Category: Blog

Celebrating 25 years of Tuesday Evenings in June, the 2020 WHEELBASE Lakeland Lanequest series will be something a little different…

Running each Tuesday evening from 2nd June through to 7th July, the opening event will start from Wheelbase, Staveley – usually the final event location.

Overall league positions will this year be determined from the best 4 of the first 5 events, and overall series prizes and “Cut the Cake” will be presented after event 6.

This 6th and final event will be a special “one-off fun and party event” Lanequest from our first ever venue, The Manor House, Oxen Park- with a re-run of the FIRST EVER Lanequest from 14th June 1995!

As in 1995, the route covers mixed terrain: 75%/25% on/off road, and there will be special prizes afterwards, in addition to the final 2020 overall league winners’ prize giving from events 1-5, and “Cut the Cake” ceremony.

To commemorate our 25th year, longstanding sponsors Wheelbase will be presenting a special commemorative gift to celebrate 25 to everyone who rides this event.

Afterwards we party: a live music band will be playing – so get your dancing shoes on!

Lakeland Lanequest 2020

Road Racing is back and what an opening weekend we had!

The British road racing season started in earnest this past weekend and our Wheelbase Cabtech Castelli lads were at the sharp end of the action across a number of races. On Sunday Wheelbase rider Joe Reilly got his hands in the air at the SBHub Secret Training Grand Prix on the Pimbo circuit in Skelmersdale. Joe was followed closely over the line by another of our riders, with Ben Granger crossing in 5th place.

The results at Pimbo on Sunday were made even more impressive given how the two riders fared in separate races the day before. At Lancaster’s Salt Ayre circuit Ben made the early break alongside 3 other riders and with 45km remaining put in a blistering attack which saw him solo to victory, holding a gap of around 15 seconds to the line. Joe was in action at the 59th Eddie Soens Memorial race in Liverpool where, among a high quality field, he finished in 5th place. Both riders gave their reflections on an extremely successful opening weekend. Chapeau lads.

Joe Reilly:
“Eddie Soens: the first few laps of of Eddie Soens the 15 riders in the Scratch group completed a hard chain gang to close the two and a half minutes to the front groups. Through attrition, attacks and some very pesky crosswinds I made it to the lead breakaway of 7 with 3 Ribble riders. Cat and mouse resumed on the last lap and the bunch were hot on our heals, catching us on the last corner. I was on the shoulder of a Ribble lead-out man as he swung left, forcing me to go out wide and loosing ground to the front leaving me chasing in the sprint but securing 5th.

Pimbo: A fast start made for some great racing and myself and Ben were in the main breakaway of 13 riders. 100km of chaingang and some freezing rain showers were found ourselves in the final few laps, with Ben constantly attacking it gave me to opportunity to sit back, saving my own energy but also managing to disrupt the chase to give him the best chance possible.
It all came together in the last lap It was on for a sprint, with a long straight the finish I knew it would entice people to go early and so used them as leadout men and managed to secure the win.”

Ben Granger:
“At Salt Ayre on Saturday I got in the first move of the race on lap 2, which looked very strong with me and 3 other riders. I didn’t fancy taking these 3 riders to the line so attacked 45km out and solo’d to the finish holding an uncomfortably small gap of 15 seconds to the 3 chasers all the way to the line.

At Pimbo on Sunday, I saw the main break go early which I realised I needed to be in, so did a big effort to quickly bridge across with one other rider, to form the 14 man break including me and Joe. We rode smoothly for 100km and lapped the remains of the bunch before the attacks started. I was fairly aggressive trying to get away late on and covering most of the moves which caused the break to split into two 7’s, with me and Joe both making the front split. Joe comfortably won the sprint to take the win, and I rolled in 5th. A pretty perfect start to the season!”

Photos from Ellen Isherwood and Dan Monaghan.

Bookings are now live for our Big Demo Day at Hamsterley Forest

WHEELBASE BIG DEMO DAY Sat. 21st March 2020 Hamsterley Forest, County Durham, DL13 3NL

Book now at http://www.bigdemonortheast.co.uk/

We are bringing our Big Demo event to the North East. Based at Hamsterley Forest, we’ll have bikes from some of the world’s best brands – Cube, Specialized, Cannondale, Nukeproof, Mondraker, Yeti, Focus and Merida. On offer will be a selection of full-suspension, hardtail and electric mountain bikes to test out on a choice of two courses around the stunning Hamsterley Forest trails. The event will be run from the Visitor Centre, see map for location.

Your £5 booking fee will be donated to Hamsterley Trailblazers who do a fantastic job of maintaining and developing the trails of Hamsterley Forest, making it a centre of excellence for mountain biking in the UK.

Saturday 21st March 2020
We will have five rides running throughout the day which will follow a choice of two signposted trails.
Ride times:

9:30 – 10:30

11:00 – 12:00

12:30 – 13:30

14:00 – 15:00

15:30 – 16:30

Enjoy the ride!

Entries are now open for the 2020 Sam Houghton MTB Challenge in aid of Cancer Research UK

The Challenge is a timed mountain bike ride starting and finishing at our Wheelbase Lake District store in Staveley. The ride takes in the Longsleddale, Kentmere & Troutbeck Valleys as well as taking in the famous Garburn Pass.  It is organised in memory of Sam Houghton, a keen mountain biker who sadly lost his battle against cancer and died aged only 22 in May 2006. All proceeds from this event will be donated to Cancer Research UK.

There will be no on-the-day entries and there are a maximum of 500 places so get your place secured now to avoid disappointment! Book your place online now.

Our men’s elite road race team left storms Dennis and Jorge behind and headed for the sunnier climes of Calpe in Southern Spain for a pre-season training camp.

Blue skies and long, tough days in the saddle were the order of business for the duration of the trip as the lads looked to boost fitness and team morale ahead of the 2020 season.

Calpe is a mecca for road cyclists and a host of World Tour teams spend much of the winter period training on the quiet, smooth mountain roads around the Costa Blanca town. Many of the climbs in the area are regularly visited by the Vuelta a Espana during late August including the Coll de Rates and Val de Ebo, both excellent for testing form ahead of the upcoming races.

The road racing season starts in earnest in March before the British Cycling Elite series kicks off in April. We’re heading into our twelfth season on the road as one of the top domestic elite British teams. Watch this space as the season progresses and the racing gets going.

The team would like to express a huge thank you to each of our sponsors as we gear up to do battle on the road once again this season.

Wheelbase | Cabtech | Castelli | Cannondale | 11 Degrees | PV Dobson Volvo

Photos from Ben Barlow

A great way to blow away the winter cobwebs!

Two great routes to choose from which take you thought scenic roads with beautiful views of Howgills, Dent and Barbon. Both routes head generally south eastwards through Cumbria taking some very quiet valleys that you may be unaware of (unless you’ve done this sportive before of course!) as well as a few tasty climbs and some seriously quick descents.

The timed hill climb of the day takes you up Shacklabank. A tricky little climb which will see the fastest male / female crowned King / Queen of the mountain with a jersey from Wheelbase too.

Choose the long route, head further afield but get a bonus refreshments stop at Sedbergh Peoples Hall before heading back to Staveley for tea, cake and time to drool over the latest carbon fibre beauties in the shop!

Date – Sunday 29th March 2020

Location – Wheelbase Bike Store, Staveley, Kendal, Cumbria, LA8 9LR (Google Map Directions)

Distance – Short 34 miles or Long 55 miles

Price – £20-short, £25-long in advance. £25/35 on the day.

• Registration: From 08:30
• Event Start: From 09:30
• Minimum Age to enter: 16
• Places available: 250

Short Route

Long Route

Our WHEELBASE CabTech Castelli rider Lewis Craven took the win and the National Champs Jersey at this weekends National CycloCross Championships in the Vet40 class.

This weekend sees the final big event on the UK Cyclocross calendar. The UK National Cyclocross Championships takes place in Shrewsbury over Saturday and Sunday with competitors from all over the  country heading to the infamously demanding (usually very muddy!) Shrewsbury course to compete in a wide range of age categories.

The Wheelbase Cyclocross team are heading to Shrewsbury with high hopes following a successful season racing at the highest level in the National Trophy Cyclocross series. Lewis Craven will be doubling up again, competing in both the Vet’s race on the Saturday and the Senior race on the Sunday. Lewis has shown some cracking form recently with a fantastic win in the Vet’s race at the last National Trophy round in York just before Christmas. Known for his technical skills in the muddiest conditions we’re all doing a rain dance for him in the hope he has similar conditions to contend with on Saturday!

Giles Drake our talented Senior racer has once again dominated his local North West Cyclocross Series as well as achieving some very consistent top 10 placings in the National Trophies so fingers crossed lady luck stays on his side for the most important race of the season in the final race of the weekend when he goes up against some of the most talented International racers around including Tom Pidcock who has raced a full season in Belgium. Lewis Craven will go again in the Senior race, being one of the few riders to take on multiple races during the weekend. Lewis has podiumed before in the Senior National Championships and will be sure to up there in the results for this race too.

Tom Martin has the potential to go well in the Under 23 Championships, however, after a slow return to racing following a small injury we are unsure at this time whether he’ll make the start line. Behind the team there is a hard-working pit-crew ready to take on multiple bike changes during the race to keep our riders going regardless of conditions. We wish all of our riders and support staff the best of luck for this weekend! See you there!

After a bumper 2019 packed with great events we’re heading into the new year with another stacked lineup of demos and rides to keep us busy throughout 2020.

Bookings will be going live very soon for our huge MTB demo weekend which takes place at our Lake District store on the 7th and 8th March. We’ll also be taking bookings for our North East Spring Demo at Hamsterley forest on the 21st March. At both events we’ll have demo fleets of mountain and electric mountain bikes from the world’s biggest brands.

Following the MTB demo events we’ve got the Spring Classic sportive at the end of March, a great way to blow away those winter cobwebs and get your road season underway. We’ll be running more demo events at our Lake District and Yorkshire stores in April and May with more of the world’s best bikes from the biggest brands.

See below for a full list of our 2020 events and watch this space for further announcements.

Thanks to our customers, suppliers and all friends of Wheelbase for an exceptional 2019. Have a great new year and keep riding bikes!

Sat 7 and Sun 8 March 2020 – WHEELBASE Lake District Big Demo Weekend – mountain, eMTB

Sat 21 March 2020 – WHEELBASE North East Spring Demo, Hamsterley Forest – mountain and eMTB

Sun 29 March 2020 – WHEELBASE Spring Classic Sportive, WHEELBASE Lake District

Sat 25 April 2020 – WHEELBASE Yorkshire Big Demo – mountain, eMTB, road, gravel and leisure eBike

Sat 16 May 2020 – WHEELBASE Lake District Summer Demo – mountain, eMTB, road, gravel and leisure eBike

Sat 7 June 2020 – Fred Whitton retail, WHEELBASE Lake District

Sat 11 July 2020 – Tour de Staveley Sportive, WHEELBASE Lake District

Sat 7 November 2020 – WHEELBASE North East Winter Demo 2020, Hamsterley Forest – mountain and eMTB

British pro-continental rider Rob Scott of Team Wiggins Le Col has kindly donated his signed King of the Mountain jersey from this year’s Tour de Yorkshire to raise money for the Candlelighters charity in Leeds. The jersey is currently on display in our Wheelbase Yorkshire store in Ilkley and is being raffled off as part of the Road to Ventoux challenge being undertaken by our head mechanic Ben, pictured alongside Rob in store.

Tickets for the raffle can be bought from our Wheelbase Yorkshire store on Skipton Road or you can donate online and be entered into the draw at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/roadtoventoux. Rob Scott took the KOM jersey on stage 3 of this year’s Tour de Yorkshire and his signed jersey will be on display at the shop until the last stage of the Tour de France at the end of July when the raffle winner will be announced.