Evans Staff Show

Last week Myself and Mark took ourselves off to Redbridge Cycle Centre, just east of Epping Forest, for the annual Staff Show. Here staff are encouraged to meet the suppliers and manufacturers of the stock we sell so they can pass on this knowledge on to our customers. For many this meant trying out bikes from the likes of Trek, BMC, Cannondale, Lapierre etc around the dedicated road and off-road courses at Redbridge. To introduce staff to our new timing system we ran timed laps each day with prizes for the fastest male and female laps. Results can be found here:-

Evans Staff Show Results

There were also several races run by Go Cycle, the new electric road bike, which were fun to watch and a little exhausting for some.....

Pictures of the races and other general shots can be found here:-

Evans Staff Show Pictures

Ta
Dean

Leeds Rider Times

You can view the rider times from this weekend's rides at Harewood below -

Off Road Rider Times

Road Sportive Rider Times

This is the second event where we've used the new electronic timing system so please mail Dean on dean.stacey@evanscycles.com if you have any queries about your recorded time.

Chips

Hi All.

Thanks to everyone who came along to the Leeds event last weekend. The amount of riders took us by suprise a little bit!!

Results should be up soon, MTB one's are done, working on the Road now.

We are 3 chips missing from the weekend, two I know about and one from yesterday. I will be chasing this up as promised :-) The Freepost address for these is:-


Evans Cycles,
FREEPOST SEA12922,
Crawley,
RH10 9BR

Thanks
Dean

Leeds Off Road

Today's ride was a great sunny ride with the ground conditions dry with very little mud. This is a first for this location, from our previous visits. So hopefully after tonight's rain the conditions should still be firm & fast.

We have been using our new memory map GPS units which provide full details of your maximum speed and a full speed profile for the route. Today Mark beat my maximum speed by 0.6 MPH. Yesterday Dean was able to see which shop I popped into to get some food. This could be too much like big brother. So I have a feeling the tracks may mysteriously get deleted in future :)

On the medium & long route beware of the down steps as the final step is too dangerous for most people to ride down. They will be signed.

See you tomorrow!
Tony

Leeds GPX routes

Hi.

As always the gpx routes will be published after the routes have been ridden and checked. The Off road route is being put out now and when the guys are back, washed and had a bite to eat, we will put them up. Probably about 7pm tonight.

We publish these late to make sure they are accurate. On Yesterdays road ride there was a road closure and today there was a bridleway closed. If we had already published the gpx routes, of which there are 12 different variations now, that would be a lot of extra work and anyone who didn't check back would have the wrong route.

Thanks for your patience!

Dean

Leeds on the Road

We've finished putting out the road course for Sunday and the general consensus was that today was windy!! I didn't mind too much as I was marking the long loop which ascends to the highest point of the day with a following wind, all help gratefully received :-) It did get a bit hairy on the long descent with a cross wind though......

As I mentioned below, we've cut back the distances a bit due to the amount of climbing and upgraded it to a 3 on the website. Generally you'll be going up or down, there isn't that much flat around here, although it tends to be short, sharp climbs followed by gradual inclines. If you're doing the long route there is a stunningly beautiful section along the Wharfe Dale Valley, passing Bolton Abbey in the process.

As mentioned last year, there are also some brilliant place names along the route, such as:-

The Valley of Desolation

Dibbles Bridge

Catherine or Katty White's allotments

Some other sights:-

A Chinook in Wharfe Dale

Barden Tower.

GPX routes will be up tomorrow. There are now 12 different versions, so we'll upload them all at once.

Thanks

Dean

Leeds/Harewood this weekend

A bit of a heads up on the Road routes for this weekend.

Due to the hills in the area we've reduced the length of the long and Medium routes. The Long is 73 miles and the Medium is 52, but don't think this is going to make them a breeze. The Long comes in at a tad over 7000ft of climbing and the Medium 4600ft so it's going to be a good day in the saddle!!

We'll give you some more details a couple of days before.

Memory Map Adventurer 2800.

I have 4 gps units for demo use. I will need your name, which day you'd like the unit and what route. First 4 people to mail me, get the unit for the day. I will also need a credit card to hold against the unit as a deposit.

dean.stacey@evanscycles.com.

Ta
Dean

Watlington Results Update

We have run the MTB race with the new software and have got results!!! Yay.

I will put these into a recognisable format tomorrow morning and publish them asap.

Mark will be running the Road times tomorrow morning, so all going well all times will be up by tomorrow night.

Thanks for your patience.

Dean

Now available to download -

Watlington MTB Rider Times

Watlington Road Rider Times

Very neat cycling safety videos...

Event Photos

Hi.

Unknown to me there was a photograher out on the ride on Saturday!

Phil will be attending future events, but for Watlington's pics have a look here.


http://www.apricot-images.co.uk/group4224.html

Dean

Watlington Results

Hi,

UPDATE.

We are still working on the results. We are having to change/update our software and "Run the Race" again. Hopefully we'll get something up tonight!

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who tuned up last weekend and made it our best ever attended weekend. I think the combination of the best weekend of the year and a great cycling location had something to do with it!




An even bigger thanks for returning all the timing chips, we're only missing one and I know where that one is. We did have two missing from Saturday but after a night in A&E following a drinking session half way round the route, they both turned up on Sunday! ( A long story and one we don't condone!!)

So onto the results. Well, as I might have pointed out, we had a new timing system in place for the weekend and this was the first time we used it in anger ( I was hoping to use it at the quieter Scotland event the previous week) We have all the data but are having a few teething problems. We are working on it at the moment with the race software designers and will have them up as soon as we can, hopefully tomorrow.

Really sorry about this.

Ta
Dean

Watlington Off road

Sorry about lack of details, we're busy with the new timing system!!

GPX routes on the right.

Parking tomorrow - We have three parking areas, outside the school, in the primary school next door and the field around the back, please fill them up in that order (signs will be out as they are filled).

New timing system -

You'll be given a timing chip and ankle strap at registration. This fits around your ankle (funnily enough). At the start we'll want to see the number on the back so please be aware that I may be asking to see it. You'll ride over the mat and your time will be taken, when you come back ride over the mat again and your ride time will be calculated. Your timing chip will be taken from you there. THE CHIP IS NOT DISPOSABLE AND MUST BE RETURNED. I don't want to go down a deposit system but if we start loosing chips I'll have no other choice.

Cheers
Dean

Watlington in the WARM!

What a pleasant surprise today was compared to the beginning of the year! And looking at the BBC weather forecast, this weekend is going to be bright and Sunny on both days as well. Hoobloodyrah!

I've just put out the short road route and it was an enjoyable few hours in the saddle. From Watlington the route starts on a slightly busy road for a mile or so and then heads into the countryside on quiet, well maintained roads. Actually the condition of the roads is pretty good with a few potholes, but in comparison to my local roads, they are a billiard table. ( I haven't spoken to Keith or Mark yet, but hopefully it was the same for them as well ) The elevation for the first 12miles is pretty flat which warms you up for the first challenge of the day, Britwell Hill.

You can see it coming from the distance.

But the climb is worth it.

That sets the trend for the day really, climbs and great descents. Two that stick out are the single track past the brewery and the last descent into Watlington. This is a wide road with plenty of vision and allows you to take it like a rocket sledge on rails. I forgot my helmet so was taking it easy and still managed to hit 41mph ( as recorded on my Memory Map Adventurer 2800 ( available for demo from the next event ( Nice plug there!))) The one issue I did have with vision was watering eyes and hopefully on Sunday you'll have to deal with spring bugs :-)

Anyway, GPX routes should be up later. In addition to these are MMO routes for the MMAD2800.

See you there.

Dean

A couple of new Ride It features!!

The cancellation of Scotland was a bit disappointing on two fronts. One, we didn't get to put the event on and secondly, we were going to try out our new timing system at a quieter venue before launching it at Watlington this weekend.

So we're going to jump right in and run an Electronic timing system for all riders on both days. Instead of the usual card you'll be issued with an orange tag and strap which will be attached to your ankle, or a tag and zip ties to attach to your forks. At the start there will be a couple of timing mats which when you ride over them, will start your time and at the end of the ride will give you a finish time. We'll be issuing more instructions on the blog and at the event, so any questions, approach a member of staff.

Memory Map Adventurer 2800 demo units.

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/memory-map/adventurer-2800-gps-ec021485?query=2800

The second addition to Ride It is a fleet of MM Adventurer 2800 demo units. These will be available from now on to use at the events for a nominal demo fee which will be refunded with an additional saving against a purchase at the event or in store.

As I only picked these units up tonight we haven't had a chance to put booking details on the web site yet, so to get the ball rolling, I have 4 units available for free this weekend for the first 4 people to e-mail me at dean.stacey@evanscycles.com. All I need is a credit card to keep as a deposit whilst you're on the ride. ( Saturday units all booked, one left for Sunday!)

Cheers
Dean