It’s quite refreshing to see world leading brands like Elite bringing back the ‘Full Metal Jacket’ cycling water bottle, with no plastic used in its construction. Following on from their Bio Green water bottles, this dynamic Italian brand are using their technical knowledge and expertise to help us older cycling kids to be greener.
The Yakima High Road is a top of the range heavy duty piece of engineering, designed with typical Japanese effectiveness. The front wheel is locked into place by a moveable set of hoops that wrap around the wheel. Simply lift the bike up and place the front wheel into the front hoop, bring the second hoop in towards the wheel and tighten things up with a calibrated ratchet that clicks when the correct tension is applied.
Elite Cycling from Italy don’t just make great indoor cycle trainers. They also make the most technologically researched water bottles for cyclists. We thought that we’d take a look at this critical item of cycling kit.
Larisa is currently testing the Elite Nero interactive rollers and by all accounts they’re awesome. Read her first thoughts on riding these high end technology packed rollers from this leading Italian brand.
Indoor cycling isn’t about hibernation. Instead, it’s all about developing your performance to be better equipped to tackle those hills outside, bringing you more smiles when the snow and ice thaws. Elite provide the very products and apps to help you to make the most of indoor cycling.
I’ve owned the same turbo trainer since I met Noah in the harbour one day. A huge piece of analogue iron with steel roller and a cable attached to a gearing mechanism to provide a little change in resistance. The future I thought to myself and to be honest, back then, it probably was. It has done me proud over the years but along came my Editor one day recently, lugging a heavy box from Elite Cycling. Time for an upgrade he told me and indoor cycling life has not been the same since!
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.
We didn’t choose these times, but it is all we have, so we have to look at the positive aspects for our training. Riding alone can help us in our training plans and gives us time to focus too. Here’s a few positive aspects that I have found to riding alone.
Everybody in cycling seems to talk devices these days. Strava has become a pain, yes a pain, Garmin is a close run second and there are a plephora of other devices that cyclists seem lost … literally without. I’m no technophobe, but I do believe that you should first learn to use a map and compass, and in truth, with great devices like Quad Lock which allows you to pop you mobile phone onto the handlebars, Google Maps simply can’t be beaten – or can it 😉
It truly is that simple. For all the multitude of phone mounts available, we’ve used quad lock on extended cycle tours, allowing us to be guided by google maps, on road bikes as we record Strava and on mountain bikes too. It’s secure and easy to fit and easy to remove on the fly, allowing you to take pictures from your phone easily.
Image Copyright Valeria Panarina