Cycling Plus

WELCOME… 2022 saw me survive my maiden cyclo-cross, hill climb and Italian Gran Fondo with just a slightly bruised ego. Only to then injure myself carrying the Christmas tree 100 yards home. It got me thinking about the physiological cycling benefits I hear I could gain from strength & conditioning – and routinely ignore in favour of sausage & chips, the sofa and the 118 movies of Nicolas Cage. That’s all going to change in 2023, of course, as I become a cycling powerhouse with the thighs of Hoy and shoulders of Sagan. I hope your own, possibly less outlandish, cycling dreams arrive in 2023. Let me know how you’re doing. matthew.baird@ourmedia.co.uk Your experts Simon Withers Tech reviewer Ultra-experienced tester Simon Withers casts his expert eye over 2023’s £500 road-bike vintage to see what you get…

My ‘around the world in 80 days’ record in 2017 was my Everest. I cycled 18,000 miles in 78 days, 14 hours and 40 minutes. Nothing can ever be bigger than the world. It’s the world! So, in many ways, the pressure was off. Having first broken that record in 2008 (in 194 days and 17 hours), I’ve now been around planet Earth twice on a bicycle. So more recently I felt keen to explore challenges closer to home. A big project I’ve pioneered with Markus Stitz (a filmmaker and the first person to ride around the world on a single speed) is ‘Explore Your Boundaries’. I do still like to make progress physically and psychologically, so this is about seeing familiar places in new ways, trying new rides and having…

Ride past a primary school at rush-hour almost anywhere in Northern Europe and you’ll see plenty of box-bikes, with the saddle occupied by a parent, and the crate at the front full of (usually smiling) children, bags, books and the odd teddy bear. While the Jeeps, Subarus and Range Rovers queue and drivers complain about ‘all the traffic’, the Babboes, Niholas and Bakfietses form a fluid, efficient school run conveyor belt. You might see the odd Christiania Bike, too, perhaps looking a tad unwieldy and old-school: half tricycle, half-wheel barrow. But the Danish brand can claim to have pioneered the whole kid-carrying-cargo-bike thing, over fifty years ago. In 1971, Lars Engstrøm and friends refurbed wartime cargo bikes and knocked together bike trailers to move stuff round Christiania, a former military area…

Dave Mellor Cycles Shrewsbury History ● Started by redundant mechanical engineer Dave Mellor in 1985, it moved to its current bigger premises in 1993. Alongside running the shop, among many other major cycling roles, Dave helped restructure British Cycling, and was GB team manager at many Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games. What makes the shop special? ● Its range – from kids, commuters and cargo-bike parents etc to very high-end racers. ‘We embrace anyone who’s a cyclist’, says Dave, ‘and have different specialist departments. We also provide bikes for other stores to get round supply chain problems, and we’ve always had a lot of stuff for women cyclists.’ Big names ● Co-founder Melanie Grivell was an international road racer. Shop manager Erick Rowsell was a noted pro rider through the 2010s. Dave’s son Luke rode for Rapha.…

This time of year can be tough – we’re in the depths of winter, the days are short and the festivities are at an end. This year is set to be more challenging than most with the cost of living biting, prices rising and luxuries – even essentials – becoming unaffordable for some of us. As with so many problems both personal and societal, cycling has a lot to offer. I’ve pedalled my way out of some pretty bad fugs; problems that seemed insurmountable, a low mood that slowly lifted on the bike. It’s not just the exercise, it’s the friendly hellos, the singing of a bird, the way the light touches the landscape, or an arresting sky. It’s a chance for a change of scenery. Cycling has also saved me…

Colorado-based Moots offers several gravel bikes. The Routt 45 is its more endurance-biased machine with geometry aimed at the multi-day bikepacking adventurer. Then there’s the Routt YBB, which shares the same geometry as the 45 but uses a small hydraulic shock and the natural spring of titanium to create a soft-tail gravel bike. The RSL model here is designed for those of a more racing persuasion. 1 What’s in a name? The name Routt comes from the county in Colorado where Moots is based. Routt is renowned for its miles of gravel and rough roads, and the Routt RSL is designed to be both an accomplished gravel machine and a versatile bike that can cope with any road surface. 2 Fancy frame The frame is built from Moots’ custom titanium RSL tubing. This double-butted…