Cold. Dark. Wet. Windy. Horrible.

Finding the motivation to get on your bike during the winter months can be as much of a challenge as the physical demands of riding.

Interned on an island of almost perpetual winter, while cyclists in the UK have to put up with worse weather than their Mediterranean cousins, we’re more accustomed to unfavourable conditions. Given the brevity of our summers, the change to winter shouldn’t be a huge step.

Additionally, the modern cyclist is blessed with a host of ever more sophisticated training aids and online social networks to fill the gaps left in the calendar by the closed season.

Over the next few pages we’ll recommend  five tools – some sophisticated, others from everyday life –  to keep up your sprits and fitness levels until the clocks spring forward next March.