The Christmas chocolates have all been scoffed, the tree needles have been hoovered up and the gyms are filled to the brim. This means one thing: welcome to January and the first instalment of In The Drops in 2025.
It’s been a baptism of fire this week as we all settle back into rhythm. The Australian Championships have been taking place this week, officially kickstarting the proper road season – unless you’re a purist and believe it starts at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (in which case, you’re wrong). With this, Robyn shared some things to be excited about in 2025 while also pointing out some of the biggest retirees who’ll see off their careers at the end of the season.
With the Tour Down Under fast approaching, we’ve been wrapping our head around the latest set of WorldTour sponsors and tech. That’s not the only new thing, we took a look over the 2025 pro jerseys, brutally ranking them from worst to first. As one commenter on Reddit put it: ‘The list overall is pretty terrible.’ Take a look for yourself.
On this week’s Cyclist Magazine Podcast, Dr Michael Crawley drops in to talk about all things sports science and anthropology. Don’t forget, the podcast is now on YouTube. James and Will’s interviews with Tom Pidcock, Andy Schelck and Tadej Pogačar are already online, so go and check them out.
That’s only scratching the surface of what we’ve been up to this week at Cyclist HQ, however, we need to start unpacking this week’s bag of goodies and get into the frost-coated drops.
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Roka SR-1x photochromic glasses
Photochromic glasses are the ultimate choice for fickle weather conditions. If you’re unfamiliar with this kind of lens, the seemingly transparent material adapts to the brightness and darkens accordingly, varying from near-transparent to a dark ombré in a matter of minutes. They come into their own in unpredictable weather and fast-changing light conditions, so they’re ideal for winter.
American brand Roka’s SR-1x is a reliable pair of photochromic glasses for the erratic winter weather. They come in a matte black frame and a lens claimed to have a light transmission rate (VLT) of between 88% to 15%. For context, most top-level non-photochromic cycling glasses have a VLT between roughly 20% to 10%.
The SR-1x has clean and classic looks. There’s no excess lens space, it wraps all the way around the eyes, covering almost 100% of my field of view. The nose grip is adjustable and can be removed to fit other lenses if desired (although photochromic is really the way to go).
These versatile shades come equipped with a claimed ‘Titanium core’ that is designed to help stability and adjustability. This is a little stiffer than imagined, so maybe don’t bend them too vigorously. As for the temples, they are wrapped in Roka’s rubbery Geko material, meaning they’re ultra-grippy.
- Buy from Roka ($230 USD)
Arnaud Démare, Une année dans ma roue 2
Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet isn't the only published author in the French peloton. 2016 Milan-San Remo winner and two-time Tour de France stage winner Arnaud Démare has been working away at releasing his second book throughout 2024, a sequel to his successful 2021 release.
Written in the format of a season-long diary, Une année dans ma roue 2 ('A year in my wheel 2' in English) recounts Démare's 2024 season, one that he describes as 'his worst since turning pro'. The sequel is just as frank as the first, and themes of family, overworking and guilt are the most poignant in this sobering retelling of the 2024 calendar.
While racing features heavily in the book, it is often substituted for more personal discussions about himself and his family – far more so than the debut 2021 diary. Démare recounts the new-found pressures of being a pro cyclist while trying to raise a one-year-old child, expressing the immense guilt and added pressure to perform in races.
He goes into detail about his wife Morgane's struggles with post-natal depression, something Démare could only support from a distance while preparing for races. Morgane Démare's own intimate account appears in the form of a letter, outlining how balancing full-time work as a podiatrist and motherly duties burned her out, ultimately leading to a brief hospitalisation with depression. This book is the pair's first public announcement about this, highlighting a serious and important issue among new parents.
Although Démare briefly contemplated taking a break in 2024, he seems steadfast on reaching the benchmark of 100 pro victories, three more than his current tally of 97, before retiring from the sport.
- Buy from Amazon (from £9.99 on Kindle)
Merrell SpeedARC Surge Boa shoes
As a cyclist, discovering the world of Boa shoes can be a game changer. As simple as Velcro and laces appear, nothing quite matches the tightness and reliability of a Boa dial. Given that they have been such a hit in cycling circles, I've often wondered why hiking and running shoe makers haven't caught on to these nifty little things.
Well, cyclists are the trendsetters after all. Hiking shoe giant Merrell has clocked onto our trusty Boas, unveiling its SpeedARC Surge BOA shoes at the end of last week. These brand-new shoes feature two Boa dials, the most ever used on a Merrell shoe, on what the brand describes as its 'most innovative and athletic fast hiking sneaker'.
The shoes are certainly eye-catching, I'll say that. The bold design is underpinned by a bubble-like underbelly equipped with a reimagined SpeedArc midsole and flexplate double act. The new SpeedArc midsole contains 'Active Response Coils', which the brand claims will support energy return, stability and shock absorbance, while the Nylon flexplate is said to deliver '100% more energy return than the leading hiking boot'.
The upper layer of the shoes is made using a lightweight combination of Kevlar and polyamide welded together into an abrasion-resistant and breathable material Merell calls Matryx. In terms of the other materials, the mesh lining and footbed cover are both made using 100% recycled materials.
The shoes tip the scales at a claimed weight of 406g. That's as light as your typical performance-level cycling shoes (although these bad boys don't have a carbon composite sole). Like plenty of cycling shoes, however, the SpeedSurge Arc Boas are not waterproof. With this in mind, maybe be cautious of the colour – the white pair I tested out might be a little less forgiving than the black alternative Merrell offers.
- Buy from Merrell (£240)
What we're into this week: Mapping out metro systems
This feels very lame to share with an online audience, but I love public transport. Bikes are good and all, but trains are fantastic. Mix the two at your own peril, however, particularly at peak times.
While the nights have been biblically frostbitten and Dry January has kept the pubs quiet, I've been plotting out alternative transport systems for the UK and Irish cities missing out on a metro, tram or light rail system. Think of places like Leeds, Liverpool, Leicester, Coventry or Belfast.
The website Metro Dreamin' allows you to plot out a bus, train, tram, subway or even ski lift network anywhere in the world. You can simply click away and build a London Underground-style web of lines and stations in a city of your choice. The site's online community also shows other people's maps, allowing you to see what everyone else has drawn up.
If you're equally as nerdy as I am, you can spend hours just scrolling through bank-breaking transport proposals, futilely longing for a world where every city and town across the land has a flashy tram network. Milton Keynes Underground, anyone?
