We're going to the London Bike Show!

Last year both me and Vee embarked on a journey into London for an event and a trip to the London bike show, part of The Telegraph Outdoor Adventure and Travel Show – Driven by SEAT. Sadly, we were only able to stay for a short while but in the time we were there it was a fantastic day leaving us wanting more in 2015.
And thanks to the lovely event organisers, we'll be there on the 15th February, with two monsters ready to try everything they can get there little mitts onto. If there's enough time and I can keep the tablet or netbook charged during the day I'll host a G+ Hangout if possible.

The London Bike Show is the UK’s largest cycling exhibition, taking place 12 – 15 February 2015 at London’s ExCeL, As well as being able to see the latest bikes, clothing, components and accessories, you will also be able to enjoy our fantastic attractions free of charge (*although you will require premium tickets for the Training Hub.) From 1-2-1 assessments through to stunt displays, there's a host of family fun entertainment waiting for you all at the London Bike Show 2015

Vee With a Vitus Vee 29 bike! 

The London Bike Show, an event, perfect for riders of all ages, abilities and ride types. It looks to be one of the largest bike events in the capital, 

If you're looking for a family day out it'll be one to look forward to, as they've thought of everything for all riders - big and small.

The DMR Pump track offers visitors of all ages the chance to take part in taster sessions for a to see if dirt riding is for you in a safe environment, while it's not for everyone it offers you the chance to chuck around some serious hardware on a fast paced test track.

For children under 10 who don't wish to blat the Pump track they have the chance to check out the latest bikes on the market around their own dedicated test track. Perfect for parents who want advice and guidance to ensure the smalls get the best out of two wheels. Luckily, they get the chance to see Sir Chris Hoy who'll be showing off his latest Hoy bikes with his Hoy Kids under 10 skills clinic on the 14th Feb, It's a shame we'll miss it but it would be unfair for my two to take places from people who'll benefit more. I do hope to get chance to meet Sir Chris on the Sunday but we'll see.

For the grown up's you'll have the chance to try out the adult test track, with experts on hand to guide you into your perfect bike, be it road, hybrid, mtb or insane stunt rig they'll let you try it out, the kids love this as an opportunity to high five the riders last year. For the more competitive you've also got the Cytech Fastest Wrench Competition where you can win prizes, I know it'll be hard so I'm training for this now. With props to fellow nutter Fester

Hold on, you do more than ride?
Well, you're in luck then - on purchasing a London Bike Show ticket  you gain access to a plethora of amazing shows and events hosted at The Telegraph Outdoor Adventure and Travel Show – Driven by SEAT. These include The London Bike Show, the Triathlon Show: London and the London International Dive Show (Saturday and Sunday only) with one ticket allowing visitors access into all four shows. Offering not only great value for money, but the chance to explore new interests making it an action packed day out suitable for the whole family.

With six exciting zones the Show offers FREE have-a-go attractions, inspirational guest speakers, a range of information on everything ‘outdoor, adventure and travel’, no matter your passion, be it travelling, photography, climbing, watersports or exploring the British countryside - you'll find everything here for you under one roof. As well as the chance to take home some of the latest gear & equipment at special prices.

I was sent the list of speakers this morning and it blew me away in an epic scale with some amazing people coming to speak and that's just bike related. I hear the other shows will have top speakers like Steve Backshall, Kenton Cool, Sam Branson, Monty Halls, The Brownlee Brothers & James Cracknell along with 50+ other adventurers, travel experts, photographers and special guests. Even better - All talks are free on entry, it’s a fantastic opportunity to come and meet the UK’s most adventurous stars and get inspiration for your next adventure, be it on two wheels, tackling a cliff face, scuba adventures or just the chance to hear some legendary adventurers tell their tales I can promise you The London Bike show, part of The Telegraph Outdoor Adventure & Travel Show – Driven by SEAT will be the event you don't want to miss in 2015!


We'll be using instagram and Swarm/foursquare for impromptu meetups/G+ hangouts and much more too.

Me, Vee and Lissy will see you there.

Paul 

Keep on riding with Sustrans Sponsor a mile

I don't hide the fact I'm a Sustrans volunteer from anyone, I'm quite proud of this fact, especially when I can see the benefits we've helped bring to the local community, especially the school projects I've participated on, projects that help families get out and have fun, be it in the sun, rain, wind or even the rain, it's all about families doing things together, without little screens or computers getting in the way.

When Sustrans realised I blogged they asked me if I would sponsor a mile of NCN route and what my favourite National Cycle Network route would be. I was happy to oblige them, especially as the local NCN routes around here are kept to high standards and easy to ride, walk or take the horses for a ride and accessible to all in the local community.
For me It has to be the smaller, somewhat hidden (but in plain view) gem taking you from Sewell to Dunstable Downs via an Iron Age hillfort and burial ground. That route is 574

Locals will understand!

The reason I like my mile of route 574 is down to it's beauty and immense history. While the route gives easy access to Dunstable Downs, Whipsnade Zoo (via shallowsprings,) the Five Knolls Barrow Cemetery, Maidenbower Iron Age HillFort and onto Route 6 in Sewell, While I'm still learning the history of the area it doesn't take a lot to see the beauty and through the years I've seen it from living in a neighbouring village, Kensworth. A strange village with next to no travel options bar cars or a bike, and with the limited options the downs becomes an essential gateway well before Sustrans upgraded the route.
The upgrade made commuting to work, school, the pub, or shopping even easier to villagers and similarly for townsfolk, who can visit the local areas easier and more accessible for wheelchairs and pushchairs.
On top of this there's the ride I used to ride a lot when younger and called it the "Ring of fire" Where you start from Gateway Centre, and go down the hill to the lower portion of the downs, to the base of the downs and back up to the gateway centre, I'll eventually embed an endomondo route for this ride as soon as I can, but I can say, at 12 years old in the rain it was hard, but seems more like fun these days, I know when we used to ride it with the kids they liked it too.

If you've got a favourite mile you ride, please visit the Sponsor a mile page and get sponsoring, as sponsoring a mile means we can help keep the mile to good standards, tidy and increase the routes in the future. On top of this Sustrans schemes such as Travel Choices and Travel Luton bring support to your children in helping them ride, checking the safety of their bikes, and building their confidence up to enable them to be safe, on top of this we host support for adults in walking, cycling and all things transport. They help support you, so let's support them!

Disclosure, I was given a mile by Sustrans to help spread the word.

Times and bikes change, but the fun increases!

It seems like a month ago I posted about the three bikes we use for fun, well it probably was. But it seems some of the bikes have been swapped to fit the girls needs, especially with Vee's bike being too heavy and tall for her and Lissy's being too small and lightweight (I kid you not!)

Change was needed fast and came thanks to volunteering, swapping and safety checks the girls have new old bikes, the sort of bikes that have been around the block a bit but still raring to go, similar to Grampsbike the Raliegh.

It may be 2 degrees but they like their bikes!

On the left we have Lissy's Bronx Dinosaur bike. It's a 14 inch wheeled affair kitted out with a 2014 Selle Royale Lollipop seat and lightweight Kalloy components to help reduce weight but retain strength. There's the odd scratch here and there but when in the mood she can blat twice as fast with little effort, even hills are a breeze for her right now.
This bike is called:


On the Right we have Vee's Universal Typhoon in faded orange a 16 Inch wheeled bike with an older 2010 Selle Royale Lollipop seat and funky tyres. This one has been a tad more well loved in comparison to Lissy's but it's doing well for it's estimate age. It's bought Vee's confidence out so much in just over a week so it's a win in my eyes.
This bike is called:

While both will have some minor work done work done to them they're both ready to rock and already providing hours of fun for both girls, even on cold days like Saturday! Bring on the #SchoolPedal!

Daddy moments : Pride - Riding

'Ning all.

Music I wrote this post to came from the C64 Demo Of The Year 2013

Over the last few weeks I've been beavering away at three little bike projects.



Gramps bike a 22 year old Raleigh Outland which I'm rebuilding for ride leader purposes with Sustrans. While the bike is solid some of the components are to be replaced and upgraded over the next few weeks for safeties sake which I'm planning on doing some youtube videos on, well here's hoping anyway.

Bumblebee, Vee's first bike and now Lissy's bike, while it's heavy and poorly painted it does the job well.
we'll be coming back to this one soon.

Purple Nurple, This is a second junker bike I've been tidying up. Given to me the day it was destined to be scrapped, while it needs some TLC and suffered from being built badly by it's previous owners then being subsequently left at my daughters school unloved. Since then it's been sanded down, primer painted where needed and made to look presentable where required. I plan for this to be Vee's bike in the near future - stabilisers are on the way tomorrow!

The reason I'm doing this is due to the fact I want the girls riding to school, leading a happier healthier life and gaining life skills they'll never get from being slapped in front of a TV or computer system. I get not all parents are interested in riding but we're all different, so there!

Both girls need a a fair bit more coaching to get them riding without stabilisers, especially where they can make a bike feel heavier and remove the natural balance you get when riding unaided but recently Lissy had really got into riding and is incredibly close to riding unaided. Throw her on a balance bike and she can do it, but the momentum of the controls, pedalling and balancing is just a little too much for her right now.

But she's been asking to ride more on Bumblebee to the point last weekend she asked could he come to the shops with me, It was a dreary day, wet with a dashing of rain for good measure and did I mention it was raining? Yes it was bad, but she still wanted to come out so I ask her, assuming she wanted the trailer.

"You'll have to ride as it's too wet for the trailer, Midge?" 

*Putting her raincoat on*"YEAH Dad! Let's go for a ride!"

And off we went to the shops, a good mile each way in a father daughter bunch grabbing potatoes and milk, in the wet, damp rain, and a good mile back too. She wasn't the fastest (but her bike is pretty heavy - I may have another bike to resolve this with soon though) but she never complained once, and throughout I was reminded that it's the "Best day ever!" Hearing these three words and seeing her smile the whole journey both ways was an awesome feeling, a proper proud dad moment!

I just hope little things like this can help her come out of her shell, bring us closer and being more fun for all of us in the future. And while her sister prefers a scooter right now it won't be long before I hope she jumps onto something with somewhat better brakes.

Bike Week. School run fun!

Morning all.

As part of bike week and bike to school week  I've teamed up with Sustrans to talk about their campaign for safer streets and why I think it's important for safer streets as a cyclist and also explain how I do the school runs using the bike and trailer.

Where I live we're fortunate to have Travel Choices, a joint project with Central Beds Council and Sustrans and together they actively work within the community to get more people out and about and trying to educate the wider community to make the streets safer, while some of the changes have been a tad annoying to the town it's not going to be an overnight conversion it's a darned good start.

Our school runs are usually a mix of bus, Bike/trailer or and scooters depending on the girls moods and the state of my knees and back. The bus being reserved for the more extremes of weather or pain levels.

We spend the majority of the school year cycling and scooting to school, the benefits of this being less hassle for the girls and I lose a bit of belly in-between!

On bike the girls jump into the trailer and gabble, argue while i make the mile journey to school.

It'a an awesome little trip which can be (for the girls) epic depending on the route we take, being the Luton and Dunstable busway or the main road.

The busway path is a crushed lime which needs to be replaced with tarmac or a hardcore and sand mix as it can be unstable and with the trailer on the back I've wheelspun and bashed the trailer and nearly the kids with loose stones spinning off the tyres, It's not the preferred choice mainly due to it's exit on an active and very busy industrial estate, if the pathways were upgraded It would improve things there. So we go the main roads mostly.

The main road takes us down two busy roads, but set out well with comfortable and wide dual use pathways so there's less risk of getting in the way of anyone here and lots of good light too. The girls use this to sing lots of Frozen songs, Hug Roo and Tigger (Not Boo, Roo and Tigger Too! D'oh!) when they're having a grumpy day and gabble like awesome little monsters do!

What I love about riding and scooting with the girls is how happy they are when out riding and scooting with me to school it's an instant grump fix, no matter the cause of the grinch!

You should try it as it's fun. Yeah it's a learning curve but awesome experience.

If there's anything you want to know. let me know.

Paul, the kids, Naughtybike and grouchotrailer