I always look forward to the new issue of Cycling Plus. It's a wonderful mass circulation magazine about road cycling published here in the UK by Future Publishing. I end up reading virtually all of each issue - it has industry news, gadgetry, sport, public policy, and great road tests.
Which is exactly how I used to feel about Rodale's Bicycling Magazine, the only remaining US offering. It's outlived all the other entries (like Bicycle Guide back in the 80s, which I also really liked), but it's really a shell of its former self. It hasn't been interesting since 1990 or so, when the format was changed to be more bite-sized and bullet-pointed. I don't even buy this one when I'm in the US any more. I don't quite understand how the UK can support Cycling Plus and several other cycling mags (including a weekly), when the huge US market can't even have one decent one.
In any case, I'm happy with C+ and VeloVision (which is only quarterly and definitely on the fringe), but I do still love the old Bicycling Mags from the 70s and 80s and I watch out for them on ebay. I have a had a few issues sent to me a while back, and they're really good fun. So the other day I came across the mother lode. A collection of 23 years, from 1978 to 2001 for sale by a guy in Pennsylvania. I bid and won, now I have 165 lbs of magazines on their way! Pure madness. I can't wait to get my hands on them, but it will be a while since it's ridiculous to have them sent here, so they'll be in storage in New York for a while.
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