Gravel Biking; what's that all about?

Hello, and welcome to the first PeakcyclingUK's first newsletter of 2017

We’ve had an exciting winter so far; lots of route checking, kit designing, new route creation and lots of café checks….all in the interest of coffee and cake research, just to make sure they are up to PeakcyclingUK standards.

This year we’ve decided to make our kit available for you to buy, should you wish, so you can have a souvenir of your rides with us, or as a gift for someone else even. Its quality cycling gear made by Primal. So far we are offering men’s and ladies cycling shirts. Men’s and lady’s MTB (Enduro style) and gilets (unisex), as modelled by the “lovely” Paul in this photo (well he says he’s lovely anyway).

Contact us at hello@peakcyclinguk.com to discuss sizing and prices.

We are very pleased to offer gravel bike tours this year. This is an exciting new genre for cycling in Britain. The practice really started in the USA and Canada where many of the roads are unpaved and made of dirt or gravel, but does translate well to our shores. There are many rough roads, tracks, byways and cobbles that are too much for your “Sunday” bike and too easy for a full on mountain bike. They are perfect for hybrids, cyclocross and the new gravel bikes.

The adoption of Disc brakes by the cyclocross crowd really made the difference in bike design and has opened up a whole new world for those in the know.

During our research we’ve uncovered some new fantastic new trails and tracks, including lots of pave (cobbles) that are used by Team Sky as training for the cobbled classics in Europe.

I’ve spent years riding past “roads” like these on my posh bike thinking were out of bounds to me unless I was on my mountain bike. But a cobbled road on a full suser with big fat knobbly tyres? I don’t think so;.too much bike and too much tarmac to ride to get there. The palaver of fitting slicks for just one ride. Nope. Gravel bikes? Brilliant! Drop bars so I can ride the road, Road wheels and gearing to make it easier, and tyres fast enough for the tarmac and tough enough to leave it when it runs out. It really is a whole new world. You could however ride these roads and tracks on a hardtail MTB or a hybrid, with the right tyres.

Go to www.peakcyclinguk.com to find dates of all our tours.