…Everyday, I’m pedalling!! Putting your own twist on things is what life is all about and this is exactly what the people of Ribble Cycles do when it comes to bikes. I had the pleasure of experiencing this first hand yesterday when I made the trip up north to Ribble headquarters in Bamber Bridge. About two weeks ago, I sadly ended up without a bike due to unforeseen circumstances and this left me in a bit of a pickle. I reached out on social media and due to the kind nature of Hannah from Polaris bike wear, she put me in contact with the guys at Ribble Cycles. Within a week, I was making the trip to base camp up north to get myself fitted and kitted and walking away with a brand new blingy bike for the season. Talk about the luck of the Irish! Upon arrival to Ribble Cycles warehouse, I was slightly nervous but very excited. The minute I walked in though, all those butterflies were put to bed as I was greeted by a team of laughing and crazy workers behind their desks. I just instantly felt ‘these are my kind of people!!’ Road runner noises were being thrown out left, right and Centre around the office and it was quite endearing to know a place of work could be so fun! I had been in contact with Matthew Lawson, so once he arrived out and I explained the pronunciation of my ever confusing name, we were on our way!! (A-L-V-A…for those of you rattling your brains!!) You know the way everyone loves going home for home cooked food, and everyone thinks their own mother’s cooking is the best? Well, Ribble cycles is the biking industries version of your mothers home cooked dinners. The time and attention, the love and passion, the secret ingredients that have been passed on down the line…it’s all there. Ribble Cycles has the ingredients to make the larger scale biking brands look a little underwhelming. It was quite an eye opener for me yesterday to see how hands on and how close to the heart the set up was in their warehouse. I was given a guided tour around the place and I was talked through each section of the warehouse. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to see everything first hand as it really brought to light how individual and personal each bike that Ribble makes is. Ribble likes to be different. Ribble likes to stand out. Ribble likes to be recognised for what it is. Ribble is fabulous in the most simple of ways and it’s quite a heart warming thing that something so simple can be so wonderful. It’s no secret to the world that each and every person is different. Everyone has different length legs, or arms or what ever it may be. Because of this, each and every 6ft tall man, wont fit on the same size bike frame with the same size stem etc, because of their differing dimensions. This is where Ribble’s bike magic comes to light. As I passed through the warehouse yesterday, there were a collection bikes that were built and ready and waiting for their owners to collect them. It was interesting to see that not one of the same frame was built up the same way. Each bike was tailored made to fit the owner. What a fabulous trait to have in a company. Comfort matters. It’s just an added bonus that you can do it in style too! After my own bike caught my eye, I was obviously very excited to get my helmet on and hop on and have a go. This experience did not let me down. My saddle height happened to be bang on exactly what I ride at which was weird, but it takes ‘tailored made for you’ to a whole new level!!!! Ribble knows best!! After a very thorough check and very enjoyable couple of hours it was time for me to take my brand new bike and make my way back home to Loughborough to start getting some more hard work done across the board. Massive thank you to all the guys at Ribble Cycles for all of their help. I am very much looking forward to a fabulous year on my new Aero 883 and I hope I can represent the Ribble brand as best I can. Thanks for reading! Check back in again next month for more updates and rambles from me ☺ Ailbhe 