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I first spotted Bont cycling shoes back in 2008 when they were being hidden under overshoes by the all-conquering Great Britain Track team. Given their commitment to the best kit, that immediately marked them out as worth investigating.

Since then the list of professional riders strapping on a pair of Bont cycling shoes has leapt significantly this season with Cervelo Test Team going so far as to make them a partner. Bradley Wiggins wears them as does Michael Rogers and some of Lance Armstrong's Nike branded shoes looks suspiciously like rebadged Bonts.

I've had these beauties knocking about since last autumn but as I bought them after the end of the season I hadn't got round to setting them up until last week. In part that's down to me not getting round to getting the velcro fixed (heating molding incident) and some Speedplay extender plates.

Why blue? Because they were so heavily reduced that it was stupid not to and it works with my London Dynamo kit. Subconsciously, perhaps I thought they'd make for a nice Bernard Hinault ridng for La Vie Claire circa 1985 vibe.

So how do they ride?

For comparison, I've been riding Specialized S-Works Boas since 2007 and prior to that was on their lower-end road shoes. Looking around the market, the Bonts offer something very distinct from other offerings.

Most cycling shoes are built on a relatively flat sole with the main body of the shoe made of soft flexible leather or synthetic upper. So you get only about a quarter of the shoe as a platform that your foot sits on.

With the Bonts, the carbon fibre "sole" wraps the foot so that it sits inside the lower half of the shoe. The upper part of the shoe is then glued over the foot and heat moldable to improve fit. What this means is that the feeling is very different as it eliminates the sensation of lateral movement on the pedal.

Actually, the whole sole is moldable in a low oven so you can really push the custom level of fit. I've not gone all out on this after a disastrous attempt involving a heat torch in a bike shop. Even without heat molding the fit is incredibly good.

The biggest difference is the stiffness. These aren't slippers, they're racing shoes so don't expect flex. You notice it, just walking to the door, that you're strapped in to a shoe that is no wet noodle.

Once you clip in it's very evident how well the design works. Instead of feeling like your foot is sitting on top of a pedal and there some being play, you feel like you're pushing down on a much bigger platform that extends across the whole foot and that you're putting the full force of your leg through the pedal stroke.

I'm still tweaking my cleat setup to make them perfect and had concerns about hotspotting due to the stiffness but once I was racing on Tuesday night I really didn't notice any. I need to test them on a longer ride but for crits, they are awesome.

It definitely felt like I was putting down more power and that there was far less slop in my pedalling. After all these years it's weird to feel so connected when riding to the extent that you almost forget that it's a shoe clipped to a pedal.

I'll come back on how they feel after a longer term test some time later this years.

Inspired by Owen Philipson's podcast reviews I thought I'd post up some of my recommended listens.

At the moment there's only three cycling podcasts that I listen to with any regularity: The Bike Show from Resonance FM, Real Peloton and Velocast.

I spend my working day listening to some of the best speech broadcasters currently available in the UK, so my listening time outside work is valuable to me. These podcasts are recommended entirely on their merits as "a worthwhile listen".

First up, The Bike Show from Resonance FM. I've appeared on the show a couple of times and can testify that Jack Thurston knows his ways around a studio and the fine art of constructing an interview.

But the real joy of the Bike Show is its catholicism. It's from the Bike Show that I learned about Major Taylor and countless other parts of the church of cycling that are otherwise neglected by the mainstream. It's a beautiful reminder of the simple pleasure of just riding your bike for no other reason than because it's fun.

It was one of the first bike podcasts I discovered and has stayed in my subscription list while several others have come and gone. It retains a freshness of subject and delivery that makes it stand out from the crowd.

Jack is also one of the most watchful eyes on cycling issues as they affect London cyclists like myself.

Velocast is a more recent discovery. Initially I'd shied away from it on grounds of duration. When you spend eight to ten hours a day listening to speech radio, another hour out of the day is a big commitment for me. I've now addressed my commitment issues and I'm thoroughly enjoying a well made podcast that has its own distinct character.

It covers racing, bike geekery, components and riding in general with a wit and humour that is derived from its presenting duo, John and Scott. There's good analysis of issues and a no nonsense approach to discussing thorny subjects.

I've only been listening for a few editions but it's definitely a grower and broad enough to hold the attention of a wider audience.

Finally, Real Peloton which is Matt Rendell and Ned Boulting putting together a very fine half hour or so of banter, discourse and intelligent comment on professional cycling.

You'd expect that from two experienced broadcasters, but what they've done well is avoided letting their gobs run unfettered in the final product. You get a bit of philosophy, you get a bit of opinion and you get decent interviews with people with something useful to say.

You never feel short-changed on something useful with Real Peloton. The shame is that podcasts are difficult to monetise as this would be a proper breadwinner if it were to be sold in the same way that it would be as a built programme to a traditional broadcaster.

And the one's that I don't listen to?

Anything that is too long, too boring, too uninformative. It's a bloody long list and there's some names on there that really should have a look at themselves. I'm not going to link to them because they don't merit it.

Here's a couple that I think deserve special criticism.

Cyclingnews: Yes podcasts are meant to be a bit off-the-cuff but this is the equivalent of wearing a short-sleeved shirt under a suit. No big interviews, no big insight? Fail.

Guardian: You know all those reasons people give for disliking "cyclists"? They've managed to put almost all of them into podcast form. How do they manage to take all the fun out of riding a bike?

One of the joys of the internet age is that publishing is so swift and global that I can read stuff from news sources that I might never have known about. For example, The Oregonian is unlikely to be on the news stands of West London, but its internet presence oregonlive.com is available in my living room.

Which is good for me as it means I can read the excellent Freewheeling with Chris Horner blog on their site.

Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer have nicknamed him "the redneck" I think on account of his love of big trucks and motocross but it does him a massive disservice as he's pretty literate for a redneck. Indeed the insight he gives into being a pro rider is among the best out there.

He's currently riding the Vuelta where it looks like he's going to be given a chance to stretch his legs and see whether he can rediscover the form he was enjoying at the Giro earlier this year before yet another twist of misfortune saw him out with injury yet again.

You can also catch him on twitter at twitter.com/hornerakg

And while I'm mentioning cycling blogs worth reading, you should check out 6 Years In A Rain Cape which is written by Joe Parkin, author of A Dog in a Hat and a former professional himself.

You can catch him on twitter as well at twitter.com/joeparkin

And you can buy A Dog in a Hat on Amazon, it's subtitled "An American Bike Racer's Story of Mud, Drugs, Blood, Betrayal, and Beauty in Belgium" which gives you at least four good reasons to buy it (your reasons may vary).

PS. I've still not scored a point, despite a fantastic "death or glory" effort with two laps to go which held off the bunch for a lap or so. Was too far back to get involved in the bunch sprint and sat up when someone got spooked and locked it up in front of me.

If you're following the Giro D'Italia then in my opinion there really is one writer who you have to read: Juliet Macur of The New York Times. In our house she's the first report we read when looking for perspective on what's happening.

You can read her work on The New York Times site or subscribe to her RSS feed. She's also on twitter where you can follow her at twitter.com/julietmacur.

What I love is that her style is precise, informative and understated. It's the sort of punchy news style that I struggle to do and which there is not enough of these days.

The other writers I'd recommend are riders.

You can read Freewheeling with Chris Horner on Oregon Live. I'd skip past the bits not written by Chris as they're not the best bit. Horner's view from inside the Astana camp, and of riding alongside Lance Armstrong is packed with the little of nuggets of information that could only come from a rider: the routines, the mood on the road, the expectations and the unity of a team.

Ted King of Cervelo Test Team is one of two riders writing Giro diaries for Velonews.com. King's witty, goofy and suitably informal which makes a nice counterpoint to the more earnest formality of Columbia's Michael Barry. You can read both in the Velonews.com/diaries section. You can also follow Ted on twitter at iamtedking.

One thing that I've just noticed about Ted King's pieces is that they are filed from a blackberry which just shows how times have moved on. It's an idea device for this sort of writing from the field and so portable that it's almost the case that a reporter shouldn't need much more to file copy and pictures.

I'm not writing about my racing this week as it was dispiriting at best. My legs are going before my lungs which isn't the way it usually happens.

Quick note that there's still entries going for the Women's race at the Smithfield Nocturne. The bigger the field the better the race so if you are a woman who races and are even contemplating it, get your name on the start sheet. Sign up now at http://www.nocturneseries.com/smithfield/elitewomen.php

Here's another batch of five, available from amazon.co.uk and currently on my iPod (other mp3 players are available).

Today's ride was punctuated by a puncture and coffee so not the most profitable but I'm still gradually working my way towards the very distant goal of "being race fit".

Right now I'm currently distracting myself from writing work with a very interesting interview with Michael Ashenden on NY Velocity which seems to me to be a very large cat among the pigeons. It covers the usual topics you'd expect him to cover, in particular Lance Armstrong and EPO, but in more depth than I've seen many other articles go into, notably on the 1999 samples and the information around how EPO positives are analysed. I'm only half way through it as I type so you can read the article in full on nyvelocity.com.