Winter may have most of the country in its icy grip, but one place that hasn't been hit is Sandown Park home of this weekend's Triathlon Cycling and Running show which is very definitely on. So if Winter is getting you down why not head over there and check it out.
There is certainly plenty on offer for cyclists with a long list of cycling exhibitors, we've listed the ones that caught our eye at the bottom of the story, but the Litespeed, Orbea, and Viner stands are likely to be centres of attention. We'd be very surprised if the latest incarnation of Litepeed's Damocles frameset wasn't on display, and Viner will not only have a full range of their very tasty carbon bikes on display – (what we particularly like about Viner is the vast number of custom options they offer) and Orbea will be there showing off the latest Orca and of course their top end TT/triathlon bike, the Ordu Tri 2.
As well as a big range of bikes and kit on display there are also a number of cycling seminars: coach, Joe Friel author of the cyclists training bible will be giving his training tips. Retul will be talking about bike fit and their work with the Slipstream team, Bespoke Cycling. Anyone tackling this year's Etape won't want to miss Cyclefilms seminar on their Etape recce the guys from Cyclefilm will also be talking about riding Italian Fondos. Another sportive related seminar will be given by Dr Gary Palmer on preparing for your first sportive, and there will also be seminars by a physio on how to stay injury free and by sports nutrition outfit SIS on, you've guessed it, sports nutrition. Entry to all the seminars is included in the ticket price for the show.
Not only can you look at bikes you can ride them too there's a test track at the show – where you can ride the Orbea Onix we had in on test recently (the full report on that coming up next week on road.cc). Your competitive instincts can also get an airing too courtesty of Viner who are running a 5km virtual time trial over the weekend… for which we're sure there will be a suitable prize.
If you fancy riding a tad further than 5km on Sunday you can take in a sportive and the show – Evans are running one of their Ride It! Sportives from the show (on Saturday there will be a mountain bike ride). Book in advance and you can do the sportive ride and get in to the show for a combined cost of £12.50.
The forecast for the weekend is sunshine says show organiser David Townsend, and he is expecting a bumper turnout with pre-booked ticket sales up by a third on last year. The TCR Show website which will carry weather updates should the situation change.
If you are going to the show from London you might want to consider the train the organisers are laying on a shuttle bus service from Esher station – trains run their every half an hour from Waterloo.
Tickets cost £8.25 (and you can book in advance until 10pm tonight) or £11 on the door.
Show opening times are 9am – 5.30pm on Saturday and 9am to 5pm on Sunday.
Some of the cycle-related exhibitors at the TCR Show
Felt
Litespeed
Kona
Evans
Orbea
Garmin
Pearson
Powertap
Quintana Roo
Ritchey
Rotor
Sabbath
Science in Sport
Spiuk
Surrey Cycle Racing League
Suunto
Tacx
Velotech (the distributors for Spiuk and Rotor)
Zipp
Cycling infrastructure does not force drivers to break the law, drivers are the reason they break the law, no one else.
Ah but taking pictures of things to defy the man (avoid a fine) is righteous. Taking pictures of people to grass on them to the cops (perhaps...
But getting paid for it is the very definition of professional....
Never had a Shimano QR fail on me. They just work. And the top end ones look good too....
If you're only looking at the guy in front of you then you're going to crash whatever brakes you have, you need to look beyond them to anticipate...
As a woman, this works great for me! My chain broke once, and a kind guy stopped with a chain breaker and sorted it all out for me. We stopped at a...
Same. I also have gone through a bunch of their tyres, and only the extralight disappointed (torn sidewall) but the standards are fantastic....
thanks for the ideas....
Indeed - but it's no more inconsistent than our current road design - very often UK high streets are "for shopping" and also a busy through route....
If you ask the world's leading economic commentators how many people have been rescued from abject poverty by capitalism the average answer would...