Training books will all tell you that it is the rest days between cycling that are just important as the training rides themselves. This is because 'your body needs time to recover', they tell you, or 'your muscles develop when they are resting'.

It's one of those things that I have heard very often but always found it slightly hard to believe, unless your daily rides are really very intensive training rides. If, like me, your main priority is just to get out riding as often as possible, is that really making you slower?

I have to explain three things before starting this Trek Madone review:

1) The bike under review is one I bought myself, with my own hard-earned cash, and I ride it a lot. It is not a short-term review model - unfortunately Trek didn't feel the need to send me a free bike, I can't imagine why!

2) Because buying bikes myself is rather expensive (!) I don't have a great range of comparisons to make with similarly priced bikes.

3) I am mid-40's year old. My own experiences might be different to those of a younger, stronger 25 year old. I ride essentially for pleasure rather than spending much time doing extensive training, but I do work quite hard.

'Modern' thinking is that cyclists should take very little break from the sport during the winter, and should focus on getting out on the bike each week if possible. A fine idea, and if you are able to get in a couple of decent length rides each week it will certainly make the new season much easier. For many of us, however, a combination of shorter days, work commitments and poor weather mean that cycling training opportunities diminish substantially during the winter months. This article is aimed at us...

Note however that it is said that for each week 'off the bike' you will need two weeks of training to recover from the break - so after a two month complete break from cycling you might need four months to recover your form.

The definition of 'long distance' for you or for me or for someone else will always be completely different. If you talk to a non-cyclist, 20 miles sounds like a long ride, but for an enthusiastic club member 100 miles might be a long ride. There are cyclists who regularly cycle much greater distances than this (Tour de France stages are often 140 miles or more).

For the sake of this article I'm thinking that a ride of four or more hours in the saddle is long, five or six is very long. Few of us have the time to ride for more than five hours in one session very often, even if we are physically able.

When you first start cycling, you will probably read about the speeds and distances travelled by other cyclists, and find that you fall a long way short. Many experienced cyclists will cover 60 miles at 20-25 miles per hour a couple of times a week, enthusiasts much more, and faster.

This knowledge often translates into a desire to push yourself hard, when you can only manage 10 miles at 14 miles per hour!

The first thing to realise is that cycling is a long-term sport. Over at least the first three years your muscles gradually change to become accustomed to these greater speeds and distances, and you will not do the same after three months as you will be able to after three years.

Cadence in cycling is the speed at which your legs turn. It is measured in revs per minute / pedal rotations per minute.

Much the easiest way to measure cadence is with an attachment to your bike computer, but it is also easy to calculate as you are cycling along - keeping an eye on the clock of your bike computer, count how many pedal turns you make in 30 seconds (and double it for a one minute result).

The problem with counting your own cadence while cycling along is that the act of counting and looking at the watch can actually change the speed at which you are pedalling. There are also some circumstances where it is less easy to manually count - going up a steep hill for example.

One of the most common questions among new cyclists - and one of the hardest to give a sensible answer to - is the average speed of a cyclist.

There are lots of reasons why average speed can't be used as a reliable measure of comparison, which mostly come down to the following:

We have looked at bike pedals and why they make a difference to cycling performance. Well it is not possible to use these effective bike pedals without having 'proper' cycling shoes!

The way they work is that a cleat is screwed to the bottom of your shoe, and then the cleat in some way clips onto the pedal. The exact process varies slightly, depending on the make of pedal and cleat, but generally the front of the cleat is put into/onto the pedal first, and then pushing down with your foot 'clips' the rest of the cleat into the pedal.

The most important thing when purchasing a bike is to get the bike frame size and setup right - otherwise you will find you ache on longer rides, and lose enthusiasm for cycling very quickly. Riding the most expensive bike in the world will not be fun if it is the wrong size for you.

As a quick starting point:

- With your feet 20 cm apart measure the distance from the crotch to the floor (you will need some help here!) Advice: find a big hardback book and push it up between your legs, while the other edge of the book is held square against a wall. Make a pencil mark on the wall at the top of the book, then measure from the floor to the mark (repeat three times for an average). Not very elegant but pretty accurate.

- Multiply this measurement by 0.67

If you are looking for a good cheap bike there is a bewildering choice of bikes in the £350-600 price range, the typical starting point for a road bike, and it is difficult to know where to start. Virtually all mainstream bike manufacturers have entry bikes in this price range.

To confuse matters further, your bike supplier will often have last years models at reduced prices, and often available at extremely tempting prices. There is little benefit for the beginner in having the latest model - so if last years version of the same bike is available at 25% reduction it is likely to be a bargain.

Since 1885 the Italian company Bianchi have been making bikes, and recently celebrated their 120 year anniversary. They are the oldest active bike manufacturing company in the world.

Perhaps a little less 'mainstream' than some of the major manufacturers, Bianchi have a large following of enthusiasts who wouldn't ride anything else. (I have to confess at this point, my own bike is a Bianchi.)

Not concerned with going against the trend - for example Bianchi bikes are almost always fitted with Campagnola equipment rather than Shimano - they have had many spectacular victories during their long history and have played a significant role in shaping cycling as we now know it, both in the world of racing bikes and mountain bikes.