Castle Donington can relax, it’s time to go back to the tamer pastimes of motor racing and rock festivals as the dust has settled on Bike Radar live.
As you may have noticed the weather was superb and this helped make a great event perfect. With 8472 people turning up to enjoy a genuine festival of cycling that managed to combine all aspects of cycling, having something for everyone, whether casual commuter or hardened mountain biker.
It was the ‘multi-discipline’ aspect of the event that was one of the keys to its success; every type of bike and rider was happily riding about in the blazing sunshine.
There were demo bikes of every conceivable type, from recumbent to full suspension tandem from a broad spectrum of retailers, and trade stands galore with enough shiny new bits to keep anyone happy.
As usual the different manufacturers were all trying to out-do one another and this time it seems that sound systems were the weapon of choice with Scott USA definitely taking the prize with the most ridiculous Wembley stadium sized system, Raleigh and Red Bull came in a joint second.
Events wise there was pretty much all you’d want, sportives, Sustrans rides, a great little mountain bike demo loop, all star cast dual slalom and dirt jump contests, road race events around the Donnington circuit itself and a lot more besides that we didn’t have time to get around.
Should you go next year? Too right you should, if you’ve the slightest interest in cycling of any sort then you will not be disappointed, and don’t go alone, take the family; it was great to see so many families at a real cycle event that rightly attracted the most hard-core cycle fans as well.
Did we forget to mention that the weather was lovely? It made trips to the beer tents and ice cream vans all the more justifiable!
The organisers have booked the site for the next 3 years so start planning your trip for next year (don’t forget the sun block), I know we’ll be there.
