{"id":7577,"date":"2014-11-13T13:22:24","date_gmt":"2014-11-13T13:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/?p=7577"},"modified":"2016-12-15T15:19:52","modified_gmt":"2016-12-15T15:19:52","slug":"how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\/","title":{"rendered":"How I dress to survive winter MTBing"},"content":{"rendered":"

A head-to-foot breakdown of recommended clothing and gear to wear when you’re out mountain biking in winter.<\/p>\n

\"bellHelmet<\/h2>\n

Bell Super MTB Cycling Helmet<\/a><\/p>\n

What:<\/strong> A typical enduro styled helmet with fewer vents and more pronounced head coverage extending down the back of the head.<\/p>\n

Why:<\/strong> Less drafty = less chilly. The big peak is also good for low-in-the-sky sun glare.<\/p>\n

\n

\"smith<\/h2>\n

Eyewear<\/h2>\n

Smith Optics V90<\/a><\/p>\n

What:<\/strong> Frameless glasses with interchangeable lenses: clear, dark and just-so. They come with a zipped hard-case and lens cloth bag so you can take them out in your backpack easily enough.<\/p>\n

Why:<\/strong> Lots of protection from rain and puddles but not too dark when the light is dingy or when in trees.<\/p>\n

\n

\"castelli<\/h2>\n

Neck gaiter<\/h2>\n

Castelli Cycling Head Thingy (this is an old post and the linked content no longer exists)<\/span><\/p>\n

What:<\/strong> A tube of stretchy lycra-type material.<\/p>\n

Why:\u00a0<\/strong>Doesn’t look like much but can turn itself to a whole host of warming duties during a cold ride. Under your helmet skull warmer, around your neck draft excluder. Always worth stashing in your pack.<\/p>\n

\n

\"craft<\/h2>\n

Base layer<\/h2>\n

Craft Active Extreme Long Sleeved Crewneck Cycling Base Layer<\/a><\/p>\n

What:<\/strong> A long sleeve base layer that’s designed for colder temperatures. Made from a combination of Coolmax and Thermolite fabric with flatlock seams.<\/p>\n

Why:<\/strong> A close-fitting base layer is arguably the most important garment here. Keeps drafts off you, wicks sweat away. Allows the rest of your clobber to function as it should too.<\/p>\n

\n

\"etxeondo<\/h2>\n

Mid layer<\/h2>\n

Etxeondo Gizon Short Sleeve Jersey (this is an old post and the linked content no longer exists)<\/span><\/p>\n

What:<\/strong> Yep, short sleeves. A premium short sleeve jersey with a long – but not full-length – zip. Close-fitting but not restrictive.<\/p>\n

Why:<\/strong> It’s very rarely cold enough for long sleeve mid-layers. I use a short sleeve jersey as a sort of under-gilet thing. Basically it keeps your core warm without restricting or overheating your arms.<\/p>\n

\n

\"altura<\/h2>\n

Jacket<\/h2>\n

Altura Attack 360 Waterproof Jacket<\/a><\/p>\n

What:<\/strong>\u00a0The Attack 360 is very waterproof. It can overheat – like all mountain jackets can – but offers lots of quick and effective adjustments to deal with it.<\/p>\n

Why:<\/strong> A good jacket is essential.\u00a0To hood or not to hood? Having been up Lakeland mountains in winter I’m a big believer in hoods.<\/p>\n

\n

\"sixsixoneGloves<\/h2>\n

SixSixOne Rage Gloves (this is an old post and the linked content no longer exists)<\/span><\/p>\n

What:<\/strong> A normal pair of riding gloves.<\/p>\n

Why:<\/strong> Until the weather turns properly bad during a ride, I’d rather not wear bulky winter-specific gloves. Bulky gloves can impair your bike handling, shifting and braking a bit.<\/p>\n

\n

Emergency gloves\"craft<\/h2>\n

Craft Siberian Cycling Gloves<\/a><\/p>\n

What:<\/strong> A pair of bulky winter-specific gloves.<\/p>\n

Why:<\/strong> I like to keep these in my backpack for when things take a turn for the worst. Much like having a hood on a jacket, there will be numerous times when you’re stuck halfway – or fully – up a mountain and you need to get your hands warmed back up to operating temperature.<\/p>\n

\n

\"nalini<\/h2>\n

Padded shorts<\/h2>\n

Nalini Full Season Cycling Bib Knickers (this is an old post and the linked content no longer exists)<\/span><\/p>\n

What:<\/strong> 3\/4 length tights. Finishing just below the knee, such tights are pretty much essential for UK mountian bikers.<\/p>\n

Why:<\/strong> Full-length tights are far too hot. And they look daft. It’s nice to have a bit of skin on show before your sock tops!<\/p>\n

\n

\"altura<\/h2>\n

Outer shorts<\/h2>\n

Altura Attack Waterproof Baggy Shorts<\/a><\/p>\n

What: Light, thin, waterproof overshorts. A quintessentially British bit of cycle clothing. Like a jacket for your thighs.<\/p>\n

Why: The light weight and suppleness keeps them comfortable and stops them from drooping. These are about keeping you dry (the bib knickers underneath are there to keep you warm).<\/p>\n

\n

\"sixsixone<\/h2>\n

Knee pads<\/h2>\n

SixSixOne Rage Knee Pads (this is an old post and the linked content no longer exists)<\/span><\/p>\n

What:<\/strong> Knee pads innit.<\/p>\n

Why:<\/strong> In winter there’s loads more filth and water flying about the place. This makes for much sketchier riding. So you may find yourself having the odd crash. Even if you don’t crash, knee pads are great at keeping your legs warm!<\/p>\n

\n

\"castelli<\/h2>\n

Socks<\/h2>\n

Castelli Venti 20cm Cycling Sock (this is an old post and the linked content no longer exists)<\/span><\/p>\n

What:<\/strong> Long – but not too long – cycling socks made from mid-weight material.<\/p>\n

Why:<\/strong> God bless the recent move to longer and longer cycling socks. I’ve stopped using waterproof socks as they seem to fill with water and become uncomfortable on me. I’ve had much better results from using longer, thicker non-waterproof socks.<\/p>\n

\n

\"shimano<\/h2>\n

Shoes<\/h2>\n

Shimano AM41 Flat Sole Shoes<\/a><\/p>\n

What:<\/strong> Rubbery shoes with a lace covering flap. These are for flat pedals (my prefence) but Shimano also do SPD-flavoured versions (this is an old post and the linked content no longer exists)<\/span> too.<\/p>\n

Why:<\/strong> Mesh toe boxes and open laces let in loads of wind and water. These bad boys don’t allow anything in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A head-to-foot breakdown of recommended clothing and gear to wear when you’re out mountain biking in winter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":7584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,4],"tags":[374,80,831,593,479,81,35,785,830,833,590,780,635,829,71,832,64,237,285,52],"ppma_author":[4639],"class_list":["post-7577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cycling-how-to-guides","category-news","tag-374","tag-altura","tag-apparel","tag-beginner","tag-bell","tag-castelli","tag-clothing","tag-craft","tag-dress","tag-etxeondo","tag-how-to","tag-layering","tag-layers","tag-mountainbiking","tag-mtb-2","tag-nalini","tag-shimano","tag-sixsixone","tag-smith-optics","tag-winter","author-benji"],"yoast_head":"\nHow I dress to survive winter MTBing - Merlin Cycles Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How I dress to survive winter MTBing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A head-to-foot breakdown of recommended clothing and gear to wear when you're out mountain biking in winter. Helmet Bell Super MTB Cycling Helmet What: A\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Merlin Cycles Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-11-13T13:22:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-12-15T15:19:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/6289_shimano_am41_flat_sole_shoes_black_white.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Benji Haworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Benji Haworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.merlincycles.com\\\/blog\\\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.merlincycles.com\\\/blog\\\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Benji Haworth\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.merlincycles.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/83ef1d952f84e08fb7ca8d06cbf61836\"},\"headline\":\"How I dress to survive winter MTBing\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-11-13T13:22:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-12-15T15:19:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.merlincycles.com\\\/blog\\\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":829,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.merlincycles.com\\\/blog\\\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.merlincycles.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/6289_shimano_am41_flat_sole_shoes_black_white.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"661\",\"altura\",\"apparel\",\"beginner\",\"bell\",\"castelli\",\"Clothing\",\"craft\",\"dress\",\"etxeondo\",\"how to\",\"layering\",\"layers\",\"mountainbiking\",\"mtb\",\"nalini\",\"Shimano\",\"sixsixone\",\"smith optics\",\"Winter\"],\"articleSection\":[\"How To Guides\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.merlincycles.com\\\/blog\\\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.merlincycles.com\\\/blog\\\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.merlincycles.com\\\/blog\\\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\\\/\",\"name\":\"How I dress to survive winter MTBing - Merlin Cycles Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.merlincycles.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.merlincycles.com\\\/blog\\\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.merlincycles.com\\\/blog\\\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.merlincycles.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/6289_shimano_am41_flat_sole_shoes_black_white.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-11-13T13:22:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-12-15T15:19:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.merlincycles.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/83ef1d952f84e08fb7ca8d06cbf61836\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.merlincycles.com\\\/blog\\\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.merlincycles.com\\\/blog\\\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.merlincycles.com\\\/blog\\\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.merlincycles.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/6289_shimano_am41_flat_sole_shoes_black_white.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.merlincycles.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/6289_shimano_am41_flat_sole_shoes_black_white.jpg\",\"width\":500,\"height\":500},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.merlincycles.com\\\/blog\\\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.merlincycles.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How I dress to survive winter MTBing\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.merlincycles.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.merlincycles.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Merlin Cycles Blog\",\"description\":\"Entertaining and useful stuff from the world of Merlin Cycles\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.merlincycles.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.merlincycles.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/83ef1d952f84e08fb7ca8d06cbf61836\",\"name\":\"Benji Haworth\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/27245ceaa787fd493b3e638c8423ba71df16bb8744b0d34d1ac58324cad66e80?s=96&d=mm&r=gd1f505ee9d995762ea07f92feb69484d\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/27245ceaa787fd493b3e638c8423ba71df16bb8744b0d34d1ac58324cad66e80?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/27245ceaa787fd493b3e638c8423ba71df16bb8744b0d34d1ac58324cad66e80?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Benji Haworth\"},\"description\":\"Benji has been around the cycling industry for over ten years now. He started in ad sales for magazines before jumping the fence over into editorial. He writes words and takes pics about pushbikes, both for his day job and in his spare time too. Bike addict. Benji\u2019s interested in all kinds of cycling but has a particular obsession with mountain biking\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.merlincycles.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.merlincycles.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/benji\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How I dress to survive winter MTBing - Merlin Cycles Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"How I dress to survive winter MTBing","og_description":"A head-to-foot breakdown of recommended clothing and gear to wear when you're out mountain biking in winter. Helmet Bell Super MTB Cycling Helmet What: A","og_url":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\/","og_site_name":"Merlin Cycles Blog","article_published_time":"2014-11-13T13:22:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-12-15T15:19:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":500,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/6289_shimano_am41_flat_sole_shoes_black_white.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Benji Haworth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Benji Haworth","Estimated reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\/"},"author":{"name":"Benji Haworth","@id":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/83ef1d952f84e08fb7ca8d06cbf61836"},"headline":"How I dress to survive winter MTBing","datePublished":"2014-11-13T13:22:24+00:00","dateModified":"2016-12-15T15:19:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\/"},"wordCount":829,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/6289_shimano_am41_flat_sole_shoes_black_white.jpg","keywords":["661","altura","apparel","beginner","bell","castelli","Clothing","craft","dress","etxeondo","how to","layering","layers","mountainbiking","mtb","nalini","Shimano","sixsixone","smith optics","Winter"],"articleSection":["How To Guides","News"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\/","url":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\/","name":"How I dress to survive winter MTBing - Merlin Cycles Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/6289_shimano_am41_flat_sole_shoes_black_white.jpg","datePublished":"2014-11-13T13:22:24+00:00","dateModified":"2016-12-15T15:19:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/83ef1d952f84e08fb7ca8d06cbf61836"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/6289_shimano_am41_flat_sole_shoes_black_white.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/6289_shimano_am41_flat_sole_shoes_black_white.jpg","width":500,"height":500},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/how-i-dress-to-survive-winter-mtbing\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How I dress to survive winter MTBing"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/","name":"Merlin Cycles Blog","description":"Entertaining and useful stuff from the world of Merlin Cycles","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/83ef1d952f84e08fb7ca8d06cbf61836","name":"Benji Haworth","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27245ceaa787fd493b3e638c8423ba71df16bb8744b0d34d1ac58324cad66e80?s=96&d=mm&r=gd1f505ee9d995762ea07f92feb69484d","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27245ceaa787fd493b3e638c8423ba71df16bb8744b0d34d1ac58324cad66e80?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27245ceaa787fd493b3e638c8423ba71df16bb8744b0d34d1ac58324cad66e80?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Benji Haworth"},"description":"Benji has been around the cycling industry for over ten years now. He started in ad sales for magazines before jumping the fence over into editorial. He writes words and takes pics about pushbikes, both for his day job and in his spare time too. Bike addict. Benji\u2019s interested in all kinds of cycling but has a particular obsession with mountain biking","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.merlincycles.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/author\/benji\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/6289_shimano_am41_flat_sole_shoes_black_white.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4OgqO-1Yd","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":4639,"user_id":12,"is_guest":0,"slug":"benji","display_name":"Benji Haworth","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27245ceaa787fd493b3e638c8423ba71df16bb8744b0d34d1ac58324cad66e80?s=96&d=mm&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7577"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18828,"href":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7577\/revisions\/18828"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7577"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=7577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}