Cyclist
In The Drops: Alpkit big saddle bag, Poc’s superlightweight jacket, Tom Pidcock Red Bull, Pogačar’s helmet and Второй этаж поражает
Is it too early to say that we’re now on the home stretch to Christmas? The pro season is over, the turbo trainer has made an unwelcome return and we’re all getting a little sniffly. What else is there to do in 2024?
Given that the season is done and dusted, we kicked off our mid-decade rankings this week with a look back on the Grand Tours. Both men and women had their Giro, Tour and Vuelta stages picked apart to reveal the best stages of the past five seasons. If that got you excited for Grand Tours, we updated our crib sheet of route rumours for next year’s three-weekers. Mont Ventoux back at the Tour? It’s soon to be a reality.
In tech, Lapierre launched its new all-round bike, the Xelius DRS. Who needs a lightweight bike and an aero bike when you can just have it all in one, right? With the clocks going back this weekend, we’ve been lighting up the site with our bike light reviews. Plus, our tech editor Sam Challis shared the stories behind the scenes at Sussex-based Mason.
Elsewhere on Cyclist, Robyn Davidson crunched the numbers to figure out the secret formula to beating Tadej Pogačar. On top of that, she also shone a light on some of the peloton’s breakthrough riders of the 2024 season. Staying in the pro bubble, Will Strickson shared the news this morning that the Tour de France will be taken off free-to-air TV in the UK after the 2025 Tour. ITV theme tune, we will never forget you.
On that note, let’s get into the drops – we’ve got a bit of everything this week.
Alpkit Koala 7L bike bag
‘Tis the season to get punctures. Yes, with crud all over the road at the moment and extra cargo needed on rides, having the right saddle bag is crucial.
An alternative to the traditional saddle bags the size of a cigarette packet is Alpkit’s bikepacking-style Koala saddle bag. The seven-litre bag is far bigger than your run-of-the-mill saddle bag. That said, it isn’t too bulky for casual Sunday ride usage. It uses a roll-top style closure to adapt to any level of fullness, whether you’re storing only a couple of inner tubes or a Tesco meal deal. Yes, I’ve tested it out: a Chicken Triple, nut bar and smoothie comfortably fit. Paired with three straps, the bag connects to the saddle and seatpost without any fuss. Alpkit also points out that the Koala is compatible with dropper posts.
The Koala is coated with X11 and Cordura waterproof materials, so there’s no need to worry about the bag getting soaked through. If anything, this acts as an extra arse-saving buffer against muddly splashback from the rear wheel. As well as that Alpkit bags are made in the UK and come with a 25-year guarantee.
All in all, it’s a nifty little saddle bag. It frees up my back pockets from overpacking – particularly in these winter months – and it was pretty steady during my test ride. I don’t feel like it altered my centre of gravity in any hard-done manner, nor did it feel like a sensory annoyance.
Sometimes you just need a little more space. Not sure to take an extra pair of callipers? Throw them in. This extra large Allen key? Stuff it in. It’s certainly helped to settle my indecisiveness when it comes to ride baggage. With that solved, now I just need to master the art of packing a bag.
- Buy the Koala bike bag from Alpkit (£74.99)
Poc Supreme rain jacket
As a wise man once said ‘rain, rain, go away, come again some other day’. Sometimes though, we do need to face the reality that rain will in fact, not go away. For that, Poc has you covered with its lightest-ever rain jacket, the Poc Supreme.
Let’s begin with the main attraction, the weight. It’s a featherlight garment. I really mean that – it might be one of the lightest pieces of cycling clothing in my wardrobe, coming in at just 85g. Its water resistance isn’t compromised though. Poc claims that the Supreme can withstand a 20,000mm water column and the seams have been reinforced by waterproof glue. Furthermore, the brand says that its waterproof materials are made using fluorocarbon-free DWR, avoiding the nasty chemicals that are often laced into damp-proof jackets.
Being so lightweight and thin, the Supreme folds up into the back pocket of any jersey or gilet with ease (or saddle bag). To give an impression, it folds down to a similar size to an Ordnance Survey map. With this, it’s far less bulky than heavy alternatives and doesn’t leave your jersey feeling overstretched or weighed down.
Unlike some rain jackets on the market, the Poc Supreme works well in all temperatures. I recently took this on an Alpine ride that teetered between 20° and 0°C. It provided coverage across the whole ride, particularly when ventilation was needed on the climbs. One downside of this, however, is that the jacket can’t really be used for thermal purposes. If it’s cold you’ll need to layer up underneath. In chillier rain, this is a pretty significant downside.
If you’re willing to look past that, the Poc Supreme is quite the pocket rocket of a rain jacket. Plus, it might be the most travel-friendly rain jacket out there, no mack has packed down into a Ryanair cabin bag as snugly as this one.
- Buy the Poc Supreme Rain Jacket from Poc (£450)
Tom Pidcock Red Bull
In celebration of Tom Pidcock’s mountain bike exploits at the Olympic Games this summer, the Ineos rider is the new face of the world’s most popular energy drink, Red Bull.
The Yorkshireman is not the first sportsman to be blazoned across the Austrian brand’s iconic blue and silver cans. The energy drink market has had its fair few sports star collaborations. Monster Energy launched a Lewis Hamilton-inspired drink a couple of years ago, Max Verstappen has been featured on a Red Bull can as has former F1 star Sebastian Vettel. What Pidcock brings to the table, however, is the honour of becoming the first road cyclist to feature on a Red Bull can. Sorry Wout van Aert or Primož Roglič, you were beaten to it.
Now, does Pidcock warrant his own Red Bull flavour? No, he does not. Maybe if he starts winning road races again, that might happen. For now, he’s just a face on a can. The flavour is unchanged.
My honest opinion on Red Bull? It’s not for me. However, I’m sure some collectors will be eyeing up the cans, which are now available online and at some UK corner shops. My local off-license – shoutout to Girish’s Premier – has stacks of the stuff. If you’re about to run down to the shop to grab one of these, don’t worry, there’s enough to go round.
With all that’s going on right now in the Pidcock transfer saga, you might see some more Pidcock-inspired merch in future instalments of In The Drops. Perhaps we’ll soon see a range of Picock-branded Q36.5 socks, Visma software or a Pidcock-designed Hansgrohe shower head. Probably not, but who knows?
- Buy from any good corner shop (£1.59, price may differ)
Met Trenta 3K Carbon Mips
The helmet of choice for cycling goliath Tadej Pogačar is the Met Trenta 3K Carbon. After his impressive season, it’s no wonder this is the most victorious helmet on this year’s WorldTour. With this in mind, I was intrigued to see if it had anything special lurking underneath – you know, a bit like the rat under the chef’s hat in Ratatouille.
First off, the Trenta 3K Carbon is backed up with the protective Mips system that provides extra safety in the event of an accident. In terms of weight, the ‘carbon ribs’ along the helmet provide lightweight benefits to the helmet, which comes in at a claimed weight of 228g. The spacing of these ‘ribs’ is also ideal for placing sunglasses, which can often feel like an afterthought on some helmets. The 19 vents in total provide a very balanced amount of ventilation. No wonder Pogačar gets his hair all tufted up through these little gaps.
For the most part, the Trenta is comfortable. That said, the tightening device at the rear of the helmet is prone to pinching on your occipital bone – the pointy rear of your skull. Through wearing it on rides, I’ve learnt that the aesthetics of the helmet aren’t for everyone, but I do think it’s one of the more sleek road helmets on the market. The sweeping lines, tail-like shape and monochrome colours make it pretty damn cool without feeling overbearingly futuristic or tediously functional.
- Buy the Met Trenta from Tredz (£229)
What we’re into this week: Второй этаж поражает
I’ll be the first to admit that I have pretty eclectic taste. With this, I have a particular – albeit rather niche – taste for Russian indie music. One cornerstone band of this genre is Второй этаж поражает – romanised as Vtoroy Etazh Porazhaet or ‘the second floor is amazing’ in English.
The Moscow-based project is as dreamy as it gets. The band’s music is soaked in heavily reverbed vocals, abstract lyrics and cloudy guitar interludes. After their breakthrough 2019 record Крайности, the group delved deeper into kaleidoscopic sounds. This is particularly evident in their earlier 2024 release Круги, which wouldn’t sound out of place on the soundtrack of an arthouse film or a liberal arts college dorm.
Riding this wave, the band dropped their latest EP titled Лето пройдет и свободное время last weekend. It’s a short listen at just two tracks in length, but it’s an eight-minute-long assault of reverb, existential vocals and spacey guitars all underpinned by splutterings of 80s-inspired synths. The second track – translated to English as ‘free time’ – is precisely what I love about this band. It’s an adventure through sounds familiar yet refreshingly different. I can’t think of a group outside of Russia quite like them.
The post In The Drops: Alpkit big saddle bag, Poc’s superlightweight jacket, Tom Pidcock Red Bull, Pogačar’s helmet and Второй этаж поражает appeared first on Cyclist.