We haven’t seen much of Hamish over the past two years… mostly due to him being located down under in Wollongong, Australia.

Having worked in a bicycle store since he was 14 after lying about his age to get a start on the wrenches, Hamish now handles media enquiries with us at Hunt, pieces together our weekly Hunt Journal and is the creator of our On The Drops Interviews.

This time round we have called upon OpenDev rider Rob Harwood to show us some tracks which keep him going on a long gravel ride.

Presenting THE CASSETTE #1: An exploration into the the sounds the people who make up Hunt are listening to. Shift up and spin this one out.

There are bikes, and then there are Storcks... no matter your flavour, the German manufacturer knows how to make a head-turner. This particular one belongs to Dan Pullen, who we interviewed in On The Drops just last week. After coming back from its maiden voyage (less than 24 hours since the time of writing) we thought it only fitting to feature it in this week's reader's ride - oh and did we mention it is a Storck!?

It is safe to bet that most of us first became hooked on bikes in a woodland nearby our childhood household. The first sense of freedom, the sketchy wooden jumps, skid competitions and endless exploring became what we use our bikes for. Then some of us found road bikes, some found cars and study eventually became full time work. But those who did not stop playing in the woods are now affectionately called 'mountain bikers'.

For them nothing has really changed... only the jumps have become bigger, the trail systems more extensive and the 'home before the street lights come on' rule has gone out the window (for some). The life of a trail is more than just when you ride it; it is hours spent by unknown volunteers who have raked, dug, cut, sawed, shaped and sculpted what some of us call our local trails.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE...

Climbing is an art. Striking the balance of pushing up a gradient without popping before reaching the summit and being able to stay deep in the red zone requires experience which many cyclist's never master. Climbing is, in this sense, a very personal form of cycling. Passing over the point where the gradient stops pointing upwards comes with a sense of accomplishment... and relief... especially when the summit just reached is atop of some of the hardest climbs in Eastern Europe.

Our very own tech guru, Stan has translated his dad's blog from Bulgarian describing his experience of climbing Romania's climbs. By the looks of it, the hills here look to be highly underrated.... although we will pass on the bears crossing the road!

Going to go against the grain here, but I am a Hunt employee who doesn’t like camping. There, I said it.

I’m not of the same rugged cloth of our fabled (and former) Josh Ibbett, or either of the Marchment brothers who kicked things off a couple of years ago. They all love it. The cold, the damp, I’m not sure what the appeal is – but they dig it and they dig it big. Luckily, during our visit to Eurobike this year I had company in the ‘hating camping’…. errr… camp. Luisa, our new senior engineer, spent most of her time either moaning about having to sleep in a tent whilst visiting a trade show, or listening to me doing the same. My idea of touring just means stopping at a different hotel each night. A TCR contender, I am not.

This is going to be a quick one. The primary (achieved) aim was for me to vent about the sleeping in a tent thing. Beyond that, I thought it would be nice to show you all some of the pictures I took whilst roaming around (usually on the way to the next meeting). Most of the stuff that took my eye was high-end road stuff, but I tried to capture some of the bikes/things that your regular media outlet wouldn't notice! Not forgetting the occasional ‘Alligator’ (this won our internal award for Most Eurobike Bike of Eurobike).

Enjoy!

Ollie Gray

Hunt Service & Dispatch Manager

We first introduced Luisa to you last week but finally got the chance to catch her for the dreaded On The Drops interview. Here is a quick refresher on what Luisa will be doing here at Hunt: 

Luisa Grappone hails from the motherland of cycling, pink jerseys and big mountain climbing (aka Italy), but has made the move to Sussex to further strengthen the Hunt wheel development team as our as our full time in-house wheel engineer. With an MSc in Aerospace Enigneering Luisa has a wealth of experience in the bicycle industry and materials engineering, with many years misspent sweating over hot CAD drawings, carbon fibre lay-ups and crunching wind tunnel data.

So here is our latest On The Drops with Luisa. Please Enjoy!