Fresh Goods Friday 594: The Fifth Season

Here we are, back to winter, just in time for our energy bills to rise an unfathomable amount. So get your insulated jackets out, your merino base layers, your buffs and your fleece-lined hats. What you save on energy bills, you can spend on your bike…

To start the frosty weekend on a positive note, or many positive notes all funked together with an admirable amount of passion and lack of self consciousness, here’s your new favourite tune:

Now we’re all upbeat and carefree, let’s take a look at some things you might need or want:

Unbroken Real Time Recovery Drink

• Price: €38.61 – 1 pack/30 drinks
• From: Unbroken

These contain, among other things, Norwegian salmon, so they’re not suitable for vegetarians. They’re effervescent tablets made from salmon but with a citrus flavour, designed to be easily absorbed by the body when consumed to fight tiredness, boost your immunity, and help recovery. What’s in it apart from salmon? Well, you did ask: amino acids: Alanine, Arginine, Aspartic acid & Asparagine, Cystine & Cysteine, Glutamic acid & Glutamine, Glycine, Histidine, Hydroxyproline, Isoleucine, Leucine, Lysine, Methionine, Ornithine, Phenylalanine, Proline, Serine, Threonine, Thyroxin, Tryptophan, Tyrosine, Taurine, Valine. Vitamins (% recommended daily allowance RDA): B1 (0.4%), B2 (0.3%), B3 (0.5%), B6 (0.7%), B9 (1.0%), B12 (60%), C (0.9%). Micronutrients (% recommended daily allowance RDA): Calcium (0.022%), Chlorine (1.0%), Magnesium (0.1%), Phosphorus (2.5%), Potassium (20.2%), Selenium (14.1%), Natrium (0.8%), Iron (1.2%), Zinc (35.8%), Iodine (2.0%), Copper (9.1%).

In short, lots of -ines and -iums.

Sonder Bomber Flared Drop Bar

• Price: £34.99
• From: Alpkit

These aluminium flared drop bars were fitted to the Sonder Camino Hannah tested and loved a while back. If you’re descending off road, they put your hands in a much more comfortable position for braking on the drops, and the extra width gives you bags of control over even the widest of gravel tyres.

Singletrack World Instagram

• @singletrackmagazine

We’ve got a new Instagram account! As you’ve probably heard, our original account was held to ransom, so we’re back with a new one. Please share it around, tag us, and interact with us! There’s always someone awake at the other end of the DM’s, and we love hearing from our members.

Pearl Izumi Springtime Range

• Price: See below
• From: Freewheel

Chipps has been down the alley again, this time to model Pearl Izumi’s latest cycling garb for those optimistic springtime days ahead (as well as some thermal gear for when all hope is dashed (again)). There are a number of long sleeve jerseys, a hooded windshell (in Persimmon, now there’s a colour) as well as a natty hooded thermal jacket and a frankly disturbing pair of semi, but not quite, fitted thermal leisurewear trousers – presumably for riding your bike in…

Reckon you can make it look better than Chipps does (it’s not hard…), then here are the prices:

• Elevate Jersey £59.99
• ECOLoft Jacket (blue) £174.99
• Summit AmFIB Lite Pants £139.99
• Summit Pro Jacket (the orange one) £99.99
• Launch Jersey (green s/s) £74.99

Smith Bobcat Glasses

• Price: £174.99
• From: Ultra Sport Europe

The Bobcat are a the newest addition to the ever growing Smith Optics performance glasses range. Designed as a smaller version of the brands popular Wildcat glasses, the Bobcat features a slightly smaller face fit, while still offering goggle like protection.

The frame is made from EvolveTM – a bio-based material – and features flexible arms and a two position nose piece for added comfort. All Bobcat colour options come with a Chromapop lens which is designed to cut glare, while enhancing natural colours and provide clarity on forested trails, along with a spare clear lens.

Shimano ME5 Shoes

• Price: £139.99
• From: Freewheel

Shimano says of these black and grey beauties “Enduro trail shoes for those that want professional specs without professional pricing”. They feature a BOA closure (with neat bash guard to stop them popping at the top of that drop-in) an offset tongue, improved grip and a sole that’s flexible enough to walk in when things get too steep or you’re going for that second cake in the café.

Fizik Gravita Tensor

• Price: £179.99
• From: Extra UK

The Fizik Gravita Tensor is the brand’s ‘race-ready gravity shoe’ that is designed to be everything that downhillers demand, along with the light weight needed for riders who also need to get back up the hill under their own steam. There’s a big, wraparound tongue/ankle protector, an extended cleat slot and some grippy Vibram rubber on the sole. And of course, laces – the original infinite closure system. These, and more, are being tested in the woods for a clip-in shoe test later in the year. Stay tuned.

Maxxis Forekaster 29 x 2.35

• Price: £35.99 each
• From: Wiggle

Now that summer has past (let’s not pretend we’re getting anything better) and the XC race season is about to get under way; Rhys, the self-confessed tyre fetishist, has decided to remove the mud spikes from his hardtail and replace them with what Maxxis describe as a wet weather aggressive cross country tyre. It sure does seem to fit the bill with widely spaced pointy little knobs. You might say the Forekaster is a UK-spec Aspen – the XC race tyre popular the world over in drier climates.

LifeLine Stem Faceplate GPS Computer Mount

• Price: £7.99
• From: Wiggle

This stem mounted cycle computer from Lifeline is a great way to tidy up your bars and make space for other gubbins like bells, whistles and kitchen sinks. It puts your device directly in front of the stem with no visible mount when you’re riding which is aesthetically pleasing to those symmetry fans out there. It also has a machined-in GoPro style mount underneath which you can use to attach all sorts of things. This one is most likely to be used for a light on late night pub stops on the way back from a groadie adventure.

#STWFGF Winner

Every week we running a competition over on Instagram and Twitter to win a free subscription to Singletrackworld (or some other item of merchandise if you’re already a subscriber/member). Simply tag your riding pics with #STWFGF on Instagram or Twitter and… that’s it.

We sift through the tagged candidates at the end of each week and pick a winner. The winning #STWFGF pic gets proudly displayed in Fresh Goods Friday.

Congratulations go to @vickatchu10 for this week’s winning shot. Email editorial@singletrackworld.com we’ll sort you out with your prize!

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Amanda Wishart

Art Director

Amanda is our resident pedaller, who loves the climbs as much as the descents. No genre of biking is turned down, though she is happiest when at the top of a mountain with a wild descent ahead of her. If you ever want a chat about concussion recovery, dealing with a Womb of Doom or how best to fuel an endurance XC race, she's the one to email.

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