Winter is coming

Hi everyone, winter is upon us as here in the UK the clocks went back last weekend and the temperature certainly seems to have dropped. I had my first proper cold Sunday ride last weekend, where even the lobster mittens came out. We are also in the road race close season so nothing decent on telly until the Cyclocross gets going.

The 2026 Tour route was announced last week and I have to say I was a little underwhelmed. Yes I know there’s the Marmot stage, but there’s not too much else to get massively excited about in my opinion. Let me know what you think. I see the Femmes get to climb Ventoux which will be ace.

I’m really going to try and get to a few stages this year towards the end, probably Alpe d’Huez, take my bike - climb a few climbs and watch a few stages, should be fantastic. The atmosphere on the big climbs looks absolutely phenomenal.

It’s also that time of year where people start to plan their trips for next year, for me I really want to go back to Belgium and do some more of Flanders. I did the Flandrian challenge in March and absolutely loved it and thoroughly recommend it. https://www.cyclinginflanders.cc/flandrien-challenge You basically cycle all 59 segments from all the Belgian classics in 72 hours think Paterburg, Bosberg, Koppenberg etc. It was pretty brutal, but an amazing experience and at the end, you get a cobble in the Ronde Von Vlaanderen centre in Oudenarde with your name on. I say cobble in the loosest sense of the word! 

In Jaspa news, we’ve got a few new designs in the pipeline that should drop in a week or two, but definitely in time for Christmas, we’ve started getting some Judge me reviews in that have been 5 star, so that’s good. I’m also trying to get our Instagram and Facebook following and interaction up- but it’s hard work when you’re a 57 (in 2 days) year old bloke who doesn’t really get it all! 
Anyway, wherever you are riding I hope you have a tailwind and a nice Cafe stop on the horizon.

Ride on.