A good Sunday

Punctures on Saturday meant a lonely ride back as I told the Shutt VR Lads to ride on as time scales have to be adhered to for families. It wasnt that bad though, only about 15 miles with 12 of that being helped by the roaring tailwind. Sunday turned from a very cold frost and ice ridden early morning start into the best ride of the year. Well for aesthetics anyway. 6 turned out to start losing one new member after about 18 miles as he wasn’t quite up to keeping up on the hills. Then as the morning wore on an Ill member then decided that it was best to curtail the ride short as the Tour of Flanders is looming and best not spoil that.
So 3 left taking 6-8 miles on the front at a go saw us heading deep into the dales. The sun was up and affording us magnificent views across the valley. Unfortunately, the sun was on the opposite side and we still had to put up with cold hands and feet. Turning up to Kidstones, the sun got higher and started warm us up. Its quite incredible how the body absorbs even the weakest bit of sun and thus gives cheer. Whilst climbing at this point the London-Edinburgh `vintage` car rally came noisily past, big Bentley blowers and smaller MGs gave the impression of how a mid war tour must have been. Noisy cars spuing out rich fumes whilst grinding gears trying to get around hairpin bends. Very atmospheric!
The long swooping descent into another valley not often visited was tremendous fun. A little ice every now and then but nothing too bad. A quick left into a very picturesque village enhanced the `from bygone times` feel to the ride with the distant rumble of the cars further down the valley. Up a steep little bank and over the top saw us drop into Wensleydale and into a head wind which had decided to change its direction, so still being in our faces as so far had been on the ride. The sun was now warming up the day and it was noted there was not a cloud in the sky, all the moisture has dropped as frost and the air was crystal clear. A day for photographs.
Riding into Hawes it was time for a quick bite of energy bar before the `hill of the day` Fleets Moss, the hard way. What a hill, it rises straight in front of you and shows itself in all its glory. Consistent at about 1-8 then rearing up at at least 1-4 for the top 200m, it certainly makes those legs ache. Rewarded with far-reaching views of the fells and tops, deep into North &West Yorkshire to Lancashire from a height of 1869ft. (I believe). The descent down of this monster is fast and technical. Sharp bends, hidden dips and long swoops turning this way & that. The real deal here as the road enters the Langstrothdale and falls gently away in one of the most spectacular valley bottom rides in Yorkshire. Sun shining, clear skies, a meandering road next to a limestone bedded river and most importantly of all, no cars.
Still the wind in our faces, nothing new there, down past Hubberholme and into Buckden the pace was fairly high with the 3 of us all taking our turns, not much conversation now as we looked around at the beautiful steep banked valley walls that bound Kettlewell. The back road is always a treat, no cars and narrow lanes. The rest of the journey is just a visual treat, Hebden with its offset main street curling down into a lost valley rising up over upper fell meadows, to the fabulous view looking down on Burnsall from the North, the fell dark and brooding contrasting with the green of the fields and the blue of the meandering ox-bow river. Only Appletreewick and Barden to go now, legs were getting tired now but onward we pedaled, congratulating and thanking each other for what was a memorable ride. If you weren’t there you missed out on a good 80+ miler. I recommend you do it one day. Oh, and no mention of our Shutt VR jerseys so easily available at http://www.shuttvr.com/ !

The right choice!

Choosing the right bike shop for your needs is part and parcel of the cyclist`s life. Do they do road bikes, Mtb`s only? Do they provide a good service at a reasonable price? Will they kindly let you off the price of a tube until your next visit to get you home after a mishap with a couple of flints? Is the clothing up your street ie, at the right price or the favoured brand?
How do you know unless you visit it a few times? Well the modern way is via the internet, the ubiquitous web site that tells you all about the shop. What a great tool to get inside the shop and its staff. Or is it? Looking for selective retailers to sell our Shutt VR jerseys, Ive spent the day trawling round the bike shops in 3 cities today. Ive visited about 30-40 shops. Some quickly some in depth, all from the comfort(?) of my office chair. I found myself only contemplating the shops that had `decent` websites. the ones without Im sure were more than adequate and provide exactly what I want, but as they were not in the so called `21st century` communications wise, they were immediately discarded.
This is not the right way to decide who we would like to take our goods, surely I should get on my bike, map in hand, jerseys in pannier and visit each and every one. This I would like to do, but do I have the time? Yes! Is it fitting for a `Rep` not to be dressed smartly? I dont know that one, but as we all are cyclists it shouldn`t matter that Im in riding gear & not wearing a suit, should it? I think Ill give it a go to guage it!
Any thoughts on this?

Wind

April has started early. That wind has got up. Some big gusts yesterday and today, riding at about 18mph instantly down to 4mph then struggle to build speed again. still, its what we ride for.
Shutt VR are having a launch day at JD Cycles in Ilkley sometime in May. So look out for dancing girls, helicopters and all the usual paraphernalia for presentation days. Umm! Maybe not just yet. But it will be a fun day with food and drink and Jersey selling as well.
Its early planning stage at the mo but we`ll let you all know what happens.
Til then its still No 8 weather so keep riding and get stuck in.

Ps we have to thank Road.cc for a great write up. Cheers guys.

Cav

Milan san Remo
Cav Cav Cav Cav Cav Cav Cav
Brilliant, absolutely Brilliant. Perfection in timing.

Spring

There is a possibility that we maybe sponsoring a major sportive this year. Lets hope that it comes off as Shutt has a lot to offer with its range of short sleeved Jerseys. Normally the first fantastic day of the year is the same day as this Sportive, but this year its a few weeks later than normal, so Shutt VR Jerseys versions 1, 3, 5 will be the choice of any self respected sportive rider wanting to do a decent ride.

Keep your eyes peeled!


Willy on Langbar

More why?

Riding this morning I was wondering where our designs really came from. It struck me that if lycra had not been invented and was taken out of history, Shutt VR jerseys are essentially what the club racer/ sportive/everyday rider would be wearing. They are from a classic tradition but are up to date. Of course Pros would be wearing jerseys with wavy lines, swirls etc. seamed in and logos flocked on but thats all.
On from that, our Bespoke service can do that any way http://www.shuttvr.com/contact.php
Just a thought.

Legs tired after a morning thrash!

Spring Cycling

Fantastic day at last. After sending off some Shutt jerseys I made my way down to Lincoln to ride with my Brother, the unfortunate model on the website http://www.shuttvr.com/
Looking forward to sun riding I dressed in our short sleeved No 5 Glacier jersey with bibtights & no overshoes - bliss. Stepping out from the house the sun went in and the chill filled in the space. A quick trip back inside to slip on a Long sleeved Shutt No 8 Olive. A really nice ride through the lanes allowed us to see the local wildlife, my first ever Mink! At first I thought it was an Otter but after a Google the pics proved me wrong. A great ` I-spy`. The next local wildlife was Impsports ex boss Dan Ellesmore at last riding instead of working, quite a coincidence. After a a good conversation for about 10 miles he disappered off on his own track. We carried on for a further 35 miles, with the sun trying to get through the thin cloud, at about 19mph. Sedate for a county with no hills. After a cup of tea there was a visit to the local bike shop to promote Shutt VR, I got the feeling that it went down well and that we have a great product and with a shop getting a refurb, soon we shall have a stand showing of our goods in the flatlands.

Shutt and why?

Are we sitting comfortably? Then ill begin.
Once upon a time I was working as a Commercial Interior Designer. Doing bars. pubs, restauarants etc. But all that came to an abrupt end in Oct of 08. `Great what do I do now` was the immediate response, Well being a lifelong cyclist it was time to create the Co. Id been thinking about for a few years.

SHUTT VR www.shuttvr.com
We are a start-up company founded based in Ilkley by two avid cyclists. We noticed a gap in the market for well designed, high quality jerseys that don’t cost a fortune. We also saw that most cycle clothing is manufactured in the far east – even the very top level brands have taken their business to China. We decided that one of the basic principals of our company should be to design, manufacture and source our materials here, in Britain.

Although plans were already being made to launch Shutt VR, the morning after my redundancy notice was issued it seemed like a good time to accelerate the business and get things moving. My business partner, Alex Raistrick & I want to defy the economic gloom and create a good value, high quality stylish brand for riders. We sacrifice some profit margin to retain our ‘Made In Britain’ tag but see this as something we should stick to whilst we’re in fairly bleak economic times to ensure we add value to the local economy.

Our cycling jerseys are made with a fabric called Dri-wool this is of a similar construction to Sportwool and is in fact manufactured by the original manufacturers of that fabric. It keeps you cool when it’s hot, warm when it’s cold and has very high wicking capabilities. Merino wool woven with Polyester for the wools wicking and polyester` dispersal properties.

We’ve created 4 designs in 12 colour ways for our initial launch and will shortly add women specific jerseys , designed with the help of female cyclists – a first we think! Our colours are understated but interesting. We’ve tried to avoid hideous yellows but be more interesting and easier to see than plain black.

A unique feature of ours is our ‘bespoke service’. Because we manufacture locally and have a large selection of colours available, we can create many hundreds of combinations for customers. The turn-around for the bespoke service is expected to be around 7 working days – pretty quick for something a rider can design themselves.

Cycling is about being out in all weathers riding with solo or with your mates having gentle & epic rides, tales of daring do getting stuck in basically and having a ball of a time.

No1

Shutt VR No 1 cycling jerseys are long sleeved and perfect for A spring morning. As proved this Sunday when I rode out to the Addingham 10.
It really was a tremendous start in the the pretty Village of Addingham. Sun shining, locals going for bread viewing strange helmeted Aliens on strange machines. Lovely quiet back lane start , flat for 100m to build speed, small rise then dropping down along tree lined avenue with the lush green of the rolling dales in front. The flatish road built up speed which allowed a false sense of security. Coming off the first rise of the day after a mile or so is a lovely sweeping bend down to the river which gave time to get the first bit breath back. Let the fixed wheel do the job it was intended for! Pleasantness over now, the roundabout turned one into the wind. Getting as low as possible trying to turn the 84" round in a steady but fluid motion whilst powering up a grind soon sapped the bit of energy gained back on the swoop. The sun was forgotten. It could have been snowing for all I knew, all I wanted to do was get on top of the gear, steady the breathing and prepare for the severe drags dips and long dragging climbs of the next 3 miles. "Steady on, stay calm, take deep lungfuls and eventually get on top as required. Right now Im ready for the next bit..."
It wasnt too be, the front started to feel sluggish but not flat. I decided to stop to use the small but super pump in the rear pump pocket to top it up. Thus allowing a breather for 30 secs. Back on and away with renewed vigour, the first real hill of the day was presenting no problems at all. Out of the saddle and things were cool. Until the rim started to bounce along the tarmac. Darn it. Stop, event over. Fix it then brisk back enjoying the sun warming legs exposed to the fresh air for the first time this year. Back in the HQ the local ladies had done a great job providing tea and sarnies. There was a wonderful `niceness` in the air as friendships were renewed after the long winter.
Elsie looked like he does at 2.30 in the morning after a few Pinot Noirs, but 10% more coherant. He was slightly suprised at the very decent ride he did and a good day was had by all. Well, not all! Lesson learnt is dont use last years inner tubes at high pressure without a few days testing first.Still a pretty start to the season anyway!