Metro blind sport has been cycling “side by side” for five weeks and show no signs of slowing down!
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Category: News
Bike Week 2022 Delivered by Cycling UK
This year Bike Week is all about you and your local community, we want to encourage as many people as possible to get out there and enjoy their community by bike. We want you to dream big and imagine how your community could be improved if everyone in it used their bikes more, together we can make a better world by bike.
These last few years have seen a lot of change, many people took up cycling or rediscovered it, dusting off that old bike sitting in the shed to get out there again. Some for exercise, some for commuting to work, to go to the shops or even just to be able to see friends and family. The bike can give everyone freedom, freedom to choose how to travel and how to live their lives better and healthier.
So this Bike Week from 6-12 June let’s really celebrate cycling, it’s our chance to all come together and tell the UK that cycling is the answer to many questions – how can I help myself? My community? My county? My planet?
The Recovery Zone sponsored by MyoMaster at The National Cycling Show
Come and see leading sports recovery brand, MyoMaster, offering you the very best recovery products to keep you ahead. Founded by Harlequins rugby player, Joe Gray and avid runner, Lottie Whyte to provide everyday athletes with the ultimate everyday recovery, their products give you the power to train harder.
Offering the strongest and quietest percussive massage therapy guns on the market and the most powerful pneumatic compression in the world, MyoMaster’s products are a must-try.
Visit the Recovery Zone sponsored by MyoMaster on stand G70 at the show.
Your next cycling challenge awaits with Sports Tours International
Sports Tours International has been sending cyclists and cycling fans to the biggest sportives and professional races on the planet for decades. From the Tour de France and five monuments of cycling to the toughest mountain sportives, Sports Tours offers the most comprehensive range of cycling trips in the business.
As the UK’s number one cycling tour operator, Sports Tours International is delighted to be a gold sponsor of the National Cycling Show. Make sure you visit stand J54 to claim an exclusive show offer on packages to Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders. You can also enter a free competition to win a dream cycling trip and spin a wheel of fortune with hundreds of prizes up for grabs. Pre-book an appointment with the Sports Tours team below and you could be a step closer to finding your once-in-a-lifetime cycling trip.
Graystone prepares to bring a piece of their park to the National Cycling Show
Graystone is the Home of Action Sports and we’re stoked to be bringing a little piece of our park to the National Cycling Show for the first time. Our super-talented bike and BMX coaches will be offering free ‘Intro to Freestyle Biking’ sessions for total newbies or those who want to brush up on their freestyle skills, led by our Head Coach, Rob Sidlow. Come by our stand to sign up for the skills sessions or just to say ‘hi’ and learn more about why we are known as ‘The Home of Action Sports’.
National Cycling Show announces Eovolt as a new exhibitor
At Eovolt, we want to make your travels enjoyable again and reinvent urban mobility. And to do that, we needed inspiration. Our inspiration is you. To make you free, more mobile, more spontaneous. To make you enjoy your trips. To become your mobility partner from morning to night. It is for you that we design lightweight, folding, durable, powerful bikes inspired by French excellence and uncompromising on safety. At Eovolt, we believe that the journey is as important as the destination. And we are equally sure, that it’s time to put the fun back into travelling. We will reinvent mobility with the same ease that our bikes fold.
EOVOLT is a French brand whose production site is based in the Lyon region. All our bikes are assembled by hand, by a team of cycling professionals. We ensure that each product meets our high quality standards and we are meticulous in our choice of the various components that we use as well as the partners with whom we work.
Bike Clinic feature announced for the National Cycling Show
The Bike Clinic brought to you by Spokes People, your Cytech Training Provider will be on hand in The Bike Clinic D70 throughout the show to answer your questions and give advice on bike repairs, tools and equipment!
Cytech is the internationally recognised training and accreditation scheme for bicycle technicians, delivering training and promotion of technical skills to the cycle trade and enthusiasts worldwide. Courses encompass the basics of cycle mechanics right through to dealing with the most advanced and high-tech components and parts, and the journey starts with Theory one. Cytech theory one is an online learning course delivering an introduction to bicycle maintenance that can be completed anywhere, in your own time – you can even try the first module for free! There’s also currently a National Cycling Show offer of £50 off the full course until the end of June.
SHOW OFFER – SAVE £50 WITH CODE NCS22 – www.cytechtheoryone.co.uk
Thousands of cyclists to attend inaugural National Cycling Show at NEC, Birmingham
The National Cycling Show will see thousands of cyclists of all abilities come together on the 18th and 19th of June at the NEC, Birmingham for the inaugural Cycling event from Raccoon Events. The weekend event will play host to incredible speakers including Sir Chris Hoy, Dame Sarah Storey, Dani Rowe, Matty Turner, Kye White and Dan, Rachel and Gee Atherton as well as over 100 top brands and a plethora of incredible interactive features.
These famous faces will be part of a jam-packed schedule on the Inspiration Stage sponsored by V12 Retail Finance and the Cycling 101 Stage sponsored by Cycling UK. The show will open at 9am on Saturday and Sunday with content on both stages running until 5pm. Content across both stages is free of charge to enter.
This premier retail event will play host to over 100 brands giving cyclists access to both well-known and well-loved names and some boutique brands they may not have yet encountered. The show will feature bikes, kit and tech from brands including MiRider, Stolen Goat, BLB, Aventon, 6KU, Kuma Bikes, Estarli, Shand, dhb, Eovolt, Arcc, Atheron, Sports Tours International, Freewheel Holidays, Huffy, Vaast, Niner and many more. Visitors will have exclusive opportunities to win bikes from brands including Huffy, MiRider and Eskute live at the event as well as exclusive product launches and show promotions across the two days.
As well as a packed lineup and incredible retailing, the event gives access to some exciting features run by experts in the field including The Recovery Zone with MyoMaster, The Wellness for Cyclists Zone from Yogi Bare and Kitbrix, MTB/BMX feature from Fusion Extreme, The Bike Clinic from Spokes People and a Freestyle Zone from Graystone Action Sports as well as an incredible Street Veledrome.
6-time OLY gold medallist and National Cycling Show speaker, Sir Chris Hoy, commented: “I am delighted to be speaking at The National Cycling Show. Being able to share my experiences, the highs, the lows and everything in between and inspire others to get on their bike and experience all that cycling has to offer, is an honour. Exercise, health and mental wellbeing have never been higher on the agenda and for me, and many others, cycling offers an escape, a release and that well-known Cyclist’s high that not only promotes health but also improves confidence and all-round mental and physical well-being. I look forward to meeting both new and experienced cyclists at the show in June and hope that my story might inspire experienced riders to dream big and absolute beginners to jump on their bike and get started.”
Steve Morgan, MD at Raccoon Active Events commented: “This show is set to cement itself as the highlight of the Cycling calendar – a place to prepare, inspire and kit yourself out for a fantastic summer spent cycling. We are delighted to be able to bring some many incredible names, brands and experiences under one roof, building a community of people with one common passion.”
Tickets cost £10 for a weekend pass and can be purchased in advance or on the day. To buy online head to https://nationalcyclingshow.seetickets.com/tour/the-national-cycling-show. For more information, visit https://nationalcyclingshow.com/ or check our full list of sponsors and exhibitors.
dhb blog: Eleanor Dickinson- My life after professional cycling
In
initially, when I put the idea forwards for my first dhb blog to be all about life after professional cycling, I thought, yep. Definitely! Mainly because when I retired from professional cycling last year, I could have really done with reading a guide on how the hell to move on! I now completely understand why one doesn’t exist and why this column has no answers for doing so, either! Ultimately there are no answers! No correct answers, anyway. We’re all wired up so incredibly different, all at different stages of life, hopes and dreams. And contrary to Molly Mae’s belief, we do not all have the same 24 hours in a day to process life decisions, thoughts and feelings! (I’m still a Molly Mae fan).
But, here is my life after professional cycling…
Sport can be brutal, right? Without going into too much detail and getting myself all wound up, I’ll keep this part short and simple.
I left home when I was 17 to live in Manchester and join the Great Britain cycling track programme. I loved road racing but was sold the OLY dream and committed to riding in circles. I started to win national and international titles and made selection for every elite Track World Championship since joining the squad (we medalled in three).
After three years, I decided to solely focus on the team pursuit to ensure I made the selection for the OLY Games in Tokyo.
However, the 2020 worlds was my last ever bike race! We finished second, qualified very close to world record pace and I rode all three rounds. I left those championships with high hopes my next race would be at the OLY Games. Covid happened, I had a knee injury, then I had appendicitis, then I had my appendix removed, and it all went downhill from there.
Throughout all of this, my mental health plummeted. I hit rock bottom when I found out via email, while enjoying a birthday meal, I would not be going to Tokyo.
It felt at the time like the previous five years had been the most painfully wasted emotional rollercoaster ever. And now I was left with nothing at the end of it.
At this point, as I tucked into my birthday sticky toffee pudding while wiping away my OLY tears, I had no idea what was next.
I felt extremely let down and abandoned by a federation I had given so much to. And that evening I stayed up all night, doing nothing, just awake.
The next day I tried to get on the turbo to complete my scheduled training (no-one prepares you for what to do next) and it lasted roughly two minutes and 30 seconds.
As much as my family loved and supported me regardless of the OLY Games, I hid from everyone after sending a big message explaining how sorry I was for letting everyone down.
It’s just bike riding Eleanor, get a grip! I told myself this every day. But bike riding was all I knew, I was programmed to pedal, I didn’t have any more tabs (that’s honestly what I thought, and sometimes still do).
Yes, I’ve won national titles, European titles and Track World Cups, I’ve got world championship medals and I’ve worked alongside some of the most decorated athletes in British sport. But will I always have the feeling of failing the big one?
I tried to go straight into road racing. It had always been my dream from, well, day one. Teams wanted me to complete testing for them to see if I was good enough, but at this point, I was struggling to get up and downstairs for cereal never mind emptying myself on the bike.
That’s when I made the decision to stop professional cycling. I realised my relationship with anything other than a bike was non-existent.
My self-worth could not be dependent on a bike race and the amount of weight I lost in my last year of racing was linked with an uncontrollably bad relationship with food and stress.
As I write this, my better half Owain Doull is next to me training on the turbo and we’re watching some racing together on the laptop.
Earlier this year I took on a charity challenge of riding 500 miles in five days and travelled with dhb to Girona for a spring/summer photoshoot.
You’re probably thinking life doesn’t seem much different, right?
I can assure you it is. Life without professional sport is getting a lot easier for me. There will always be aspects I will miss, but thankfully with the support of dhb and Canyon bikes, I’m now riding my bike for the love of riding my bike.
I’m helping try to inspire others to do the same and to reconnect with all the reasons I fell in love with this sport in the first place.
I’m finding time to see family again, have the energy to go and enjoy the world I’m in, meet some new faces and fall in love with new hobbies (check out my baking @phasetwocakes).
I’ve started working with Voxwomen, updating the world with all things women’s cycling, and I’m grateful to have some super exciting opportunities coming up in 2022.
I still don’t have the answers for anyone who has just retired from professional sport, but I think I’m proof that feeling all the emotions is a necessary process.
What I will say is you are more than your sport and bike riding really is, beautiful!
Thank you for reading and I can’t wait to keep you posted on how this new ride develops. Ellie.
National Cycling Show are pleased to announce Sports Tours International as Gold Sponsors
Find your ultimate challenge at the National Cycling Show with Sports Tours International! For nearly 50 years, Sports Tours has been sending cyclists to the biggest mass participation events on the planet – from L’Etape du Tour to the Spring Classics and toughest mountain sportives.
Sports Tours is also the official European premium tour operator to the Tour de France, providing fans with the ultimate VIP experience, as well as a chance to ride a stage within days of the pros.
For a more leisurely escape, Sports Tours operates Freewheel Holidays, offering a comprehensive range of packages including bike and barge trips along the Danube and tours of the Bavarian Lakes. Club La Santa is also part of the Sports Tours Group, Europe’s largest sports resort in Lanzarote. With sunshine, quiet roads and training experts, Club La Santa is a cyclist’s paradise and home to the best warm weather cycling camps.