC rivals at the time of the incident.

December 2017: Chris Froome and the salbutamol saga

The biggest non-racing incident of Chris Froome’s career. On 13th December 2017, it was confirmed that the defending Tour and Vuelta a Espana champion had returned an adverse analytical finding (AAF) for asthma drug salbutamol.

Both the A and B urinary samples returned by Froome showed he had a salbutamol concentration in excess of the 1000–1200ng/mL theraputic threshold. Froome claimed that his asthma had worsened throughout the 2017 Vuelta a Espana and therefore doctors had increased his dosages, albeit under the threshold level.

Compensations for dehydration from WADA brought Froome’s salbutamol level from 2,000 ng/mL to 1,429ng/mL, still 229 ng/mL over the allowed limit which led to a drawn-out case of Froome and Team Sky attempting to prove his innocence.

All the while, fellow pro riders called for Froome to serve a suspension, but ultimately the UCI closed its case into Froome in July 2018 stating that: ‘Mr Froome's sample results do not constitute an AAF’, after he and his team had supplied sufficient evidence to prove this.

Ultimately, Froome’s salbutamol saga was closed without any charges brought but it will remain a part of the rider’s history for the remainder of his career.

Stage 14, 2018 Giro d’Italia: Monte Zoncolan

Languishing 12th on General Classification, it seemed as if Froome's chances of winning the Giro d’Italia were all but over by the time the race reached the insidiously steep gradients of the Monte Zoncolan.

His performances up to this point had been sub-par and the real fight was taking place between Mitchelton-Scott’s Simon Yates and Team Sunweb’s Tom Dumoulin ahead of him.

So when the peloton hit the Zoncolan and Froome struck out for the win, it was quite the surprise as it was the first glimpse of what we knew Froome was capable of throughout the whole race. It also saw Froome punch a man dressed up as an inflatable dinosaur, which was enjoyable.

I guess it proves the point that you should never count out a champion.

Stage 19, 2018 Giro d’Italia: Going for broke on the Colle delle Finestre

This was Chris Froome’s greatest act in a Team Sky jersey, bar none. By Stage 19 of the 2018 Giro, Simon Yates had the Giro practically sewn up. He was 28 seconds ahead of Tom Dumoulin and over three minutes ahead of Froome. He’d also romped to three stage wins and even survived the time-trial.

But Froome and Team Sky had a plan. It involved a kamikaze solo attack from Froome on the mighty Colle delle Finestre gravel mountain, 80km from the finish line and with two further mountains still to race.

It seemed destined to fail, somehow it worked and Froome went from being three minutes adrift at the start of the day to leading the Giro by 40 seconds with just one day left to race. ‘He did a Landis,’ was how Jumbo-Visma’s George Bennett reacted in his Kiwi twang when given the news.

With victory in Rome two days later, Froome managed to complete his collection of Grand Tours, and also at the time was the holder of all three Grand Tour titles, a feat that can only be applauded.

Stage 17, 2018 Tour de France: Passing the baton

So this turned out to be Chris Froome’s final Tour de France with Team Sky/Ineos.

Froome's last ever lap of France saw him finishing on the podium behind a teammate which bookends things nicely, considering what happened six years previous with Wiggins. Unlike 2012 however, Froome was clearly not the stronger rider this time, Thomas was and it showed as much on the road.

The Welshman won two summit finishes in that race and looked comfortable throughout while Froome was clearly carrying the efforts of three consecutive Grand Tour victories in his legs as he began to crack in the final week.

We say crack, he still somehow managed to roll into Paris third on General Classification which is testament to his ability... I guess.

Stage 4, 2019 Criterium du Dauphine: End of an era

It must play on Froome's mind a lot, it would mine. Why did I try to take my hands off the bars? 

This was a crash that could have done more than end a career. Froome, the team and the doctors are quite clear that Froome is lucky to still be alive after he hit a wall after losing control of his time-trial bike on the recon of Stage 4 of the 2019 Criterium du Dauphine.

It's quite incredible that Froome has even been able to return to racing at all when you read the long list of injuries that he sustained on that fateful day in France. So to even muse over his prospects as a potential Grand Tour winner again is simply remarkable.

Admittedly, a lot have completely written off Froome's chances of winning of a fifth Tour. Not least because he is now 35 years old but also because it has been three years since he won a yellow jersey.

But if there is any rider that could complete the comeback and win a record-equalling fifth Tour de France, it is probably Chris Froome.

The island of Evia in Greece offers everything that Mallorca does, but without the crowds

Words: Peter StuartPhotography: David Wren

Legend has it that the Greek god Poseidon called the island of Evia home. In The Iliad, Homer describes the sea god striding across the land in four giant steps, crushing the landscape beneath him.

Looking at the island’s jagged landscape, I can easily imagine it being carved by titans trampling stone and rock beneath their gigantic sandalled feet.

We have an epic day of riding ahead of us, with 4,100m of ascent over 173km. That includes four peaks nearing 1,000m, with the day beginning at sea-level. Not quite the roll alongside white sand beaches I might have expected from a ride in Greece.

As it happens, though, the island of Evia (also called Euboea) is a bit of an undiscovered gem for cyclists. The second-largest island in Greece, just an hour or so north of Athens, it boasts almost the exact same surface area as Mallorca but with a smaller population, slightly warmer temperature and higher mountain peaks.

That makes it a cycling playground hidden in plain sight, and when the team at Greek Cycle Holidays suggested the island to us, we couldn’t work out how we’d never noticed it before.

Now we’re here, the sun is just breaching the horizon and it’s time to begin our odyssey to the mountain of Dirfys and the island’s eastern coast.

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Image 7 of 26

Riding to an empty amphitheatre

Our ride begins in Eretria on the western shores. Just beside our villa sits the ancient theatre of Eretria, which was built around 300BC and was once no doubt a venue for orchestras and public spectacles. There’s no crowd to cheer us on today, though, as we roll towards the sea in the amber dawn light.

Next to the theatre sits the house of mosaics, which from the outside looks like an innocuous white building but which is home to a mosaic floor constructed in 370BC. We’re literally stumbling over ruins here.

By ‘we’ I mean myself and Andreas and Nico, a pair of local riders from the NPO Chalkidas Cycling Club. They’ve been invited to join me on the ride by Steven, our host from Greek Cycle Holidays, who is supporting us in a van. Steven set up his cycling business in Eretria a few years ago after a career as a professional chef in London, and now knows these mountain roads uniquely well.

Andreas and Nico have been frank about today’s ride, describing it as téras – a monster. For many locals this route is a big target for their summer, because an audax follows a very similar course to today’s ride. While audaxes in the UK conjure up thoughts of panniers and sleeping in town halls, here in Greece they’re a little more like a self-supported sportive.

The early start seems to be paying off because we’re treated to a perfect warm-up along the shores of the Aegean Sea. The roads are wide and quiet as we pick our way through a series of small seaside towns. Despite it being 7am the cafes are filled with locals, and we’re tempted to stop for a pick-me-up coffee.

Andreas insists that we ride a little further, though, as the first 35km of the ride are more or less flat, and the town of Triada will be the perfect spot for a caffeine boost before the first big climb.

From the coast we work our way along winding country roads into a wide plain of grasslands, forest and orange groves. Tracking us to our right is the river of Lilas Potamos, although at this point in the autumn it’s little more than a dribble. The rainy season is still a few weeks away.

Through the early-morning haze a ridge of mountains rises up on the horizon, beaming at us like the peaks of an African savanna. The Dirfys mountain looms large ahead of us, casting a sinister shadow over the plains beneath it, and I’m somewhat relieved when Nico and Andreas point us away from them towards the town of Triada instead.

We set ourselves down in a cobbled square in the shadow of a rather grand Orthodox church named the Church of St Spyridon. If this were Mallorca or the Alps I’d expect the town to be filled with cyclists enjoying a similar morning coffee stop like ourselves. As it is, we’re in quite splendid isolation.

At the risk of letting our warmed-up legs chill, we down our espressos and set off for the 815m climb to the top of Dirfys.

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Image 14 of 26

Playground of the gods

Dirfys dominates the centre of Evia. The mountain is affectionately called ‘little Fuji’ on account of its sharp trapezoid form. The summit is named Delfi, not to be confused with the more famous Delphi beside Mount Parnassus. Both, however, literally translate as ‘navel’, the centre of the island.

As we approach the climb we stop only to refill our bottles at a gushing water fountain. The heart of the ascent is an 8.5km section with a gradient of 9%, and once we’re out of the forest we’re treated to a succession of hairpins with expansive views over the west of Evia.

At each corner the panorama improves, although for much of the time I’m staring only at the calves of Andreas and Nico as I try to keep up with them. To compensate, Andreas charitably teaches me my most valuable Greek word of the day: argós. It means ‘slow’.

After 50 minutes we reach the summit, from which we can see the opposite coast. It’s shrouded in mist, which is baffling given the perfect sunshine around us. We take a moment to cruise over to the mountain refuge just off the route to take in one of the best views on the island.

It would be the perfect setting for a cafe, but being such a secluded spot the refuge is little more than a set of wooden beams and a roof.

Steven whips out a thermos and some Greek spinach pies, which I quickly become convinced could be the rear-pocket food of the future.

The mountain peak here was the birthplace of the goddess Hera, so the legends say. In ancient times the mountainside was the site of a sanctuary dedicated to the queen of the gods, where she tied the knot with Zeus.

It strikes me that we’re only 50km in, and with so much climbing ahead of us we can’t spare the time to hunt down some corroborating archaeological relics, much as I’d like to.

We head down the descent, which begins with a stretch through bare, rocky terrain that reminds me of the Stelvio Pass. It means we can sweep across the full width of the road and hit the apex of each corner, nudging speeds of 80kmh along the way.

By the time we return to sea level my heart is racing but we’re all beaming as we begin the next section, which snakes along an undulating road beside the sea cliffs.

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Image 22 of 26

Lost in translation

As we roll along, Andreas and Nico teach me a few more useful cycling terms in Greek. Gigora means fast, although I’m not sure I’ll need that one today.

Parakalo is please, which could be put to good use accompanying argós. And the most important word, they assure me, is malakas, which is to be shouted at car drivers passing too close. Its meaning? Well, you can probably guess.

Language is actually something of a special attraction on the island of Evia. The tiny village of Antia at the most southern point of the island is famous for its unique whistling language, sfyria.

The bird-like vocalisation has been used in these parts for 2,000 years, and can articulate complex conversations over long distances around the village. Today the village has only 37 residents, making it one of the most endangered languages in the world.

In the interest of pursuing some local colour, we head down to the coast to a small cove by the beach. In amongst the rocks, below a canopy of shrubbery, we see a small beach house and outside a shirtless man is crushing grapes.

Andreas and Nico greet him merrily and in moments they’re laughing away like old friends. I half expect him to turn out to be the mayor of Evia, or some other municipal authority figure. That is until he starts handing us moonshine.

It’s a clear, thick liquid that’s so strong even the smell turns me dizzy. I take a feeble sip, purely for show. We don’t stop for too long because our shirtless friend’s tranquility is interrupted by what seems to be a rather vocal phone call.

He quickly finishes his drink, which makes me almost nauseous to consider, before rushing off to his car while shouting down his phone. I exchange looks with Andreas and Nico over whether this man should be driving, but before we can intervene he has sped off in a plume of black exhaust smoke.

We return to the road along the beachfront as the sun teases through the clouds. Quickly we find ourselves on another ascent, and once more I’m sheepishly suggesting ‘argós?’ as Nico and Andreas chat away happily in front of me, seemingly untroubled by the gradient.

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Image 19 of 26

Natural beauty

Lunch is in a small town set discreetly among the mountain peaks. On the other side of the mountain ridge to the south is Steni Dirfis, one of the most stunning sets of switchbacks in Greece.

While we could sample it today, doing so would mean either extending an already lengthy ride by 50km or cutting it short by 50km. The latter would be criminal given the scenery waiting on the coast; even the thought of the former makes my quads and lungs sting in protest.

At the Kivotos cafe in Stropones we tuck into a delicious pasta lunch with a selection of meats and olives, all of which comes to less than the price of a sandwich in a London cafe, before hitting the road once more.

We ride directly onto a punishingly steep 10% ramp that takes us upwards for around 500m before the road swings round and we find ourselves descending towards the coast through a thick forest.

With a long string of tight corners to negotiate I’m nervous about careless drivers heading in the opposite direction, and I get ready to curse them as malakas, but in truth we barely see a car on the whole of the 15km descent.

We bottom out in the town of Koutourla before climbing up a shard of coastal mountain that overlooks Chiliadou Beach. It’s the most famous beach in Evia, upon which a giant boulder separates a clothed segment from a nudist one. Apparently this is one of the most popular nudist beaches in all of Greece, and I’m quite relieved that we’re high enough up that I don’t have to be confronted with unwanted views of intimate body parts.

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Image 10 of 26

Myth and reality

There are a few roads in Europe that go beyond impressive road design and become an almost artistic flourish. The mountain road that overlooks Chiliadou is one of them, and certainly a piece of architecture worthy of comparison with Sa Calobra in Mallorca or Norway’s Atlantic Road.

We follow the road along a ridge of limestone cliff before it folds back on itself in a hairpin curve that acts almost like some gigantic viewing platform for the coast below.

The tarmac itself offers the sort of incline and camber that has us up out of the saddle and in the big ring, trying to eke speed out of the corner.

We can’t help but pull up at the armco for a few minutes and snap some pictures. The mist is beginning to clear and the sun is hitting the low cloud in a way that turns the sky a fiery orange. This is a Greece I never expected to see – moody, challenging and dramatic.

We climb out of the hairpin and continue to the high point of the climb at 612m. The peak has handsome views of its own overlooking the coastal mountains, but after a day of sensory overload we barely make time for a single phone snap. The evening is chasing us too, so we make haste back inland.

After a rapid descent we approach the sting in the tail of our ride, a climb to the town of Manikia. It’s a 6km slog with a few 10% ramps that are torture to my legs this late in the day, but it does have its rewards.

On one perfect hairpin between sheer limestone cliffs I’m reminded of some of the most scenic spots in the Alps and I wonder once again how this spot has never been leapt upon by Strava hunters and club training camps.

Beyond Manikia the climb continues for another 4km and 200m of elevation. One section of 15% has me twisting my frame from side to side, unable to even wheeze my plea of argós to Nico and Andreas.

They’re struggling too, and when we get to the top there’s little in the way of celebration because we know we still have another 2km climb to come shortly after this one.

The mountains around us begin to glow magenta in the late afternoon light, and as we tackle the final climb the mist gathers in the valley below.

Eventually the moment comes when we know that the day’s hard work is finished. From here it’s downhill all the way back to Eretria – and not a moment too soon.

If we had more light, and if I had more energy, I’d savour the descent. The fast sections are almost perfectly complemented by technical and tight corners, but I’m happy to take it easy and by the time we make it back into town we’re welcomed by an empty amphitheatre and the very last dregs of daylight.

We roll down to the same coast that the Argo sailed beside on its mythical homecoming, although in our case in search of a beer rather than a Golden Fleece.

This wasn’t the Greece I expected, and it’s a world away from the beaches of Mykonos and the tourist hotspots. Instead we’ve seen wild landscapes, savage inclines and stunning descents. Greece may have a long history behind it, but for cyclists much of it has yet to be discovered.

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Image 23 of 26

Ride of the gods

Follow Cyclist’s odyssey around the island of Evia

To download this route, visit cyclist.co.uk/99greece. Beginning in Eretria, a town 97km north of Athens, ride along the coast to the town of Vasiliko before heading inland towards the town of Makrykapa. Soon after that you begin the climb to Dirfis, which is followed by a descent to the coast.

Next take the road around to Stropones, then climb southwards out of town until turning back inland through Metochi. Follow this road back to the coast before turning your back on the sea and following the road south through Manikia and Seta. From here it’s downhill back to Eretria.

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Image 24 of 26

The rider’s ride

Ribble Endurance SLR Disc, £6,519, ribblecycles.co.uk

The Endurance SLR Disc was uniquely well suited to the savagely long climbs of Evia. At 7.6kg it’s agreeably light for a disc brake build with deep-section wheels. That weight, coupled with a rigid rear end, meant that every vertical metre of ascent was made with as little wasted energy as possible.

When it came to the descents, the integrated cabling and aerodynamic one-piece bar/stem played two roles. They improved the aerodynamics of the front end, thus increasing speed, but also offered a nice balance of rigidity and comfort so the bike handled immaculately but was still smooth over the rougher surfaces.

As for the Sram Red AXS groupset, wireless shifting is a dream when it comes to travelling and packing a bike bag. Once you’ve had the joy of removing a rear mech and securing it in bubble wrap hassle-free, it’s hard to imagine going back to cables.

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Image 5 of 26

How we did it

Travel

Cyclist flew to Athens International, which is serviced by a wide selection of low cost airlines such as RyanAir and Easyjet. Greek Cycle Holidays (greekcycleholidays.com) arranged a transfer for us to Eretria, which takes about 80 minutes using the ferry from Oropos and is included in the package price. Public transport options to Eretria are scarce, so renting a car is the best option if you’re not using a transfer.

Accommodation

We stayed at Greek Cycle Holidays’ villa in Eretria. The villa comprises four twin rooms that can sleep eight people in total, and boasts an outdoor jacuzzi for some fine apres velo. Steven, a professional chef in the off-season, cooks all meals on site. There’s also a free bar with a trusting self-serve policy at the villa. Packages start from £550 per person for a week, with guided tours and all food and drink included. Visit greekcycleholidays.com for more details.

Thanks

Many thanks to Steven and Peter Frost for organising our accommodation and support, and to Steven for accompanying us on the ride. Thanks also to Andreas and Nikos, who took the time to ride with us, and to local cyclist Myrto Teskos for making us a fantastic post-ride seafood meal at her restaurant Teskos in Nea Artaki.

As Jumbo-Visma’s Primoz Roglic crossed the Stage 18 finish line in Madrid to defend his Vuelta a Espana title, this year’s Grand Tour calendar came to a close.

In a year of uncertainty, in which at some points we weren't sure whether would see any racing at all, the fact that we got to see the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana all play out to their full conclusions is something to be celebrated.

It gives us good hope that when the peloton returns to racing in February, we should be able to see a season which is as close to normal as is realistically possible.

But before we start looking ahead to 2021 and what may happen then, Cyclist has decided to get its geek on with a deep dive back through this year’s three Grand Tours and crunch the numbers to tell you which bike brands got their money’s worth in victories, why Mitchelton-Scott let down Shimano and how disc brakes are slowly taking over.

The fact is, the professional peloton is the billboard by which bike, groupset and kit brands plaster their stuff in the hope that us amateurs will look to emulate our heroes and buy the same equipment. This means it does matter how many stages a particular bike brand can lay claim to or whether rim brakes are still relevant (spoiler – they so are).

So below is a breakdown of which bikes, groupsets and brake type performed best across the three Grand Tours this year.

Best bikes of the bunch

Yet again, American brand Specialized’s sponsorship of winning machines Deceuninck-QuickStep and Bora-Hansgrohe saw it top the best Grand Tour bikes chart.

Victories with both WorldTour teams in all three Grand Tours across the mountains and flatlands indicates a good year for Specialized, however it actually saw its victory count decrease from 14 stages to eight year-on-year, dropping from a 22% win share down to 13%.

It also had to share top spot this year with the Ineos Grenadiers who also romped to eight stage wins, seven of which came at the Giro.

Considering that last year Team Ineos Grenadiers failed to pick up a solitary stage win, the fact they finished 2020 with eight and the Giro overall title means we can safely assume Fausto Pinarello is a happy man.

Third spot was also a shared prize as Bianchi and Colnago both notched up seven wins apiece. Both brands' wins also came courtesy of one team each, Jumbo-Visma and UAE Team Emirates respectively.

Turns out Primoz Roglic and Wout van Aert being two of the most well-rounded riders in the peloton paid off for both Jumbo-Visma and Bianchi, and the bike brand came close to matching its 2019 victory haul of eight wins and also took victory in the Vuelta yet again.

For Colnago, this will be a year to remember. Not only did its bikes take stage wins in all three Grand Tours, but it was also the first time in his 66-year career that Ernesto Colango saw one of his bikes piloted to the Tour’s Maillot Jaune.

1= Specialized (Deceuninck-QuickStep and Bora-Hansgrohe), 8 wins
1= Pinarello (Ineos Grenadiers), 8 wins
3= Bianchi (Jumbo-Visma), 7 wins
3= Colnago (UAE-Team Emirates), 7 wins
5= Cannondale (Education First), 6 wins
5= Lapierre (Groupama-FDJ), 6 wins

Moving parts

Yet again, Japanese giant Shimano proved the dominant force where groupsets are concerned, snapping up no fewer than 48 Grand Tour stage wins in 2020.

An increase on last year’s 42 wins, 2020 saw Shimano claim victory 80% of the time, a 14% increase on 2019.

Those wins came thanks to 13 Shimano-equipped WorldTour teams crossing the finish line first. In fact, that figure meant that only one Shimano-riding top-level team failed to succeed at a Grand Tour this year: Mitchelton-Scott.

Old faithful Campagnolo saw its victory count decrease from 17 to 11 for 2020, or in percentage terms from 26% to 18%. However, like last year, the Italians did manage an overall Grand Tour victory thanks to Tadej Pogacar’s Tour de France heroics.

Languishing in last place in the groupset ranks was Sram, which actually saw its victories half from two in 2019 to just one solitary win in 2020 – thanks be to Marc Soler! Trek-Segafredo’s barren Grand Tour year and Movistar’s tepid season made for a tough year for the American brand, its saving grace being Richie Porte’s Tour podium.

Another point of note is that the Grand Tour stages were shared out by the ‘Big Three’ groupset providers, unlike last year whereby FSA celebrated success thanks to Burgos-BH and Angel Madrazo’s Vuelta efforts.

1 Shimano (Deceuninck-QuickStep, Bora-Hansgrohe, Jumbo-Visma, Astana, AG2R La Mondiale, Team Sunweb, Education First, Ineos Grenadiers, Groupama-FDJ, Israel-Start-Up Nation, Bahrain-McLaren, NTT Pro Cycling, CCC Team), 48 wins
2 Campagnolo (UAE-Team Emirates and Lotto Soudal), 11 wins
3 Sram (Movistar), 1 win

Spinning the discs

If rim brakes are dead, how did they win all three Grand Tours? That’s right, the Tour, Giro and Vuelta were all won by riders racing on rim brake bikes.

Tadej Pogacar’s Colnago V3rs, Tao Geoghegan Hart’s Pinarello Dogma F12 and Primoz Roglic’s Bianchi Oltre XR4 were all fitted with the supposedly archaic braking system which we’d been led to believe by so many was dead.

But in all seriousness, the shift to disc brake-equipped bikes in the professional peloton showed no signs of slowing over the 2020 season.

In 2019, disc brake bikes won just 19 out of 62 Grand Tour stages raced, 32% of the overall total. This year, 34 of the 60 Grand Tour stages raced were won by teams on disc brakes, accounting for 57% of wins. That’s almost double year on year.

And to amplify the disc takeover even further, we can safely predict the disc brake win share to only increase for 2021 as Jumbo-Visma swap from exclusively using rim brakes with Bianchi to riding predominantly discs brake-equipped Cervelos. Bianchi will now provide its bikes to Mitchelton, beginning to supply its new disc-only Speciallissima in the WorldTour.

Yes, it is true that increasingly fewer riders and teams are being given the option of rim brakes – hence the big shift in wins – but it certainly is telling that like for us consumers, the humble rim brake is being squeezed from existence.

Wins with disc brakes: 34 – UAE-Team Emirates, Deceuninck-QuickStep, Bora-Hansgrohe, Lotto Soudal, Astana, Team Sunweb, Education First, Groupama-FDJ, Israel Start-Up Nation. Bahrain-McLaren, NTT Pro Cycling, CCC Team, Movistar.

Wins without disc brakes: 26 – UAE-Team Emirates, Jumbo-Visma, Ineos Grenadiers, Team Sunweb, AG2R La Mondiale, Groupama-FDJ.

There were 62 contested Grand Tour stages in 2019 after Stage 19 of the Tour de France was neutralised and then cancelled. There were 60 contested Grand Tour stages in 2020 as the Vuelta was reduced by three days

It’s the unloved mongrel in the corner, like the faded T-shirt with the unfashionable band name or the brick-sized Nokia at the back of your cupboard. The winter bike is hardly the prettiest in the collection. Compared to your ‘best’ bike, its bulky appendages, clunky components and chunky tyres are more Jonathan Ross than Jimmy Kimmel.

But sometimes reliability and robustness come before slickness and style. The winter bike is a metaphor for life – older, heavier and slower doesn’t necessarily mean obsolete. Dressing sensibly rather than stylishly doesn’t make you dull.

That gleaming electronic groupset might look fancy but let’s see how it stands up to a British winter.

That blade of carbon fibre might as well be a wafer of parmesan for all the good it will do you without mudguard eyelets or generous tyre clearance.

Just as we should show respect to our elders, so we should show our winter bikes some love. Living in Scotland, I ride mine at least six months of the year, usually clocking up more miles than on my ‘best’ bike.

Substance over style

It would appear unloved, abused even. It doesn’t get cleaned as often as my ‘best’ bike, and is shod in all the cheapest componentry, ranging from heavy rims and rickety mudguards to budget-price pedals and clumpy tyres.

I’m not looking for style points, I just want a machine that will allow me to go out in the most brutal weather without having to worry about my expensive groupset and wheels being eaten alive by salt, grit and other grunge.

In the old days, a winter bike would be cannibalised from the leftovers of previous summer bikes, ensuring a no-nonsense, bargain-bin ride.

These days, off-the-peg steel or aluminium bikes sporting basic components can be bought for about the same cost as a posh pair of shoes, or you can splash out a bit more on a ready-made winter bike in the shape of a CX, ‘gravel’ or ‘adventure’ bike.

I actually love my winter bike more than my other bike. If it came to Sophie’s choice, I’d choose my £500 winter hack over my fancy ‘best’ bike every time.

We’ve suffered more together. We’ve slipped on ice (both sustaining only minor scrapes) and been pummelled by hail.

We’ve been out in rain, wind, snow and -10°C. Per cold, soggy, shivery, unpleasant, uncomfortable mile ridden, it has given much better value for money than its pampered cousin.

The parts continue to function, despite being worn, scratched and faded, and on the rare occasion they fail completely, their replacements usually come for free, having been rejected as unworthy for more high-performance machines.

As Team Sky’s performance director Rod Ellingworth once said, ‘I wouldn’t want to spend £5,000 on a push bike, then take it out on the roads with all the salt and everything – it just wrecks it.

‘I would 100% have a different, heavier, proper winter bike with thicker tyres. All those things can be of benefit, increasing the resistance.’

Riding my winter bike feels like I’ve done a proper, honest ride. There have been no concessions to aerodynamics or weight.

I’m doing it old-school, like the pioneers of the Tour de France did on chunky frames of steel. They carried spare tubes around their chest.

I have a 15mm spanner in my back pocket because my axles come with nuts and bolts rather than quick-release levers. It’s easy for us to become obsessed with how lightweight our frames and components should be, but winter makes a mockery of that.

Everything is heavier in winter – the skies we ride under, the air we push through, our bodies bereft of their summer leanness. If you want marginal gains, have one less biscuit or slice of bread after your ride, rather than spend £50 on a carbon bottle cage.

In that context, the heft of my winter bike is a comfort. We will survive these dark few months together – both a few pounds heavier than we should be – and I can take consolation in the knowledge that all that extra energy I’m expending churning through all that dense air is the perfect resistance training.

When I finally switch back to my summer bike – usually the middle of May – it will feel like I’ve swapped a Lada for a Lamborghini.

Author and philosopher Paul Fournel says, ‘The bike always starts with a miracle.’ He’s referring to that moment when, as a child, we suddenly become aware that we’re staying upright without any help from a parent’s guiding hand.

As an adult, that first ride back on your best bike after months of drudgery and despondency on your winter iron produces a similar sensation.

Everything feels faster, freer and lighter. Make the most of it – it only lasts for that one ride of the year.

And here I have a confession to make: I use my winter bike in the summer too. That may be considered heresy by some readers, but I have solid reasons for doing so.

Firstly, a Scottish ‘summer’ isn’t too dissimilar to a Scottish winter.

More importantly, riding my heavier bike up a few local stingers for a week or so before an event means I will feel a massive boost when I climb back on my number one bike.

My winter bike is worth £500, my summer bike several thousand. The incredible lightness of being I get by switching from the former to the latter is, however, priceless.

Let’s imagine that cars are marbles, bicycles are grains of sand and the city is a funnel that is tasked with squeezing as much through its pinchpoint as possible on any given day.

Where there’s space, the grains of sand filter through the marbles, but often at too great a risk of becoming stuck. Sadly, many will never become those fluidly moving grains of sand that decongest the urban environment – and something has to give when it comes to urban mobility.

That’s according to organisations such as the World Health Organisation, World Economic Forum, European Environment Agency and many more.

Amsterdam is Europe’s share cycling capital, but as recently as the 1960s it was like many other cities around the globe, overwhelmed with a trend toward private motoring.

After the Second World War, the trend across Europe was clear: motoring had swallowed up cycling’s dominance of transport. In Amsterdam, activism in the 70s put a marker down, as the citizens reacted strongly to a rising death toll attributed to motoring.

Now, ‘peak car’ has been reached. Don’t just take it from us – even the world’s largest manufacturers of cars recognise the fact. We’ll cover this in more detail elsewhere in this magazine when looking at the future of the e-bike and e-mobility in general.

Birmingham, York and Brighton are all poised to ban private cars from their city centres in the near future in a bid to address the killer pollution problem.

In Europe, the World Economic Forum estimates dirty air is responsible for some 400,000 premature deaths every year. For context, that’s not far short of a third of all deaths attributed to cancer.

Transport accounts for nearly a quarter of Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions, a figure that is even higher in cities. When RideLondon and the London Marathon events close roads in central London it is astonishing to witness the readings of dangerous particulates drop off a cliff edge.

For those lucky enough to be taking advantage, it’s a literal breath of fresh air. For those politicians looking for an answer to health, congestion and pollution woes it is a solution served on a silver platter.

It seems likely that the postwar age of motoring will soon become a chapter in history – and arguably a forgettable one at that. The perfect storm exists for cycling to mirror 1970s Amsterdam and address some very pressing problems for society in the process. 

We’re in business

It won’t be easy – but green shoots are there in abundance. While we must accept that cycling isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, the electric bike brings forth an entirely new experience and one that addresses the vast majority of the most commonly given excuses for not taking to two wheels, in particular for the A to B rider.

Nils Amelinckx of outdoor adventure firm Lyon Equipment believes pedal assistance holds the key to unlocking a generation of commuter cyclists, among other growth areas.

‘It needs to be looked at differently. This is not the same as cycling, this is about e-mobility and it’s a movement. It’s not turning up to your office sweating – it’s looking after the climate by not burning fossil fuels, and it’s getting people off the fence who have recognised that they are not stuck in traffic, they are traffic.’

For those concerned by arriving at the office less fresh than desired, the e-bike’s assistance removes the strain of acceleration efforts off the lights. This means you’re much more likely to be stable and upright before motoring traffic has set off.

‘I’ve sold perhaps 100 bikes while waiting at traffic lights,’ says Ben Jaconelli, owner of London’s electric bike specialist store Fully Charged.

‘People pull up alongside at a red light and take a curious look. By the next set of lights they’re caught up and asking questions, clearly aware that the assistance on offer takes the strain and gets you well ahead of the queuing traffic behind. Even for fitter riders the assistance provided can be a game-changer for arriving fresh and on time.’ 

Going the distance

In the Netherlands more than 50% of cycles sold come now with pedal assistance, a trend that has accelerated quite dramatically.

All indications are that the Dutch, already known for cycling in any weather, view the electric bike as a means to cycle for more transport trips and over longer distances.

A 2018 analysis by the Netherlands Institute for Transport Policy found that of the 23 million bicycles in the country, two million were electric. In a population of only 17 million, that means 8.5% of the population are already choosing to move by e-bike.

Dr Lucas Harms, the study’s co-author, says: ‘We have data that shows that the movement began with elderly people, but is now transitioning quickly to a younger audience.

Most trips are taken recreationally, but increasingly people are opting to utilise the e-bike for the commute too. What’s nice to see is that older people use e-bikes to cycle more often and for longer distances, giving a new lease of life in many cases.

Suddenly, with assistance, people are seeing a commute of 15km as feasible, whereas by pedal power alone they tended to top out at 7.5km. It truly is helping us shift away from a society that is car-dependent.’

More recent data from the Netherlands Travel Survey has concluded that those purchasing electric bikes are choosing them over all other transport forms thereafter, often sticking with the e-bike over a conventional bicycle.

A benefit of this is a tendency to cycle more often and farther. The data indicates that the e-bike is becoming a primary vehicle used for shopping trips, social purposes and cycling to work. 

Mobility for the masses

For those interested in cycling it is all too easy to be drawn in by the best practice example illustrated by the Dutch. Infrastructure plays a significant part in making people feel comfortable on any kind of bicycle.

So too does accessibility, and bike sharing schemes have helped give the masses a taste of how pedal assistance can inspire confidence even where road conditions aren’t ideal.

At its peak, the global bike share business was manufacturing one million hire bikes a month – so high that it actually caused problems for bike makers looking for a slot on Asian production lines.

The image of bike share schemes became somewhat tarnished, as pictures of ‘bike graveyards’’ made headline news around the world. The competition thinned rapidly.

From the ashes of that initial rush to market came something quite remarkable: proof that if you provide the right conditions people will choose to cycle.

Whether it was a perception of safety in numbers or perhaps a normalising of cycling as a mode of transport, where bike share schemes persist, cycling increases its modal share.

Mobike, which launched an electric version of its distinct orange-wheeled share bicycle in selected markets in August 2018, has kept close tabs on its rider data.

The company’s Singapore arm reported shortly after launch that around 75% of its users drove their private cars less and cycled more after discovering dockless bike share.

Half of users reported shunning their personal cars between one and three times a week in favour of bike share, while 30% replaced as many as five trips per week.

Mobike has steadily been withdrawing its British presence, but in its place come the likes of Jump, an electric bike hire scheme now owned and operated by ride-sharing giant Uber.

Even where Uber’s licences have been challenged its Jump Bikes remain and are, for many, their natural first experience of assisted cycling.

In London, between May and October 2019, 800 of the distinctive red electric bikes were ridden by more than 60,000 customers, a global record uptake for the firm, which operates similar schemes in 36 other cities around the world.

Dinika Mahtani, general manager for Jump in London, said: ‘More encouraging is that we’re seeing an average of seven journeys on every Jump bike every day, showing a real demand for electric bikes in the capital.

We’re excited to expand to more neighbourhoods in the coming months and will continue to work with local councils to promote active and environmentally friendly travel.’ 

Far and wide

It is this wider availability for the masses to sling a leg over that holds the key to a change in inner city mobility. Studies consistently show that high modal share cycling areas have a ‘safety in numbers’ effect.

In Cambridge, 57% of adults cycle at least once a week and that goes a long way towards making it more appealing for the less confident.

Tabitha Morrell of Raleigh Bikes suggests that, with an overview of everything from mountain biking to commuter cycling, the most interesting aspect of adding electric bikes to the catalogue has been adding diversity to its customer base.

‘We have taken electric bikes to a broader range of events for people to try. For example, introduction to these cycles at motorhome exhibitions has been interesting to observe.

The knowledge is often very low to begin with, but the curiosity and desire to cycle are high. Where we have been able to provide demos very often couples are keen to buy thereafter; often they will have realised how much easier the cycling experience could become if they are either unfit or ageing.’

Raleigh is based in Nottingham, where hospitals are now using electric bikes to enable consultants to move quickly and efficiently between departments. This, among other developments, is part of an ambition to take the city towards reducing its carbon output to zero by 2028.

‘If that ambition is to be reached, things like electric bikes will have to become a major part of the conversation on transport,’ says Morrell’s colleague Edward Pegram, who oversees the bike giant’s two-wheel portfolio.

‘We are looking closely at electric bikes as part of the transport picture and especially as part of the Cycle to Work salary sacrifice scheme. At present, only around 10% of sales here are electric, but with the lifting of the £1,000 cap [on Cycle to Work] that figure will rapidly grow, maybe towards 30% inside the next three years.’

Forward looking

Global financial consultancy and advisory company Deloitte projects electric bike sales to run at six times those of electric car sales over the coming decade, with as many as 130 million likely to sell in the next three years.

Consumer research group Mintel estimates that around 2.5 million bicycles were sold in the UK during 2018.

And purely on a cost comparison basis, it makes good sense to cut the fuel spend and invest in the electric bike. Depending on both your electricity supply and battery spec, powering up a typical e-bike requires between two and four times the cost of boiling a kettle – just 2.5p.

With those numbers it’s getting safer to say that the inner city roads will soon feature more electric bikes as people re-engage with two-wheeled transport.

Our sister title Cycling Electric took six people of varying ability levels to the South Downs and produced ear-to-ear grins all round

After months of crystal-clear, smog-free blue skies, our much-revised photoshoot was always destined to fall on the weekend where normal service resumed in the UK. The heavens turned grey over the South Downs at almost the exact moment our crew touched the pedals, and the wind whipped and swirled too – but there were no complaints.

After months in lockdown, a little business as usual was met with glee by six riders who had enjoyed only solitary adventures for months; an entire season had passed without human contact.

Our original ambition was to 'bikepack' a four-day jaunt across the Lake District. We had planned meticulously, identifying and cross-referencing Google Earth imagery against Komoot data of popular routes criss-crossing each corner of a diverse landscape.

Our crew had even called in help from the serious expedition experts at countryside.co.uk to advise a plan of action to combat what would have been, back in March, below freezing night-time temperatures on our Great Langdale campsite. A true epic was roadmapped. But then came Covid-19.

On the Wednesday morning we called the campsite to confirm our imminent arrival. By Thursday afternoon the entire plan was a write-off. And so it remained through a sunny April, the driest May on record and deep into June.

Once we had the Government’s approval for six people to meet in a space as small as a garden (albeit distanced), a new plan was quickly devised. This took in the expanse of the South Downs, a space where maintaining separation was entirely possible.

Ups and Downs

If you’ve never visited, the Downs are simply breathtaking. Rory Hitchens, our local trail guide and supplier of our fleet of electric bikes, took us all by surprise with a trail-side geology lesson that’s worth repeating.

The South Downs extend for 260 square miles on a foundation of chalk and clay formed during the Cretaceous Period. A fun fact from Rory: 'The chalk is actually the result of the skeletons of plankton which lived in the sea at the time.'

The striking height and profile of the hills came about following an extended period where the land folded to create a dome-like structure. Erosion subsequently carved a series of channels into that dome, leaving behind rolling valleys with peaks spanning Beachy Head to Winchester.

The sea washing up on the coastline between Worthing to Brighton is visible from the highest points on the southern side, such as Butser Hill, the Downs’ highest peak at 889 feet (271 metres). Perfect terrain, then, for putting some electric mountain and gravel bikes to the test.

Our fleet comes from Upgrade Bikes, a bicycle distributor that began its life designing parts for a youthful mountain bike and dirt jump scene, but has now diversified into power-assisted cycles. Where others piled in, arguably before certain technologies had matured, Upgrade observed from the sidelines for a short while. The reason? Quite simply, the firm’s in-house bike label – Kinesis UK – tends to only bring a product to market when it can truly offer something unique and sought-after.

The inspiration for its debut bike, the Rise, is a wholly British vision. A big believer in the hill conquering efficiency of a well-balanced hardtail, Kinesis held back from production right up until the designers felt a motor and battery could be factored into a chassis without, first, compromising the geometry of the frame (and consequent handling of the bike), and second, overlooking one crucial element when dealing with British soil: mud clearance.

Both the Rise hardtail and gravel-suited Range integrate a hidden bit of tech wizardry courtesy of motor maker Fazua, whose system can clip in and out of the downtube. What’s more, the majority of the system can removed and replaced entirely by a blanking plate for those days where the inner purist is calling for your legs to shoulder the burden of each climb.

For those taking part in the occasional competition, this means any hint of assistance can be verifiably removed before a race and be placed back inside for the ride home, should you superhuman folk out there have the energy.

For our plucky group of triers, energy and experience is highly variable. Among us we have genuine first-timers, a photographer lugging over 15 kilos of camera gear, a rider looking to offset some of the burden created by an underlying health problem, someone who can be considered athletic and a pair of cycling industry veterans who have many years’ experience in the trial (and error) of various electric bike platforms.

We’d also invited a chap called Logan with a photogenic beard and some genuine ability to make our action shots a bit more, well, gnarly.  It is fair to say, then, that this is a broad church of the e-curious, the e-experienced and the e-essential.

Tech point

One of the plus points of Fazua’s motor is the wireless link your bike can have to the device in your pocket. With our group mashing glove-handed on the touch-sensitive power button, we’re told of the ability to fine-tune our preferred output levels on each level of assistance simply by toggling the mobile app. Modern systems such as these can software update on the fly, much like your laptop or phone, so to a degree bikes such as the Rise and Range come futureproofed and customisable to your experience level.

After a short dabble adjusting our preferences and having learned about the push action 'rain mode' too late to save some early confusion, we set off for Sullington Warren, a 24.7 hectare expanse that blends pine forest with sandy inclines. Our guide deems those tricky, root-laced slopes an appropriate test of our group’s enthusiasm for the electric bike.

The Range-riding gravel bikers, meanwhile, set off into the woodland in search of a historic and defunct windmill. Proving something of a glaring design flaw, this old structure ignited because the force of the wind on the Downs was so strong on one fateful night that the friction heated its component parts to incineration.

We’re assured, despite our group’s rapid ascent of this first hill, that the heat problems associated with some e-bike motors of old won’t see the same fate on our bikes.

In fact, so efficient at churning up a steep hill is the Fazua motor that our first-timer, Laura, has ascended and descended twice before Emile’s tripod has been erected to capture the unfolding action. 'There is no way I would take that slope on with my bike at home,' says Laura, having climbed in the region of 80 root-laden metres in the space of only a few minutes.

But does that mean the climb was just, well, too easy on an e-bike? Many people eye e-bikes with a certain suspicion and suggest that they’re akin to cheating. Laura is quick to clear up this common misconception.

'I have to say I was sceptical coming into this,' she says. 'I thought an electric bike would involve next to zero in the way of exercise, but you do have to drive the bike in order to benefit from the help.' All modern e-bikes sold in the UK require human input in order to share motor output.

Just up the hill, Logan is busy showing us just how capable Kinesis’ bike is. Choosing the path less taken, a few small drops and a tucked away ski-slope-style jump begin to see some action. The choice of 29" wheels and knobbly Maxxis tyres give a wide and forgiving diameter on which to iron out small and mid-sized bumps.

X-Fusion’s 130mm front suspension handles the rest, competently absorbing landings for the few in our group confident enough to catch some air.

Once we’re well acquainted with how our bikes handle, the main course is quickly brought up. With a smile, Rory asks: 'Who’s ready for the South Downs?'

Time to climb

Arriving at the base of a long incline near Upper Beeding, which by eye looks to be a least a mile to the summit, we decide to fuel up. There’s no energy gels here, mind, just McCoy’s crisps and some largely overlooked fruit pots.

With the motors having carried us up the early inclines, we have thus far not reached for the serious body fuel stashed in the pockets of our Föhn jackets, which are beginning to show their worth as the wind and rain ramps up.

Where the long incline in front of us would normally instil terror, the group is instead in a jovial mood, more concerned that nearby sheep are after our snacks than the effort ahead of us.

'This is where my worry would be kicking in,' says Nicky, whose interest in the e-bike is enhanced by an often energy-sapping health issue. 'I am hoping my experience will reflect that of the lady I met on the Downs recently. She was taking on these hills in her early 60s and had racked up 1,500 miles in just three months. That’s why I’m here, to see what these machines can really do for my access to this wonderful place.'

With the wind at our backs for the first time all day, we kick off the ascent on the most battery-friendly setting, but with every 10 metres another degree of steepness is added to the hill. The control deck is embedded in the top tube of the Kinesis bikes, and in rain mode it requires a light press to toggle the motor output.

Half of our group stick with suffering for exercise’s sake, while Logan opts to put the power down in turbo, summiting the loose gravel climb in little more than a minute.

It is this ability to choose that makes the electric bike experience so special. If you are out for a significant time then you can easily ramp up the distance covered in a short period, which encourages you to ride harder and further. The net result is often more exercise.

Best of both

On the other side of the coin, if your desire is to get some exercise while maintaining some of the purity of cycling, eco mode will again enable you to ride further, for longer and to see much more.

'There’s really no downside to this,' remarks Logan, whose blind enthusiasm for a tear-up on the climb has inadvertently seen him spray a cow pat up the back of his shorts. He’s led the pack by some margin all day but acknowledges that, while the performance rider stands to have even more fun, it is a real game-changer for beginner confidence.

“This opens up outdoor adventure to many more people, people who may otherwise choose not to cycle,” Logan says. “The view from up here has been so easily obtainable and the assistance this motor gives opens the door for those who would otherwise be forced to walk.

The portrayal of these being like motorbikes is far from the truth – there’s no need for that level of power and the Fazua system proves that. My ascent was steady, stable and enjoyable on a segment that would otherwise have been exhausting. You needn’t be fit, young or fond of cycling to take huge value from this experience.”

For our photographer Emile, there is an immediate understanding why the photographers tasked with covering the professional circuit’s race calendar are all now ascending and descending the mountains on e-bikes.

'If I were undertaking more landscape photography like this, an e-bike would simply have to be part of my arsenal – there’s just no better way to efficiently cover ground like this,' he says. 'Lugging gear has been no issue. The ride has been stable throughout.

'I personally think there is an even greater case for using them as transport. The price remains prohibitive for many people, but it’s all about context – if you’ve a 30 grand car, a few thousand on an e-bike could ultimately end up paying its way when used for those shorter urban journeys.

'When the camera industry, which was also prohibitively expensive to many, introduced leasing, all of a sudden things became a whole lot more accessible. Perhaps that’s worth considering alongside the existing Cycle to Work scheme. These truly are great vehicles.'

Smooth sailing

One unanimously agreed point is that during repeated ascents and descents for Emile’s lens, our group had all forgotten we had motors. The seamless integration into each rider’s cadence was a transition that had got entirely lost in the fun. The rain and wind was now in our faces on the descent, yet we were still smiling.

While the purist mountain biker may argue that it’s not got the soul of a mountain bike, perhaps that’s the point; this is an entirely new experience. It is something more accessible, with greater potential to revive forgotten adventure, and something that has brought a diverse and mostly unskilled group together in a unified enjoyment of outdoor vistas otherwise just out of reach.

Having recorded 32.4 miles on her on-board Garmin, Nicky succinctly sums up the gift that the e-bike represents for her ability to conquer the outdoors.

'For me, the "e" stands for enabler. It’s an enabler bike.'

Our gear

Kinesis Rise

Flying out the door like hotcakes, the Kinesis Rise has been an instant hit in its two formats; the £3,200 SLX build and £3,500 GXE spec. We strongly recommend you seek out a demo bike because Kinesis has created its own sizing based on rider height and reach, meaning you can dial in an almost tailored level of ride comfort.

That makes the Range an equally excellent option for beginner and pro alike. Large 29" wheels, plush X-Fusion suspension and wide knobbly tires pair seamlessly with the Fazua motor, which you should soon find integrates with your own riding style, making for a confidence-inspiring and natural-feeling ride.

Kinesis Range

Building the very same 400W of assistance into an aluminium chassis that’s tweaked for the gravel rider, the Range rolls on WTB Riddler 45c tubeless tyres that are better suited to covering mileage than the aggressive tread seen on the Rise.

The key difference on the range is the switch to a carbon fibre rigid fork that carries luggage mounts. That allows the rider to take a bikepacking trip that extends for as long as the battery holds charge.

Of course, when the 252Wh battery finally runs flat, as with the Rise you’ve the option to remove it entirely, dropping the weight and giving you a feisty pedal-powered gravel bike.

Should you wish to tap into the platform’s versatility, Kinesis has designed the frame to accommodate up to a 50c tyre. 

Sena’s R1 Smart Helmet

While a helmet’s primary purpose is to protect, the advance of smart technology is certainly not limited to the battery in your bike. Sena’s long experience in catering for the motorcycle market has seen the transfer of some very useful and practical technologies into its cycle helmets.

Both a voice command-ready microphone and built-in speakers are integrated into the shell, enabling you to take calls and GPS information relayed from your phone, as well as communicate with other Sena-clad riders in a half-mile range via a group intercom.

This makes Sena’s R1 a seriously compelling option for families out on rides together, or for groups of friends who want to hear what’s on the trail ahead as soon as the first rider takes it on.

Föhn Clothing

Wiggle’s tie-up with Swedish clothing label Föhn has added to the online retailer’s stable a true bargain find. That doesn’t mean they’re cheap, but there’s serious value for money throughout the range.

The selection of garments ranges from the Supercell Waterproof for combating downpours through to various weights of merino baselayers and lightweight hoods that will trap in warmth and wick moisture away from the skin in a flash. Combine a handful of these garments and you are truly set for a long day in the saddle.

Highly lauded by our models for this particular shoot was the Polartec Power Shield Pro Hooded softshell jacket. This proved just the ticket for resistance to rain but with the balanced breathability that meant the wearer could stay zipped up and comfortable even when the tempo picked up.

Some of us will fondly recall a time when enthusiasm for exercise felt just that little bit more attainable. At your peak, perhaps you felt able to spend a day cycling through alpine scenery on nothing but your own steam, banana in the back pocket just in case the fuel powering your fire evaporated at any point.

When heading towards later life, many of us dream of fresher legs. Although you may be enjoying the experience no less, as time ticks on the ghost of your former personal best is several minutes up the road ahead and it is pulling away faster each day.

Over time it becomes less about chasing the King of the Mountains record and more about reaching the summit with enough energy left to squeeze the brake levers on the way back down.

Thankfully the technology now exists to help you reduce the gap on your younger and more energised self. Modern electric bikes are increasingly smart machines and some, with a little help from tiny sensors, even know when you’re getting tired.

If riding in eco mode becomes a slog, it takes just a dab on the dashboard computer to knock the motor’s assistance up a gear or two, keeping your focus on the path ahead or your ride partner’s conversation.

Of course, most of us will have struggled with our local topography at some point, looking on at the conquests of professional cyclists as some sort of superhuman effort. As it turns out, even for some of our most decorated athletes the e-bike has kept the door open to replicate former feats.

Wisdom of stages

Brian Robinson was the first Englishman to finish the Tour de France and the first to win a stage of the famous race. Nowadays, aged 89, you might expect him to have slowed the cadence to a crawl. While he freely admits ‘I’m the oldest in the pack’, he’s by no means necessarily the rider most out of puff.

‘Only when I was laid in a hospital bed would I have considered giving up cycling,’ Brian says. ‘I had a bad accident about ten years ago and cycling thereafter felt like I had a wooden leg. In response to this I sourced an electric motor from a tandem’s front wheel and I put it on my bike for a few years.

‘That was in 2011. I got on with that fine, but somebody gave me an electric bike in 2014 to ride during a tour of France. It was a Haibike and it weighed 30-odd kilos, but it showed me some potential progress and a path forwards for my enthusiasm for cycling.’

The technological advance since 2014 has further enabled Brian to push the tempo. ‘You don’t notice the weight at all, nowadays,’ he says.

For a breakdown of the different types of electric bike and what you should look for when buying, see our guide here.

That might be in part down to his bike of choice, the super-light Ribble Hybrid AL e which, aside from some additional weight where the rear hub motor sits, is astonishingly easy to pick up for an e-bike.

Indeed, it’s not far off in weight from some of the early race bikes Brian rode in his younger days. The ebikemotion hub motor that drives your tailwind represents a stunningly light 3.5kg of the bike’s overall weight.

Fancy learning more about the Ribble Hybrid AL e, check it out here.

Power couples

Keeping up with the peloton, and thus maintaining both exercise and regular socialising with other cyclists, is one motivating factor for those among us with legitimate claims to any former athleticism. But there are many other reasons for choosing electric bikes, including levelling the playing field within a single household.

Bike shops across the UK that were early converts to the electric bike movement frequently report that e-bikes are sold in pairs, often because couples who may or may not have cycled before are drawn in by the appeal of aligning ability.

For them, the draw is not so much exercise but exploration where previously physical barriers might have made a journey by bike less appealing.

For Kelly and Kit Sambridge, cycling has been a summer pastime for many years, but with available time scarce and energy levels largely spent by the time the working week is complete, the electric bike had huge appeal.

‘We both love days out on our bikes when the weather’s nice, especially when there’s a round of refreshments at the end of a cycle,’ says Kelly. ‘For Kit, the appeal of a beer at the end of a cycle has prompted more cycling and running to offset the effects of post-ride calorie replenishment. He’s now running 10km regularly, but we enjoy cycling as a couple much more.

‘Naturally, you do slow down over time – especially with dodgy knees – though we both remain active either side of work. We’ve both come to assisted cycling curious about how it can help us keep the mileage up rather than call it a day when the first wave of tiredness hits.’

The Sambridges soon identified benefits that would re-engage them with cycling and keep them rolling as the years tick on. (You’ll note that they are not by any means an old couple and indeed retain their youthful good looks.

Pandemic restrictions obliged us to photograph fresher legs than we had intended cycling up the sunlit hills of Hertfordshire.)

And though true first-timers, the Sambridges take to our demo e-bikes like ducks to water. ‘It’s just like riding a bike,” Kelly says with a smile. Meanwhile, Kit has found the power button on the top tube and, with light input on the pedals, coasts past Kelly in delight.

‘I could get used to this – that feels much lighter on my knees,’ says Kelly, once she has caught up using a steady cadence along the riverside gravel paths connecting Hertfordshire to London.

‘Though the path gets loose at times, the Ribble bike’s 700 x 35c tyres are making light work of a little off-tarmac adventure when paired with a rear hub motor that delivers 40Nm of torque. Considering the bike tips the scales at just 14.5kg for a medium-sized frame, the power to weight ratio is seriously impressive.

Pedal for pleasure

Within the first ten minutes of their ride a range of emotion is evident. Kelly and Kit have quickly understood the difference between this experience and the cycling they are used to. We soon see the famous ‘e-bike smile’, paired with some laughter. Then there is a thoughtful silence.

‘This could actually be quite useful,’ says Kit. ‘It’s certainly more accessible than running! Those first few kilometres felt much different to our trips on pedal power alone. I feel warmed up and ready to carry on, rather than exhausted having exerted energy getting up to speed alongside Kelly.’

An hour into their ride, with the riverside paths left behind in favour of a jaunt up some sun-baked countryside inclines, we catch up with them again to ask how far they think they’ve ridden.

After some quick estimates of the unfamiliar route and with landmarks just visible on the horizon, the Sambridges guess at eight miles. They’re out by 5.3 miles, according to ride data logged on the Komoot Cycling App loaded on to their devices at the start of the ride.

In little under 55 minutes, Kelly and Kit have covered more than 13 miles side by side on country paths, all the while chatting and feeling entirely comfortable in the saddle. Their average speed is a shade under 15mph, held fairly constant for the duration of the cycle, even as they approached the summit on which we now stand.

‘That’s the furthest we’ve ridden in a few years,’ remarks Kit. ‘I’ll be honest and say a beer would be lovely, but I could carry on for a little while longer too. The motor was so quiet I had actually forgotten it was there for most of that ride.’

‘My legs do still feel like they’ve had a spin though, so there’s definitely a sense that I’ve had a workout,’ adds Kelly. ‘I’ve not felt the usual level of pain in my knees, so I’m quite impressed. A bike like this could easily be in our future. We were asked a handful of times on our ride about the bikes – people didn’t know they were e-bikes on first glance.’

Working together

As the bikes are handed back, we realise that Kelly’s battery level remains high – she has been on the lower level of assistance for the entirety of the ride. It could have been even easier going. But these are rave reviews nonetheless and the sense that an e-bike could be the gateway to a broader range of outdoor enjoyment for the pair is clear.

As the evening sun disappears on the horizon and we reflect on the joy cycling has brought to people during the coronavirus pandemic, Kit has one final thought to share.

‘I have lots of staff working for our business that had been arriving by public transport and we have been looking at alternative ways to mobilise them, particularly those more at risk as they return to work.

‘We had the Cycle to Work scheme on our radar, and this has opened my eyes as to how we could solve the problem facing our business. Traffic is returning to the roads too, so mobilising staff on e-bikes could save us some time in the mornings and improve the health of our team.’

What is the Cycle to Work scheme?

With the cap on the Cycle to Work scheme now lifted by the Government, Kit’s assessment becomes all the more viable. Retailing at £1,899, or £1,999 for the Fully Loaded Edition, Ribble’s Hybrid AL e is now very much accessible with vouchers attached to the main schemes.

Time to take the plunge

For Mike Jackson, who works with Scotland’s largest retail chain Alpine Bikes, the Sambridges’ experience is reminiscent of his own customers’ feedback on the transformative effect and accessibility of an e-bike. He says his customers often ride away with his and hers bikes.

‘People often desire to relive their youth, whether that’s to explore a vinyl record collection of old or to feel the wind breeze past on a bicycle,’ Mike says. ‘We very often see a customer that has a 20-year or more lapse in cycling enter the store having heard about the electric bike.

‘Very often the kids have moved out and they have freedom and time on their hands; it’s very natural to want to revisit the things you enjoyed in earlier life, particularly as a couple.

‘Once we set a customer off on a demo it very quickly becomes apparent that the boundaries of cycling evaporate. It may change who they can ride with in confidence, as well as where they can explore.’

Perhaps not surprisingly, given the current circumstances, Mike also reports a rise in pairs of bikes bought for staycations, often with money that was reserved for overseas travel but is now diverted to domestic adventures.

‘The folding electric bike sells immensely well with those taking caravan trips,’ he says. ‘Where the stronger of the pair buys a bike for their partner, it is very often closely followed by a secondary sale once the fitter of the two is left gasping in the wake of their partner’s assisted ride. It’s a real leveller for age, fitness and enthusiasm.’

Whether you’re a former racer looking to emulate the heroics of youth or a couple enjoying the ability to take on mileage that once seemed a stretch, one thing is certain – the electric bike will reinvigorate your ride.

Of all the myths we hope to bust in Cycling Electric magazine, one stands out: the notion that by riding with assistance you are somehow ‘cheating’. Here we reveal how the electric bicycle is opening exercise up to people who perhaps wouldn’t otherwise cycle – and find out how it’s helping even professionals keep on keeping on

The bicycle industry has long been guilty of focussing most of its marketing spend on fast and athletic imagery that seeks to inspire us to be fitter and quicker and focus above all on personal bests. The emphasis has seemingly been to inspire the masses to shave seconds from a Strava segment that will require the lungs of a Tour de France winner to get near a top ten ranking. For most of us, it’s simply not realistic and probably not the reason why we choose to ride.

A simple fact of life is that fitness, for whatever reason, is not guaranteed. The assumption that we are all cycling for the same reason is likewise flawed. Some of us cycle simply for leisure, for others it may just be a means to capture that perfect mountain summit sunset snap for Instagram.

Quite simply, cycling, assisted or otherwise, is open to everyone and no reason is required. The days of pitching cycling primarily towards the middle-aged man in Lycra are coming to an end.

Electric bikes aren’t quite like other bikes, either. The term ‘leveller’ is often bandied about: while there is arguably no longer a prime buying demographic, many of those purchasing an electric bike will do so in a bid to level the playing field either with their partner, others at their club, or even their own fitness.

One very good reason to buy yourself an electric bike is to stay in shape when the hills seem to get steeper by the day. Better still, it’s a reason for those putting off an exercise regime to bite the bullet and get back in shape with the confidence that when the going gets tough you’ll not be overdoing it. 

Lose your inhibitions

Chris Cherry, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, has been analysing how an electric bike might ease people back into a fitness regime.

‘E-bikes are particularly good at providing the consistent moderate physical activity that doctors recommend because they smooth out the most strenuous ‘vigorous’ physical activity that can inhibit sedentary individuals from taking up cycling in the first place,’ he says, adding that the other evident benefit is that ‘people use them more than other exercise strategies, so they’re very good for meeting doctor-recommended goals.’

For Mike Edwards, whose heart required a stent after he noticed a shortness of breath, experiencing an electric bike could set in motion more regular exercise. When he tried our Ridgeback Electron, the light assistance it offered clearly made an impression.

‘Without a doubt an electric bike could meet the requirements my doctor laid out and I genuinely really enjoyed the exercise,’ Mike says. ‘We were able to socialise on the ride, which was new for me when cycling. I really took something from the added layer of enjoyment – I didn’t need to hold back energy for the chat.

‘Prior to this experience I thought they were somewhat like a moped. However, there is a greater value to riding an electric bike as I could feel that it could make me fitter. It’s the freedom of a moped, but with a health benefit as well. That’s a revelation.’

People with a similar exercise quandary to Mike make take heart from a study by University of Boulder, Colorado, that backs the notion that even light exercise can be hugely beneficial to overall health in the long term. The research, published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, found that cardiovascular health can show a marked improvement after as little as a month of sustained electric bike use. Not only that, but aerobic capacity and blood sugar control improved too.

In the test, 20 subjects were asked to shift their transport habits towards electric bikes for 40 minutes three times a week. With measurements drawn from a heart rate monitor, incorporating the electric bike into their transport routine proved immensely beneficial to the subjects’ health.

Hot on the heals

While the obvious reasons to pick up an electric bike might be fitness-related, they have also proved useful to those carrying injuries that require gentle physical work to nurse them back to a comfortable place.

Dan Bennett, who joined Mike on one of our Ridgeback e-bikes, had been a skateboarder in his youth but in his 40s began to develop a knee issue that made pedal-powered cycling alone strenuous. With a back problem to add to the mix, he found the unisex low-step frame particularly welcome.

‘I damaged my cartilage skating when I was much younger and that’s never really rebounded,’ Dan says. ‘Add to that the sciatica and despite my love for it, cycling has become progressively more difficult. I used to ride my mountain bike every day, often up to 25 miles at a time off-road.’

It took a trip to New Zealand to visit family to re-ignite Dan’s desire to cycle – and not for the reasons you might expect.

‘I was invited during my visit to join my dad and his friends on a ride. I joked with them that they remind me of the old boys on Last of the Summer Wine, but there they are, on e-bikes, looking very casual and taking in the views of each climb we hit. This ride is my first time on an e-bike and I’m just immediately sold. Not having to strain myself leaning over the bars on the climbs is a game-changer for my back and, all of a sudden, my knees don’t have to come up with power that they used to.

'Having that assistance is transformative to my ride and very quickly I’m enjoying the scenery in a relaxed and upright position with the benefit of being able to hold a conversation. It became incredibly social, which even in my youth I would have struggle to chat on ascents.’

Mike and Dan’s experiences are far from unique in e-bike circles. Echoing the University of Boulder trials, a further study in Norway titled ‘Physical activity when riding an electric assist bicycle’ focused on a pool of eight people of varying fitness. Researchers found the subjects, aged 23 to 54, to be demonstrating physical exertion 95% of the time when riding an assisted bike, but without such great strain that they run the risk of overdoing it.

When measuring oxygen consumption of electric bike riders, it found that users were 8.5 times more active over the resting rate. The same test conducted solely with pedal power produced a result not significantly higher – just 10.9 times over the resting rate.

A separate finding discovered that pedal cyclists used, on average, around 58% of their lung capacity over the specified circuit, while electric bike riders used 51%. Both readings were a finer margin than any of the researchers could have forecast.

Mike testifies to the truth of this finding. ‘Most people my age have let age catch up with them and so cycling comes with a feeling of insurmountable effort,’ he tells us. ‘With age comes impatience and I think this assistance could conquer a frustration I often feel with travelling by other means.

'I like the enjoyment that this could bring to exercise. With where the technology is now, I could pair my smartwatch with the computer and have the motor respond to the heart rate numbers I’m advised to hit to regain control of my health in the near term. I am a bad manager of my time, so building achievable exercise into my routine would prevent me being my own worst enemy and ending up in the pub.’ 

Safe journey

Another argument for the electric bike’s benefit comes from replaced motor trips. Dan attests to this having become a reality since his return from New Zealand.

‘I often now leave the truck at home and take my own e-bike for trips into town,’ he says. ‘Taking these extra trips adds energy to my day, whereas before I felt a bit time-sapped by sitting in traffic, finding parking and generally wasting time I now have back. I’ve shed a little weight by having a more active lifestyle and I’m pretty sure it’s these extra trips by bike that’s doing it.’

While academic research and personal experience alike indicate that the electric bike presents a path back to health, let’s conclude by pointing to one more study on the subject that further adds weight to the notion that the electric bike is far from ‘cheating’.

Data provided by a 10,000-strong pool of European electric bike riders discovered that not only were riders of assisted bikes riding more often, but they very often ride significantly longer distances than they otherwise would have.

The paper – published under the informative but unwieldy title ‘Physical activity of electric bicycle users compared to conventional bicycle users and non-cyclists: Insights based on health and transport data from an online survey in seven European cities’ – concludes that ‘e-bike use leads to substantial increases in physical activity in e-bikers switching from private motorised vehicle and public transport, while net losses in physical activity in e-bikers switching from cycling were much less due to increases in overall travel distance.’

So the benefits are clear. Whether it’s your first time cycling in a decade, or part of your daily ritual, choosing to go by electric bike is a wise investment in both your health and your enjoyment of exercise.

Why former Tour stage winner Sean Yates now swears by the electric bike

Depending on your interest in pro cycling, Sean Yates may or may not be a name familiar to you, but to many he is one of British cycling’s greats: a stage winner in the Vuelta a España and Tour de France, just the third British rider to wear the yellow jersey, a victor in the Tour of Belgium and veteran of four pro teams over a 14-year career.

Now Sean is approaching 60 and he’s promoting the electric bike, despite his achievements in the mountains of France.

Now a resident of Valencia, Sean continues unabated with the ‘mentality of a 25-year-old’ towards exercise, but with certain constraints that health problems and a series of crashes have placed upon him. We caught up with him enjoying lunch, overlooking the passing Vuelta a Valencia with his wife.

‘We both got up here by electric bike,’ Sean says. ‘At this stage we are 20 miles in and have had an enjoyable afternoon watching the riders pass by; I’m not sure that would be possible if it were not for our electric bikes.’

While Sean can, and does, still ride a pedal-powered bicycle, health issues that began in his 40s have given him reason to pause and consider his options.

‘I had a number of health scares over the years, starting in 2003, and it’s gradually got worse. On top of that I had a bad accident at the end of 2016 that sidelined me for 18 months. I managed to impale myself on a branch; it nearly killed me. On top of my heart problem I was starting from scratch to regain my fitness, so initially I bought an electric mountain bike to try to transition back to cycling.’

One thing that initially drew Sean to electric bikes wasn’t his experience of cycling, but seeing holidaymakers in Gran Canaria who don’t normally cycle explore summits they’d otherwise have little chance of reaching. It was a lightbulb moment, he says. Immediately he saw that a little assistance could be a huge leveller for those who haven’t cycled for a long time.

‘What’s always attracted me to cycling is the immense freedom you feel in the saddle and I think it’s excellent that a broader range of people now have access to the same things I enjoyed over my career, but within their own physical boundaries,’ he says.

Sean’s own physical boundaries are somewhat incompatible with the topography of his home, which meant that on rides with friends he was admittedly struggling to keep the pace. Now, aboard his Ribble SLe road bike he and his wife are able to maintain the pace in the hills with friends.

‘It’s often quite off-putting to go with somebody fitter than you. If you don’t have an e-bike, hills can put you off the ride altogether. Having an e-bike enables you to accompany someone. Today that’s got my wife and I out into the sun for a lovely ride on the very same terrain the pros are passing through.’

Asked whether he could replicate his performances of old on the electric bike, Sean is optimistic. ‘On level one of assist I could complete a typical Tour de France stage, on level three maybe not. I’m typically set on level two assistance.

'I do have a battery pack fitted that gives extra range and I think that’s an area where these bikes will improve in future. Battery development is still in its infancy to some degree, so in the near future I expect to have space for a water bottle instead of the extra battery.’

Sean’s words of advice to those who want to improve their fitness, or have health issues that prevent them matching earlier achievements, is simple: ‘Try an electric bike. See how you feel. It’s never too late. My motto is always to keep the faith that you can carry on; with an electric bike you most certainly can.’

He concludes: ‘If you are in a situation where you feel that you can’t get out the front gate because of a hill, the electric bike is a means to take that first step. Assisted cycling can be a means to improve your health, lose weight and get to a point where you feel you are well enough to ride a normal bike.

'Who’s to say you might not then go further? It’s got huge potential, but mostly we can tap into a wider audience who thus far have felt unable to cycle – that’s important. So I really would recommend a demo ride to get started.’

Words: Joe Robinson Photography: Peter Stuart and ASO 

Harry Tanfield is having to take a backwards step in his career. After two years riding with cycling’s elite, the 25-year-old will drop down two rungs on the professional ladder from WorldTour team AG2R La Mondiale and join up with the Continental Ribble-Weldtite team for 2021.

Come 2021, AG2R La Mondiale will be known as AG2R Citreon. With the new sparkling sponsor comes a big bump in budget and with that a raft of new signings including Greg Van Avermaet and Bob Jungels. The team is attempting to revolutionise into something different from 2021 and with that has asked 10 of its existing riders to kindly exit stage left.

In September, Yorkshire-born Tanfield learned he was one of those unfortunate riders.

The undeniably talented rider has been trying to ply a trade in the WorldTour for the past two seasons. Aged just 25, his experience of racing with the best has been as colourful as the most experienced of pros' careers.

Halfway through his first year at Katusha-Alpecin – where he described racing as regularly ‘getting my head kicked in’, he was greeted with an email no rider wants to see. It was notice that the team’s sponsors would be withdrawing at the end of the year and that Tanfield would be without a team.

A frantic search began during what Tanfield describes as the ‘toughest period’ in his short yet eventful career. For a while, it looked as if a drop back down the ladder would be necessary until AG2R La Mondiale got in contact, willing to honour the second year of his neo-pro contract.

Things were looking up for Tanfield. A year’s contract with one of WorldTour cycling’s most stable teams and the opportunity to put into practice what he had learned from a year with Katusha. Then Covid-19 hit. Racing was put on pause, uncertainty about the future gripped all of cycling and lightning struck twice for Tanfield.

‘AG2R wrote to me at the start of September giving me formal notice that I wouldn’t be kept on,’ Tanfield told Cyclist.

‘At that point, I’d done like one stage race and a one-day after lockdown and they’d decided to let 10 guys go. The budget is going up with Citreon coming on board and the team’s going after different riders who have proven some stuff in Classics, things that my record doesn’t have.

‘The budget has gone up so they want to spend that money on new riders and get rid of guys like me, a neo-pro, to go get riders like Van Avermaet and the domestiques who come with guys like that,’ he explained.

What AG2R did was just business. It’s a team going through a restructuring process and there was no place for Tanfield going forward. That does not stop it from being a rough deal for the individual, though.

After all, this was a unique season in which Covid-19 blurred the lines as to what usually happens in the transfer market. The uncertainty of teams' futures created less buoyancy and the usual merry-go-round of signings remained reserved for only the biggest teams and most notable of riders.

‘A few teams, like Mitchelton-Scott, told me they were keeping with riders that they have for 2021 due to the circumstances whereas AG2R decided to get rid of a load of its team,’ wryly joked Tanfield.

‘I looked around for a WorldTour deal for a month, maybe, and then I realised I needed to look elsewhere. There was a lot of uncertainty from teams unsure about their positioning next year, teams trying to just survive and I realised there really wasn’t any room anywhere.’

Luckily, Tanfield is a talented rider who has proved his worth and has always been smart enough to keep other options constantly open.

Regular contact with Jack Rees, team manager of Ribble-Weldtite, led to Tanfield eventually fielding questions about a ride for 2021. As it became increasingly obvious that a step down would be necessary to continue riding next season, the approach was made.

‘I had a few offers on the table alongside Ribble. I could have gone to Europe to race, I could have even gone to Asia to race at Continental level but I picked Ribble because I know what I’m getting in terms of race plan and opportunities,’ explained Tanfield.

‘I asked Rees to see if he could talk to the sponsors and whether they could sort out an offer for me, which they did. Really, money isn’t a factor for me currently, I want a chance to step back up to that top level and Ribble can offer me the programme for that.’

For Ribble-Weldtite, this is a big coup. The acquisition of a rider with two years of WorldTour experience, a proven track record of winning at Continental level – he is the team’s best chance of a big victory in 2021.

Tanfield will be given the freedom to race a 2021 programme tailored to his abilities. No longer will he be acting domestique for small French climbers, he will be given the chance to race aggressively and for victory, as he did in 2018 when he first caught the attention of the WorldTour.

In return, he will be a rider who will be able to give a lot back to the team having taken on a wealth of knowledge in his two-year WorldTour stint. From the big things such as learning how to build the body's aerobic capacity to the small things like packing a suitcase more efficiently, it will all be passed on. Not least, too, the experiences of racing a Grand Tour.

‘I learned more in the three weeks of the Vuelta a Espana than I had in the previous two years of WorldTour riding,’ said Tanfield.

‘What I managed to do at the Vuelta proved to me I could manage the biggest races. Riding day in, day out at the level of a one-day race over here in the UK but backing it up for two, three weeks consecutively, learning what your body can and cannot do. Being able to look after myself in the bunch, protect teammates, you cannot regret that experience.’

When Tanfield returns to the British racing scene, however, it will be a shadow of what he left behind in 2018. Riding for Canyon-Eisberg two years ago, Tanfield was in a thriving British Continental-level circuit consisting of six teams: Canyon-Eisberg, JLT Condor, Madison Genesis, One Pro Cycling, Team Wiggins and Vitus Pro Cycling.

Next year, the only confirmed Continental British team will be Ribble-Weldtite, an issue Tanfield is acutely aware of.

‘The scene is terrible, yeah. I know there are plans to resurrect the UK scene but it needs help getting off the ground. It’s all about money, teams are struggling to attract the money needed to run a good team that can return on its investment,’ said Tanfield.

‘Jack does that very well with Ribble, they engage with the sponsors and treat them like the fundamental part of the team that they are, making sure they get the payback in exposure. I think it’s fundamental in times like these. Everything is monetised, everything is accountable and you need to see the return in investment.

‘Gone are the days when you can go to a brand and demand money to run a bike team. They want to see the return. Ribble has seen growth from their support of the team.’

For now, however, Tanfield will take the chance to regroup over the winter, enjoy being back in North Yorkshire and making the most of his £40 Aldi pizza oven before taking a charge at some pretty lofty ambitions for next year.

‘I know I’m good enough to race at WorldTour, I just need the time to get results and develop which next year should provide,’ says Tanfield.

‘Hopefully this time next year when you call me, I will be talking to you about my new ride on WorldTour team.’

Some habits, such as cycling, are good. Others, such as sticking to the same routine day in, day out are bad – and can hinder cycling performance. Our bodies are better at doing certain things at different times of the day, and that includes the sessions that make up our training regimes.

And with us spending more time at home recently, the chances are we are probably riding more often than usual - albeit through shorter rides and closer to home - and also riding at different times of the day, too.

What you eat and when will also have a big impact on performance and recovery, so we’ve roped in coach Will Newton and nutritionist Mayur Ranchordas to offer advice on what sessions to do when, and how to fuel them.

With current circumstances, we appreciate that there may be questions surrounding how far and how long you should ride; Cyclist Editor Pete Muir has laid out his recommendations here.

The morning ride

‘Morning is the perfect time for low-level endurance training,’ says Newton. ‘Everything’s cold – crucially muscles – so this sort of training is effectively an extended wake-up.

'It will warm your muscles up gently and won’t overload your cardiovascular system. Be disciplined in your pacing and don’t try to smash it. You’ll also probably still have a foggy head so this isn’t the best time to be smashing out intervals.’

Here’s how to prepare for it, starting the night before your ride…

19:00

If you’re cycling in a fasted state you should eat a normal meal the night before, making sure you take on protein and plenty of veg.

‘Carb intake does depend slightly on your session,’ says Ranchordas. ‘If for example you’re working shifts, have limited time and are planning a medium-intensity session, increase your carb intake so you’re well fuelled.

‘Consume no more than 20g of carbs if you want to burn more fat, but increase that to 50-75g if you plan a medium-intensity session,’ he adds.

06:00-07:00

Drink water or coffee if you plan to ride fasted. ‘Caffeine before a fasted ride enhances fat utilisation,’ says Ranchordas.

He adds that elite athletes tend to avoid training fasted, which is a lead you can follow if you want to up the pace.

‘They eat protein in the morning to preserve lean tissue and burn fat, not carbs,’ he says. 'Twenty grams of whey protein with some amino acids will help to preserve muscle and enhance fat-burning, which over time helps to make you more energy-efficient.’

07:00-08:00

Ride. Ideal sessions are steady rides, recovery rides or, at the higher end, medium-intensity endurance training (MIET).

09:00

Have a protein-based breakfast or shake. ‘At some point, either for breakfast or lunch, aim to eat a high-protein meal containing polyphenols – antioxidants found in fruit and veg that help prevent the damage to our cells that exercise can cause,’ says Ranchordas. 

'A three-egg omelette with veg is a good choice. Don’t eat carbs, as this will “up-regulate” the enzymes responsible for fuel metabolism.

'Your muscles will become more efficient at burning fat, and in physiological terms you’ll increase the number and size of the mitochondria, which give our cells energy. As a result you’ll be more fat-efficient at 75% of your maximum heart rate. Carbs suppress those enzymes.’

The lunchtime ride

‘I’d say this is the time when you’re likely to be at your peak, when you’re physically and mentally best placed to do the hard stuff,’ says Newton.

‘You haven’t been at work long enough for it to tire you out, you’ve probably been productive and you’re feeling positive about the world.

'You’ll have better mental focus, which will reduce your perceived effort. So lunchtime is the perfect opportunity to do short, sharp sessions.’

08:00

‘Always ask yourself: does my meal match my session?’ says Ranchordas. ‘For a hard lunchtime session have a high-carb breakfast and mid-morning snack so you’re well fuelled.

'Porridge is a cliche because it’s great – it gives you slow-release energy for a lunchtime ride. Avoid cereals because they release energy quickly and you’ll slump before lunchtime.

'If you’re planning a one-hour steady ride, again, you’ll want to burn fat so avoid carbs by having an omelette and snacking on nuts. Then withhold carbs until the evening.’

13:00

Ride. Ideal sessions here are FTP sessions, intervals or a steady ride with flat sprints or race pace intervals thrown in.

For a guide on the best turbo trainer sessions, we have compiled our favourites here.

14:00

‘A chicken and salad wrap with a handful of cherry tomatoes and some Greek yogurt with fruit is ideal after a hard session at lunch,’ says Ranchordas.

‘This will help to replenish lost glycogen, which comes from carbohydrate to fuel hard efforts.’ Just bear in mind that you should avoid carbs if you opt for an easy ride at lunchtime.

‘That 3pm slump we’re prone to is caused by a rise in insulin, so any exercise at lunchtime will mean less insulin is released.

'Unless you’re replacing lost glycogen, carbs increase insulin production and undo all that hard work. If you ride easy, then eat a low-carb lunch, you produce even less insulin and will feel fresh all afternoon.’

The evening ride

Barring weekends, the evening is the most flexible time to ride as you’re less likely to have a boss or grumpy colleagues wondering where you’ve disappeared to.

‘It’s better to do high-intensity work when your muscles are warmer and the body is producing more testosterone,’ says Ranchordas.

Yet while this makes the evening ideal for faster rides, the greater freedom also makes it well suited to doing endurance training too. It’s all in the planning.

‘You should devise your training plan for the week in advance so you know what each day looks like,’ says Ranchordas. ‘You can then plan your meals based on your training schedule.’

You do need to be adaptable, though. ‘If you feel sharp enough to train but not sharp enough for an intense session do some MIET,’ says Newton. ‘You’ll get better results by recovering properly. The evening is an opportunity to do endurance training that’s long enough to feel the benefit but short enough to give you time to eat at a reasonable time.’

08:00

Eat your normal (healthy) breakfast…

13:00

…and lunch. ‘Aim for 50-75g of carbs in each main meal before a harder ride,’ says Ranchordas.

‘Take on 1.8g per kilogram of bodyweight of protein per day for hard rides, reducing it to 1.3-1.4g per kg per day for easier rides. These rules apply no matter what time of day it is.

'I use a traffic light system: red means withhold carbs, amber means moderate carbs and green means fuel with carbs,’ says Ranchordas.

‘Apply this to each meal based on your plan for the day and making sense of your nutrition becomes a lot easier.’

16:00

Snack. A pot of yoghurt with granola or muesli and a banana is ideal.

18:00-19:00

Ride, and enjoy the flexibility – the evening is suitable for a whole range of sessions including FTP efforts, time-trialling, MIET, intervals and even recovery rides.

Plan your session in advance but be flexible enough to change it if you’re too tired for an intense effort – you could swap a hard session for some endurance training with some race pace intervals or flat sprints.

Then spin or stretch for longer than normal to help you wind down.

20:00-21:00

Eat a light meal (not a roast) with plenty of protein, and remember that shakes aren’t just for breakfast. A chicken stir-fry with rice noodles is perfect.

Then relax, but don’t expect to be able to sleep straight away if you’ve done a hard session.

The 1922 Tour de France was a tale of the tortoise and several hares that pulled up lame. Philippe Thys won five stages but broke a wheel. Eugéne Christophe led until his front forks collapsed.

Jean Alavoine won three stages in a row but lost 76 minutes with a string of punctures, leaving Hector Heusghem wearing yellow – until he picked up a one-hour penalty for swapping a damaged bike that could have been repaired. And so Firmin Lambot, at 36, became the Tour’s oldest winner.

The record still stands, despite advances in sports science theoretically extending the careers of the very best riders. So what is the ideal age at which to be a winning pro cyclist – or, for that matter, a winning club rider?

'The standard thinking is that in most sports athletes peak physiologically at around 27,' says British Cycling coach Will Newton.

'It’s not quite as simple as that because there has to be a window, and for most pros that can be a broad range between the mid-twenties and mid-thirties. But it has a basis in fact.'

Statistics don’t lie. The average age of the winner of the Tour de France at the time of writing stood at 28.5 – now a bit lower thanks to 22-year-old Egan Bernal's 2019 win and 21-year-old Tadej Pogacar's 2020 victory – and research by ProCyclingStats reveals similar statistics across all pro races.

It analysed all of the results from UCI road races from 1995 to 2016 (male and female) and found that the most points were scored by riders aged 26, spiking up at the age of 25 and declining steadily from the age of 28.

It then went a step further and analysed the results of all riders whose careers spanned more than 10 years, and in this case the most points were scored at 28, spiking up at 26 and declining steadily from the age of 30.

'There are a lot of influencing factors,' says ProCyclingStats director Bert Lip. 'There could be fewer older riders or maybe they ride fewer races, or perhaps talented riders' careers get cut short by injury.

'Those factors are mostly filtered out by the 10-year limit so that’s a better representation of the peak age.'

There can be exceptions to the norm, but in broad terms physiology doesn’t lie either. 'Muscle mass peaks at around 24,' says Newton.

'VO2 max declines by around 15% per decade and muscular strength declines steadily past the age of 30.'

In fact, it’s your twenties when your body is at its peak in each of the 10 key facets of fitness: endurance, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, body composition and anaerobic capacity. 

'Sprinters tend to peak slightly younger, when the body is at its strongest,' says former pro Axel Merckx, director of the UCI Continental team Hagens Berman Axeon that works with under-23s – including now Team Sky rider Tao Geoghegan Hart –  in the US.

The fast-twitch muscle fibres needed for intense bursts of speed decline before the cardiovascular ability needed to succeed in the General Classification, and this is borne out by the fact that Mark Cavendish’s best year, results-wise, came in 2011 when he won the points classification in the Tour de France and the World Road Race Championships at the age of 26.

By the end of that Tour he had won 20 stages in four years. In the six Tours de France since he has won half as many.

The problem is that there will always be someone younger and fitter coming along behind you. ProCyclingStats also calculated when other pros were at their best in terms of results, revealing that the likes of Axel’s dad, Eddy, and Fabian Cancellara peaked at 26-27, Miguel Indurain, Stephen Roche and Classics legend Roger De Vlaeminck at 27-28.

This shows there isn’t any significant difference between the peak ages of Classics and Grand Tour winners, which is almost certainly because there’s another factor that comes into play: experience.

'Your knowledge of the past helps you change your preparation for your goals,' says Axel Merckx. 'You gain knowledge year after year and you need to be in the right place – in life, in your team – to reach your peak.'

Newton agrees: 'Teamwork and tactics make such a difference compared to individual sports. Experience, motivation, confidence and even luck – being in the right team at the right time – are crucial.

'Cycling is one of the few sports where your physical peak is relatively unimportant, because there are so many other factors involved.'

Late bloomers

Lambot isn’t the oldest Grand Tour winner, of course. That honour went to Chris Horner when he won the 2013 Vuelta a Espana at the sprightly age of 41, but he is the exception rather than the rule.

'There will always be an outlier here and there – someone who defies all logic,' says Newton.

And yet there’s as much hope for you as there was for Horner in Spain that year. The inevitable declines in fitness relate to your maximum exercise capacity, rather than your current fitness level.

Unless you’re already at your maximum, you still have room for improvement.

'The more you ride, the better you get,' says Merckx. 'If you’ve never ridden a bike you’ll progress massively over two months at any age, but after two years it becomes harder to go faster.'

Newton draws attention to the 10,000 hours theory, which surmises that this is the amount of time you have to spend doing an activity to reach your peak.

'If you start young and become a pro, it might take you 15 years. If you start later and you’re not a pro you might never get there, but there’s no reason why you can’t keep improving into your forties.

'Even after that there’s hope – if you go to a sprint session at the Manchester Velodrome there are always races at the end, and they’re usually won by guys in their sixties.

'That’s because they have the experience. They’re not stronger than the guys in their forties, but they know how to race.'

For most of us, though, aerobic fitness declines at a much slower rate than anaerobic fitness, which means you may want to up the distances you race as you get older, so you’re less likely to get burned off by youngsters.

'Older riders rarely lack endurance – in fact you can often turn into a "diesel engine",' says former pro Daniel Lloyd.

So enjoy finding your own peak, and remember that even if you’re older than the pros there is no reason to stop trying to get better.

• For information on how the Wattbike Atom can help you achieve your training goals, visit wattbike.com/gb

Most of us will be starting 2021 having set ourselves a few goals for the year, and for cyclists, that usually involves a goal or two on the bike. But 2020 was different to any year we've experienced before and chances are it was lacking in cycling holidays or sportives, so the new year could be a busy one for us cyclists.

Chief among any goals we might be setting are usually themes such as getting faster and/or losing weight but there are also more specific targets like Strava KOMs or local 10 PBs, too.

The only thing is that January is a bit doomy and gloomy and isn’t too conducive to kick-starting these new, big goals.

So to help, Cyclist has compiled five simple things you could do this month to act as a leg up for the rest of the year and get you riding your bike this January.

There’s something for everyone with simple things like going on a club ride to challenges that do not even involve the bike such as cutting out the alcohol for January.

Five tips for cyclists to kick start 2021

1 - Complete the Strava January Cycling Distance Challenge

This one is pretty simple. All you have to do is go on Strava, click ‘Join Now’ on the cycling distance challenge and then go for a ride.

You will be ranked up against everyone else who's signed up for the challenge and even have the chance to filter the leaderboards to compare yourself against those you are following.

Any ride you record throughout the month will count towards your total except those logged on indoor trainers and on Zwift, encouraging you to embrace the great outdoors.

If you can clock up a total of 1,250km for the entire month, Strava will gift you a finisher’s badge.

If you do not reach that target, that’s not to worry as you haven’t lost anything and are likely to have got yourself out on the bike more than if you hadn’t signed up.

Read more: Tips on cycling through winter

2 - Dry January

The festive period is not just a time for family and giving, it’s also a time for excessive alcohol consumption. Not just beer and wine, either, you end up drinking stuff like sherry, Baileys and Advocaat that’s been buried in the cupboards since the same time last year.

Either way, it has most likely made you feel sluggish, bloated and have you doubting whether you’ll ever drink again.

Newsflash, you will drink again but you could probably join thousands, if not millions, of others attempting Dry January. All you need to do is not drink any alcohol for the entire month of January, easy.

A couple of weeks off the sauce can have you feeling much fresher and even losing a few pounds while saving some in the wallet as well.

Additionally, it could help you re-evaluate your relationship with alcohol and lead to a lasting change in habit that could help your health for the better.

Read more: Can you mix cycling and alcohol?

3 - Go vegan

Even the word ‘vegan’ is enough to get Piers Morgan turning the colour of a beetroot, it’s one of the most divisive diets/lifestyles out there.

Why does it bother people so profusely? Who knows! Either way, it is a lifestyle fit for Adam Hansen, track cyclist Jack Lindquist and MMA-fighter and cycling-fanatic Nate Diaz, and they are all in peak condition.

Be warned, mind, as going vegan will not lead to you having a better diet immediately, vegans can still be unhealthy. But it is likely to see you eating more fruit, vegetables, beans and pulses which is a good thing.

What going vegan will also do is make you consider food more carefully.

Take grabbing a spot at lunch at work. It’s unlikely that you would take much notice to what’s in that packet sandwich, as long as it’s quick and you like the fillings. However, if you go vegan, while deciphering whether the product you plan to eat is animal-free, you will likely look more carefully at what’s actually in the product and whether it is any good for you.

And that is a bonus.

Read more: Can you fuel for cycling as a vegan?

4 - Sign up for a big sportive

Now, this could be your local club-organised event or something big like RideLondon or even an international ride like Grand Fondo Stelvio or the Marmotte, but getting ahead of the curve and signing up in January will get you motivated like nothing else.

Having that specific goal and date in mind gets you chomping at the bit to go riding and will be the motivation needed to curb the January blues and brave the harsh winter weather.

You can target something early, like next month’s Hell of the Ashdown, to force you into working hard from day one or you can choose something later in the year, like August’s RideLondon, and build yourself a regimented training plan to stick to for the year.

What's more, with it being so early in the year, you may even find some of these events offering early bird entries and cheaper flights, if travelling abroad, making it more cost-effective than signing up later in the year.

A good tip for this is to book it with a mate. It’ll create some healthy competition between you both to reach peak fitness and also stop you dropping out closer to the time through fear of letting someone down.

5 - Go riding with your local club

Riding with other people is brilliant. It’s really sociable, you tend to average a higher speed and you can sit in the wheels when you’re knackered. The fact you’ve committed to a ride with other people will also see you less likely to skip a day on the bike, too.

So, this January, how about going riding with your local cycling club? Once that becomes a legitimate, sensible and safe thing to do again, give it a go.

If you are a ‘soloist’ looking to find some riding friends you can use tools like British Cycling, Strava or Facebook to find clubs in your area, members to contact and links to routes.

And if you are already a loyal member of your local cycling club, you can even try this too. We are not asking you to turn your back on the usual crowd but one weekend ride with another club won’t hurt.

What it will do is introduce you to more like-minded riders in your area and probably earn you a few more Strava followers, too!

Whisper it, but most of us would like to lose a few pounds. Especially after the Christmas break. It leads us to make New Year's resolutions like giving up bread, only drinking skimmed milk and riding our bikes more.

Cycling is great for weight loss because it burns lots of calories, ultimately shifting those pounds.

But on the other cake-filled hand, all that riding requires fuel in the form of food, energy gels and sugary sports drinks, something you could be wishing to knock on the head. Losing weight on a bike isn’t as easy as it seems.

First, here’s coach Ric Stern of RST Sport with the bad news: ‘It varies too much from person to person to give a prescriptive answer other than: you need to eat fewer calories than you expend, you need to be consistent with your food choices and you need to be consistent with your training.’

It is at least possible, then, even if it does involve making gargantuan lifestyle changes. Paul Butler of pbcyclecoaching.co.uk lost seven stone after quitting his job in the City to become a personal trainer and qualified cycling coach.

‘Your weight loss targets should be reviewable based on motivation, performance, mood and sustainability,’ he says. ‘Keeping a training diary and talking to a coach will help you through.’

Depending on how much you want to lose, you should aim to shed between 0.25kg and 1kg per week. For most people, 0.5kg is a sensible and achievable target, says Stern.

‘Half a kilogram of fat has around 3,500 calories of energy in it, so by reducing your daily intake by 500 calories, or upping your energy expenditure by 500 calories – or a combination of the two – you could lose 0.5kg a week.’

Don’t obsess about numbers, though. ‘Set aside a period in your training where you aim to lose weight, and when you reach the end of that period stop, whatever the scales say,’ advises British Cycling coach Will Newton.

‘Rather than say, “I’m going to get to 73.5kg no matter what,” you say, “What I weigh at the end of that time is what I weigh.”

‘It’s best to do this during an aerobic endurance phase because the intensity is low, so you allow your body to get used to losing weight. Be strict, lose weight and move on to the next phase.’

So you’ve set targets and made a plan. Now you have to actually do it, so how?

What to eat

Hold your saucepans – by this we do not mean gorging on a massive bowl of pasta and licking the remnants of your carbonara sauce off the plate.

‘Get rid of junk food and eat food that you cook,’ says Newton. ‘And focus on nutrients rather than calories. Find foods that are nutrient-rich rather than restrict calories.

‘So reduce carbs and sugar in favour of meat – liver, heart and kidneys are best – greens and colourful veg.

‘You won’t be able to eat as many calories because there’s too much volume.’

Human beings are worriers, though, which in this case may mean you’re concerned that as you lose weight you may also lose some of your hard-earned power, on the basis that you will produce less force on the pedals.

‘You need to lose weight slowly,’ says Stern. ‘If you start to have large energy drops your power will fall – you’ll blow up – or you’ll start using up muscle mass.’

If you do it right you won’t lose power at all. ‘In all cycling disciplines except maybe sprinting, power is reliant largely on your ability to provide oxygen to your muscles for a sustained period,’ says Butler.

‘People think it’s to do with having big or strong leg muscles. Chris Froome doesn’t have big leg muscles. I’m not sure if they’re even strong.’

Excess weight requires more power to accelerate or climb and, worse, excess body fat around your stomach can inhibit breathing because it presses against the diaphragm when you’re on the bike.

‘Fat and muscle have to share the oxygen you breathe in, so any excess fat cells compete with muscle cells, “stealing” their oxygen,’ adds Butler.

‘Therefore you can generate more power when you reduce your body fat, not less. And with the increased power-to-weight ratio and the reduction in frontal surface area – of the now smaller you – you can afford to lose a little outright power.’

He agrees the key is losing weight slowly: ‘I don’t mind how quickly my athletes lose weight as long as they eat the right foods.

‘You can’t “will” yourself lean but you can control whether you eat salmon and broccoli or pizza. Focus on the process, not the outcome.’

For information on cycling as a vegan, see here.

Dos and don’ts

Everyone is different and other ways of losing weight may or may not work for you – you’ll have to try them to find out.

‘For some people to lose weight, they may actually need to start eating more food, so they can complete more higher-intensity work, and expend more energy that way,’ says Stern.

Cold comfort

It gets worse. ‘Ice baths can be used for weight loss and there is some evidence that they work, but you have to be able to put up with the cold,’ says Newton. ‘I come from a triathlon background and even I hate cold water.’

There are some things you should definitely avoid, however. ‘You can take supplements to speed up your metabolism but they’re not worth the effort, cost or risk,’ Newton adds.

‘They can be dangerous. I’ve had clients say to me, “My heart’s going nuts and I don’t know why.” Well, what have you taken? Do you really want to mess with your health for a little bit of weight loss?’

‘There are a few pro cyclists with real issues such as anorexia,’ says Stern. ‘I’ve heard of riders doing really long fasted rides, which isn’t a great idea, or living on energy drinks to eliminate protein and fat from the diet and drastically reduce calorie intake.’

Then there’s Tyler Hamilton, says Butler, ‘who would follow a seven-hour ride by taking two sleeping pills so he wouldn’t eat.’

‘That’s the key: what’s healthy?’ Newton says. ‘Think about your long-term health rather than trying to look like Froome or Bardet, and eat sensibly. You’ll end up at the weight that’s right for you without starving yourself, and you’ll ride better as a result.’

This article first appeared on Cyclist.co.uk in August 2017

Cycling nutrition: Four rules for eating to lose weight

BikesEtc, 16 August 2017

If you're a keen cyclist looking to shed a few pounds, there's no substitute for getting out on your bike and putting in the miles.

But tied to that is the need to eat properly, and at the right times. Here are four golden nutrition rules for eating to lose weight as a cyclist.

1. Eat before training

The idea that training while fasted will aid weight loss is a dead end.

In reality, you’re more likely to bonk or build up such a hunger that when you do get off the bike, you’ll stuff your face with the first thing that comes to hand.

So instead, make sure you munch within three hours of the start of a training session. If you haven’t eaten for more than three hours, get a carb-heavy snack down your neck at least an hour before you start – a banana is ideal.

Eating and giving your body enough time to digest food before you train gives you the fuel you need without making you feel bloated.

2. Eat during training

If you’re in the saddle for 90 minutes or more, you’re definitely going to refuel at some point or risk running out of steam.

Up to around 60g of carbohydrates an hour is recommended depending on the intensity of the ride.

The carbs will provide the energy to keep your legs moving which, in times of greater effort, will allow your body to burn its fat reserves on the bike.

So don’t neglect this important part of your food intake which can be satisfied by anything from chia seeds or pistachios (Mark Cavendish’s favourite) to bananas and energy gels.

3. Eat after training

When we say eat after training, we mean almost as soon as you come off the bike.

We can’t overstate how important this is to the nutrition process because it will maximise recovery, refuel your energy levels and enhance the adaption process – the part of recovery where your body improves its fitness and strength through muscle repair.

Eating straight after a long ride – even if you don’t feel like it – will stop you overeating later.

Protein improves muscle repair, so you’ll need to get at least 30g of that in as soon as you can – perhaps in the form of a protein shake.

4. Eat the right foods

Whether you’re sitting down to breakfast lunch or dinner, your plate should contain roughly one third energy foods (ie carbs, such as brown rice or oats), one third functional foods (ie protein, such as tofu, natural yogurt, fi sh, chicken etc), and one third nutritionally rich foods (ie fruit and veg).

With all three food groups, try to eat wholefoods as opposed to processed food as much as possible.

Which means cutting out things like cookies and fruit juices, but don’t skimp on fats. Just make sure they’re the good ones (ie unsaturated) not the bad ones (saturated).

You’ll find them in fish, avocado, and nuts and some oils – when dressing salads use olive oil, and when cooking stick to the likes of rapeseed or rice bran oil.