Anyone who has been to a bike show in the UK would think that two days would be plenty of time to get to get to see everything but after a frenetic 48 hours in Germany Roger and I left feeling there was more to see. Eurobike is now widely regarded as the biggest and most important in the world as Joe Ingram of Independent Fabrication was heard to say “man, this show is huge” - being European we had always looked across the Atlantic in awe at the Interbike Show in Las Vegas although I’m not sure Friedrichschafen can match Vegas in the ’entertainment’ stakes.
Anyway,here is some of the stuff we liked.

Baum frames - beautiful creations in steel and titanium built in Australia by Darren Baum, another of the growing worldwide band of small scale builders crafting frames with love, care and not a small amount of expertise. The frame names give away his love of coffee - Ristretto, Espresso, Cappucino, Cubano..

Independent Fabrication - IF didn’t have a stand as such but Joe Ingram popped over from the factory to be on his German distributors stand. It was good to see the IF 953 range expand to include a ‘cross bike, the durability and ride characteristics of 953 should suit the discipline well. 953 seems to have really caught on in the States (less so in the UK), the main problem Joe has is in getting enough of the stuff.

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I have just returned from the annual family holiday to Mallorca (via France, we drive down). As the kids get older the opportunities for riding on these trips seems to increase and this year I managed to get a fair few rides in, including some beautiful excursions in the Pyrenean foothills, a great place for riding in the summer.
The highlight however had to be racing in Mallorca. I raced in Mallorca a few times many years ago during the annual spring training camp trips we used to make (and which introduced me to the island) but since then I have never got myself organised to repeat the experience.
What a contrast to racing in the UK! Instead of the normal bureacuracy and expense of entering a race here, in Spain it couldn’t be easier - simply turn up, show your licence, pay one Euro and your in. For that you get closed roads, Guardia Civil outriders, team cars….in fact the whole continental bike race experience. The racing is of a good standard, but manageable, albeit very controlled by team tactics so without any Mosquito team mates to help it was hard work, but what fun and what a contrast to racing on British roads.
My son, Thomas, also entered a couple of village races (every village has an annual Fiesta and invariably this includes an afternoon of bike races) which he absolutely loved - when your are nine, racing on closed roads with crowds watching and a police motorbike up front with it’s siren blaring is about as exciting as it gets and when they give you a trophy afterwards you are in heaven!
Back to the reality of riding in the UK this week and so I have pulled out the waterproofs. The 3 Peaks Cyclocross race is in just over three weeks time and I have to get training seriously, which means more running and plenty of carrying the bike up hills to get the body accustomed to the torment to come.
This week we are off to the big European trade show in Germany, Eurobike, so I will put a full report up on the blog next week.