You’ve got to hand it to Elastic Interface, literally – you really have to. This dynamic and forward thinking Italian technological fabric solution brand have done it again. I mean, how do you reinvent a cycling glove? After all, it’s just a glove isn’t it; with bits of fabric stitched together in the shape of a hand and then pads sewn into the fabric. Well, as the saying goes: ‘the past is another country – they do things differently there!’
It’s lockdown again, although due to circumstances I didn’t really leave it earlier. With a wife working at the hospital, elderly parents-in-law and kids at university I had to stay safe, to semi-isolate. Thankfully I’m a solitary person, but at times it’s been demotivating. I need to refocus and the rollers are an excellent way to achieve this.
I like a challenge – I’m still a competitor at heart. But the distance involved in travelling to practice and, the onset of colder weather means my training has to be adapted. Yes, I can go out into the smaller hills in my local National Park, the Dales. They’re truly beautiful, but the winter is coming. Yesterday we had snow! My wife’s parents sent a picture of it.
Yes, I’ll be back onto the rollers again I guess, spinning away and wiping away the sweat, as I try to retain my legs in readiness for spring or a crisp winter day. It won’t give me the strength though, just the stamina, which as a former distance athlete God or my parents already gave me.
During the spring and summer of 2020 I’ve been using and testing the Voom Nutrition energy bars and their super tasty “Recovery Fudge” protein bar. Best of all, they’re more than a replacement for the Mars Bars and I’ve seen my power levels maintained on both long rides and shorter but harder rides. How can they benefit your own cycling?
Factor Bikes are all about performance and technolological excellence.This young cycling brand aim high and achieve their goals, so it’s no surprise that they’ve opened a showroom in Harrogate – the cycling centre of the UK. And, The ‘Cold Bath Clubhouse’ is already establishing itself as the bike place to be in town – with great coffee too!
VOOM is a young and vibrant brand from the U.K. and it’s one that has its base firmly in endurance sports, with triathlon, fell running and cycling being sports that the brands key people participate in at a high level. There’s also some good science behind what they do, with their own scientist within the brand team. All sounds good so far then.
I’d better open up by saying that I wasn’t on a drug crazed trip in our capital city. No, I’d simply gone down to London to spend time with our son, a photographic artist who lives in the south of the city. Yes, a man after my own heart, whose apartment is filled with bikes and bike parts, all fixed gear machines, including a folding one! He has other bikes… numerous at the family home, but London is for riding real – and that means fixed gear.
Telegraph Hill in London is a secret viewpoint with one of the very best views over the city. Take a cycle ride from Central London, along the Southbank to this amazing small park.
It’s time to ride. The air outside is cool and a slight dampness hangs as the sun is still warming the earth. Fixing the bottles into the cages, I clip the pedals and place the gloved palms of my hands onto the bars.
It is possible to find country lane road cycling routes in Sussex and London. The classic Ditchling Beacon road cycling climb is an example, cycling from Balcombe to Brighton.
Ben Thorpe Photography