Another tweak to the opening hours – earlier opening….

Having tweaked our hours the other week to close earlier on a Thursday – we thought we better extend our hours a bit too to help people out that need to get to us before work. So starting next week (w/c Monday 14th May) we will open at 8am on Wednesday’s and Friday’s – giving you the option of getting in to see us to drop off and/or collect your bike before work. The shop will also be open, and the kettle will most definitely be on!!

New hours are therefore as follows…

Monday: CLOSED
Tuesday: 10am till 6pm
Wednesday: 8am till 6pm
Thursday: 10am till 5pm
Friday: 8am till 6pm
Saturday: 11am till 3pm
Sunday: CLOSED

Rides will continue as normal on a Saturday morning, starting at the shop at 9am for a couple of hours / 30 ish miles to finish back at the shop for 11am for tea/coffee and cake (or biscuits). 

New opening hours – and a new ride…..

New hours…

Summer is here (!!) – well, May is at least, so it’s time to tweak our opening hours ready for the sun. Here’s hoping!!

As from today, our new hours are as follows….

Monday: CLOSED
Tuesday: 10am till 6pm
Wednesday: 10am till 6pm
Thursday: 10am till 5pm
Friday: 10am till 6pm
Saturday: 11am till 3pm
Sunday: CLOSED

We’re going to close earlier on a Thursday to allow us to get out on our bikes – and maybe even race!! Either down at the local Corinium CC / Swindon RC 10 mile TT (held down the road on the local U48 Latton course), or we might even head over to Castle Combe to the road races there when we can as well. That’s the plan anyway!!

Don’t forget the rides every Saturday morning from the shop as well, 9am kick off for a couple of hours to get back for 11am for tea/coffee and cake

New ride…

It’s also time to bring back the Tuesday evening ride now that the nights are getting longer. Pretty simple plan, meet up at the shop ready to leave at 6.30pm prompt, and then head out for 90 minutes or about 30 ish miles of hard riding. We’ll get the routes mapped out for people so if you get dropped you know where you’re going, but the idea of these is to get out and test yourself. We’ll come up with a few different routes, always looking for good, safe courses – and there won’t be much in the way of serious climbs as that will disrupt the group. These rides will start next Tuesday, 8th May. Hope to see you there.

Introducing our new under 23 cycling team….

A few weeks back now (first weekend of March to be exact!!) we had a big day down at Performance Cycles where we announced to the world our intentions for 2012 and beyond. The key focal point of this was the launch of our new under 23 cycles team “Performance Cycles – CMI”. The team has come about with the thanks and efforts of David Walters, our Director Sportif. We’ve worked with David in the past when the team was know as qoroz-Novatec (we were the Novatec importers a few years back) and always got on well with David and liked what he was trying to do. As his team grew we were unable to continue to support it as a young business, but when he came back to us at the end of last season and asked if we wanted to get involved again we jumped at the chance.

The idea behind the team is simple, give the best young riders in the south west the opportunity to test themselves at the highest level and progress as far as they can in the sport. To this end, the team has forged a great relationship with the European team CMI-Trilogy Group which will see our boys heading over sea’s during the course of the year to guest for the senior team and see just what it takes to make it as a pro. The under 23 team will also be riding in as many of the UK’s premier calendar road races as possible, and with a bit of luck, will be able to get themselves a guest spot in one or two rounds of the Tour Series. All of which will give them the chance to test themselves and progress.

It’s a pretty young line up, with four under 23′s and a junior on the team – the the focus for the year is development, and if we get the odd win on the way that would be great

With the link to the main Performance Cycles shop & our 2nd cat road team, we’re slowly creating a ladder that young riders can climb to the top of the sport – starting with their first Saturday ride out with us, through to racing with the 2nd cat team to learn the ropes, on up to the under 23 team and from there onto the European circuit with the senior CMI-Trilogy Group team. It is a really exciting time for us and one we hope everyone in the club will share a passion and interest in along the way. We’ll keep you up to date with how the guys get on over the coming season, and also let you know when and where they’re racing so you can cheer them on if you’re in the area.

It’s been a while…..

It’s been a while since our last blog update, but LOADS has been going on it Poulton getting ready for the 2012 season – which I’ll update you on over the next few days / weeks.

But now that the sun is out, the Saturday rides have suddenly got busy again!! It was great to see some new faces this weekend, and also a few people that have been promising to come out for ages have been able to make it. So we’re now back to two groups every week (a quick group, and a not-so-quick group!!) heading out every Saturday morning for two hours and around 30-35 ish miles – depending on which group you’re in and what the route is!!

Next week should be a good ride – as we’ll also be doing our shop team and club launch pictures, and our new under 23 team will be there for their team launch as well. Will be great to get everyone together for pictures and introductions. We’ve got a new website on the way as well, and that will included a separate club section with details of each weeks ride / route info. Hopefully encouraging a few more of you out.

Watch this space, it’s going to be an exciting few months…..

January Mini-Sportive….

We were lucky to get a break in the sub zero temperatures on Sunday for the running of our January Mini-Sportive, however after the -6 degree ride we went out on on Saturday, at least we knew the roads would be OK!!

But the weather did put off quite a lot of riders, with only just over half of the 100 pre-entries signing on in the morning – although there were plenty of others that decided the weather was fine and a good number of people then entered on the day. As always registration was quick and painless, with some SIS goodies being given out to the riders as well. Kick off was at 9am, and bang on time (having already done his pre-ride brief) Mr Wilcox set the first wave of riders off.

Group by group the riders set off, with the final few riders on the road by 9.30am.

Riders started arriving back at 11.45, and they were greeted by the smell of freshly cooked bacon, along with tea/coffee and cake it makes riding a bike all the more worthwhile!! As feared (and warned about in the pre-ride brief!!) a number of riders managed to miss the left hand turn just after the roadworks on Cole Hill and put in an extra few miles of riding (and with it some extra climbing!!). The split point on the route came very late on, meaning if you were on the short route you only had a few miles, and one climb, left to go.

With the sun now shining, and it feeling much warmer riders enjoyed their drinks and bacon rolls before making their way back to their cars and heading for home. By 3pm all riders were in safely having enjoyed themselves and looking forward to next months event.

There’s just two events left in the mini-sportive series before we kick off with the sportive season proper at the www.cotswoldspringclassic.co.uk on Easter Monday, 9th April.

London Bike Show….

Currently taking place down in London at the ExCel centre is the London Bike Show – so I took it upon myself to go down there yesterday (Thursday) to have a look around and see if there was anything new / interesting worth looking at. In only it’s 2nd year the show is steadily growing (not that I went last year mind!!) and bringing in some of the big names of the industry. From what Mr Wilcox told me of the show at the NEC in September, there were more of the big brands in London than there were there – which is good for the London show!! The show itself though did seem pretty small, it was a bit strange to walk through the Madison stand (Cervelo etc) and suddenly realise I was in the next hall and a different part of the Outdoor Show that was taking place at the same time!! Still, what was there was good and worth looking at.

There were some nice toys on offer from some of our suppliers, and a couple of new brands we’re looking to take on – watch this space for some interesting stuff!! One of the great things about this show is that it’s part of the Outdoor / Travel & Boat Shows which take place at the same time, and once you’re in you’re free to roam around all of them. We took a quick trip into the Boat Show and had a look around some of the boats, WOW, how stunning!! But I have to say, for £500,000 you don’t actually get that much boat!!

If you’re thinking of going to the show (it runs till Sunday) think seriously about how you’re going to get there. The ExCel centre is a nightmare to get to (unless you’re flying in to City Airport which is right next door). We drove there (M4 and then north round the M25) which was fine, until we came off the M11 and there was a complete lack of signs to get us to the venue!! And then when we left sat nav thought it would be quicker to take us through the centre of London rather than back out the the M25 (at 4pm in the afternoon, I don’t think so!!) so we wasted a good 20 minutes / half an hour getting back to where we started so we could find our way back out to the M25. The other option is to park someone on this side of London and jump on the tube, but we decided against it as it would be at least an hour getting across London on the tube!!

So, a great show, well worth a visit and the chance to drool at some of the stunning boats there as well!!

Eddy Merckx EMX-3 first ride….

After the Christmas break it was great to see so many people out for the shop ride this morning – I wasn’t sure how many people would be out, but with the weather staying like it is it makes sense to get out on the bike whilst we can!!

Not sure how many people joined the faster group – but as soon as Mr Wilcox said those famous words… “we’re doing the Edgeworth route today” a number of people seemed to take a step back and decide to go with the not-so-fast group!! And it sounds like that was a sensible option, as the fast boys took a longer route (was that planned Chris / Russ??) and didn’t get back to the shop till much later!!

As for the not-so-fast group – we had a great ride, taking in the Hannington loop (albeit I took a couple of short cuts to keep up!!).

It was also the first time I’ve been able to properly ride / test the Merckx EMX-3 we’ve got. I’ve done a few (very!!) short rides on an EMX-3 before when one of the rep’s came around with it, but this was the first proper ride. And wow – does it ride well!! It’s a very understated bike, but kitted out with the Campagnolo Athena 11 speed groupset and Fulcrum Racing 5 wheels it rides really well. Even with me on it, it accelerates well and climbs with ease – and as for going down the other side, I went from the back of the group to the front without trying (although that might have something to do with the extra weight I carry down the hills too!!!!!). As a brand Merckx is still unknown here in the UK, but it’s a brand to be taken note of!! Their stiffness to weight ratio is up there with the best, if not better – it’s interesting to note that one manufacturer that uses a stiffness-to-weight table to show off their frames as the best misses out the Merckx brand completely!!

We’ve now got a Merckx EMX-3 demo bike in the shop, so if you want to give it a go let us know and we’ll get it set up for you.

December’s Mini-Sportive – cold, but a good one!!!

Sunday was the third of our series of six mini-sportive’s taking place through the winter – with one event per month running from October through to March.

It was a freezing cold morning that greeted the riders on Sunday morning, although not as cold and icy as Saturday morning!! Mind you, it wasn’t as cold as the 2010 December event that we had to cancel because Poulton was covered in snow!! With the sun doing it’s best to shine through we delayed the start till 9.30 just to give the roads a little bit more time to sort themselves out!! Although it was a bit dodgy on the first couple of miles over to Down Ampney, after that the roads cleared and the sun shone through to give the riders a stunning Sunday on the bike.

Once back at Performance Cycles HQ the riders we treated to a festive selection of mince pies and non-alcholic (!!) mulled wine, for some reason someone let a veggie decide to take bacon butties off the menu!! We won’t let that happen again!!

A total of 52 riders made it round, and (hopefully) they all enjoyed themselves and are now ready for Christmas.

Hopefully January’s event (taking place on 15th) will be a little less cold (!!) – and there’s still a few places left, to enter visit the event website www.minisportiveseries.co.uk

What’s on your Christmas list?????

It’s that time of year again when family and friends are asking you what you want for Christmas – and I don’t know about you, but I’ve been giving it some thought!!

My personal favourites at the moment have to be pretty much anything from the Lezyne range!! And (depending on budget of course) they’ve probably got something for even the most long standing cyclist that appears to have everything!! I was recently given a Lezyne CNC Floor Drive for my birthday – and at £90 I doubt I could have justified buying one to replace the track pump I’ve already got. But as a present, it’s perfect – and as a pump it’s even better!!

The other one that’s seriously worth a look is the Port-A-Shop, the workshop in a bag that’s ideal for keeping in the car or talking with you on your next holiday / event. We’ll be using them in 2012 when we’re doing event support – and (apart from a pair of cable cutters) they’ve got everything in them we need. The standard Port-A-Shop is £90, but we’ve still got a few of the limited edition HTC Highroad ones that originally retailed for £150 – these come with extra tools and are anodised in team issue gold/yellow. As we’ve only got a couple left, we’re doing them for £120 each so grab one of these before they are gone (there was only 2000 made worldwide!!).

Other than that, there’s all sort from the Metal Kits (little puncture repair sets), tyre levers, tools, pumps and loads more for stocking fillers and any other type of present!! Not to mention the new front lights they do that are amazingly good – especially considering the price!! Check out the website (www.lezyne.com/ for more details – or pop in and say hello and thumb through the catalogue over a cuppa.

It’s been a while!!!!

Sorry to all you ladies and gents in the world of the web – it’s been a while!!

I promise to keep the Performance Cycles blog more up to day – but it’s been a busy month!! We’ve had the 2nd of the winter mini-sportive series on the 20th November with all 100 places selling out in advance. And it was another cracking day out on the bike, with riders welcomed home with the now customary smell of bacon butties!!

The next mini-sportive is just three weeks away (taking place on 18th December) and is already sold out – however, we will be accepting entries on the day. So if you still want to ride, just rock up and sign on in the morning and we’ll make sure you don’t miss out.

More to follow soon, promises promises!!!!!