GolfChick Rides Bikes

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...

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...

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 ...

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...

I read a thread the other day on a forum I frequent about wide rims and whether there was any justifiable reason for the poster getting them and I read a lot of mixed opinions and a lot of debate so thought it was about time I chipped in my opinion and wrote my long term review of my setup. A little bit of background, I've previously had mavic rims before the rise of tubeless and I then converted to stans rims and have ridden on arches, crest and flow setups. Just over a year ago I read another thread (what would we do without the internet right?!) about wide rims and the reason we should all have them and frankly the video and the writing made sense to me and I started to research the rise of these carbon rim setups. For me, ignoring the stiffness and every other carbon benefit, I looked at carbon rims purely because I wanted wider rims but I was not prepared to gain the weight for the extra width. Enve rims were out straight away, every biker with the internet has probably seen ...

So the Superstar nano pedals I had on the bike were significantly worn, looking very much worse for wear with slight play in the bearings so a little over a year ago I decided to save a bit of weight and get something a bit brighter and so invested in some superstar delta pedals. Superstar had a special offer on at the time so I picked them up with titanium axles for a really good price. Bear in mind that for the couple of years I had superstar pedals installed I'd never once had to strip and service them so I'd hoped the same could be said for these. Now after a years use I thought I'd finally feedback about them, I much prefer a long term test review than a 'I rode on them for five minute' review! I think a few things occur when considering pedals. Weight Grip Longevity In terms of weight they are fantastically competitive with other pedals and only weigh in at a mere 330g with the titanium axles installed. Very good when you consider the price in co...

Top 5 reasons why autumn is something  to celebrate not dread.   1. Wardrobe - if you're anything like me when it rained a tiny bit during summer you decided you couldn't possibly stand getting wet and it was too warm to wear anything other than some new waterproof shorts you would buy. The new  shorts haven't seen the light of day since the first wear as the rain vanished again. Now is the time to crack out that worthwhile investment, you may even discover like me that you're doing well with your weight loss and that the half a stone you lost is now noticeable! Autumn also means a decline in temperature, no more short sleeve jerseys and super light shorts, you need to rotate your wardrobe again so the base layers are at the top, your nice DH shorts can be worn again without passing out from heat and the one piece lycra tights are almost wearable again! 2. Tyres - after struggling for a lot of last winter using high roller 2's with indecision about which t...

A month ago, having struggled with the tight sizing on some POC knee pads for 6 months, I decided enough was enough and sold on my current knee pads and decided to replace them. My only requirement was for a pad I could wear everywhere, not just at BPW and uplift days but during my regular 8 mile route around the local forest. This meant the pads had to be comfy and breathable, easy to chuck in the car and shove on my legs, not overkill for pedalling and easy enough to look after. I ride 3 days a week minimum in all conditions and the pads have to be able to keep up, if they fall apart after five mins they're no good to me! I tried out a few different pairs and even tried on the 2014 POC knee pads, typically they've changed the sizing and the mediums now fit me perfectly. At £90-£100 for the POC I couldn't justify the same spend again, especially when I knew I didn't wear them all the time because of their bulk, its no good slipping into the mentality of 'I'm ...

Lets get this started then with my bike! I ride a 2013 medium carbon Bronson and I might as well bore you all with the spec seeing as most people reading this blog will be bikers and therefore know what on earth I'm blathering about! I only have one bike, I'm not like some people and have lots of different bikes for different occasions and different areas, my bike must cope everywhere even though this sometimes means I'm over biked or even under biked. Frame : Santa Cruz Bronson Carbon Medium Wheels : Chris King Pink Hubs/Stans Arch, Magic Mary supergravity trailstar tyres. Brakes : Hope Tech 3 E4 purple Forks : Pike RCT3 150mm Bars : Raceface Sixc Carbon Bars 760mm Drivetrain : XT rear mech, XTR shifter, Race face sixc cranks, race face N/W 30T chainring, hope 40t-rex adapter, xt cassette, superstar nano pedals, Chris King BB. Seat post : Stealth Rock shock Reverb. I hear a lot of mixed reviews over santa cruz bikes, people seem to have both misconceptions a...