Epic Ride: Taking to the Three Counties Cycle Ride

Satisfaction after taking on the Three Counties

Read my latest Epic Ride for the team at NeilPryde Bikes. Here is a little taster of what I’ve written:

Realising we have a mammoth challenge ahead we decided it was time to get some training in and get the legs and body ready for what was to come. The first ride we were going to take on was the Three Counties Cycle Ride.

To read more about it and Duckingham Palace, make sure to click here.

Thanks!

Epic Ride: Amsterdam 300 Challenge – Part 2

Cheers!

Hope you enjoyed my first ride report for the inaugural Amsterdam 300 put on by the awesome UK-based charity for disabled people, Scope. To complete the reports, here is my second epic ride report which can be seen on the NeilPryde Bikes website.

But before I sign off on this post, I need to say a HUGE THANKS to the following companies who supported me during my training and the actual ride. They are: NeilPryde Bikes (bicycle), Sport and Speed (clothing), Todays Cyclist (lights) and CNP Professional (food and drinks).

And if you like videos, here is my video diary for the final day of the ride:

Epic Ride: Amsterdam 300 Challenge – Part 1

Beautiful canal in Belgium

Hi all – it’s been a while since my last posting here on my blog but as you will see, I have been rather busy doing some crazy miles and rides. The craziest of which is a ride I’ve just recently completed – the Amsterdam 300. I’ve written up a ride report which, as per my last report, is available to see online at the NeilPryde Bikes website. To give you a taster of what I went through on the first day, here is my video diary:

Make sure you check out the ride report too – http://www.neilprydebikes.com/usd/news/amsterdam-300-challenge-part-1

Enjoy!

Epic Ride: Ride It! In Chieveley, UK

Taking a ride around Chieveley in Berkshire

Back in November of last year you may recall I became a NeilPryde Epic Rider. The main point of the team is for the riders to provide feedback 0n the bikes but also to provide NeilPryde Bikes with rides that we would consider epic. This is so that we could inspire more and more people to get on their bikes and go and try out these routes we were taking on.

I filed my first Epic Ride report with the team at NeilPryde and here is a snippet of what I wrote:

I first heard of the Ride It! events when it was launched in the Spring of 2008. The event series was designed to ‘cater for both mountain and road bikers in a non-competitive environment, with an emphasis on having fun with other riders’. So when I heard the event was coming to West Berkshire, I …

Now to get the rest of my ride report, make sure you head over to the NeilPryde Bikes website and see what I have to say. And if you like it, please feel free to share it with your friends and family.

Thanks!

Review: NeilPryde Alize

NeilPryde Alize

For those who read my blog regularly will know that at the end of 2010 I became a NeilPryde Epic rider. What this meant was I could choose which NeilPryde bike to ride – Diablo or Alize – and then spend the next 12 months riding it, with the purpose of writing about it for the NeilPryde website. So for the past eight months I have been riding the Diablo and have loved every minute of it. An extremely stiff and aggressive bike that keeps wanting more from its rider.

At the start of last week, I took my Diablo in for a service at the local bike shop. Unfortunately I don’t have the specific tools required by Shimano to service its products, otherwise I would have completed the service myself. I had a ride on Sunday so six-days would be more than enough to get it serviced. Well, so I thought. Turns out they hadn’t even started on the service yet.

Not worrying too much about it as I have my Basso at home that I could ride, I let it be. So on Friday I was exchanging a few emails with Scott, the UK agent for NeilPryde, and we were talking about the weekend’s upcoming ride. I told him about the situation to which Scott then suggested I ride the Alize. Jumping at the chance to ride it we arranged to meet up the following day.

Win a Garmin Edge 500 thanks to NeilPryde Bikes

Fans of NeilPryde Bikes have been given a chance to win an Garmin Edge 500. All you need to do is click the ‘Like’ button on the bike company’s Facebook page and you’re in for the draw. The winner will be announced on Wednesday 16 March 2011. So get clicking now if you haven’t already!

The edge is the ideal device to record your Epic Rides!

NeilPryde Bikes – It all starts here!

Diablo from NeilPryde Bikes

A few posts ago you saw me in a video as part of an entry process to become a NeilPryde Epic Rider. A few days later I was lucky to be informed that I was selected to become a NeilPryde Epic Rider. I even have my own page on the company’s website.  For this, the company let’s me try out their bikes – the Diablo and the Alize – and provide my feedback on it, while at the same time telling you about it.

So the company goes out to to find a select few people who are passionate about cycling, give them each a bike, and let them spread the news about the company and its products. For a company breaking their way into the cycling market, I still feel this is a clever marketing tactic. No matter which way you look at it. Clever!

So, who or what is NeilPryde? Well, let me introduce NeilPryde to you – the condensed version:

• The company was created in 1970, and by 1973 becomes the world’s largest sail provider;
• By ’82 NeilPryde branded windsurf sails enter the market;
• In ’83 a guy by the name of Fred Haywood, using NeilPryde sails, breaks the 30 knot speed barrier (55.5km/hr);
• Then in ’89, the company launches the industry’s (wind surfing, of course) first fully integrated carbon Matrix Rig System;
• Official supplier of sails at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona;
• 2007-2009 company carefully studies their consumer base to consider brand extension opportunity;
• Extensive market research shows 60% of NeilPryde customers are also cyclists;
• In 2009 bike division established – NeilPryde Bikes – headed up by Michael Pryde
• Strategy for entering the cycling market starts to develop and division begins working with BMW Group Designworks USA

So, wanting to break out into a new area, the company decided to speak to its customer base. After carefully listening to what their windsurfing customers had to say, they found that cycling was a very popular sport amongst their fans. And so NeilPryde Bikes was born.

I’ve included a video the company created that talks about how the two bikes the company currently produces – the Diablo and the Alize – came about through the partnership they have with BMW Group Designworks USA.

Since becoming an Epic Rider, I received the Diablo in matt carbon complete with Shimano Ultegra and Mavic Kyserium wheels. I’ll include some pictures of the bike in a different post but for now I’ll let you see how the bike was introduced to the world:

A pretty awesome way to launch a bike aptly named the Diablo. Not sure I would ever do that myself, but I think it does the trick. Last week the company went on to release a behind the scenes video of the ‘Pyromaniac on Wheels’. This is it:

The question is, how good are these bikes? Well, only time will really tell. Not to mention a lot of road testing from myself and the other Epic Riders. However, this morning the company announced it received an iF Product Design Award 2011 in the Leisure + Lifestyle section for both the Alize and the Diablo. For over 50 years the iF Design Award has served as a recognised trademark for outstanding design all over the world. So the company is onto something good here.

And if Procycling UK is anything to go by, then the Diablo looks set to make a remarkable impact upon the market.  I, for one, am looking forward to it!