|
|
TEAM KeswickBikes.CO.UK
TEAM KESWICKBIKES.CO.UK GO TO THE BOARDS
Trackie joins Team KeswickBikes for 2010 season
In a signing move that echoes Bradley Wiggins last minute defection to Team Sky, Scottish ex-pat Gav McDonald has recently joined Team KeswickBikes for the 2010 season in exchange for the promise of a skinsuit, some florescent green paint and a new pointy hat.
Commenting from Keswick Bike Towers earlier today McDonald said "not a lot of people realise that the drag co-efficient of green paint is actually much lower than laquered carbon but the shade has got to be just spot on ..... it's taken a long time to find a team that races in the exactly the right hue of green. I can now expect to go much faster - thank you Team KeswickBikes".
Rumours that he may switch from the track to mountain biking have been played down with McDonald stressing that he once got lost going round a velodrome and doesn't know what all the "funny levers on the handlebars are for".
Team principle Amos Dorito denied that he viewed McDonald's disc wheel as a blank, and cheap, advertising canvas and also denied that a new pointy hat or skinsuit formed any part of the deal. "I deny that a pointy hat or skinsuit was even discussed" he said earlier via his new Dangleberry phone / life in an electonic box.
If anyone's interested in a hurl round the boards at Manchester contact Gav at Keswick Bikes or email him on: office@keswickbikes.co.uk and we'll get another trip arranged.
BARDSLEY VICTORIOUS IN UK's TOUGHEST CYCLO SPORTIVE
The Dave Lloyd MEGA Challenge
The Dave Lloyd MEGA Challenge, is held annually in North Wales. The route covers 150 miles and climbs 5000 metres. Cyclists from all over the country come to test themselves against one of the ultimate challenges.
These routes takes in a string of famous climbs: The Shelf, Horse Shoe Pass, Worlds End, Moel Arthur, The Cerrig "Road to Hell",, Bwlch-y-Groes, and the "Stingers"
Ben Bardsley felt strong in the legs after just returning from a cycling holiday in the Dolomites.. Along with an Achilles injury, preventing him from contesting the British fell running championships in Tebay, he put in a last minute entry.
Ben commented that “ I was pretty daunted when I realised that my journey down to North Wales by car was the same distance as the event I was about to compete in”
Without the benefit of any other riders to work with in a group, Ben found the going against headwinds and steep gradients an immense mental challenge. No one was more surprised than Ben when he discovered he had posted the fastest time and brought victory home to Keswick.
TEN UNDER THE BEN 2009
Keswick Bikes come in 2nd at 2009 10 Under Ben race
The last weekend of May saw Keswick Bikes race team, Andy Wrigley of Whitehaven & Chris Hope of Brigham, heading north yet again to compete in one of Scotland's finest MTB endurance races, the '10 Under the Ben'.
Now in its fifth year, '10 Under the Ben' is a must do for all mountain bike enthusiasts. Participants can compete as a solo or in relay teams of two, three or four. The race is an endurance format with the teams and individuals competing to see who can complete the most laps in 10 hours. The course is based on the Nevis Range, the home of the 2007 World Championships and the UK's round of the World Cup in 2008 and 2009.
Registration opened on the Friday night with participants taking a cable car ride up the mountain, taking in the beautiful sunset on the way up and giving them a chance to grab an aerial view of the 12 mile lap.
Race day dawned, promising temperatures of 26°C, not ideal race weather but a welcome change from the more usual rain. At 9:30 the race began with a mass start on fire roads designed to give the field chance to sort itself out before heading into the technical singletrack. Chris rode the first lap whilst Andy sunbathed in the pits waiting for the first lap to end. After 1hr10mins Chris stormed into the pits in 6th place, an amazing start considering the other 400 people out racing. Andy took up the charge, racing through a course that contained everything from open fire road to twisting singletrack and boulder strewn descents, and managed to gain another place on the lap.
The race progressed throughout the day and into the evening with the Keswick Bikes duo slowly moving up the Leader board. With 1 1/2 hrs to go the boys found themselves in 3rd place by the narrowest of margins, desperately chasing a higher position. Andy went out hot on the heels of the 2nd placed rider and as luck would have it managed to pass him as he punctured on one of the many rocks strewn round the course. Coming into the pits to handover for the last time, and now up to 2nd place, Chris charged out keen to maintain position and was now chasing for 1st place. 55 painful minutes later it was all over, as a sweaty and grimey Chris blasted across the finish line in an amazing 2nd place, just 2 minutes behind the race winner.
THE FRED WHITTON 2009
Whitton Challenge 10th Anniverasry Ride 10th May 2009
Keswick Bikes dominate Fred Whitton Challenge.
The Fred Whitton Challenge is the ultimate of a test of cycling endurance and suffering. The event is in memory of Fred Whitton, a Lakes Road Club stalwart. This year was the tenth anniversary ride and attracted over 1000 competitors from all over the country.
Riders complete a circuit of the Lakeland passes, starting in Coniston. The route takes in the relentless Kirkstone, then the mighty trio of Honister, Newlands and Whinlatter, before heading out West over Fang's Brow and Cold Fell. At around 100 miles riders are faced with the cruel gradient of the aptly named Hard Knott, before finally battling with Wrynose then back to Coniston.
After a week of storm force winds and torrential rain, Sunday 10th May dawned with gentle winds and mild temperatures. What a relief!
Last year, Keswick Bikes Team mates Ben Bardsley, Chris Hope and Andy Wrigley had their sights on the team trophy. Their hopes were dashed when Hope and Wrigley unwittingly set off for a warm up just before the peleton departed. The plucky duo, some several minutes down chased hard to catch the group, but the early effort proved too much. To add further misery, Hope suffered a sidewall blowout on Kirkstone. Understandably the lads were turbo charged for success this year.
A large group left Coniston at 08.30 and the Keswickbikes lads sat in the pack to conserve strength. It was not until Honister that any action was seen. International cyclists James Dobbin and Rob Jebb pulled clear at this stage. Bardsley and Hope found themselves in the chasing group of six riders. The small group worked together until Hard Knott Pass, and then the race was on! Bardsley managed to dig the deepest and came home in third spot, followed closely by his team mate Hope in fourth. Meanwhile Wrigley had been chasing hard and put in a valiant effort to pull through in the latter stages to sixth spot. The lads brought the much-coveted Team Honours home to Keswickbikes for the first time, no mean feat, this is the event that Cycling Weekly refers to as "The Daddy of them all".
"It's never over, until its over"…an unexpected hail storm over Wrynose put down over an inch of ice on the road and made descending treacherous…. but the mugs of tea just tasted all that much better once the finish line was reached!
Other locals also did incredibly well. Heather Greening finished in an amazing 7 hours and five minutes and won the lady V 40 category hands down. Eden Valley enthusiast Phil Davies came home in 5th spot and took the Veterans crown. Martin Nicholson and Simon Booth put in solid performances to finish in 6 hours and 13 minutes.
1= Rob Jebb Wheelbase.co.uk 5:46
1= James Dobbin Arctic Premier R T 5:46
3. Ben Bardsley Keswick Bikes .co.uk 6:00
4. Chris Hope Keswick Bikes .co.uk 6.05
5. Phil Davies M40 6.05
6. Andy Wrigley Keswick Bikes .co.uk 6:09
Other Team KMB Rider's Times:
Simon Booth 6:13, Martin Nicholson 6:13, Paul Maine M40 6:13, Richard Houghton 6:25, Heather Greening F40 7:05,
(click on photo above for short U Tube clip of the event)
TEAM KESWICKBIKES.CO.UK AT KESWICK MOUNTAIN FESTVAL
Team KeswickBikes.co.uk
Team KeswickBikes.co.uk principle (and tall person) Amos Doron on right with (left to right) team riders Ben Bardsley, Andrew Wrigley and Chris Hope.
WHINLATTER MTB CHALLENGE 2009
Whinlatter MTB Challenge
With rare sunshine and blue skies, 470 mountain bikers took part in the first ever Whinlatter Mountain Bike Challenge. Conditions were excellent but the route was very demanding with two loops of 17 miles and ascent of over 6000 feet in total to complete the event.
Quickest rider was Keswick Bike's Chris Hope completing the ride in just over 3 hours whilst some riders took well over 6 hours before crossing the finish line! Forestry staff were delighted with the challenge's success and certainly organiser Richard Staton did an exceptional job with his many volunteers to make the event run smoothly and raise money for Marie Curie Trust.'
STRATHPUFFER 2009
MTB's Toughest Team Challenge
In the darkest deepest north through 24 hours of sub zero winters night, the Strath Puffer 24 hour MTB Challenge is arguably one of mountain bikings tougher team challenges. The Keswick Bikes Team wins it for the second year running in difficult conditions. We are not worthy!
The full story goes like this: The Strathpuffer 24 hour Mountain Bike race is the only 24 hour event to take place in the winter. Not only is it in winter, it is in the North of Scotland, with 17 hours of darkness and guaranteed horrendous weather conditions. The only bonus is there aren't any midges! It has been crowned the hardest 24 hour mountain bike race in the world.
The event started at 10 am on the 17th January at a village called Strathpeffer, about 20 miles north of Inverness.
The event involves completing as many laps of the 6 mile off road course as possible in 24 hours. Typically teams of 4 enter the event and apply a relay system. However, the sadistic and more foolhardy may enter as a pair or even solo. The course is set in beautiful Scottish woodland and involves generally climbing on open forest road with descents on technical singletrack interspersed with exposed rocky sections.
Keswick Bikes put a team forward once again in an attempt to defend their title from 2008. The winning formula from 2008 included Chris Hope (Brigham), Andy Wrigley (Whitehaven), Ben Bardsley (Threlkeld) and Paul Trott (Kendal).
The forecast leading up to the event was horrendous - gale force winds with gusts in exposed parts predicted to exceed 100mph and snow forecast for the early hours of sunday which when combined with the wind would result in blizzard conditions. Not ideal, but that's what makes the Strathpuffer.
The race starts with a 400m run for the bike, so renowned fell runner, Ben Bardsley was the obvious choice for the first lap. He didn't disapoint and completed the first lap in first place with one of the fastest times of the event, however, 2nd and 3rd place were only a few hundred metres behind. Over subsequent laps Keswick Bikes opened up a healthy lead and managed to lap 2nd place after approximately 12 hours of riding. From 4pm onwards laps were done using powerful bike lights to see the tracks.
The weather wasn't as bad as predicted but snow fell throughout the night which added to the difficulties and excitement as the course turned white. The team tired through the night and at one point it looked as though the 2nd place team were catching us, but fortunately they also tired and shortly after day break we completed our 35th lap, taking the win, approximately one and a half laps clear of 2nd place.
MERIDA MARATHON
Merida Marathon Success
The sun came out and the boys got back from their jaunt in: 1st (CH), 2nd (BB) & 3rd (AW) whilst Emily flew in with a big grin in 3rd place over the 100k, in the last of this year's Merida marathon series at Lowther Park, just off the M6 near Penrith.
Before & After
1st & 2nd at 2008 Mountain Mayhem for Female & Male Team
Cheryl's email something of understatement: "Good Result at the weekend for all lots of mud and madness. Thanks for helping us out with the van and other bits – all led to a good but rather muddy weekend. Bike a bit worse for wear! "
Any way they have all gone off to do the TransAlp now!
Summer Polaris 2008 & Emily is 3rd solo!
Polaris Challenge Summer ‘08
Tweed Valley
KMB Race Team: Emily Brooks 3rd
This two day MTB navigation event was held on 5th/6th July starting from Innerleithen near Peebles. The usual summer format of 7 hours on Saturday and 5 hours on Sunday was followed, with Traquair House being used as the base camp. For the first time, the Polaris Challenge was run alongside the well known a.c.e adventure race, which used some of the same checkpoints. It made for a more sociable weekend, which included live music and the usual access to stalls and Wilf’s delicious hot food.
Saturday morning started with glorious sunshine that didn’t last long. As forecast, the heavy rainy and high winds arrived and those who had picked their route with this in mind reaped the benefits. The map covered a large and very hilly area which included the one-way single track at Glentress and Innerleithen, and the high exposed ridges to the southeast of Peebles. It was not uncommon for competitors to have climbed 2500m by the end of the first day. As the rain fell the temperature plummeted, and Wilf’s chilli was a welcome warmer at the end!
Sunday used the same map, although the checkpoint values had changed which meant a whole new route choice was open to competitors. With little road riding available and all the points being high up, it was another hilly day - excellent training for those of us going on to do the Trans Alp race in a couple of weeks! The rain was continuous but those who chose to finish down Caddon Bank singletrack were rewarded with a fun swooping ride to finish.
Emily Brookes 2008 National Trailquest Champion
Emily rode a great two day event to win the points score and the championship!
Cheryl Frost wins Keswick Triathalon
Not only did Cheryl single handedly organise the 2nd Annual Keswick Mountain Festival (well almost!) but she also won the Triathalon, what a girl!
Ben Bardsley 3rd place in Keswick Triathalon
Another great result for our much loved world adventure sport hero.
Team KeswickBikes.co.uk - Team News & Results
Updates from our shop sponsored race team - Team KeswickBikes.co.uk
Chris Hope in Action
Race Report By Keswick Bikes Team Rider: Chris Hope
KeswickBikes.co.uk Female Team Win Sleepless in the Saddle 2007
KeswickBikes.co.uk female race team has won the 2007 Kona Sleepless in the Saddle 24 hour endurance race, one of the toughest team challenges in the mountain bike race calendar.
The all female team was made up of; Emily Brooks, Vicky Ware, Maddy Robinson and Christine Fischer. Team leader Emily Brooks who works at Needle Sports has already got a record of success in mountain bike competition but to achieve an outright win at this prestigious national event which also attracts pro teams from abroad was a brilliant achievement for the four riders.
During the 24 hour competition, which does not even stop once darkness sets in, the team achieved 31 laps of an 11 mile loop over the 24 hours. Even when her lights failed on one of the laps, rider Christine Fischer had to make do by following other riders lights in the pitch black! When the team realized there was a distinct chance of winning, they pulled out all the stops and managed to find the time to ride an extra two laps to their nearest competitors.
- Kielder Not a particularly exciting area to mountain bike but for those wanting to do well in the national trailquest league it was important to turn out and compete. Most of the previous events have taken in a circuit of the reservoir but this year all checkpoints were to the north of the water. Navigation was never too difficult due to the good quality tracks and the well printed map and route choice was also fairly straightforward. That meant it was all down to riding as fast as possible for 4 hours. With the exception of Jimmy Taylor the riders at the top of the league including Neil Atkinson, Chris Hope and Bryan Singleton were present. Andy Wrigley, although not having competed in many of the earlier events also turned out. After 4 hours of hard riding only one check point separated the top 4 riders. Chris Hope and Neil Atkinson were awarded joint first (Chris picked up 25 points more than Neil but then lost them all by being 12 minutes late!). Bryan Singleton was third and Andy Wrigley fourth.
National Trailquest Weekend The National Trailquest weekend was held on the 2nd - 3rd of June at Thornbridge near to Bakewell, Derbyshire. Having had a disappointing result at Glentress and having missed the Nidderdale event due to a clash with the Fred Whitton Challenge, Chris Hope was keen to get a good result and improve his overall position in the national league. The event on the Saturday was the only 5 hour event in the national league, so it was the main opportunity for riders favoring long events to make their mark. The event area covered a lot of road and good bridleways, so despite Chris having never ridden the area, the navigation was not too difficult. After a brief look at the map, Chris thought that the 'clean-up' was on but reserved judgment until approximately 1 hour into the event. It then became evident that providing he didn't have any mechanicals or make any mistakes that it was just a matter of how fast all the check points could be collected, and whether anyone would be faster. Unfortunately Jimmy Taylor was 2 minutes faster but both Chris and Jimmy were awarded a win and gained 100% for the event. A good result. On the 6th of June, Chris Hope and Andy Wrigley made the 5hr journey north to Fort William to compete in the '10 under the Ben' MTB enduro. This was the first in the series of three 10 hour enduro races run by No Fuss events which attracted approximately 750 riders. The rules are simple - ride as many 10 mile laps as you can in 10 hours. Riders could enter as either solo, pairs, trios or quads with teams taking it in turns to do laps. Both Keswick Bikes riders were competing in the solo category, which proved to be extremely demanding as temperatures soared into the mid twenties. The coarse contained a fantastic mixture of forest road, technical single-track, north shore, river crossings and even a section of the World Cup downhill course. Both Andy and Chris had their race heads on and got carried away in the mass start resulting in some quick initial laps, which they paid for later! Both riders opted for hard tails initially as the quicker option, Chris riding a Kona Kula Primo and Andy on a Kula Supreme. Five laps later and the hard tails were exchanged for full suspension bikes as the rough sections of the course were taking their toll. Chris finally completed 10 laps in 10 hours 28 minutes (6th solo) closely followed by Andy who also completed 10 laps in 10 hours 38 minutes (7th solo). 4th Cross Cumbria Trailquest Coniston was the venue for the 4th event in the Cross Cumbria Trailquest series. The event covered an area primarily south of Coniston taking in Walna Scar, the Duddon Valley and the west side of Grisedale. Having achieved two wins in previous events Chris Hope was keen to get a third but knew it would require a clever route choice, and fast riding to beat Bryan Singleton on his home turf. Chris realized shortly after setting off in an anti clockwise direction that it probably wasn't going to be the best way but by that time was committed. The chosen route resulted in a committing 11km loop with 300m of ascent through Grisedale with only 35 minutes to spare. There was no option but to go for it but it meant that Chris finished 13 minutes late incurring 30 penalty points and finishing in second place to Bryan Singleton who had an excellent ride.
Alistair Robinson1
Mainly working at the Lakeland Pedlar, Ali can also be found building bikes and drinking tea down at the workshop. When not at work expect to find him on a bike and currently on long term leave riding pro team in Belgium!
Vicky Ware; Fast on a Bike fast on a Computer!
When not training on her road bike, Vicky can be found talking to customers at the Lakeland Pedlar or updating the web site.
Fred Whitton Challenge
Keswick Bikes were represented by a strong team in early May at the Fred Whitton Challenge. This classic Cyclo Sportive covering 112 miles and all the Lakeland passes had gained a lot of hype over the winter as there was much speculation regarding whether or not Rob Jebb's 6 hour record could be broken and if so who would do it. Phil Malcolm was certainly keen and Alistair Robinson, although maybe not quite as focused on this particular event due to other more important road races was clearly very capable. Chris Hope, a recent addition to the Keswick Bikes team as a mountain biker, had never actually ridden a road bike prior to last winter but decided it would be a good challenge, bought himself a Felt F4 and set about training. In addition to the Keswick Bikes team other hot favorites included the Wheelbase riders (Stuart Reid and Lewis Craven) and Honister 92 riders (Andy Wrigley and Damian Smith)
The day was perfect - dry, a light easterly and the 9 o'clock bunch of 30 riders were psyched. The initial pace was quick, primarily set by Alistair and Phil, but settled down to a more realistic pace on Kirkstone. The bunch remained together until Honister, and then Stuart Reid and Lewis Craven really opened it up by setting a blistering pace up the 1 in 4 climb. The only person to see them again was Damian Smith who managed to keep them within his sights until Irton Pike. Meanwhile, Alistair Robinson, Chris Hope and Andy Wrigley tried to maintain the fastest pace allowable to limit the damage done by the Wheelbase rider's injection of speed. Phil Malcolm was unfortunately having trouble with cramp, which plagued him for the rest of the ride. Chris Hope pulled away from Alistair and Andy on Newlands Pass and maintained his position throughout. As the race progressed many of the leading riders were aware that the times at checkpoints were significantly up on previous years and providing that they didn't 'blow-up' the 6 hour barrier could be broken. Sure enough Lewis Carven and Stuart Reid finished together in a remarkable time of 5 hours 45 minutes, Damian Smith in 3rd place in 5 hour 50 minutes. Chris Hope closely behind in 5 hours 51 minutes and Andy Wrigley and Alistair Robinson in 5th and 6th position respectively in 5 hours 57 minutes.
This weekend 21/04/07 saw KeswickBikes.co.uk riders in action on both Saturday and Sunday.
Having placed 4th in three of the previous rounds of the series Alistair finally secured his first podium place in the 2007 Lakes and Lancs Sporting Courses Time Trial series. The Lakeland Landrover Coniston Grandprix, run on a tough 20 mile course and containing the daunting climb of Grizbeck hill, had a start list of more than 40 riders, riding his Felt DA time trial bike Alistair recorded a time of 50 minutes and 32 seconds which remained the fastest time of the day until the final seeded rider, Blair Buss of Team Swift Allsports, clocked a time 47 seconds faster to take the win. With the Shap hill climb next on the time trial agenda Alistair will be looking to go one step higher and depending on conditions will be targeting the course record for the 9 mile climb.
Sunday 22/04/07 saw three KeswickBikes.co.uk riders take to the roads of North Lancashire in round three of the Cycling Development North West road race series. On the pan flat course based on roads around Elswick village the race was always going to be run at a high pace, in the E/1/2 category race Alistair and Philip where caught napping early on a missed the initial break involving 8 riders, and despite the break coming within 14 seconds of being caught midway through the 96km race this proved to be the winning move, in the sprint for the minor placings the Keswick riders paid for chasing hard and slipped well outside the top twenty. In the 3/4 category race Paul Armstrong finished with the bunch and, despite getting boxed in during the sprint finish, finished a respectable twelfth place.
Whinlatter Course Record
Alistair Robinson shatters record at Whinlatter Hill Climb Time Trial by over 1 minute on 17th April 2007.
KeswickBikes.co.uk rider Alistair Robinson rode a time of 18.27 on 17th April to beat the previous record of 19.29 set in 2005 by VC Cumbria rider Adam Powel. This follows Alistair's achievement of the previous week when he broke the course record at a 10 mile Time Trial north of Carlisle event organised by Carlisle cycling club; Border City Wheelers.
Other KeswickBikes.co.uk riders recording great times included Chris Hope on his début time trial event, which followed his stunning victory at Round 2 of National Championship Trail Quest Event from Braithwaite on Sunday 15th April. Additionally ex KeswickBikes.co.uk employee James Taylor managed a third place behind well known Cumbrian rider; Peter Strong.
Sunday 2nd April saw Keswick School's high flying Down Hiller James Scott achieve an excellent third placing in a very competitive Youth category at Round 1 of the RAV 4 Scottish Downhill Championship in Innerleithen against some very stiff competition.
KMB Winning in 2007
Adam Brayton has taken the first victory for KMB in 2007 with an outright Expert class win at the first (Hopton) round of the Pearce Cycles DH Winter series event. Adam posted the second fastest time of the day with his first run and had the fastest run out of every category in his second run taking some notable Elite scalps along the way!
Nice one Ad, we're proud of you.
Adam races on a custom Iron Horse Sunday, with Bergtec pedals and hubs, Sram XO shifters and Rock Shox World Cup boxxers and Maxxis tyres. Want one? give us a call...
Team News
The 2007 bikes are here and the team riders are itching to mix it up in the new team kit.
Alastair Robinson will be hunting scalps for his first category licence on the road for KMB this year on his Cervelo Soloist Road bike & the awesome all new Felt time-trial bike. Joining Alastair on the road is Phil Malcom who will also be riding a Cervelo Soloist.
The Downhill team have chosen to ride the Commencal Supreme DH for this years bike with Paul and James both looking for series wins in their age categories after some early season training. As the exception to the rule, Adam will ride a full custom Iron Horse Sunday colour coded to the KMB Black and Kawasaki Green racing strip!
Come and say hello if you see any of us at an event!
2006 Review
From the shop who have staff who really ride, the 2006 season has been quite a year for KMB's racing teams!
KMB've had riders competing and winning XC and 'cross races at National Level, like John Galway and Duncan Stuart (Kona King Supreme), and even internationally with Jimmy Taylor riding at both the Euro and World Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships (Marin Mount Vision).
The Mountain Bike team also took 3rd at the Mountain Mayhem and a team win at perhaps Cumbria's toughest off-road event, the 'Grizedale Mountain Bike Challenge' against strong local teams from Wheelbase and Grizedale MTB.
On the Downhill side of things Liam, Paul Wheldon and Adam Brayton have been flying the KMB flag qualifying and racing at the World Championship series downhill round at Fort William with Adam going on to represent the UK in the European Championsips, all racing their Kona Stab Supreme DH bkes.
|
Top Brands
click here for more brands..
|
