GCN Show: What cyclists want vs what cyclists need

This week on the GCN Show, brown shorts are back, the world record for riding with no hands has been smashed and Formula 1's Eddie Jordan has released his own e-bike. The main topic of conversation between Si Richardson and Dan Lloyd though centres around the needs versus wants of cyclists when spending their hard-earned money.

There are, of course, purchases that we all need to make from time to time in order to keep us pedalling, but we often fall into the trap of being tempted to buy something we simply want - rather than require.

This can make for a nice occasional treat but in a time when prices within the bike industry are rising, perhaps we should all take extra consideration over what purchases are essential.

Read more: GCN Show: Are modern bikes a rip-off or actually worth their price tag?

In the northern hemisphere, the nights are drawing in and the temperatures have nosedived, which has left many of us with a certain necessary request on our Christmas wish lists: winter overshoes. These can be bought for a relatively modest price and stave off cold toes throughout the cold months.

A top-of-the-range aero bike, however, is perhaps not such a must-have for your everyday rider. As the old saying goes, if you're one of the riders who needs to buy the top-of-the-range kit, you probably won't actually have to because you will simply be given it by sponsors.

With that in mind, hold off on rushing out to buy the new ENVE flagship models, whose bikes will instead be heading the way of TotalEnergies - with the French ProTeam partnering with the American brand for 2024.

The announcement from TotalEnergies displayed their bike fitted with a Shimano Dura-Ace groupset, which may not come at the best time given the accusations currently levelled at the company that 'modern slavery' is currently in operation at their supply factory.

Read more:

• ENVE bikes enter pro peloton with TotalEnergies partnership
• Shimano investigating allegations of 'modern slavery' at Malaysian supply factory

Elsewhere's in this week's GCN Show, Si and Dan discuss the announcement made by Bahrain Victorious' Matej Mohorič to GCN that he will be riding the Unbound Gravel next year, before highlighting the epic challenge that Ollie Bridgewood has recently undertaken in collaboration with Rouvy.

Read more:

• Matej Mohorič set to race Unbound Gravel in 2024
• Ventoux, Stelvio, Grossglockner: GCN takes on Rouvy's 'impossible' 3 Hill Hell challenge

Hack/bodge

Make sure to check out this week's full GCN Show to discover what Si and Dan made of the latest hack/bodge submissions, which believe it or not, include cattle udder cream being used as a replacement for chamois cream - we'll let you be the judge of that one - and a re-laminated helmet.

On the channels this week:

• Wednesday: Here's how to commute in the winter
• Thursday: An investigation: Do we really need women's bikes?
• Friday: GCN's resident statistician Cillian Kelly lines up for part two of his challenge against the world's best KOM hunter, Andrew Feather. To check out part one, click here
• Saturday: Does endurance really improve with age? We take a look!
• Sunday: Putting a recumbent bike through its paces with a top speed test

Coming up this week on GCN+

This weekend will sadly be the final ever weekend of live racing on the GCN+ platform, but we intend to go out with a bang with more thrilling cyclo-cross racing.

First up is the X2O Badkamers Trofee in Herentals on Saturday, with the women's race featuring Puck Pieterse and the men's race seeing world champion Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) come up against Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) for the first time this season.

The curtain will draw on GCN+'s offering of live racing on Sunday, with the women's and men's World Cup rounds in Namur. Don't forget that you can binge-watch our collection of original films before the service closes on 19 December.

As usual, territory restrictions apply on all our race coverage.