10 things I LOVE about cycling

In this video, I talk about some of the things that I’ve fallen in love with in the cycling world. Some were unexpected…even to me! Let me know what you love…

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Right, let’s get to it. First on my list, absolutely categorically has to be bike packing. Me and two of my mates started bike packing back in 2018. Um I think before it was probably called bike packing, but anyway, we we decided that we would ride from San Diego to Portland, but I thought I’d throw in the world’s most ridiculous detour and we went cut out through Mojave Desert to uh Vegas. Uh we then came back across Death Valley, Yeusede Valley and then all the way up north to Portland. So it was a 2 and a half thousand mile pilgrimage across uh western USA. It was the single most life-changing experience of my life uh particularly 53° in Death Valley in June. My father, who is the voice of reason for me throughout my entire life, I remember telling him about this trip that I was going to do and he went to me. Really? Have you told the viewers where we are yet? the middle of nowhere. No, we’re in Death Valley. This is the gateway to Death Valley. Bike packing trips are where I feel the most alive. You explore the world by bicycle. You actually see things. You interact with the local people. Uh since 2018, we’ve we’ve also done Vietnam and Thailand. Um and there is probably another one coming soon. It’s all about escape in my in my case camaraderie and also the inevitable show that is usually associated with riding a bike across uh a strange country with Francis and Lawrence. There’s a elephant coming down the road. There is. Oh, there is. I wanted to make this list uh about as little to do with product as possible, but the next thing is going to be a product because it’s closely associated with the bike packing thing. Tail fin. It is the single best piece of bike packing equipment I can think of. It’s essentially a modular rack that mounts to pretty much any bike. Um, it’s super stiff. It’s super stable. Much, much better than the traditional bike packing luggage of old, which used to attach via the saddle rails. They swing around all over the place. They’re not stable. But most importantly, it was an absolute nightmare to pack. But the tail fin, it literally unrolls at the top. You drop all your in, roll it back up again. It’s waterproof. It’s durable. Job’s gooden. But for anybody that’s thinking about doing any bike packing and they’re thinking about solutions to carry all of their stuff with them, really have a look at Tailin. This is not sponsored. I have a lot of love for these guys. They make fantastic equipment. Yes, it’s expensive, but it’s also worth it. So, next on my list is mountain biking descents. Back in another life, I used to actually ride downhill bikes. And so as a result, descending has always been like a real love of mine. It’s the bit of joy that you get for uh slogging your guts up a mountain. Mountain bug descents are without a doubt one of my favorite things in the world. I remember I went to Morine a few years ago with the boys and I literally thought I had died and gone to heaven. Um and you know cuz you spend you basically and stay tuned for the next one. You basically get an uplift all the way up to the top of the mountain and you literally spend half a day riding back down it again. So you basically get all the joy without any of the pain. I mean, what’s not to love? Uh, but maybe we should add that into my list. Uplifts. Uplifts are also a thing. I absolutely love uplifts. For anybody that doesn’t know what I’m talking about, basically if you go to a ski resort in the summer, you take your mountain bike with you. Those chair lifts that you sit in with your skis up and they take you up to the mountain. Yeah. Some absolute genius has thought of a an attachment that goes onto the side of it where you put your mountain bike on. So you basically turn up, put your mountain bike on the side of the lift, go all the way up to the top of the mountain, and spend your entire time having fun going down it. So I’m going to add that to my list. Uplifts. As I’ve discussed in previous videos, the need to charge one’s bicycle I find a little bit absurd. And in 2025, there is no limit to the amount of stuff that we constantly have to charge. Which brings me on to this. So, this is a Gin Edge 1040 solar. I literally rode the length of Thailand on two charges. As in, I only had to plug the thing in once. I arrived with it fully charged in Chiang Mai and I got all the way to Phuket having only had to charge it once. Face of the thing is a solar panel which prolongs the battery life on a ridiculous level. I literally charged this once a fortnite and I used it every day for my 40-minute commute each way. This is on my list because I literally don’t have to muck about with it. So, next up on my list is bike fitting. So, I guess given that this channel is called Bike Fit James, it’s inevitable that bike fitting features in the list. Uh, bike fitting for me has become an incredibly rewarding vocation. It means we we’ve managed to get people who never thought they would be comfortable comfortable on bikes. We’ve allowed, you know, professional riders to win grand tours and I’m eternally grateful for anybody that’s come to us here at Bicycle for a bike fit. Um, if you would like to book a fit yourself, have a look in the link in the description below, either with me or one of our other four fitters. We do genuinely want to help. We’ve had people fly here from the other side of the world who are looking at quitting the sport purely and simply because of the amount of pain they they associate with riding a bike. It is extremely rewarding to be the person to take that pain away. Right. Another product and um this is potentially an unpopular one but knee warmers. This is huge variation in climate and the UK is renowned for having particularly bad weather. The humble knee warmer uh particularly the ASOS ones they basically turn your summer shorts into like a midseason short. I am also a big fan of I was gonna say knickers which is what they’re always like which is what they’re always described as on like Castelli’s website or like anybody else but like I think when I say knickers you’re probably just envisioning me in women’s underwear. Nobody needs to see that. But the benefit of an e warmer is it does somewhat expand your cycling wardrobe. It’s literally a lycra tube that goes from here to here. It keeps your knees nice and warm and toasty and you can remove them in the middle of a ride. The reason I prefer a knee warmer over a leg warmer is that a knee warmer you can fold up and put it in your back pocket. Whereas leg warmer, good luck. So, the next thing on my list is the Let me get this right because it’s got such a bad name. Christian, I hope you’re watching. Christian is the owner of um Lake Cycling. Um, the MXZ 304 hyphen X. And no, this has got nothing to do with my fit because I’ve had cleats all over the place, like all like almost on my heel. And I’ve still gotten numb feet when it’s cold. Only when it’s cold. But I really suffer with my hands. More on that in a minute. And my feet in in extreme cold. I’m when I say extreme cold, I’m talking like, you know, sub-zero temperatures, sub-zero Celsius temperatures. This shoe is hideous. It’s heavy. It’s not particularly comfortable. It’s a nightmare to put on, but my god is it warm. I mean, they look like a reject out of Santa Claus’s closet, but they are waterproof. They’re windproof. They are not breathable. They have like a Gortex liner. They’ve even got foil foot beds which keep which radiate heat. Well, they radiate heat. They they um reflect heat. Um so your they keep your feet even warmer. But I’ve ridden these shoes in like -5 – 6 for several hours and still had warm toasty feet. In the superficial sport that is cycling these days, don’t care what I look like. It’s all about being comfortable and staying warm. You ride them on. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hideous, aren’t they? So, so bad. But, but they are great. Let’s stay on the subject of cold stuff. Um, I don’t have these gloves here because it isn’t cold enough yet. Um, but the Castelli Estreo glove, as I’ve mentioned previously, I suffer with my hands in the cold and I’ve literally tried two pairs of gloves, three pairs of gloves, four pairs of gloves. it never get my hands warm. The Castellia Streo glove is the only glove I would ever use for like long distance riding in the cold. Um it it isn’t a lobster glove. It’s just a heavy duty. Basically looks like a ski glove. Um and I’ve been riding these for 3 4 years now and I wouldn’t recommend anything else. They are phenomenal. So if you get cold hands in the winter, um give those a look. So, next thing on my list is a riding fix wheel. And probably as part of that should be my commuting bike. Oh, which I rode in today. So, in fact, let’s I’m going to go and get it. It is a ratty old aluminum frame. I’m literally waiting for the bottom bracket to fall out of it. Deep drop calipers, full length mud guards, uh, and fixed wheel. So, the benefit of a fixed wheel, particularly from a commuting standpoint, and particularly for cold and wet weather climates, is that it allows you to scrub speed without using your brakes, which means you got less likelihood of low sideing the front wheel or washing the front wheel out. It’s more durable because there are less moving components. Aside from my mountain bike, it’s probably my favorite bike, and I’ve got some nice bikes. I’m not precious about it. You know, it’s got chips all over it. I literally I did that from where I wanted to do my my shoes up. So I put my foot on it with an SPD clink and took a chunk out the pain. Um so I haven’t done that since. But there you go. My my pearson once more under the bridge. They don’t make them like they used to. Uh but yeah. So the next thing on my list of things I love about cycling which is going to be very unpopular for some with some people is ISPs or integrated seat posts. The reason I love these is particularly when they’re painted the same color as the rest of the frame. It means that it frames the bike, pardon the pun. Um, but they are lighter weight, more compliant. They just, in my opinion, make the bike look cooler. They have sort of gone away in recent years because of the need for people to transport their bikes, but also it requires you to get your saddle height more or less correct, which, let’s face it, 90% of bike fitters don’t seem to be able to do. I’ve always loved it. I actually at the moment don’t own a bike with an ISP. Um, but there might be one coming. A very good example of a bike with an ISP is the lovely green fesca that we have on display. Bonus round. Lawrence Carpenter. Lawrence did me a real solid one when I turned up to Thailand last year and was sick as a dog. I had had pneumonia for 2 or 3 months prior to that. So, all my training went completely out the window. I was also a great big fat lump ever since I had children. and climbing up the descents that were 15% for the best part of 10ks. Lawrence, bless him, uh spent a lot of the time literally pushing me. I don’t think I’ve ever been so in my entire life actually on a bike as I was in in Thailand. But Lawrence also has a YouTube channel. It is just type in Lawrence Carpenter um and you’ll find his channel. Go and subscribe. So there you have it. There is my list of things I love the most about cycling. I didn’t really think about the fact that Lawrence would be one of them, but I hope you’ve enjoyed watching this video. Please don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe to both my channel and his. And we’ll see you for the next one. Bye-bye now.