You don’t know how a bike ride will turn out until you’ve finished it – and the same is true of The Ride, created by the Diprose brothers, Philip and Andrew. There are no cover lines, and the contents list is a bare list of titles – all of them very brief – and “entry points” such as standfirsts and fact boxes are absent. The only way to find out what each feature is about is to read it – and those who do are richly rewarded. There is humour here (a 110km hill race in Mallorca on an empty stomach), quirkiness (a claim that the modest Bathgate Hills, near Edinburgh, are in some ways superior to the classic Tour de France climbs) and drama (an account of the 1,600km Iditarod Trail in Alaska). It’s a visual treat, with beautiful landscape photography and illustrations in every conceivable style – often with the cyclist by no means centre stage.