EDITOR’S LETTER

Rejoice! Gyms are back. Which means rstly, congratulations are in order for prising yourself away from the steel embrace of the squat rack – don’t worry, it’s not leaving you again. To butcher a well-worn phrase, absence makes the heart grow stronger, but if you’ve become reacquainted with your local weights room since 12 April you may have discovered the same can’t be said for human muscles. And that’s OK. A year of home workouts and lighter weights is going to have bene tted your body in myriad other ways: from cardio tness to mobility, not to mention a previously unseen level of training e ciency. All that can be taken into your gym sessions, and while it might take a bit of time to build back up to your pre-pandemic strength, in the long run your overall conditioning is going to be all the better for the balance brought by a year of shifted priorities. Turn to our Back to the Gym Survival Guide (p32) to nd out how to hit your straps safely and e ectively, while ensuring those home-training bene ts don’t go to waste at the rst sight of a barbell. e rest of this issue – as you will have noticed from the cover – steers in a di erent direction. From our interview with the man bringing some much-needed diversity to the sport (p38), to expert advice from YouTube sensation Danny MacAskill (p50), we’re celebrating cycling in all its forms. At a time when we’re more locked into our screens than ever before, cycling gets you out in the open, away from modern-day distractions, with all the tness bene ts that come from endurance exercise. In the pages that follow you’ll nd the tools you need to dust o your bike and hit the road (or trail) for a summer of two-wheeled escapism.