...is not a phrase I ever imagined I would use, yet here we are:
Okay, it's not my first choice of colour, but if there's a buff that proclaims me to be both a ciclista and an antifascista then I'm going to wear it.
This comes from Ciclista Ciclista, in Germany, though sadly they seem to have shut up shop for the indefinite. Shame.
"...I can see all lobster-claws in my way..."
That is how the song goes, right?
All of which terrible punning serves only to introduce the fact that I bought myself a pair of lobster-claw cycling gloves back in the autumn, thinking I wanted warmer hands when winter came calling. After much open-mouthed gawping at the cost of such gloves from established brands, these are what I ended up getting:
No, I wasn't especially familiar with VeloChampion as a brand either. But these were being sold as new on eBay for a tenner. I took a chance.
And you know what? They're excellent, probably the toastiest cycling gloves I've ever had. The claw design, allowing your fingers to keep each other warm, has been a real boon. In fact, it has taken until this week's sub-zero temperatures for me to get even slightly chilly hands cycling - that's how good these have been. Very comfy too, with well-placed padding. And although they were not advertised or sold as being waterproof, I've completed 25-minute rides in steady rain and emerged with bone-dry hands too. Your mileage may vary in a downpour, but I can only speak for my own experience so far.
Downsides? Well, the glossy black stripe on the back isn't really to my taste, but even that isn't gaudy or bling, is it? That said, the gloves could use some reflective details for these dark winter nights. Oh, and if the cuffs went 5 or 10 millimetres further up my sleeve, I wouldn't complain. But these are minor niggles, for what are properly good gloves and, at the secondhand price I paid for them, an absolute steal.
TLDR: warm, comfortable and even showerproof, these lobster claw gloves are terrific. ★★★★☆
BUY: seems that these are no longer available from VeloChampion, but you might be lucky and find some on eBay like me.
Full disclosure: I bought these with my own money. If anyone wants to give me kit in exchange for an honest review, I'm open to that, but unless I explicitly say otherwise everything I review on here will be sourced and paid for by yours truly.
You know when you have your annual appraisal at work, and you're supposed to say how many of your objectives for the year you actually met? I always seem to list several as "partially met" as in, yes, I did something but not everything. Looks like my cycling goals for 2024 were similar... remember, I'd set myself these targets:
This is how I ended up:
So I fully met goals 3 and 4, and got pretty close (96.9% of the way) on goal 2. I fell someway short (only 86.5% there) on goal 1 though, distance. Sigh.
Anyway, the other part of the annual appraisal is to look forward and set objectives for the year ahead. My cycling goals are very unoriginal, in that they are retreads of last year's, but since no-one but me reads this, who cares about that. Without further ado then, my cycling goals for 2025 are as follows:
If goals 1 and 2 look watered down from last year, well, they are - SMART goals need to be Achievable, right, we all know that from the usual appraisal spiel. As for goals 3 and 4, they're going to be hard; I currently have no sportives planned and, unlike last year, no marathon cycling holidays planned either. "Stretch goals" though, right? So watch this space, where I will continue to document my failure in a series of monthly graphs. What a time to be alive.
Remember those cycling goals for 2024?
Here's an update after eleven months (and a couple of days):
I've already met goals three and four, as reported in September. I guess there's still an outside chance of goal two but goal one is out the window, realistically. I'm not completely giving up, but it's just too cold to be notching the kind of distance I would need to in December. Oh well. Let's see how close I can get, at least. If nothing else, maybe I can get better 2020's 1,726 miles...?
I need three more 17 mile days to notch an annual Eddington of 17 for 2024. And this is what happened on Wednesday.
FMCL!
Remember those cycling goals for 2024?
Here's an update after ten months:
I've already met goals three and four, as reported in September. But it's goals one and two I have to worry about. I'm still just about in the running on goal two but after a woeful October in which I was away a lot, and so cycled very little, the wheels have completely come off goal one. I'm not giving up, but...I might as well.
... I'm putting on weight for the winter ...
... because I had a puncture cycling home from work last week, and I'm sick of them. So, although the foldable Continental Gatorskins my trusty flat-bar was shod with looked like they had a bit of life left in them (Strava tells me they'd done over 2,800 miles, mind), off they came, and on (with a hell of a struggle, a broken tyre lever and a broken Tyre Glider) went a pair of wired Schwalbe Marathon Plus.
Bottom line, I have a heavier but sturdier pair of tyres on now, roughly 50g heavier per wheel. They are grippy though, and feel sturdy. Plus they have the "Smartguard" reflective band on the tyre wall which, on my winter commuter, can only be a good thing.
The eagle-eyed amongst you (you? No-one reads this...) will have spotted the green dustcaps in the picture above. For yes, such was my ire at last week's puncture, I also fitted some Slime road inner tubes, These are much heavier than the Schwalbe Extra Light they replaced, adding about 110g per wheel. On the plus side, they felt quite comfy on this morning's commute which was a relief, as I had worried they'd be less pliant.
So after all those years of shaving every possible gram off the trusty flat-bar, I have just willingly added about 320g - more than seven KitKats! Impact? Well, I felt slower this morning, and it felt like harder work too. However, Strava suggests it has had no great impact on my average speed or top speed, so maybe it was just one of those mornings when it feels like hard work. Not getting any younger, slimmer or fitter, after all...
P.S. I tweeted (or Xed, or whatever) Tyre Glider about the breakage and they sent me a replacement, FOC, in the post. Good customer service, I would say.
Remember those cycling goals for 2024?
Here's an update after nine months (and three days):
I've already met goals three and four, as reported last month. But it's goals one and two I have to worry about. I'm still just about ahead on goal two but I've fallen behind on goal one, a side-effect of the declining weather and having been away from home (and hence bikes) a lot lately.
Bottom line? There's still a chance on goal two, just. I think goal one is going to be very hard. I'm not giving up, but...
You'll remember my cycling goals for 2024?
Here's an update after eight months:
So every so slightly ahead on goals 1 and 2, though with autumn and winter months to come. But goals 3 and 4 done, thanks to an 5-day epic trek (with 30kg luggage trailer) around Denmark. I've actually done ten days of 43+ miles this year. In fact, I'm only one day away from upping my lifetime Eddington to 44! But I'm four days away from upping my annual Eddington to 17.
It all looks good then. But I need to be cycling more routinely to achieve goals 1 and 2 in the remaining four months...
