Okay -- back from B&N and am thrilled with my purchases:

Cycling Plus (UK -- with a nice long spread about the Prologue of the Tour)

This is a fabulous magazine. I've just skimmed the surface and it's packed with more real info and interesting articles than several issues of Bicycling.

The "how to" articles have lots of photo-illustrations, making it much easier to actually understand the instructions. The people in the photos don't look like models, but like real people.

$9.99 and I think it's worth it.

HEALTH & FITNESS FOR CYCLISTS, put out by Cycling Weekly (another UK mag)

Talk about fabulous. They are doing in their "real people" spread what we hoped Bicycling would do in its "real women" spread. It's actually about training, nutrition, etc. with recommended workouts, etc.

$12.99 and again, I think it's worth it.

ROAD - The Journal of Road Cycling and Culture (US)

Of the American mags, this one looked most interesting to me (despite the fact that it's oversized and I would prefer magazines to be more uniform for storage purposes)

But. I dunno. Very slick, glossy, ad-driven, and the articles seem to be more about product review than information.

$6.99

I would buy either UK publication in a heartbeat before I bought another US publication. I subscribe to Bicycling and look forward to it each month, but it doesn't hold a candle to these.