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feature
IMG_077215 things every cyclist loves — explore the best bits of riding your bike
Here's our pick of 15 things that we think every cyclist loves. Are we right or do you disagree? Let us know down below.
1 Reaching the top
Even if you love the climbs, there’s something about reaching the top that gives you an instant boost. Whether it’s Alpe d’Huez or a humpback bridge, it’s a job well done.
2 Riding with a tailwind
WInd Power (CC BY 2.0 reynermedia|Flickr)
Ride with a tailwind and you feel unbeatable, like your legs and lungs got stronger in the night. Very, very occasionally the wind will change direction during a ride and you’ll get a tailwind on the way out and a tailwind on the way back. On these days you think you're Eddy Merckx.
3 Dropping your mates
The fact that they’re your mates only makes you want to drop them more.
4 Green traffic lights
Traffic light tree (CC BY 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/kevandotorg)
Remember that day when every traffic light you passed was on green and you just sailed through? No, because it has never happened. One day it will, though, and then your life will be complete.
5 France
Le Semnoz-Crêt de Chatillon (CC BY NC 2.0 will_cyclist|Flickr)
Yeah, the cycling might be good around your way but France is the gold standard. Le Tour, of course, the Alps, the Pyrenees, Paris-Roubaix… Mind you, there’s Italy too. And Belgium.
6 New bike clothes
Yes, you’ve got your old favourites but you can never have too much new stuff. Don’t blame me; I didn’t invent greed/avarice/capitalism.
7 Light stuff
It doesn’t matter how many times you’re told that being aerodynamic is more important than shaving off a few grams, light kit always puts a smile on your face. That applies to your frame, handlebars, wheels, shoes, body… Pretty much everything, in fact.
8 A clean bike
Clean bikes are faster. Well, they might be. They certainly look faster. On the other hand, a dirty bike shows you’ve been riding it, so that has it’s merits too. Confusing.
9 The sound of a freehub
Some freehubs sound so ace you’ve just got to stop pedalling and listen to them ticking away from time to time. Not for too long, mind. That’s just slacking.
10 Trying a new route and it works out
I’ve got a hunch that this road will join up with another one that I know. I try it and it does. Hurrah! Just call me Mr Garmin.
11 New bar tape
Every road bike can be improved by the application of new bar tape. Fact.
12 Beating other riders away from the lights
Hectic street racing in Oxford (CC BY 2.0 Tejvan Pettinger)
It might not be the Olympic final but every victory counts. You're Le Patron until the next set of lights.
13 PBs
(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Sean Rowe|Flickr)
Even the least competitive cyclist likes to beat their time from point A to point B. Better your personal best by a second and you feel brilliant, miss it by a second and you feel crushed, yet that’s only a difference of two seconds. That’s just the way it is.
14 Coffee and cake
They’re pretty much essential.
15 The post-ride shower/bath
(CC BY-SA 2.0 vallgall|Flickr)
The more achy your legs, the better it feels.
Go on then; what did we miss?
Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.
Latest Comments
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Favero Assioma power pedals £249 single/ £369 dual on their website.
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Probably designed that way due to the swept path of HGV trailers, which would otherwise go over the pavement.
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Shurely "accidentally and incidentally making a larger profit than anticipated while attempting to help out during a national emergency, at a time...
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Either due to normal fluctuation or reduced levels of cycling i.e. not a real reduction.
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If the Ventoux wine doesn't do it for you, they also grow very respectable wine on the slopes of the Puy de Dome....
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I have been in Belfast for work this week and have been shocked by the congestion around the city centre. There are lots of frustrated drivers...
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Cyclists should be made to have insurance etc https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/24757516.four-vehicles-seize...
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A friend in my cycling club has a new Ribble Allroad, I think the model with 105, and when I asked how he was finding it (before reading this...
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154 comments
Cruising past motons queuing & stuck in mobile greenhouses on warm sunny days
Just sunny days
That private badass feeling when you've cycled to work through the pouring rain or snow, and everyone else is complaining about how bad the weather was for driving
That magic carpet silent whooshing along on a bike that's setup just right
Perfectly bunnyhopping a pothole/obstacle.
Beating people with much more expensive bikes/clothing to the top of a climb, or in a flat out sprint., or in the commute to/from work.
Seeing new people that have joined your group become much better riders and encouraging them onwards.
The first test ride on a new bike (that you've assembled yourself)
- Attaching numbers to your back pockets and getting that feeling of nervous anticipation
- Procrastinating in working picking out the perfect new bike
- Waiting for the end of the club run when the half-wheeling starts and chaos ensues
Post-ride allantoin creme application.
Saying "Thanks, appreciate your support" when you're going past a bus stop and the people in it are hailing the bus behind you.
I agree with caad10, the smell does it for me normally. Fresh air, and the changing of the seasons. But I live in the countryside so the smells aren't always that appealing. Passing a pig farm on a warm day for example...
Cotswold dairy farm and the weird way that the air is always warm there too!
Not as good as the local maggot farm on a warm day. Which has the added bonus of being on a hill.
Shorts and short sleeves for the first time of the year.
I think that should come with a slight caveat. Finishing, comfortably, a ride in shorts and short sleeves for the first time of the year is a great feeling.
Often the weather tempts you out of the crease and you end up having to fight your way home with far too much bare skin on show to the freezing rain that suddenly whipped in to say hello.
All of the above
Those moments when you realize that nothing could be better - you're happy.
Early season fitness, if you've built it or hung onto it, and the first few rides of the spring with it in shorts again cannot be beaten.
Upside down 13.
The SMELL! especially when it marks the changing of the seasons. Even in town (I imagine)...
Silky smooth tarmac.
Number 12, love beating the fellow commuters, especially when they're all geared up and I'm just in my work suit.
I'm especially mean in that I let them have a head start and then pick my moment to come past as calmly as possible....never turn down a chance to race!
Being able to eat what I want guilt free after a ride!
A cleanly executed hands-free nose clearance at high speed always does it for me.
Feeling so righteous settling to a crepe and coffee at the top of a French col when everyone else has driven or motorcycled up
Pretending to be winning a imaginary something when i am certain no one is watching by putting my hands up in the air, or do the running man.
Guilt-free eating and beer-drinking!
Overtaking a car... yeeeeeeeeaaahhh boy!
Riding a car(e)-free route.
Quiet, tranquil roads...
The smug feeling of nailing a steep climb when even those walking are struggling - momentarily pretending you are fine (cheery hello and shallow breathing) when inside you are crying.
Mallorca
Anything steel
The wind in your hair. Remember that? You can still do it and it's better than ever.
This, and a bit of sun as well.
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