Christmas Stuff

We'd like to wish everyone a Happy Christmas and thank you for your continued support of our shop.  Another busy year over and looking forward to the next...

Christmas Opening Times

Tuesday 24th December  9am - 2ish
Christmas Day - CLOSED
Thursday 26th - CLOSED
Friday 27th - CLOSED
Saturday 28th  10am - 5pm
Sunday 29th - CLOSED
Monday 30th 9am - 5.30pm
Tuesday 31st 9am - 4ish
Wednesday 1st January - CLOSED

Christmas Ride 2013

Arrrrr, There be Dragons!

Errr, no thats just Chris in his onesie…

Our annual Christmas ride was to the uplift in the Forest of Dean.  The weather was a bit iffy but we had a great time. There were 16 of us this year and the majority made a great effort to join in the theme of "onesie wearing"

We had some strange looks from other riders in the car park but nothing new there!

The Bike Hub Rabble. Left to Right - Minty(Rudolf), Dave(Giraffe), Nick(Rudolf),
Jamie(Dinosaur), Mike(Elf/Robin), Chris(Dragon), Stewart(Gorilla)

By the time we had finished for the day we were a bit muddy as you can see from the photo below

Left to Right
Mike, Jamie, Stewart, Minty, Chris, Gwyn, Dave, Rob, Julian, Jamie, Nick and Rhod

Gift Vouchers

You know how it is, there are some people that you never know what to buy for Christmas.  So before your head explodes with the stress of it all, why not get them a gift voucher from The Bike Hub.

We offer vouchers for any product or service we provide in the shop.  Maybe their bike needs a service or new tyres, a set of lights for these dark nights, or a wheel true if things are starting to feel a little bit wobbly and its not the mulled wine.

Gift vouchers are also redeemable against bike and tandem hire, so you could give your loved one a half or full days tandem experience for the coming warmer months.

Back At Last

Sorry for the long silence, we've been riding loads lately but there's only so many photos of cake at Bike Park Wales that I can post here. We've also been riding the Masts trails, so much so that we have alternated exclusively between Masts and BPW (with a little Kilvey night riding thrown in for midweek rides).

We've been quite lax on the video front but we finally got the camera's out last weekend, so here we go, more video and more Parliment :)

Tandem Love

Recently Cognation published a blog post about a guy who hired our tandem for a first date. A risky strategy some may say, but it paid off and they are still together after a year. Full story below

http://www.cognation.co.uk/first-date-mountain-biking-brechfa-on-a-tandem

Who knows, if they get hitched they may come back to hire the tandem for the wedding!

Practising For Movember

Veni, Vedi, Vectus est (We came, we saw, we rode a bit)

Bikepark Wales opened on the weekend so we set off on Sunday to have a look. The uplift was fully booked so we opted to ride to the top (4 times which wore us out) and head down as many different trails as we could.
We barely scratched the surface of what is available but it is absolutely magnificent with something for everyone, every trail we rode put a smile on our faces.

 oddly no one around

 Stewart was happy, Dave and Gwyn oddly sullen (teenagers eh!)

 Catalogue pose

Getting tired now 

 Almost my favourite track of the day

 At the top

 End of the day

Always room for cake

Bikepark Wales Episode 3

That's it, the final part, Bikepark Wales' version of Return Of The Jedi.
It's open this weekend (I'll be going on Sunday) so have a look to whet your appetite.

Bikepark Wales Episode 2

It's getting like a Star Wars Trilogy around here

James Jones-Swansea Sessions

Swansea BMX'er James Jones new 2013 edit is now out.

More Bikepark Wales news

This is the first episode of Origins, a trilogy about Bikepark Wales, I'm very very excited about riding there.

Bike Park Wales

Bike Park Wales is opening on the 24th of August.  It's the UK's first full scale mountain bike park, and there's 25 trail options with something for everyone.

Here's a little teaser video they've made.



Head on over to BIKE PARK WALES for uplift information and a trail guide

Ramps Skatepark Llanelli

The new skatepark in Llanelli is opening today with pro demo riders including Animal/Impurity Bikes sponsored rider (and Swansea local) James Jones.

Head over to the website for details of session prices and photos of the superb facilities.

RAMPS WEBSITE

Here's a little taster of what they have built, go and and see what it looks like now :)

Tandem Hire

We've added another tandem to the bike hire fleet so we now have 2 to hire.

If you've not tried riding a tandem its a lot easier than you think and great fun. A full days hire is just £20. Call us to check availability.

James Jones

James has been doing rather well for himself lately. He's now sponsored by Animal clothing and Impurity bikes and is touring the country appearing in exhibition shows along with other talented guys as the video below shows.

He's also competing at NASS up at Shepton Mallet at the weekend so good luck to him

On Sunday...

..we went to the Skills Park again. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to improve their riding whether jumping or just riding in general, and there's the cafe for cake afterwards!

South Wales Bike Ride 23rd June 2013

Don't forget this Sunday is the annual South Wales Bike Ride organised by the British Heart Foundation.

In 2013 you can choose from 3 routes - 12, 28, or 46 miles and entry is £15 on the day.

For more information go to the BHF website

Good luck to everyone riding this Sunday and supporting this important charity.

Bristol BikeFest 2013

So we survived this years Bristol BikeFest.  Wideopenmag.co.uk made a video of the Saturday.

 

Gareth, who started the race for the 4 man team is in the video 20 seconds in, and my feet make an appearance at 1.58 :)
(I'm not sure how anybody recognised my feet but there we go)

Jamie getting the bikes sorted before the start

We had two teams. One team in the Old Gits category (over 40's) and a 4 man team all under 24 years old. Phil missed the day as he was ill with flu.

This is the change over area, it was a bit of a bun fight

Relaxing before heading out for another lap

Both teams finished with a total of 16 laps, with the Old Gits pair taking 11 hours 18 mins and the 4 man team taking 11 hours 31 mins.

Everyone enjoyed themselves (well we did in the Old Gits,  so much so that we are entering OktoberFest)

This Sunday....

....the sun was shining, so we did this

Enjoy your Bank Holiday

Bikefest Shaped Rambling

Hmmm, do I celebrate or not?  Paul (the Bikefest guru) called me to confirm our entries to the 12 hour team race on Saturday the 8th June. So just gotta get on with it (I've rehearsed the excuses and hidden some cable cutters in my backpack).

To keep us entertained in the meantime here's some vids (we could make it a regular thing but I'm not that organised )

Bit of a shame that youtube muted the music (they've not done that before), I'll change the music some time but until then whistle your favourite tune or clap along for two minutes.

If you like longboards then you should love these  , have a look over at HAMBOARDS

Sunday Riding Update

We've not written much about riding of late. We have been out but not to anywhere out of the ordinary, we've visited the usual places, Afan, Brechfa, Kilvey Hill and Clyne Woods.

But this weeked is a bit different as we are off to the Forest Of Dean to ride the DH trails there. We have been before but this time we are taking the easy way up by using the uplift facility operated by
FlyUp Downhill

We've got the camera's charged and set up ready to go so look out for a series of jumpy, shakey and generally low budget videos.

Update At Last

 I've always found the best way to avoid backing out of something is to tell everyone first so you have to do it to prevent embarrassment. So in light of that statement we've entered Bristol Bikefest 12hr race.

 The last time we entered as a team of  three we managed 13 laps and didn't come last (almost but not quite!)  There are four of us this time so we "may" do more.

No team photo yet but here's Team member Stew trying to camouflage himself

Details for the race can be seen here BRISTOL BIKEFEST

Early Closing

The shop will be closing at 4pm on Monday 8th.  Sorry for any inconvenience.

Easter Weekend

Just a quick post. As its Easter Weekend we are closed on Good Friday (29th March) and Easter Monday (1st April) , open normally (well, as normal as we get) on Saturday.

Just because its Easter and everyone likes bunnies

Worlds First MTB 720 Tailwhip

Congratulations to Adam Williams (Swansea rider sponsored by Rose Bikes) on his 720 Tailwhip.

Afan Video

Finally, a sunny day (well mostly anyway)

After weeks and weeks of rain followed by snow the hope of a dry day (but not dry trails) lured us back out to the Afan Skills Park.

After a couple of hours riding the excellent trails we rolled to the cafe at Bryn Bettws Lodge for a rest and a cuppa. Never one to resist a sticky looking cake I also had this....

.....toffee cake , so good and highly recommended, as is the coffee.  Oh and they also have a wood burner to take the chill out of your bones.

Bike Park Wales

Have a look over at Cognation's website for details about the new Bike Park at Gethin Woods, Merthyr Tydfil. 

"BikePark Wales will start building a bike park that can be used by riders of all abilities offering a range of different graded trails. BikePark Wales will open in autumn 2013 with 10 trails, but this number will increase as the development expands over the coming years."