{"id":44978,"date":"2022-12-30T16:00:23","date_gmt":"2022-12-30T15:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bikeradar.com\/?p=709126"},"modified":"2022-12-30T17:34:11","modified_gmt":"2022-12-30T16:34:11","slug":"stan-portus-gear-of-the-year-2022-products-that-brought-the-joy-back-to-cycling","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/rss_feed\/stan-portus-gear-of-the-year-2022-products-that-brought-the-joy-back-to-cycling\/","title":{"rendered":"Stan Portus\u2019 Gear of the Year 2022 | Products that brought the joy back to cycling"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Stan Portus\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 30 December 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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I started my 2021 Gear of the Year<\/a> article remarking on how I\u2019d spent the year riding far less yet thinking about bikes far more than I had in 2020.<\/p>\n

2022 has been much the same, but it has reminded me of something often overlooked \u2013 riding a bike is a joy.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to forget this in the sometimes myopic world of performance bikes and when being faster, fitter and clocking greater mileage is revered among other cyclists.<\/p>\n

But, once I\u2019d come to terms with the fact I was not going to be as fit or as fast as I have been before, I began to truly enjoy time spent on two wheels, from rare 100km road rides and occasional gravel excursions to commuting by bike<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dare I say it, maybe I enjoyed my time cycling even more than when I was churning out five-hour club rides at the weekend.<\/p>\n

Or maybe what I want from cycling has just changed.<\/p>\n

As I said in my Ridley Noah Disc Essential long-term review<\/a>, I would love to return to the kind of riding I\u2019ve done before.<\/p>\n

But my current relationship with cycling has informed my 2022 Gear of the Year choices. My picks have made my year of cycling easier, more enjoyable and some have served me well off the bike, too.<\/p>\n