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I will be exhibiting at the CYCLE EXPO in YORKSHIRE 

September 21-22 Come and day “OW DO” Ticket prices: Adult - £15.00, 

Child (13-17)- £7.50, Child (12 and under)- FREE.

Tickets are valid for entire weekendTickets include FREE parking all weekend.

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⚡NEW AMZING PRODUCT ⚡.Coffee & Pizza ☕&🍕             

AW19 - The Stolen Goat 

☕🍕☕🍕☕🍕☕🍕☕

At last I can shout about this!!! I have designed a jersey for Stolen Goats Artist collection. “Coffee & Pizza” navy coloured cycling jersey with different coloured coffee and pizza motifs all over. I have been swanning about in this jersey for a few weeks now and I love the fit and the finish. So proud to be part of the new collection. If you WANT THIS JERSEY - Visit Stolen goat for orders or DM me if you have any questions. May your rides be Coffee & Pizza fuelled - always 🍕☕🍕☕🍕☕🍕☕🍕☕🍕

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NEW CAPS GO FAST In stock now in my Etsy shop Search PIPJRUNE FREE UK Shipping I ship worldwide 35% cotton 65% polyester Traditional style cycling caps made in Italy

To VISIT MY SHOP CLICK THE LINK BELOW or DM me if your interested... https://www.etsy.com/…/listi…/725253675/go-fast-cycling-cap…

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BIKE PACKING KIT

Here are a few items we've purchased recently for our first full-on bike packing trip camping and carrying our gear on the bikes...

We haven’t tested these items yet so I will write another blog to review soon. 

We decided on this kit after researching - reading blogs etc but two big factors in the decision making process were weight and price.

TENT

QUECHUA QuickHiker Ultralight 2-Person Trekking Tent - Light Grey

£109.99

Weight: 2.05kg

Compact, compressible cover: 9,5 litres. 40cm * 15cm * 15cm

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/quickhiker-ultralight-2-hiking-tent-2-man-grey-id_8245650.html

SLEEPING BAGS

Crane Down Filled Sleeping Bag

£24.99 

Approx. 225 x 80 x 50cm

Filling Material:

85% Duck down, 15% Feather (not live plucked or from force fed birds)

800g

https://www.aldi.co.uk/crane-down-filled-sleeping-bag/p/081656189838300

SLEEPING MAT (ME)

FORCLAZ TREK 700 AIR L TREKKING MATTRESS - YELLOW

£34.99 

510g 180 x 52 x 5.5cm. 

The comfort of an ultra-lightweight and ultra-compact inflatable mattress.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/trek-700-l-mattress-yellow-id_8493395.html

SLEEPING MAT (MIKE)

FORCLAZ TREK700 AIR SHORT TREKKING MATTRESS - GREY

£24.99

360g. 120x52x5.5cm. 

The comfort of a short, ultra-light & ultra-compact air mattress. Only take the bare essentials!

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/trek700-air-short-mattress-gry-id_8493805.html

PILLOWS

QUECHUA Air Basic Camping Inflatable Pillow

£7.98

Dimensions 27 x 37 x 10 cm

Weight 100g / Volume 0.4L

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/air-basic-camping-pillow-id_8055369.html

SPARE PEGS

QUECHUA Ultra-light posts for trekking tents (x5)

£6.99

Aluminium 7075, square section. Very resistant to torsion and deformation

For bivouac tent on hard to medium terrain.

Ultra-Lightweight: 9g per unit.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/ultralight-aluminium-camping-tent-pegs-id_2873930.html

COOKING

COOKING SHIELD

QUECHUA Trekking Camp Stove Windshield - Orange

£9.99

Made of anodised aluminium, a light and durable metal. 190g

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/trek-camp-stove-windshield-id_8358095.html

STOVE

Fire-Maple FMS-300T Hornet Ultralight Titanium Micro Stove

£24.99 

45g Material: Titanium

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CPFMFMS300T/fire-maple-fms-300t-hornet-ultralight-titanium-micro-stove

COOKING POTS 

Fire-Maple FMC-207 Solo Lightweight Aluminium Cookware Set

£9.99 

Hard Anodised Aluminium Cookset.

Insulated folding handles.

The Large pot is 0.8Litres, for one person, the smaller pot doubles as a lid.

Weight: 195g

Material: Aluminium

Surface Treatment: Hard Anodized

Includes: 2 Pot, 1 Doubles as cover, 1 Sponge

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CPFMFMC207/fire-maple-fmc-207-solo-lightweight-aluminium-cookware-set

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Coast to Coast  Day Three : Part Two

When I first saw the sea after leaving St Bees 3 days earlier it felt great!!!  All the climbing was behind us! I wanted to enjoy the unbelievably steep decent into RHB but with a mega tail wind which pushed me faster then I wanted to go!!! 

We stopped to take a few piccys and then set off ! We wound through the narrow steep streets of RHB dodging day trippers and getting a few stares from the normals -haha! We were obviously c2cers and we've just finished it!!!!!!

We were waiting down by the sea for Dad and Sarah to arrive, then i looked up and saw Dad - he saw me and instantly threw his arms in the air!!! It made me laugh - he was so glad for us! 

Dad and Sarah had bought us little momento’s for the C2C - we had a beer outside by the sea and it was great feeling of “We f**kin’ did it!” 

That shower at the B&B was amazing ! It was so nice to get freshened up although I was sad we wouldn't be jumping on our bikes again in the morning! I didn't think I would feel like that after this trip! 

Tea that night... Fish & chips in the Magpie cafe ! A famous chippy!

Why didn't anyone tell me my hair was sticking out?!?!

RECAP

What a great trip and a fantastic experience ! Something I wanted to do for a long time and I'm very proud to say I’ve completed. I couldn't recommend it enough! We decided early on to split it over 3 days as that kept each day “do-able” especially when you take into account with slower heavier bikes with luggage. We had reasonable fitness going into this but I didn't do anything special except trying to cycle often averaging 90-100 miles a week since April. Sounds impressive but it’s very flat where I live and ride my bike.

I know some people do this trip in less time with faster speeds and more watts but none of that has really ever bothered me. I was so surprised at how much we enjoyed this trip, it was hard at times but even grinding up the toughest gradients I still loved every minute of it. I have loved tracking the journey on Strava and now in this blog, I love looking at all the stats but its for my own amusement not to beat someones record, and now all I can think is when is the next trip with this guy? My Super-Domestique!

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Coast to Coast  Day Three Richmond to Robin Hoods Bay

STATS

66.5 Miles | 5,604ft Elevation gain 

“If you think that’s steep you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”

Strava: https://strava.app.link/1rbQmWyFIY

“Morning!!! Had a good sleep well rested but the legs feel a bit heavy today . Breakfast at 8 so hoping to be on the road for 9 again  !!! BBC weather says we have a tail wind I chuffin hope so!!!!! Have 65 miles today no mega climbs* but a bit up and down all day with steep climb to Robin Hoods Bay! We will text or WhatsApp u when we set off after lunch !” 

- Text message to family *no mega climbs - WTF! 🤯🤯🤯

I think Mike had been playing down the steepness of todays route and through either shear stupidity/ nativity or just the fact I’m an extremely gullible person... I believed him! 

Set off 9:15 was a bit grey and breezy so rain jacket and cap for first time by 10 it was hazy sun so out jacket away. 

Plan was Stocksley for lunch it was 30 miles from Richmond but it wad very easy miles and a tail wind so pushed onto Castleton.  

At this point we’d done 44 miles so 22 miles to finish !!! If we feel good we could even decide to cycle to Whitby accommodation but might have spoken too soon!* We both feel good but think we have loads of climbing to go.

*(Ahem) After careful consideration and with heavy hearts (NOT!) we decided not to extend out route today!!!

This photo was taken at the start of Climb- Fest! Little did I know...

Ok yeah!!! The last 15-20 miles of the route were climb after climb! 35% in places!!! Including one very steep climb that's we started in front of a packed pub with lots of learey local cheering us on even if there was some sarcasm in their cheers the thought of putting my foot down in front of them was unthinkable.... I waited until tucked round a bend to take a breather with lungs bursting we even got heckled by an old lady crossing the street as we were grinding on the pedals!!! 🥴🥴🥴

When we finally reached the top of the last climb we emerged from the quiet bridal path onto the main road with traffic ! It was flat and felt like the top of the world! The sun was shining and the sky wax blue and I couldn't wait to reach RobIn Hoods Bay were family beer and fish and chips were waiting!

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Coast to Coast Day Two : Part Two

We climbed for over 6 miles to tan hill Inn! 20% at bottom 14% rest of way highest pub in England!!! 🥵 Having lunch then onto Richmond mostly down hill but a little sharp climb at end. The pub was full of cyclists and bikers co existing!

The bikers all oggled each others bikes and crowded around anything a bit unusual! 3 old guys! One looked 80 rocked up on vintage bikes! The really old one was on a Indian bike in red it was cool! The cyclists all oggled each others bikes 😱!

One guy can over to chat they had come up.from the other direction !! Lunch took ages to arrange but we were a bit mongy and happily sat in the sun people watching.

When we set off it was a lovely rolling road across the Yorkshire dales ! Sheep starred at us and we rolled past hardly sharing the road with another person we could see green in the distance in contrast to the browny coloured bracken surrounding the road so we kept rolling and getting out of the saddle to give our bums a break.

Just as we were picking up road signs for Richmond our route detoured left and up a very steep climb! We were gutted wedding stay in the road but we had followed signs and ignored the Garmin yesterday and it coast us so we pressed on! As we finally stopped down 5 ish miles out of Richmond everything was so green and lush we pedalled fast along a A road eager to get to the b&b and relax!

Richmond is a hilly place but seemed very nice. Our B&B hosts were lovely, Anne & Mick and extremely accommodating with our bikes! The room was lovely and we felt totally relaxed to have arrived here. We charged phones and Garmin's, let everyone know we arrived safe then washed the kit!

Showered and out for tea to a lovely Sicilian restaurant we sat outside 🍕

Feel asleep watch Glastonbury with a G&T 😴😴😴

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Coast to Coast  Day Two : Penrith to Richmond

STATS

Day Two: Penrith to Richmond

57 miles | 4951ft Elevation Gain

Lots of hairy bikers 🏍️

Strava: https://strava.app.link/dXibR9hBIY

Up for 7:20 to shower sun cream up and pack!

Breakfast at 8! Smoked salmon and scrambled eggs! Mike has a fry up! The other guests are fascinating / bemused by us our antics and the bikes and ask lots of questions. We pack the bikes up in the hall with lots of curios faces watching us and we're on our way for 9:05am

We are heading to Kirby Stephen for lunch it's about half way but we make good time as the path was mainly flat. We find a nice cafe and sit outside with the bikes. The table next to us chat away and ask about the trip and the bikes.

One thing that is resonating with me is you attract a lot of attention with bikes with luggage. People, (the normals) are always very interested to chat to us and ask where we have been and were we are going and offer local advise - it’s lovely 😊

Coffee and awesome Rocky road and a refill of our bottles X feel ok had cloud cover up till now but it's starting to burn away. We've been told the next landmark us Tan Hill and the climb to it is long!!!

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Coast to Coast Day One: Part Two

Strava: https://strava.app.link/nuCqhx3yIY

We vey quickly picked up signs fort he C2C trail which was great as you could relax a bit more as there were no cars and the trail was nice and quiet. We had plotted our own route on strata which we were following, so we wouldn’t be exclusively following the signposted trail. We did this as there were certain places we wanted to stop for lunch or to stayover. As a result I think our route had more elevation in it then normal. 

I remember thinking within about 5 miles how much I was enjoying the trip already. We lucked out with the weather too, it was very hot but doing this route in the wind and rain would have been a very different story. It was important for me to enjoy the trip whilst I was on it. I didn’t just want suffer-fest that I could only appreciate in hindsight. 

After a very steep climb over Whinlatter pass - we stopped to take pictures at the Whinlatter Forest sign then spun down into Keswick for lunch. 

Mike managed to buy a replacement buckle and we pushed our bikes through Keswick to the cornish pasty shop for lunch! Perched on a wall by the bank we ate our pasts and starred vacantly as people milled around occasionally looking at us, sweaty and gross and then at our bikes laden with gear. It always makes me think, people always think - are you nuts for doing this cycling in this heat but I was feeling like there is nowhere else in the world I would rather be right now. On this trip eating a pasty with the sun on my bike and nothing but us and the bikes and the bear essentials.

Fed and watered we walked up and out the back of Keswick stopping first for a loo stop and to buy more water. We topped u our bottles and added a wiggle hydration tablet (TIP: keep water tablets somewhere easy to get to so you can have flavoured water and some well earned carbs). 

We had an unexpected short but steep climb out of Keswick and by chance we cycled past the The stone circle at Castlerigg, (FACT: One of around 1,300 stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany, it was constructed as a part of a megalithic tradition that lasted from 3,300 to 900 BC, during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages). When we got to the circle it was the hottest part of the day, Mikes suncream had been sweated off so we reapplied, took some pictures and headed off. Penrith was our stop for the night, about 20 miles off.

Mikes brother had taken the afternoon off to drive up and meet up for tea and a few pints watching the rugby. We pulled up to the B&B hot and sweaty! Gas was already here and keeping a seat warm for us at the Pub! We checked in took the luggage off the bikes and started washing our kit in the sink 0 to give it the maximum drying time. The room was hot but we found a fan in the wardrobe which was a huge relief. With kit washed and hanging all round the room to dry we got showered and changed into shorts and t-shirts slightly crumpled and walking into town to have a well learnt pint! Total miles 49.69 we went wrong and did extra 5 miles up hill 😭

I had a shandy pint feel lashed!!! We walked around Penrith looking for a pub that would show the rugby I might be asleep before the kickoff.

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Coast to Coast  Day One: St Bees to Penrith

STATS

Day One: St Bees to Penrith (Keswick lunch stop)

49.69 Miles | 4077ft elevation gain

1 wrong turn | 1 mechanical 

Strava: https://strava.app.link/nuCqhx3yIY

There is a bit of a logistics problem when planning a linear route like the C2C. We had looked into train fares but it was getting pricey and we were trying to do this trip on a budget. Plus the thought of training it home (in manky bike gear) seemed totally minging and also a bit of an abrupt end to the three days, so fortunately my Dad very kindly offered to drive us and our kit to St. Bees. 

He picked us up around 7.30am and we set off on the nearly 3hr drive to St. Bees. Arriving at St.Bees for 9.30am ish. We got the bikes off the roof and started strapping our luggage to them. (*TIP: I was worried about my frame being scratched by the bike bags so I wrapped some clear polythene round my frame and stuck it in place with electrical tape - pre cut in preparation). This put my mind at ease as there were lots of tree roots and bumpy sections along the way and the luggage did bounce around a bit and work its way loose. 

There are public toilets at St.Bees which is handy - after loo stops and a bit of faffing about, (Mike broke one of the saddle bag buckles over tightening it so make-shift repairs were done until we could get to Keswick and hopefully buy a replacement.) 

We set off just after 10am in glorious sunshine, Dad took some majestic pieces of us heading off on our way and we were on the road...doing the Coast to Coast, something that has been on my bucket list for over a decade! (When we first talked about it we had planned to walk it). 

Mike was carrying most of the bulkier luggage. Here is a very quick run down of our bikes and luggage

MIKE BIKE SPEC: 

Planet X cyclocross bike 

700c Alloy Hunt Wheels 

Panaracer gravel king tyres

SRAM Rival x 1 Groupset 

Planet X - bike bag bundle £60ish

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/ZXPIBUN/pack-it-bundle 

Saddle bag 12L

Frame bag

Bar Bag 

Weight with Luggage 15kg 

PIP BIKE SPEC: 

Mason Bokeh

650b Alloy Hunt Wheels 

47mm tubeless WTB tyres

SRAM Rival x 1 Groupset 

Podsac frame bag 

Rapha Top tube bag

Rapha Bar bag

Safety Pizza!!

Weight with Luggage 11kg

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ABOUT ME

I have recently turned 40 :-/  and I’m telling you this first as the build up to this lead me (and my husband, Mike) to making some life changing decisions. Mainly to leave my job where I felt I couldn’t develop further and was also struggling to ride as often as I needed to stop my head exploding. We took the decision to setup working for myself, and in April 2018 I walked away from my regular job and never looked back.

This enabled me to get a life balance I never thought was possible. I feel incredibly lucky to be in this position and I am grateful everyday, that I can be creative when I feel creative, ride my bike when I need a break and have a much healthier approach to life. To keep some regular income coming in I also work a bike shop a couple of days a week.

I love bikes and cycling in all forms. I MTB, Road cycle, dabble in fixed gear and folding and most recently discovered “Gravel” the current buzz word in bike marketing!! 

I want to start a blog with a female perspective on cycling. My blog will including pack lists, gear advice, routes and experiences on two wheels.  

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In Bike we Trust

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