Cold winter truly struck for the first time this week, and will have had a many a cyclist cursing the weather and reaching for their winter clothes.

But with comitments already made to early season sportives and races next spring, it leaves many facing the annual dilemma of how to stay in shape over the winter months?

Well for those wanting, or needing, to stay out on the roads there is certainly plenty of choice out there when it comes to winter clothing – even French Riviera-based Café du Cycliste have got in on the act.

And we have had plenty of winter clothing pass through RCUK Towers too, including offerings from Sportful and RH+.

We also popped along to the brand new Cube store in Durham, the German giant’s first UK concept store, to see what they had to offer.

Once you are kitted up, it may be an idea to build up some sort of training plan too, and to help you on your way Team Sky’s Ben Swift shared his winter training routine with us and we have also got some top tips on turbo training and base training.

Swift is hopeful of recovering from injury ahead of the 2014 season, but even with the Yorkshire sprint ace suffering a disrupted year there was still plenty of cause to celebrate for British riders at UCI level last year.

One of Britain’s representatives in UCI events, IG Sigma Sport, will not return next year however after Sigma Sport were unable to find a new co-sponsor but shop boss Ian Whittingham admitted he was overwhelmed by the support he has received since the news broke.

Away from the road, the ‘cross season is continuing to enthral and we’ve considered the rise of the sport in this country.

Meanwhile British champion Nikki Harris, who will tackle the famous sands of Koksijde this weekend, spoke to us about her season so far and the tragic death of team-mate Amy Dombroski.

Missed any of these and our other great articles on RCUK this week? Do not worry – we have rounded up the best on the following pages.