I'm aiming to make these posts a good read and to offer my opinions on all things bike. I want to cover things like maintenance tips, product reviews, shop overviews through to riding advice and top riding spots. I'll be covering Road and Mountain Bikes as they are my main focus of riding, but will also be dipping in and out of other styles to keep things fresh. I'll also be detailing my own riding experiences, trying things out on your behalf - learning the hard way so you don't have to if you like! My long term aim is to turn this into a useable website full of the above features, so if you'd like to have your product / shop / ride spot etc included here (and rated) please get in touch with me.
I'm going to draw on my experience first and foremost as a rider, but also with the experience I've built up whilst being in the trade, right through to my current career - training shop staff and keen enthusiasts in all levels of cycle tuning with the Cytech brand at ATG-training.
So a bit about me to get the ball rolling...
I've been riding bikes seriously since 1989. This makes me feel old! before then I rode because I enjoyed it (still do!) and I was better than my friends (maybe this was why I enjoyed it!) I have raced Mountain Bikes competitively in the early '90's (you'd call it XC nowadays) the odd DH race (certainly NOT competitively!) some urban street and recently spent a lot of hours pounding the blacktop on the skinny wheels - getting some good results in the odd sportive here and there.
I have been lucky enough to have my hobby as a profession and have worked in cycle shops for a good few years benefiting from meeting and learning from some really talented mechanics (you know who you are!) and hopefully have inspired some to take up a career in what is the coolest and 'in trend' sport of the moment.
I've had some downs as well as ups (both litteral and figurative!) a heavy fall on my left arm has left me with a distinguishing scar to the left forearm (two plates - twelve screws - skin graft and a stomach pump for good measure!) a couple of concussions and a hyper-extension of the neck with numerous abrasions from both the dirt and the tarmac. I've had times when I've run out of everything (bonked) during a ride and had to push the bike home, had stuff thrown at me and been called every name under the sun - although I'm still impressed with some drivers vocabularies and sure there are a few I haven't heard! I've had baffling mechanicals (yes I have!) and times where things just don't seem to go right.
All the above said though, a wise man once said "it's better to have a bad day on your bike than a good day at work". Although this doesn't really work for me now, does it?!
I hope you have fun reading through these Blogs, maybe learn a few things, get inspired and motivated or even visit somewhere new, whatever, make sure it's on two wheels!!
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