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Still biking? Definitely…

“Still biking Grant?” is a question I’ve been asked many times throughout my life, by friends or different people that I’ve met along the way. Riding a bike has been such a big part of what I do, it’s hard to imagine it not being the case. I think it’s the momentum, freedom and just being outside, that I love so much

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grantwilliams1973

South Lake District Ride

Blog Post by Emma

The Lake District is beautiful all year round, but especially so during Autumn.  Fortunately, we can reach this fabulous place in around two hours, so we regularly visit the area for road cycling day trips.

Our route in the South Lake District is fifty miles long, starting from Staveley.  It’s definitely a climbers ride with plenty of hills to go at, including a couple of particularly steep ones!  It was a lovely autumn day with very little breeze, unusual for this part of the world.  Headwinds on the Kirkstone Pass can make for a tough start to this ride, but thankfully the air was unusually still.

Our jersey pockets were packed with ride fuel, this is not a ride where you want to go hungry!  We opted for one Le Roulier energy ball each, from The Pedal Bites pack of three, to give us a little pre-ride boost…. breakfast was a long time ago!  I love the flavour of cocoa and the natural sweetness of the prunes.

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Socks!

Blog Post by Grant

I think socks are a quirky and cool part of cycling and as a result, I’ve got loads of different pairs that I’ve collected over the years from mooching around cycling shops.

For me, the sock thing started when I was heavily into mountain biking. At the time, a lot of the new designs were coming from the American brands. Being super keen and wanting to be as up to date as possible, I would buy or subscribe to a number mountain bike magazines that were based in the USA. One of things that caught my eye was some fabulous kit the test riders were wearing. It was so different compared to what we could buy at the time in the UK. Lots of colours and patterns formed part of the different designs.

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The Cycle Show NEC

This was the third year Emma and myself had headed to the NEC for the Cycle Show. For me, this year’s show was the best so far.

I had enjoyed each visit, but this year the spread of fabulous products, information and publications made for a cycling fanatics dream day. To be honest, it would have been great to head back for at least another half day or so.

Over the last few years I have become a real fan of Pinarello bikes. The frame layout suits me, the finish quality is excellent and I like certain details such as the threaded bottom bracket.

Yellow, the UK Importer had a large stand displaying the 2016 bikes and their shop, The Bike Rooms was selling clothing.  The colours of the both the 2016 Dogma and new GAN bikes are really eye catching and were drawing the attention of most people visiting the display.  The folks on the Yellow stand are great to have a chat with, so that got the day off to a good start.

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Ride Out to Elkstones, (Staffordshire Moorlands / Peak District): Sleep & Flapjack

Blog Post by Emma: 19th Sept 2015

Since we came back from our trip to Italy, we’ve crammed in some great riding at weekends. Over the last few days I’ve started to feel pretty shattered, but when I recounted the rides we’d done in the six weeks since Italy, I realised why!! In that six week period we’d done three Lake District rides, including the leg-grinder six-pass loop, two century rides (one hilly and one one super-hilly in the Peak District). We nearly always ride both Saturday and Sunday, so on our non-hilly day, there would still be an endurance ride. I love the days out, when we pack up our bikes and kit, load up the car (that’s Grant’s job, I look after the catering!), and head out to the Lake District or Peak District. But all the early starts had caught up with me, and so we decided to grab a lie-in and ride from home this weekend.

Our ride took us out through Barlaston, across to Moddershall, Wetley Rocks, then onto Meerbrook, where the steep climbs begin. We climbed up Roche Grange which is super steep, then onto the top of the beautiful, heather-strewn Roaches. The next toughie is the narrow, winding road up to Flash, the highest village in England. There is a defibrillator on the wall of the pub at the top, this always makes me smile…..is it there for the huffing and puffing cyclists?! I’m not making jest of this, it’s great that such things are on hand in isolated, rural areas.

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