The school holidays are well under way and we’ve all been inspired by the Tour de France what a perfect opportunity to have a day out on the bike with family and friends! Hopefully there won’t be any more heatwaves this month, but it’s still a good idea to take plenty of water with you on your ride. The Cycle Sprog website has great advice for cycling with kids, this link gives some great tips  for everything you need to get started Complete guide to cycling with kids | Cycle Sprog

Love, peace and bicycle grease,

Ade & the YCBH Core Team

Follow us! All our socials are listed here: YCBH linktree

With all the events over the summer you might see YCBH out and about in the community.  Last month we were at Ladden Garden, the Yate Ageing Better Festival as well as our regular visits to Chipping Sodbury Parkrun.  

This month Rusty Riders continue with an evening and daytime session, it’s Cycle to work day on August 7th, we’re running a family focussed Maintenance Course and we’ll have 2 Dr Bike sessions to keep you and your bike out and about all summer!

Stuart as Dr Bike at Ladden Garden

The Hub will be at the following community events so come and have a chat if you see us.  

2nd August @ Eat Chipping Sodbury

20th August @ Yate Youth Festival (featuring Dr Bike)

28th August @ Yate Shopping Centre 60th anniversary celebration

30th August @ Bike to Parkrun! a good opportunity to cycle for a warm up before your run and hopefully delicious Hobbs House flapjacks.

We are always looking for new volunteers. If you are over 18 and able to spare some time helping at Hub open sessions on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Saturday, we’d love to hear from you

If you are interested in volunteering with us, you can contact us at yatecommunitybikehub@gmail.com for more information.

Join our friendly team!

CyclingUK is a great resource for all things cycling. They have a great page for inspiration and things to do on a bike this summer. They had our attention with this picture of bikes and ice creams!

For more info, check out the 12 things guide and a whole host information here: 12 things to do on a bike this summer | Cycling UK

We welcomed new volunteer John this month. He is keen to help the fettling team on daytime sessions – welcome to the Team John!

Bernie passed his Cytech level 2 training, not only did he pass, but he passed with a  100% mark! Well done Bernie!

This means we now have 3 qualified mechanics to ensure bikes are signed off to a consistent and industry recognised standard.  Bernie joins Rupert and Nick as our level 3 mechanics and Juliet who passed her home mechanics course earlier in the year

Bernie busy at work

We have scheduled two sessions per month (one evening and one daytime) through the summer with instructor Karen. Book your space using the Eventbrite QR code here or follow this Rusty Riders link to book any session.

This month’s dates are:

Friday 1st August 10:30 (meeting at the Abbotswood Inn)

Monday 4th August 18:30 (meeting at the Abbotswood Inn)

Jo (Left) Emma Pooley and Caroline (Right)

Women on Wheels

Women on Wheels is growing in strength and numbers with events each month. This month, they had an outing to meet Emma Pooley (centre with Jo and Caroline) in Bristol this to hear her speak about her time as an elite cyclist (and the importance of oats!) her recipe book / oat-obiography is well worth a read https://www.emmapooley.net/oat-to-joy/

If you would like to find out more about WoW you can join the conversation via our WhatsApp community.

Please use this link to join https://chat.whatsapp.com/K5s4JhUBN8r2CRH6a3kFmO

Mechanic Archie in action

Inspired by Archie, we have decided to put on a family focussed maintenance course this month.  We will focus on safety with M checks, but also what to look for going out on family rides, fixing punctures and we’re going to squeeze in a Q&A with Stuart and Ade on all things cycling.

For upcoming dates keep an eye on our website, newsletter or the eventbrite booking page – come and find out how easy it is to keep your bike roadworthy!

Every month we hold a maintenance course on the 3rd Tuesday of the month, with a  follow up practice course on the 4th Tuesday of the month.  This allows attendees to put into practice what they learnt the previous week and come to ask why it wasn’t as simple as when Stuart showed them!

Last month supporter of the Hub and regular maintenance course attendee, Archie bought a bike from us (he only came to Yate to get a haircut!). However, the replacement tyres hadn’t yet arrived, so he asked if he could come to a maintenance practice course to install the new tyres himself, which of course we were very pleased to do! He then rode home with dad to show his brothers his new bike and share his new new skills with them.

Mechanics helping attendees  at the Practice session

To celebrate Bernie not only passing his Cytech 2 bike mechanic qualification, but also getting 100%, we thought we’d get to know him a little better.

What do you enjoy about working at the Hub?

Well, there’s the tea and biscuits I suppose, oh, and the opportunity to play with my favourite machines at the same time. I do like the opportunity to be able to pass on and share knowledge and skills, whether they’re wanted or not!!

What is your favourite bike?

My favourite childhood bike just has to be a grey Raleigh Hercules, the very first bike I bought back in around 1964 with my paper round earnings (50 pence, or 10 shillings as it was, per 6 day week) and pocket money. It cost the enormous sum of £18. Heavy steel and a Sturmley Archer three-speed hub with ineffective brakes. I had a massive saddle bag on it to help carry the newspapers, and after completing the paper round, it got me to school and back each day. I think I rode that bike into the ground! My current favourite bike is probably my Ribble electric gravel bike. It cost considerably more than the Hercules, but I can do hills!! The rest of my n+1 stash includes a Colnago Maxim mountain bike (completely rebuilt from the ground up) and a Mekk Pogio carbon framed lightweight road bike. I’m currently refurbishing and rebuilding an RSW16 shopper bike – for fun would you believe!

The certificate needs to show 100% we think!

Bernie in his ‘happy place’

What is your favourite bike ride?
My current favourite bike ride is one that was explored and passed onto me by an ex-boss of mine. He called it the “Omloop de Wiltshire” or something similar! It’s a 60 something mile long loop that starts in Yate and takes you out to Brinkworth in Wiltshire and back around to Yate. It takes in, amongst other locations, Tormarton, Acton Turville, Grittleton, Biddestone, Chippenham to Brinkworth and then returns via Malmsbury, Sherston, Acton Turville (again!) and thence back to Yate. Sounds complicated but it really isn’t – hilly it is though! Provided the weather is kind, there are some lovely sights to be enjoyed. See the piccies.

Do you have a claim to fame?
A difficult one that, if I don’t want to admit to doing daft things! I do have an albeit rather tenuous claim to fame in that I once competed against Chris Boardman. Well, it was a time trial and Chris Boardman’s result put him at the top of the results sheet and mine put me near the bottom. But I was on the same result sheet. Yaay, go me! However, I’d probably have to say that my proudest cycling achievement of late was being able to pass the Cytech Technical Two cycle mechanic qualification

Thanks for that Bernie, it’s great to know a bit more about you, we’re pretty proud of you too!

We have been successful with our application to South Glos Council for a grant as part of the ‘Stronger Together’ scheme.

This will allow us to continue to support the various outreach activities we have been doing such as working with young people, schools, Women on Wheels, disabled cycling and priority neighbourhoods

We even appear in the South Glos Stronger Together leaflet! Stronger Together – Asset-Based Community Development for South Gloucestershire – Leaflet

1st August – Daytime Rusty Riders skills session, Booking Link

2nd August – Saturday Dr Bike at the Hub 10.30-14.30

2nd August – Eat Festival with Hogweed Trotters – Chipping Sodbury High Street

4th August – Evening Rusty Riders skills session, Booking Link

12th August – Volunteers and Co-ordinators Meeting 7pm

16th August – Police Bike Marking at the Hub

19th August – Family Maintenance Course 7-8.30pm Booking Link

20th August – YCBH with Dr Bike @ Yate Youth Festival

26th August –  Bike Maintenance Practice session 7-8.30pm Booking Link

28th August – Yate Shopping Centre 60th birthday

30th August – Bike to Parkrun! (last Saturday of the month through summer)