Between Christmas and New Years, the E-Bikeshop Owners Club re-visited Swinley Forest in Bracknell. A great day out riding electric mountain bikes around UK trails. We've been to Swinley Forest a few times over the years with the E-Bikeshop Owners Club. It's one of the favourites amongst fellow owners. Every time we visit it has trails changed, diversions and something new to offer, this time was no exception. We met on Friday 30th December 2016 in the main car park at 10:30am. Once everyone was huddled together and following a short briefing we set off onto the Blue trail. It was good to see so many out on a cold December between Xmas and new years, including some new faces and some new riders with fresh bikes, keen to put their new eBike through it's paces. It was a misty morning, but fortunately completely dry and not windy, almost perfect conditions for riding. The trails were tacky and thus not dusty or dry, it kept things fast & smooth! Following from the Blue we entered the Red route with a break in the middle to take advantage of some of the downhill runs in the middle of the trail centre. Some new sections of the Red proved to be exciting. In all, we covered around 15 miles of riding, with a couple of mechanicals along the way. Unfortunately, we had 2 punctures and one chain problem during the day. All rectified promptly! The next 6 rides have been published on the Owners Club page. So take a look and join up to whichever ones you can attend. This year we will be skipping January to start the season end of Feb for our first ride out. We will, of course, publish all the photos of this ride on the ebikeshop club page in the next few days, donât forget to tag yourself in them. The E-Bikeshop Owners Club is a closed group of riders, if you have purchased an eBike from us and want to get involved, please get in touch.
On Sunday 27th November the E-Bikeshop Owners Club had a fantastic ride out at Hadleigh Park AKA The Olympic Mountain Bike Course. Great fun on the electric mountain bikes. Over 20 of us met in the main car park on Sunday morning to gather for a coffee and pre-ride brief. It was great to see so many faces, old and new, this ride including the UK's Bosch eBike Representative. Also the Haibike UK brand manager with some goodies & new 2017 demo's! We set off promptly to play in the skills area before starting the main course, a combination of Red, Blue and some gnarly Black sections for those feeling ambitious enough. In all, we covered about 15 miles switching between many routes across around 5-7 laps. It was a great place to ride as we all started together as a group but could dart off onto various ability sections before meeting back at the top of the hill each time. A fun filled day on the electric mountain bikes covering drops, rocks, jumps, berms, switchbacks, skills area and even the pump track at the end. No mechanicals, great weather and a great all round bunch of riders. Perfect! Hopefully, the pictures tell the story: The next electric bike ride will be at Swinley Forest between Christmas and New Years Eve. Already live on the club events section, you can sign up now. We, will of course, publish all the photos of this ride on the ebikeshop club page in the next few days, donât forget to tag yourself in them. The E-Bikeshop Owners Club is a closed group of riders, if you have purchased an eBike from us and want to get involved, please get in touch.
Just over 2 years from opening a new site in Farnham, Surrey - E-Bikeshop announce their latest expansion, part of an on-going plan to cater for cycling's fastest growing sector. In early 2014 E-Bikeshop expanded from 2 regular bike shops into a new Sales & Distribution centre based in Surrey UK. Built specifically around electric bikes and located centrally in the UK as a hub, offering large showroom facilities, a specialist workshop, warehousing and parts centre. Within 12 months it was clear that they had already outgrown the new site, which was initially setup with 25% more space than required to allow growth. This set the stage for further expansion plans. Now another year on and months in the planning, the new site is complete. The UK Electric Bike Company's director Martin Brown, commented :- We are really excited about our new expansion and are confident we are set up as the UK's leading independent electric bike supplier to cater for this ever growing market. We actually started with a range of 4 bikes and now offer more than 80! We want an electric bike to suit anyone, hence the product base has grown rapidly and with our recent expansion, we can continue to be more focused on our clients' needs. Â As part of a 5,000 sq ft expansion, the new sales and distribution centre is now offering: larger demonstration areas, a bigger range, double the workshop facilities, built in specialist workshop equipment, a larger selection of spare parts held in stock and more room for warehousing. Mr Brown, continued :- Having everything to hand in one central site means we can offer the fastest and most efficient solution when it comes to holding stock and supporting the products we offer by having a full supply of spares to hand and the knowledge to back it up. It's really exciting to watch something grow so fast, in fact, we are already planning further ideas! Â New larger workshop bays mean E-Bikeshop can prepare bikes faster than ever before, often offering set up and delivery within 24 hours from the time of ordering. It also means that any further service and support time is cut, with a turnaround window of just 1 hour on most workshop bookings. E-Bikeshop continues to operate strictly by appointment. With product ranges now split into categories including Mountain Biking, Road, Town & Trekking in what's said to be the largest eBike display in the UK. Even the accessories area has been expanded to fit with the new company image with more options tailored specifically for the client's requirements. Other areas include a filming studio, packaging bays and a bar / chill out area. Not all the excitement's happening on-site either, the Surrey-based company has also expanded their website with new features, enhanced product lines and more informative guides. They completed a new world record this year (20,000km+ on eBikes around Europe) and their exclusive eBike Owners Club expands at a huge rate with the monthly meets proving popular and more members than ever. To find out what electric bikes are all about, go here and click 'Begin Learning Now'.
On Sunday 25th September the E-Bikeshop Owners Club Ride took place at Queen Elizabeth Country Park, Petersfield. Another action packed event with lots of great eBike riding. We met at the main car park for 10:30am and set off to tackle the Red and Blue route across QE Park. In all a great ride with no mechanicals. A couple of falls, but everyone got back up! The next electric bike ride will be at Woburn Bike Trails at the end of October. Already live on the club events section, you can sign up now. We will of course publish all the photos of this ride on the ebikeshop club page in the next few days, donât forget to tag yourself in them. The E-Bikeshop Owners Club is a closed group of riders, if you have purchased a eBike from us and want to get involved, please get in touch.
On Sunday 31st July saw another great E-bikeshop Owners Club ride at Friston Forest in Eastbourne. We had a fantastic ride across the downs and then some excellent single track in the forest itself. As usual we were so lucky with the weather it was an absolute lovely day and the sun was shining high. This made all the difference as we met in the main car park in Alfriston. This ride saw some new faces with is good, lots of new eBikers ready to ride their new pride and joy as part of the club. After a quick brief we left the car park in a long line of riders to joint he road and then turn off up a bridleway which offers a really long climb right up to the top of the south downs. On the way up one member Paul got a nasty flint puncture which pretty much flattened his tyre within seconds, fortunately we had a spare tube to hand and were back up an running in minutes. In fact this was the only mechanical of the whole day. A long gruelling climb which was made fun on the eBikes which smashed it all the way to the top, it was all worthwhile when we got up there to find an amazing view across East Sussex. We then followed across the top of the hill to enter Friston Forest from the top. Which meant once into the trees we had lots of long descents and bomb holes to play in. A few of the bomb holes we stopped at for a few runs down with some riders getting a little ambitious and getting some air out of the other side. Finally riding down to the bottom of the forest we then headed back up a fire road that seemed to never end to check out some of the trails over the other side. The next set of trails were long and swoopy with tight berms and the occasional jump which added to the excitement. Worth noting, everything could be passed so if you were not up for hopping over the jumps them each rider could ride round. We led onto the 'Bomb Hole' challenge which involves each rider to enter the bomb hole at their own pace and you have to make it out the other side without pedalling. Only one of us managed to make it all the way out without pedalling which sounds easier than it is in reality! Gary who led this ride mixed it up and took us over to some DH tracks which were eventful. Really good fun and pretty much most riders rode back up to the top to do the whole section again! After a pit stop at a lovely local pub for a pint and some pork scratchings we finally crossed back over the downs to follow over the hill tops with a long descent back down towards Alfriston. At which point we managed to loose Ken and Kerrie, but safe to say they eventually made it back to the car park. That'll teach Ken for zooming off as always! Conclusion It was nice of Gary to lay out some new routes to mix it up and although we had ridden this same route in the previous year we took alternative trails this time round which kept it fresh. With thanks to Gary in particular for leading the ride. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it and really look forward to coming back here again. All in all a great ride with only the odd puncture. The electric bikes were spot on and performed immensely well as always! The next electric bike ride will be at Ranmore Common at the end of August. Already live on the club events section, you can sign up now. We will of course publish all the photos of this ride on the ebikeshop club page in the next few days, donât forget to tag yourself in them. The E-Bikeshop Owners Club is a closed group of riders, if you have purchased a eBike from us and want to get involved, please get in touch.
On Sunday 26th June we held another successful E-Bikeshop Owners Club Ride. At one of the clubs favourite trail centers - Swinley Forest in Bracknell, Surrey. We met for 10:30am in the main car park. A initial brief with all riders and we were straight onto the Blue route at Swinley forest, the Blue is a family orientated trail and gives us a good chance to warm up. Great to see some old faces back out for the Summer rides! We filled the trail as usual with our whole crew, the group quickly evens out with the fastest riders at the front and naturally through to the back with each rider's ability and fitness level. The Blue route is mainly man made trails which undulate across the forest with high banked berms, climbs and descents. Every time we visit Swinley Forest the trails change as the trial builders open new sections and close old sections. It had been raining the week before, but fortunately the forest is well drained / looked after and the trails were fast and smooth as usual, it's a great place to ride all year round! We followed the Blue trail for approx 4 miles before joining onto the Red. The Red is a little more technical with some more natural sections, fast flowy, lots of berms, small table top jumps and segmented sections that cross fire roads in between, which is a great chance to regroup and have a quick rest. As we found out alst time the 'Jump Gulley' is now closed so we skipped passing this on this occasion and followed the red all the way to the downhill sections in the middle at the top of the hill. Many riders had 2-3 rides down different runs, each offering something different in terrain. The best bit about being on the eBikes is being able to swiftly climb back to the top after each descent so we could get a few runs in before continuing onto the Red trail. After a quick rest stop, a natter and a chance for everyone to catch up we continued to follow the Red trail which goes on for approx 11 miles, before joining back onto the Blue section and head back. The last bit of the Blue is really fun with really fast flowy sections that whisk down the side of many hills, after rising the Red for many miles, you can ride the Blue with ease and just enjoy the trails at a faster pace. Conclusion We all made it back safe and sound to the cafe. After a long ride which travelled approx 16 miles with lots of ascents and descents a much needed cup of coffee and slice of cake was in order for the team to build the energy levels back up. No mechanical issues at all on this ride which was great, kept the group fast flowing, a couple of off's but fortunately everyone was back on their feet and no injuries sustained. All in all a great ride with a great bunch of guys. Really looking forward to the next one now! The next electric bike ride will be at Friston Forest at the end of July. Already live on the club events section, you can sign up now. We will of course publish all the photos of this ride on the ebikeshop club page in the next few days, donât forget to tag yourself in them. The E-Bikeshop Owners Club is a closed group of riders, if you have purchased a eBike from us and want to get involved, please get in touch.
In May we all got together again for a very sunny E-Bikeshop Owners Club ride across Peaslake in the beautiful Surrey Hills. A great day out on the electric mountain bikes! We met at 10:30am at Holmbury Village Hall car park. After setting the eBikes up and a brief we were ready to set off with this ride being led by Team Leader - Ken. It was quickly noticeable how many of us there were with over 20 eBikes and also 3 of the guys from the Crank Cycles race team joined us to see if the super fit guys could keep up with us on eBikes for the day on their analogue bikes! A couple of late arrivals set for a huge group and a mega ride. Not only did we have a great group with a mix of different riders, abilities, sex and fitness levels but we were joined by about 5 new members to the club for their first ride on their new electric mountain bikes. Out of the carpark we were met with a killer climb, in fact we climbed for what felt forever! In reality it was probably only a few miles but up steep inclines, certainly something to get warmed up with. It was apparent that we had all become very accustomed to our electric mountain bikes, in fact probably take it for granted as one of the race team guys on a normal bike was physically sick when we finally reached the peak! God I remember those old days! We then led onto a real fun jump valley with twists and turns and some easy table top jumps, some members getting more confident with each go with lots of airtime to be had on their eMTB's, even the novices had a go which was great to see and everyone enjoyed it. A few more trails and we led onto the famous Summer Lightning trail which actually goes on for miles, not many pictures here as we were all having way too much fun to think about stopping. But a fast, long fun bit of singletrack that never seems to stop. Great stuff! Half way along we stopped for a pitstop, catch up, and bite to eat. A much deserved rest stop for the Crank Cycles Team boys who had really struggled to keep up this far, but fair play to them for doing so. Also a great time to try our eBikes and make new converts! We then led onto some more modest tracks, paths and bridleways for miles to head over the Surrey hills and to the other side to see what it had to offer. This included the 'Barry Knows Best' trail which is a fast undulating trail that flows down the side of a big valley. Lots of fast technical bits to keep the heart pumping. Once over the other side of the hills, we found our way to the famous Peaslake center which offers a fantastic cafe so a great opportunity to stop for tea, coffee and a slice of cake. Some riders headed off from here to get off early, whilst 2/3 of the group then continued up back up to the top of the Surrey Hills, all the way to the top where the fantastic view (pictured in the header) can be had at the peak, here it is again incase you missed it! Then back down onto the famous 'Yoghurt Pots' with fast flowing twists and turns through lots of bomb holes is fast and fun. Along a couple fire roads to the 'Telegraph Poles' trail and then a short ride back down to the car park. Conclusion Overall a really great ride, with lots of mixed riding across fire roads, paths, trails and more techy sections. Well done to team leader Ken for leading and keeping everyone together. It was a great chance to put the electric mountain bikes through their paces and also apparent that we could cover the whole of the area in one day on eBikes being able to dart from one side to another which clearly wouldn't have been feasible / so easy on regular bikes. A big turnout and no mechanicals which always helps. Plus no accidents or falls at all on this ride so everyone came away really happy, a great day out all round with great people and fantastic weather. What could be better. So nice to see so many new faces and the continued growth of the club overall. Finally well done to the Crank Cycles Team boys for keeping up the whole day even if they did have 'jelly legs' and struggled the next day. Top work! Electric bikes next time boys eh!?.. The next electric bike ride will be at Swinley Forest at the end of June. Already live on the club events section, you can sign up now. We will of course publish all the photos of this ride on the ebikeshop club page in the next few days, donât forget to tag yourself in them. The E-Bikeshop Owners Club is a closed group of riders, if you have purchased a eBike from us and want to get involved, please get in touch.
We are pleased to announce that Bikmo Insurance has just awarded E-Bikeshop as chosen bicycle retailer of the month!.. We are proud to accept the badge of honour! Bikmo partner with some of the leading industry cycle shops to offer a premium cycle insurance designed by cyclists for cyclists! Offering policies designed specifically around riders is the key to their success. Bikmo stated: Our âRetailer of the Monthâ for June goes to one of the UKâs top destinations for power assisted bikes. As the cycle industry has seen a huge surge towards e-bikes in recent years, weâve also noticed a dramatic uptake in customers adding e-bikes onto their insurance policy at Bikmo We too have seen an uptake in our customers insuring their precious steeds. We think with higher ticket items like electric bikes it's important to know your covered and most want the added peace of mind. Let's not forget eBikes tend to be a fairly big purchase and people rely on them more, that's why it's important to offer a eBike specific policy that meets these needs. Bikmo went on to say: We visited our June âRetailer of the Monthâ in May and were super impressed with how slick their operation is. By scheduling one-to-one appointments with new customers, theyâre able to provide the utmost information and advice as well as also allowing customers to test ride the bikes before purchasing. We can now also offer live quotes at the time of purchase to give the customer an instant idea of any insurance costs associated. Many actually pleasantly surprised the relative low cost. Bikmo concluded: The after care is also top notch, and to save time and get you back on your bike quicker, these guys even deal with warranty issues in-house meaning if your battery or motor pack up, you donât have to wait for any middle-men or couriers. So, without further delayâŚâŚweâre awarding our âRetailer of the Monthâ for June toâŚ.. E-Bike Shop Thanks so much to the Bikmo team for offering such a great service and also choosing us as their retailer of the month.. Bonus! As "Retailer of the Month" our Bikmo customer discount has been increased from 5% to 10% for the next month (that's the whole of June). Find out more about the services we offer & insure your eBike today by visiting our dedicated page - Bikmo Electric Bike Insurance.
On Sunday 17th April the E-Bikeshop owners Club ventured up to Cannock Chase for a great new ride location. What a fantastic day of riding it turned out to be! Best one yet?.. Many of us ventured up to Birmingham the night before and stayed at the Hilton hotel. We met for dinner on the Saturday night, followed by drinks and a good night's sleep (apart from the fire alarm going off at 5am in the morning!). Breakfast served @ 8am and then ready to ride. As a few of the fellow owners club members tend to travel down south we thought it only fair we schedule in a ride further north to even the odds. We are glad we did! We saw a few new faces which was great as always and some new technical terrain to ride. We met in the car park for 10:30am. After some new bike handovers and a natter fellow member Bernie briefed us for the day's ride. We nominated him team leader (because Ken wasn't there) because this is Bernie's home ground, so he knew his way around! We also invited Alex from eMTB coaching along to ride as this is also a local one to him, so nice to be led around this time. Top work chaps! A couple of us were on brand new bikes too so eager keen to get them setup, bed them in and start enjoying the trails. Out the car park and we were straight onto the Red trail which is essentially a big figure of 8 with a road crossing at the centre. The trail led straight out onto some boardwalk wooden structures which were fun and fast rolling, then onto some twistier singletrack. Lots of small rock gardens, small drops and tight twists made for a fun and flowy ride. Following on we entered 'Devils Staircase' which was fast looping turns down the side of the hill with small drops which made for exciting more eventful riding. After a short break, we crossed the road onto some climbing. In fact I think it was called 'Lung Buster' which was a long gradual climb to the top with tight trees to manoeuvre your bars through. Fortunately we are all on eBikes so the climb was fun over strenuous and we were up to the top in no time to enjoy the views. The next trail was great - The Monkey Trail. In fact we all decided to climb back up and do it again, lots of long sweeping berms and bumps you could get some decent air off if carrying enough speed. Here's a quick video of the strenuous climb: We then rode a few more singletrack sections before getting back to the road crossing and stopping for a cake and coffee. At this point (what usually happens) a few chaps were inquisitive about the eBikes so we let them have a quick go followed by smiles and a 'where can I get one of these?'. Then we crossed back over the bridge to complete the remaining sections that Cannock had to offer. Some more technical trails with small slab rock drops, tight trees and small wooden boardwalk crossings made for miles of fun all the way back to the visitor center. Conclusion In total we travelled approx 16 miles including the few trails we went back and did again, it's fair to say we had absolutely amazing weather with blue skies and the sun shining all day! Everyone absolutely loved it and we'll definitely be going back again soon. We had a couple of mishaps including one mechanical (quickly resolved) and a couple of falls, but everyone got straight back up and made it home safely. I think it's fair to say it had been one of the best rides yet! A great bunch of people although we were missing a couple of regulars (due to injury). All in all we had a great time with great company. Really looking forward to visiting Cannock Chase again. The next ride will be at Peaslake at the end of May. Already live on the club events section, you can sign up now. We will of course publish all the photos of this ride on the club page in the next few days, donât forget to tag yourself in them. The E-Bikeshop Owners Club is a closed group of riders, if you have purchased a eBike from us and want to get involved, please get in touch.
On Sunday 27th March the E-Bikeshop Owners Club visited Aston Hill bike park. Of which turned out to be a wet & muddy ride around the XC track and around the surrounding forest. We all met in the main car park @ 10:30am. Aston Hill is a paid site, so after we all paid up and got the bikes setup, a quick briefing followed and we were ready for action. I counted 13 riders in total, so good to see so many people out on a rainy day. It was also great to see a few new faces, as the club grows this seems to be a common theme, so it's nice to meet new people and share the same passion we have for riding. It also makes for a mix of abilities to go out riding together. The plan was to head out and follow onto the green marked XC route to get warmed up. Then a few members could attack the DH sections if they were feeling ambitious. Unfortunately a wrong turn lead us straight onto a black run and thus a rather tricky descent down to the bottom of the hill. It's worth mentioning it had been raining non-stop the day before and the sticky mud / chalk conditions made it hard to even walk down the side of the hill, let alone ride the trails! I get the feeling a few of the new members were thinking: "What the hell have we signed up for!". Fortunately we all made it to the bottom (some sliding down on their backside I might add!). At the bottom a quick regroup led straight onto the Green XC trail. Which was much to the delight of many! I must admit at this point it was raining further and even the short steep climbs of the cross country route led for some tricky spots. A long climb to the top meant we could enjoy a little of the single track as we snaked up the hill. Fellow member Bernie's bike decided to play up at this point, fortunately we were on hand to rectify a small issue at the top, but it left him somewhat out of breath to say the least! As we were all sopping wet, the XC route was almost to the point of being un-rideable as they were so sloppy wet decided for a quick change of gloves and jackets at the main car park and led into the woods opposite for a longer run over some more natural terrain. This took in a mixture of road, bridlepath and forestry tracks. One track in particular was fast flowing and led to lots of mud splatter. Literally some were unrecognisable at the bottom of this trail! It's all part of it I suppose and glad everyone got stuck in! Unfortunately about an hour in the group was split at a junction and we got completely lost as one group went one way and the other another way. This led to a load of confusion with people darting off as we were trying to communicate and re-group. At this point we had covered many miles and we were at the limits of the bikes, so we managed to find a road and coordinate everyone to meet in a local town. On arrival we all had a well deserved bacon sarnie and much desired hot chocolate. Before a short road ride back to the main car park. Conclusion This ride was unlike no other! For one the weather was not on our side, as everyone knows this can spoil a ride before it's started. The trails had not had a chance to drain and this left a lot of sloppy mud everywhere we rode. The fact that we all got split up didn't help either. A lesson learned on this one I think. On the plus side we all returned safely and at least managed to get some miles under the belt. Plus not forgetting the social side and a good natter in between! Finally well done to the Cooke's in particular - Alli, Nigel & Julia done so well. We thank you for staying well spirited, keeping up morale & continuing to ride the duration of the ride. The next ride will be different - Promise! Really looking forward to the next ride, which will be at Cannock Chase at the end of next month. Already live on the club events section, you can sign up now. We will of course publish all the photos of this ride on the club page in the next few days, donât forget to tag yourself in them. The E-Bikeshop Owners Club is a closed group of riders, if you have purchased a eBike from us and want to get involved, please get in touch.
On Sunday 28th February the E-Bikeshop Owners Club visited Bedgebury Forest Trail Center for the first time on an action packed day of riding across the Kent single track & XC. We all met in the main car park for 10:30am and after a quick setup on the bikes and a ride brief we set off. A couple of the owners club members had arrived early and already got a lap in before we set off, which was good because we could decide on which route to take. It was nice to see some new faces on this ride too, with some owners not long owning their new electric bikes so excited to get out and explore to put their new steeds through their paces and of course mingle with other eBikers. We all share the same passion! We decided to cut out the Blue section as this was mainly a family route consisting of flat fire roads, so we set off and after a short ride up a couple of tracks we were onto the red. A new member to the club was able to offer some guidance as this was his local trail center, so it was nice to be able to have someone confirm the routes etc, made day easier, thanks! It's noticeable that Bedgebury has spent some money on restoring the trails and it's clear a lot of hard work has gone into the routes. On the first bit of singletrack we entered their was fast rolling berms, a rock garden and short switchbacks. This set the pace for the day. Fun! The red route is approx 13km (8 miles), there is also a Black section that leads off the Red as you cross a fire road, we decided that we'd do the standard Red trail once, then go round and do it again to include some of the Black sections the second time round. Halfway round the Red it was noticeable that although the forest is a fairly small place and not hugely hilly, the actual terrain / gradients were actually pretty tiring, the routes plotted through the trees were marked out well with plenty of signposts and trail start and end checkpoints. The guys have done a great job reforming this trail center. Some trails had man made rock gardens within them, some downhill, some flatter and some were on gradient. The uphill rock gardens were surprisingly tricky as they zapped most of your energy, fortunately we all had the extra grunt of the eBikes to help out! After a lap of the Red we had a little break to natter and chill and then set off for another lap. First we followed some directions to the 'Bike Park' but unfortunately on arrival it's clear it was no longer had had been flattened some time ago. Fortunately we had the extended Black sections to think about and keep the excitement flowing. At one point Ken was lagging behind and as we waited decided to show off his wheelie skills, at this point (when everyone was watching) he decided to pop a wheelie straight off the side of the trail and ended up.. You guessed it spilled on the floor. More practice next time ken! The Black sections were not that hard to be fair. Albeit the big rock entrances and a few smallish drops here and there, everyone enjoyed them! A few places on the red were really flowy with high berms and switchbacks, this was real fun to blast down and at one point we had a massive flowing train from top to bottom consisting of about 15 riders. It's worth noting we took a avid MTB'r & non eBiker out with us on this ride. His impression before getting on the bike was the typical "your all cheats" (never ridden and eBike mentality) after 5 hours of riding his words were: Once dialled in, you're tearing up the trails. Great fun, grinning from ear to ear! Finally we took the 'Cake Run' that followed back down to the car park. This run was excellent and really fast, with lots of twists and turns and mini jumps. Once of which goes between two trees and you hold your breath as the handlebars only just seem to fit between them! Conclusion Throughout the whole day we didn't have any mechanicals, not even 1 puncture. Which was ace! The weather was once again on our side, we warmed up fairly quickly on the trails and the sun made an appearance on a few occasions too. At the end we were a few short who had to dart off early, but we stuck the bikes aside and grabbed a coffee and cake at the fabulous lake setting next to the car park. It was good to catch up with everyone and share a little banter of the day's riding. It's safe to say we were all pretty zonked after this one, the route wasn't massively long but it was certainly tiring! Really looking forward to the next ride, which will be at Aston Hill Bike Park. Already live on the club events section, you can sign up now. We will of course publish all the photos of this ride on the club page in the next few days, donât forget to tag yourself in them. The E-Bikeshop Owners Club is a closed group of riders, if you have purchased a eBike from us and want to get involved, please get in touch.
On Sunday 31st January 2016 the E-Bikeshop Owners Club visited Peaslake to check out some new hidden trails that we had not ridden before. A fun filled day with a great turnout. We met at Holmbury village hall at 10.30am where there was enough parking for us all to gather. After setting the bikes up and a quick brief we were all excited to set off and get riding. For a late Jan ride we had 13 people attend this ride with a couple of new faces included too. This ride was led by fellow E-Bikeshop Owners Club member Ken also part of the 100% club!. Ken and Chris ride the Peaslake area frequently, it's their local play heaven, so they had planned out a new route for us to tackle that also included two new trails! This time of year the trails can get very muddy, we had plenty of rain in the previous week and a late January ride was set to be a sticky one. Considering it was supposed to be raining all day, the weather actually held off and we didn't see a spec of rain all day, awesome! The first climb out of the car park was a little ambitious, with a steep climb over slippery mud, it set the par of what to expect, but to our surprise the trials were impressively flowy with only sticky parts in some places. We rode up to a the famous 'Yoghurt Pots' trail first which to our surprise was actually closed for trail maintenance. So we then headed straight over to 'Telegraph Row' which we have done before in the summer but this time round the terrain was a lot different and it almost felt like a completely different ride. This then led onto a new really slippery trail that cambered through the trees and ended with a muddy bog which I don't think anyone actually managed to pedal out of! Unfortunately a time to rest naturally came at the end of this trail and club member Bernie had a puncture. So after a quick pitstop and some arm pumping inflating a new tube, we were back up and riding in no time. After a few short climbs we headed over to the 'Barry Knows Best' trail. Which we all loved last time we were here. The trails had loosened up a little since we last visited, but despite the soggy ground, the trail was still fast and flowy with lots of berns, twists and turns down the side of the hill with some extra jump additions should you wish to take that line. We all enjoyed it so much most of us decided to ride back up and do it again, whilst some stayed at the bottom to catch some breath and a few snaps. From here we then crossed the road and headed up a killer climb called 'Heart Attack'. Yes, you can guess why it's called this, it really is a shocker. Fortunately we all made it up on the eBikes, but it's still hard going even with the assist! Once at the top we rode a short distance over to a new trail Chris and Ken had found that darted off in a sly opening in the trees. It's one of those trails you could easily ride past without noticing, fortunately we had the boys local knowledge as we navigated down this one! This trail was a little more demanding with fast flows, drops and jumps should you wish to ride it fast. If not you can easily navigate around them. We played here for a while as a few of the members quickly gained confidence and decided to practice some air time! This trail was fantastic, we actually rode up from the bottom and did it again, that's the beauty of being on eBikes I suppose! You can tackle the climb again to find the fun descents and repeat them as many times as possible! From here we took some more trails over to the Peaslake village store to grab some refreshments. At this point, Ken decided he had left his keys at the top of the last trail, and asked to pinch my brand new Lapierre 2016 bike I was testing to blast over and find the keys. A while later he returned with a smile on his face, at this point I thought he had found the keys, but he said they weren't up there! We later established they were in his bag the whole time! A great ploy to get some extra ride time on my new test pilot! After a slice of cake, coffee and of course a natter we headed back up the hill and rode 'Barry Knows Best' for another time, we then headed over to 'Yoghurt Pots' to find it was back open so we had a blast going down that. Finally a few of us extended to route to include one more trail that involved a demanding climb to get to, but once at the top we enjoyed a fast long trail back down to meet the others back at the car park. Conclusion All in all it was a fab ride with the usual lot and some new faces which was nice. It's great to see so many out on the bikes in January, it'd be easy to take a pass when looking out the window, but the weather held off and we all had a blast! It's worth noting the ride didn't go trouble free, we had a couple of mechanicals: 1 Puncture, 1 snapped chain link & one bent hanger. Ken also had an error on his bike, but we think it's because he rides too fast! Many thanks to all who came, glad everyone enjoyed it, a special thanks to Chris and Ken for leading the ride, the banter and being such all round great chaps. Really looking forward to the next ride, of which we are already planning for... We will of course publish all the photos on the club page in the next few days, don't forget to tag yourself in them. The E-Bikeshop Owners Club is a closed group of riders, if you have purchased a eBike from us and want to get involved, please get in touch.
We are proud to announce a new world electric bike long distance record has now been set by e-bikeshop.co.uk sponsored - The E-Bike Cycle Tourists. After 901 hours of e-biking over 220 days at an average of 75 kilometres per day across 12 countries, the e-bikeshop.co.uk-sponsored e-Bike Cycle Tourists have set a new world e-bike long distance record. On January 20 Gary and Rachel Corbett passed the old mark of 16,047kms (9971 miles) â which was set by German Maximilian Semsch who circumnavigated Australia in 2012 â in the Algarve region of Portugal to officially claim the coveted world long distance e-bike record as their own. Over the past nine months they have cycled through England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Holland, Spain and Portugal and are due to fly to Cyprus in early February where they will continue cycling while waiting out their Schengen and UK visa exclusion period. Far from calling it quits now that they have claimed the record, Gary and Rachel have recommitted to continue cycling, with the aim now to have cycled at least 25,000 kilometres by the time they return to Australia in August 2016. From there the plan at this stage is to continue e-biking in Australia during the Australian 2016/17 summer before travelling to the USA in 2017 to continue their record-breaking ride. With at least two more years of e-biking in front of them, who knows what their kilometre total will be when they finally call it quits! The bottom line, Gary said, was to eventually set a record that will take someone else a âhell of a lot of cycling to breakâ. The e-Bike Cycle Tourists chose to ride Haibike xDuro Trekking RX E-Bikes with the Bosch Performance crank drive motor and 400wh battery system for the record attempt and are towing Tout Terrain Mule single wheel trailers. Since setting out from the e-bikeshop.co.uk shop in Farnham on April 23, 2015, Gary said both of their Haibike Trekking e-bikes had performed brilliantly and had not missed a beat while riding across all sorts of terrain in temperatures ranging from below freezing to more than 40 degrees. âWhile we have gone through a lot of consumable items such as brake pads, brake rotors, tyres, chains, chain cassettes, rear wheels and a Sram hub, the Bosch performance crank drive motor and Haibike e-bike combination on both bikes has not missed a beat, it has been amazing,â he said. The only thing that had to be replaced was a Bosch controller on one of the bikes and this was only after it was damaged after the e-bike fell over. Wherever and whenever possible during their travels Gary and Rachel have promoted e-bikes as a fun, healthy and environmentally friendly form of transport. They said the interest in their e-bike long distance record attempt had been overwhelming, with people at times queuing up to talk to them about their trip and their Haibike e-bikes/Tout Terrain trailer combination. âWe have also done radio interviews, have been featured in several newspaper stories and in specialist e-bike/cycling magazines, the interest in our trip has been amazing,â Gary said. âWe have also had people â mostly in the over 40 age bracket â who have emailed us to tell us that we are an âinspirationâ and that our trip has motivated them to purchase an e-bike and to start cycling after a break of many years or to switch from a traditional bike to an e-bike. âThis is fantastic given that all we are doing is what we love to do â cycle, but I guess we have proven that if two people of our age â 60 and 57 â can set a world e-bike long distance record, then e-bikes are suitable for anyone of any age â no matter what distances are cycled.â Both Gary and Rachel also said they were personally delighted to have set a new world e-bike record after cycling for an average of 75 kilometres per day during 220 days of cycling. With just six days of wet weather cycling during that time, Rachel said they had been incredibly lucky with the weather. âI think we are the only people in history who have cycle toured in Scotland and never saw rain,â she joked. âWe also only had one day of rain in Ireland, which was amazing given the dire predictions before we arrived from so many people of what we could expect from the weather.â Above all else the e-Bike Cycle Tourists claim they are delighted to have proven conclusively that it is possible to go long distance cycle touring on an e-bike. Gary said they were told by many people before they set off that what they were planning was not possible due to the daily drama of having to charge their e-bike batteries given the decision not to carry a back-up solar charging system. âWhile it is true that we did have reservations before setting out about how easy it would be to find mains electricity outlets on a daily basis to charge our Bosch batteries, the truth of the matter is that we should never have worried,â Gary said. We discovered that there are always many charging options available from campgrounds, cafes, friendly farmers, e-bike charging stations and even when all else failed from people whose doors we knocked on. When you have to get out of your comfort zone to get your batteries charged it is amazing how many wonderful people you meet who you would otherwise have never spoken to. âOn different occasions this led to complete strangers offering us accommodation, meals, showers, coffees, maps, bike servicing and in Ireland a call out was even put out over Facebook for the e-bike community to show us a ârealâ Irish welcome. The result was a long list of people throughout Ireland who selflessly offered all sorts of assistance. âWe have had such an amazing time over the past nine months that we donât want to stop, we intend to keep pedalling and to continue to promote everything that is great about e-biking.â With thanks to both Gary & Rachel (The e-Bike Cycle Tourists) above for the interview.
December saw another E-Bikeshop Owners Ride. This one was different, between xmas & new year everyone was eager to get out on the electric mountain bikes, we had to excite! As many of the owners club were busy in the run up to Christmas we planned to join forces with Alex @ eMTB Coaching who was also running a social ride that day. Alex is a friend of the club and we have spent many a ride with his coaching company. The last set in Wales for a day's training and fun on the Welsh slopes. That's a whole other story, but it was great, so deserves a mention. This will actually be the third time the club appeared back at Swinley this year, but it's so much fun, everyone was up for it. With trail changes, weather and different lines, Swinley Forest trails just keep on giving! Anyway, back to the ride.. Getting started We all met in the main car park at Swinley Forest, Bracknell for 10am to promptly set off. Everyone was eager to get out on the trial and burn off some of the calories earned over the xmas week. First up was the mild Blue trail. It was clear from the off that the group was just far too big, with many 'analogue' bikers out too. The trails quickly become clogged, so we took the decision to split from the main group and let some leeway so we could all ride at our own pace. This was good because it meant we were not waiting around or getting stuck on the trails behind other bikers. We followed the Blue route for many miles before splitting off and then joining the Red trail half way round. The Red trail offers slightly harsher terrain and is a little more technical. Onto the Red trail Last time we visited the first part of the Red trail, the 'Tank Traps' section of the trail was closed for felling. Fortunately this time round it was back open so we could enjoy the tight twists and turns on offer. We returned to 'Jump Gulley' half way round the red trail to find to our disappointment it had been flattened out. We played in this for quite a while on our last visit with lots of table top jumps and drops. The forestry commission saw far too many accidents and had to take the decision to close this part of the trail center. This then followed onto the top of the hill, from here you can continue the Red route, but we decided to have a few runs down the downhill sections first. Everyone enjoyed it so much we ended up taking in some new sections of the trails we had never done before. One of which was set down the middle with lots of 'rollable' jumps and twists. We must do this again on the next visit! Conclusion We continued for many more miles along the Red tail and finally joined back on the Blue to follow back to the carpark. Even the Blue trail has some high berms and twists. Swinley really does offer a lot, even though some of us had ridden here many times before, you can take different lines and learn new sections. We were having so much fun, we all forgot to take as many photos as normal so apologies for the shorter ride report this time. The ride landed us back to the main carpark where we enjoyed some hot coffee and as always some decent eBike natter! Fellow E-Bikeshop Owners will be pleased to know the next ride is now live. So make sure to sign up, it'll be a blast! See everyone at the end of January. The E-Bikeshop Owners Club is a closed group of riders, if you have purchased a eBike from us and want to get involved, please get in touch.