| Shop to the Top! |
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| Tuesday, 16 June 2009 07:17 | |||
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Scottish Universities Sport, Heriot Watt University mountain bike club, Sustrans Scotland, Active Travel/School Travel, Change Your World, lycra clad obsessives, baggy shorted drop outs, bearded tourists, London to Paris, Action for Children, Lands End, John O'Groats, Shop to the Top, Ridley, Team Katusha I spent a couple of days at the annual Scottish Universities Sport conference last week, an invigorating event that was a credit to both SUS and our hosts at Heriot Watt University. At the conference dinner at Murrayfield I sat beside Michael Wright of HWU Athletics Club and the winner of the 2009 SUS Volunteer of the Year award - he told me that the mountain bike club had been nominated at the HWU annual awards dinner in the category of most improved club. We discussed in general the importance of providing students with experience and opportunities beyond the curriculum and how the quality of the institution can be measured by the range of extra curricular activities it supports. If you are considering which university or college to go to, don't limit your research to the courses on offer - visit their sports union and find out what clubs interest you. The best way for first year students to find out about trails on and off campus, quiet road routes and all things cycling is to ride with other students who have experienced what is available and have the enthusiasm to pass it on.Also at the conference was Fiona Miller of Sustrans Scotland. Fiona is the Active Travel/School Travel Co-ordinator for Scotland. The Active Travel team works directly with people who would like to be more active in their daily lives, enabling them to discover or re-discover the joy of walking and cycling in their local area, to the benefit of their health and our environment. Sustrans has a comprehensive website providing an extensive range of resources but Fiona asked me to draw attention to the Change Your World Campaign running between 29th June and 4th July http://www.changeyourworld.org.uk/ something we are happy to do. It is important to remember that cycling is not the exclusive preserve of lycra clad obsessives , baggy shorted drop outs or bearded tourists (if there is another group of cyclists out there offended at not having been insulted please e mail me at Mikes Bikes and I'll rectify the situation!). We are careful to take account of this in the advice and help we offer customers and in the range of commuter and comfort bikes and associated clothing/accessories stocked at Mikes Bikes. You may remember Gary and Gordon from the "Tri, Tri, Tri Again" blog who were cycling from London to Paris to raise money for Action for Children supported by Mikes Bikes. We are pleased to report that they completed the challenge although the word is that before they even look at a bike again they will be swapping to Royal Gel saddles - a tourists' essential always in demand from visitors to Mikes Bikes en route to Lands End from John O'Groats! And now to the main event, the second in the June series of happenings at Mikes Bikes - the annual "Shop to the Top" time trial to the Cairngorm car park. The 2009 incarnation had a 50% increase on last year's entry and Commonwealth Games racer Drew Wilson acting as starter. Drew had brought with him a selection of Ridley bikes and frames including a full carbon mtb frame and the Team Katusha road bike that Rob later rode home on to check out the domestic reaction to his claim of putting a deposit down on £5k superbike. At the sharp end of the field Charles Fletcher used all his experience to chase down relative newcomer Mark Murray, a sports lecturer from Inverness College, to record the fastest time of the night with Mark and Dave McIntyre sharing the second fastest time, all comfortably inside the winning time from 2008. Last year's winner Carl was the first of the Glenmore Lodge contingent, just over a minute ahead of Hamish and me on the tandem. Honorable mentions to Euan and Calum who narrowly failed to beat their dads and to Tom who magnanimously allowed Charles the glory by opting out of completing the competitive dads hat trick. Several riders bettered their 2008 times with Pauline showing the biggest improvement and also taking the fastest female prize. Striking a blow for fans of mudguards and pannier racks, Alan won this year's Lanterne Rouge and Kevin was the only non-finisher following a mechanical failure caused by a warm up incident involving first time use of SPD pedals and an emergency stop. 2009 Results 1. Charles Fletcher 36.43 2= Dave McIntyre 37.26 2= Mark Murray 37.26 4. Carl Habel 39.13 5. Hamish & Dougie (tandem!) 40.24 6. Phil Sanderson 41.07 7. Euan Macdonald 41.20 8. Calum Irvine 42.05 9. Gordon Stewart 43.18 10. John Jones 44.03 11. Angus Gibson 47.36 12. Rob Edmunds 48.06 13. Pete Bennett 48.30 14. Pauline Sanderson 48.38 15. Neil Convery 49.37 16. Finlay Scriven 52.17 17. Alan Grove 63.06 18. Kevin Riddoch dnf (mech. failure)
2008 Results 1. Carl 39.03 2. Dave H. 42.19 3. Phil 42.47 4. Cathy 43.11 5. David 45.23 6. Nicki 46.02 7. Digger 46.47 8. Pete K. 47.14 9. Stewart 48.50 10. Pete B. 49.01 11. Pauline 52.50 12. Sammy 56.10
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