HARO BIKES

The first of two charity events featuring Mikes Bikes involvement this week was the Highland Cross, a  50-mile duathlon (20 miles on foot, 30 miles on bike) traversing the spectacular Scottish Highlands coast to coast, west to east from Kintail through Glen Affric and Strathglass to Beauly. Mike was competing as part of the victorious Cairngorm team in the Mountain Rescue team category with Gordon Stewart, who also won the first over 50 prize and Hamish Irvine, my erstwhile tandem partner from the "Shop to the Top" time trial. Despite recording his highest ever finishing position (60th out of 720) Mike was disappointed with his time, though this was probably a reflection of the conditions underfoot during the run, following five days of rain. After the changeover he was able to make good use of the Raleigh Avanti Carbon Team to carve through the field but with the format suiting runners over cyclists he ran out of the distance needed for the breakthrough into the first 50. Well done to them anyway, as they came home with the 'Mountain Rescue Prize'. Also fully kitted in Mikes Bikes supplied Avenir clothing and Raleigh equipment was sister-in-law Nicole (on a carbon forked Raleigh 400, our best selling road bike at £699.99) from the Go Forth team who won the first Veteran Ladies team prize. Nicole ' friends are planning to take part in the Corrieyairack Challenge on the 4th of July also on Raleigh 400s.

On the same day, I was taking part in the Rob Roy Challenge the easy way, as part of the support team for Team Xerox. Starting at Drymen, participants go on foot along the Rob Roy Way to Callander and then change to bikes for the last 40 miles to the finish at Kenmore on Loch Tay. Enlisting the help of Alistair, our role was to pick up 12 bikes on Friday, transport them to the changeover at Callander and meet the finishers at Kenmore where they would be glad to find someone to take their bikes away from them.

On Friday, it became evident that we were not dealing with Team Katusha. Unfortunately, neither were Team Xerox dealing with the bike mechanic support team of Team Katusha. Working in a bike shop one becomes all too familiar with two wheeled shed ornaments - the "it had air in the tyres when I put it away" (in 1989!) syndrome. To be fair, everyone had made an effort to reach the start line with a functioning bike but in many cases they had made the classic mistake of thinking bike shops do overhauls/services while you wait. A bike shop in the summer has a waiting list longer than the NHS... it prompts me to offer the seemingly obvious (but often only in retrospect) advice to take your bike to your local bike shop for its annual service in the quiet months of January - March so that you are ready to take advantage of the summer when it arrives. An annual service? Well, most people see the wisdom of having their car serviced annually and you can't fall off one of those going downhill at 30 mph on a rough track... Incidentally, a similar logic holds true for customer service - if you would like to spend time with the staff in a bike shop its best to try to avoid the busy times. At Mikes Bikes mid morning is usually a good time. The hire bikes are generally out by this point and there is often a lull that allows us to give all our attention to customers who want to spend some time on their purchases. I appreciate that many people are restricted in when they can visit the shop but the end of the day, especially on a Saturday, is often so busy that customers are unable to take full advantage of the advice and experience affecting wise decision making that might otherwise be available at different times of the day.

Anyway, Alistair and I put air in tyres (with many people being impressed with the efficiency of a track pump comapred to the fiddly little pumps they were accustomed to using - or being unable to use!), checked and adjusted brakes (being able to stop is generally considered to be a good idea), shook our heads at the state of Ross's bottom bracket and crossed our fingers that everything would be o.k. on the day. We transported the bikes on two estate cars with six on each - three on the roof and three on a Thule towbar rack (unsurprisingly available from Mikes Bikes!)

Over the years I have spent a fortune chasing the Holy Grail of efficient bike transport. The roofbar option is a reasonable method securing the bike at three points and having no requirement to dismantle the bike prior to loading. At a push (and as long as the weight is within manufacturer guidelines) you could carry four bikes this way. However, if you are not very tall you are going to have difficulty reaching the roof to fit the bikes. Strength might also be an issue as obviously you will need to lift the bikes above your head. There is a significant drag factor that will have a marked effect on your fuel consumption and finally, you may have problems in multi storey car parks. Its never happened to me but I know of some who have forgotten about the bikes on the roof ...  The best option is the towbar mounted rack shown above. It is very easy to fit (my mum can do it!) and each bike is fastened into an individual gutter. For this trip we turned the handlebars to make doubly sure there was no rubbing between bikes but with careful positioning there is no need to resort to the hex key. For two bikes it is by far the best and easiest system I have ever come across. 

All Team Xerox completed the challenge successfully and recorded a baseline time that will allow them to compete for the most improved Xerox team member next year - Simon is offering a magnificent prize for this category. Maybe I'll have forgotten about my Caledonian Challenge experience by next year and I'll get offered a place as a ringer in the Xerox over 50s team. If we get beaten by the under 50s I'll offer 4 free bike services as a prize!