Who said we liked hills?

' "I always thought I'm not going to be one of those serious cyclists with all the kit" says Jo, clad in typical cyclist's garb, from her neoprene overshoes to her buff neck warmer.'  That's how I came across to the Cycling Active reporter, for her article Glowing Up in this month's Spring Special, all about Team Glow's 100 hills challenge www.teamglow.net

 Thanks to BikeRight! mechanics www.bikeright.co.uk/maintenance for the finishing touches to our bikes - pedals and bottle racks - for next week's Hadrian's Cycleway adventure and mountain bikers www.bikeright.co.uk/mountainbiking  for loading up the Garmins with the route.  It's dawning on us that the biggest challenge may be getting the minibus and trailer to the start in Ravenglass. 


Once we're there, we're confident that us hardy souls aka hardened cyclists will deal with wind, snow and sub-zero temperatures over the 3 days of our ride. 



Hope we don't end up like this recent Glow ride

Is that foolish confidence or the sort of attitude we're going to need? The reality will unfold from Tuesday to Thursday (2nd - 4th April).  While others are returning to the familiar routine of work, we'll be pedalling and discovering. 

More next week.

A busy Wednesday

It never rains but it snows!  That's the way it is up north anyway.  I'm in Liverpool, where the team have been leading a canal towpath ride in falling snow. Six people from a local homeless hostel in North Liverpool came for the ride - fortunately we had gloves for them.  This is part of the Choose Freedom project www.bikeright.co.uk/freedom

In the meantime, Liz is in Birmingham setting up our new office. New carpet, phone system, computer cabling, kitchen installation, internal walls and staircase - it's amazing what has to be done before the desks arrive on Friday.  Liz is perfecting the art of riding in the middle of the road where there's no ice or snow - quite a challenge in Birmingham city centre.

And in cyberspace, Liz appears today on the new women's cycling website dispensing her brand of wisdom on cycle lanes, Team Glow www.teamglow.net , hills in Majorca and the fun of Lands End to John O'Groats
http://totalwomenscycling.com/news/interviews/five-minutes-with-liz-clarke-bikeright-3417/

In the Media (2)

Who heard Radio 4 Today programme at 8.30 this morning? James Naughtie interviewed Jess Varnish about British Cycling wanting more women cycling (gosh!) and women on its board (double gosh!).  Certain people have been reminding BC for the last 10 years - literally - that it is unacceptable in this day and age to have a board composed entirely of men. In most sectors which are reliant on government support, the funding just wouldn't be forthcoming, but somehow sport has got away with it. 

Then he said “Road cycling is perceived as dangerous, which it is.”  

If only he had referred to cycle training such as Freewheeling www.bikeright.co.uk/freewheeling as the prime self-preservation tool for cyclists on all types of road and traffic conditions.....

....or that cycling is safer than walking out of your front door, since pedestrians are  more likely to die in a road traffic accident. The Times campaign is quite clear: 
"In terms of the number of deaths, travelling by motorcycle and walking are both statistically more dangerous ways to get around than cycling." http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/cyclesafety/article3328526.ece

In the media

C

Cycling Active is out this Wednesday, featuring The Heroic Hill Club aka Team Glow. Brilliant to see coverage of our Glow rides - after 3 postponements due to weather the ride to the Cat and Fiddle finally took place on 24th February, accompanied by the journalist and photographer.  Looks like we just did it in time, as the Cat and Fiddle road (A537 Macclesfield to Buxton) is now snowed in and closed.

We did the 35 mile ride from Cheadle (John Lewis) to the top and back - see previous posting "Winter experience". 

Le Tour Grand Depart 2014

Wow! Went to a meeting this week in York about next year's Tour de France Grand Depart.  The people there were so excited, over the moon about the opportunities it will bring to the north of England. The film they put together is well worth seeing on the www.letouryorkshire.co.uk

I've had a good response from my posting on the Team Glow facebook page:

Fancy a challenging bike ride? In Yorkshire? We've got till next year to work up to it - a pre-ride of the Tour de France's first stages from Leeds and York. Here's the likely route http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/tour-de-france/9808671/Tour-de-France-2014-maps-from-Yorkshires-grand-depart.html 

I'm excited about the variety of pre-rides people could do in the next 15 months before the big event.  Some of it could be quite challenging, so it's a good opportunity to train some more ride leaders as well. http://www.bikeright.co.uk/services2/instructor_training/it_other/ 

Women expanding horizons

"I can fix it!"

We're so proud of this weekend - all the women who attended the BikeRight!/Glow weekend to celebrate International Women's Day pushed their boundaries, learnt new skills and ate fabulous cake. Many women met for the first time, having got to know each other from Facebook, others have been on Glow Sunday rides, and took the opportunity to build their competence in looking after their bikes and develop their fitness. Well done all.
More info at www.bikeright.co.uk/maintenance

The winning rider

Sisterhood on wheels

Learning from the past

New bikes

Today we became proud owners of our new bikes - a Specialized Crossrip and a Trek women's specific - which we'll be riding the Hadrian's Cycleway on in a few weeks.  It's frustrating because the pedals haven't arrived yet, so I was like a little kid scooting along with my feet.  I'm dying to try it out, see how it rides.  It's all the gears I like, to help me over the Pennines; even though the panniers will be minimally packed, every little bit counts.

She looks like she knows it all

It was FREEZING in London this weekend.  But being a tourist with a Brompton is definitely the way to go. On Friday night we took in a West End play (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time - a must see, excellent).  Saturday opened with a breakfast bap at Borough Market (ok, confessions, I had bacon, bubble and squeak and grease in a bun), then a whizz up to the viewing platform of the Shard which since 1st February is the tallest building in London. From there a meander down to Burgess Park, including a sprint back to the cafe where I'd left my bag, and cycling back up Walworth Road across Southwark Bridge to Holborn. Lovely. Sunday, British Museum then home on the train - NO expenditure on transport in London, and lots of views of the streets and real life. Even bumped into (not literally) Pete from BikeRight! outside the British Museum.