London Bike Show 2014 and New Team Army Kit

The London Bike Show was in all the cycling news last week, and images are still filtering through on my Facebook feed today, two days after it closed!

I spent four days at the show, representing the Army Cycling Team at one of the stands. It was a great opportunity to let people know a bit about the sporting opportunities within the Army, and also to chat to a few veterans. Another perk was to browse the stalls looking at all the bike industry had to put on show.

The show was also a chance to get my new team kit for 2014, which sees a change in colour and manufacturer. The new strip is made by Primal and is their top of the range Helix kit. The quality of the kit is excellent and I like the new design and colours too.

Quick snap shot of the 2014 kit.

On Friday I was roped into a race which only had 4 riders in it - Phil Dempsey (Aprire Bicycles), Jake Martin (Pedal Heaven Colbornes RT) Rob Jones (Army Cycling) and me.

The commissaire had us doing a two man team pursuit (Army vs Industry Teams) on the indoor circuit, and on the second corner I found out exactly how slippery the floor was. I jumped up as quick as I could, but the tumble slowed us down enough for Martin and Dempsey to pass us. It is safe to say we lost that event convincingly.

My thigh after a tumble.

Next we had a "devil" race, and I was the first to be eliminated, still feeling a bit sketchy on the bends. Dempsey won that event.

The grand finale was an individual time trial, one lap best effort. Dempsey won this too, with Martin and I tying for second and Jones taking third. It was all for a bit of a laugh and we all got to stand on the podium on the basis of our time trial results. Thanks to the Imperial Racing Team for organising the event.

Podium L-R Me, Martin, Dempsey, Jones.

Other than that there were a lot of good looking bikes on display. Here are a few snaps I took.

Rob Jones and me at the Army stand. Something interesting going on in the room behind too, it appears.

Good looking offering from Aprire.

Argon 18 had some good looking bikes at reasonable prices.

Team bikes are available for custom builds off their website. The paint job looks pretty good on this frame.

Retul bike fit. Hoping to get a fit on one of these in the near future, I've heard good things about the equipment, but it takes a good fitter to use it to its potential.