Sportive Cyclist - Where MAMILs Roam Free (And Ride Faster)

Best Winter Jackets For Road Cyclists

September 23, 2018September 22, 2018 by Andrew Montgomery

Winter is coming.

Whether you’re warding off white walkers or fattening your goose (er, not a euphemism), you’ll want a decent winter jacket in order to keep cycling through the colder months.

But winter road cycling jackets can be expensive. And (for a piece of clothing) a bit confusing.

Before you drop your cash, let Sportive Cyclist tell you what’s important and what’s not. What features you need, and what you can do without.

Then you can concentrate on staying warm on the bike and maintaining your fitness and cyclo-enjoyment over the winter months.

Road Bike Hack: The Cycling ‘Go Box’

August 20, 2018August 20, 2018 by Andrew Montgomery

Wow. Here we go. I have a ‘bike hack’ for you.

Or perhaps a bike life hack (#BikeLifeHack…).

I doubt I invented this hack.

In fact I definitely didn’t – I heard about the concept in a more general sense on one of the podcasts I listen to. I have just tailored the hack to suit my cycling life requirement. I can’t imagine it’s trademarked though. Even if it’s not, I don’t want to be labelled the Keith Chegwin of the bike hack world*.

(*Mont – what are you going on about? Get on with it…)

You’re right – that’s enough disclaimers.

RideLondon(-Surrey…) 2018: My ‘Race’ Report

August 11, 2018August 5, 2018 by Andrew Montgomery

I am sitting here eating my second cake of the day.

Since the conclusion of my RideLondon ride, I’ve consumed, inter alia, an Indian takeaway, a jumbo sausage roll from the West Cornwall Pasty Company and the aforementioned dos pasteles. I need to write about my RideLondon 2018 experience so that, if nothing else, I can reach closure and stop eating junk.

So behold, my RideLondon-Surrey 100 race report.

RideLondon 100 Training Update – Four Weeks To Go…

July 4, 2018July 4, 2018 by Andrew Montgomery

Four weeks to go. Squeaky bum time.

The closed roads of London beckon – 100 miles (probably a bit more) of cycling-in-a-day awaits.

So how has my training been going you (don’t) ask?

Here, have an update in your eyeholes.

Stolen Goat Bodyline ONE Bib Shorts Review: The One Where Mont Can’t Bring Himself to Buy Castelli

August 11, 2018June 2, 2018 by Andrew Montgomery

Expensive bib shorts are a hard sell. Particularly if you’re buying them ‘in the flesh’ – in the bike shop rather than via the interwebs.

Of all the cycling garments (let’s ignore toe caps and knee warmers), bib shorts are the most underwhelming when hung from a clothes hanger.

Indeed, the more expensive the short, the more inconsequential they tend to look on the merchandising rail. A bit of shrivelled lyrcra half-wrapped around an odd-shaped piece of foam.

I found this when I went into a high end bike shop (Prologue Cycling in Harrogate, in case you’re interested) in the dog days of summer 2017. A voucher (kindly given to me by my sister and her husband) was burning a hole in my saddlebag.

Converting A Bike For A One-Handed Rider – A Custom-build Story

April 2, 2018 by Andrew Montgomery

Today’s offering on the Sportive Cyclist blog is a guest post by Spike at SingleHandedCyclist.Com.

It’s a really interesting article about custom-building a bike to suit his particular requirements (in Spike’s case, that all the gears and brakes had to be operated by one hand, as you’ll see).

The post has inspired me to think about how I might customise my own bike in the future (and how I should have the confidence to give it a go). Now, over to Spike

RideLondon Training Programme: Dodgy Knees and Accountability

March 28, 2018March 28, 2018 by Andrew Montgomery

It’s time for an update on my RideLondon preparation and my general cycling life, what with this being a cycling blog and all…

You lucky lucky people.

So what have I done?

Well, three main things:

Continued rehabilitation of my knee
Drafted the first cut of my RideLondon training programme
Introduced some accountability into the whole RideLondon endeavour.

Let’s dive into the detail.

Best Cycling Shorts For Sportive Riders 2018: Protecting The Undercarriage

March 18, 2018March 18, 2018 by Andrew Montgomery

The cyclist’s journey towards velo mastery involves progressively replacing each item of clothing in their wardrobe with the equivalent garment made out of Lycra (Spandex to our US brethren). Cycling shorts are generally first on the list.

In this post, I’ll explore the exciting world of padded gussets and elasticated waistbands, and then give a few recommended shorts for you to check out.

Is A Bike Fit Worth It?

March 11, 2018March 11, 2018 by Andrew Montgomery

Is a bike fit worth it, you ask? Short answer: yes. Next post please!

For the most part, we like to spend money on a bike. On bikes, plural.

We can fantasise over magazines (bike ones) beforehand, we can enjoy the buying process, we have something afterwards that we can sit and gaze at in the garage.

But when it comes to complying with a core part of my bike buying dogma, intakes of breath are sharply delivered. Penury is claimed. Exits are sharply made.

That all stops now. In this post I’m going to try to persuade you to pay for a decent bike fit.

Go Hard Or Go Home // Volume Versus Training Intensity For Road Cyclists

March 4, 2018March 4, 2018 by Andrew Montgomery

If you’re a ‘time-starved’ cyclist and you want to improve your performance on the bike, it’s pretty important (dare I say it, vital) to understand the difference between training volume and intensity.

You are naturally limited in the former; you can make up for some of this limitation by manipulating the latter. Training intensity is really important for the sportive cyclist that wants to do more with less.

In this blog post we look at why and how.

How’s that for a brief introduction?

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