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The Hour - TL from Mr Jones on Vimeo.

"I wanted to use words that would instill a sense of value that an hour is a unit of time to be or do or think or act in some way that makes us realise its passing. In a subtle way to instill a sense of mortality that is tempered by an idea of how to occupy this hour that will pass but once." Graeme Obree

Now if you're thinking of something to get the cyclist in your life (or just yourself) for Christmas, that doesn't come under the bracket of "things you're only likely to use while riding a bike", this has to be a pretty good bet.

It's a lovely timepiece, it's got a great story to it and it's a limited edition of 100 so quite desirably exclusive.

Buy The Hour designed with Graeme Obree from Mr Jones Watches for £145

The leading luxury brand in cycling seems to be in a period of diversification which includes a push into product sectors such as holidays and womenswear.

The Rapha Embrocation falls into what could loosely be termed as "toiletries", as part of a range that includes chamois cream and soap.

Certainly it's packaged in such a way as to make me think of the sort of expensive unguents that live in my fiancée's part of the bathroom cabinet. I get excited by nicely packaged goodies being sent to me for review and this is no exception.

It took me a while to decide to break the pink paper seal and give the product a whirl. Having already broken out the chamois cream, I was ready for the lovely metal tin. It is lovely, a tactile experience that beats the usual waxy plastic that seems to be the norm for cycling products. You will not want to throw it away when you run out of the contents. Without doubt, I'd re-use this if refills were available or with another product inside.

It's described in the blurb as "A highly effective cycling embrocation for cold conditions. Rapha Embrocation has a fragrance inspired by the plants and herbs of Mont Ventoux and is made from three warming agents, winter green, capsicum and vanilla. The embrocation provides up to six hours protection."

"Great for those days when it starts wet and stays wet"

The first couple of times I used it I had a heavy cold, so only the winter green really cut through. It doesn't leap out of the tin at you in the way some heating creams can but once you start rubbing it in, you get that waft of that distinctive aroma. I've got a rubbish sense of smell so, unfortunately, the more subtle notes totally pass me by.

The burnished orange colour means you are unlikely to mix it up with your white chamois cream, even if they are packaged in a near identical fashion. It's a Ready Brek glow without being nuclear.

I've usually stuck to tried and test warming products like Deep Heat which tend to be pretty aggressive on application. By contrast, this went on easy without too much of the immediate sting that I'm used to. Certainly there was blood flow being stimulated judging by the sensations.

On the tin it clearly states "winter embrocation" and I'd certainly agree it's pretty season specific.

It's probably best used on those freezing wet days when you are trying to keep your legs protected and the blood flowing. It's great for those days when it starts wet and stays wet.

Perfect for muddy cross races where the rain is coming down from the moment you leave the house and you still need a little something to kept the legs alive for the drive home.

In milder or drier conditions I found it a little too much, although this could be my over-application.

I've also found that it's perhaps more useful if you've got a full day's riding planned and not just for an hour's blast round a cyclocross race then home.

You really need to apply a good while before the race to get that nice warm buzz rather than a furnace blast of heat. It probably says this on the instructions somewhere, but yeah I'm a complete hypocrite when it comes down to RTFM.

So if you want the nice strapline quote to base your buying decision on:

" It's great for those days when it starts wet and stays wet"

Rapha Embrocation is available from rapha.cc, priced at 20GBP for 125ml

I first spotted Bont cycling shoes back in 2008 when they were being hidden under overshoes by the all-conquering Great Britain Track team. Given their commitment to the best kit, that immediately marked them out as worth investigating.

Since then the list of professional riders strapping on a pair of Bont cycling shoes has leapt significantly this season with Cervelo Test Team going so far as to make them a partner. Bradley Wiggins wears them as does Michael Rogers and some of Lance Armstrong's Nike branded shoes looks suspiciously like rebadged Bonts.

I've had these beauties knocking about since last autumn but as I bought them after the end of the season I hadn't got round to setting them up until last week. In part that's down to me not getting round to getting the velcro fixed (heating molding incident) and some Speedplay extender plates.

Why blue? Because they were so heavily reduced that it was stupid not to and it works with my London Dynamo kit. Subconsciously, perhaps I thought they'd make for a nice Bernard Hinault ridng for La Vie Claire circa 1985 vibe.

So how do they ride?

For comparison, I've been riding Specialized S-Works Boas since 2007 and prior to that was on their lower-end road shoes. Looking around the market, the Bonts offer something very distinct from other offerings.

Most cycling shoes are built on a relatively flat sole with the main body of the shoe made of soft flexible leather or synthetic upper. So you get only about a quarter of the shoe as a platform that your foot sits on.

With the Bonts, the carbon fibre "sole" wraps the foot so that it sits inside the lower half of the shoe. The upper part of the shoe is then glued over the foot and heat moldable to improve fit. What this means is that the feeling is very different as it eliminates the sensation of lateral movement on the pedal.

Actually, the whole sole is moldable in a low oven so you can really push the custom level of fit. I've not gone all out on this after a disastrous attempt involving a heat torch in a bike shop. Even without heat molding the fit is incredibly good.

The biggest difference is the stiffness. These aren't slippers, they're racing shoes so don't expect flex. You notice it, just walking to the door, that you're strapped in to a shoe that is no wet noodle.

Once you clip in it's very evident how well the design works. Instead of feeling like your foot is sitting on top of a pedal and there some being play, you feel like you're pushing down on a much bigger platform that extends across the whole foot and that you're putting the full force of your leg through the pedal stroke.

I'm still tweaking my cleat setup to make them perfect and had concerns about hotspotting due to the stiffness but once I was racing on Tuesday night I really didn't notice any. I need to test them on a longer ride but for crits, they are awesome.

It definitely felt like I was putting down more power and that there was far less slop in my pedalling. After all these years it's weird to feel so connected when riding to the extent that you almost forget that it's a shoe clipped to a pedal.

I'll come back on how they feel after a longer term test some time later this years.

Inspired by Owen Philipson's podcast reviews I thought I'd post up some of my recommended listens.

At the moment there's only three cycling podcasts that I listen to with any regularity: The Bike Show from Resonance FM, Real Peloton and Velocast.

I spend my working day listening to some of the best speech broadcasters currently available in the UK, so my listening time outside work is valuable to me. These podcasts are recommended entirely on their merits as "a worthwhile listen".

First up, The Bike Show from Resonance FM. I've appeared on the show a couple of times and can testify that Jack Thurston knows his ways around a studio and the fine art of constructing an interview.

But the real joy of the Bike Show is its catholicism. It's from the Bike Show that I learned about Major Taylor and countless other parts of the church of cycling that are otherwise neglected by the mainstream. It's a beautiful reminder of the simple pleasure of just riding your bike for no other reason than because it's fun.

It was one of the first bike podcasts I discovered and has stayed in my subscription list while several others have come and gone. It retains a freshness of subject and delivery that makes it stand out from the crowd.

Jack is also one of the most watchful eyes on cycling issues as they affect London cyclists like myself.

Velocast is a more recent discovery. Initially I'd shied away from it on grounds of duration. When you spend eight to ten hours a day listening to speech radio, another hour out of the day is a big commitment for me. I've now addressed my commitment issues and I'm thoroughly enjoying a well made podcast that has its own distinct character.

It covers racing, bike geekery, components and riding in general with a wit and humour that is derived from its presenting duo, John and Scott. There's good analysis of issues and a no nonsense approach to discussing thorny subjects.

I've only been listening for a few editions but it's definitely a grower and broad enough to hold the attention of a wider audience.

Finally, Real Peloton which is Matt Rendell and Ned Boulting putting together a very fine half hour or so of banter, discourse and intelligent comment on professional cycling.

You'd expect that from two experienced broadcasters, but what they've done well is avoided letting their gobs run unfettered in the final product. You get a bit of philosophy, you get a bit of opinion and you get decent interviews with people with something useful to say.

You never feel short-changed on something useful with Real Peloton. The shame is that podcasts are difficult to monetise as this would be a proper breadwinner if it were to be sold in the same way that it would be as a built programme to a traditional broadcaster.

And the one's that I don't listen to?

Anything that is too long, too boring, too uninformative. It's a bloody long list and there's some names on there that really should have a look at themselves. I'm not going to link to them because they don't merit it.

Here's a couple that I think deserve special criticism.

Cyclingnews: Yes podcasts are meant to be a bit off-the-cuff but this is the equivalent of wearing a short-sleeved shirt under a suit. No big interviews, no big insight? Fail.

Guardian: You know all those reasons people give for disliking "cyclists"? They've managed to put almost all of them into podcast form. How do they manage to take all the fun out of riding a bike?

One of the joys of the internet age is that publishing is so swift and global that I can read stuff from news sources that I might never have known about. For example, The Oregonian is unlikely to be on the news stands of West London, but its internet presence oregonlive.com is available in my living room.

Which is good for me as it means I can read the excellent Freewheeling with Chris Horner blog on their site.

Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer have nicknamed him "the redneck" I think on account of his love of big trucks and motocross but it does him a massive disservice as he's pretty literate for a redneck. Indeed the insight he gives into being a pro rider is among the best out there.

He's currently riding the Vuelta where it looks like he's going to be given a chance to stretch his legs and see whether he can rediscover the form he was enjoying at the Giro earlier this year before yet another twist of misfortune saw him out with injury yet again.

You can also catch him on twitter at twitter.com/hornerakg

And while I'm mentioning cycling blogs worth reading, you should check out 6 Years In A Rain Cape which is written by Joe Parkin, author of A Dog in a Hat and a former professional himself.

You can catch him on twitter as well at twitter.com/joeparkin

And you can buy A Dog in a Hat on Amazon, it's subtitled "An American Bike Racer's Story of Mud, Drugs, Blood, Betrayal, and Beauty in Belgium" which gives you at least four good reasons to buy it (your reasons may vary).

PS. I've still not scored a point, despite a fantastic "death or glory" effort with two laps to go which held off the bunch for a lap or so. Was too far back to get involved in the bunch sprint and sat up when someone got spooked and locked it up in front of me.