#SummerSolsticeChallenge

Take one humble bike engineer...

Add the longest day of the year...

Add a sprinkling of old knackered bikes...

And what do you have....

A crazy idea to see who can ride the furthest on the Summer Solstice, starting at Dawn and finishing at Dusk!

The only problem is.....you've got to do it on a broken bike that has been donated to the Bike Hub....and you've got to repair it before you start!!

Watch this space for more details on how you can take part, sponsor the challenge or simply watch our world of pain!!

#ramblings from #bikehub Dan!

Social networking and what have the romans ever done for us?

The bike scene has changed so much over the years.

Looking back ten years or so I honestly don't know how we knew things were going on, we just knew. You could argue that this word of mouth networking would have excluded people who didn't know other riders in the know, but if it did, I never noticed it.  I felt a lot more in the loop back then.

People would also congregate more based on their hobbies and the trails where much more sociable, because that was where you would go to meet riding buddies and you'd spend half a days ride chatting.  

As a teenager I think all of my friends were riders, largely because if you wanted to ride with other people or race etc you had to spend time with those people to find out what was going on.   Or to be invited out.  Whereas now, you don't need to hang out with riders to hear about the next race or to get invited out on a ride. Now you can just send a message out on face book stating an intention to ride at a set time and place and expect any number of people to meet you. Or you can google your local race series to find out where and when, and worst of all you don't even need to see your buddy to invite them out for a ride, just call them on you mobile phone and arrange it and call them again if your late/lost/not coming. Our kids must wonder how we survived "back in the day".

I'll be honest, I think I'm just being grumpy because I'm now out of the 'social networking' loop. If I was to be objective, nowadays anyone who has an interest in riding and access to a computer can find out what events are going on, join a bike club, or find a forum of local riders and find riding friends, which has got to be great news!  And really there's nothing stopping people making friends on the trail, we just need to try more and if we don't make a million friends each time we go ride, it simply means we'll spend more time actually riding!

Actually come to think of it, social networking and IT is crucial,  without it I wouldn't have found this job, I can now keep up to date with the latest technology, and we can let you guys know what we're up to online.

SO IGNORE MY GRUMPY INITIAL RAMBLINGS!!

ROLL ON THE SOCIAL REVOLUTION AND JOIN US RIDING.

P.S check out our twitter page @ www.twitter.com/#!/CornwallBikeHub

and our web page @ www.thebikehub.org.uk

and our endomondo profile for ride details @ www.endomondo.com/profile/4218543

;) CHEERS BIKEY DAN

#Cardinham #BikeRide a real success...

Saturday 24th saw The Bike Hub's inaugural guided MTB ride through the fantastic woods around Bodmin.

Ably led by Lead Bike Engineer and MTB Guide Dan Smith, our intrepid crew set off from RE:SOURCE, winding our way down to Cardinham.

The ride lasted 2 hrs give or take a few and included some technical downhill, some lung busting climbs and a great piece of Carrot Cake and a cuppa at the cafe at Cardinham.

Suitable for intermediate riders this was a great start to the Bike Hub Guided Rides and has given us much inspiration for future expeditions!!

If your interested in joining us for a ride in the future, don't be put off by the words 'technical' and 'lung busting'...all things are relative!  We will ensure that there is something for everyone in our rides and to be honest, they will be more about enjoying the best of the great outdoors and meeting new people...

Here's our route from Saturday...watch this space for further rides and let us know if you have a great ride that you know of in and around Bodmin...