It could be a big event for the Australian riders so expect big efforts form Sam Hill and Mick Hannah, while Gwin is the guy to beat again and Gee Atherton will try to improve his first round disappointment.
The race is live on Red Bull TV early on Saturday morning.
In other news it seems that the Boris Bike scheme has opened up areas of London that were previously slight backwaters thanks to a lack of transport links, but now are better connected, and this can be seen by the increase in rental prices.
Meanwhile the experience of buying a new bike has thrown up some real contrasts in bike shops. Consider this a bit of a secret shopper thing, but I visited three well known shops and discovered the following things:
Evans Cycles Crouch End. Easily the worst experience of all three. Admittedly not a mountain bike specialist, they seemed to know very little and could only offer me a half hour ride, on the road ideally, on a shop-floor bike. I was looking at £3000 mountain bikes and this seems entirely inadequate to decide on an investment like this. The bike was sloppily set up, with a cable that snagged the rear wheel and there just wasn't the commitment or interest from the staff to make me want to buy a bike there. They are set up to sell commuter bikes to people who aren't really cyclists and it shows.
Cycle Surgery Strype Street was far better, considering it's also a big chain. Bruce in the shop was knowledgeable and enthusiastic, probably helped by it being their mountain bike specialist store. He was able to sort me a proper demo ride on the Whyte T129 Works and had a real opinion about what would suit my riding, even if that didn't turn out to be quite what I wanted. Slight marking down for telling me that Whyte wouldn't mind if the bike came back in two pieces, and then the rest of the staff being irritated when I returned it muddy and with a flat tyre (but in one piece). Some consistency would be helpful, and the central London location means that I think the staff have a mentality of riding on trips away more than locally so are a little slanted towards big travel bikes, therefore being too quick to advice a 29er for anyone with an interest in cross country at all. Still a great service and somewhere I would be happy to buy from.
AW Cycles Reading. AW was the clear winner. James in the shop took the time to look into possible bikes based on my thoughts, to email me and call to let me know those ideas and then follow up when demo bikes could be booked. Real understanding and big enthusiasm made me want to buy there above all the other shops. His recommendations were spot on and left me with a great bike to buy and he always had time to chat about bikes and wider issues and left me feeling valued and respected. This is what all bike shops should be like and they are somewhat threatened by the big chains that are appealing to the masses who want a £500 commuter. I am the worst at using online stores to get a deal, but this is exactly why you should support your local shops.
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