HARO BIKES

The big news in the road cycling world for the coming three weeks is, of course, the Tour de France. At Mikes Bikes we will be taking a particular interest in Team Katusha as they are supplied by Ridley Bikes, the Belgian company that provides us with a range of road bikes and cross bikes starting at £799.99 and rising to £omg! Obviously we will also be following the British contingent with Mark Cavendish of the Columbia team likely to head the media frenzy and David Millar of Garmin Slipstream providing a Scottish interest. Bradley Wiggins from the same team is also a rider to watch and the profile of the opening time trial may play to his strengths - a possible top ten finisher on the opening day.

I'll try to give some updates here but ITV4 is providing extensive coverage, particularly on its red button service, so if you are lucky enough to have digital coverage you can follow the racing there. There is also a website with full coverage and background information

http://www.itv.com/sport/tourdefrance/default.html

In my own modest way I have been making little inroads into time trialling. At the last Delny 10 mile TT I improved my best time to 26.34, knocking 1.24 off my time from the previous week. Was it the High 5 loading before the start, was it the Outland Tri Bars or was it the Raleigh Carbon Race bike? Well, it had to be something and there's nobody queueing up to suggest that it was talent and ability... Hamish's assessment was that "there's still a little way to go" - my response is that its just a little way and I'm heading in the right direction! I was really impressed with Peter Alexander of Moray Firth CC who did a 21.44 and flew past me - full results from the Tuesday night series are available on the Cromarty Firth CC website at

http://www.cromartyfirthcyclingclub.com/index.asp?pageid=8564

The recent good weather has also provided plenty of opportunities to enjoy the varied mountain biking we have available in the North. I've been down to Wolftrax at Laggan a couple of times recently and found on my first visit that the red runs are very much more do-able (is that a word?) on my M-Trax than they used to be on my last bike. On my second visit I used a Raleigh AT-40 from the hire fleet on my first descent and was surprised at how steady and competent it felt. For the second run I borrowed Sally's M-Trax 1.0 and was immediately reminded of my own bike - its difficult to put a finger on exactly what it is that makes the ride feel better but it did and the increased confidence that goes with this translated into a much faster downhill - pity Mike wouldn't lend me his Diamondback XSL which he regularly takes down Aires Rock!  I've also had the chance to do some riding at Balblair wood near Bonar Bridge and it brought home to me how much we need a comprehensive guide to the trails in the Highlands - we are always being asked for recommendations for MTB rides and it seems that we only have local knowledge, experience and a few trail maps to fall back on rather than a specific guidebook that recognises the Highlands as a Mecca for mountain biking and sets out to supply visiting riders with all the information they need to enjoy it to the full. The best website I've found for this is

http://www.mtb-highland.com/index.asp

Finally, there has been a rush on summer clothing, hydration packs and water bottles at Mikes Bikes during the current heatwave. Be quick or you might end up like these unfortunates!