Sunday 3 September 2017

summer series , final round

so after our win at 24-12 (podium pic) we moved on to the last round of the summer series, no big shock it was wet again! had a great race and ended up just 4 seconds off the leader for the complete race, happy to get second and third overall in the race. good to get a couple good results after not being able to race all year because of sponsors failing to sort bikes.. still soon be time to race cyclocross! the south west has 13 rounds this year, i hope to do them all .

The Journey To The Other Side: Indian Pacific Wheel Race 2017 Documentary

Wednesday 2 August 2017

24-12 24 hour senior team .. we win! boom

what a race, if your going to win why not do it this year, it was the wettest and a real mud fest, skill and fitness was needed and our team killed it, even with one of our guys getting a flat and a few times not finding each other in the change over we still took 2 laps (about 2 hours) out of second, it was a barn storm and we crushed it, it was my first proper race on my GT Zaskar, loved it! more on that in the next blog. till next time thanks for hitting my blog.

Tuesday 16 May 2017

The one stint 400 mile bike test!

Last year as we ended the #300North ride on the Thompson Capella after 24 hours of riding in almost perfect conditions and started thinking about pushing on in 2017 with a 400 mile ride taking us to Scotland. So May 13th (just last weekend) would be the 400 mile ride.

With rain and high winds on the cards it was time to plan for the event with the key first bit of  kit for any long overlander style ride has to be the right bike!  Now 400 miles in one hits a lot of miles, your looking at 24 hours of riding time! This is not touring or maybe it is adventure touring in the new era? but the days of panniers and rack mounts and up right riding positions are not what you want if your covering a lot of ground fast! I wanted a frame that was low weight without being fragile, It needed to had some compliance yet was agile in handling and also very stiff in the bb area as i want every watt to power me forward!

 #touringwithasenseofurgency

On the 300 i picked the Capella from Thompson bikes, The Belgium brand have a almost Rapha style cool to them in there home lands but very few in modern times have landed on our shores till new importer/distro Greenover sports started working with the brand last year and have been getting a cult status here in the UK. The 300 North showed what a great bike it was and on the 400 three new Thompson customers following that ride were now Capella mounted and ready to go further than they had before! So with more climbing and harsher weather would it still be the best bike for the challenges on this adventure?





I went with the " if it ant broke don't fix it" idea and having put some time of a dale and Spec went back to the Thompson, But this time i went for a size smaller (small) as i felt this was the way big hitters like the late and great Mike Hall had done, bringing my elbows more in to my mid section giving me a more aero position with no draw backs as the Capella has a very planted and stable feel on any downhill section. I tested the bike out on the Gravel roads of the Tour of the Black Country a few weeks before and found all my section times to be some of the fastest ever posted on strava and this was my first time at one of these mixed surface events. It was time to pull the trigger and see if i had made the right choices..


Over the 24 hours of riding we pushed hard, Set a very strong early pace and forced others to hunt us down and hold my wheel as we pushed in to the dark and on to some perfect flowing roads around Wales and also some unsurfaced section where the very good tyre clearance and Panaracer tyres helped as the rain came down. In fact the tyres were the only product i switched off the product build, When your as picky as a rider like me for gains just shows what a great complete build it is, In to the Lakes on the final 100 miles and the wind was blowing on the high hill tops but the rims round profile kept us in good shape over deep dish wheels and the advantages of disc brakes was clear from the early sections when i could brake later and get away from others on the twisting roads to the ever changing conditionsin the night gave me a confidence unmatched by standard brakes. I think i picked maybe the perfect bike for this type endurance rides/races that are gaining ground around the world, Maybe i would of picked a tricker bar/stem combo and seat post to bling it up? maybe but im not sure it would of powered me any faster than the online custom build option right off the website that i smashed the 400 miler on and any customer can order. Its just going to make it harder to find more gains for my next adventure!

THOMPSON

Tuesday 7 March 2017

Gau sports nutrition

New brand on the block as far as cycling goes Gau have hit the ground running, A wide product range that will cover all areas of nutrition from pre, intra and post training, So far the products seem to be easy on the gut unlike a lot of powders and also seem to be working well and even taste good. We will keep you posted but so far its 2 thumbs up and we would add its supplements in to our program. As for the brand i think we will see it push further in to the world of cycling and endurance sports in the coming years. I will be trying its range over the coming weeks as we prep for the Revolver ride.
See the complete range here  .

Danny Hart back in the energy drink game

Danny Hart has been supported by Rockstar a few years back has now joined the Monster Energy family for 2017, Look for a fresh Bell helmet with the Monster logo and a lot more media edits and photos of the champ this year.

Thursday 23 February 2017

Sportful fiandre range



this looks a great range of products, we might have to invest and test.

Monday 20 February 2017

A new breed of hardcore hardtail 29ers


The hardcore hardtails very much back! 29er wheels are also getting in on the act, Bellow you have the Marin, This hits a great price point and comes with all you need to thrash the hills be it up or down, But if you want to race some xc this year on a new Marin you would need to race this as the brand has dropped its pure xc bikes to focus on this more trail centre based weapon, Above you have the all new Onza PayOff, this bikes not out yet, its slacker and has a dropper ready frame this time out and in this purple i have to say looks amazing, again another spec to take a hard day in the hills and designed to make the DH sections fun and get you up with as little effort as you can makes it another perfect trail centre bike for riders not wanting the pure xc ride, no ETA or price on the Onza yet.


Sunday 19 February 2017

Panaracer Race EVO 3 Family





Looks like a tyre i will want on my bike for the Revolver ride this year.

Sunday 12 February 2017

Revolver ride

just 2 months till the hardest ride i have ever done, 415 miles up to scotland, over night sleep then 350+ miles back to devon! Lets hope the weather plays ball and also i can get in a good bit of training before then, Tour of the Black Country will be in April, 100 miles with around 12 cobble and dirt sections, should be a great test for me and my Thompson road bike, I will also ride the Eat more dirt on exmoor mtb event, it was a great loop last year and some good training. I have also picked up support from a new parter/sponsor, you can findout who in my next blog. till next time keep spinning them cranks.

Sunday 8 January 2017