#02 9 78178116 CYCLIST.CO.UK067208 £5.99 Autumn 2019 CONTENTS Issue #02/ Autumn 2019 94 Shadow Of The Stelvio Cyclist Off-Road heads to one of the most famous climbs known to two wheels – and takes a detour onto the stunning tracks you don’t normally get to see CYCLIST.CO.UK 9 CONTENTS Gear 15 Ten pages of all the kit you’ll need to get the most out of riding off-road, from Shimano, Easton, Pirelli, DT Swiss and a host of others 112 Battle On 70 Dirty Kanza The Beach Rides 35 This issue our thirst for adventure takes us to the volcanoes of Iceland, the shadow of the Stelvio in Italy and the depths of rural Sussex – plus the UK’s Battle On The Beach and Dirty Kanza in the US 84 A Trip Back In Time 94 Italy 36 Iceland 54 Sussex On test 125 Cyclist Off-Road puts three of the latest gravel machines from Cannondale, Santa Cruz and Open through their paces Knowledge 145 Want to be a better rider? We’ve got all the insider tips on how to descend faster, fit tubeless tyres, pick the right kit, pack for a multiday adventure and lots more 10 CYCLIST Ed’s Letter Switchboard: +44 (0)20 3890 3890 Advertising: +44 (0)20 3890 3801 Subscriptions: 0330 333 9492 Emails: [email protected] Cyclist, Dennis Publishing, 31-32 Alfred Place, London WC1E 7DP Web: cyclist.co.uk Email: [email protected] Facebook: facebook.com/cyclistmag Instagram: cyclist_mag Twitter: twitter.com/cyclist EDITORIAL Editor Pete Muir Deputy Editor Stu Bowers Art Director Rob Milton Production Editor Martin James Features Editor James Spender Commissioning Editor Peter Stuart Staff Writer Sam Challis Website Editor Jack Elton-Walters Web Writer Joseph Robinson App production/subbing Michael Donlevy Cover image Mike Massaro ADVERTISING Advertising Manager Adrian Hogan Account Manager Alex Law Senior Sales Executive Ben Lorton Agency Account Manager Rebecca New he six months since we launched Cyclist Off-Road have been some of the most PUBLISHING, MARKETING AND SUBS enlightening of my 30-plus years spent riding. Gravel bikes have rebooted my zest Managing Director Dharmesh Mistry for cycling, and changed the way I approach my rides. Lifestyle Marketing Manager I’ve developed a game I call Routefinder Roulette. The rules are simple: input a start Samantha Pashley point and destination into route-planning software and then let the algorithms do the rest. Head of Events Emma Turner Marketing Manager Holly Fradley Where will my bike computer take me? A road, a gravel path, a bridleway? Having a bike PRODUCTION AND NEWSTRADE that can cope with almost any surface means I can just take my chances and go with it. Creative Repro Manager Dave Kinnard It’s a whole lot of fun, and I have discovered routes in my own area that I never knew Senior Production Manager Daniel Stark existed. I even managed to cycle from my home in the New Forest all the way to my Newstrade Director David Barker in-laws’ house in south London almost entirely off-road, stitching together Newstrade Manager James Mangan nearly 200km of blissfully car-free trails. SYNDICATION AND LICENSING Syndication Manager Ryan Chambers Riding this way has given me the freedom to explore on a bike again, and it has Licensing Manager Carlotta Serantoni reminded me that I don’t have to go to far-flung places to have a great adventure. DENNIS PUBLISHING A quick Google search tells me the UK has 422,100km of paved roads, but I bet CEO James Tye there are almost as many kilometres of cycle paths, trails, byways, gravel tracks Company Founder Felix Dennis and disused railway lines. You just have to get out there and find them. Stu Bowers Get 3 issues of Deputy editor Cyclist for £5 To subscribe to Cyclist call 0330 333 9492 Or subscribe online at cyclistmag.co.uk/subscribe Win a Lezyne Tubeless 1yr subscription price UK £71.99; EU £100; Rest of World £110 CO2 Blaster kit Fix a flat and be back riding in no time with this handy prize worth £45 Lezyne’s Tubeless CO2 Blaster is an innovative two-in-one tool that Printed by Walstead Bicester. Distributed by Seymour Distribution. simultaneously seals and inflates tubeless tyres for fast and Copyright © Dennis Publishing Limited 2019. All rights reserved. Cyclist Off-Road is a registered trademark. Neither the whole of this mess-free puncture fixes without even needing to remove the publication nor any part of it may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval wheel. We’ve got 10 to give away, each kit comprising five rubber system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publishers. tyre plugs, insertion tool and two CO2 canisters, all housed in a sleek, compact aluminium holder that can be easily stowed Cyclist is available for international in a pocket or attached to the bike with a Velcro strap. licensing and syndication. Email [email protected] For your chance to win go to cyclist.co.uk/lezynecomp 12 CYCLIST.CO.UK #01 The latest and greatest new kit for gravel and off-road hen chainset specialist Race Face bought Easton in 2014, the deal had more than just financial implications. Race Face knew alloy, Easton knew carbon, W and five years on their combined expertise brings us the EC90 SL chainset. At 590g fitted with 52/36t chainrings or 442g fitted with a single 40t chainring, Easton the EC90 is lighter than the big three groupset manufacturers’ equivalents. Yet the big selling point here is versatility. Thanks to Race Face’s ‘Cinch’ technology an array of chainrings can be fitted onto the same crank arms. The EC90 SL can support 53/39t, 52/36t and 50/34t double setups and 38-50t single rings in two-tooth increments. EC90 SL Unlike some other chainsets, the EC90 SL is only available in the traditional crank arm lengths of 170, 172.5 and 175mm, but it does have an ace up its sleeve. Not only is the 30mm crank spindle compatible with all major bottom bracket standards, it can chainset also be swapped out for the Cinch Power Meter spindle (£769.99), which weighs From £399.99, silverfish-uk.com a mere 65g and delivers +/-2% accurate pedalling data for each leg. CYCLIST.CO.UK 15 NEW GEAR Rudy Project Protera £135, yellow-limited.com hen is a road helmet an off-road helmet? When set of supplied pads. Both sets are from X-Static, and it has a peak, right? Not so fast. While safety are a regular feature in high-end helmets, offering claimed W standards for road and gravel helmets are the anti-microbial and hydrophobic material properties. same, lids bound for dirt offer more cranial coverage. There is of course a visor, which is height-adjustable Or that’s the theory with the Protera, which extends or removable via two finger screws, and another neat much further down the back of the skull and temples for touch is the straps, which can be unclipped from the main better protection in the event of an off. That does mean more shell for washing, or swapped for different colours. material, but at 339g (medium) the Protera is light enough to Rudy Project offers a beguiling range of hues, and not feel bulky, and has plenty of vents to keep things chilled. given that the Italian brand also makes sunglasses, there Venting can be further improved by swapping the mesh- is a host of colour-matched Rudy shades designed to fit padded inserts (designed to keep bugs out) for the regular well with the Protera’s straps and retention system. Oakley Field Jackets £185, oakley.com The expansive field of vision created by rimless, visor- like lenses is all well and good, but in the rough and tumble of gravel riding the protection of full frames can actually be an advantage. They guard the lenses against ground strikes in the event of you overstepping your ability to cope with a particularly technical section of trail. Oakley’s Field Jacket design offers a compromise. Its Prizm lenses are fully enclosed but still oversized so as not to limit peripheral vision. The dual-lens design means prescription options can be fitted too, so you’ll be able to see that tree root before it takes you out. 16 CYCLIST.CO.UK NEW GEAR NEW GEAR PedalEd Odyssey kit Gilet £105, jersey £125, bibshorts £145, pedaled.com The Transcontinental Race and Kyrgyzstan’s Silk Road Mountain Race are perfect definitions of the word ‘odyssey’, so it is apt that PedalEd’s new Odyssey kit used those two epic races as testing grounds before final production. Mason In Search Of The brand says comfort and versatility were its top From £3,140, masoncycles.cc priorities, so you’ll find pockets aplenty on the kit – seven on the jersey and five on the bibshorts. The thigh pockets ason is a Sussex-based bike brand that says it tyres on 650b wheels. With that kind of rubber, there should on the bibshorts are made with a stretchy mesh and have takes pride in producing progressive designs. Its be barely any terrain on Earth that the ISO can’t roll over. – rather strangely – the opening at the bottom. A clever M founder, Dom Mason, was the man behind some The fork crown has a mounting system for Mason’s own overlapping panel ensures nothing falls out while allowing forward-thinking bikes at Kinesis before starting his own load-bearing mudguard and the frame is adorned with easy access to grab snacks on the fly.