Today’s set up in Bracknell got off to a great start – the sun was out, but the temperature wasn’t nearly as scorching as it had been on the previous three days. Perfect weather to get out and ride (or so we thought).

The spot we occupied in Bracknell Town Centre was a fantastic open space next to a unique fountain that tells the time. One of the brilliant things about Bracknell is that it’s a relatively new town, so has actually been planned out rather well, and has plenty of cycle paths in and around the town and residential areas.

The biggest feeling from the day was the number of people approaching us talking about how they would like to take up cycling, and wanted to know more about the routes that were available.

Watt Bike

Yet again the people of Bracknell were all too keen to have a go on our watt bike challenge. Despite a slight technical hitch with one of the laptops collecting the data, we ran it directly from the machine. However shortly before this, we recorded our best score yet! One of the Urban Limits team who lead the score in Wokingham, Nick Settle managed to do it again with an outstanding score of 865 Watts!! Incredible.

The Rides

We chose two very different routes for our led rides with the first almost exclusively using Bracknell’s vast network of off-road cycle routes. For this ride were joined by members of the public who appreciated the opportunity to follow a specific route at a leisurely pace with tips and advice from experienced riders.  Our 9 mile tour followed a mostly flat route, passing by many of Bracknell’s parks before retuning back to the town centre.

Our plans for the second ride were slightly scuppered by a huge thunderstorm that hit the town and we cut short our planned route – but still had a great time with our youngest participant ever (age 11).

Other Attractions

Bracknell Forest Council were on hand to offer advice and information about cycle routes with a giant map showing all of the routes around the town.  There were also lots of freebies including our exclusive Urban Limits water bottles with the LED lights built-in  to the cap.

Berkshire Bicycles were also  with us today, and were offering bike maintenance and servicing to any and all who brought them along with them, including diagnosing a niggling issue on one of our team members bikes. Thanks guys.

Lastly we’d like to thank the attendance of Luke from Sustrans today, who brought along with him the Smoothie bike, and were blending fruit all day long. Luke also took part in our Watt Bike challenge, and scored 590 Watts, absolutely smashing the score of his colleague Ellie Elwood who took the challenge only 2 days ago. Despite were told, that she is a faster rider out on the road.