Things To Do In January

Christmas and its associated feasting and fun is over, so it’s time for a fresh start. Our ideas will help you hit the ground running in 2019.

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The biggest and best foreign sportives, fondos and rides can fill up early, so if you want to ensure you get a place, it’s worth booking now. And once it’s in your diary, you’ve got something to train for. You’ll also need to think about flights and accommodation well in advance. Many of you will have heard of the main European events (listed below) but we always try to recommend something a little different — events off the beaten track that you may not have thought about riding.

GRAN FONDO CAMPAGNOLO ROMA

OCTOBER 13

Rome isn’t exactly top of the list when a cyclist thinks ‘where should I take my bike this year?’ and with good reason. It only takes a few minutes in this historic city to work out that the car rules. And when we say rules, we mean causes congestion, pollution and parking problems. On any usual day we’d say give it a wide berth. But when the chance comes to ride here on closed roads, it’s worth grabbing with both hands. The GF Roma takes place in mid-October (when the weather is perfect for riding) and gives you an excuse to visit one of the most incredible cities on earth. No matter where you stay, you’ll stumble over at least a dozen Roman structures or ruins just on your way to sign on.

The 72-mile ride takes you south out of town and into the Castelli Romani regional park. This isn’t the most challenging of routes, but, like RideLondon, gives you the chance to push yourself from the get-go, secure in the knowledge there are no mountains at the end to completely destroy you. There are, however, four tough climbs on this ride, between two and four kilometres, three of which touch 20 per cent at their steepest point.