Useful Information

    This site is for the members of Will's Wheels cycling club and is intended to act as a web version of the newsletter that we used to print regularly.  There are several pages that can be used to list your results and race reports, bring attention to an event or ride you wish to publicise, submit pictures and print your stories.  E-mail me, Chris Riley, your results and reports and I will load them up onto the news page.  My email address is available through Will's Wheels cycle shop.  When you send your results, give me a bit of information regarding the event and most importantly, blow your own trumpet, if you created mayhem and ripped everyones legs off, tell it like it was.  Your articles and stories are very important and create good content for a site like this.  Wether you've been touring, built a new bike, fallen into a pile of nettles or just want to air an opinion on drugs in cycling or mad dogs, send me a document by email and I will put it into our articles section.  Your pictures can be loaded into the gallery section and provide entertaining viewing for everyone.  Get writing, snapping pics and most importantly..................riding your bike.   

 Summer Chaingangs.

        The summer chaingangs will be running on Tuesday and Thursday nights and leaving from the Rising Sun in Hazel grove.  At this time, April, the runs will be leaving at 6.15pm on a Tuesday and 6.30pm on a Thursday.  The sessions will not be flat out at this time and probably be around 30-40 miles long.  Whilst the evenings are still only light untill around 7.30, it is advisable to have some sort of lighting for that last 20 minutes of the ride which is likely to finish in the dark.

 Sunday Clubruns. 

The weekly clubruns meet at The Rising Sun in Hazel Grove. The rides leave at 9am on a Sunday morning.

The 9am group is a sociable run that has all the hallmarks of a good traditional club ride. Janet and Rob Shaw along with Mike Bridge form the backbone of the run and Janet's routes involve quiet lanes, hills, plenty of miles and always a cafe to fill yourself with tea and cakes. It's a steady and comfortable pace but it is by no means the CTC (thank heavens). You can expect to be home at around 3pm with a memorable ride and a few miles under your belt.

Riding through the winter months can be a damp experience so it is asked you are equipped with mudguards* and a rear mud flap. Any rider throwing up a trail of dirty water can expect to find themselves at the back. Make sure you have good tyres , sufficient spare tubes, an inflator and of course ensure your bike is in good working order. In the event of actually getting a puncture, make sure you can actually repair it.

*Race Blades and other clip on mudguards are not acceptable for riding in a group.  They offer little protection to the rider or others in the group, in fact it would be fair to say that they are a complete waste of time.  Buy yourself a proper winter bike with proper long mudguards and a rear mudflap.

  Will's Wheels, The Cycle Shop. 

Will Wright is the proprietor of "Will's Wheels" which is also known by its original name of "Bardsley Cycles". Bardsley Cycles still appears on the sign above the shop and is reference to founder, Cyril Bardsley, who owned the shop for many years before Will became the new business owner in the 90's. The shop is not huge but is extremely well kept and stocks a wide range of general and more specialized cycles and equipment.

Will runs a very traditional business and offers wheel building, repairs and custom bike builds. He is very approachable, very efficient and Shimano biased. As a talented bike racer and regular club rider, Will uses the benefit of his own experiences to offer good sound advice. If a product doesn't work for him, he won't endorse it to anyone else. Ask anybody who knows him, you don't see Will Wright with shoddy bikes, clothes or equipment.

Whilst Will would be the first to admit that he doesn't aim to compete with the cost cutting so called "mailorder specialists", products and services purchased from him can be discussed, properly specified and in most cases, properly fitted at reasonable cost. Of course should you encounter any problems with your transactions, Will is always ready to deal with any difficulties over the counter quickly and courteously.

As a member of the Will's Wheels CC, there is no obligation to make any purchase from the shop although it should be pointed out that the club kit is only available through Will's Wheels. The shop is often a hive of activity throughout the year and the kettle is always in regular service. Regular visitors to the shop would probably tell you that the character of the business, the good service and of course, the regular access to good deals that often come along, is reason enough to continue using a traditional bike shop like this one.

This is not an advertisement for the shop or any sort of sales pitch. The club has come to life through the regular meeting of members through Will and his business. The club has grown steadily and had a lot of sustained input and financial support from Will's Wheels. The shop serves anyone who wishes to be involved with cycling at whatever level. It has proved to be very much in our favour that the club has such close ties to a local cycle shop like Will's. We have had some good years through this association and I hope, many more to come for all of us who enjoy riding our bikes. CR.

Will's Wheels Club Clothing. 

The Will's Wheels kit is specially made for us by Italian clothing manufacturer Biemme. It is a high quality range of clothing which is reflected in the cost being a little more than your average club kit. We have a wide variety of garments that are available in all sizes from XXS to XXXL. The kit is largely red and black bearing the Will's Wheels logo and other sponsors involved with the club. There are images of the kit and various garments in the linked gallery. The range of clothing has been developed and tweaked over several years and includes pretty much everything a rider will require. Kit is as follows.

Bib Shorts. Black with a red side and rear panel. The chamois is a high quality gel insert whilst the legs are elasticised with gel grips.

Racing Jersey. A lightweight, polyester short sleeved racing jersey with the usual 3 pockets to the rear.

Racing Jersey/Fully Zipped. As above but with a full length zip.

Long Sleeve Summer Jersey. Lightweight jersey with a thin pile layer inside making it ideal for those days in spring when temperatures are not as warm as we might like. Ideal for early season racing. Full length zip and a reflective band around the sleeves. Three pockets.

Gilet. Lightweight racing gilet with three pockets. Folds up small and is ideal for keeping the wind out.

A-Tex Light Gilet. A much warmer version of the racing gilet and ideal for long days out.

Intermediate Long Sleeved Jacket. A cold weather jacket with three pockets. This jacket is ideal for the milder weather of early spring/late autumn and won't generate the same amount of heat as the A-Tex material that is used in the heavier winter jacket.

A-Tex Winter Jacket. Extremely warm when the thermometer dips into single figures and below. The A-Tex jackets have proved to be scorchio warm and can often be worn over just a thin base layer. Highly recommended for the cold winter months. The jacket comes with two rear pockets that are both zipped.

Respira Jacket. Windproof and showerproof, the Respira is ideal for blustery days when you're not sure what the weather will do. It folds up relatively small and both of its arms can be removed with zips to produce a short sleeved version of the garment. Has three pockets to the rear.

Bib Tights. Thermal tights with foot loops for winter use. They incorporate the red panels and logo that appear on the shorts.

Bib Tights with Chamois. The same as the above tights but with a padded chamois. Can be worn with or without shorts underneath.

Skinsuit. The one piece skinsuit has short sleeves and a small zipped pocket.

Other clothes from Biemme include some nice red and black socks, vests, arm and leg warmers.

Due to the wide range of garments and sizes it is impossible to stock everything in the range. Whilst there is still some stock available from the last order, most garments will not be available until the next order is placed. We are at the time of writing looking to have a batch of Bib Shorts produced which will arrive sometime during July/August. The main order for garments will be placed with Biemme in August with a view to having the clothes in stock for the winter and of course next year.

If you would like to place an order for your clothes you must speak to Will at the shop where you can discuss sizes and of course cost. It has been noted in the past that ordering a full years supply of clothes in one hit is a costly affair. It isn't a bad idea to spread this payment over several months, paying a small amount regularly before your clothes arrive. speak to Will regarding existing stock, garment prices, deposits, payments and sizes to suit you.

Also available is a training frame that closely matches the club strip with the club logo.  see link.....TRAINING FRAME. 

CR.

Note to all riders.

At the moment, especially with the site being in it's early stages, I am having to do a lot of footwork to get hold of your results.  I am pulling many of these results from the Cycling Weekly, CTT website and the BC website.  Whilst I don't mind the odd skim through to find these results, it isn't a very interesting way of doing business.  If you ride an event, send me an email and let me know how you got on, even if you did a bad ride.  It's a much easier way of doing things and the news will go on the site as soon as you let me have it.  It is also a lot more interesting if you let me have a few comments that will give your results a bit of an editorial.  If it was blowing a gale on the return leg, you didn't have the right wheels or you blew up well before the finish, tell me and I can make something interesting out of it.  Come on guys, sell yourselves, there's only so much I can say about one line from the results page of Cycling Weekly.  CR