31/1/08: Demo Day Report

Sunday saw our inaugural Demo Day take place in Holmbury St Mary. The event exceeded all our expectations, with all the bikes pre-booked well in advance (apologies to those who missed out), and a total of fifty riders testing over eighty bikes across the morning and afternoon sessions.

The day started early, as our suppliers descended upon the WI Hall and car park, creating a bizarre scene for the bemused early morning dog walkers and horse riders as they began setting up their fleets of test bikes and accompanying tents, mobile workshops and bike stands.

With everything set up ten o'clock came round and our riders started arriving. Despite all the ran over the previous weeks it turned out to be a gloriously sunny winter's day, and everyone turned up eager to get out on the bikes. Riders were checked in, bikes were set up, and then local trail experts Richard and Glen from All Biked Up led off the morning's guided ride. The ride took in some of the areas best trails across Holmbury and Pitch Hill, and lasted two hours - just enough time for us to make up several plates of cheese sandwiches, which were happily devoured by the returning morning riders, along with some fantastic cakes courtesy of Dom and Louisa (thanks guys!).

With everyone fed and reenergised, it was action stations again in the paddock as bikes were swapped around, and Richard and Glen then took everyone out for some more trails, finally bringing everyone home in the late afternoon sunshine, with lots of smiles, some great bikes tested, and a fantastic day's riding.

Thanks very much to Wayne, Stu and Rich from Trek, Oli from Commencal, Simon, Mike and Katie from Nicolai for bringing all their bikes, Richard and Glen from All Biked Up for two great rides, and everyone that came for making it such a fun and successful day - looking forward to doing it all again next year!

Dan

Thanks also to Gary Lambe and Rich Foster for the photos (more of Gary's here, and Rich's here)

If you missed the day but are interested in testing some bikes, remember we've got a full range of demo bikes in the shop all year round - more details here, just give us a call or drop us an email to book a test ride.