Before and after:

A customer in his late 70s asked if there was anything I could do to help him with hills.....he bought this Falcon (weighing in juat under 30lbs) in 1981. Sure, there’s lots of options open nowadays, but a sympathetic upgrade was called for.

The old ‘double’ was replaced by an Ultegra triple chainset; the 5-spd freewheel swapped for a 7; a longer caged rear mech and triple front....now the lowest gear is just over 27” rather than almost 48”

The bulb dynamo was removed, but the front and rear lights remained, polished, to effect.

One very happy customer - here’s to the climbs Edward! Chapeau. ... See more

- Bored of lock-down?

- Wondering if your indoor training has paid off?

- Excited about the prospect of meeting friends again (and beating them)?

- Feel like turning yourself inside out until you feel sick?

...... then I may have the answer (*for legals reasons, this may be only one of many answers...):

In the coming months, I'll be re-lauching the No Two Cycles Tuesday training rides; this year, not only will we meet near Cafe Allez, but Mark has kindly agreed to join us and it's likely the Cafe will be open for a coffee or two.

So what?? Well, in addition to the intervals, hill reps and general paced 'fun', this year we're throwing in a cheeky Time Trail, and to ensure it's inclusive, it'll be run with a handicap system....and this is where you come in....

Simply join the No two Cycles Strava Club, download the TT route and post a time - boom!! You can do this any time you want; all fingers crossed, we'll actually run a real event, with people meeting (without gas masks on) towards the end of April.......so that gives you a month to set a time.

https://www.strava.com/clubs/672395/group_events/911223 ... See more

Another great week in the workshop.... (standfast the hideous weather!)

A few weeks ago I was delighted to be asked by British Cycling (East Mids region) to maintain their fleet of bikes; they are predominantly used for coaching at schools/younger riders, but also on the outdoor tracks at Nottingham and Leicester.
Balance bikes, MTBs, cyclocross bikes and a few track tandems ..... no sign of the GB squads’ Hope bikes yet!!

#notwocycles
#britishcycling
#coaching ... See more

I'm running a busy bike workshop and my mate is flat-out in a cafe (Caffe Velo Verde - you may have heard of it...?); so, how do two folk squeeze more into their already busy schedules? Yup, you've guessed it - we enter a 200m 'challenging' sportive.....

Welcome to the Beast!!!

On Saturday 19 June, Bill and I will be attempting to conquer The Yorkshire Beast ; I'd entered last year, but the event had to be cancelled - fingers crossed for this year.

But it's not all about us doing an event; watch out for posts in the coming days as we publish events we're planning for you too!!

There'll be more about our training, bike set-up and nutrition in the coming weeks, both here and on my webpage; https://www.notwocycles.co.uk/blog/ .... last years blog finished before it really got started!!

#caffeveloverde
#notwocycles
#velo29
#theyorkshirebeast ... See more

Just finished this build for a customer..... a beautiful Evil Bikes Following (https://eu.evil-bikes.com/a/bikes/following); some lovely little touches with Hope Hoops, Bottom Bracket, stem and top cap; Renthal bars and a Shimano drive-train and those oh-so grippy Maxxis tyres set up tubeless.
A beast of a bike!!

#evilbikes
#notwocycles
#custombuild ... See more

Evil Following MB CUSTOM 😍

Now I’ve put in a mile or two on the bike; I used to use gels and powder when I ran marathons and ultras too. There’s definitely a fair selection out there; back in the day I’d muxmy own glucose and salt solution, then Maxim, then Science in Sport (SIS) and High5 (to name only a few I’ve used); some OK, some ‘functional’.

Until now, I used SIS powders, High5 gels, and I never really found a good protein/recovery drink that didn’t feel like I was gulping synthetic gloop.

Then, along popped Kendal Mint Co products in my FB feed. In the name of customer testing, I bought some.....honestly, THE BEST, products I’ve ever used and the chocolate-mint protein/recovery drink had me wanting more rather than just gagging and thinking ‘it must be doing me some good!’

This isn’t an Ad, nor am I linked to KMC, but without hesitation, I recommend it, and it will be the fuel I use in my training for and on the Yorkshire Beast in June.

I’m not funding your energy habit, but if your bike is in the workshop, I may, if I’m in a good mood, spare you a gel......

#kendalmintco
#notwocycles
#theyorkshirebeast ... See more

10% off & FREE delivery

YOU;
“Wakey, wakey summer bike, it’s almost time to get up..... 😴😴.”

BIKE;
“Please....just ten more minutes, it still looks cold outside”.

So we’ve had our first glimpse of what we maybe can convince ourselves is Spring (aka, the one warm day before August).
Is it really time to wake up your summer bike, or just a good time to sprinkle some love on the bike you’ve been using through winter?

As I write this the No Two Cycles workshop is currently pretty busy, already booking into March, so if you are thinking about getting your bike serviced either post-winter, or pre-summer, don’t leave it too long...... besides, you want to be ready for the Caffe Velo Verde and No Two Cycles events, as soon as restrictions allow......

PS. No rabbits were run over in the making of these photos.

#notwocycles
#caffeveloverde
#bicyclerepair
#notwoevents ... See more

Yes, this is a gin AND mental health post ..... just go with it!

Now I’m not suggesting that this is the usual currency for bike repairs, but this did arrive in the post this morning from one very kind customer.....thank you so much!!

More importantly for me (and I like gin, so this is saying a lot), was the note thanking me for fixing his bikes and thus enabling his sanity to be restored.

We’ve all heard the phrase, ‘unprecedented times’ and it is....so, during this madness, our physical and mental health needs looking after.....ride, run, walk your dog, do horse things, drink gin....but please do look after yourself (oh, and oil your chain too!!)

#notwocycles
#WarnersGin
#mentalhealth ... See more

So great to hear that one of our local cafes has been features by the GTCC - top podcast!! (Jonny and the team at Cafe Ventoux - Destination Cafe were also mentioned).

PS. I think Bills leg has come back now....(it retracts into his body when the temperature goes below 2 degrees)
#flamingosyndrome
#caffeveloverde
#cafeventoux
#valeofbelvoir
#GTTC ... See more

They say that everyone has 15 minutes of fame....... ours is 11 glorious minutes of nonsense - and today is the day you can listen to us chatting with G and Tom Fordyce on the GTCC podcast.
(We’re adding that to the list of things we never thought we’d hear ourselves say!😂)

🎙️spoti.fi/3beNclv
🎙️apple.co/2L9osjZ

🚴🏻‍♀️☕️🚴🏼‍♂️☕️🚴🏼
#caffeveloverde #gtcc #geraintthomas #podcast #cyclecafe #cafestop #coffeetime #coffeeshop #elevenminutes #lovecyclinglovecoffee #geraintthomascyclingclub #cyclinglegend ... See more

In the words of Jeremy Clarkson......”speeeeed”

Eh, what are you on about Ward?? OK, so some of you will recall my slightly lactic-inducing efforts sessions last year (hoping to run them again this year from Cafe Allez); well, speed isn’t just for summer (don’t start me on training periodization.....)

Rather than more ramblings from me....here’s a great article from British Cycling. And for those of us that are time-pressed, may I share my current regime;

- Mon, Rest Day
- Tues, Hi Intensty Interval Training 🤮
- Wed, rest, or easy ride.
- Thurs, strength endurance / tempo ride
- Fri, rest
- Sat/Sun, Long, steady distance.

Yup, 3 days work - boom!!!

OK, in late Feb it ramps up as I start training for The Yorkshire Beast (with guess who - Caffe Velo Verde 🤫)..... but more of that later.

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/knowledge/article/izn20171027-Understanding-training-Winter-Cycling-Mistakes-0?utm_campaign=1689864_Membership_Member_News_04%2F02%2F21&utm_medium=email&utm_source=British%20Cycling%20V2&dm_i=480K,107WO,VTF3E,4JKVK,1 ... See more