Innehållsförteckning för July 2024 från Cycling Plus

It’s very early in March and we’re riding in wall-to-wall sunshine with the temperature nudging 20°C. We haven’t seen another cyclist for three hours. Not Mallorca then. And the lack of wind means it can’t be Lanzarote. The warm custard tarts in our jersey pockets and the gnarly cork oak forests offer the clues that we’re in Southern Portugal, an area we’ve admittedly neglected for springtime riding. An omission we’ll be seeking to correct in the future. Our three days of riding in the Algarve began at our base just west of Faro airport, the vast Quinta do Lago Resort and its wealth of restaurants and sporting (tennis, golf, swimming…) opportunities. We headed north each day into the hills of the Serra do Caldeirão above the town of Loulé, where…

Weight 8.08kg (XL) Frame Carbon Fork Carbon Gears SRAM Force AXS D2, wireless 12-speed (10-36t, 35/48t) Brakes SRAM Force D2 hydraulic disc Wheels Zipp 303S carbon Finishing kit FSA SL-K carbon seatpost, Fizik Aliante R5 saddle, FSA Omega-Pro stem, Road Smoothie 42cm bar, Maxxis High Road 700x32c tyres, SRAM dual-side chainring integrated power meter The idea behind the Úthald (which means ‘endurance’ in Icelandic) was to create a progressive road bike that could happily be ridden fast in comfort. Lauf did this by taking a fresh look at accepted geometry for road bikes, using what it has learned from gravel. Comfort is clearly a focus here. The frame material uses the same technology as Lauf’s gravel-focused Seigla. ICE (Integrated Compliance Engineering) provides around 15mm of vertical flex through the IRM…

Weight 8.5kg (L) Frame Carbon Fork Carbon Gears Shimano GRX Di2 RX815 2x11 (48/31t, 11-34t) Brakes Shimano GRX RX815 Gravel, 160mm rotors Wheels DT Swiss GRC1400 Spline Finishing kit Canyon SP0072 carbon seatpost, Fizik Vento Argo X3 saddle, Canyon Cockpit CP0039 bar/stem, Schwalbe G-One RS Evo 40mm tyres, Canyon FIX Minitool 6+1 Canyon’s original Grail was quite a divisive design with its low head-tube paired with the double-decker shape of the ‘Hover’ handlebar. The new Grail cuts out the extraneous flourishes and simplifies the design, loses a little weight, and pays more than just lip service to improved aerodynamics. The frame, fork and cockpit offer fully integrated cable routing, with the brake hoses routing through the dedicated ‘Double Drop’ cockpit, while this latest Grail has a new D-shaped seatpost that’s…

The Caban Coch Dam stands before us. Its 35,530 megalitre reservoir is full to capacity and produces a waterfall that flows down to the Elan Valley visitor centre café where we’ve just demolished the remnants of today’s Bara brith fruit cake. For the fourth year in a row, we’ve come to Wales to decide the category winners and overall champ of our flagship Bike of the Year awards and, with quiet roads, mighty climbs and an abundance of road and gravel routes, it’s easy to see why. For 2024, we’re riding alongside the awesome dams and rolling hills of the Elan Valley in mid-Wales that, even in relentless springtime rainfall, are a remarkable blend of innovative and ambitious engineering and stunning beauty. Which is also an apt description for many…

Pan-Celtic Ultra Starts: 6 July 2024 This year, the full route takes in the whole of the Isle of Man before heading into England through the Lake District, then across the border and up along the west coast of Scotland, with a lap of the Isle of Skye and a finish in Inverness. That’s 2,295km and 25,795m of elevation. It’s waiting list only for 2024, but keep an eye out for 2025. Mountains of the Merfynion Starts: 28 August 2024 This 900km route starts in Cirencester, and the real fun kicks off once you cross the Severn into Wales. At 70% tarmac, you might think you could cover a lot of ground at speed, but the 16,000m of climbing has other ideas. Throw in mountain bike-worthy off-road sections and some…

Altura Icon Men’s Cycling £85 Sizes S-2XL Colours Black Women’s version? No The Icons sit at the second-tier of Altura’s range, below the Endurance Bib Shorts (£95). The Elastic Interface Icon pad made for these shorts is rated for up to six-hour rides and designed for good breathability. The brand says the foam gets denser as the sizes get bigger and riders get heavier. Italian Miti carbon fabric is used in key areas of the bibs to draw toxins away from the skin for a fresh feel. The minuscule silicone grippers didn’t grip my leg well, even when I tried a smaller size, and didn’t work well with knee or leg warmers either. The seam placement on these shorts was excellent, though, boosting overall comfort. The Icons have a very…

A city with ancient roots, Girona has seen myriad invasions and settlements in its long history, from the Iberians to the Moors; and the Romans who built the Citadel walls, to Franco’s forces in the late 1930s. In 2024, however, it is not battle cries that echo off the walls of the Barri Vell, or Old Town, but the sound of freehubs whirring as hundreds of cyclists navigate the cobbled streets of the oldest part of the city. Since the early 2000s, when a certain Lance Armstrong left Nice behind to take up residence in the city’s historical Jewish Quarter, cyclists have become increasingly ubiquitous in the Catalan capital in northeastern Spain. Hundreds of professionals call the city their home as well as an abundance of keen amateurs, while tens…

As we age and transition through different life stages, we naturally experience changing metabolic, hormonal and growth needs that affect performance. Throw in lifestyle factors such as work and family, plus health risks and stresses that occur naturally as the decades roll by, and chasing personal bests may well dwindle with age. Thankfully, there are things that we can adapt to bolster our longevity. How, for example, can you postpone or accommodate age-related changes? And what easy wins can you incorporate into your current lifestyle to improve performance and recovery? That’s where Pip Taylor, a former pro triathlete and performance dietitian for micronutrient product specialists Pillar Performance, and Emma Wilkins, a sports nutritionist and physiologist at High North Performance, come in. They’ve worked with many cyclists across the age spectrum…

You’ve Zwifted, taken on your club’s reliability ride and/or treated yourself to some new Lycra. Now you need the buzz of a real-life bike event. From sportives to road races in the UK, European gran fondos, hill climbs, time trials, track events and more, there are hundreds of bike races open to both nervous newbies and hardened racers around the globe. Events will inspire you to sharpen up your fitness, meet new riders, travel to fresh destinations and learn new skills, as well as igniting extra sparks of motivation and adrenaline. Here’s how to conquer that next event. HERE TO HELP Heidi Blunden Heidi is the coach and founder of Parallel Cycle Coaching near Bristol (parallelcyclecoaching.co.uk) Will Girling Will is the head nutritionist for the WorldTour team EF Pro Cycling…

The best events of 2024 The summer’s greatest road and gravel rides MAY 26 RideLondon-Essex Victoria Embankment, London 48, 97, 161km The mega RideLondon-Essex event returns with 10,000+ riders set to head from the Victoria Embankment in Central London via Epping Forest into the Essex countryside on fully closed roads on its longer 60-mile (97km) and 100-mile (161km) routes. The shortest 30-mile (48km) option heads to Buckhurst Hill and back JUNE 07 Salsa Frontier 300 Dalbeattie, Dumfries & Galloway 300km Boasting a 50:50 gravel and asphalt split, this 300km venture (covered in issue 412) from the Irish to the North Sea traverses the Border Marches over its mighty end-to-end route. New for 2024, there’s now an option to do the 300km route over two days (as well as one day, on…

Racing comes to a standstill after a heavy crash on a steep descent forced a litany of abandonments with serious injuries. Among them were three of the big contenders for the Tour de France: Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and Primož Roglič. Roglič escaped with bruises but the other two broke their collar bone and scapula. Vingegaard also suffered a collapsed lung and his Tour defence is now in doubt.…

I’m standing on a path beside the river in Bristol watching a man deploy a tape measure on a pair of bollards. It’s very hot, and there is a merciless lack of shade. The man in question is Ed Plowden. Ed is tasked with making the National Cycle Network accessible for all, which means removing what, at a 2020 count, amounted to more than 16,000 barriers on the National Cycle Network (NCN). If you think that’s a big number, wait a moment. Because these barriers only exist on the off-road sections and averaged out at an eye-watering three barriers per mile at its peak. It’s a topic that annoys cyclists like few others. This ire is understandable. After all, we don’t plonk barriers, driver dismount signs, steps or gates on…

Starting at the Quinta do Lago Resort, this 109km road ride heads north into the hills above Faro. Once you get beyond the suburbs of Loulé, you’ll have the roads to yourself, with the majority of the climbing coming in the second half of the clockwise loop. The inclines don’t reach double figures, but there is a 12km-long climb out of Querença. 01 Bike shop We rented our bikes from the Campus in the Quinta do Lago Resort. The Campus organises social spins from 50-120km each week led by former Brazilian national triathlon champion, Marcus Ornellas. Carbon bike rental for three days was 147 Euros. 02 Lunch stop The friendly Restaurante de Querença in Querença boasts an array of quality cakes, good coffee and a fridge full of pop. All…

Weight 8.48kg (L) Frame Carbon Fork Carbon Gears Shimano 105 12-speed (11-3t6, 50/34t) Brakes Shimano 105 hydraulic disc Wheels Giant SLR 2 36 Carbon Disc WheelSystem Finishing kit Giant SL D-Fuse carbon seatpost, Giant Fleet SL saddle, Giant Contact SL AeroLight 110mm stem, Giant Contact SL D-Fuse handlebar, Giant Gavia Fondo 1 700x32c tyres, computer mount, fender mounts, bottle cages, tubeless set-up Giant’s latest endurance-focused Defy got sportier, smoother and lighter at the flagship SL level, and this Pro model is just as impressive for a lot less cash. The original 2008 Defy tweaked road-race performance to suit non-elite-level racers, and Giant has kept this road focus while plenty of its rivals have gone more ‘all road’. Tyre clearance on the latest Defy has been upped to 38mm, but it…

Weight 9.22kg (L) Frame Grade Carbon Fork Grade Carbon Gears Shimano GRX RX820 1x12-Speed (10-45t, 40t) Brakes Shimano GRX RX820, 160mm Rotors Wheels WTB ST i23 TCS 2.0 Finishing kit GT 3D Forged SL Alloy 31.8 stem, GT DropTune Super Light Double Butted 6061 Alloy Flat Top 16° Flare handlebar, GT Carbon 27.2mm 350mm seatpost, WTB Silverado SL Fusion saddle, WTB Vulpine TCS Light, 700x40c tyres The original GT Grade was one of the first mass-market pure gravel bikes. This third iteration is the most off-road focused yet. The new, flagship Grade Carbon comes with Shimano’s latest 1 x 12 speed GRX gravel groupset and its frame combines high-modulus (high-stiffness) carbon fibre for the head-tube, bottom bracket and chainstays, with low-modulus (comfort-enhancing) fibres for the seatstays, and standard-modulus carbon elsewhere.…

Weight 7.98kg (56cm) Frame Handsling A1R0evo Fork Handsling A1R0evo Gears Shimano Ultegra Di2 R8100 with Classified Powershift rear hub (11-34t, 52t) Brakes Shimano Ultegra Di2 R8170 Wheels Parcours Strade Finishing kit Handsling A1R0evo carbon seatpost, Prologo Dimension 143 Tirox saddle, Integrated Race 110 x 380mm handlebar/stem, Schwalbe One TLE, 700 x 30c tyres The A1R0evo is an all-rounder road racing bike from the up-and-coming British brand. With truncated aerofoil tubes, dropped seatstays and a fully integrated front end, it’s a familiar formula. However, what’s different is the Classified Powershift rear hub: a two-speed planetary gear system that means you don’t have to run two chainrings and a front derailleur. The frameset is made from a super-tough Toray T800 carbon fibre. Claimed weight for a size 52cm frame is 920g (with…

01 I CAN’T EAT SOLID FOOD BEFORE A MORNING RIDE If you struggle to wolf down food before training, start by adjusting your morning schedule to act more like a pro. “Your typical pro at the Tour de France will have 2,000-3000 calories for breakfast – maybe an omelette, ham, cheese, toast and porridge – so it is a much more significant breakfast than a club rider would have,” reveals former British Cycling and Team Sky nutritionist Nigel Mitchell, author of GCN’s The Cyclist’s Cookbook (£16.99). “But the difference is that they eat four hours before racing, whereas many club riders will get out of bed, try to fill their face and then get on the bike. That is the real issue some amateur riders have.” Aim to get up…

Welcome to our Cycling Plus Subscriber Club! This is the place where we bring you exclusive content, competitions and special offers to say thank you for subscribing to Britain’s best-selling cycling magazine. Every issue will bring something different, but what won’t change is that the competitions, offers and additional content will only ever be available to those of you who subscribe. YOUR EXCLUSIVE SUBSCRIBER CLUB OFFER WIN A SIX-MONTH SUPPLY OF SURREAL WORTH £155! ENTER BY 7 JUNE 2024 One lucky subscriber will soon be chomping on a six-month supply of cereal from SURREAL A smartly-considered breakfast is essential for fuelling your morning rides, which is why we’ve partnered with top cereal brand SURREAL to offer one reader a six-month supply of cereal, a bowl and a spoon worth a total of…

Ogio No Drag MACH LT £109.99 This bag’s made for travelling fast, as the name suggests. The grey outer with reflective piping is wrapped around a flexible bag and semi-rigid EVA form to create an aerodynamic silhouette. Even the zipper pulls are prevented from flapping thanks to popper-button fasteners. The bag also sits naturally lower down than most and is great for in-drops riding. A quick-release sternum strap stops the bag sliding, and the adjustable harness adds security, although it could be a tight fit for barrel-chested men, and women. The main compartment is just large enough for a change of clothes and shoes, and there’s also a pocket for laptops up to 15 inches. The top of the bag has a smaller semi-rigid EVA zipped pocket, too. The outer…

Alfonsina is a new premium cycling and triathlon apparel brand designed by women for women. Stylish, durable clothing that’s been rigorously tested to ensure the limited-edition collections can cope with every condition, from cool UK Sunday-morning rides to the heat and mountains of L’Étape du Tour. Alfonsina partners with experts who are well-versed in dressing the world’s best; and garments are made using renewable energy and sustainable or recycled materials. Alfonsina knows that female cyclists aren’t simply ‘little men’. They deserve clothing that, from its inception, is crafted and styled to their needs as strong, determined cyclists. And, as you’ll discover, this brand is inspired by perhaps the most determined cyclist of them all… All eyes on the Blockhaus This year’s Giro d’Italia Women takes place between 7th and 14th July,…

Overtraining syndrome (OTS) occurs in around 10 to 20% of elite endurance athletes – and affects up to 65% of long-distance cyclists at some point in their careers. It can be present in a wide variety of forms, ranging from fatigue or a drop in motivation to flu-like symptoms but without having a virus. This diversity of symptoms contributes to the ongoing debate around identification, diagnosis and treatment. For example, there’s functional overreaching – a build-up of training and non-training stressors that lead to a short-term crash in performance (lasting a few days). Then there’s non-functional overreaching, where the negative effects of the fatigue outweigh the positive gains in fitness and you don’t see a performance improvement but instead a longer-term dip (weeks to months). Finally, there’s overtraining syndrome –…

No climb of the Tour de France generates the anticipation and excitement that Alpe d’Huez does. Yet it took almost a quarter of a century to get there. Local businesspeople first brought the race to the Alpe in 1952 (using their own money, because the town hall had none) but despite the stage finish at the summit being won by the legendary Fausto Coppi, slim crowds and an underwhelming day of racing meant it was 1976 before another stage finished there. After this, you’d struggle to separate the Tour and the mountain, as it returned with unfailing regularity over the years until the present day. A big reason for this delayed love affair was the introduction of live television coverage in the intervening years between 1952 and 1976, which helped…

Weight 7.83kg (M) Frame Carbon Fork Carbon Gears Shimano Ultegra Di2 R8100 (11-30t, 52/36t) Brakes Shimano Ultegra Di2 R8170 Wheels DT Swiss ARC 1600 DICUT Finishing kit Canyon SP0055 carbon seatpost, Selle Italia SLR Boost Superflow S manganese saddle, Canyon CP0018 Aerocockpit bar/stem, Schwalbe One TLE, 700x25c (front), 700x28c (rear) tyres, 4iiii Precision 3 power meter (single-sided), 2 composite bottle cages Canyon’s Ultimate CF SL platform offers a value-driven take on the German brand’s popular all-rounder road racing bike. With the Ultimate range pitched as delivering “the perfect balance” of low weight, stiffness, durability and aerodynamics, Canyon says this third-tier Ultimate uses a carbon fibre lay-up that prioritises toughness and value. In terms of shape, the Ultimate CF SL frameset is identical to that of the range-topping Ultimate CFR, and…

Cycling has always had a masochistic relationship with distance. For as long as there have been bikes, people have looked to push themselves and the human-powered mode of transport to its limits – from the non-stop, six-day penny farthing races that drew crowds to velodromes on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1870s, to the first recorded ultra-distance event, Paris-Brest-Paris, in 1891. The latter still pits participants against 1,200km of northern France more than 130 years later, while there is a whole host of modern, road-based ultra sportives – Mallorca 312, Chase the Sun, the Dragon Ride’s Devil distance – that go way beyond the Imperial century. But this love for long-range rides certainly isn’t limited to the asphalt. Over the last decade, alongside the growth in popularity of…

Trek has built its reputation on excellence. It believes that to achieve the finest results from its cycling gear, you need to test it on the best riders. Trek’s racing team Lidl-Trek has acted as the benchmark for helmets and shoes. Maximising on the team’s intense training schedule, experience and ambition, Trek put five new products – two helmets and three pairs of shoes – to the test. Trek’s Ballista and Velocis helmets, the Velocis, the RSL Road and the RSL knit shoes all feature performance-enhancing tech, and all have all been subject to Trek’s intense testing scrutiny. This quintuplet has been assessed by the finest riders to ensure that you are prepped to achieve your best and find adventure this season. Faster, faster… The Trek Ballista MIPS helmet has…

01 WHY CAN’T I GET ENOUGH DEEP SLEEP? Wake up feeling lethargic and grumpy? It looks like you’re not getting enough sleep – more specifically, deep sleep. Dr Sarah Gilchrist has a doctorate in sleep and athletic performance, and formerly worked with GB Olympic rowers. She now works with recreational athletes. “All of us have a 90-minute sleep cycle that covers four stages,” she says. “The first couple of stages are light sleep, so if you were to nap for 20 to 30 minutes, that’s what you’d fall into. Your fourth stage is the rapid eye movement [REM] stage where you tend to dream and is related to emotional control. So, our mental health, positive consolidation of emotions and coping strategies. “It’s the third stage where you enter deep sleep, which…

It’s easy to forget to keep fuelling during an event, or you may just not feel like eating, but it’s vital you consume enough to avoid running out of gas. “Up to 90% of riders – casual, club or pro – don’t eat enough on the bike,” says chef Alan Murchison in his new recipe book The Cycling Chef on the Go. Swapping processed bars for homemade delights is obviously better for us, but what kind of foods work best? “On-the-go food must be appealing enough to encourage snacking when appetites are blunted and robust enough to withstand being grabbed from your back pocket. It needs to moisten your dry mouth, but not leave your fingers sticky, and it must provide just the right amount of nutrients,” says Alan. SNICKERISH…

SPORTIVE The Dragon Ride The 19th running of the mega sportive starts near Port Talbot, South Wales, on all of its four routes (98-296km). The longer laps head to the Black Mountains. GRAN FONDO GFNY La Vaujany Alpe d’Huez There are 61 and 152km courses, but both tackle the famous 21 hairpins of Tour de France staple Alpe d’Huez (and the 20km descent after) in SE France on 16 June. TIME TRIAL National 100 The CTT National 100-mile time-trial championships are set for Cruddington in Shropshire on 7 July. The National 50 is a week earlier in Lytchett Minster, Dorset. HILL CLIMB RTTC National Hill Climb Championships This year’s champs are taking place on Prospect Hill in the north-east of England on 27 Oct. Multiple categories are on offer.…

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