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Fabric cageless water bottle review

Let me first say that the fabric cageless water bottle on test here is the 750ml version, so my opinion is purely based on the performance of that particular bottle. I have some reservations that perhaps if I was reviewing the 600ml version my findings would be slightly different, however, as always I can only report on what I've found! Picture the scene, you're 14 miles into your ride and you've just reached the end of a techy downhill/traversing section and you reach down for a much needed drink and..... no bottle. At some point in the last 3 or 4 miles my water bottle has yet again fallen off! Last time this happened I ended up riding back up the downhills to retrace my wheels and it was a 3 mile detour back up hill but on this occasion it's not possible. This was the situation I was faced with on Sunday during my 29 mile MTB ride. I ended up using a fireroad to trace my wheels back up the section I'd just ridden but no joy. I then ended up meeting up with a fr
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First 100 mile sportive!

The more time I spend on my road bike, the more I love it! That also means the more effort I have to put in to balance all my bikes out. It can be very tempting to plan activities for one bike and completely forget the others. I've been nudging my way closer to a 100 miler each year, last year I managed a 70 odd miler and even an 80 miler but I was having some real niggles at the time and the 80 mile ride was excruciating. I've now had a bike-fit done and I'm a lot more comfortable on the bike, to the point where I'm completely pain free and the miles simple trickle past in happiness. My fitness this year has been better than ever across all my bikes so I decided it was time to finally break my 100 mile cherry and why not do it in style and enter a sportive in the meantime! I wasn't feeling confident enough to do it alone so again it was Buly to the rescue and he agreed to ride the sportive with me. I'd been recommended the Tour of the Black Country and despit
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GolfChick goes to Whistler!!

So I was lucky enough to travel to Whistler at the end of September for two weeks, to cut a long story short my best friend 'Buly' was planning to go and rather than go alone he invited me! It's not somewhere I'd ever really planned to go despite it being a mecca for biking, probably because I knew it was out of my reach to ever go and why hope/plan for the impossible!? I've done Les Arcs before in the French Alps but that was some years ago and I just remember concentrating on braking the whole time but I was fairly new to biking back then and I'm sure it'd be a different beast now! I'd of loved to do some other trips in the meantime but due to some circumstances, owning a dog mostly, I've not done another trip...until now! Hopefully this blog post will fill people in about some of the mistakes I made, as well as things I learnt along the way and also providing a general review of Whistler! I don't want to come across as knowing everything o
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Review : Raceface Atlas pedals

I'll be the first to say I definitely err on the side of being a weight weenie. Anything I buy for the Bronson I check out the weight of and if it's a new part that I dont have a preference for, weight is a huge consideration. I know I could save weight by going for Shimano brakes over Hope but frankly I dont care, hope win it every time for me but when it comes to pedals I don't have a 'go to'. I've always highly rated the grip on DMR vaults and my nukeproof pedals have work faultlessly despite not really servicing them very often. When I built up my hardtail I decided I'd put the nukeproof pedals on to it and get something a bit flashier and maybe lighter for the Bronson. After destroying the axle on the superstar pedals I have been put off titanium axles so instead opted for something as lightweight as possible but still handle the battering I give parts and maybe something a bit slick looking. In step the Raceface Atlas, not cheap at £109 but not too bad
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Review : Women's Flare Roost Downhill Jersey

So up for review today is one of Flare's women's jerseys, they first started as a women's only brand but now have started doing some mens clothing as well. I've had my eye on them for a while and during a recent sale I convinced my mum to buy me one for my birthday to finally give one a try. I find it extremely easy to find nice short sleeve jerseys but long sleeve is not so easy. My current fox jersey has been with me for at least seven years and is still my go to jersey despite it looking a little frayed in places. However, a girl that rides as much as me needs more than one jersey so enter the flare jersey! This is a downhill jersey so the idea is that you can wear body armour underneath it so I chose a small as I have no intention of doing this. I'm very happy with the fit of the jersey, something which is definitely missing from generic men's only jerseys. Its a fact that with our hips, shoulders and breasts our upper bodies are shaped differently so its
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Another trip to the biking Mecca of Scotland!

So I have to admit I have a soft spot for Scotland, I used to go every year as a child to varying places throughout Scotland and I'm currently applying for some jobs in Scotland so I can make the move permanent, I'd love to become a bike mechanic and based out of Scotland but that doesn't make enough money to sustain myself and Ziva. I've been biking to Scotland many times but its been a year or two now since my last visit so it was time to visit some new places as well as some already fond places! I booked a cottage staying in Errogie on the south side of Loch Ness, just outside of Inverness so it's still good for fuel and food etc. but outside of the city so a lot quieter, no neighbours for about half a mile just the way I like it! There were only the three of us staying, all bikers but they joined me as the week went on so not all three came to all the locations, at times it was just Ziva and myself! 1. Whinlatter - okay so its not technically Scotland but when
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Woman in the mirror, Crash aftermath!

Well it finally happened! While sitting trying to eat my tea I decided tonight was the night, mostly for my own benefit than other peoples, I decided I would get a few things off my chest. Maybe its true what some people say that once you write down (or in my case type) what you're thinking and whats bugging you that it gets better. Two years ago in April the inevitable happened and I fell off my bike, as I always say if you never fall off you're just not going fast enough or trying hard enough . Obviously I've fallen off before, this wasn't my first foray into scabs and scars, my legs are continually littered with them and its just something I've come to terms with, at the end of the day I can always wear trousers! It was a normal run of the mill day, my usual loop at about 3pm on a weekday the perfect time to ride the wyre, just Ziva and I against the world. Got to one of the fastest sections, I've clocked as high as 30mph using a bike computer, the fore
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