Hot off the press

We love this stage of the process of producing a new issue of the magazine, especially as this will be our first anniversary edition. This is how our latest issue looks hot off the press, before it's trimmed and folded down to become that compact little masterpiece you see on your bookshelf. Even in its raw uncut state, the magazine has a beauty to it that you just don't find with digital publications, we reckon. Cyclists like things that are tactile and tangible - qualities that you just can’t find with an electronic device. One of the ways we’re marking our first anniversary is to offer two lucky readers the chance to ride the L'Eroica Britannia with the Simpson team in our exclusive competition. This is one you definitely don’t want to miss!

New Year Honours

First, the bad: for us, the 100th edition of the Tour de France was never really going to measure up to the 99th. This year’s race was also staged in the shadow cast by Armstrong’s confession. Although it’s impossible not to admire him as a rider, we were also unimpressed by Peter Sagan’s lack of class on the podium. Finally, the weather we’ve had to endure in Britain for the past couple of months has been beyond a joke. And so to the good stuff: we absolutely loved this year’s La Vuelta. We knew the Giro was going to be good but the Spanish grand tour really excelled. We were also inspired by Nairo Quintana and his incredible climbing abilities. We were also blown away by the two vintage rides we took part in this year: the Anjou Velo Vintage and L’Eroica. Two really well put together events – definitely not to be missed! It would be unfair to moan about the British winter without singing the praises of this year’s British summer. And finally, a word for Fizik’s kangaroo leather R3 shoes: light, supple and completely gorgeous. Happy new year to you all – here’s to a happy, healthy and cycling-filled 2014.

Pencil, paper and print

The volume of ideas, images and stories contained in issue 3 has meant the magazine has had to 'upsize' by 8 pages to accommodate all the content. Why 8 pages? Well the way in which publications are printed means additional pages can only be added in units of 4 or 8 page sections. Without getting too technical, if you were to take a sheet of A4 paper and fold it horizontally across the longest edge, then fold it in the middle and then fold it again, you would create your own 8-page section. Sure, it seems old school but this is how paper and print work and we love it! In order to establish a logical, harmonious flow (also known as pace) of content, making sure the magazines articles, features, regulars and single pages all sit comfortably together we rely upon a flatplan. This gives us a birds eye view of the running order of pages and how they work with next to one another. We expect a flatplan to change several times during the production of each issue especially when more pages are added - we're now on version 5. These planning stages go on behind the scenes remaining hidden from the reader but without them you would have a very different looking magazine but shhhhh, keep it a secret though!