Kick off the Giro d’Italia with  The Official Giro d’Italia Guide, containing everything you need to follow the cycling calendar’s toughest race.

Available via the Procycling or Cycling Plus apps on Apple Newsstand. Both apps are FREE to download and once you’re inside the official Giro d’Italia guide is available for just £3.99 / $5.99 / €5.49.

The Official 2013 Giro d’Italia Souvenir Pack includes:

• A century of iconic Giro moments
• Will Bradley Wiggins repeat his success of the Tour de France?
• The challenges for Ryder Hesjedal, Vincenzo Nibali and Samuel Sanchez; are they ready for the big win?
• A unique insight into how and where the race will be won, from Cannondale boss Stefano Zanatta
• A roll of honour for all winners of the Giri and more besides
• A brief look at the races within the race – there’s more than the maglia rosa!

And, it comes from the makers of Procycling magazine, Cycling Plus magazine  and the Official Tour De France Guide, so you know it’s going to be top quality stuff!

Simply download one of the apps below to purchase this must-have official guide.

Download the Procycling app 

Download the Cycling Plus app

Or search for them on the app store!

We test six sub-£2000 bikes – from Merida, Fuji, Cube, Cannondale, Giant and Specialized –  that’ll help you fly up the hills, take a look at four £3000 plus dream machines and round up the latest bikes to hit the roads including the Wilier Gran Turismo and BMC GF01.

We also put 16 of the latest chainsets through their paces – and subjecting them to a spot of science, give you a run down of some of the best touring kit out there and, of course, ride and rate this month’s hottest new gear.

As you’d expect the mag is also packed with great rides – we preview the Etape Pennines and take three rides around Dumfries and Galloway – and essential advice to help make you a better rider. Follow our nine simple steps to become a faster rider, learn why cycling hurts and how to handle the pain and check out our tips for riding in a chaingang, getting motivated and cycling off a hangover!

And, of course, we take a look back over Bradley Wiggins Tour de France triumph with exclusive pictures from inside the Team Sky camp. We’ve also got a bonus FREE Tour of Britain supplement!

We’re available in all good newsagents and supermarkets or you can get our enhanced iPad edition here. Better still why not subscribe and never miss an issue!

Our shocking revelation that 48% of riders will admit to making cute ickle baby cats cry is the result of an “exhaustive” poll carried out on our Facebook page. Other frankly astonishing findings from our survey revealed that a worrying 21% of cyclists have punched a cow whilst riding and more than a quarter (29%) have hurt the feelings of a sensitive child. Less surprising is the ‘fact’ that only seven per cent of cyclists have kissed a girl and liked it while pedalling.

Look at its face. Now make it cry. (istock)

Yep, our survey of, ooh literally 28 people was rubbish and proved nothing. A bit like the the IAM’s survey which has drawn a uniformly negative response from journalists and cyclists alike. Kaya Burgess, writing in The Times, and The Guardian’s Peter Walker are among many who’ve already poured eloquent scorn over the IAM’s shonky sensationalism.  Here at Cycling Plus we believe that every road user should obey The Highway Code and, therefore, we say simply don’t jump red lights. However, we can’t help but feel the IAM missed the real headline  – 31.8% of drivers questioned in the same poll say that they also jump red lights. Surely, the Institute of Advanced, erm, Motorists should be highlighting this figure. The facts are incontrovertible* – a pedestrian, cyclist or car driver is far more likely to be seriously injured or killed by a car jumping a light than a cyclist. In chasing cheap column inches the IAM has missed the mark by a massive margin.

* According to the Department for Transport (DfT), in 2009 no pedestrians were killed in Great Britain by cyclists, but 426 died in collisions with motor vehicles out of a total of 2,222 road fatalities

As you’d expect it’s packed with bikes. We’ve got first rides of lovely little numbers including Canyon’s Ultimate AL 9.0 F8 UDi2 – electronic shifting for less than £2K! We’ve gathered together four of the most superist (is that a word?) of superbikes as well – dream machines from Giant, Ridley, Bianchi and Van Nicholas. For those of us who aren’t running RBS we take a look at some of the best half grand heroes,  top 500 quid rides from the likes of Specialized, GT, Ribble and Carrera.

Hi, I'm Cycling Plus issue 259.

Away from the bikes we run the rule over the latest pedals and sling a few bags over our shoulders. We also introduce you to the British cycling champions you haven’t – but should have – heard of, reveal how Team GB’s mental toolkit can make you a better rider, have a crack at the 765-mile, 90 hour Paris-Brest-Paris and ride the beautiful route between Settle and Carlisle. We’ll also show you how to nail every climb, fix your bottom bracket, and refuel with cakes PLUS you’ll get a free 2012 Sportive magazine – including the first part of our three month training plan – as well!

Cycling Plus is in all good newsagents and supermarkets right now! If you’d rather read Cycling Plus on your Apple iPad then just click here Or if you’re more of an Android type we’re on Zinio too!

The hub, powered by cycling-specific training experts Koolstof Sports Coaching, is an exclusive area within the show which will put visitors through their paces over two hours in a series of tests and consultations designed to assess your performance and target areas for improvement.

Coaching sessions will take place throughout the day and include fitness testing for power zones, heart zones and VO2 max, a Powerbreathe K5 inspiratory muscle training assessment, an analysis of your pedal stroke and assessments on posture, strength, core and flexibility. You will have access to an anti-oxidant scanner and nutritional advice, have a body fat analysis and receive a four-week training plan plus interactive training diary. You’ll also receive an email following the show, explaining your assessment results and offering training advice for the future.

Entry to the hub is worth well over £400 but is available now for £99, a price which includes entry into the show and a BikeRadar goody bag. To book your place in the training hub, click here.

Alternatively, you can still get discounted entry to the show by entering the code ‘radar’ at checkout. Entry with the code costs £15 compared to an on-the-door price of £20. The London Bike Show will take place for the second time next year, with the ExCel exhibition centre again playing host from 12-15 January.

Meanwhile myself and ‘just’ 799,999 others are telling ourselves that we’re special and clever and cerebral because we’re watching The Killing 2 on BBC4 with subtitles and everything. In TV blockbuster terms it’s not popular, but boy do we think it’s good. (Although not as good as the first one…) And then there’s me and Tom McRae. I think he’s good. Ever heard of him? No. He’s not popular. Not like that popular James Morrison who I think is rubbish. Popularity then – when we’re talking, ahem, culture –  is mainly down to taste and everyone has different tastes. But what about actual physical product, surely popular goods are popular simply because they good?

To answer this question we called in the best selling bikes from the six brands you tell us top the popularity charts for UK roadies. So, we ended up with the Giant Defy 2 (£799), Specialized Allez Elite (£900), Cube Peloton Race (£999), Boardman Team Carbon (£1299.99), Trek Madone 3.5 (£1800) and Cannondale Supersix 5 105 (£1999.99). First up, the price range is pretty interesting – from less than £800 to just shy of two grand. Popular obviously doesn’t have to mean cheap…

Best Selllers © Russell Burton/Cycling Plus

As these machines are so popular it means there’s a very good chance that you, or your riding mates, own one. So, going back to the popular culture analogy I’ve been painfully flogging, should you turn up your nose when a friend proudly shows you their Defy 2 or Madone 3.5 in much the same way you might if they asked you whether you voted for Jason Donovan or Robbie Savage on Strictly Come Dancing?

The answer is no – all six of Britain’s best sellers are excellent. As you’d expect, the more expensive machines on test – the Trek and Cannondale – are mightily impressive. In fact, both are serious contenders for our Bike of Year test. Perhaps more surprisingly the bikes at the other end of the price scale are also outstanding – the Specialized Allez Elite has, quite rightly, long been the benchmark for sub-£1000 race machines but the Giant Defy 2 is now a bona fide challenger to its crown. Obviously, I’m not going to reveal too much about the test – the magazine is on sale tomorrow – but suffice to say it proves that popular can mean good. Very good, in fact. And because these bikes are popular because you buy them it’s also reassured me that the great British public can show impeccable taste!

Cycling Plus January 2012 is on sale in all good newsagents and supermarkets from December 6. We’ve also got some fantastic Christmas subscription offers here. And don’t forget Cycling Plus is now available for Apple iPad and iPhone on Apple Newsstand!

The latest Cycling Plus yesterday

Click here to get £2 off the full ticket price of the The London Bike Show (the word ‘radar’ should show in the ‘discount code’ box). Offer expires on 25 December.

Earlier this week we received a statement from Santini explaining that due to a clash with the MacMillan Cancer Support Dorset Bike Ride the Santini Sportive, starting from the National Trust property at Kingston Lacy on July 3 was off. Looks like it isn’t. Organisers VOTWO have released this statement to say the 50 and 80 mile rides – now the National Trust Sportives – are definitely still on!

“In response to recently published reports you may have seen in the cycling media that the Kingston Lacy Sportive event has been cancelled. This is not the case. Despite clothing sponsor Santini having withdrawn their sponsorship from the event Votwo and the National Trust are making no changes to their planned Kingston Lacy Sportive. Santini withdrawing there involvement in the event will not affect the running of the event and we look forward to seeing you on July 3rd.”

A few weeks ago I took part in a recce ride of the 50-mile route. It’s a nice route – not overly tough but with a cheeky climb up Zig Zag Hill on the B3061, reputedly Britain’s twistiest road.

To enter click here.

Top cycling clothing brand Rapha is planning a series of rides around the world in support of the victims of the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Sunday

In London “Rapha Rides For Tohoku” is this Sunday 20th March at 9AM. The start is at Barnet Cinema. “Rapha Rides For Tohoku” is not a race, but a social ride in support of Japan. Riders are asked to donate a minimum of £10 to take part and the amount donated will be matched by Rapha and go the Japanese Red Cross. For more information about the rides visit http://www.rapha.cc/rapha-rides-for-tohoku

Nice view...

Following a stunning warm-up ride around Lake Annecy on arrival, the event starts with a 10km mountain time trial which is used to seed riders into the appropriate Groups. Thereafter comes 3 mountain stages crossing some of the infamous mountain stages such as the Cols des Aravis. Each day there is a flagged timed climb, of which the aggregate time determines the Sigma Leaders Jersey (male and female) for the next stage.

Ex-Tour de France winner Stephen Roche, who cycled the event in 2010, was effusive about his experience at last years Alpine Challenge, stating, “The experience of riding The Alpine Challenge brought back all the feelings of that crazy La Plagne mountain top stage in 1987 when I won the Tour de France. The most real it can get for an amateur.”

Alpine Challenge director Sven Thiele is  excited about the prospect of this year’s event, which will once again take in some of the greatest bike riding country in the world, he states, “We were blown-away by the response to the inaugural event in 2010, people genuinely felt that the challenging environment and the event logistics made the event feel very much like a Continental stage race.

The Alpine Challenge 2011 takes place from the 7th-11th of September. Registration opens on February 23 and more information can be found at www.thealpinechallenge.com