Will Racing Downhill

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Big Bear Bikes

Prissick Park Criterium Races

Did the first of these tonight in Middlesborough on the new dedicated cycle track. There are six races in total, 1 every week on Thursdays. There is a 4th cat / go ride 30 min race followed by an hour (plus 2 laps) handicap race for E/1/2/3/4 riders. I did the latter race which started at 8.00pm.

The course is only 1K in length but is nice and wide, super smooth and has some nice corners which you can roll into at speed with minimal braking.

It got dark during the race which made it interesting and the shadows of wheels was initialy offputting but once it got dark the led lights around the track gave enough light to keep it safe.

I started off at the front and really tried to stay in the top 10 to push myself but with so few people taking a turn I dropped back a bit and stayed in the top 15. There were only a handfull of second cats but they came through with about 15 mins to go and the pace hotted up. I managed to hang on and ended up sprinting into 7th place.

I thought it would feel like a bit of a hamster run but with some nice corners it keeps it interesting and I will certainly be doing more of these if I can get away from work on time. Mph.

Trek 2.3 Aluminium

Trek 2.3 Road Bike

I took the demo Trek 2.3 for a ride last week. I wanted to ride it as it shares the geometry of the more expensive carbon frames which always get good reviews. Currently I ride a top of the range Scott Addict which has a superlight carbon frame and is designed as an all out race bike. I also have a Titanium Van Nicholas which I bought in the autumn to ride as my ‘second’ bike / winter bike. The titanium frame is certainly more forgiving than my Scott but is not as quick and responsive… but it is designed as more of a ‘long haul’ bike which puts comfort before performance.

I did a two hour loop on the Trek on one of my favourite rides up to the Blakey via Bell-end climb and back via Cropton. I have to say I was very impressed. Its one of those bikes where you get on it and it feels instantly right. Usually when you first get onto a new bike it takes a few rides to ‘dial in’ to its riding characteristics… not his one though.

I was also amazed to find it a lot more comfortable than my titanium bike. It’s hard to gauge and score how much more comfortable but there is a significant difference.

So that’s two big plus points for starters. The third thing I noticed was that despite being more comfortable it felt noticeably stiffer when climbing. I did not time the difference but it certainly made the long drag up to the Blakey easier.

And finally the fourth plus point was the way it feels when cornering. This is linked to the first point about how right it feels to sit on… it carves a really nice line when cornering and feels planted and very secure. No twitchiness but no sluggishness either; a really nice balance.

It usually takes me weeks to make up my mind about anything I buy but I sold my Titanium bike 2 days after doing the demo ride and have bought the Trek demo bike… So if you want to try it you will have to ask me (nicely)! Whilst I very much like the Scott I have, I don’t think I want to try out the carbon Trek Madone version as it may be hard to go back to the Scott afterwards… not just yet anyway! Mph.