I don’t have a single tattoo, and I’m never likely to get one. I don’t have a single item of Rapha clothing, although I only hear good things about their stuff. Next time I want a wool jersey I’ll get one made-to-order from Gerard at Lab-Gear and support an Australian small business.

Call me a sucker for a particular style of marketing, but damn I love watching the films that Rapha produce. They are beautifully shot & edited, the sound-track is always great, and the aesthetic of bike-riding that they capture appeals to me.

It all seems so well thought-out, but yet at the same time natural and unforced. Classy wool jerseys. Cycling caps. Steel bikes, all made by great names among the boutique frame-builders of the US (Richards Sachs, Bilenky, Moots, can’t get any cooler than that). Getting a good dose of Vitamin G on every ride. At a minimum, stubbly chins, all the way to extravagant facial hair. Black with pink highlights, cos we’re stealth and hard-core, yet not afraid to show our sensitive side.

Congratulations and thanks, Rapha.

This latest effort, which is kind of a ‘greatest hits’ of 2010, is just brilliant. And I don’t care if the whole last five years of Rapha has just been about trying to sell me expensive cycling kit. I don’t care if I’m being manipulated. In fact, I don’t believe that is what its about. Seems to me that these folks just really do love riding, and just happen to be in the cycling apparel game.

Makes me want to get out for a two-day adventure ride to Somerset Dam and back. Think that’s what I’ll do one weekend soon.