L'Eroica Britannia competition

L'Eroica Britannia will take place in the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire on 20-22 June. Simpson’s planning to be there – and we’d like you to join us.

The Eroica will be the climax of a three-day festival of cycling staged in Bakewell. The ride itself takes place on 22 June, with three different routes to choose from, but all taking in the tunnels and viaducts of the Monsal Trail, a cycling/walking/horse-riding trail built on the former Manchester to London railway line.

We’re launching our competition to coincide with the Milan-Sanremo, arguably the greatest of the Spring classics and the longest professional one-day bike race in the professional calendar at 298km. It’s a race that’s been won by all the greats, from Merckx and Coppi to Cavendish and Cancellara. Tom Simpson himself won the race in 1964.

L’Eroica Britannia has nearly sold out but we’ve secured two places – each worth £70! To win your place on the Simpson team for this amazing ride, all you have to do is identify these five legendary climbs in descending order (no pun intended).

Send your answers to info@simpsonmagazine.cc by 7 May to be in with a chance of joining us for what promises to be one of the best bike rides of 2014.

Good luck!

Images: Paul D'Ambra, Martin Thomas x2, Barney Moss and Thorsten Neuhaus

Remain in light

We witness change across every aspect of day-to-day living when the sun comes out. Suddenly we gain a more focused, positive outlook on life, it's as if a great burden has been lifted from us. Dinah Washington's 'What a difference a day makes' rings true every time! Suddenly you realise why so many Brits have moved aboard or at least own a second property on the continent. The emergence of warm sunny days and longer lighter evenings inspires talk of winter being over. You can see why the pro teams all train abroad. Even with British Summer Time officially beginning in a few weeks time (30th March) the extreme weather of this winter has punished us all. The utter elation of feeling the warmth of the sun on uncovered arms and legs cannot be bettered or more welcomed. Having enjoyed what many may describe as their first ride of summer, we then chose to go and sit in a darkened arena to watch the finals of the Revolution track series at London's Lee Valley VeloPark. Even the moon had a glow to it as we made our way in. This concluded what could only be described as a perfect day.

How reliable are you?

On one level the notion of a trial to see how reliable you are on a bike sounds absurd - like a grading test to see who arrives on time for a club ride but after a potentially dormant winter you need a way of gauging how good your fitness levels are. Although Reliability Trails are part of the old school cycle tradition that people like Team Sky are ripping apart for many they still mark the first target date in the new cycle season calendar. Skill, Judgement and knowledge all combine in a timed trial over three distances, usually 45, 70 and 100km at three different intensity levels. Unlike a sportive it's not an all out effort against the clock but rather an intelligent realistic estimate of your strength and stamina in order to place yourself in a set finishing category. The object is to complete the trial within 10 minutes (either way) of your allocated target time. Obviously this doesn't take into account factors like the weather, severity of terrain and mechanical failures etc. It's a lot like the differences found between billiards and snooker, similar in technique but opposed in outcome.

Simpson's birthday presence at the LBS

It's been just over a year since we introduced ourselves to the bike world at last year’s London Bike Show and launched our website. No, we can’t believe it either! Time most definitely flies when you're having as much fun as we've had over the past year. On the eve of issue four we revisit the ExCel Centre this week for the 2014 show. We’re really looking forward to catching up with the latest developments in the cycling industry. We'll be there for the opening day – this coming Thursday, 13 February – soaking up the atmosphere and drooling all over those lovely bikes. Please do come and say hello if you spot a Simpson T-shirt or musette in the crowds. There’s nothing we like more than meeting our readers in the flesh and hearing your comments and feedback about Simpson at first hand.

Caffeine culture

The ever-growing popularity of cycling has generated a proliferation of cafés dedicated to cyclists and cycling culture. Recently we went to the official opening of one of the latest examples: Brighton’s brand new Velo Café. We also visited the Spin London & London Coffee Festival Christmas Fair in Shoreditch last week for cycling and coffee related festive shopping ideas (and hog roast…and lager). Coffee culture predates cycling by a long way, but these days the two enjoy a strong relationship. And there’s a lot more to it than simply jump-starting your rides with a hit of caffeine. We’ll be exploring this relationship more in issue four but in the meantime if you're heading down to the south coast you could do worse than check out the latest incarnation of cycle café culture on The Level in Brighton.