Stu Thomas
The Cycle Show 2022 Preview
April 2022, London:
The Cycle Show, the UK’s largest and longest-running cycling exhibition, returns this month alongside the inaugural London eBike Festival with a packed three days of all things cycling. The event heads back to London after a 10-year spell in Birmingham,following a brief hiatus during the pandemic. It returns with a bang from 22-24th April at London’s iconic Alexandra Palace with an impressive roster of guests, brands and things to do.
The Tredz Cycle Show Stage
Taking to the stage across the three days are a number of leading names from each discipling of cycling past and present. Tom Boonen will please the road fans on Friday alongside former three time Olympic track champion Ed Clancy. Trials stars Hans Rey, Martyn Ashton and Chris Akrigg also speak to the live crowds on a busy first day. Saturday sees one of the greatest.
Downhill MTB riders ever on stage in Greg Minnaar, as well as British national road race champion Pfeiffer Georgi and MTB’s The Athertons too. Then, to round out the weekend, on Sunday one of Britain’s most successful female road cyclists Lizzie Deignan is on stage. She’s also joined during the day by paralympic champion Jaco van Gass and former road racing legend, Sean Kelly.
The Bikes
The Cycle Show is joined by a dedicated electric bike hall in 2022, the London eBike Festival, which will play host to a range of leading eBike brands from not just the UK but around the world. Between the eBike hall and the main Cycle Show, many of the industry’s leading brands will be represented. Specialized will have a focus on their latest electric bike range, while Cannondale, Ribble, BMC and Vitus are amongst those with a range of road bikes to check out. Leisure riders can also take in the latest from the likes of Raleigh and Ridgeback while MTB riders can visit GT, Atherton Bikes, Canyon and others. Expect to see a range of new bike launches at the show too, including from British brand Reilly Cycleworks, eBike brands Mycle and GoCycle and more.
Test Ride
Visitors will also have over 200 bikes available to test ride over the three days. The Demo Village features two test tracks for riders to explore, the City Test Track awaits those commuting to work and looking for a new city bike or after the latest in electric bikes to explore the countryside on. While visitors will also have the unique chance to put the latest MTBs through their paces in the heart of the capital. Test ride your choice of bikes on a two mile loop on the hills and woodland trails through Alexandra Palace parkland.
Family Day Out
It’s not just fun for the adults though as there’s plenty for the kids to enjoy too. The Vitus Kids Test Track is a must-visit for all budding Olympic champions – the chance for the youngsters to show off their talent and bike skills. Or practice your MTB skills on the Dirt Factory pump track on site where kids can challenge their mates to see who can lay down the fastest lap with Cycle Show spot prize swag for the most stylish pump track technique. Finally, seven-time British Trials Champion Scott Wilson will also be on hand running regular trials skills sessions for aspiring riders looking to learn the essentials of bike handling on the Cycle Show’s trials course. Tickets are still available at £16 for an adult ticket, £14 for seniors and students, £7 for children and kids under 5 go free. Entry covers both shows in one
For more information on the Cycle Show and to get your tickets visit www.cycleshow.co.uk.
MOBILE by Peak Design: phone accessories that boarder on magic
MOBILE by Peak Design, a line that took world class engineers three years to design, is now available and is already proving to be extremely popular.It all starts with a MagSafe-compatible case that’s ultra-slim, protective, easy to grip and last but not least, super stylish. Peak Design have launched the Everyday Case, available for a range of iPhone and Samsung models, and the Everyday Loop Case featuring a deployable finger loop for easy grip, available for a range of iPhone models. Both cases are super-slim with a 2.4 mm profile and feature a rubberised full-surround shock-absorbing bumper, protective lip around the screen and camera lenses, and 2 M drop protection. That’s not all though, Peak Design’s Everyday Cases have a nylon canvas fabric shell that is weatherproof, 100% recycled and Bluesign-approved, along with an ultralight polycarbonate body
RideLondon Returns May 2022
RideLondon, the world's greatest festival of cycling, returns on 29 May 2022, with a new format, a new partnership with Essex County Council and a new three-day UCI Women's WorldTour road race.
Established by the Mayor of London in 2013 as an Olympic legacy event from the 2012 London Games, over seven annual editions RideLondon has grown into a recordbreaking festival of cycling enjoyed by more than 460,000 participants, from beginners to the world's best professionals. The event could not be held in 2020 or 2021 due to restrictions caused by the pandemic.
Next year, the festival will take place over one day with an exciting, consolidated format that will allow even more families to be a part of it. The new spring event date will help people engage with cycling much earlier in the year, so they can maintain the momentum to cycle all year round.
Grayl Geopress Water Purifier: Tested and Reviewed
I don't know why everybody moans about the weather on Ben Nevis. Every time I've been up the behemoth the sun has been shining bright in the sky. First time was a perfect winters day with crystal clear blue skies. Views far and wide over the Highlands. The most recent was a few weeks ago. A Wednesday in late August with a bit of haze. With a temperature in the mid to high 20s. By the halfway lochan or to give it's correct name, Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe, (cut and pasted) I'd gone through 2 1/2 litres of water and one of my group the same. So it was time to test the Grayl Geopress
On yer bike...unless you're a family
Santini chooses Polartec recycled fabric for the UCI World Champion jerseys.
Santini Cycling Wear, looking forward to the renewed partnership with the UCI for the next four years, chooses to produce the UCI World Champion Jersey using Polartec 100% recycled fabric.
Bern launch two new helmets for SS21: Watts 2.0 and Nino 2.0
For SS21, Bern have revamped two of their core styles. The helmets will be available in the UK at the end of the month and will both be available with improved safety technology and new colourways. Catering for the whole family, Bern is launching the Bern Watts 2.0 for adults and the Bern Nino 2.0 for kids.
Elite mountain bike racer, Mikayla Parton, wins Youth Mountain Award
Organisers of the Fort William Mountain Festival are delighted to announce that Mikayla Parton, 23-year-old Scottish elite downhill mountain bike racer from Fort William, is the sixth recipient of The Scottish Youth Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture, sponsored by West Highland College UHI.
The festival's youth ambassador award, established in 2015, celebrates adventurous young people, the landscapes they choose to explore and the outdoor pursuits in which they excel. The young winner needs to have shown resilience and determination to succeed within their chosen area of expertise, shown results through their own efforts and ideas, given back to their community, whilst being thought of as an example of excellence by others.
Mikayla Parton epitomises these winning principles perfectly. Her meteoric rise to the top of the international downhill mountain bike race scene, from riding her first trail bike in 2015 to placing fifth at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships 2020, in just five years can be attributed to an obvious raw talent, constant hard work, dedicated training, motivation, focus and a dogged determination for success.
Mikayla Parton said: "I am pretty shocked and very grateful to receive this fantastic award. It's pretty cool to have my name alongside the likes of Shauna Coxsey [2018]. It was very unexpected and still is! Thank you so much to the Mountain Festival."
Lydia Rohmer, Principal and Chief Executive, West Highland College UHI, said: "West Highland College UHI continue to be privileged to sponsor The Scottish Youth Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture. We are delighted that this year's recipient is not only an Alumni from our School of Adventure Studies, but that Mikayla remains committed to her sport and her own development; it's what this award is all about. The qualities of resilience and determination are what we endeavour to instil in all our students. We wish to send our congratulations to Mikayla and wish her every success in her future career."
Mikayla was late to the sport of mountain bike racing. She got her first downhill bike, aged about 17, competing in her first race at Innerleithen in the Scottish Borders just a week later. From that moment on she was addicted - the adrenaline, the tracks, the people, the noticeable progression.
Her first downhill race win came at Nevis Range in May 2017. After multiple wins over the next year and a half in the Senior Women's category she made the giant leap to the Elite racing circuit. In 2019 Mikayla was not only crowned Scottish Downhill Champion, she also grabbed her first Elite podium finish, 2nd place, in the final round of the UK National Downhill Series. She competed in her first race overseas and in her first UCI Mountain Bike World Cup races.
Despite the pandemic in 2020 Mikayla had a fantastic race season. She was Great Britain's highest placed Women's Elite finisher at her first UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, at Leogang, Austria, in an impressive fifth place, with two top ten results on the World Cup circuit.
Chris O'Brien, CEO of Nevis Range, said: "We are delighted to see Mikayla Parton being honoured with such a fantastic award. Having achieved so much at the highest level of Downhill Mountain Biking in such a short period of time, it is thoroughly deserved.
"With such hard work and determination, we are excited to see Mikayla progress even further in the next few years. We are very proud to have her as part of the Nevis Range family, a true inspiration to the Mountain Biking Community of Fort William!"
Mikayla Parton is an extremely talented professional downhill racer, known on the international racing circuit as a 'Privateer'. She doesn't have the backing and benefits of a factory racing team, rather she has the support of a few loyal sponsors including Greenpower, Nevis Range, Trek Bikes, and Endura. She foots the bills for her pro-racing career herself, making her own travel plans and logistics arrangements and keeping her own bike race-ready, whilst calling in favours wherever she can.
In order to make ends meet she is a soap scientist, handmaking soap and skincare products for The Highland Soap Company. She has also been part of the Nevis Range Ski School team for many years, working as an instructor in the winter months.
Photo Credits: Dave Macleod
Albion Zoa Cycling Jacket: Tested and Reviewed
It's a strange old time for cycling. Worldwide events mean every thing is pretty much based from the front door, but you know what? You can find some adventure from your front door if you try and even though the Zoa Insulated Jacket from Albion Cycling is probably designed for something a little more wild we still managed to put it through it's paces in the post industrial landscape of South Wales.
RideLondon Festival of Cycling Cancelled for May 2021
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It has been confirmed today that the RideLondon festival of cycling, scheduled for the end of May 2021, will not take place due to the coronavirus pandemic. This decision has been taken by London authorities after engagement with partners involved in the planning of the event.
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