We are proud to announce our new working partnership with Rivington Park School.
Within the next few weeks we will be running all our our Rivington Pike beginners mountain biking courses out of the school premises allowing us to make full use of their infrastructure including plentiful free parking, conference facilities and cafeteria serving hot and cold food. Not only that but the school will be promoting our services as part of their range of weekend and holiday activities, allowing us to bring the pleasures of mountain biking and the local area to a wider audience.
For further information on Rivington Park School, visit their website at: www.rivingtonparkschool.co.uk
Sunday, 6 September 2009
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
FREE CASH..? Simply follow my beginners guide to commuting by bike!
Yes, its actually true, in 4 months I have 'made' the princely sum of £300. How might you ask did I raise this mighty sum?
Well, the good news is its painless, its easy and its good for you! I simply stopped driving to work and fighting for a parking space and started to commute to work on my old trail bike, 'Rocky'.
I started in May and in the 4 months to the end of August I have covered almost 1400 miles (my daily commute is a 20 mile round trip). To equip myself for this I bought some Kevlar city tyres instead of the heavy rolling 'mud eaters' Rocky was used to, a new set of lights and a bell. I then inflated my tyres nice and hard and started testing some routes to avoid the traffic as best I could. With very little effort I found route options that were between 50 and 95% off road, so depending on my mood I can breeze along the banks of the River Tyne or hammer it up the Scotswood Road. I normally take the river, unless I have an alarm clock disaster...
I then with little or no effort secured a bike locker at my place of work for the very reasonable sum of £0 thus slashing my parking bill by 100% for the price of one politely worded e-mail.
'But surely this takes longer I hear you shout, you must be getting up an hour earlier'... Not so!
To drive, park and then walk to work used to take about 40 minutes on average, a little less in the school holidays a lot more some days for no obvious reason. To bike it takes me between 30 and 35 minutes depending on the direction of the wind (which can be fierce to say the least). I then grab a quick shower at work and I am set for the day, alert and awake from my morning spin, sat at my desk 45 minutes after I left home.
My calculated financial savings are;
Cost of Petrol (@40mpg and 99.9p per litre) = £160
Cost of Parking (80 days @ £4.50 per day) = £360
Grand Total = £520
But I have spent;
2 x Kevlar Tyres (Specialised Nimbus Armadillo 26 x 1.5) = £50
1 x Bell (Specialized, of course!) = £10
1 x Set of lights (Cat Eye with big candlepower as some of my trip is unlit) = £100
2 x Inner Tubes £10
1 x New rear wheel £50
Grand Total = £210
The proof of the pudding is there for all to see, I am leaner, fitter, faster on trail, have kept a good few miles off my car (saving even more money longer term), and just as importantly, I arrive at work now in a good mood!
And you know what the best bit is - I can spend my £300 on something not dissimilar to a fine weekend in the company of http://www.fat-tyres-mountainbiking.co.uk/.
But Ladies and Gentleman it does not stop there! I don't know if you know but there's a very tidy scheme out there called the cycle to work scheme (for more information see http://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/) which your employer can sign up for if they don't run it already. What this gives you is the option to buy a bike tax free and save up to 40% of the cost you'd pay over the counter. I am looking into buying a new commute specific bike through the scheme, something with hub gears and brakes to make the winter commute a lot easier to maintain. The fact that I can save even more money by doing this puts a big fat smile on my face. I will let you know how I get on.
Job's a good 'un! :)
Well, the good news is its painless, its easy and its good for you! I simply stopped driving to work and fighting for a parking space and started to commute to work on my old trail bike, 'Rocky'.
I started in May and in the 4 months to the end of August I have covered almost 1400 miles (my daily commute is a 20 mile round trip). To equip myself for this I bought some Kevlar city tyres instead of the heavy rolling 'mud eaters' Rocky was used to, a new set of lights and a bell. I then inflated my tyres nice and hard and started testing some routes to avoid the traffic as best I could. With very little effort I found route options that were between 50 and 95% off road, so depending on my mood I can breeze along the banks of the River Tyne or hammer it up the Scotswood Road. I normally take the river, unless I have an alarm clock disaster...
I then with little or no effort secured a bike locker at my place of work for the very reasonable sum of £0 thus slashing my parking bill by 100% for the price of one politely worded e-mail.
'But surely this takes longer I hear you shout, you must be getting up an hour earlier'... Not so!
To drive, park and then walk to work used to take about 40 minutes on average, a little less in the school holidays a lot more some days for no obvious reason. To bike it takes me between 30 and 35 minutes depending on the direction of the wind (which can be fierce to say the least). I then grab a quick shower at work and I am set for the day, alert and awake from my morning spin, sat at my desk 45 minutes after I left home.
My calculated financial savings are;
Cost of Petrol (@40mpg and 99.9p per litre) = £160
Cost of Parking (80 days @ £4.50 per day) = £360
Grand Total = £520
But I have spent;
2 x Kevlar Tyres (Specialised Nimbus Armadillo 26 x 1.5) = £50
1 x Bell (Specialized, of course!) = £10
1 x Set of lights (Cat Eye with big candlepower as some of my trip is unlit) = £100
2 x Inner Tubes £10
1 x New rear wheel £50
Grand Total = £210
The proof of the pudding is there for all to see, I am leaner, fitter, faster on trail, have kept a good few miles off my car (saving even more money longer term), and just as importantly, I arrive at work now in a good mood!
And you know what the best bit is - I can spend my £300 on something not dissimilar to a fine weekend in the company of http://www.fat-tyres-mountainbiking.co.uk/.
But Ladies and Gentleman it does not stop there! I don't know if you know but there's a very tidy scheme out there called the cycle to work scheme (for more information see http://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/) which your employer can sign up for if they don't run it already. What this gives you is the option to buy a bike tax free and save up to 40% of the cost you'd pay over the counter. I am looking into buying a new commute specific bike through the scheme, something with hub gears and brakes to make the winter commute a lot easier to maintain. The fact that I can save even more money by doing this puts a big fat smile on my face. I will let you know how I get on.
Job's a good 'un! :)
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