Author: beccitom

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Exmoor Beauty sportive

The Exmoor Beauty sportive seemed to fit me and Becci’s plan to do a small number of sportives in the south west this year. Its not too far from Bath, its organisers run the well regarded Exmoor Beast and a proprtion of the entry fee goes to a local charity. Plus neither of us have ridden on Exmoor, so it makes more sense to leave route planning to locals who (you hope) know the roads better.
Things looked good from the start, the sun was shining and walking over to register we took a good look at the wonderful variety of bikes riders were preparing, checking tyre pressures and loading up with bottles and food.
Signing on was very fuss free. Don’t you find it a pain when organisers get you to fill in forms with information that you gave them already when you first signed up? Not here – our names were just ticked off by the friendly helpers and we were  handed a ready prepared envelope with rider bike ID and a sticky timing tag.
There were a few ‘attractions’ at registration such as the organiser on a tannoy giving information on the route, weather, how to sign on etc all nicely delivered. There was a good little catering outfit doing breakfast, the fruit museli was tasty. A local bike chain had bikes on display and of course mechanics to lend a hand. We talked to a friendly guy about a bike with electronic Shimano Ultegra Di2 gears on display, apparently some riders have been using the system for 3 years with no need for gear adjustment! You could also get a warm up massage or buy cycle clothing. Just the right balance of stuff.
The only major oversights were lack of water dispensing facilities and the most insane queues for a couple of toilets. I didnt fancy filling my water bottles from the school janitors mop bucket cleaning cupboard or from the loos, so popped to a local shop. A water butt would be simple to provide. As for the toilets, well the organiser is an ex marine so a loo reconnisance mission should have been pretty easy! It certainly wasn’t that they were scrimping as there were an over abundance of hired in porta loos at the food stop halfway.
Right on to the ride! Well pretty tough from the word go. I don’t think we stopped climbing for 3 out of the 4 hours we took to complete the ride! There were people riding sporty hybrids, including a steel Audax bike with a Rohloff hub gear so many people were along for the ride to enjoy the scenery and the challenge rather than speed around as quick as possible.
The route was typical of moorland riding, very undulating with steep twisty descents. You had to be on the ball as the hairy descents required plenty of speed scrubbing on the brakes. You also had to be pretty spot on with gear selection to climb what felt like wall after wall following each steep downhill. There were a couple of spots where riders ran out of gears or strength and had to walk. A couple of riders even fell off mid way up a steep bit which was dramatic!

 

There were some really nice landmarks that we cycled past, including a really big reservoir, Exford with its ancient stone cottages and river winding its way through the village and the highest point of the moor after Withypool – this climb seemed to go on for a few miles which was quite hard after having already reached 34 miles with no real descents.  The final descent on a mainish road down to Tiverton was quick but very scenic skirting along the river Exe which grew and grew as we descended down to the finish at Tiverton.  We both finished in 3:55 for the 60 miles of which there were just over 5000ft of climbing.

 

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Bobike childseats

Tom has been speaking highly of Bobike childseats for a long time- he used to use one with his own daughter. So when we found out that they would be available through our main supplier he leapt at the opportunity to get some in and on display.

 

They are a Dutch company with the seats being produced in the Netherlands, and have a strong emphasis on safety and their bio reads as such, “At Bobike, safety comes first. Our child seats meet the European safety standard EN 14344 and provide your child with optimum protection and seating comfort. A range of models lets you responsibly transport your child from the age of 9 months to 10 years on your bicycle. Bobike: you can rely on it!”

 

As well as being safety conscious they have a flair for style, with each seat coming in at least five colourways.

 

They also have a host of great features such as easily adjustable foot rests (with loops), secure harnesses, adjustable head rest, rear LED lights and reflectors, security locks, hand rests, storage compartments and easy on and off mounts.

 

We’ve already had a great deal of interest, especially from having them up at the Two Tunnels opening, but this last week one customer decided that they would not just fit one, but two to carry two children at the same time.

They opted for the Maxi Tour Exclusive for the back, which fitted to the rack they already had on the bike and the Mini City for the front. As can be seen below the two seats fitted really well, despite not being a very large bike, and the three of them were quite happily cycling around the square.

 

 

 

For Bobike we are offering free fitting on all seats, apart from the front fitting seats, which are only free to fit if bought in conjunction with a second.

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Opening festival of the Two Tunnels!

Saturday 6th April marked the long awaited opening of the Two Tunnels, and despite all the drab days we’ve had recently, you could not have asked for better weather- clear blue skies, no wind, it was more like a taste of Summer!

 

There were a number of stalls featuring local food, information about cycle clubs, upcoming Sportive events, attractions and clothing, whilst there was also a large marquee with bar and live music throughout the day. Some of the colourful Bath pigs even turned up in a pen!

 

VC Walcot had a stall to entice new members

 

Stalls and sunshine

 

Our own stall featured information on our bike hire, some lovely Red Velvet cupcakes from our favorite cafe (Java Coffee house), some hand painted bike bells, a selection of our bikes and childseats on display and the childseat fitting challenge.

 

Red Velvet cakes

 

Tom demonstrating the child seat challenge

 

Of course the main attraction was the opening of the Tunnels and the large organised ride Sustrans put on. Proceeds from the ride and donations collected on the day will go toward the maintenance of the route and others in the National network. Those who paid to ride and donated were also entered into a raffle to win our Lapierre Speed 300 bike, the winner, as can be seen below was rather pleased!

 

The winner of our Lapierre Speed 300

 

We cycled all the way through to Monkton Combe on the Sunday, and it really is a lovely way to get out of Bath! Between the tunnels Lyncombe vale is gorgeous, like a secret garden revealed, whilst the views out to Tucking Mill reservoir and Monkton Castle on the other side of the longer tunnel are equally beautiful. The Tunnels themselves are quite bizarre to cycle through, the LED lighting is just about the right level to let your eyes get used to the dark, but see the way and avoid other users. There are also light and sound installations on the longer tunnel, which give an extra surreal twist to cycling through the longest cycle tunnel in Britain.

 

 

Map showing the route can be found below (large file so might take a moment to load)

http://www.twotunnels.org.uk/docs/bath-tt-web.pdf

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The Two Tunnels Greenway opening

Celebrate the opening of The Two Tunnels Greenway by helping keep the route in good shape into the future!

 

Sustrans relies on donations for funding, which they use for new routes, repair of existing routes and schemes such as “Bike It,” where schools are worked with to promote cycling.

 

To celebrate the opening of the Greenway a donation to ride the route will ensure Sustrans can carry on its good work. You’ll also get a chance to win a bike worth £850 from us, so there couldn’t be a better reason to sign up to the celebration ride here: http://www.sustrans.org.uk/what-we-do/connect2/schemes/south-west/bath-two-tunnels/fresh-air-miles-ride 

 

You can also get your hands on one of our hand painted bike bells, which we’ll be selling off our stall at the start of the ride.

 

Painting bike bells

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Shop finished photos!

A week on and the arrival of some new clothing display systems means the shop re-fit is complete!

Our range of Madison clothing now has a much more viewable layout, as do the Shimano shoes and pedals.

 

 

 

 

Since the weather seems to be refusing to turn we’ve kept out the winter gear- with jackets to suit any riding style or budget, gilets, waterproof trousers, arm warmers, leg warmers, over shoes, and full fingered gloves.

 

 

 

 

 

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Shop do up, before photos…

It’s been just over a year since our last shop refit, so we thought it was about time to do it all again!

That said, this time the changes are much less dramatic. Having already gotten rid of the huge counter last time this was more about “tweaking” the limited space.

Before, bikes on display
Before, accessories

 

So far we’ve fitted a fair few metres of slatwall for displaying clothing much more cleanly, and found a really nice 4 bike stand to show off our favorite bikes.

It’s now very nearly there! Just waiting for some new clothing displays and we’ll be all set, but feel free to pop in in the mean time and see the changes.

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Lapierre Sensium

The Lapierre Sensium has been getting lots of attention in the shop, its pretty eye catching.  Its an all new model for 2013 with a totally new frame.  Its frame has gentle curves, not aggressively over styled which is nice.  Its also made from ‘high modulus’ unidirectional carbon fibre – in other words high quality which will absorb and soften the ride on rough roads.  Take a look at the picture below of the Sensium 300 equipped with SRAM Apex. Pop in to see the Shimano 105 equipped Sensium 200 in the shop, its very nice in the flesh!

 

 

Road.cc took a Sensium for an extended test ride for over a month and really loved the ride, read more about their experience on it here. Cycling Plus tested the 300 version as pictured above, read their write up here.

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Rob’s Kinesis Tripster review

“I want a bike that will go through winter, that I can take on a commute through muddy lanes and over potholes, that will get me through an audax in comfort but wouldn’t look too out of place and slow at an event like a sportive.

That was the wish list I gave Tom at Green Park Bike Station. Basically, I wanted a bike that did everything.

 

Completed build ready to go

 

Is such a bike possible? Or should we always adhere to the well known formula for the number of bikes you should own of n+1, where n equals the number of bikes you currently have… and of course, all serious cyclists KNOW that you need different bikes for different conditions.

He came back with a few possibilities, one of which was the Kinesis Tripster. I’d seen a very favourable road.cc review of this bike, and I also knew that Kinesis had a good following.
I was even able to get chatting to the UK based frame designer, who sent me a picture of the new grey paint job… that pretty much cemented my choice.
I’m not a components guru, so laid a lot of trust in Tom for the recommendations on how best to spec the bike for my needs. One of the great things about the Kinesis Tripster is how versatile it is – you get a solid frame that you can then add components that suit your riding.
The bike has been used across the winter. The Continental Touring Plus tyres have gone through all manner of muck and gravel. I’ve completed two 100km audaxes in varied weather – from cold and icy conditions in Gloucestershire to lanes where the flood water was coming up to the bottom bracket in Wiltshire.
In amongst all this grime and muck, the Shimano 105 groupset just carries on shifting with no problems whatsoever. I’ve adjusted them once to account for the initial cable stretch you get with new cables, but other than that they’ve stayed perfectly indexed despite having seen some gruesome weather.
Disc brakes
The disc brakes on the Tripster means that I’m not worried about road muck and rain on the wheel rims ruining my stopping distance, and I opted for the Kinesis-Crosslight-CXDisc  wheels that you can get through Kinesis and are a perfect match for the bike. (road.cc review)
As for the frame – it’s exactly what you want in a bike that you’re planning to do a lot of miles on. “Predictable” might sound boring, but the type of riding I’m doing on this bike means that when I’m descending a hill, I want to feel like I’m on rails. The Tripster gives me that. If I want a bit more of a lively ride, I have a road bike for that.
The only upgrade I’ve gone for since picking up the bike has been putting a Brooks B17 saddle on it.  This has completed my long distance comfort. I’ve done several rides of more than 60 miles on the bike since getting the saddle and it allied with the slightly more relaxed geometry of the frame means that I genuinely finish a ride almost as fresh as when I started.
Are you looking for an adaptable all-purpose bike? Maybe one that unifies a couple of the bikes you have in the shed? The Kinesis Tripster is definitely worth a look. It may not be a pure cyclocross bike, but I’ve seen people take them on trials. It may not be a road bike but it’s faster than a tourer.
Put mudguards and a rack on it, and you’re set for a long day in the saddle no matter what the conditions – you won’t look like you’ve turned up with “all the (carbon) gear and no idea”. Strip it down to just the frame, wheels and handlebars and you won’t stick out as someone on a heavy bike in a group full of roadies.
The last thing I’ll say is that since getting a Kinesis I’ve realised just how well regarded they are. I’ve had more than one person comment on the bike, which I’ve never had before with other bike makes. In fact, when I was mulling over choices as soon as people heard that a Kinesis was a possibility I had more than one person tell me to take a long, hard look at one.
To say I’m happy with this bike would be an understatement. Far from being the “boring but solid winter bike” that gets you through the cold dark days before the sun returns later in the year, it’s safe to say on many rides it will be the first one I pull out of the shed”.
(Road cc review found here)