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11/04/06:
Oh boy! Well, what happened to me this weekend? After my success in my recent time trial I had high hopes for a decent result in the first road race of the year, dear oh dear.
I travelled down on Sunday to the village of Steeple near Maldon in Essex to ride in the 3/4/J 70K road race and I think the hint of sunshine may have gone to my head. I started ok and felt pretty good for the first few miles and gradually worked my way up to the front of the bunch which is roughly when things started to go wrong. After the grand total of 10 minutes near the front I found myself sitting on the front driving the bunch along, then after another 10 minutes I found myself off the front attacking on a glorious solo breakaway which lasted all of 2 minutes until I looked behind and saw the bunch happily riding along behind me. |
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02/04/06:
Well it's happened again and nearly another month has just flown by. This time it's gone from busy to extra busy! It's happy days on the shop front though we've had a great start to the year and have just enjoyed our busiest week since the shop opened back in 1922 and it's not even summer yet!
A big thank you to all of our customers for your support, it's fantastic to think that in these changing times of the internet, eBay, mail order and supermarkets so many people still value the service and personal touch that only the independent retailer can offer. I never forget that the only reason that I can do the job I love is down to the customers who walk through the door, so a big thank you and I'll do my best to make sure we keep meeting your expectations and we'll keep working to bring you more new & exciting stuff! |
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06/03/06:
Oh my! Where on earth did those few weeks go! It's been rather busy round here. There's a real buzz on the road bikes at the moment with loads of you getting keen for the year. We've had more new bikes flying out than ever before, with many of the Bianchis already sold out! It's not normally like this until April. Don't fear though, we have more stock on the way and are expecting to be re-stocked by the 24th, just in time for the start of British Summer Time and the light evenings.
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19/02/06:
So another week flies by and it's sure been a busy one!
Things are going crazy in both shops at the moment as we are having the best start to the year we've ever had. I'd like to think it's due to our wonderful service and all our fantastic new products, but if I'm honest I know that most of it is down to a real resurgence in cycling at the moment and the exceptionally dry January we've just enjoyed. |
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11/02/06:
And that's me qualified. I've had a very enjoyable day today, I was at Gainsborough Sports Centre doing the one day 'Appointed Persons and First Aid in Sports' course. I have to say this was probably the best and most informative course I've been on to date with an excellent Tutor with a great sense of humour! He managed to keep the day lighthearted, enjoyable, informative and above all memorable. A big thanks to Barry, PK Training and Suffolk Sport. Just getting things ready for Foxhall tomorrow now so that's all for tonight.
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10/02/06:
Well what's happened with the training this week then? I managed to get out on the quick ride on Tuesday which you can read all about below and then I tried to get in a quick turbo session on the Real Axiom indoor trainer on Wednesday but it all went a bit wrong as my PC kept crashing. I'll have to connect it up to my laptop for the next try. Yesterday I had intended to get out on my normal Thursday evening hill session but I didn't make it, I've missed a couple now and seem to be suffering that lack of enthusiasm that tends to happens in February when you get out of the habit of going out regularly. What made it all worse is that I thought I'd nip out and get Cycling Weekly from Tesco's and seemed to manage to come back with a nice Spanish Rioja (2003 Signa De La Concordia) and a wedge of Wensleydale & Cranberry cheese, hmmm nice but not quite the training I had intended!
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07/02/06:
Happy days! I managed to get in a quick ride today on the new Colnago C50 and it was good! I was able to get out for a steady 35 miles around my usual circuit. It was interesting to ride it properly at last, as previously I had only ridden it for a quick hill session which was a month or so ago. At first, I have to say I was a bit concerned, the front end of the Colnago C50 felt a bit strange. The steering was heavy and felt wrong and after about an hour I decided to stop and make a couple of adjustments. Firstly I loosened the stem bolts and rotated the bars upwards, raising the brake hoods by about 5mm, and finally I slid the saddle back by about 3mm and tilted it upward one notch on the seat pin. Success!
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05/02/06:
Well so what's news today then? Well I made it out again, today I managed to get along to the Suffolk CTC reliability rides out at Breadfield. This was a great event & good to see so many familiar faces out enjoying the milder weather. I was a bit nervous about going on the ride as I had promised to attend the Eastern Cyclocross AGM at West Stow country park (60 miles from Breadfield) which was due to start at 2.30pm. After several minutes of agonising over whether I had time to do the 100k or the 50k I took the plunge and went for the 100k. It was a 9.30 am start by the time our group went off and straight away we set off into a brisk pace to say the least!
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01/02/06:
Well that's January gone! The time flies by, doesn't it? One month nearer to the cycling season for me & the training's going ok. I got out again Tuesday for another 45 miles, it was a bit warmer and a bit more daylight too. Well the trip to Venice was fun, we flew out really early Thursday morning (Up at 2.30 am to leave at 3.00) then once in Italy it was an hour by coach to the Elite factory for a guided tour around the old converted Lime Kiln which is now home to Elite's R&D department. After this we went off to the hotel then back to Elite for a mammoth eight course dinner! Friday was spent seeing the sights and looking round the streets and canals of Venice. Saturday morning it was back on the plane for the trip home. We landed at 12.30 and had a mad dash to get down to Bath for Jodie's wedding at 5.00pm but we made it ok so all was well. The wedding was really lovely.
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24/01/06:
I made it out ! On a ride that is, I managed to get another 45 mile ride in this afternoon, sorry to anyone who called in and I wasn't there, I hope Ross and Andy looked after you ok. Boy it was a cold one though, absolutely freezing. I still haven't managed to solve the cold toes thing! Two pairs of socks and overshoes on and they were still cold, I'm going to try 2 pairs of overshoes next - or just stay in on the home trainer until April!
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