Last year entries were up 20%, this year entries are running 50% up again! Perhaps a sign that people are planning to spend more riding time in the UK, Hell of the North is already full...

The event is a great ride across the open hills of the Welsh borders and attracts riders from all over the country and abroad. Our riders return year after year to pit themselves against the demanding routes which vary each year. The route is across open moorland tracks available for the event by express permission of some really nice landowners which allows the smallest proportion of road for any single loop off road event in England and Wales.

The atmosphere is delightfully laid back and welcoming. The marshals are really friendly and helpful. The family friendly campsite is on the edge Hergest Ridge, above the tiny market town of Kington on the welsh border and has wonderful views of the surrounding hills.

The event costs £27.50 for advance entry, which includes camping, event tee shirt and post ride meal, courtesy of Wilfs! Visit the website ( roughride.co.uk ) for further details and entry

from BikeBiz

Industry sees first hot summer in three years; Concerns raised over whether stock levels will match demand for certain sectors

The UK looks set to see its first hot summer since 2006, but will the UK cycle trade be able to take advantage of increased consumer demand?

The Met Office’s forecast is decidedly bike-friendly, with temperatures in excess of 30°C predicted to sweep the UK.

While not ruling out the chance of some heavy downpours, the Met Office said that the forecast is rosy for the summer: "After two disappointingly-wet summers, the signs are much more promising this year,” said Ewen McCallum, chief meteorologist at the Met Office.

“We can expect times when temperatures will be above 30°C, something we hardly saw at all last year."

And the cycling industry is poised to make the most of it, with a raft of events – including Bike Week – and the chance to boost sales too.

Madison CEO Dominic Langan cautiously welcomed the news: “If this hot summer happens it will undoubtedly impact positively on sales.”

Distributor Zyro also added that the weather was good news for the trade. “Good weather most certainly boosts sales, but we have experienced a good Q1 already despite the slow start to the summer so far. At this point, market indicators tell us Zyro’s retailers will have a strong summer season,” said a Zyro spokesperson.

Leisure Lakes’ Nottingham store owner Andy Ramsdale believes the weather is a bigger factor for retailers than the recession: “I’d say that generally the biggest influencing factor on whether or not it’s a good year is the weather. We seem to be more affected by the climate than the economic situation.”

ACT research has also confirmed the boost that sunny days can provide, as Mark Brown told BikeBiz: “The industry is dominated by the weather. We published a report last year which found, unsurprisingly, that the warmer and drier it gets the more bikes get sold.”

STOCK CONCERNS?

But while the Met Office is predicting a scorcher of a summer, fears have risen over whether the distribution network has enough stock of certain bike categories to cope. Supplies are believed to have been kept low due to the recession, plus price hikes forced by the pound’s falling strength. Should levels prove low during a sales surge brought about by hot weather, then IBDs could be left with a stock shortfall.

An ACT report revealed that over half the retailers surveyed note significant shortages.

Compton Cycles owner Chris Compton told BikeBiz he has already encountered problems: “It’s frustrating that in some areas – particularly road bikes between

£500 and £1,000 – there is no stock available. But it does give IBDs chance to clear stock.”

Bike store Cycledealia’s Brett Sanders added: “Availability is going to be a big issue this summer, especially on road bikes ranging from £500 to £800.”

Sandy Wallace Cycles’ sales manager David Wardell said he’d already found that key bikes had sold out from some suppliers, but added that it wasn’t causing him undue concern: “The models that have sold out can be replaced by other suppliers and I have placed forward order’s to guarantee bikes till August.

“I will continue to monitor the stock situation forward ordering bikes and looking at alternative models if any sell out. With our main bike suppliers emailing stock reports and having B2B site’s this can be done 7days a week and out of office hours.

“My only concern is that shops start to panic buy, forward ordering more bikes then they need 'just in case' suppliers sell out. This seemed to happen at Christmas with suppliers saying they had sold out to then have bikes back in stock after the last date to cancel orders passed,” Wardell added.

Madison CEO Langan told BikeBiz: “At Madison we put a great deal of effort into managing inventory and have a fair amount of scope for handling and reacting to sales surges greater than those planned for.

“It is notoriously hard to predict for longer lead time products like bikes. Mid-to-late summer is effectively season end when stocks are designed to run out. A good season means bikes sell out early and a poor one means that there is availability throughout. The game is to guess it right – and a year in advance!”

Zyro also assured the trade that it was well prepared with reliable product availability: “We have absolutely no concerns regarding supply and demand. Fortunately, we have a stable and strong inventory process and have already – as always – geared up for the season anyway. We are fortunate that all the brand partners we work with all have the most reliable availability of product.

“Our biggest strength as a distributor is our ability to service our customers and ensure supply meets the demand, and we work very closely with our customers to ensure we can assist them to buy what they need, when they need it.”
 

The Welsh assembly has revealed an ambitious plan to get Wales cycling and walking.

At the end of last month the body unveiled its four-year blueprint at the Millennium Centre, which aims to incorporate cycling and walking into the everyday lives of Welsh citizens.

Initiatives and new policies will help the Welsh assembly achieve its aims, including tripling the number of people who bike to work.

Cycling and walking will be prioritised in public transport investments, employers will be given more incentives to offer employees – including a tax-free bike purchase scheme, a new National Standard for cycle training will be introduced, and local authorities will be called on to provide and maintain high quality routes and facilities for cyclists.

Welsh double gold Paralympic cyclist Simon Richardson MBE and Australian Paralympian cycling medallist Jayme Paris attending the official unveiling of the WAG Walking and Cycling Action Plan 2009-2013.

The event also highlighted that the Australian Paralympic team will base their holding camp in Wales for the 2012 Olympic games.

Welsh deputy first minister Wyn Jones launched the plan at the Centre: “More walking and biking in Wales is a win-win situation on all fronts. It will ease congestion, lower emissions and address growing obesity levels.

“If levels of activity increase we will have a healthier nation. Surveys show that 57 per cent of adults in Wales are either overweight or obese. We can transform this through making changes to our daily lives.”

No doubt for a future encore he will join King Canute and turn back the tides. Impossible is not a word he either recognizes or acknowledges.

About to turn 37 next week, Armstrong is intent on becoming the oldest Tour de France winner in history next summer after fully three years out of the sport. Don't bet against him. There is a comic book quality to Armstrong's sporting life that rules nothing out and makes the extraordinary seem mundane

Two major thoughts occur. Armstrong has clearly missed the Tour desperately and has manifestly failed to fill the void in his life that retirement prised open. Frankly, that was always on the cards. He devoted his sporting life to the Tour de France - not just 23 days every July - and winning the Tour was a 24/7 preoccupation for the other eleven months every year.

No rider has ever targeted the Tour with such a single minded obsession, even his detractors have to concede that, and his days must have seemed empty in recent years. He will have badly missed his team-mates and even the Peloton banter, albeit if he used to dish out plenty of stick to lesser mortals.

By all accounts he remains a doting father to his three children, he has worked hard with his own Cancer Foundation and kept in shape running marathons and messing around on his mountain bike.

There have also been a series of high profile relationships - Sheryl Crow, fashion designer Tory Burch and actress Kate Hudson - in the aftermath of his divorce to wife Kirsten, but in the three years since he 'retired' nothing has brought him complete fulfilment and certainly nothing has remotely sated his smouldering competitive instincts.

Secondly, he 'ended' his Tour de France career entirely on his terms, after a seventh consecutive, almost routine win. Before his cancer he was vulnerable, after coming back in 1999 he never cracked, not once. The Tour never defeated him, either physically or mentally.

Article from the [ Telegragh ]