Several members of Team Shutt Velo Rapide took part in the Banbury Star CC's reliability rides this weekend. The Banbury Star is one of the UK’s oldest cycling clubs and is celebrating its 125th anniversary this spring. So these reliability rides date back to the time when these early spring trials were genuinely a way to test the reliability of your equipment ahead of the coming season.
Like lots of cycling clubs, the Banbury Star offers 3 groups depending on how fast you want to go, the aim being to complete the course within your allotted time. Most of the Shutt riders went for the faster group and we completed the 100 km course in around 3 hours. Reliability rides are not races, although the fast group tends to ride flat out - this is the first time that most of us who race get to test our fitness and see how we’ve fared over the winter compared to others.
We used the ride as an opportunity to try out some of the new products that are currently in production for Shutt. I wore one of the prototype Roubaix jerseys and Squadra Donne’s newest signing Lisa tried out the Women’s version. The jerseys received more than their share of compliments from the other riders and we’ve made a few notes of design tweaks we’d like to see before they hit the shelves in March.
- Justin