Pick ’n’ Mix

1 E*THIRTEEN EX COG

£54.95, silverfish-uk.com

As George Mallory so eruditely put it, you climb stuff ‘because it’s there’. But that doesn’t mean you need to suffer every gear inch of the way. E*thirteen’s mammoth 40t or 42t sprockets can help you achieve a ratio that’s better than one-to-one, and have you climbing the walls.

2 MILLTAG STRIPES ARMWARMERS

£20, milltag.cc

While Milltag Stripes might sound like a retired army major played by John Cleese, it is in fact a set of armwarmers from UK outfitter Milltag. Featuring thermal fabric, silicone grippers and a fluoro-twist on the World Champ bands, they’re a cosy treat for cold, hard miles.

It’s more a case of ‘want’ than ‘need’

3 CHAPEAU COFFEE

£5.50 (250g bag), chapeau.cc

Coffee is responsible for the webcam. To avoid futile trips to the percolator, Cambridge University students created a video feed of their coffee pot and broadcast it to their computers. By 1993 anyone could access the feed live on the internet, and thus webcams were born. So doff your cap to the inspiration of coffee, and sip upon one of Chapeau’s heady blends.

4 CAMPAGNOLO THE BIG CORKSCREW

£130.99, chickencycles.co.uk

Proverbs 31:7 says, ‘Let them drink to forget their poverty.’ Keep that in mind once you’ve spent all your money buying a Big Corkscrew. At least you can quaff wine in the knowledge that company founder Tullio Campagnolo designed it himself, and that riding a bike is still free.

5 HONEY STINGER WAFFLES

£22.40 (16 pack), 2pure.co.uk

A hive of bees flies the equivalent of three times around the earth to collect just one kilo of honey, which by our reckoning means there’s around 176 miles packed into each Honey Stinger Waffle. That thought alone ought to keep you pedalling.