The full, original version of this article was published in the 26th June 2025 print edition of Cycling Weekly. Subscribe online and get the magazine delivered direct to your door every week.
Few things rival the quiet joy of spinning along a trail in good company, wheels turning and conversation flowing. Our usual topic? Bikes, naturally. I ride a Canyon Grizl 7, fully immersed in my gravel era, and I’m usually joined by local friends who’ve traded skinny tyres for knobby ones, all drawn to the freedom of mixed terrain. Our conversations meander like the trails: summer bikepacking expeditions, the comfort of tubeless tyres, the merits of flared handlebars, and – of course – which cafe to cortado. Rarely does saddle chatter stray into which rare species we might encounter along the way, the local habitats under threat, or how climate change intersects with our rides – or what we, as cyclists, might do about it.
