GolfChick Rides Bikes

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 ...

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...

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...

I managed to achieve an inner zen like calm this evening! I'm not really sure exactly what caused it, it was probably a contribution of factors. Two chocolate bars, a bottle of coke and one of my favourite people to whistle away the afternoon probably aided the trance like state. It certainly wasn't the weather which got progressively worse as the day went on nor the bustling environment at work today... we only had a jaw dropping 10 people in work as of 09:00.  By the time 3pm came I had already decided I was going biking this evening, I didn't want to wait for anybody to come with me, I was going solo! During the twenty minutes it took me to get loaded and be on my way an ominous cloud had taken place above me and the heavens had well and truly opened. Every time I even dared to look at Ziva she started shivering, clearly she thought we were barking mad! This didn't phase me and I continued as normal, grabbed my osprey cover and my waterproof jacket, slyly convinced...