*Here at Wattbike HQ, lots of groups decide to use Wattbikes for fundraising and public attractions for cycling. Read the report below by Kettering Cycle Club for what they did when they hosting the Halford's Tour Series in June.*
By Gavin Hinxman. Kettering Cycling Club
## Halfords Tour Series – Kettering, 10th June 2010 - Wow, what a spectacle!
We were asked by Kettering Borough Council if we were interested in promoting cycling and the Kettering Cycling Club at the Halfords Tour Series that came to town on June 10th. This was too good of an opportunity to miss but we needed some ideas of how we could make the display a spectacle.
One of our initial brainstorming ideas was to enquire about the use of the Wattbike. A number of us had seen them work well at other events. We needed something to draw the crowd over to us. Getting the use of the bike proved very easy thanks to Wattbike.
Prior to the day we had put together a large collection on old and present photographs of the club with pictures dating back to 1890 right up to include the technology of the present day. We also had some carbon Colbert Bikes on display kindly leant to us by club member Stephen Colbert.
By adding the Wattbike on the stand we had something for everyone.
The Wattbike is a static exercise bike that can be adjusted to suit riders of all shape and sizes. It needs no external power so it was so easy to set up and use.
Organising the Wattbike hire was very easy. Thanks to Steve Marshall for sorting us out here. I collected the bike from Nottingham on the Thursday morning. (Thanks to Jerry for being there at 7am, and loading the bike into the car). We set up our exhibition by early afternoon and set the bike up for a 200m sprint and invited people to have a go.
The club riders were the first to get their names on the board – We had a simple white board with post-it notes that we moved around so the fastest time were always at the top. Straight away we had people wanting to top the time sheet. This brought lots of people to the stand.
We had many people give it a go including the brother of former British Best All Rounder cycling champion Gary Dighton; we had members of the council (male and female) and many children including go-rider Bailey Hodson who had two goes despite not being able to reach the pedals!
Kettering council event organiser and CyclingBargains RT rider Michael Cowland was the fastest rider overall until 2009 Gladiator TV show winner David Staff took the top honours. This was only bettered towards the end of the day by a guy that wasn’t even a ‘cyclist’ – what other undiscovered talent do we have out there!
The event was a success, lots of people watched the race (televised the day after) and we had a lot of interest in the club.
The bike does a lot more than we used it for, they can do pedalling efficiency testing (to see if you push on just the downstroke or if you push and pull for the full 360 degrees, all interesting and valuable analysis). It would be great to get one for a winter club night session in the future.
*Here at Wattbike HQ, lots of groups decide to use Wattbikes for fundraising and public attractions for cycling. Read the report below by Kettering Cycle Club for what they did when they hosting the Halford's Tour Series in June.*
By Gavin Hinxman. Kettering Cycling Club
## Halfords Tour Series – Kettering, 10th June 2010 - Wow, what a spectacle!
We were asked by Kettering Borough Council if we were interested in promoting cycling and the Kettering Cycling Club at the Halfords Tour Series that came to town on June 10th. This was too good of an opportunity to miss but we needed some ideas of how we could make the display a spectacle.
One of our initial brainstorming ideas was to enquire about the use of the Wattbike. A number of us had seen them work well at other events. We needed something to draw the crowd over to us. Getting the use of the bike proved very easy thanks to Wattbike.
Prior to the day we had put together a large collection on old and present photographs of the club with pictures dating back to 1890 right up to include the technology of the present day. We also had some carbon Colbert Bikes on display kindly leant to us by club member Stephen Colbert.
By adding the Wattbike on the stand we had something for everyone.
The Wattbike is a static exercise bike that can be adjusted to suit riders of all shape and sizes. It needs no external power so it was so easy to set up and use.
Organising the Wattbike hire was very easy. Thanks to Steve Marshall for sorting us out here. I collected the bike from Nottingham on the Thursday morning. (Thanks to Jerry for being there at 7am, and loading the bike into the car). We set up our exhibition by early afternoon and set the bike up for a 200m sprint and invited people to have a go.
The club riders were the first to get their names on the board – We had a simple white board with post-it notes that we moved around so the fastest time were always at the top. Straight away we had people wanting to top the time sheet. This brought lots of people to the stand.
We had many people give it a go including the brother of former British Best All Rounder cycling champion Gary Dighton; we had members of the council (male and female) and many children including go-rider Bailey Hodson who had two goes despite not being able to reach the pedals!
Kettering council event organiser and CyclingBargains RT rider Michael Cowland was the fastest rider overall until 2009 Gladiator TV show winner David Staff took the top honours. This was only bettered towards the end of the day by a guy that wasn’t even a ‘cyclist’ – what other undiscovered talent do we have out there!
The event was a success, lots of people watched the race (televised the day after) and we had a lot of interest in the club.
The bike does a lot more than we used it for, they can do pedalling efficiency testing (to see if you push on just the downstroke or if you push and pull for the full 360 degrees, all interesting and valuable analysis). It would be great to get one for a winter club night session in the future.