IT IS A DAY WITH THE SORT OF OPPRESSIVE, SUFFOCATING HEAT WHERE YOU CONSIDER WHETHER IT’S AN ENTIRELY SOUND IDEA TO EXPOSE YOUR WATER-BASED BODY TO IT.
It’s the Saturday at the back end of the second spell of extreme heat, in August, and we’re riding in some of the most exposed terrain in England, high up on a tinder dry Salisbury Plain. The reason? Not only to test out the new gravel clothing collection, GV500, from Scottish brand Endura but an opportunity to ride with Marcel Kittel, the now retired German sprint powerhouse and winner of 14 Tour de France stages during a prolific career that ended in 2019, aged 31.
Try riding through the desert in the road race of the 2016 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, he says. “That’s heat and intensity on an unimaginable level, where there was no opportunity to take a breather in the shade,” he
