Cycle magazine December 23-January 24 FULL

cycle THE MAGAZINE OF CYCLING UK

LESS TRAFFIC, MORE CYCLING

On test

GENESIS LONGITUDE FOUR-SEASON ROAD TYRES SEE.SENSE LIGHTS VECNUM STEM & MORE

DECEMBER 2023/JANUARY 2024

BACK IN THE SADDLE

Returning to cycling after a life-changing injury

TWO-GRAND GRAVEL BIKES Specialized Diverge Whyte Friston

WHY FEWE R C ARS I S B ET TE R FO R EVE RYBO DY Page 38

A HANDCYCLE UP KILIMANJARO P lu s CHRISTMAS STOCKING FILLERS A NOVEL ADVENTURE WITH HG WELLS CENTRAL LONDON RIDE GUIDE AND MUCH MORE

MOUNTAIN TRIKING AFRICA’S TALLEST PEAK

CONTENTS FEATURES

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30 A handcycle up Kilimanjaro Mountain triking Africa’s tallest peak

Welcome

DAN JOYCE Editor

Why fewer cars is better for everybody

49 Back in the saddle Returning to cycling after a life-changing injury

52 A novel adventure Riding the route of HG Wells’s Wheels of Chance

PRODUCTS

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16 Shop Window Christmas gift ideas

18 Gear up Components, accessories and books

60 Gravel bikes Specialized Diverge Comp E5 and Whyte Friston on test

66 Genesis Longitude A rigid MTB with big tyres and bikepacking potential

69 Four-season road tyres Tougher 28mm rubber for all-weather riding

REGULARS 04 Freewheeling Bits and pieces from the bike world

07 This is Cycling UK

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The 10-year anniversary of Wales’s Active Travel Act; 100 Women in Cycling 2023; Cycling UK Gift Membership; and more

14 You are Cycling UK

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90-year-old End-to-Ender Peter Langford

27 Letters Your feedback on Cycle and cycling

On the cover

Projection in London ahead of COP27 by Double Take, for Cycling UK

46 Weekender 13-mile sightseer around Central London

56 Cyclopedia Questions answered, topics explained

73 Travellers’ Tales Cycling UK members’ ride reports

CYCLING UK: Parklands, Railton Road, Guildford, GU2 9JX E: cycling@cyclinguk.org W: cyclinguk.org T: 01483 238300. Cycle promotes the work of Cycling UK. Cycle’s circulation is approx. 51,000. Cycling UK is one of the UK’s largest cycling membership organisations, with approx. 70,500 members and affiliates.

President: Jon Snow Chief executive: Sarah Mitchell. Cyclists’ Touring Club, a Company Limited by Guarantee, registered in England No 25185, registered as a charity in England and Wales Charity No 1147607 and in Scotland No SC042541. Registered office: Parklands, Railton Road, Guildford, GU2 9JX. CYCLE MAGAZINE: Editor: Dan Joyce E: editor@cyclinguk.org Designer: Christina Richmond Advertising: Bevan Fawcett T: 0203 198 3092 E: bevan.fawcett@jamespembrokemedia.co.uk Publisher: James Houston. Cycle is published six times per year on behalf of Cycling UK by James Pembroke Media, 90 Walcot Street, Bath, BA1 5BG. T: 01225 337777. Cycle is copyright Cycling UK, James Pembroke Media, and individual contributors. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission from Cycling UK and James Pembroke Media is forbidden. Views expressed in the magazine are those of the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of the editor or the policies of Cycling UK. Advertising bookings are subject to availability, the terms and conditions of James Pembroke Media, and final approval by Cycling UK. Printed by: Acorn Web Offset Ltd, Loscoe Close, Normanton Industrial Estate, Normanton, WF6 1TW T: 01924 220633 Founded in 1878

Top to bottom: Karen Darke, Shutterstock, Tom Bogdanowicz, Rebecca Mitten

The political slogans, tabloid front pages and toys thrown from prams on social media tell the same story: there’s a ‘war on motorists’. Standing up against this ‘eco zealotry’ is solidarity with Britain’s ‘hardpressed drivers’. It’s definitely not a naked attempt to leverage votes ahead of the next general election, after an anti-ULEZ candidate narrowly won a by-election…

The casualties of this cooked-up culture war are wide ranging. The environment.

Health. People’s freedom to choose transport other than the car… Frankly, who doesn’t benefit from there being fewer cars on the road? It even benefits drivers, who can enjoy faster journey times due to reduced congestion.

It especially benefits active travel, more of which is good for individuals, society and the planet. When there are fewer cars, people cycle more. We saw this during the pandemic. A survey by Sustrans found that 62% of people would cycle more if there were fewer cars.

Measures such as low-traffic neighbourhoods, 20mph zones and better facilities for walking and cycling meet with loud objections from a vocal minority but are consistently more popular than not with the wider public.

Safer roads and cycle tracks don’t hinder people driving to work or the supermarket. We’re all just people trying to get somewhere. We don’t need this fabricated divisiveness. Less traffic and more cycling doesn’t create a downtrodden country of disenfranchised drivers. It creates a better, more sustainable transport network, like they have in the Netherlands. One day, eh?

38 Less traffic, more cycling

cycle TH E WO ND ER FU L WO RL A SH O RT TO UR ARO UN D

D O F CYCLIN G Shop Window

MORE ITEMS ON PAGE 16

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Classic kit You ride

Katie’s ‘family car’ is a Raleigh Stride 2 e-cargo bike

Katie Collier

Community campaigner & active travel champion

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atie Collier only picked up cycling during lockdown when she needed a way to get to work in London. Shortly after, Katie and her family moved to Worcester and, finding public transport options lacking, she bought a cargo bike. Katie now cycles everywhere with her children, running day-to-day errands and helping other parents and children ride to school.

“Cycling has completely changed how I connect with my local area,” Katie said. “That’s why I’m so passionate about encouraging other ‘normal’, non-sporty people like me to cycle.”

A dedicated campaigner, Katie is a key part of the Worcester Kidical Mass organisation team, helping run multiple bike buses each week at various schools, as well as cycle confidence events for women who want a safe space to practise cycling.

Katie is also a member of Warndon Parish Council, where she champions active travel and challenges the car-centric thinking and infrastructure design prevalent in Worcester.

“Local infrastructure isn’t good enough,” said Katie. “I want to be out on my bike agitating for better provision. I also want people to be able to look at me going about my usual business of schools runs, the weekly shop and getting to work in my dungarees or dresses, and think ‘yep, OK, I could do that, too!’”

EXPLORE THE 100 WOMEN IN CYCLING Katie Collier is one of Cycling UK’s 100 Women in Cycling 2023.

Find out more about all the women who have been profiled at cyclinguk.org/100Women.

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Timber bell We’ve mentioned this bell before in Shop Window. It’s ideal for alerting walkers (or other riders) on shared-use, off-road trails.

Instead of pinging it manually, you press a lever to release the clapper and the bell jingles all the way down the trail, letting others know before you suddenly appear. No one gets startled, everyone’s happy. The bolt-on version is best. £25, mtbbell.com

Really?!

Lotus Type 136 First Edition It’s a carbon fibre e-bike that tips the scales at 9.8kg and, in its limited edition version, costs £20,000! The HPS Watt Assist motor, which still has to cut out at 25km/h, weighs just 300g and delivers, the website says, “a powerful 125 Watts per kilogram”. They surely can’t mean 37.5W? Prices from £15,199 (regular edition). lotuscars.com

Bike hacks

Dropper post guard Dropper seatposts are right in the firing line from winter mud. No mudguard? Cut a section of old innertube to length – wider works better – and poke four holes near the corners. Use cable ties to fasten it beneath the collar at the bottom and to the saddle rails at the top. An old neoprene chainstay wrap works even better fitted like this.

On my bike

Try this

Nick Crane

Help others on their Traws Eryri journeys

TV presenter, author & adventurer Why do you cycle?

The thrill of self-propelled, sustainable travel.

Cycling UK’s off-road trails each have their own very popular Facebook groups, where people can exchange tips, ideas and experiences. Why not give something back to the charity by becoming a volunteer moderator for one of these groups, including the recently launched Traws Eryri route in Wales/ Cymru? This is a role that can be done from home and shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours a week. You’ll admit members, keep an eye on content and answer queries. We also have several ‘in real life’ opportunities in Scotland for ride leaders and event helpers. volunteer.cyclinguk.org/opportunities

How far do you ride each week?

Varies from 10 to 200 miles.

Which of your bikes is your favourite?

Specialized Tarmac (carbon, Ultegra) for day rides. For local trips and lunch rides, an original 1985 Raleigh 753 (above) built by the TI-Raleigh Master of Ceremonies, Gerald O’Donovan.

This bike was back-up to a modified twin that I rode with cousin Richard Crane across Asia to the ‘centre of the Earth’.

Events

Winter warmers

What do you always take with you when cycling?

Toolkit, pump, lights, bank card for coffee.

There are plenty of Christmas cycling capers taking place this festive season up and down the country. Why not get along to celebrate the Yuletide at one of them and enjoy good company, delicious treats and an excellent midwinter ride too? Not only are there Mince Pie Rides, such as South Devon CTC’s on Sunday 3 December, but also Christmas dinners and lunches, as well as other activities like treasure hunts and more. Many require booking, so contact your nearest group for further details: cyclinguk.org/group-listing.

Who mends your punctures?

I do, but I’ve switched to armoured tyres and can’t remember the last time I had to press on a patch.

It’s raining: bike, public transport, or car?

Bike.

Watch this Forget the Christmas classics: for an uplifting film filled with good cheer, look no further than Monet Adams’s movie, Along for the Ride.

Recently shown at the Kendal Mountain Festival, it charts the adventures of three bikepacking mothers and their children along Cycling UK’s Norfolk-based route Rebellion Way in winter: Vicky Balfour and CeCe, Phoebe Sneddon and Torben, and Kelly Collinge and Atlas. It’s bike touring as it should be: lessons, laughs, good times and, of course, cake! bit.ly/cycle-alongfortheride

Lycra or normal clothes?

Lycra for the Specialized. Civvies for the 753.

Nick Crane portrait: Christopher Crane

Above right: Sam Dugon. Below right: Graham Brodie

Facebook route moderator

If you had £100 to spend on cycling, what would you get?

App for bike routes.

What’s your favourite cycle journey?

Bay of Bengal – Kathmandu – Himalayas – Lhasa – Tibetan Plateau – Gobi Desert – Urumqi (46º16.8' N , 86º40.2' E).

What single thing would most improve matters for UK cyclists?

A bike awareness segment in the driving test.

C Y CL I NGUK . O RG cycle 5

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Stay in touch Be in the know on all things cycling related. If you’d like to hear more about Cycling UK’s work – our projects, training, campaigns and fundraising, and how you can get involved – sign up to hear more: cyclinguk.org/subscribe

The election cycle With a general election looming, Cycling UK has been speaking to politicians about the big wins available from backing more bike use. Sarah Mitchell reports

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Photo: Abdullrhman Hassona

of people agree that ‘Britain would be better if more people cycled’ (source: YouGov survey)

ow do we convince politicians to care about cycling? Speaking to policy makers about cycling in isolation won’t be enough to push it to the top of their priority list. We must show that getting more people moving around by bike has a positive impact on the key challenges most politicians are keen to address – such as climate change, public health, air quality and economic growth.

To that end, Cycling UK has been at the main political party conferences this autumn, including the Liberal Democrat, Conservative, Labour, Scottish National Party (SNP) and Scottish Greens conferences. We hosted events, spoke on panels and met with politicians, future candidates, advisors and journalists to bang the drum for better policies and more investment in cycling. With a general election on the horizon, this was an important opportunity to move cycling up the political agenda and seek to influence commitments in party manifestos. This policy and campaigning work will continue to be a top priority for Cycling UK throughout 2024.

We are continuing to develop Cycling UK’s new strategy, which will launch in spring 2024. Part of that process has been looking back on our current strategy and I’m really proud of everything we’ve achieved together – particularly the way we’ve grown and

Cycling UK at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool this autumn

Stay connected

77%

facebook.com/CyclingUK

strengthened the organisation over the past five years. We are now working to build on that success with a bold plan for how we can fully realise the potential of cycling to improve our health and wellbeing and tackle climate change right across the UK. While the work is ongoing, I’m confident that it will be an ambitious strategy that will aim to build strong public support for cycling, which is essential to make the UK a better place to cycle for us all. I look forward to sharing the full details with you very soon.

You may have seen that we recently announced our annual 100 Women in Cycling for 2023. It’s a remarkable collection of individuals who’ve each had a positive impact on cycling, from campaigners and community champions to visionary leaders and exceptional athletes. It’s so important for us to celebrate those who empower others, and to improve the visibility of women in cycling, so that more women feel that riding a bike is for them.

On the subject of awards, we’re delighted to have won the BikeBiz Cycle Advocacy Award for the third consecutive year. Our campaigns and policy work is only possible thanks to our members and supporters, with this recognition highlighting the strength of our collective voice.

All eyes will turn to Edinburgh in December for a critical moment for cycling, as the Scottish Government announces its budget for 2024/25. If the government makes good on its commitment to spend 10% of the transport budget on active travel – something Cycling UK and others campaigned for over many years – it will be a giant leap towards making Scotland a cyclefriendly nation. That’s why we wrote to First Minister Humza Yousaf earlier in the autumn, urging him to remain steadfast in his support for cycling.

As we come towards the end of 2023, I want to say a huge thank you to all of our members, supporters, volunteers and groups for your support, energy and enthusiasm this year. Here’s to an exciting 2024.

@wearecyclinguk

www.cyclinguk.org

Getting more people moving around by bike has a positive impact on… climate, health, air quality and economic growth

cycling@cyclinguk.org

01483 238301 CY CL I NGUK . O RG cycle 7

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46%

of low-income households don’t have access to a car (source: greenalliance.org.uk)

Celebratory ride for the Active Travel Act begins

Left: Simon Ayre. Right: Alamy

Transport

Wales

10 YEARS OF THE ACTIVE TRAVEL ACT While the UK Government is rowing back on active travel, Wales has something to celebrate, as Gwenda Owen reports

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he Active Travel Act in Wales had its 10th anniversary on 4 October. To celebrate we ate cake, rode our bikes, applauded Wales’s politicians and discussed how we could ensure that the Active Act Travel delivers on its vision of walking and cycling becoming the normal choice for shorter journeys.

The Active Travel Act was and remains ground breaking. It places a duty on every local authority to plan and prioritise improvements to walking and cycling routes, creating a network by which people of all ages and abilities can get about without always having to resort to using a car.

Many of us who work and campaign for active travel improvements do, however, feel a little frustrated because the promise of the act has not yet been delivered. Some local authorities are making more progress than others, with joined-up networks being seen here and there, but it’s patchy and progress seems so slow. Given the role that cycling has to play in addressing the climate emergency, pollution, transport poverty and pressures on our health services, it should be something that every local authority is prioritising.

The anniversary was a call to action as well as a celebration. We currently have cross-party

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support for active travel in the Senedd, and Lee Waters MS is a committed deputy minister who has driven through significant change. But politicians move on, priorities can change and, as we’ve seen in England recently, support for active travel can falter.

To keep walking and cycling high up on the agenda of our local and national politicians we need them to understand what a good active travel network offers. It’s not just about the bike – it provides better transport choices, cleaner air, nice places to live, work and play, easy access to shops and services, and it enables our children to move around their communities without fear.

We campaigners have a crucial role to play in trying to ensure that politicians in Wales continue to do the right thing. Political cycles and positioning being as it is, we can’t be complacent.

Now more than ever we need to strengthen the call for continued investment and commitment to create an active travel network that works for all and that gives people real choices about how they travel.

This is why it’s so important that we grow grassroots support and develop a diverse network for people who feel able to advocate for cycling in all sorts of ways. See cyclinguk.org/ cycle-advocacy-network-resources.

PLAN FOR DRIVERS No, you haven’t travelled back in time 30 years: the UK Government really has come up with a ‘plan for drivers’.

Proposals are less about driving and more about restricting councils’ powers to introduce measures making cycling safer and more attractive for more people. Cycling UK wants to see a transport plan that provides better choices for us all. You can write to Rishi Sunak and we’ll deliver an early Christmas card letting him know your views: cyclinguk.org/TellThePM

Cyclists’ Defence Fund

KEYHOLE BRIDGE VICTORY In March, Cycling UK took Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council to court when it reopened Keyhole Bridge in Poole Park to motor traffic. (It had been closed in 2020 to stop people driving through the park.) We thought the decision unlawful, as the council didn’t consider the relevant guidance. The council has conceded and has agreed to pay our costs, so people can use Poole Park without fear of rat-run drivers.

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Scotland

CYCLING CHAMPIONS

Cycling UK’s website was relaunched this autumn, with easier navigation and better accessibility tools. cyclinguk.org

It’s been a time for heroes in Scotland as we honoured the Cycling Champions of the Year. They included Shgufta Anwar (above), a charity founder empowering other women to ride; an extraordinary cycling grandmother; a communityfocused bike shop in Shetland; and a bike-friendly Edinburgh hair salon. We’re proud to join three other cycling organisations in highlighting their amazing work. cyclinguk.org/ cycling-champions

Northern Ireland

SAFER CYCLING INQUIRY This October, in our role as Secretariat for the Cycling All Party Group (APG) in Northern Ireland’s Assembly, Cycling UK organised an expert panel focusing on 20mph speed limits and the GB Highway Code changes (not adopted yet by NI). These measures are part of the APG’s inquiry into ‘10 short-to-medium term interventions to increase the uptake and safety of cycling’, which Cycling UK backs. cyclinguk. org/NI-apg-inquiry

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Fatima Patel is a ride leader for Cycle Sisters

Awards

100 WOMEN IN CYCLING 2023

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ovember saw the unveiling of Cycling UK’s annual 100 Women in Cycling 2023 list.

Although women are still underrepresented in cycling, each year we are amazed by the number of nominations we receive for wonderful candidates – women who work to make cycling a more inclusive space and encourage others to start riding.

Along with guest judges Hannah Dobson, managing editor of Singletrack World, and Michelle ArthursBrennan, digital editor of Cycling Weekly, we have

given equal consideration to women in four categories: those achieving athletic feats; influencers who make women’s cycling more visible; entrepreneurs who ensure women are represented across the industry; and people who put in the hours to have a positive impact on their local communities.

This year’s list includes Fatima Patel, who started cycling after a mental health crisis, joined Cycle Sisters and became a ride leader.

She is now a role model for other Muslim women, sharing the joy that she discovered through cycling.

Rosemary Hill, project coordinator at Sheffield Cycling 4 All, is also on the list. She is passionate about supporting disabled people and anyone who can’t ride a two-wheeled bike to cycle.

Emily Williams, meanwhile, is Scotland’s first ever bicycle mayor. She is an ambassador for cycling and has been integral to bringing Kidical Mass to the Inverness area – a movement organising rides where children reclaim the streets for bikes.

Read about these inspirational women and others at cyclinguk. org/100women/2023.

Cycling development

WINTER BIG BIKE REVIVAL In October we announced a £3m funding boost from Active Travel England, which will support Cycling UK’s Big Bike Revival for the next 18 months.

Our staff are already out there as winter begins, with a programme of events to engage people who don’t cycle regularly. They’ll provide cycle skills, social rides and repair sessions, and will encourage

Extra funds mean BBR is back

people to keep riding through the colder months. If you know of a community centre that would be ideal for hosting events, funding applications are still open until 15 December. cyclinguk.org/bigbikerevival/ current-programme

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Prizes

Members get £2 off any of the guidebooks to Cycling UK’s long-distance off-road routes. cyclinguk.org/ member-benefits

Win big this New Year! Our annual raffle returns with great prizes. Your support funds our work breaking down barriers to cycling and advocating for fair treatment for those who cycle. Thanks to you, our last raffle raised £34,000 to continue this important work. Scan the QR code to see past winners.

Will you be next? The New Year Raffle opens 3 January.

Enter online for your chance to kickstart 2024 with an amazing prize. cyclinguk. org/raffles-competitions

Membership benefits

SAVE MONEY WITH CYCLING UK Don’t let the colder weather dampen your riding: whatever the conditions we have a benefit or offer from leading retail partners that could save you money each year. On top of £10m thirdparty liability insurance, the Cycle-SOS incident line, Cycle magazine and weekly CycleClips newsletter, our latest membership benefits include KitBrix, VeloVixen, Stolen Goat, Wildcat Gear, Halfords and Experience Freedom with the Caravan and Motorhome Club. Log in and click ‘My Membership’ to browse all your benefits.

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Share your love of cycling with a gift that lasts all year

Christmas

20% OFF CYCLING UK GIFT MEMBERSHIP

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ith Christmas season well underway, why not consider giving a gift membership to Cycling UK? It’s the ideal way to spread the love of cycling. Like you, new members can save money, access information and inspiration to make the most of their riding, and benefit from insurance and other ‘peace of mind’ offers. And, of course, every additional membership helps our work to improve cycling for everyone. At the reduced price of £40, gift membership is better value than ever.

Perhaps you have a friend or family member who has taken up cycling recently to beat the cost-of-living crisis? Or you know someone who loves mountain biking but wants to try some longer adventure rides?

Whatever the type of cycling – errands around town, visiting friends, commuting to work, off-road adventures or touring rides – Cycling UK has something to offer.

Have you checked the latest member benefits? Members can save on bikes and servicing at Halfords, get kitted out with cycle clothing for less at Stolen Goat and VeloVixen, and save on outdoors kit at Snow+Rock and Cotswold Outdoor.

Members can also save on YHA membership and on glamping trips through Experience Freedom (part of the Caravan and Motorhome Club). For anyone wanting to try something new without committing, there are discounts on e-bike hire with Hurrecane and on cycle trailer hire with Bike Trailer Hire.

New members will also receive Cycle magazine every two months. As you know, it’s full of quality content to inform, entertain and inspire, including reviews of cycling kit, ideas for routes and holidays and cycling tales from other members. To provide peace of mind when out riding, members receive free legal cover and third-party insurance, and get a £50 discount on cycle insurance taken out with Yellow Jersey.

So this year, forget socks and bubble bath: give Cycling UK gift membership.

It’s the gift that keeps on giving! You can order gift membership as late as Christmas Eve – your lucky recipient will receive a welcome email with discount codes to snap up bargains in the Boxing Day sales. The full membership pack will be posted soon afterwards. cyclinguk.org/ christmasgiftmembership

Left: Mary Doggett

NEW YEAR RAFFLE

you are

Oldest E2E cyclist

PETER LANGFORD

At the age of 90, Cycling UK member Peter Langford became the oldest cyclist to complete the End to End. Jennifer Young spoke to him

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any members of Cycling UK have undertaken the challenge of the End to End: riding from the UK’s southern tip at Land’s End to the northernmost point of John o’ Groats. For Peter Langford, arriving at the famous John o’ Groats signpost in September had special significance. Not only was it the fourth time he had completed it but he did so at the age of 90, becoming the oldest known End to Ender!

Retired vicar Peter, from Beccles in Suffolk, considers it his most enjoyable trip yet, thanks to the combination of support from family and friends, the kindness of strangers and favourable weather.

Peter’s first LEJOG was at the age of 75, when he raised £25,000 for Ringsfield Hall Trust, a residential centre for church and school groups, which he set up with his wife Sally in 1972. Peter completed the ride despite discovering that his bike was not really up to the job. “It was quite an old bike with inadequate gears and too wide a saddle that made my backside very sore,” he said. “It was a relief when I had to get off on steep hills and could give my bottom a rest! As I went along I kept muttering to myself, ‘never again’.”

However, five years later, with extra gears and a better saddle, Peter was back, raising more money for charity in the process. Then in 2018, at the age of 85, Peter rode LEJOG for a third time, once again raising funds for charity and benefitting from a new bike with much better gears.

And once again he vowed that it would be the last time – although his family suspected otherwise. “Sure enough, I was tempted as I approached 90 to have one more go!” he said. “I decided to do it in aid of the homeless.”

Riding nearly 3,500 miles in training at the start of the year prepared Peter well for the road ahead. He was also supported on the ride by family and friends – the highlight of the trip for him.

“Getting to spend time with my family and friends made this trip the most satisfying and fulfilling of all four. They

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Your own E2E

This was Peter’s fourth E2E. He also rode it aged 75, 80 and 85 Below: Leaving Innerleithen, en route to Edinburgh

carried my panniers between them almost all the way. I had time with each of my three children, two of whom cycled with me for parts of the route, along with two of my three granddaughters [one of whom is expecting Peter’s first great grandchild] and their husbands.”

The support of strangers was another highlight of the trip, with many people donating after spotting Peter’s eyecatching, bright yellow T-shirt emblazoned with ‘Land’s End to John o’ Groats at age 90 in aid of the homeless’.

Peter said the T-shirt was “worth its weight in gold!” From people handing him money through car windows, to a woman who secretly paid for brake repairs, to the owner of a bed and breakfast who provided accommodation and a meal for free, Peter feels huge gratitude for the kindness he experienced. He has now raised over £40,000 of the £50,000 target for the Salvation Army and Access Community Trust.

And gratitude was what Peter felt when he arrived at John o’ Groats after 30 days and 1,100 miles to be met by cheering family members. “When I got to John o’ Groats I embraced the post and then knelt down on the ground and thanked God. All wonderful – but don’t put any money on my doing it at 95!”

More Info Peter’s fundraising page is: j ustgiving.com/campaign/peterlangford

If Peter’s story has inspired you to consider doing an End to End yourself, you can find all the tools you need to plan it on our website at cyclinguk.org/ lejog. Whether you prefer to complete the route as quickly as possible or take your time on quieter roads, our information pack has the right route for you, with GPX files and ideas for accommodation along the way. Find out the best time of year to attempt the ride, and whether you should go from south to north (LEJOG) or the opposite (JOGLE).

And don’t forget to check out the Cycling UK Forum (forum. cyclinguk.org), where LEJOGers past, present and future share information and experiences.

P roduct news

SHOP WINDOW Christmas is coming so you’re about to receive a present of ‘something with a bike on it’. Dodge that fate by sharing Dan Joyce’s last-minute gift list

Save more this Christmas

As a member, you can save up to 50% on a wide range of cycling products and services. Visit cyclinguk.org/ member-benefits

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Wera 3950/9 HexPlus Multicolour Stainless 1 L-key set

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Just Ride £10.99

Grant Petersen’s book isn’t new but is still a muchneeded exposition and validation of everyday, practical cycling. It’s also ideal for any roadie you want to annoy! workman.com

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Stolen Goat Iowa Thermolite Crew Socks £15 A gift of socks can be for her as well as him – these cosy, cooler-weather socks come in sizes S-XL. Cycling UK members get 15% off at VeloVixen. velovixen.com

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Season: A letter to the future £20.99+

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Tour de France 2024 calendar

A computer game where you only shoot things with a camera, Season is a bittersweet adventure whose cycling heroine tours and documents her imperilled world. For PC (£20.99) or PS4/5 (£24.99). scavengers.ca

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£39.99 Workshop perfection: a nine-piece, stainless steel Allen key set with sizes from 1.5-10mm. They’re colour coded to save time and stored in a handy clip. www-uk.wera.de/en

Beeline Velo 2

£99.99 This user-friendly computer offers turn-by-turn navigation for up to 11 hours. It works as a handlebar display for the Beeline app running on your phone (screen off, saving power). beeline.co

Cycling UK gift membership £40

A Cycling UK gift membership is guaranteed to bring smiles on Christmas morning. As a seasonal promotion, you can enjoy 20% off – which means more value for less. cyclinguk.org/ christmasgiftmembership

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£10.99 Calendars are another staple gift. Instead of landscapes or kittens or whatever, how about photos of cyclists racing Tour de France stages? danilo.com

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More online Check out our in-depth reviews of the latest bikes and gear online at: cyclinguk.org/cycling-advice

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R e v ie w s

Gear up

Put to the test Is there a product you’d like us to test? Write to: Cycle, Cycling UK, Parklands, Railton Rd, Guildford, GU2 9JX or editor@cyclinguk.org

COMPONENTS, KIT, AND MEDIA SELECTED AND REVIEWED BY BIKE JOURNALISTS AND CYCLING UK STAFF Other options

REDSHIFT SHOCKSTOP £189.99

Pros & cons

+ Superlative ride comfort + Easy adjustment + No ‘nod’

Vecnum

FreeQENCE stem Expensive suspension stem with a performance to match

£299 vecnum.com, projektride.co.uk

O

n road, perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the impressive performance of Vecnum’s FreeQENCE suspension stem is the absence of any indication that it is doing anything. The lumps and troughs of even the roughest of ‘dual cabbageway’ back lanes barely register, yet there’s no real hint, visual or palpable, of movement.

Bumps too big for the stem’s 20mm of positive travel get through, of course – this is a suspension stem, not fork – but for riding that stops short of serious off roading, the degree of shock absorption is exceptional.

It does depend on fine tuning

the four elastomers that provide the suspension medium but this is easy. Turning a 3mm Allen bolt in the right-hand side of the stem adjusts for a rider weight from 50-120kg and for preferred comfort level. The factory setting is five-to-six turns in, and even half a turn makes a noticeable difference in ride firmness.

The elastomers soak up high frequency vibrations and dampen movement, eliminating bounce. The system offers up to 10mm of ‘sprung’ upwards handlebar movement from the neutral position in addition to the downwards movement that absorbs shocks. This ensures that

the stem does not ‘top out’ over repeated bumps. Instead, the handlebar simply floats around some intermediate point, with upward movement only seen when pulling up on a climb.

All three stem lengths use the same parallelogram mechanism, springing and geometry, which gives a notional +3º orientation and ensures there’s no change in handlebar angle, or nod through the stroke. Different rear sections incorporating the 28.6mm steerer tube clamp provide the 90mm, 105mm and 120mm reaches. The FreeQENCE accepts handlebars with a 31.8mm centre bulge and installation is as simple as with a regular stem, although it requires at least 42mm of exposed steerer tube length.

Machined from 7075 aluminium and fitted with titanium hardware, the Vecnum has a two-year warranty. It’s robust – there’s no flex when climbing out of the saddle – and not unduly heavy at 317g for the 120mm sample. If not exactly exposed, the mechanism might collect dirt when riding in muddy conditions.

Richard Hallett

Cycle’s test promise At Cycle, we are proudly independent. There’s no pressure to please advertisers as we’re funded by your membership. Our product reviews aren’t press releases; they’re written by experienced cyclists after thorough testing.

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Simple, effective and unobtrusive single-pivot stem that’s adjusted by swapping elastomers.

redshiftsports.com

TRANSX ANTISHOCK STEM £45

Lightweight stem with limited movement that suits vibration damping.

tranzx.com

Verdict

The Vecnum FreeQENCE recalibrates the suspension handlebar stem.

The parallelogram geometry, simple one-key adjustment over a wide range and elastomer suspension medium eliminate ‘nod’, soak up vibration and dampen vertical motion for a supersupple ride.

REVIEWS

GEAR UP

Pros & cons + Great run time + Impressive functionality – Cost may put off many

See.Sense

Other options

ICON3 light set

Bright, customisable lights with a ride-data-collection function £179.99 seesense.cc

A

t first glance, See.Sense lights look like many other low-profile cycle lights on the market. A closer inspection of the technology inside the new ICON3 light set reveals a cycling accessory with the potential to change the riding landscape around us.

These lights are an improvement on previous iterations of the Bluetoothconnected ICON lights, having 20% more power (575 lumens up front, 350 at the rear) and a wider (270 degrees) arc of visibility. Run time is a genuinely impressive 15 hours. Regularly using these lights for my commute, I went around three weeks before my first recharge.

The ICON3 lights react to the environment around you.

When traffic is approaching the lights’ flashing patterns are

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adjusted to make you more visible in the most essential moments.

The long-lasting battery life is also bolstered by another unique feature: Get Me Home mode, which offers at least one more hour of run time to get you home safely even when your batteries are low.

With Bluetooth connectivity, the ICON3 lights are easy to customise to get the lighting you want during your ride. But the thing that really sets these See.Sense lights apart is their data-collection function. Every See.Sense user has the option, via the company’s app, to turn on data sharing.

This uses the lights’ patented sensor technology to monitor the environment around you, from surface quality, the stop-start nature of your journey and even near-miss events and collisions.

This information

is anonymised and can then be shared with highway authorities, such as local councils, to potentially improve road safety.

See.Sense has already been involved in a number of cycling projects in Belfast, Coventry and Denver, Colorado.

At £179.99, these lights are certainly not a budget option; you can find similar-power lighting for much less. But if you are looking for an ultra-connected, customisable set of lights that collect information that could be used to improve your local cycling environment, the See.Sense ICON3 lights might be the perfect match.

Alex Ballinger

Verdict

A minimalist-looking light set that packs a huge technological punch, and with truly standout battery life. Given the hefty price tag, these are best suited to the urban commuter who is invested in monitoring and hopefully improving local cycling journeys.

BONTRAGER ION PRO RT/FLARE RT £159.99

A powerful light set that offers 1,300 lumens up front, and with Bluetooth compatibility for customising your lighting options. trekbikes.com

LEZYNE MACRO DRIVE 1400+/STRIP DRIVE PRO 400+ £150

The numbers in the name are the maximum lumens.

The front light has a max run time of 300 hours (!) in its lowest setting. USB chargeable, but with no Bluetooth connectivity. lezyne.com

REVIEWS

GEAR UP

Pros & cons + Wet-weather performance + Modulation – Slightly pricey

SwissStop

Full FlashPro BXP Better wet-weather braking for your rim brake callipers £26.99/pair swissstop.com

Y

Other options

ou can’t beat decent discs for all-conditions braking combined with less lever effort. But that doesn’t mean that rim brakes don’t still have a place or that you can’t improve their performance from ‘perfectly adequate’ to ‘surprisingly good’.

You can fit better (or simply newer) cables and outers. And you can fit different brake pads – like these.

SwissStop’s Full FlashPro BXP brake pads are meant for year-round use on aluminium rims. The ‘full’ part of the name denotes that they come with cartridge holders; the pads alone are £22.99 per pair. Those holders are advertised as compatible with Shimano and SRAM road callipers, although they may fit

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KOOL-STOP DURA2 TRIPLITE THREADED

others and certainly did fit my older-style Brompton callipers.

Talking of which: Bromptonbranded Full FlashPro BXP pads are what you’ll get when you buy brake spares from Brompton these days. It’s a welcome development as the iconic folder used to have poor stopping performance. While the bike’s levers and callipers have been improved in recent years, the convoluted cable run is a feature of the design (as it is with most folders). These pads make an immediate difference to a Brompton’s braking, especially at the rear. Curiously, the Bromptonspecific pads are £32/pair. The standard ones, which I fitted to my Brompton, are £5 cheaper and the compound is the same.

Verdict

A worthwhile brake upgrade for any bike with suitable sidepulls. Especially useful for folding bikes, fixies, winter riding, heavier cyclists and hilly terrain. Grippier tyres like those on pages 69-70 will further complement their performance.

That blue-coloured compound is something special. It works well in the dry and is better yet in the wet, providing reliable and well-modulated braking even in downpours. There’s no grabbiness or noise, just a reassuringly linear progression in stopping power as you squeeze the lever. These pads give an obvious performance boost to a bike with otherwise unimpressive braking, like my old Brompton, and peace of mind when you fit them to a front-brakeonly fixie – which I also did.

If I had other bikes with sidepull callipers, I’d fit these pads to those as well. I’m skinny and have good grip strength so can get by with less effective pads – but who doesn’t want better braking, especially in the wet? You’d expect what must be a softer compound to wear rapidly but that doesn’t seem to be the case. There’s plenty of pad material to wear through anyway, to the extent that you might need to re-clamp the cable (or fit a new one) when installing them.

Dan Joyce

£39.99

SHIMANO R55C4 105 CARTRIDGE TYPE BRAKE SHOE SET

Kool-Stop’s salmon-coloured pad compound is also well suited to soggy UK conditions. Often, as here, it’s combined with other materials for a more all-round performance.

Replacement Shimano pads are decent in the wet and dry but aren’t that much cheaper than even grippier ones from SwissStop or Kool-Stop.

koolstop.com

shimano.com

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£18.99

R e v ie w s

Books

Print queue Cycle doesn’t feature all books received. Reviewers pick the ones they think you need to know about from the editor’s list. Send books to: Cycle, Cycling UK, Parklands, Railton Rd, Guildford, GU2 9JX

CYCLING INSPIRATION WHEN YOU’RE STUCK INSIDE

Traws Eryri

Details

By: Guy Kesteven Publisher: Cycling UK Price: £14 (£12 to

members)

ISBN: 9781739501709

FROM MAGNIFICENT PHOTOGRAPHY showcasing the new MTB bikepacking route to thorough descriptions and stageby-stage Ordinance Survey mapping, the Traws Eryri route guide is as inspiring as it is comprehensive. Not only does it detail each stage of the route and what you’ll find along it, but the guide also describes the evolution of the Traws Eryri, with information about future potential improvements. Hats off to author Guy Kesteven for weaving in so much of Wales’s heritage. If the Traws Eryri is on your ride list, this guide is a must-have.

Katherine Moore

Türkiye

Bikepacking Wales

SAYARER TAKES YOU for a ride from Thessaloniki in Greece, the birthplace of

WHEN REVIEWING A book, I want to enjoy reading it but I’m also looking for any area I think could be improved. On this occasion, however, I cannot fault the book one bit. Emma Kingston has thought of every piece of information I wanted to know and has included it in an easyto-navigate manner, interspersing the text with stunning and inspiring images of Wales, showcasing the routes and trails in their finest glory. And she’s pulled all of this off in a really Details neat, unobtrusive package.

By: Emma Kingston The beginning of the book provides all of the Publisher: Vertebrate context to the later route descriptions, giving Publishing guidance on bikepacking gear, accommodation Price: £20 ISBN: 9781839811906 options, environmental stewardship, Welsh language tips and even how to provide updates (because routes and facilities may change over time).

The routes themselves cover the very best Wales has to offer, each having an easy-to-interpret route map, a view of where the route sits within Wales, written details of the route, and useful information regarding places of interest along the way. The routes are also graded to help you choose and plan your adventure, and there is a link to all the GPX files, too. It really is a very well thought out book, and the reader has been placed at the Excerpts heart of things when it’s been put together.

You can read excerpts from some of the books that Cycle has If bikepacking in Wales is even reviewed at cyclinguk.org/ cycleslightly on your radar, this is book-excerpts definitely the book for you.

Ross Adams

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Turkey’s founder Ataturk Selanik, to Kars in north-east Turkey. He also takes you through its turbulent past, distant and

Details

By: Julian Emre Sayarer Publisher: Arcadia

Books Price: £25 ISBN: 9781529429978

recent. The best travelogues should make you question your preconceptions of a place and force you to engage with what the author is saying. Türkiye succeeds on both fronts, and will take some readers out of their comfort zone when seeing a world from the viewpoint of an author (rightly) proud of their Turkish roots.

Sam Jones

Other Ways to Win

Details

By: Lee Craigie Publisher: Vertebrate

Publishing Price: £14.95 ISBN: 9781839812064

A THOUGHT-PROVOKING READ that takes you on a journey from the structured and demanding world of elite cycle racing to the freedom and fulfilment achieved through personal challenges both on and off the bike. The book takes some unexpected twists and turns, covering a wide range of topics and giving you a real insight into Craigie’s world views and her passion for how cycling can be used as a tool for change. Her anecdotes and antics leave you with a yearning to grab your bike, join the Adventure Syndicate and head for the hills.

Ellen Holmes

O p inio n

Letters

Get in touch

THIS MONTH BIKES ON TRAINS, DOGS IN TRIKES, ISLABIKES, TANDEM TALES, DIY MUDFLAPS – AND MORE

Normandy train

th Letter of the mon

RAIL AGAINST RESTRICTIONS

Win a set of Exposure lights worth £85 The letter of the month wins a set of Trace and Tracer Mk2 DayBright lights, courtesy of Exposure Lights. These small (35g), rechargeable lights are ideal for urban riders or any cyclist wanting to be seen easily: the front emits up to 125 lumens, the rear up to 75.

Conspicuity is boosted by excellent side visibility and an optional DayBright pulse pattern. The casing is durably made from CNC’d aluminium and is waterproof to IP65. For details, or to purchase Exposure lights, visit exposure-use.com/ Brands/Exposure-Lights.

LETTERS are edited for space, clarity and, if necessary, legality. The editor reads and automatically acknowledges all letters but publishes only a selection. Feedback for the next issue must arrive by 23 December. Please include your membership number.

WRITE TO: Letters, Cycle, Cycling UK, Parklands, Railton Rd, Guildford, GU2 9JX or email editor@cyclinguk.org

‘WAR ON MOTORISTS’ Cycling UK will of course get the support of the vast majority of regular cyclists in opposing the government’s cynical pre-election attacks on cycling.

Luckily NGOs and charities are able to challenge governments on the issues they were created to champion.

Or are they? Government figures have in recent times threatened that any charity opposing government policy, or promoting causes they castigate as ‘woke’, could lose its charitable status and therefore a large chunk of its income. The intention of this threat is clearly to stifle dissent.

I hope that Cycling UK will not acquiesce, and will continue your evidence-based and honest campaigning for a healthier and more eco-friendly Britain.

Stephen Psallidas

DOGGY PEDALLING

W

hen I was a teenager you just wheeled your bike into a guard’s van, whereas I’ve recently had another struggle to get my bicycle across country by train. Please can I beg Cycling UK to put further effort into this?

I recently travelled in Normandy in France, where in summer they expand their bicycle carrying capacity by covering vulnerable seating with thick plastic tarpaulin covers. There were even uniformed bike assistants on the train to assist with loading. They had liveried gilets and hats, and pockets stuffed with cycle maps to hand out to promote local tourism! It would be wonderful if such a service was available in the UK. Maybe we could get some of the regional tourism organisations on board to promote their area?

If trains cannot be set up to carry more bikes, what about coaches? The international bike bus service expired with Covid. Can we campaign with National Express or Megabus to have some coach departures with a bike trailer?

Catherine Temple

The article on Lydia Maxwell’s Dogboxx business was enjoyable.

I too have a Christiania box trike used for transporting dogs. My two are almost at the 100kg load limit, and the electric assist comes in handy. Even with the motor, I had to swap the chainset for a triple with a 20-tooth inner for a local 20% incline.

It was worth it for the smiles raised by the sight of doggy ears flapping in the wind on the way back down!

David Sharp

The main problem with the UK’s bikes-on-trains setup is that it only works if few people actually take their bikes on trains. As it’s awkward, few do. Low demand, low supply – a circular argument. Note, however, that the European Bike Express is still advertising services for 2024. See bike-express.co.uk.

Stay connected

facebook.com/CyclingUK

@wearecyclinguk

cycling@cyclinguk.org

Canine cargo

editor@cyclinguk.org C YCL I NGUK . O RG cycle 27

LETTERS

YOUR FEEDBACK

th Photo of the mon

ISLABIKES BOWS OUT

You will know Islabikes is ceasing production – see islabikes. co.uk/pages/ cease-of-sale.

In my view they have provided a remarkable service in improving bikes for children and for ‘non-standard size’ adults.

I hope Cycle will be able to carry some kind of tribute to Isla Rowntree and what she has achieved. You may already have this in hand.

Michael Willmot I’ve already spoken to Isla about doing something. It’s a huge shame to see such a forward-thinking bike company close. But what a legacy! Islabikes galvanised the wider industry into making proper children’s bikes.

Top left: Dan Joyce. Centre: Blackburn & District CTC

A WONDERFUL COMPANION

28

Fifteen years ago, having seen how unsteady my wife was on her own bike, we decided to try a tandem.

My wife loved it and we bought our own. I was the captain (front rider) and used to say it was the only time I was in charge.

Over the next six years we raised almost £50,000 doing charity rides in the Canadian Rockies, Poland, Egypt and Wales. We chose cancer charities as my wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004. Unfortunately her cancer returned in 2013. She sadly passed away on Valentine’s Day in 2014.

I held onto the tandem for nine years before I had the heart to sell it. I was so pleased to let it go to a young couple who had just graduated from university and were going to take a year out cycling around the world. My late wife would have been so pleased, especially as they will be keeping me informed of their adventures via Facebook. So a very happy ending to a wonderful tandem.

Tony Pelham

cycle DE C E MB E R 20 2 3/JAN UARY 2024

NEVER TOO OLD

Anniversary riding

CENTENARY CYCLING

Blackburn & District CTC have been celebrating their centenary this year, with special rides including a 100km event for the more experienced riders, and a 100-minute ride for families and new members.

We’ve produced a special centenary club magazine. There is an ongoing quest called the Blackburn Hundred, on the lines of the BCQ but set entirely in Lancashire. Our clubroom at Rishton Methodist Church will be open most Thursday nights during the winter and next spring, with picture shows and other events, while this year’s Christmas party will be fancy dress, celebrating 100 years of cycling. For more information, please see our website: www.blackburncycling.club.

Tony Stott

THREE-WHEELED BALANCE

As a member, I know Cycling UK is keen to develop inclusivity. But the magazine tends to pay lip service to the difficulties faced by riders of non-standard cycles. There were several articles in the latest edition that highlighted various forms of trikes but while access problems were mentioned they were not developed.

Same with the features on rides. The Glasgow-Edinburgh C2C looks great, but what does a non-standard rider do when they reach those “giddy, narrowpathed, cobbled viaducts”?

All the action photos (not to mention adverts) are of two-wheelers hammering along singletrack or tarmac. Would it not be possible for articles on ride routes to mention accessibility issues for non-standards?

Just to say, this Oct/Nov edition was one of the most interesting this year.

Graham Hewitt

Rereading my June/July issue, I spotted the photo on p32 about 92-year-old Donald Wells.

It’s good to see him still at it. My wife and I bumped into him in 2019 at a campsite in Tarascon on the Rhône; he had almost finished his trip from its source in the Swiss Alps to the Med. I took this photo as he was about to set off.

Mike Watson

CYCLING UK FORUM

Get immediate feedback from other members at forum.cyclinguk.org. Here’s an abridged extract from a recent thread: cyclinguk.org/ mudflaps MUDFLAPS: WHAT DO YOU USE? mattsccm: What do you lot use to make additional mudflaps for mudguards? For the front I use damp-course plastic. For the rear I use reflective plastic often found wrapped around electricity poles.

Brucey: After years of cutting up random bits of rubber/plastic I now suspect that the answer is to make the mudflap from suitable cloth [e.g. brolly fabric] and to weight/stiffen the lower edge with a piece of old spoke.

PT1029: I use lorry innertube. Only hangs straight if you use sections from the centre of the tube. I’m running low; I must use the A34 cycle track to see if any more cast-offs have appeared. cycleruk: Damp-proof course, ice-cream

carton, plastic bottle, etc. All cut to shape and usually pop-riveted on. slowster: I use dampproof course, but I like a long mudflap and DPC can be too flexible in long lengths. rjb: Duct tape built up is a simple, quick solution. iandusud: Sections that I cut out from large plastic plant pots – the sort that plants from garden centres come in.

They can be softened with a heat gun to shape. cyclop: Plastic from the larger bleach bottles.

Last forever Steve: Kitchen lino. andrew_s: For the front, I use half of a rubber hot water bottle.

TrevA: You can make a decent rear mudflap out of an Ass Saver mini mudguard. Certainly more useful than its original intended purpose.

X X X X X X X EX BXCXO X

ADVERTORIAL

Ebco’s Adventure (left), Street (right) and Urban (below) ranges

Advertorial

EBCO RETURNS TO SPLENDOUR British e-bike brand EBCO is back stronger than ever, unveiling three exciting new ranges of bikes, a revamped website with improved user experience, and convenient click-and-collect service

F

ollowing a brief pause, Warwickbased e-bike company EBCO is hitting the market again with a fresh new start, highlighting its commitment to ongoing evolution, innovation, and elevating customer experience. This relaunch comes with new branding, an exciting range of bikes and a revamped website with a convenient click-andcollect option that allows you to choose your preferred local bike retailer for predelivery and handover.

In its 13th year as a dedicated e-bike manufacturer, EBCO introduces its new range of e-bikes designed with function in mind, representing significant improvements in technical features. These

features include LG internal batteries optimised for weight distribution and improved handling, designs centred on user comfort which maintain a traditional look, and a slacker head angle adaptable for any level of rider. Additionally, EBCO has refocused on size split and wheel sizes to accommodate more people with fewer compromises.

With EBCO’s upgraded battery performance, extended riding distance, BAFANG motors, and an eco-friendly approach, all infused with British style and a unique flair, your satisfaction is guaranteed.

The company’s new website reflects the importance we place on innovation, comfort and convenience. The website now features a click-and-collect option, making the process of purchasing bikes more straightforward, delivering them to your preferred shop for pick-up. The overall design of the website is clean, clear and user-friendly, allowing you to find all the information you need about our three ranges of e-bikes: Urban (with well-thoughtout function and classic styling), Adventure (go-anywhere bikes with a mountain bike

DNA) and Street (fun bikes with small sizes, perfect for short hops).

“At EBCO, we’re thrilled to re-enter the market with a focus on urban mobility and sustainable transport. Our products align seamlessly with the needs of customers who prioritise these crucial factors, including addressing climate change,” said Chris Needs, Head of EBCO UK. EBCO is a UK brand that thrives on a passion for electric bikes and environmentally friendly transportation.

The company prides itself on designing bikes that are comfortable, reliable, eco-friendly and of great value. EBCO’s e-bikes are rapidly growing in popularity throughout the UK due to their numerous benefits and affordable prices.

More Information For further information on EBCO’s new brand, bikes, and click-and-collect services, please visit the new website: ebco-ebikes.co.uk C YCL I NGUK . O RG cycle 29 53

G R E AT R I D E S

KILIMANJARO

Great Rides

A HANDCYCLE U

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KILIMANJARO

G R E AT R I D E S

NICK AND DICK CRANE CLIMBED AFRICA’S TALLEST PEAK WITH MOUNTAIN BIKES IN 1985. LAST SUMMER, KAREN DARKE REACHED THE SUMMIT ON HER ICE FULL FAT TRIKE

UP KILIMANJARO

C Y CL I NGUK . O RG cycle 31

F

our in the morning: antidote. Now, perhaps, we a late start were both seeking another for climbing a remedy of sorts. Steve was mountain as high as attempting to mountain bike Kilimanjaro. My head up Kilimanjaro and I was throbbed and the desire to trying to do it on a handKAREN DARKE vomit spoiled any urge to cranked trike.

Karen is a eat breakfast. I thought of Paralympic MOUNTAIN CYCLING the long scree slope ahead of gold medallist, The first people to reach us. Our ride to the crater rim adventurer, coach the summit of Kilimanjaro would be extra challenging, and author. She has on mountain bikes were the given Steve’s limited sight also handcycled Crane cousins in 1985. If I had and my own inability across the Himalaya researched more thoroughly, to walk. and the Tibetan plateau I may have found this Cycling Steve Bate and I are longUK forum comment: “Saracen time friends and Paralympic sponsored Nick (yes, him off the telly) cycle teammates. We had shared years and Dick Crane to ride (more like carry) on the medal-chasing treadmill and some Saracen MTBs up Kilimanjaro in both won Paralympic golds. But at times the ’80s…” And I’d have focused on the we had lost connection with things world ‘carry’. that really mattered to us. Wild places.

My optimism came from the Perspective. Adventure. knowledge that various paraplegics We had taken one big trip together had summited the mountain. In 2009, after the Rio 2016 Paralympics, cycling American Chris Waddell became the the rough trail of the Carretera Austral, first paraplegic man to reach the top of 1,200km through Patagonian wilderness.

Kilimanjaro on a handcycle. The same It was a post-Paralympic depression

G R E AT R I D E S

Left & previous pages: Kevin Benstead

KILIMANJARO

The vast volcanic cone of Kili was clear of cloud, high above and luring us onward

Previous pages: The whole team taking a break. Given the high altitude, progress needed to be slow and steady Above: Fat-bike tyres and huge ground clearance enabled Karen to keep riding over extreme terrain C YCL I NGUK . O RG cycle 33

G R E AT R I D E S

Right: Kevin Benstead. Far right: Karen Darke

KILIMANJARO

Fact file

A handcycle up Kilimanjaro Distance: Day one, Rongai Gate to Simba Camp (8km); day two to Kikelewa Cave (6km); day three to Mawenzi (5km); day four to Kibo (10km); day five to summit (6km) and down to Horombo Hut (16km); day six to Marangu Gate (20km).

Ascent: Day one, 884m (2,900ft); day two, 610m (2,000ft); day three, 156m (511ft); day four, 716m (2,349ft); day five, 1,580m (5,181ft) up, then down 2,175m (7,136ft); day six, down 1,768m (5,799ft).

Route: We ascended via the Rongai route on the northern side, retracing our steps on summit day as far as Kibo Camp before descending via the Marangu route on the southern side.

Conditions: In August, the coldest summit climb temperatures were around minus 5ºC, and just positive at the hottest time of day.

Lower down the mountain, typical temperatures varied from 5 to 20ºC depending on time of day/altitude.

Accommodation: Tents.

Maps/guides: Kevin’s guidebook.

I’m glad I had… Paracetamol and ginger tea for the altitude head- and stomachaches.

Next time I would… Take the extra day we had planned for the ascent, with a second night at Mawenzi camp to mitigate altitude effects which we all experienced.

More information: Cycling UK’s 10 tips for riding in Africa: cyclinguk.org/cycle-africa

Above left: Up in the clouds. Kilimanjaro’s peak – still way above here – is 5,895m above sea level Above right: Rongai Gate, down in the rainforest on the northern side of the mountain, was the starting point

year, I met another paraplegic cyclist in the United States just back from the mountain. He had reached the crater rim and generously gave me a go on his special handcycle. It had huge balloon tyres for tackling the scree, and even the sight of it triggered in me excited ideas of what might be possible with a piece of equipment like that.

Scaling mountains was something I did before becoming paralysed. While forever an adventurer at heart and still motivated by the beauty of our natural world, I don’t have a bucket list; Kilimanjaro was not on my radar.

However, a series of connections and synchronicities relating to Africa’s highest mountain led to the idea taking shape.

One of these catalysts was Martin Hibbert, who was paralysed in the Manchester Arena bombing.

I accidentally got involved in his Kilimanjaro project when his team were training for their climb by trekking Scotland’s West Highland Way. Martin was unwell and I became his standin, using a special wheelchair called a Mountain Trike (mountaintrike.com).

It was a unique experience for me to be among rocks, trees and heather. It opened my mind to new technology that can enable so much.

Soon after, I encountered a new design of handcycle from Inspired Cycle Engineering, which I was asked

to trial. It was another game changer. I shed tears of joy across Scottish forests and beaches, enjoying terrain that had long been inaccessible to me. In the three decades I have been paralysed, innovation and design advances have been immense, and the possibilities that they enable are as equalising as they are exciting.

NERVES BEFORE NAIROBI Flights to Nairobi were booked and the logistics all organised. Yet I found myself feeling uncertain about the objective before us. I was unusually nonpositive in my language. “We’re trying to climb Kilimanjaro,” I said, noticing a weakness behind how I said it. Did I have a lack of belief or a measured respect for a mountain high enough to cause acute mountain sickness? Or maybe it was partly fear? I’ve previously survived cerebral and pulmonary oedema, and I knew there are typically a handful of altitude-related deaths on Kilimanjaro each year.

I was aware of my dependence on both the technology and the team.

The trike would have to be reliable and sturdy to manage such extreme conditions. The team would need to be resilient and adaptable, ready for anything. In addition, how would Steve’s riding pace dovetail with my own slow crawl up the slopes alongside those walking?

C Y CL I NGUK . O RG cycle 35

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KILIMANJARO

Our team was wonderfully diverse, ranging in age from 12-year-old Amelia to 55-year-young Kevin. Jannie and Bow had never climbed a mountain and were on deeply personal journeys. Our filmmakers, Mike and Sherrill, had their own unique challenges beyond gathering footage: Mike had a recent diagnosis of narcolepsy, meaning regular naps and sensory zone-outs, while Sherrill had been training hard to improve her fitness. We all met for the first time in Tanzania, quickly bonding over our captivation to explore the volcanic slopes of the world’s largest free-standing mountain.

THE ASCENT BEGINS

My trike The Full Fat, built by ICE Trikes in Falmouth, is an expedition-tough trike that was originally designed for record setting. The Full Fat combines durability, reliability and specialist features for conquering the most challenging terrain.

Rough trails, sand, snow and mud – if you pedal, it will take you there.

The Full Fat enables people to explore and go where other trikes simply cannot. Large volume offroad tyres provide float and traction over soft terrain and bumpy trails. The Full Fat is fun to ride over snow and sand, and is great for exploring forest trails. It is rear-wheel drive with a 14-speed Rohloff hub.

It’s also available with a powerful Shimano STEPS EP8 motor. Most Full Fats have traditional pedal cranks; mine has hand-cranks.

Back in 2013 Maria Leijerstam became the first person in the world to cycle to the South Pole on the Polar Cycle, travelling over 630km. She was featured in the Dec 2014/Jan 2015 issue of Cycle. Maria’s journey led to the birth of the ICE Full Fat. Find out more about it online: icetrikes.co.

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Altitude and mountain sickness seemed the biggest obstacles to a successful climb, so we planned a longer ascent via the Rongai route. It is the only route on the northern side of the mountain, with the added appeal of being a little more remote, rarely visited by hikers.

Our team of eight required four porters per person, according to the National Park rules, with guides and cooks on top of that. Rongai Gate was our starting point at 6,400ft, in the middle of a rainforest.

We met at the head of the trail among the dense, lush vegetation, making quite a crowd. As we set out, I felt buoyed and bamboozled by the unfamiliar names, beaming smiles and positive energy of our African team. We were missing Steve, however. His fat bike was still in a Manchester airport terminal, so he had stayed back to figure out when it might arrive and what to do if it didn’t.

I was generally surprised at the rideability of the trail and the capabilities of the trike. A narrow flight of steps by a waterfall needed a piggyback, but otherwise we moved quite easily. The forest transitioned into moorland grasses, the next of five biodiversity zones we would encounter. Arriving at our first camp, Simba, we were welcomed by our team dancing and singing “jambo”, a Swahili greeting. It was to become a tradition, which we loved: being surrounded by our team in dance and song to celebrate the end of each day’s hike.

For the next stage to Kikelewa camp we adopted the mountain mantra of “pole, pole”, meaning “slowly, slowly”, an antidote to altitude gain. The size of the boulders and the crevices to negotiate required my new friends to be strong both in mind and body. Musa, Amadeu, Lucas and Joel – two at the front and two at the back – were a steadfast team. I pedalled

and they frequently negotiated my wheels over giant boulders. I was astounded at what we were moving over. With spectacular ground clearance compared to other handcycles, and fitted with three Schwalbe Jumbo Jim fat tyres, the ICE trike felt as great and graceful as the elephants we had observed the previous week.

Yet it wasn’t long before the effects of altitude started to kick in. Bow felt sick, and many of us lacked appetite, had headaches or felt a little breathless. Day three would require only a few hours of hiking to the next camp, but we were a little sluggish in our progress and grateful to arrive before lunchtime. We took the time to rest and adapt to the thinner air.

KIBO CAMP Later that afternoon, anxiety about Steve finally dissolved as he rolled into camp.

Celebratory singing tugged us from our tents. We emerged to greet him cycling in on a locally sourced mountain bike. It had thinner tyres than his fat bike, giving him less room for error if he didn’t see an obstacle. He had practically sprinted up the trail to catch us up, demanding that he and his team of porters adapt even more rapidly than us to the gain in altitude Happy to at last be together, there was an optimistic vibe as we tackled the next 10km and another 1,000m of ascent.

Steve pedalled and patiently waited, enjoying moments as the rest of us steadily plodded. The vast volcanic cone of Kili was clear of cloud, high above and luring us onward. It changed perspectives of the journey ahead: from tame to tall, gentle to giant, mouse to lion, easy to insurmountable.

That night, at 4,800m and our final camp at Kibo, we did our usual health check with our guide Luhi. We measured our blood oxygen levels, pulse rates and reported a number out of 10 as to how we felt. Steve gave himself a three. It seemed a very low score for a man used to suffering. He looked pale, and soon left the tent to throw up. It was the second evening Bow hadn’t made it to the dinner table, and I projected to the next day, wondering how we would all manage.

But our head guide wasn’t deterred.

“You are doing great!” Luhi smiled. “So tomorrow, one team, one dream, non-stop, to the top”. His motivational words were lost on us as, pale faced and with heads pounding, those of us who could forced ourselves to eat.

To fall asleep that night, I found myself using the trick of curiosity to ease the angst of the unknown. I cosied into the

Far left: Karen gets a piggyback to Gilman’s Point. Some sections were simply unrideable on the trike Right: At the summit. Karen and Steve both made it, although altitude sickness halted other team members

billows of my sleeping bag and thought: “I wonder what will happen…?” I felt better at the spill of dopamine caused by being open minded and filled with wonder.

THE SUMMIT BID Feeling physically rough but mentally ready, we set out for the summit. As the sun rose behind us, the scree looked more aggressive. We progressed very slowly and, despite the focus and pressure to keep moving, I called a pause. A sunrise has to be appreciated. We sipped water and looked out in awe. To the east, the jagged ridge leading to neighbouring Mawenzi Peak was a dramatic black shadow against a pink and orange dawn.

I breathed in the sight, the height, the beauty of the inversion, clouds far below coating the East African plains. I imagined the power of the elephants and the ferocity of the lions far below, powering us onwards and up.

The terrain became steeper, then finally it was too vertical for scree to cling to the mountainside. Only dust and slabs of rock remained. As I looked up, my strength of mind wavered. “How?!” It appeared impossible to navigate unassisted. I watched Steve pass me, his bike carried on his guide’s back, and wondered whether it was time to call a stop. My African team were determined. Their focus strengthened and they began to piggyback me. They rotated me from tall Maasai Lucas to shorter Chagga-tribe Joel. As I gripped tight, I felt their bones, their strength and sure-footedness.

Inch by inch, we reached Gilman’s Point, the first official summit on the crater rim. It was still too narrow to ride, so the piggybacking continued part way along the ridge towards the second official summit at Stella. I was astounded by my team’s constant smiles and resilient intent, worried for their backs but flowing with their plan. Finally I was reunited with the comfort of the ICE trike. It felt luxuriously comfortable, and the rideability of the final stretch of ridge was both a relief and a surprise.

The elation of reaching the cairn of Kilimanjaro’s main summit felt surreal.

The dizzy height of 5,895m (19,340ft) felt wonderful in many ways. It wasn’t quite as we had envisaged it as there were just three of us from the original eight.

Kevin, Steve and I hugged through the

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Right: Karen Darke. Opposite: Kevin Benstead

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puff of our warm jackets, emotion flowing.

While doing so, we got news that Bow, Amelia and Sherrill had turned back. The altitude was harsh. Jannie and Mike were still climbing.

High above the big African landscape, with a view of the shrinking glacier and a handful of other climbers hungry for denser air, we held each other in a poignant moment. Yet it was no place to languish. The summit was only halfway.

An easy pedal down the ridge took us back to piggyback land. Whenever the going got tougher, the team voted for the main man: “You are Maasai Lucas. You drink blood. You are strong to piggyback Karen here.” He took me steadily and safely back to the scree.

In billows of dust, the trike descended the loose stones without tail-ending. It was faster down than I had imagined.

Lower down, Steve and I rolled on down the rocky trail with relative ease. Bumpy, tricksy and with never a dull moment, we arrived a day later at Marangu Gate, celebratory, oxygen-replenished, a little bruised of body but rich in heart and mind.

Our journey to the roof of Africa was made possible by the fantastic team of porters, cooks and guides at African Scenic Safaris. Thank you for bringing all your strength, singing and best feet forward.

Speakers from the edge Karen and/or Steve will be sharing their incredible journey in Africa and up Kilimanjaro in a UK tour, running from 24 January to 3 February 2024.

Join an evening of film and insight that will illuminate the gifts that lie within the tough stuff of life and how we might transform what, at first, seems messy into something rich in meaning and magic.

From the physical demands of the trip to the emotional healing that mountains bring, take a journey of discovery and inspiration.

Check out the dates and venues at speakersfromtheedge. com/theatre-tours/2024/ wild-tracks. The team was championing the value of technology and mental wellbeing, and was involved with the charities voiceofsap.org and worldjennysday.com.

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LESS TRAFFIC, MORE CYCLING

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JIM DENSHAM Cycling UK campaigns and policy manager – Scotland

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Main photo: Double Take

THIS ISN’T A CULTURE WAR. IT’S A WAY TO IMPROVE OUR TRANSPORT NETWORKS, OUR ENVIRONMENT, OUR HEALTH AND OUR QUALITY OF LIFE, AS JIM DENSHAM EXPLAINS

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Left: Commuter traffic in Bristol.

Imagine the scene if all these drivers were on bikes – or even on a bus Below: It’s not just a UK problem. This is Trieste in Italy, whose streets are rammed with cars and mopeds

Top: Shutterstock. Centre: Alamy

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he noise, fumes, inconvenience and intimidation caused by too much traffic are only conspicuous when they’re absent. They’ve become part of the urban background – except in towns and cities that have decided to do things differently This summer I was in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. It’s an amazing city. I was there on an Interrailing trip through Europe with my family. A huge area of the old city is pedestrianised, and it was being enjoyed by thousands of people taking in the sights, buying from market stalls and food vendors, and relaxing in on-street café seating. It felt safe and welcoming enough to allow our teenage boys to go off exploring for themselves and sample the local patisserie.

We waved farewell to the trafficfree spaces of Ljubljana and jumped on another train headed for Trieste on Italy’s Adriatic coast, arriving on a hot and sticky afternoon. Trieste is only 60 miles from Ljubljana. It felt a world away, with noisy, bustling streets, narrow pavements, traffic fumes, and cars and mopeds speeding by or clogging the streets. The place felt overwhelmed by vehicles.

I was aware that I was experiencing each city and town we visited as a firsttime tourist, seeing only a snapshot of life and forming first impressions. For someone visiting my city of Glasgow for the first time, negotiating the traffic weaving its way through the city centre may also leave a bad taste in the mouth – literally – even though I’m used to it.

The increase in traffic is a good

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example of the slow creep of change over decades that we don’t realise, get accustomed to and often put up with in our day-to-day lives – even if we are stuck in a traffic jam. In reality, though, the change has been huge since the middle of the last century, with the number of motor vehicles in the UK quadrupling to more than 33 million and the number of miles driven yearly in Great Britain increasing tenfold.

Transport is the largest contributor of climate emissions of any sector of the UK’s economy, and cars are the biggest source

PEDAL FOR THE PLANET As a society we have to do something to halt this growth in traffic and car use, not least for the health of our planet.

Transport is the largest contributor of climate emissions of any sector of the UK’s economy, and cars are the biggest source from transport. But the government C Y CL I NGUK . O RG cycle 41

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out for daily exercise or essentials. There was a huge increase in cycling at that time and people felt safer on the roads.

It worked in Ljubljana, too. After a 52% increase in car use between 2002 and 2012, politicians set out on a radical plan to limit motor vehicles and instead give greater priority to pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. Numerous measures were introduced, including pedestrianisation across more than 10 hectares of the city centre, which I enjoyed so much on my holiday. It’s no surprise that 13% of journeys in the city are now cycled – compared to just under 2% nationally in the UK.

Above: Joolze Dymond. Right: Alamy

PUT PEOPLE FIRST

Clockwise from top left: Stonemason Steve Roche has saved time and money, and lost weight, by switching from driving to e-cycling. Two views of Ljubljana,Slovenia, 60 miles and a world away from Trieste

predicts that the numbers of cars on the roads in England and Wales will increase by as much as 54% by 2060.

Even now, without that future growth in traffic, we have serious congestion blighting many of our towns and cities.

It makes our communities dirty, noisy, busy and dangerous, robs children of the freedom to ride to school, and traps some older people in their homes.

Something has to change but are any of political parties brave enough to tackle this thorny issue and make the places we live in people friendly rather than car centric?

A survey by Sustrans revealed that 62% of people agree it would help people cycle more if there was less motor vehicle traffic on the streets. So, if we did make neighbourhoods more peaceful and roads quieter, would more people really cycle?

This did happen during the first Covid lockdown, when people only ventured

There’s no reason why these benefits can’t be experienced by people in towns, cities, and villages across the UK. Our politicians should follow the lead of their European counterparts by transforming places for people, and being bold and steadfast in their decisions. It also takes organisations like Cycling UK to speak up and explain why the country would benefit from less traffic and how quieter roads and peaceful places designed for people, not cars, are key to enabling more people to cycle and feel the benefits.

Cycling UK’s mission is to enable millions more to cycle, but we know that it’s not enough just to call for more dedicated, safe cycling infrastructure. Not every road can accommodate a cycle lane and not every roundabout in the country is going to be made safe for cycling within the next few years. To enable people to cycle and for governments to meet climate targets, we have to cut the number of journeys taken by car – especially those shorter everyday local trips. Did you know that 60% of all car journeys in England are under five miles, a distance that many people could cycle?

It’s a huge challenge but Ljubljana – together with many other cities – shows that it’s possible in a relatively short time. Paris is limiting cars crossing the city, and pedestrianising parts of the city centre ahead of the Olympics.

Barcelona’s ‘superblocks’ initiative aims to put people before cars. Ghent in Belgium introduced a city ‘circulation plan’ in 2017, which dramatically cut car travel in the centre and consequently also decreased collisions, increased bus use, boosted cycling from 22% of journeys to 37%, and created a more peaceful, people-centred place to live.

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The lesson from all of these pioneering places is that as well as cutting car use, they have provided citizens with real choice for everyday journeys. In the UK we need better, fairer and more affordable transport systems, where people have more choice in how they travel and aren’t forced to rely on a car for day-to-day journeys.

Policies and measures to make places people friendly and to deprioritise and calm traffic are cropping up around the UK. They are popular – despite what some newspapers say. For example, in Scotland 20mph zones were created in more than 90 villages and towns across the Borders Council area in 2020. Data shows they’ve been successful in reducing traffic speeds.

Ross Hall from Galashiels in the Borders frequently rides a bike and is a committee member at the Gala Men’s Shed, which loans e-bikes to people in the area. He believes that the 20mph limits have potentially improved safety. He said: “E-bikes are ideal in Galashiels as it is situated in a valley and every journey has an uphill section at some point. It is important to respect other road users, and the extra e-power helps riders to keep up with vehicles travelling at 20mph.

This boost makes people feel safer and confident to cycle for local journeys rather than having to use a car.”

Scott Runciman, who runs Cycling UK’s Rural Connections projects in the Borders, echoes Ross. “I’ve noticed a real change in attitudes in the Borders since I grew up here. A lot of people are rediscovering cycling and wanting to take the car less.

Slower traffic makes my role easier but most importantly it makes a real difference to people’s lives and to the local area.”

THE SWITCH TO CYCLING High traffic levels and a lack of quality cycling infrastructure are not the only barriers to cycling; many people can’t ride because they lack confidence or skills, or they don’t have access to a bike.

Cycling UK’s projects aim to address these challenges head on and get people cycling.

What’s more, many of our projects are explicitly designed to help people to cycle as an alternative to jumping in the car for short local journeys. We want people to be free to live healthy lifestyles and cut their carbon footprint as much as they feel able.

Erika Ikeda from West Yorkshire used to rely on a mix of car and public transport to get around but was looking for other 44

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Pedal on COP ride in Glasgow, 2021.

Once again the cars are queued up while the cyclists make progress

transport options. She went along to a Cycling UK Big Bike Revival event, and since then has been using her bike to commute along the canal. She returned to the project, run in association with the Margaret Carey Foundation, to get her bike serviced and learn how to maintain it herself. “It’s important for my confidence that I know my bike is safe and working well,” she said. “Now I will try and ride further. I feel more comfortable and confident to go on the road, but this has always been a bit of a worry due to traffic and not feeling confident.”

Sheffield stonemason Steve Roche – whom we mentioned last issue – began cycling to work through Cycling UK’s Making cycling e-asier project. Fed up with spending his morning commute stuck in traffic at rush hour, he signed up for a free e-cycle loan. In just a month, he was pleased to discover that he lost over half a stone and also saved £25 per week on fuel.

“My commute is perfectly doable on an e-bike,” he said. “It now seems like madness that I was driving around, running an engine and getting stuck in traffic every day. Sheffield is very hilly, so I do need the extra assistance to be able to carry my tools and materials, and my job is quite physical, so it means that I don’t arrive at work absolutely knackered. I can’t believe that more trades people are not doing it.”

The vast majority of people can be part of the solution by cycling more or taking public transport where available. We can also benefit from measures designed to make cycling easier than using a car.

There’s a strong case for change, and cycling can be at the heart of it. Enabling more people to cycle is one of the positive outcomes of policies designed to reduce car use, and it is also one of the ways to have fewer cars on the road.

Donate now to ensure a cycle friendly future: cyclinguk.org/donate.

It now seems like madness that I was driving around, getting stuck in traffic every day

Be an advocate for cycling Do you want to help get more people cycling? Do you want to share the joy of riding a bike? Do you want to see real change – with separated cycle lanes, safer roads, and shops, offices and homes all accessible by bike? So do we!

The Cycle Advocacy Network (CAN) brings together people with a shared interest in creating the conditions that enable more people to cycle, including better infrastructure for cycling and safer roads.

The CAN resources, events and tools on the Cycling UK website are open to all, and there are specific ways to get involved listed there.

Join us on the journey to get more people cycling.

For more information, visit the CAN website: cyclinguk. org/CAN.

Above: Andy Catlin

NOT SO FAST, DRIVERS

WEEKENDER

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Top to bottom: Buckingham Palace.

Coal Drops Yard.

Green Park. London Eye from Westminster Bridge

EastEnder

Weekender

London sightseer Next time you’re in London, hop on your bike – or a hire bike – and pedal past palaces, coal yards and a castle. Tom Bogdanowicz is your guide

I TOM BOGDANOWICZ Tom is the author of Cycling London, a guide to more than 40 routes around the capital

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f you only have time for one ride in London, this is the one. Not only will you see all the iconic tourist attractions, you'll also visit the capital’s must-see old-meets-new leisure destination at King’s Cross, plus several fascinating places even Londoners don’t know about. And, for most of the route, you can relax in Dutch-grade cycle lanes that local cyclists fought for, and which make the ride suitable for all (with some care at junctions).

Tower of London, St Paul’s, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace – yes, they are all on this ride. And the list doesn’t end there: London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Kensington Palace and Hyde Park are all included in the sumptuous package. Plus there’s a trip (optional) to fashionable Camden where Coal Drops Yard features a multitude of eateries, independent shops and award-winning modern architecture. Cleverly designed routing enables you to take in: the little-known but remarkable Caledonian Tower; Amy Winehouse’s home; the hidden courtyard of Lincoln’s Inn; and the High Court.

Although the ride is largely on wide cycle lanes, you should avoid commuter times when even these lanes get congested with bikes.

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Here’s another short ride in London: cyclinguk.org/route/ london-east-endloop-lcc-lunchtimeride

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Weekend ride

LONDON SIGHTSEER • Start/finish: Tower of London to Kensington Palace • Maps: OS Explorer 173 • Ride length: 23km (13 miles) • Climbing: Mostly flat, slight incline to Camden • Bike type: Any • Ride level: Beginner (with care at junctions) • GPX file: cyclinguk.org/weekender-london-sightseer

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TOWER OF LONDON Our start point needs no introduction: kings, queens, crown jewels, executions and so on. There are bike stands by the shop if you want to visit.

If you don’t have a bike there are Santander hire bikes in Tower Gardens.

Cross the road from the Tower to join the cycle lane, which passes a fragment of London’s Roman wall.

Map © OpenStreetMap, produced with Inkatlas.com. Photos by Tom Bogdanowicz

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Blackfriars Bridge Blackfriars Bridge is the tricky bit. You exit a tunnel and pass under the bridge. To follow the Camden loop (to 3 and 4), turn sharp right onto a cycle lane back towards the bridge. Approaching the bridge, turn left up New Bridge St. Catch a glimpse of St Paul’s at Fleet St, then follow signs for Cycleway 6 up Greville St and Saffron Hill.

Lincoln’s Inn Fields Walk via a narrow passage to Lincoln’s Inn Fields, home to the John Soane Museum (free entry) and the collegelike 16th-17th century inn of court. Pass the neoGothic High Court and walk across the pavement at Bell’s Yard to reach (weekdays only) Middle Temple, another inn of court. (On weekends turn left on Fleet St and right on New Bridge St.)

PARLIAMENT SQUARE Beyond the giant London Eye you see Big Ben. Westminster Hall, on your left, is medieval, as is Westminster Abbey. The rest of Parliament replaced the original palace after a fire. Take care crossing to St James’s Park (nice café in the park) and reach Buckingham Palace. The dull front façade is a late addition to John Nash’s original design.

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CONSTITUTION ARCH Also known as Wellington Arch (the chariot replaced a statue of the duke), this has a view of the King’s garden from the top but the roundabout showcases the dominance of 1950s’ car-led design. The cycle route through the Arch connects to Hyde Park, where the Serpentine path (café) leads to Kensington Palace, once home to Princess Diana, and our final stop (more cafés). If you prefer, you can return along the river for more great views.

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King’s Cross King’s Cross and St Pancras stations are masterpieces of, respectively, neo-Classical and neo-Gothic Victorian architecture. Behind them is London’s new leisure, eating and shopping zone, dominated by Coal Drops Yard. A cycle lane takes you north to the Victorian Caledonian Tower (book for great views, Saturdays only) and then Amy Winehouse’s home at 30 Camden Square.

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BACK IN THE SADDLE RETURNING TO CYCLING AFTER A LIFE-CHANGING INJURY IS DAUNTING BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLE. REBECCA ARMSTRONG SPOKE TO JANET ATHERTON AND ANDREW MOULT TO FIND OUT HOW THEY DID IT

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e’ve all seen stories of know if she could cycle – at this point she professional athletes was lying in a hospital bed and had no use returning to their of her left hand. chosen sport after Andrew Moult is a former Royal Engineer a serious injury. As who had cycled since he was a boy. He inspiring as they are, it can be hard for retired from the army in 1984 after badly us ‘mere mortals’ to relate. Athletes are injuring his leg. At that point he could still at the peak of their fitness, surrounded run, but from 1989 his leg deteriorated. He by the best medical, training and had a stroke, and then a heart attack and healthcare teams in the world. For pulmonary embolism. He was lucky to be those of us without these resources, alive but was confined to a wheelchair and the idea of getting back to cycling after started putting on weight. “I was sitting a life-changing incident like a stroke or there one day thinking ‘I wish I could cycle. loss of a limb might feel unachievable.

I really do wish I could do some cycling’,” But, as the saying goes, nothing’s he said to me. impossible. I talked to two people THE RIGHT BIKE – OR TRIKE who have experienced such I’ve previously written about an incident about how they returning to cycling after an got back in the saddle. injury (cyclinguk.org/article/ Janet Atherton is familiar how-get-back-cycling-afteras chair of Cycling UK’s Board injury), and much of the same of Trustees. In May 2023 she advice applies to these much suffered a mild stroke. After REBECCA more serious, life-changing experiencing stroke, you can’t ARMSTRONG injuries. However, cycling can drive for a minimum of one Cycling UK digital officer be especially beneficial for month. Naturally, she wanted to C YCL I NGUK . O RG cycle 49

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anyone who has experienced this.

You can start off indoors with a stationary bike if balance or fitness are issues. It’s also easy to gradually build up stamina and distance. Group cycling provides support and accountability. You can also adapt your own riding style to your new reality, while standard bikes are themselves eminently adaptable. On top that, there’s a plethora of different cycles for all kinds of injuries, from e-bikes for a bit of extra oomph to handcycles for those with limited use of their legs.

I cycled to Paris with a woman who had suffered a serious brain injury. She could no longer use a standard cycle but was determined that her injury wouldn’t stop her cycling, so she invested in a trike. The whole group cheered when three of the mechanics managed to lift her and her tricycle up for that famous photo in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Dr Kay Inckle of inclusive cycling charity Wheels for Wellbeing (wheelsforwellbeing.org.uk) says: “Cycling can be a fantastic way to exercise and to keep mobile, independent and feel good after a life-changing injury or health experience. However, it’s not always obvious what cycle is going to work for each individual and it’s really important that people feel safe, comfortable and have just the right level of physical challenge/ input while cycling.

“We recommend that someone goes along to an inclusive cycling centre (they are all over the country) where they can 50

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Cycling can be a fantastic way to exercise and to keep mobile, independent and feel good after a life-changing injury or health experience

Left to right: Handcycling demo in Saughton Park, Edinburgh.

Back to normality for Janet (seated at the rear) on a Bicycle Belles group ride. Andrew has ridden the Trans Pennine Trail on his handcycle. Janet on her e-bike, riding outdoors again for the first time

try out a whole range of different cycles in a safe, off-road environment with specially trained instructors. Electric assistance is important for many disabled cyclists, and it’s worth trying different types of e-cycles.”

ELECTRIC AVENUES Janet describes her e-bike as a “godsend”.

She had only bought it the previous Christmas. Her other bike is a tourer, which she wasn’t sure she would have been able to ride after the stroke. The e-bike, however, with its smaller wheels, lower standover, more upright position and flat handlebar, meant the only adaptation she had to make was to drop the saddle slightly: “I dropped the saddle a tiny bit, just about half a centimetre, so I was able to push off, put the battery on high, and get going without wobbling so much.”

These days Andrew rides a Freedom Ryder electric handcycle but he started out rather differently. After doing some research he found it was possible to get a clip-on handcycle for wheelchairs.

However, these only work on rigid-framed wheelchairs, which aren’t available on the NHS. Buying one would cost about £4,000.

As an engineer, he knew there must be a solution, so he got some gas pipes and built a frame for his wheelchair that the handcycle could clip into. He was, he says, “elated” because he could cycle again.

“It was hard because it uses a different technique and different muscles, but I could do it.”

But disaster struck: when Andrew took

Above left: Andy Catlin. Others by Janet Atherton & Andrew Moult

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How Cycling UK can help

the wheelchair in for a service a crack was found. “This never happens,” he was told.

He had to explain about the frame and clip-on and was told he had to remove it as he was damaging NHS property. This “brought me down again, so I did some more research”.

Andrew’s first complete handcycle was from Mission Cycles, which specialises in trikes for disabled cyclists. He fitted an electric motor and later a 7-speed Sturmey Archer hub. “I was absolutely over the moon,” he says. “What things could I do now? I went from strength to strength.”

A PHASED RETURN The main advice for anyone returning to cycling after a life-changing injury is to take things very slowly and build up time spent on the bike gradually. Scott Weddell works for the Stroke Association, and is also a Bikeability instructor and Cycling UK member. He advises getting professional assistance.

“Lots of people come to me because they’re struggling with physical effects, such as their balance,” he says. “We start off by going right back to the basics and building up from there, practising techniques and finding adaptations to help them progress.”

Janet started off doing just seven minutes on an exercise bike, and was “knackered, whereas previously I would have been doing it for an hour and would have been fine”. At this point she couldn’t cope with riding outside but was determined to do so

before her next consultant review.

She took her bike to a cemetery across the road and managed a two-mile ride. She slowly built up distance. “I was going over a couple of times a week and gradually building up the mileage. I got to know the gardeners very well!” She eventually built up to 10 miles, which she admits “took some doing”.

Similarly, Andrew started with a five-mile ride on his first handcycle, building up to 30 miles and losing seven stone in the process. Since then he has become the first person to complete the Trans Pennine Trail on a handcycle. He has cycled the 60-mile version of Ride London and is now in training for the 100-mile route next year.

This slow-but-steady approach is vital to building confidence too. Both Janet and Andrew say that their own lack of selfbelief was a major barrier to overcome.

Andew comments: “The hardest thing was to convince myself to do it. I’d lost a lot of confidence in myself. I’d lost a lot of get up and go.”

Andrew thanks wife Chris for giving him the push to get out there, while Janet is grateful for the support of friends. She rode with a friend on an old railway line that’s now a shared-use path. Riding 12 miles, they also stopped at a café. “It was proper back-to-normal time,” she says. “I did a teeny bit on the road right at the end, which really helped build up some of that confidence to be on the road.”

Ultimately, both have the same advice: “Just go for it!”

Cycling as part of a group can be invaluable for improving confidence. As well as led rides, which take all the planning out of it, fellow members offer support and encouragement. Cycling UK has Community Cycle Clubs (cyclinguk.org/communitycycle-clubs) all over the UK, so there’s likely to be one close to you.

Access Bikes (cyclinguk. org/accessbikes) and Cycle Share Fund (cyclinguk.org/ cycle-share-fund) are projects operating in Scotland. They both help people gain access to cycles when cost is an issue.

Access Bikes provides funding to community organisations to buy cycles and accessories and provide cycle training for people experiencing financial hardship.

Cycle Share Fund provides funding to organisations to purchase cycles and equipment for schemes that provide people with access to a bike that they don’t own – ideal for anyone for whom owning their own bike isn’t the best option.

In England, the Big Bike Revival (cyclinguk.org/ bigbikerevival) offers free bike-fixing sessions, led rides and skills and maintenance courses to help people keep their cycles running, while also giving them the skills to ride.

Cycle for Health (cyclinguk. org/community-outreach/ health) operates in West Yorkshire. Designed for adults with physical or emotional health challenges, it is an eight-week package of support which develops skills and grows confidence through cycle training and led bike rides.

For anyone looking to try out an e-cycle, Making cycling e-asier (cyclinguk. org/making-cycling-e-asier) has offered free skills and confidence sessions and one-month e-cycle loans from hubs in Manchester, Sheffield, Leicester and Burton on Trent, and Luton and Dunstable.

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G R E AT R I D E S

WHEELS OF CHANCE

Great Rides

A NOVEL ADVENTURE HG Wells’s The Wheels of Chance describes a fictional cycle tour through Victorian England. Tristam Newey set out to replicate the journey

“Y TRISTAM NEWEY Tristam is a science fiction author who also blogs about cycling and travel. His website is www. tristamjames.com

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ou are, I perceive, cycling through this delightful country?” asked the clergyman.

“Touring,” explained Mr Hoopdriver.

“I can imagine,” said the clergyman, “that, with a properly oiled machine, there can be no easier nor pleasanter way of seeing the country.”

“No,” said Mr Hoopdriver, “it isn’t half a bad way of getting about.”

It was at this point in HG Wells’s 1896 novel The Wheels of Chance that I decided to try to follow the route taken by Hoopdriver, the story’s protagonist. The book is fiction but the places and views described are real. Author HG Wells (The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Island of Doctor Moreau, and so on) was a very active cyclist, roaming widely around the south of England where the novel is set. I wondered: could you ride the same

cycle DE C E MB E R 20 2 3/JAN UARY 2024

route today? And if so, how would it compare?

So it was that I found myself on Putney High Street on a July morning, contemplating the rush hour traffic. I’d researched the route carefully using contemporary maps and the excellent cycle.travel website to waypoint the places named in the story.

Some of the novel’s byways are now A-roads and 70mph dual carriageways, but in most cases there’s cycle infrastructure alongside. I would never be far from Hoopdriver’s route.

THE RIDING FORTH OF MR HOOPDRIVER Setting off from Putney I soon left the heavy traffic behind, and from Putney Heath a series of cycleways took me towards Kingston upon Thames. Along the way I stopped at several places that feature in the book, although the quiet lanes Hoopdriver wobbles

WHEELS OF CHANCE

G R E AT R I D E S

Fact File:

A novel adventure

Photos left to right: Bridge over the River Mole near Cobham (ditto the top sketch, though it’s transposed in the novel). Guildford High Street (also the lower sketch). Putney High Street, where Hoopdriver’s journey begins

his way along on his first morning are now the A3 and A308. Never mind: I was enjoying myself; the segregated paths were pleasingly adequate; and Kingston upon Thames was a nice stop for lunch.

By this point Hoopdriver has fallen off at least once, has found the hills taxing and has managed to learn how to ride his heavy secondhand machine. In comparison, I was doing all right.

Between Kingston and Guildford, Wells packs in plenty of commentary on cycling, as well as Hoopdriver’s first encounter with the ‘Lady in Grey’, Jessie, whose proficiency on a bike far surpasses Hoopdriver’s. After a quick stop in Esher to visit the Marquis of Granby pub, which gets a mention in the book, I was on the lookout for “a charming little place between Cobham and Esher, where a bridge crosses a stream”.

This is where Hoopdriver meets the cad of the story, Bechamel, who is fixing a puncture on his own bicycle. The 1913 edition has an illustration of the encounter. Alas, I didn’t find anything like that illustration between Cobham and Esher. Before joining the six-lane A3 on what I expected would be a very sketchy cycle path (it was), I paused to check the map. It dawned on me that the bridge on which I was standing looked familiar... Success! The place did exist, just in a different location from the story. I rode on.

I ambled into Guildford later that afternoon and had another happy experience: capturing Hoopdriver a recreation of an illustration of its mounts his bike pretty high street. Hoopdriver finds accommodation at a ‘coffee tavern' (confirming HG Wells as a visionary futurist in my opinion) for very little outlay.

I settled instead for the Puttenham Barn bunkhouse outside town.

HOW MR HOOPDRIVER REACHED MIDHURST The next day, after a visit to Guildford Castle, I headed south. From this point on, I would be overtaking the narrative. Hoopdriver’s “ten days or so” would be four for me, and between here and Bognor Regis lay some hills. Hoopdriver has to push his machine up the hill to Kingston earlier in the story, but at no other time are hills mentioned as challenging. I contemplated this as I rolled into Midhurst, nurturing aching legs from the steep climbs I’d traversed, and wondered if I’d overreached myself, given that the afternoon would take me over the South Downs.

Before that challenge, I had Midhurst to explore.

Midhurst was where Wells went to school, then later lived and worked, first as a chemist’s apprentice and then as a teacher at his old school. A lot happens here in the Wheels of Chance. Hoopdriver stays in a room above a sweetshop next to the Angel Hotel (as did Wells in real life), and I was pleased to find that the sweetshop and hotel still exist. Unfortunately both were severely damaged in a fire a few months after I visited. But the town’s stocks are still there, as is the doorway in which Hoopdriver and Bechamel have a farcical confrontation.

Pushing on, I had a choice: the A286 or the South Downs Way? I took the scenic route… and paid for it with overgrown bridleways and an hour of hike-a-bike in the first heatwave of the year. The view was worth it, however, and the ride from the downs towards Chichester along the Centurion Way was fast and fun. I made a mistake here: instead of eating a hearty dinner after all that climbing, I pushed on to Bognor Regis, where I suffered from the dreaded bonk.

At Bognor, Hoopdriver,

Distance: 260 miles over five days: four to the New Forest, one to return to London.

Route: Starting at Putney High Street, the route heads south via Guildford and Midhurst to the south coast at Bognor Regis.

Passing through Winchester, Stockbridge, Cranborne Chase AONB to Blandford Forum, it then turns east through the New Forest, ending at the Rufus Stone.

Conditions: Very hot – it was the 2022 heatwave! Mostly quiet country lanes and plenty of gravel in the New Forest.

Bike used: 1999 Dawes 1-Down.

Maps/guides: Planning – Wells’s novel, the website cycle.travel, and the National Library of Scotland online maps. For the trip – an old Garmin Edge.

I’m glad I had… A new chainset with very low gears.

Factor 50 suncream.

Next time I would…

Take more time (six or seven days) and record my thoughts and experience for a podcast.

Further info: Read about another tour that takes in part of Hoopdriver’s route: cyclinguk.org/cycle/ riding-past

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G R E AT R I D E S

WHEELS OF CHANCE

Wells’s novel

Top left to right: New Forest heathland.

Sketch of the bridge over the River Rother near Midhurst (photo shows same). Photo (and sketch) of Chichester Cross. Bridge over the River Stour near Sturminster Marshall. (All the original illustrations were by J Ayton Symington)

realising Jessie’s plight, helps her escape from Bechamel. They head off into the night together, Hoopdriver having upgraded his bicycle by the simple expedient of stealing Bechamel’s. It must have been a good bike because they fairly whizz along for the rest of the story!

THE PURSUIT The next day I followed in their wheel tracks, heading west towards Fareham. This stretch, following NCN2 for a while was… functional.

But Hoopdriver’s route from Fareham towards Winchester, through the lanes and rolling countryside of Hampshire, was very pleasant in early July. The narrative here involves a trio of pursuers, including Jessie’s mother, arriving by train and almost catching them at Botley. I followed on, passing through Winchester and on to Wallenstock.

Wallenstock? The place doesn’t exist! Wells had clearly given Stockbridge a fictional place name, for reasons unclear to me. Perhaps it had to do with him having Hoopdriver fall out with the locals and get in a fight? Nothing that exciting happened to me, fortunately.

Wells’s story takes a leap from chapters 32 to 33, with Hoopdriver and Jessie embarking on an elaborate doubling manoeuvre that puts them in Blandford Forum. There’s no mention of the journey but the route I took, through Salisbury and Cranborne Chase AONB, was

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pretty. The quiet roads allowed for some reflection on the differences in touring between Wells’s time and now. For example, Hoopdriver carries nothing more than “a neat packet of American cloth behind the saddle containing his change of raiment”. His cycling attire is a brown cycling jacket – “a Norfolk jacket thing” – and checkered stockings. There’s no mention of waterproofs or cooking sets or tents. The roads are all gravel. And cars? They practically didn’t exist! Clearly, bikepacking on gravel bikes was all the rage in 1896.

My last day took me from Dorset back into Hampshire, where the Wheels of Chance comes to an end. A chase across the New Forest involving an assortment of bicycle designs makes for some comic moments, culminating at the Rufus Stone where a reckoning takes place at a nearby hotel – now a Happy Eater service station that’s only accessible by car.

I enjoyed miles of glorious cycling along gravel tracks, and at the Rufus Stone itself, with nothing but the forest and a few ponies for company, I reflected on the journey. Despite the passage of time, the novel’s The Rufus Stone is still route remains and, for the most there. The hotel nearby is now a service station part, it winds through villages and forests, purple heathland, grassy downs and along quiet country lanes where one can ride at one’s ease. More than a century on from Wells’s novel, cycling remains “not half a bad way of getting about.”

‘The Wheels of Chance: A Bicycling Idyll’ by HG Wells was published in 1896. One of Wells’s least known works, it is notable for its portrayal of a strong independent female, something uncommon in literature at the time. Of interest to the cyclist are the descriptions of real places and routes, as well as the cycling craze of the 1890s, in which Wells was an active and enthusiastic participant. An online illustrated copy of the 1913 edition can be found at The Internet Archive (bit.ly/cyclewheelsofchance), while Kings Langley Press (kingslangleypress. com) sells a print version (pictured) complete with new maps and illustrations.

Advice

CYCLOPEDIA

Q& A

Right and opposite: Alamy

Right: Robert Spanring

Questions answered, subjects explained – Cyclopedia is your bimonthly cycling reference guide Technical

Grippier winter tyres

Q

Legal

Bike, camera, inaction

Q

After recording a road incident on my cycle camera, I completed the Hampshire Police online form and was given a reference number. I was informed that a decision would be made within 24 hours.

Two weeks later I have not received a reply.

What can I do to progress the issue? I do not understand the system or know anyone who has reported a cycling incident.

Peter Adkin

A

The police must identify the driver of the vehicle involved, which means sending the registered keeper a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) within 14 days of the alleged offence. The NIP should be posted first class, recorded. Although all the Prosecutions Dept has to do is to prove the NIP was posted, if that is more than 14 days after the offence, that’s usually an irredeemable flaw in the process.

Police communications with the public aren’t always the best, so something may have happened, but if a prosecution were to be made you would be approached for a statement, not least to verify the provenance of your film. If the 14-day period has been missed, that’s probably the end of it.

Paul Darlington

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Your Experts

cycle DE C E M B E R 20 2 3/JAN UARY 2024

I have a Whyte Clifton e-bike that I mainly use on roads and gravel tracks. I’m very satisfied with it but have noticed that its 47-584 WTB Byway tyres do not hold the road well in damp or soft conditions. In January I came off when the back tyre failed to hold on a patch of leaf mould on a slight downhill bend on a country road.

I am considering changing at least the back tyre for autumn and winter. Can you suggest a suitable alternative that would offer better roadholding capabilities without unduly compromising the smooth running of the WTB Byway?

Colin Taylor

A

DR KATE BRODIE Retired GP {Health}

RICHARD HALLETT Cycle’s technical editor {Technical}

PAUL DARLINGTON Consultant solicitor, Cycle SOS {Legal}

The Byway sports a classic example of the tyre tread pattern that hopes to have it both ways by combining a smooth, fast-rolling centre band with knobbly sides for grip when cornering on loose or slippery surfaces. Unfortunately, such treads can prove a disappointment on the latter, since the side knobbles may not be in play when needed, such as when cornering gently on leaf mould.

If the smooth running provided by the bald centre section is your priority, you may simply have to take extra care on treacherous going; it's surely better in poor conditions is to err on the side of caution. That said, Continental’s Terra Trail (reviewed Cycle Aug/Sep 2021 – see cyclinguk.org/terra-trail) rolls well, provides reassuring grip on muddy back lanes and is available in 47-584 format.

It is advisable to fit similarly grippy tyres front and rear, as a front wheel slide will almost inevitably result in a fall. Bear in mind also that few tread patterns give much grip on wet leaves.

Richard Hallett

Q&A

CYCLO PE D IA

‘Does your bike need lower gears?’, Cycle Feb/Mar 2020 (which is now online: cyclinguk.org/lower-gears).

Richard Hallett

Technical

Hard-to-fit tyres

Right: Alamy

Q Health

Riding after hip replacement

Q

I’ve just turned 60. In December 2021 I had a right hip replacement (Birmingham hip resurfacing). Sadly I suffered a periprosthetic fracture eight weeks later and had a full hip replacement in February 2022. I cycle regularly using an e-bike, always with the power on. I’d love to go back to nonelectric cycling but am worried about wearing out my hip within my lifetime.

Could you advise me on the best plan for my future cycling?

Peter James

A

This is a subject close to my heart as I am about to have a total hip replacement. My understanding is that the new acetabulum (hip socket) is a ceramic or metal cup lined with plastic, into which the new metal femoral head is fitted. The socket is pretty tough and – apart from high impact exercise like running, contact sports or martial arts – most exercise is encouraged.

Before and after surgery it is recommended to exercise to strengthen the muscles around the hip to aid recovery and prevent dislocation. In the early weeks a static bike is advised, along with an exercise regime, but after about 12 weeks your physio should give the go-ahead to resume road biking. As long as you have strengthened the muscles correctly, your new hip should cope fine.

The e-bike takes a lot of the work out of cycling but there is no reason why you

shouldn’t use your normal bike if you start gently and build up the effort.

More information can be found online at nhs.uk/conditions/hip-replacement.

Dr Kate Brodie

Technical

Even lower gears

Q

At the age of 75, I now need lower gears on my new Boardman ADV 8.9 Men’s Adventure Bike. So far, I’ve changed the Shimano CS-HG50 10-speed 11-36t cassette to a 11-42t cassette and the inner ring of the FSA Omega, 48-32T chainset to 30t (the smallest one I could find online).

This has reduced the lowest gear from 25in, as supplied, to 20in. I rarely use the 118in highest gear but I need to reduce the lowest gear further, ideally down to 16in like on my mountain bike. What's the best way to do this?

Ian Coy

A

Given that you have already swapped to a significantly larger cassette, the obvious solution is to fit smaller chainrings. Since you can’t go smaller than a 30t inner on the FSA Omega, this will mean swapping chainsets. The Spa Cycles TD2 Super Compact goes down to 40-24, which will get you where you want to be. It requires a square-taper bottom bracket so you’ll need to change that at the same time.

Otherwise, take a look at the options in

I recently bought a Gazelle Ultimate T10 HMB low stepthrough e-bike for my wife. The tyre valves seem too short for its deep section rims, with only 5mm or so protruding.

A bigger problem is that the tyres (28×1.75 Schwalbe Energizer Plus G-Guard 5) are extremely difficult to refit, even using Park Tool tyre levers and talcum powder in the comfort of a workshop. I reckon the make-do solution is to fit new tubes and carry a seating tool/lever for hard-to-fit tyres. What would be your recommendations?

Roger Barnes

A

You don’t state the length of your existing valves. Continental offers tubes with 60mm valves in your size, which may improve matters. Otherwise, tubes with removable cores allow the use of valve extenders. An alternative tyre may be easier to fit, although this would require experiment.

Do you finish installing your tyres at the valve? This allows you to press the bead into the well of the rim at the opposite side of the wheel and get enough slack to pass the bead over the lip at the valve. If you do this already, a seating tool may be your best bet – see cyclinguk. org/tight-tyre-tools for reviews of four.

Richard Hallett

Get in touch EMAIL your technical, health, or legal questions to editor@cyclinguk.org or write to Cyclopedia, Cycle, Cycling UK, Parklands, Railton Road, Guildford, GU2 9JX. Cycle magazine cannot answer unpublished queries. But don’t forget that Cycling UK operates a free-to-members advice line for personal injury claims, TEL: 0330 107 1789.

C YCL I NGUK . O RG cycle 57

CYCLOPEDIA

r e d n i f Bike Which bike should I buy?

Ask us at cyclinguk.org/bikefinder

High-torque e-bike For: Trevor Appleton, aged 70, from the North York Moors. Bike needs: The ability to go up the steepest hills there are, such as Rosedale Chimney Bank. Off road I shall largely be on tracks suitable for vehicles. I am interested in touring and have panniers to go on. I need the motor to kick in as soon as I put pressure on the pedals, plus high torque (85Nm?). Low lowest gear and high highest gear, preferably. Must have: Pannier rack, mudguards. Frame suitable for 6ft 4in, 13st 7lb male. Need to remove battery and carry a spare. High range. Must not have: Handlebar higher than seat. Budget Whatever fits my requirements.

Richard Peace For once I feel spoiled for choice in selecting bikes to recommend because ‘all-trail’ or SUVtype e-bikes are a rapidly growing segment – and as you haven’t specified a maximum budget that really opens out the options. So I have two suggestions for you.

A standout option has to be the Whyte E-506 SUV (£3,599, whytebikes.com) – not just because of the powerful (85Nm torque) Bosch Performance Line CX mid-drive and removable 500Wh battery but because there are some tremendous discounts around (for example £2,499 from House of Fraser). It has wideranging 1×10 derailleur gearing, mega-powerful four-piston hydraulic disc brakes, hardwired front and rear lights, a rear pannier rack and a dropper seatpost.

At the opposite end of the price scale, if you want a virtually indestructible model, you can drool online over Riese & Muller’s Superdelite Mountain (approx £10,000, r-m.de). It boasts the same powerful mid-drive as the Whyte but also has super highquality full suspension and the option of a 14-speed Rohloff hub gear with electronic shifting, plus front and rear racks. If large range is important, best of all, you get Bosch’s 1,125Wh dual battery system.

There is a whole spectrum of choice in between these two options, including Haibike’s Advntr FS9, Canyon’s electric Pathlite range and the Trek Powerfly Sport Equipped range.

WHYTE E-506 SUV £3,599

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Trevor Appleton

Dan Joyce Chimney Bank is one of the steepest tarmac roads in the UK, with a maximum gradient of about 33%. The optimum e-bike for climbing such hills is one with a high-torque midmotor (85Nm, as you surmise) and low gears, which will enable both the mid-motor and your legs to work less hard. You only tend to find such motors and gearing on e-mountain bikes (aside from some e-cargo bikes). An e-gravel bike would have sufficient off-road capability for what you describe but would come with too-high gearing and a motor with too little torque.

There are plenty of e-MTBs to choose from. Like Richard, I’d suggest a fully equipped hardtail – specifically, the Trek Powerfly Sport 7 Equipped Gen 4 (£4,625, trekbikes.com).

That’s not discounted on Trek's website but you may be able to find a very similar Gen 3 version for less. Like the Whyte, it has a pannier rack, mudguards, hardwired lighting, fourpiston hydraulic brakes and a dropper seatpost. Its removable battery is even bigger (625Wh) and its gears are lower. A 36t chainring drives a 12-speed 10-51 cassette, compared to the Whyte’s 38t chainring and 10-speed 11-43 cassette.

The XL model is designed for riders between about 6ft 2in and 6ft 5in, so should fit you well. You have a Trek dealer nearby (Big Bear Bikes in Pickering), which will be helpful for test riding and for having local backup if you do buy.

TREK POWERFLY SPORT 7 EQUIPPED GEN 4 £4,625

BIKE TEST

G R AV EL B I KES

Bike test

Gravel bikes KATHERINE MOORE Katherine is a keen bikepacker and off-road rider who created the East Devon Trail (eastdevontrail. com). She is 165cm tall (5ft 5in)

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You can get a very capable on/off-road all-rounder for £2,000-plus. Katherine Moore tests the Specialized Diverge Comp E5 and Whyte Friston

E

ntry-level gravel bikes from big-name brands tend to cost between £1,000 and £1,500. Spending £1,000 more buys you a lighter-weight, bikepacking-ready bike with significant upgrades. Instead of mechanical disc brakes you can expect hydraulics. The groupset will be higher tier. Wheels and tyres are more likely to be tubeless ready. You may also get technology that doesn’t appear on less expensive gravel bikes, such as the dropper seatpost of the Whyte Friston or the proprietary fork-steerer suspension that the Specialized Diverge Comp E5 has.

‘Gravel’ is a broad category. At one end of the spectrum are fatter-tyred adventure bikes (cyclinguk.org/adventure-bikes) that will tackle the kind of terrain you'd otherwise use a hardtail mountain bike for. At the other end are all-roads bikes that are better suited to tarmac and the sort of unsurfaced tracks that a car would cope with.

Our test bikes have significant differences in scope. The one that appeals to you most may depend on your cycling background. Are you coming to the world of drop-bar, off-road

riding from the discipline of road cycling or mountain biking?

Frame and fork Both the Specialized Diverge and Whyte Friston have aluminium gravel frames, paired with carbon forks and compatible with modern 12mm thru-axles and threaded bottom brackets.

Built for adventure, both bikes’ forks feature cargo cage mounts. The Friston frameset is 1×-specific. While the Diverge is also built with a single chainring setup, you can opt to run a double chainring on it.

The two bikes share some similar geometry figures, with 70.5- (Specialized) and 70-degree (Whyte) head tube angles, and almost identical wheelbases. The head tube is considerably longer (130mm) on the Whyte Friston than the Specialized Diverge (104mm).

The Diverge is built with Specialized’s Future Shock 1.5 suspension, giving 20mm of fork steerer travel. An internal spring enables the handlebar (and stem) to move up and down, giving much the same effect as a suspension stem; it’s not like a conventional suspension fork, or even Cannondale’s Headshok, where

G R AV EL B I KES

BIKE TEST

First look

Thinner-tyred gravel bike with fork steerer suspension that suits smoother trails and tarmac

An internal spring enables the handlebar (and stem) to move up and down, giving much the same effect as a suspension stem

Tech spec

SPECIALIZED DIVERGE COMP E5 the suspension is for the and hydraulic disc brakes, front wheel. The Future though neither has a full Shock is designed to series build. The Friston smooth out bumps in your and Diverge each have a ride rather than take big (heavier) Sunrace cassette, hits or track rough trail presumably as a cost surfaces like a mountain saving, and the Diverge also bike fork. The Diverge comes uses a KMC chain and Avid with a choice of four coil G2 rotors. The Friston has a springs so you can adjust non-series chainset: an alloy how supple or firm it feels. own-brand offering with The Friston takes a a 38-tooth chainring that’s more traditional approach slightly smaller than the to frame design, though Diverge’s 40-tooth one. with some cues from the As you’d expect at this Top: It’s sold as a 1× bike but mountain bike world. Like price, the finishing kit is there’s a front derailleur mount contemporary MTBs, the all alloy and designed in Bottom: These 38mm tyres roll well on road and easy tracks but Friston aims for improved house. The Diverge uses lack off-road grip and plushness off-road stability with a Specialized’s Adventure shorter-offset fork (more Gear Hover handlebar with trail), a longer-reach frame that puts a subtle 12-degree flare in the drops, a the front wheel further out front, and a Future-Shock-specific stem and a standard shorter stem. Generous tyre clearances seatpost topped with the popular shortenable you to run wider 700C rubber for nosed Specialized Power cutout saddle. rougher trails. While the Specialized can The Friston has some obvious take up to 42mm tyres, the Friston can mountain bike influences when it comes accommodate tyres up to 50mm (2in). to components, including a very wide Both bikes feature internal cable and handlebar (50cm!) and a Trans-X dropper hose routing, although only through the seatpost with 70mm travel. This is frame and fork, and not, home mechanics activated using the left-hand SRAM shifter will be pleased to note, through the that would otherwise operate a front handlebar, stem and/or headset. derailleur.

Both bikes roll on 700C alloy Components wheelsets, set up with innertubes. The Both bikes are equipped with SRAM major difference, apart from the tyres Apex, with single-chainring drivetrains themselves, is that the wheels and tyres

Price: £2,500.

Sizes: 49, 52 (tested), 54, 56, 58, 61, 64cm.

Weight: 9.9kg (21.8lb).

Frame and fork: Specialized Diverge E5 Premium Aluminum with Future Shock 1.5, threaded BB, internal routing, thru-axle, flat-mount disc, and fittings for rear rack, mudguard, three bottles and top tube bag/box. Carbon fork with fittings for mudguard and two cargo/bottle cages.

Wheels: 38-622 Specialized Pathfinder Sport gravel tyres, Axis Elite Disc alloy wheels, set up with innertubes.

Transmission: SRAM Apex 1× drivetrain Dimensions in millimetres and degrees

625 542 722

73.75˚

67

432

614 70.5˚

65

430

712 55

with 40t chainring, SRAM GXP bottom bracket, KMC X-11 11-speed chain and Sunrace 11-42t cassette. SRAM Apex hydraulic shifters and long-cage rear derailleur. 11 ratios, 26-100in.

Braking: SRAM Apex 1 hydraulic disc brakes, Avid G2 160mm rotors.

Steering & seating: Specialized S-Wrap tape, Specialized Adventure Gear Hover bar with 12 degrees flare, Specialized Future Shock alloy stem and headset. Specialized Power Sport saddle with steel rails, Specialized alloy seatpost with offset clamp. specialized.com

170 1033

270

142 622 37

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G R AV EL B I KES

BIKE TEST

First look

A gravel bike with obvious mountain bike influences, such as a dropper post and a wide bar

The Friston aims for improved offroad stability with a shorteroffset fork (more trail), a longer-reach frame and a shorter stem

Tech Spec

WHYTE FRISTON of the Friston are both tubeless compatible, so you could choose to set them up tubeless yourself at home.

If you wanted to do that on the Diverge, you’d first have to upgrade both the rims (or, more likely, wheelset) and the tyres, which would be a significant cost.

The Specialized Pathfinder Sport and the Maxxis Rambler TR are both gravel tyres, though the former is a 38mm, semi-slick option, while the Rambler is a chunkier 45mm width with a much more aggressive tread.

on tarmac. The Future Shock spring did creak a little when climbing out of the saddle.

When it came to riding off road, the downsides of the narrower, semi-slick tyres started to show. Set to a fairly high pressure to prevent pinching the innertubes, they often bounced off rocks or skidded sideways on gravel tracks, giving a skittery, disconcerting ride, especially when Top: The rims and 45mm tyres cornering on loose surfaces. are tubeless ready. You could Over bumpy hardpack even upsize to 50mm Bottom: A 70mm dropper post and rockier terrain, I was makes technical terrain easier really bounced about, the Ride narrow tyres offering little The Diverge looks to be nearer the suspension over the rough surface. Forest road end of the gravel spectrum, with fire roads were better, with the Future the Friston closer to the mountain bike Shock 1.5 coming into play to smooth out end. But do they ride as such? Testing the smaller bumps. on flowing gravel roads, some rocky The good news is that there’s clearance singletrack, muddy trails and linking for tyres up to 42mm wide front and lanes at home in Devon, I put both rear, which would allow you to run through their paces. lower pressures for more off-road shock First up, the Specialized Diverge absorption. You can’t go too low without behaved largely as expected. The switching to a tubeless setup, however, low-profile tyres offered little rolling which, as noted, would be expensive due resistance, giving a sprightly ride on the to the need for new wheels. road without the drag of more heavily The SRAM Apex drivetrain shifted treaded gravel tyres. It also felt quite reliably, if a little clunkily. The gearing light, which made road miles a joy, and is fairly wide ranging but I would have it climbed and cornered responsively benefitted from a lower bottom gear for

Price: £2,299.

Sizes: 50 (tested), 52, 54, 56, 58cm.

Weight: 10.7kg (23.6lb).

Frame and fork: Whyte 6061 T6 hydroformed alloy 1×-specific frame, threaded BB, internal routing, thru-axle, flat-mount disc, and fittings for rear rack, rear mudguard, three bottles, top tube box/bag and down tube mudguard.

Carbon fork with fittings for mudguard and two cargo/bottle cages.

Wheels: 45-622 Maxxis Rambler tyres, WTB ST i25 TCS 2.0 rims, 32 DT Swiss New Champion spokes, Whyte alloy centrelock hubs.

Transmission: Whyte alloy chainset with 38t chainring, BSA Dimensions in millimetres and degrees

620 559 74˚

780

91

425

625 70˚

75

500

720 38

68mm bottom bracket, SRAM 11-speed chain, Sunrace 10-42t cassette. SRAM Apex hydraulic shifters and long-cage rear derailleur. 11 ratios, 25-107in.

Braking: SRAM Apex hydraulic levers, 180/160mm SRAM CenterLine rotors.

Steering & seating: Whyte anti-slip cross tape, Whyte 500 by Controltech alloy handlebar, Whyte alloy stem, FSA No. 42 Integrated Road headset. Whyte Custom saddle, 70mm travel Trans-X YSP38 Dropper Post with rocker remote, Whyte seat clamp.

Equipment: Concealed hex key in front axle, rubberised chainstay protector whytebikes.com

170 1032

277

142 622 45

C Y CL I NGUK . O RG cycle 63

BIKE TEST

G R AV EL B I KES Huge 50cm handlebar

Cycle’s test promise At Cycle, we are proudly independent. There’s no pressure to please advertisers as we’re funded by your membership. Our product reviews aren’t press releases; they’re written by experienced cyclists after thorough testing.

Specialized in action

38-tooth chainring

the steeper off-road climbs. Paired with the narrower, semi-slick tyres, the build feels more suited for a winter road bike or rugged commuter rather than something designed for out-and-out gravel riding. The SRAM Apex braking was sufficient over different terrain, though didn’t feel quite as powerful as Shimano GRX brakes.

Lastly, I enjoyed the Diverge’s riding position, with its ergonomic 40cm handlebar offering a lovely, stable stance in the moderately flared drops. The sloping top tube also means that there’s plenty of exposed seatpost for attaching saddlebags, which is a boon for shorter riders like me.

The Whyte Friston puts you in a very different position, in large part because the handlebar is 10cm wider. While a wider bar means more steering leverage for improved control on technical trails, this extreme width didn’t suit me. Other things being equal, splaying your arms wider means you have to lean forward more. I got upper back pain from what felt like a totally unnatural stance.

The difference in tyre performance is also like night and day, with the Friston’s 45mm Maxxis Rambler tyres offering plentiful grip, especially when run at the lower pressures a wider tyre allows. They ate up the rougher trails and singletrack, giving me the confidence to let off the brakes and go for it.

To test the bike’s singletrack credentials, I joined some pals for a mountain bike ride aboard the Friston. It coped pretty well on natural singletrack featuring rocks, roots and some small drops. I only needed the dropper once on the steepest trail, as I found I moved

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cycle DE C E MB E R 20 2 3/JAN UARY 2024

Other options

CANYON GRIZL 8 1BY £1,949

This adventure-ready alloy build has clearance for 50mm tyres, quality GRX shifting and grippy Schwalbe G-One Bite tyres.

canyon.com

forwards to weight the front wheel when descending, which distanced me from the saddle anyway.

A cynic might argue that by the time you’re getting into dropper post territory, you might as well be on a cross-country mountain bike. I’m not convinced that the benefit of having one outweighs the added weight and maintenance requirement, but if you’re dead set on riding steeper singletrack on your gravel bike, it might suit you.

Even though the difference was only two teeth, the slightly smaller chainring on the Friston did help when it came to the steeper off-road inclines. On linking road sections, the Friston wasn’t the fastest, though the Ramblers didn’t feel sluggish either.

Verdict

RIBBLE GRAVEL AL PRO GRX RX800 £2 ,199

Fantastic value, customisable alloy gravel bike with high-quality Shimano GRX810 11-speed gearing and Mavic Allroad 650B wheels.

ribblecycles.co.uk

Even though they’re both SRAM Apex-equipped aluminium gravel bikes at a similar price, they’re very different and will suit different types of rider. If you’re looking for something that can take you from your daily commute to the towpath and beyond, the Specialized Diverge is probably a good option.

If you’re a keen off-road rider looking to enjoy more technical trails on a drop-bar bike, then the Whyte Friston will be more up your (unsurfaced) street.

Other riders may want a more versatile bike closer to the middle of the gravel spectrum, such as the Sonder Camino or Pinnacle Arkose.

In terms of value for money, I think you get more with the Friston than the Diverge. Tubeless-ready wheels and tyres save on upgrade costs, and it comes with a dropper post. However, I would be quick to switch out the wide handlebar for something more conventional.

BIKE TEST

RIGID MTB Dimensions in millimetres and degrees

655 605 73˚

782 52

458

683 69˚

86

112

445

725

175

291

135 584 71

1134

Tech spec

GENESIS LONGITUDE

Bike test

Genesis Longitude Rigid mountain bikes work better than gravel bikes for more technically demanding trips and trails. Sean Fishpool tests one of the few available

T

Other options

he Genesis Longitude days of mud, moors and slate is a no-suspension on the Trans Cambrian Way. It steel mountain bike was a pleasing companion for with 27.5in wheels, plusboth. On wooded singletrack sized tyres and a host of it held an unflustered line, luggage mounting points. smoothing out roots and It was launched in 2014 stones. The main thing to get amid a flurry of excitement used to was being pitched in the industry for ‘mid fat' forward more easily on bumps tyres, and it’s one of the few and drops than on a bike with remaining such bikes on the front suspension. market; most brands have For bikepacking, it provided reverted to thinner-tyre 29in a comfortable, relaxed ride, wheels – which the Longitude with an upright-enough is also designed to handle. position and stable handling.

The current iteration With an 18-inch bottom gear Top: Plenty of comfort from the is specced with sensible, and wide tyres it could be plus-sized tyres Bottom: Reinforced brazing dependable components – winched up pretty much and attractive contour graphics mainly Shimano Deore. It anything. The gears kept has a 2×10-speed drivetrain shifting even when filthy, for a wider range of gears and cheaper and the hydraulic brakes performed as maintenance than a more fashionable 1× well as the more expensive SLX brakes setup, and the low gear will be similar. on my own hardtail (perhaps helped I took it on singletrack and local gravel by the tyres). At over 14kg, it wasn’t fast for general mountain biking fun, and then up hills or quick to accelerate but kept loaded it up with bivvying kit for three rolling imperturbably.

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SONDER FRONTIER SX EAGLE RIGID

MARIN PINE MOUNTAIN 1

Lighter but lower-specced aluminium rigid adventure bike that can be built with 27.5 or 29in wheels and upgraded to a suspension fork. alpkit.com

Classic steel bikepacking favourite with front

£949

cycle DE C E MB E R 20 2 3/JAN UARY 2024

£1,385

suspension, 29 ×2.6 tyres, and a similar quality spec to the Longitude.

marinbikes.uk

Price: £1,499.99 Sizes: S, M (tested), L, XL Weight: 14.01kg (30.9lb), no pedals.

Frame & fork: Double-butted chromoly frame and fork with fittings for disc brakes, mudguards, front and rear racks, three bottles, two fork cages.

Wheels: 75-584 WTB Trail Boss tubelessready tyres (listed as 27.5×2.8 WTB Trail Blazer), 27.5in alloy WTB ST i35 TCS rims on Shimano Deore hubs, 32 spokes.

Transmission: Plastic NW-303 placeholder pedals (not used), Shimano Deore

chainset with 36-26 chainrings, Shimano BB52 bottom bracket, KMC X10 chain, Deore 10-speed 11-42 cassette. Shimano Deore front and rear derailleurs. 20 ratios, 18-95in.

Braking: Shimano Deore hydraulic levers and callipers, 180/160mm front/ rear rotors.

Steering & seating: Genesis Lock On grips, Genesis alloy 760mm handlebar, Genesis alloy 60mm stem. Genesis Adventure saddle, 27.2×400mm Genesis alloy seatpost. genesisbikes.co.uk

Getting the right tyre pressure off road seemed to be key. When it was just right, the tyres moulded over stones and bumps so you didn’t even feel them. Too soft and it would squirm on corners; too firm and you’d get bucked about. I found 7-8 psi about right. In some greasy mud the tyres weren’t great, where thinner ones with deeper knobbles might have cut through to find purchase.

The one thing I didn’t like – apart from the firm grips – was the soft tyres’ tendency to self steer on road, especially on cambers and corners. For a less offroad-orientated trip I’d use 29-inch wheels with narrower tyres.

Verdict

If your appetite for exploration leans off road and you like to keep things simple, the Genesis Longitude would suit you well. It’s a characterful bike that can be adapted, upgraded and cherished. An off-road bike with a steel fork and big tyres is never going to be light, but it encourages a can-do, go-anywhere attitude.

ROAD TYRES

GROUPTEST

Details

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

1

Wider tyres can be run at lower pressures, which means more comfort on bad roads and more grip on wet ones. If your bike has sufficient clearance, embrace the fact that you can now buy proper 28mm (or even 32mm) road tyres.

Grouptest

Four-season road tyres

2

W

Faster-rolling tyres are how Dan keeps up with fitter riders on club runs

Cycle’s test promise At Cycle, we are proudly independent. There’s no pressure to please advertisers as we’re funded by your membership. Our product reviews aren’t press releases; they’re written by experienced cyclists after thorough testing.

3

Casing

A higher TPI number (threads per inch) means thinner thread, which gives a

more supple casing and a nicer (and usually faster) ride. A lower TPI means a stiffer casing made from thicker threads that don’t cut as easily. All tyres tested have lighter folding beads rather than wire.

4

Puncture resistance

5

Rolling performance

While a thicker tread will also improve puncture resistance, road bike tyres primarily use one or more synthetic anti-puncture layers under the tread, such as Kevlar. Some have similar protection for the sidewalls.

These may not be race tyres but rolling performance is still important in most road bike situations.

Lighter, more supple tyres generally roll best but usually have less puncture resistance.

Right: conti-tyres.co.uk

DAN JOYCE

Tread

Tread patterns aren’t required for road bike tyres except as a visual wear gauge.

Rubber can’t dig into tarmac and bicycle tyres won’t aquaplane in the wet. Compound is what counts. Dualcompound tyres have softer rubber on the ‘shoulders’ of the tyre for cornering, harder in the centre for longevity and efficient rolling.

Year-round riding demands road bike tyres that are tougher, grippier and perhaps wider than summeronly rubber. Dan Joyce tests four pairs inter means wetter, slippier roads with more puncture-causing debris, and more potholes due to frost cracking. A set of tougher tyres will make shivering at the roadside with a flat less likely.

How tough? It’s a trade off. You can buy Schwalbe’s bombproof Marathon Plus in the same 28-622 size as the tyres featured here but it’s 750g. That’s not a problem for commuting but the weight, drag and ride feel will suck the joy from club runs, training rides or audax events.

The tyres tested here are lighter and faster rolling.

They’re all designed for use with innertubes. Fourseason tubeless road tyres do exist, and we’ll be testing some soon, but the benefit of sealant isn’t as pronounced as it is with fragile race rubber because tougher tyres don’t get as many holes poked in them in the first place. It’s also generally easier to get nontubeless tyres on and off non-tubeless rims than if the rims, tyres or both are tubeless – something you may appreciate with cold hands.

I tested 28mm versions of all these tyres, fitting them to 17mm-wide Kinlin XC-279 rims. They’re the wheels of a Spa Audax Mono I’m reviewing for next issue, which meant a lot of out-of-the-saddle climbing on wet roads. I also did repeated roll-down tests.

Width

C YC L I NGUK . O RG cycle 69

GROUPTEST

ROAD TYRES

1

2

3

4

Verdict The Schwalbe One 365 is the toughest tyre here but also the heaviest and slowest rolling, which is fine for solo riding but would bother me on club runs.

The Continental GP 4-Season was my favourite tyre for wet and twisty descents. You’re paying a lot for that, however, and while it is tough it’s not quite as quick as you might wish for a road tyre at this price point.

For me, it’s a choice between the Pirelli P Zero Race 4S and the Michelin Pro 4 Endurance. Both give away little to summer tyres in terms of rolling performance, yet still have good enough wet roads grip and puncture resistance. The Pirelli has a nicer ride feel, the Michelin is cheaper and seems more robust.

More online For more reviews of bikes, kit and components, as well as how-to guides, visit... cyclinguk.org/advice

Continental 14-Season Grand Prix

2Michelin 3Pirelli Pro 4 Endurance P Zero Race 4S £49.99 michelin.co.uk

£62.99 pirelli.com

4Schwalbe One 365

THE GP 4-SEASON costs more than Continental’s other popular tough tyre, the Gatorskin. It should be more puncture resistant as it has two strips of Vectran under the tread, in addition to the bead-to-bead DuraSkin layer the tyres share. I didn’t notice that, although puncture resistance is good, but the GP 4-Season’s wet roads grip is much better. I was more confident cornering at speed on these than the other tyres in the test – a combination of the Max Grip Silica compound, a slightly larger volume and my previous experience with these tyres. Rolling performance was good rather than excellent. Sizes: 23-622, 25-622, 28-622, 32-622.

Weight: 296g. Width: 29mm.

LIKE THE GP 4-Season, Michelin’s Pro 4 Endurance has been around for years. Apart from being available in 28mm now, it doesn’t seem to have changed.

But that’s no bad thing: the last time I tested the Pro 4 Endurance it was faster than every tyre I tried that was tougher than it and tougher than every tyre faster than it. It remained so in this test. Only the Pirelli was as quick in roll-down tests and only the Schwalbe seemed tougher.

While the Pro 4 Endurance does have a dual compound tread, I was less inclined to take corners without braking than with the GP 4-Season. It was a little harder to fit than the other tyres. Sizes: 23-622, 25,622, 28-622. Weight: 283g. Width: 28mm.

THE P ZERO Race 4S is the lightest tyre here. On the road it felt nice and supple – more like a summer tyre than a winter one. Even as I was fitting them, I thought they would be the fastest rolling. They were: jointly with the Michelin. Puncture resistance, which I assessed by stabbing all the tyres with sharps since I didn’t get any flats during the test period, seemed comparable to the Continental and the Michelin through the tread. The more pliable sidewalls, which doubtless account for its ride feel, put up less resistance. I didn’t test the grip to the limit but didn’t have any dicey moments in what were grim post-storm conditions. Sizes: 26-622, 28-622, 30-622. Weight: 263g. Width: 27.5mm

NEW FOR 2024, the One 365 is a like-for-like replacement for the Durano DD. It’s the heaviest tyre here, with the stiffest sidewalls and the hardest to penetrate tread. To no great surprise, it was the slowest rolling – although not as far behind the GP 4-Season as I thought it would be. Grip is good. It’s the only tyre here to have reflective sidewalls. Given that it’s also the toughest tyre here, the One 365 would be the best candidate for commuting.

Even there, though, I think it would be eclipsed by one of its stablemates: the One Plus, formerly known as the Durano Plus, which was my first choice urban road bike tyre. Sizes: 25-622, 28-622, 32-622. Weight: 334g. Width: 28.5mm.

Reassuringly good wet roads grip. Not the fastest rolling

Surprisingly quick tyre that is tough enough and not too dear

Winter tyres with a summer feel – fast rolling and light

A tough tyre that feels lacklustre in this exalted company

£51.99 schwalbe.com

£65.95 conti-tyres.co.uk

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CYCLE

H O L I DAY S & D I R EC TO RY

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Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela

TRAVELLERS’ TALES

Share your story We’d love to hear your Travellers’ Tales! Email: editor@cyclinguk.org

Dumfries & Galloway

Solo in Scotland Spain

A pilgrim’s progress David Stringer was tested by an eight-day ‘organised’ ride along the Camino de Santiago

A

s I struggled up yet another long, steep climb – my muscles burning, my hips and knees aching and my lungs gasping for breath – I was wondering what I had let myself in for. Eventually I found myself at the top and entered a small town, but there were still a few more hills before we dropped back down to the coast. This was only the first day of an eight-day led ride along the north route of the Camino de Santiago. I was already suffering.

What had possessed me, a 70-yearold cyclist of average ability at best, to take on this challenge? I had done a C2C and a leisurely LEJOG, and I was open to new challenges. I looked up the tour on the website and, after making a few enquiries, decided it was achievable. I signed up and paid my money. A bike would be provided so I wouldn’t have to worry about transferring my own to Spain.

At the start there were four of us, including the two leaders/organisers.

As we progressed it soon became apparent that the organisation and planning left a lot to be desired. The beginning and end point of each day were known but the route seemed to be made up on the fly.

There were no easy days apart from day four, which was a rest

In the mountains near Meira

day. I rested. On the last day we rolled into the cathedral square to finish our pilgrimage. Like an audax, you need to provide proof of passage via a passport you collect at the start and which you get stamped along the way at various cafés, bars, hotels, churches and tourist offices. We took our passports to the pilgrimage office and received our certificates. The bike was returned to the hire company, I caught the bus to the airport and went home. I’m glad I managed to do it. I only wish it had been a properly organised tour.

Some Caminos utilise tunnels

Novice cycle tourer Rebecca Mitten enjoyed her longest trip yet in October AS A SINGLE WOMAN in my early 50s, with my children young adults who are doing their own thing, my holiday options are different now. I love walking, cycling and seeing different places but friends aren’t always free to join me. So I thought I’d give cycle touring on my own a go. I started with a one-night trip over the Humber Bridge. It was fantastic!

My latest ride in October was my longest yet at 260 miles, mostly in Dumfries and Galloway. The longest day was 43 miles, the shortest 24. I rode from Carlisle to Stranraer on NCNs 7 and 73, taking in the Mull of Galloway Lighthouse, plus the Forth Bridge on the journey home.

What was lovely about it? I was lucky with the weather – some rainy patches but overall bright skies. B&B owners were cheery and helpful. I had the best chips I’ve eaten in years at a small hotel in Sandhead, and in the morning the best porridge ever while a cat sat purring on my knee. In Castle Douglas I enjoyed the best Greek meal I’ve had. The cafés were spick and span. Torhouse Stone Circle and Caerlaverock Castle were worth seeing. The Mull of Galloway Lighthouse (right) was glorious. Roads and paths were mostly smooth and peaceful. The only not-so-lovely element was the hassle of getting my bike on trains.

I’d be interested to hear what other female tourers do when nature calls and there are no toilets around. I feel pretty exposed with my shorts round my knees.

Anyway, it was a glorious trip and I’m looking forward to my next one.

C YC L I NGUK . O RG cycle 7 3

TRAVELLERS’ TALES

France

Pedalling to Provence For her club’s cycling week in the south of France, Becci May decided to get there by bike

In the hills above Ingram

Northumberland

4-day Sandstone Way This summer, Jane John and three companions cycled 120 miles off road from Berwick-upon-Tweed to Hexham

N

o heatwave? Tick.

Sandstone Way travel logistics sorted? Tick. Avon Skin So Soft packed? Tick. The four of us were ready for another off-road MTB adventure, although not a little unnerved by a previous Travellers’ Tales report of 170 or more gates to open…

We planned to split the 120-mile journey into four days of riding: Berwick to Wooler; Wooler to Rothbury; Rothbury to Bellingham; and Bellingham to Hexham, staying in pubs and B&Bs en route. The route was easily plotted using the Sandstone Way GPX file and the paper map. Our luggage was transferred by a kind husband in a campervan. He was also our backup if anything major went wrong.

Looking back at our mostly sunny photographs, I’ve almost forgotten the few short, sharp showers, especially as one came just before the café at Ingram. It was easily put right by a large slice of border tart and a flat white.

Our spirits weren’t even dampened by the lack of sleep due to the noisy Kiwi sheep shearers in Rothbury, the evidence of their celebrations hosed away the next morning…

Mostly we just rode along bridleways up and down hills with no

Stay connected 74

one else in sight, over farmland, in forests and woods, and between sparse villages. With technical descents challenging us, accompanied by plenty of whooping, perhaps it’s not surprising that we don’t tend to see much wildlife. There was more squawking as we found ‘something nasty in the woodshed’ when we put our bikes away in the Old Mortuary at Fountain Cottage B&B. All part of the welcome, apparently.

It’s a fantastic route – well signed, stunning landscapes, isolated and incredibly quiet (apart from us). We didn’t meet any other cyclists, just a few local walkers, on the whole route. As for the total gate tally of 123, we did only count the ones we had to open. Maybe someone knew we were coming?

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cycle DE C E MB E R 20 2 3/JAN UARY 2024

CYCLING IN PROVENCE was a delight in June. We were there for a week of riding, organised by Alton Cycling Club, after having travelled there through France in cars, trains or by bike!

One of our club members, Seb, thought: “What better way to join a club cycling week in Provence than by getting there by bike?” For those of us who joined him, that meant 14 days and 1,400km of cycling. We rode from Normandy to Angers and then up the Loire until it becomes a stream. Then down idyllic valleys in the Ardèche – the so-called Dolce Via – down to the Rhône and, at last, Provence.

Our base in Provence was a comfortable and friendly hotel in Buis-les-Baronnies, with spectacular views and access to a variety of mountain climbs (Mont Ventoux being the ultimate), multiple cols and dramatic gorges (such as the Gorges de la Nesque).

There were interesting rides in all directions from Buis. Ventoux loomed over us throughout the week, and by the end of it many of us managed to climb to the summit, which has three different ascents.

The climb was followed by a treacherous windy and winding whizz down. It was 10 degrees colder at the top, and we loved feeling the warmth build on the long descent to Malaucène.

Stormy weather during the week added to the drama, with thunder, lightning and rising river levels adding to the evenings’ entertainment. A fantastic week of good fun, good company and good rides.

More online Hexham, journey’s end

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