I used to be a bit of a philistine when it came to coffee, coffee was just coffee and instant tasted okay. That was until I started drinking freshly ground and freshly made coffee. What a revelation and how bad instant now tastes. Far from being any kind of connoisseur, but I can now appreciate the subtle undertones of flavours in different coffees, although this has created a bit of hole for myself, demanding good coffee wherever I travel, even bikepacking.
Stuck for trainer options due to space? This well engineered trainer from Feedback combines the best aspects of rollers & fixed trainer
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.
These days when road cycling, were faced with the growing battle between cars and bikes for space. Whilst some countries embraced cycling as a general form of transport many years ago: Holland, Belgium, parts of Germany and France; elsewhere in the world you can take your life into your hands by riding the roads.
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.
Nadezhda Pavlova