With the weather outside getting better it's time to start thinking about puttnig the turbo trainer back in the shed, cancelling your Zwift subscription for a year and getting back on the roads.

Even if you have braved the roads throughout the British winter you will no doubt be looking forward to some more mild weather as you look to increase your training workload to get race fit, or even just to consolidate on the work you have put in over the winter.

Base miles are great for maintaining fitness in the colder months, but now the real work begins. It's likely that you have already set your goals for the year, you may already have completed some events if you are into MTB or cyclocross, but for roadies the majority of goals will be centred around the spring and summer. 

Here are our top tips for starting to ramp up your training plan:

Cycle Division and Cero Wheels are delighted to announce the appointment of Dan Fleeman as a brand ambassador, bike fitter and product expert.

Dan joins the team at an exciting time following Cycle Division’s recent relocation to its new store premises in Barton under Needwood. Our new location is right in the heart of Dan’s training roads.

Cyclocross is the perfect pasttime for cyclists who don't want to take out their best road bikes in the wintery weather, but also don't want to get all the required armour and protective gear on the a mountain bike downhill session. 

Contrary to popular belief though, cyclocross has been around for almost as long as competitive cycling, with the first cyclocross races believed to haev taken part in 1902 in northern France. 

Originally called 'Steeple Chasing', these races were common around the French Ardennes and throughout Belgium and the Netherlands as a method of winter training for road cyclists; who would try to race across farmer's fields by hopping over fences and hedges with their bikes as they raced from town to town - or steeple to steeple.

Since their first inclusion in professional races and domestic races a efw years ago the disc brake has always been a controversial topic of discussion. 

Depsite several bans in competition in both World Tour races and smaller domestic leagues throughout the cycling world, manufacturers continue to produce them and they continue to be adopted by leisure cyclists at an increasing rate. Manufacturers like Scott and Cannondale continued to produce disc road brakes in 2017 despite these risks.

Are they dangerous to riders? The main concerns acontinued to produce disc road brakes in 2017 despite these risks.re the risk they pose to riders in an accidents - namely the potential the spinning disc has to cut the rider or the heat generated by the disc to cause a burn.

January training is notoriously tough. Not necessarily because of the effort itself, but the circumstances surrounding the need to train. 

There's the January blues, residual hangovers from Christmas and New Year, the extra few pounds you've put on due to all the festive food; and to top it all off the horrendous Winter weather which can all combine to make going out on the bike seem like a chore rather than a joy.

January training is about getting in the 'base miles' - ie riding yourself back into some semblance of form before beginning a more structured training plan in February that is specific to your season goals. 

Here are our five three Januaruy training tips to help you make the most of the bluest month of the year.

1. Small Structure

Whilst January is about building your fitness back up by getting loads of miles in your legs, it can also be worthwhile to add some more intense efforts every few days. Try an HIIT session on the turbo trainer, or do some sprint intervals out on the road to help introduce your body back to those efforts. 

2. Pastures New

Repeating the same old training loop day in day out can be tedious and harm your motivation over the long term. Try mixing it up with newer routes and different rides to add some variety to your training. This has the added benefit of adjusting the terrain to make it varied with each ride, ensuring you put out different efforts regularly.

3. Save The Goods

If you have gotten cycling gear for Christmas this can be a great motivator to get you out on the bike in January. use it as an opportunityh to try out the new gear or kit and enjoy the experience of using something new. 

For added benefits don't use all your new kit at once. Try a new piece of kit every few days and really make it last, or rotate the new kit to make the most of the novelty throughout the whole month.

The bikes ridden by professionals are the best in the business, and when one of them is ridden to victory in a Grand Tour it elevates them even further in the esteem of the cycling world.

It's not just the general classification riders either, there's plenty of admiration for Michal Matthews' Giant Propel - a bike that was ridden to victory in the points classification at the Tour de France; and Simon Yates' Scott Addict SL which he rode to victory in the young riders competition in the Tour.

General Classification

There's only two bikes to speak of in this section as Chris Froome became the first Briton to win both the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana in the same year, with Dutchman Tom Dumoulin becoming the first rider from the Netherlands to win a Grand Tour at the Giro d'Italia.

Tom Dumoulin's Giant TCR Advanced SL

The Giro d'Italia winning bike belonging to Tom Dumoulin is one of Giant's top of the range machines, retailing at a cool £4,499 which gives you one of the best all-rounders on the market.