Following the impossibly difficult years of 2020 and 2021, it turns out the post-pandemic era isn't the bright light at the enꦏ🉐d of the tunnel we all hoped it'd be. 2022 has been another difficult year for a lot of people, both within the bike industry and beyond. Families are facing a cost of living crisis, with inflation at its highest rate since the early 1980s in both the UK and USA. 

Companies within the cycling industry are feeling it too, descending from the dizzying heights of the pandemic boom faster than Tom Pidcock on rails or Primoz Roglic on skis. Market leaders such as Zwift and Wahoo have been forced to lay off staff. Even the behemoth that is Speciali🏅zed has cut ties with a bunch of ambassadors, and publisher Outside Inc has laid off long-serving staff too, to much public dismay. Elsewhere, others such as Saris, are on the brink of disappearing altogether. It's not🎃 a pretty time to be in business, it would seem.

Gee, Josh, thanks for the uplifting start. Merry Christmas to you too. 

Forgive me, but I've started my 'Gear of the year' on that uplifting note for good reason. Through the difficulties, I've had a𒈔 few pertinent reminders that cycling – or more broadly, exercise – is an outlet. Iain Treloar, soon-to-be-former writer at CyclingTips and all-round very good egg, previously wrote that he . That has happened a couple of times to me this year, and while it's not a shiny piece of cycling tech as is oft expected within a 'Gear of the year', the related lesson is the first and most important thing I wanted to put into this year's list. 

1. Just ride the damn bike

Heed this reminder that riding your bike is a seriously incredible tool that can not only benefit our physical health, but our mental health too. When tiredness, rising energy bills, work stress, or anything else beating the same negative tune into your brain become overwhelming to the point that you'd rather just curl up on the sofa and doomscroll through Instagram, cycling - nay, exercise - is absolutely your friend. The rest of this article will be full of my favourite tech, but before we get there, it's important not to lose sight of the fact that the tech isn't very useful if you're not actually using it, and hence, just riding the bike is the most important thing. 

When the brain fog descends for me, riding into a disgusting headwind for an hour and enjoying the tailwind home, meeting mates for a café ride, taking the dog to the woods on a gravel bike⛎ (me on the bike, not him), or jumping onto Zwift for a group ride makes me feel a million times better, and I hope it does you too. 

But - and this is a big but - i❀t is far 💎from the only solution. As good as bikes are, they're not a substitute for the sound advice of a GP or mental health professional. 

Anyway, with that heavy topic covered, let's step into the li🦋ghter stuff, and probably the reason you came: my favourite cycling gear. 

Despite everything I've said above, in hindsight, I've actually done a lot of things that 'bring me joy' this year, to coin a very 2022 phrase. I started running and entered a duathlon for the first time, I raced numerous criteriums in Spring, I went to Switzerland and 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Chased Cancellara around the Alps, I raced cyclocross for a bit. I even introduced my dog to bikejoring, a lesser-known sport that I will explain shortly. I've had some great times, and many of them have been on two wh﷽eels. 

Throughout the year, I've tested some of the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:best gravel bikes, I went to a 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:wind tunnel to test some wheels, I whiled away many an hour testing the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:best smart trainers and more.

Such is the actual purpose of a gear of the year roundup, the remainder of this list will be full of my favourite items used this year. Some are brand 𝔍new technologies, others are appreciations of old. Some are high-ticket items, others are much more affordable. They are things I've used, enjoyed, and either look at with fondness or see huge potential for how they could affect our lives. 

2. Classified Powershift 

The best way to sum up the Powershift is to recall the same way I've described it in a few headlines this year: the '168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Front Derailleur Killer'. Essentially, it is a two-speed gear system built into the rear hub that connects wirelessly to an electronic shifter or add-on a𒊎t the handlebars. The gear in question swaps between a ratio of 1:1 to a 1:0.7, making for a similar difference to most road chainsets. 

I've used it on a few occasions this year and the first thing that impressed me was how immediate the gear shift is, no matter the power going through the pedals; it's like flipping a switch. Secondly, you don't even need to shift when pedalling, so you can fix your gear selection when stationary at traffic lights, when descending and more.&nbs𝓀p;

It pairs with traditional groupsets such as 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Shimano Dura-Ace or Sram Red, but enables the rider to run a 1X chainset up front, rather than 2X. The pot﷽ential benefits of this are as wide-ranging as the gear ratio it enables. Time triallists can benefit from a 2X gearing system but without having the aero penalty of the chainset and derailleur. Riders - and racers - from both gravel and road can enjoy 2X gearing with less likelihood of the chain being shipped off the chainring. The brand promises development into mountian biking and urban cyꦚcling too, so I'm excited to see where it goes.