Journal | Hunt Bike Wheels

Harry Tanfield (known as The Wizard by team-mates) is one of many prodigious young talents rising to the top of domestic pro cycling within the ranks of the BIKE Channel Canyon team. As a rider he's had a tremendous season for the newly-formed team, and is on most cycling fans' radars as 'one to watch' for the future. Particularly talented at time trials (finishing 5th at the National Championships earlier this year on the Isle of Man) and all things proper aero, we caught up with Harry whilst flying back from his last event of the season, to look back across the 2018 season and chat the breeze! 

It is safe to bet that most of us first became hooked on bikes in a woodland nearby our childhood household. The first sense of freedom, the sketchy wooden jumps, skid competitions and endless exploring became what we use our bikes for. Then some of us found road bikes, some found cars and study eventually became full time work. But those who did not stop playing in the woods are now affectionately called 'mountain bikers'.

For them nothing has really changed... only the jumps have become bigger, the trail systems more extensive and the 'home before the street lights come on' rule has gone out the window (for some). The life of a trail is more than just when you ride it; it is hours spent by unknown volunteers who have raked, dug, cut, sawed, shaped and sculpted what some of us call our local trails.

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Climbing is an art. Striking the balance of pushing up a gradient without popping before reaching the summit and being able to stay deep in the red zone requires experience which many cyclist's never master. Climbing is, in this sense, a very personal form of cycling. Passing over the point where the gradient stops pointing upwards comes with a sense of accomplishment... and relief... especially when the summit just reached is atop of some of the hardest climbs in Eastern Europe.

Our very own tech guru, Stan has translated his dad's blog from Bulgarian describing his experience of climbing Romania's climbs. By the looks of it, the hills here look to be highly underrated.... although we will pass on the bears crossing the road!

We always try to use the word 'epic' sparingly... reserved only for those rides which are truly 'epic'. But we are going to use an 'epic token' here to describe BikeChannel Canyon's effort in this year's Tour of Britain which concluded late last week.

Please enjoy the photo gallery of BikeChannel Canyon's first Tour of Britain... 

A few weeks ago we featured OpenDev rider Will Johnson article detailing his preparation of riding up Ventoux at 99bpm (which can be found here). We are glad to say that Will's adventure was successful, but it certainly was not without mishaps and a huge challenge for the ex-Leicester Tigers professional rugby player. 

Read below to find out exactly how it all went down (and up) for Will.

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Well, here’s the story of a heartless fat man climbing the Giant of Provence, a fine title for a fairy tale! To recap, a heart arrhythmia and a few operations in 2016 has left me with chronotropic incompetence, which basically means my heart rate barely rises when I exercise. A little annoying to say the least, but in the bigger picture, things could be worse, I’m still on my bike.

Going to go against the grain here, but I am a Hunt employee who doesn’t like camping. There, I said it.

I’m not of the same rugged cloth of our fabled (and former) Josh Ibbett, or either of the Marchment brothers who kicked things off a couple of years ago. They all love it. The cold, the damp, I’m not sure what the appeal is – but they dig it and they dig it big. Luckily, during our visit to Eurobike this year I had company in the ‘hating camping’…. errr… camp. Luisa, our new senior engineer, spent most of her time either moaning about having to sleep in a tent whilst visiting a trade show, or listening to me doing the same. My idea of touring just means stopping at a different hotel each night. A TCR contender, I am not.

This is going to be a quick one. The primary (achieved) aim was for me to vent about the sleeping in a tent thing. Beyond that, I thought it would be nice to show you all some of the pictures I took whilst roaming around (usually on the way to the next meeting). Most of the stuff that took my eye was high-end road stuff, but I tried to capture some of the bikes/things that your regular media outlet wouldn't notice! Not forgetting the occasional ‘Alligator’ (this won our internal award for Most Eurobike Bike of Eurobike).

Enjoy!

Ollie Gray

Hunt Service & Dispatch Manager

It seems like yesterday that we featured world traveller and long distance cyclist, Josh Ibbett's last blog post. However, he is still out on the road and still heading along his planned route. There have been a few variations and at the time of writing, Josh has been in company with his partner Caroline. Heading south has given him time to reflect on his ride across the interior of Canada.  

This time round, Josh's trip has taken a slight turn. The endless landscapes, which those from Canada, the US and Australia can easily relate too, have challenged the Englishman who is more familiar with geographically condensed Europe/UK. It sounds like the pure openness has taken its toll. And rightly so! But in typical Josh fashion, he had made the best of it and stayed true to his 'experience-the-world' mantra rather than riding for the sake of it.

The USA is big! Flying into to New York for my first ever visit to the United States was certainly an eye opening experience. The streets are bigger, the buildings are bigger, the cars are bigger and the portions are bigger! Flying in after a month in culture filled Spain it certainly was a shock. 

Read on for more...

UCI Continental team and Hunt supported, BikeChannel Canyon, will be taking on the pinnacle of British road racing starting this Sunday at the OVO Energy Tour of Britain.

Rolling out of Edinburgh, the Hunt supported team will be racing the eight stages as one of the twenty competing teams. Beating other high noting British based Continental outfits to gain a position on the start-line within the first year of operating is quite an achievement for the young team.

For many cyclists, climbing Ventoux is a dream. The mythical status it holds in cycling and its moon like landscape means that it is more than just any old climb. It has been the scene of huge triumphs in cycling like Contador cementing his victory in the 2009 tour, as well as many tragedies like the death of Tom Simpsons during 1967 edition of the same race.

Out of the thousands, if not tens of thousands of people who ride the peak every year, it is almost undeniable that Will Johnson is taking on this monumental climb which previous to a year ago it would have been thought of as impossible for Will due to his heart condition.

Read about Will's story here.

The Vatternrundan is a 300km race around the second largest lake in Sweden, on or near the longest day of the year. Riders go off in groups of about 60 at a time, in 2 minute intervals and this year nearly 23,000 rolled up to the start line between 8pm to 8am to follow the midnight sun.

The Swedes do make something of a thing of midsummer. They celebrate it as a national holiday and general excuse to eat herring and drink lots of Akvavit (Scandinavian spirit).

300km of Swedish Madness.