This time just over a week ago I was in the beautiful snowy
Alps, enjoying cold temperatures, snow, and getting out skiing every day. It’s
hard to believe that was just a week ago, as there has been so much excitement
and rushing around packed into the days since then!
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| Last day in the Alps and Climbing/Skiing off the Aiguille du Midi (Photo: James Thacker, and some "auto-awesome-ing" from Google!) |
It was with a bit of sadness that I left Chamonix early on
Saturday morning for the long drive back to Dunkirk, although having had a
fantastic action-packed month, I can’t really complain, and besides, there were
new adventures to look forward to. I was treated on the ferry to a taste of
what the UK has had to endure on a regular basis by the sound of it over the
last month though…gale force winds, lashing rain, and therefore some pretty
stormy seas, and after a super long drive through France on top of the
crossing, I was really grateful that Toby had offered somewhere to stop on the
drive North. Waking on Sunday morning to blue skies and sunshine though it’s
hard to understand what everyone in the UK has been moaning about?! Didn’t seem
that bad to me ;)
As I got closer to Dutton, my excitement levels (and
probably the speed I was driving…oops, hoping I wasn’t caught!) got
exponentially higher…for not only was I looking forward to seeing my family
again, I knew there was a large bike-sized package waiting for me that had
arrived from California the day before!!
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| New Bike gleaming in the sun :) |
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| Fresh out of the box and being built up! |
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| One pimped bike! |
Thanks to the awesome folks at Juliana Bicycles (sister
branch of Santa Cruz), a brand new, super shiny, pimped-to-the-max, beautiful
Bicycle emerged from the box, and I spent the rest of the day building it up,
bouncing like a small child in a sweet shop, drooling over how lovely it is,
and feeling very very privileged to be the new owner of such a wicked looking
bike. I hadn’t been sure it was going to arrive in time for my next little
adventure, so to find it waiting for me had me completely giddy! It’s a 150mm
travel Carbon full suspension bike, with 27.5 inch wheels, and just about the
most bling components it’d be possible to fit on there! It weighs an incredibly
light 28Lbs, and is going to be perfect for the guiding, racing and riding I do
throughout the year! I am a very lucky girl!
It was some point that evening that I suddenly realised I
had left myself 2 days to unpack and sort out all my stuff from France, pack
for the next trip, build a bike up, and get it fully race prepped and ready to
ride….not my best ever idea, and those 2 days were the busiest and most
stressful for a long time. I couldn’t have got ready in time without the help
of a lot of people who I am very grateful to!
Monday morning started with a trip down to Shrewsbury with
my bike, for a couple of things sorted by Lee and Fay and some of their many
contacts! Thanks guys! First stop was The Trailhead bike shop, where Lee’s
friend Rich stopped what he was doing to switch my brakes from American to UK
style (and therefore hopefully prevent me killing myself on the first gnarly
descent!), rebleed the brakes, and sort out all the cable routing on the bike
so there are no rub points. Next stop was another of Lee’s friends, also called
Lee, who is the designer and owner of Invisiframe. This stuff is amazing! It’s
what goes on top-end cars like Porsches and Ferraris to stop any stone chips.
So it’s completely invisible but provides a protective coat to the Carbon
frame, and makes the bike look even shinier than before! Lee spends hours and
hours measuring and designing the kit for each different frame on specialist
software that then cuts out the individual pieces to be applied. Fortunately,
my new bike is the same frame as a Santa Cruz Bronson, of which Lee has done
quite a few kits for already, so he was able to print out the sheet of pieces,
and then apply them with the skill of someone who’s done the job many times
before! It looks incredible, and I hope it’ll keep the bike looking so for as
long as possible, despite the busy year I’ve got in store for it!
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| Lee from Invisiframe applying the magic protecting coat! |
Meanwhile, back at the farm, my mum’s washing machine and
tumbledryer had been working overtime, and more parcels had been arriving! I
seriously was so high on excitement and adrenaline at this point I was
wondering why anyone takes drugs!
Thanks to Ash at TransProvence and his deal with Mavic
Cycling, each year, those guiding for a good chunk of the season are provided
with some kit to use, which I guess works for the company as guests get to see
the kit being used day in day out and how it stands up to the rigours of
guiding in the Alps, and is gratefully received by the guides as you tend to go
through a lot of kit during a guiding season, the costs of which can soon add
up! Anyway, Ash had spoken to Mavic, and asked for some things to be sent a bit
earlier, and lo and behold, some extremely shiny new wheels and tyres had
turned up, along with some other bits of clothing and kit….it was like
Christmas!
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| Bumblebee wheels and other yellowness thanks to Mavic ;) |
Only problem was, some parts needed to be changed on the
wheels for them to be compatible with the components on my bike, and I could
see it taking me hours to figure out….hours I didn’t really have! So Tuesday
morning I headed over to my once local, and still favourite (!) bike shop in
Hope, 18 Bikes, partly to pick up some spares and a bike bag, partly to show
off my new bike to as many people who I knew would appreciate it as possible,
and partly because I was hoping Matt could help me with the wheels! Whenever
Gareth wanted things doing asap by the mechanics at Bike shops, he would always
take cakes, biscuits, beer, or basically something to use as bribery…and I
frequently use the same tactic! If I’d had time I would have made cake, but
this time biscuits had to suffice, but I hope they went down well! Matt got
everything sorted in about a tenth of the time I would have done, and soon the
bike was looking even more amazing with its new yellow wheels!
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| Thanks Matt! |
Some frantic packing and stressing about whether I had all
the spares I needed ensued on Tuesday evening, before finally making it to the
airport on Wednesday courtesy of my mum’s taxi! Amongst all my flapping about
and spreading boxes and kit all over the house over the last couple of days, my
mum and dad had calmly put up with me and kept me well fed, watered and looked
after as usual….definitely the best parents ever J
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| Left this view in Manchester.... |
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| ...For this one on the way into Santiago! |
So, I probably haven’t even mentioned what the rush was for!
But now I have calmed down a bit, and reached the destination, I’ve got time to
do so! I’m in Santiago, Chile, for a race called the AndesPacifico Enduro. A
four day stage race that will take myself and about 75 other racers from high
in the Andes, down to the coast, taking in some of the best riding this part of
south America has to offer. Long days, huge descents, altitude, technical and
varied trails, amazing scenery, and a whole bunch of new people to meet and
enjoy the experience with….I am excited!
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| Dusty trails and sunshine...whoop!! |
I’m racing under the team name Mavic Trans Provence/Juliana
Bicycles, and hope that given the generosity of all these companies, I can be a
good ambassador for them! It still feels a bit overwhelming to have had the
support I have, and I feel honoured and proud to be representing all of them.
I’m not and never will be the World’s fastest racer, but I’m pretty sure I’m
one of the people having the most fun on their bike, the most of the time!
There are all sorts of plans for adventures with my bike in all sorts of places
this year, and so I’ll certainly be coming into contact with a lot of people in
a lot of places, and having ridden the bike a couple of times already, I will
definitely be selling its virtues to anyone who’ll listen! It’s so much fun…light,
playful, it climbs effortlessly, it’s super fun on the descents, the geometry
is confidence inspiring and makes me feel like it wants to be ridden fast!…I
can’t stop smiling whenever I’m riding it…even more than usual!! I feel very
privileged to be riding what I think is one of the best women’s bikes to have
been produced. For so long, women’s bikes have been a watered down, cheaper
version of the men’s product, with heavier components, terrible colour schemes,
and to be honest, the kind of bike I would never be taken seriously as a rider
on, by anyone who is into mountain biking!
I remember going to
buy my first full suspension bike in a shop in Sheffield. I’d gone on my own,
and despite asking to look at a couple of the bikes I’d researched online, I
was steered towards a small women’s bike on special offer. The staff had
obviously been told to try and sell it to any woman who came into the shop.
Despite my polite refusals that I actually wanted to spend a bit more money and
get a higher end, lighter bike, the assistant would not let it go. He obviously
thought that as a girl I knew nothing about bikes, so was trying to tell me
that the heavy, entry level components on the bike were perfectly adequate for
what I’d need (even though he hadn’t bothered to ask what kind of riding I
did!), and that it was a fantastic bargain. Never mind that it was about 3
frame sizes too small for me, weighed more than the bike I already had, and the
components were nowhere near as good etc etc…oh, and it would have fallen apart
with one run down The Beast….it was a women’s bike and therefore all I’d need!
Thankfully, I think those days are hopefully disappearing for most girls who
are into riding. From spending 10 years of my life with Gareth, who was totally
bike obsessed, and the last couple riding pretty much every day in some testing
terrain and knowing what works for me and what I want, I’m confident enough to
say so! My Juliana Bronson is the first “women’s bike” I’ve ever owned, and I’m
proud to be riding it and representing a company that I think has got it
totally right. I’ve got lots of female friends who ride, all at the same level
as their male counterparts, and therefore they want bikes that are capable of
riding the same trails and having the same amount of fun on them. We’ve pretty
much all ridden men’s frames, modified with shorter stems, cranks, smaller
gearing and women’s saddles to compensate for the physical differences between
us, which is fine, but it’s awesome that Juliana are producing a range of bikes
that are as good a specification as the men’s frame and component wise, but
have the factors above dialled in, and they look great too.
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| Super happy and privileged to be riding my new Juliana Bronson! |
In the past I would never have been seen dead on a womens
bike, because they just didn’t cater for the riding I did, and I didn’t want
people to think I “rode like a girl”….well I guess my attitude has changed a
bit as I’ve gained more experience and confidence on the bike. There are loads
of girls who shred their bikes like (I think) I do, and actually, I will never
ride like a guy…I don’t have the same physical build or strength, our bodies
work differently, but I don’t think riding like a girl is a bad thing! Take a
look at Anne Caroline Chausson or Anka Martin….I’d be honoured for my riding to
be compared to theirs!! Smooth, stylish, fast, flowing, girl shredders
basically! Its brilliant to see more women riding, and more riding at a higher
level too, and I’m thrilled to be supported by a company that’s recognising
this and producing the bikes that us girls want to ride!! Thanks Juliana
Bicycles!
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| Nacho, Teo and Nicolas from the Santa Cruz Bicycles shop in Santiago |
So far I’ve had just about the warmest welcome possible in
Chile…The race organisers have arranged for us all to be collected from the
airport, no matter what day you arrive, and take you to your accommodation. The
B & B staff are super friendly and helpful, and I’ve been properly looked
after by Rodrigo, a Chilean racer and all round nice guy who I met at last year’s
TransProvence, and his friends. They have shown me round some of their
fantastic local trails to give me a taste of Chilean riding, invited me for delicious BBQ meals, pointed me in the right direction of things to see and do,
and gone out of their way to make me feel welcome in their country….I hope I
can return the favour one day! I've also just got back from some last minute bike race-prep at the Santa Cruz shop in Santiago, where Teo and Nacho were happy to help, and super excited to see my new bike :)...as I said, the Chile I have seen so far is full of friendly, welcoming people!
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| With Rodrigo and friends exploring the Pirque Singletrack |
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| Pick up at the bottom of La Parva after another long, technical, dusty descent! |
I think there should be updates on www.andespacificoenduro.com for anyone who
wants to follow it.
All this last week of excitement has been tinged with a
little sadness though…there’s one person more than anyone who I really, really wanted
to show my bike off to…Gareth….
He’d have been so proud of me, thrilled for me, and massively jealous! He’d have been trying to swop the components off it onto his bike without me noticing (yes he did once do that before I knew as much as I do now about bikes!) and he’d have been as excited about it as me…He would have wanted to go straight out for a spin on it, helped me dial in the suspension settings with some spreadsheet he’d produced, been constantly tinkering and looking after it for me, and understood why I love it! I’ve really missed his presence this last couple of days….it just would have been awesome to have shared it all with him. It’s the kind of bike I think both of us dreamed of having…and now I’m lucky to be riding one, and I wish he could see me… I hope he can…
He’d have been so proud of me, thrilled for me, and massively jealous! He’d have been trying to swop the components off it onto his bike without me noticing (yes he did once do that before I knew as much as I do now about bikes!) and he’d have been as excited about it as me…He would have wanted to go straight out for a spin on it, helped me dial in the suspension settings with some spreadsheet he’d produced, been constantly tinkering and looking after it for me, and understood why I love it! I’ve really missed his presence this last couple of days….it just would have been awesome to have shared it all with him. It’s the kind of bike I think both of us dreamed of having…and now I’m lucky to be riding one, and I wish he could see me… I hope he can…
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| Taking my new bike to visit Gareth's Tree which we planted 2 years ago in a quiet spot where it's nice to go and think of him and talk to him. It's a Giant Redwood, like the ones found in California where we visited on our roadtrip, and so will always hold memories of the adventures we had, it will stand out from the native trees around it, grow tall and strong for many many years, and is a choice I think Gareth would have approved of... |
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| The 5000 year old "drive-through" giant redwood tree we visited together whilst in the US |
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