First Club Run Of The Year

This morning I went on my first club run of the year with Westbury Wheelers. A mountain bike ride due to fears over icy roads. Which is fair enough, as nobody wants a tumble due to an unseen patch of black ice.

The meet was at the slightly later time of 10am, and three of us turned up in Westbury market place (others went out from Crockerton).

I lead the ride out as I have been mountain biking on Salisbury plain for years. We headed up to Leighton and along Wellhead lane, from there we turned left and up a very wet and muddy track onto the chalk pathway that goes past Westbury quarry. We then turned right and went along the back of the White horse, dropping down before heading up again and along towards Erlestoke. We then came down Stoke Hill and rode back to Bratton where we returned to Westbury via the old Bratton Road. All in all we did 26miles in about an hour and 3/4's. It was a good ride although very brisk on the top of the hills.

Sit Back And Enjoy The Ride

Team Garmin Cervelo Name Change

Team Garmin Cervelo has been renamed Team Garmin Barracuda. The name change comes with the addition of new sponsor Barracuda Networks. Has a ring to it eh?

Athertons Sign With GT

Although mainly a road cycling blog, I will Include occasional mountain biking news.

It has been announced today that the Athertons will be riding for GT Bicycles. They will join Marc Beaumont and form the new team GT Factory Racing.

Gee Atherton (@gee_atherton) said today on twitter: "So stoked to be on board with @GTBicycles"

The move will be a great help to GT, and probably bring them back to the forefront of the sport, as riders like Steve Peat did years ago. Something I personally am happy about as I have always had GT mountain bikes.

Will this move help the Athertons to achieve more results on the top of the podium, or will moving away from Commencal be a bad choice? Only time will tell!

Sit back and enjoy the ride!

My top kit of 2011

My top 5 items I have used this year. Reviews will follow shortly.

1.       Trek 2.1C (My Bike) I have had this bike for over 6 months now, and what can I say... Well it hasn’t let me down once (touch wood). It is smooth and does everything I ask of it, what more could I want?

2.       Shimano RO87 Road Shoes. Initially I was unsure of these shoes but after getting my cleat position right (doh!), I now love them! Comfortable shoe even on long rides. Very very very white, which I like but may not appeal to some.

3.       Shimano 105 SPD-SL Pedals. Smooth entry, smooth exit, smooth ride, no problems at all.

4.       High-5 Zero Citrus Electrolyte tablets. Unusually taste pretty good, prefer the Citrus to any other flavours, but that is again down to preference. Don’t upset the stomach as other brands do.

5.       DHB Aeron Bib Shorts. Cheap, value shorts. But don’t be put off by the low price, these are excellent, comfortable shorts that have helped me to increase the time I can spend in the saddle.

Dates For Your Diary

A quick list of dates for this years tours and olympic road race events:

Giro d'Italia- 5th May Individual Time-Trial
                        6th May Stage 1- Herning to Herning- 206km

Tour De France- 30th June Prologue Stage
                              1st July Stage 1- Liege to Seraing- 180km

Olympic Road Race- 28th July

Olympic Time-Trial- 1st August

Vuelta a Espana- 18th August Team Time-Trial- Pamplona
                               19th August Stage 1- Pamplona to Viana

Tour of Britian- 9th September

Sit back and enjoy the ride!

My First Blog Post

Hello All,
As the title says, this is my first blog post. I have never written a blog before so please bear with me. I aim to post about cycling in the Wiltshire area, particular routes and my experiences riding with Westbury Wheelers, the club I ride with. I will also post about events I take part in, sportives and time trials etc. As well as my own cycling experiences I will also post my views and opinions with regard to cycling races, such as the grand tours and the cycling events in the 2012 olympics in which, I (like I am sure many of you do) hope Team GB excel.
So sit back and enjoy the ride!