Review: Carp Scene, Derbyshire. A new blueprint for specialist retail.

The new Carp Scene Superstore.

Some of you may be surprised by this, considering that most of my posts are usually travel or mountainbike related, but my real passion in life is Carp Fishing!

Carp Scene is a new angling superstore. It started life around 40 years as The Tackle Box in Somercotes, Derbyshire (my local shop). Around 15 years ago Mark Goodwin took it over from, the retiring, Terry Marriot and it started to morph, away from general fishing, in to a carp fishing store.

Then, a couple of years ago, along came Mick Hancox; who bought a share of the business from Mark and they started to up the ante. Mick was formerly a partner in the then uber-cool and successful Planet Carp in Nottingham (sadly no longer the store it was in those days) and he brought serious specialist retail knowledge to the table; along with the drive to develop the shop in to a big hitter. With a recent third partner, Nick Rhodes, joining the gruesome twosome, the investment was in place to make the next step. and so they did. And it is a BIG step.

What you might call a "game changer".

I think it's time for another adventure! Yo-Yoing back to Nepal.

This week I am off on my travels again! :)

I'm heading out to Nepal for a couple of different adventures; two weeks of Mountainbiking, followed by three weeks of high-altitude trekking.

As you might imagine, I am looking forward to it.

This time around I will be travelling with friends again. Mitch Bryan is coming out for the first part of the trip which will see us out in Eastern Nepal, around Ilam & Kanchenjunga, recce'ing new routes for an upstart tour company called ThamBikes.

After that I am meeting up with Wilco Voulon for the trekking part.

Tour Divide; a few developments so far.

It's a long road towards cycling down a long road!

Where do I start?

There are so may things to consider when taking on a challenge like The Tour Divide. It's a veritable minefield of questions, answers, and more questions. I've had eureka moments, and a lot of total-confusion-moments!

Bike set-up, luggage set-up, sleeping set-up, food & water storage, clothing, technology, suitable training routes; the list seems to be endless right now. I'm going through the rollercoaster that all previous Divide racers have been through before me.

Some of my answers have come through trial and error, some from personal experience, some from reading about other peoples experiences, in books and on the internet. I still have a lot of riddles to solve, but it's a fun way to pass the dark winter nights (mostly) :)

Let's start with the bike, it is, after all, the one piece of equipment that will be with me throughout the entire race.
Get ready to geek-out!

The Tour Divide - a cycle racing odyssey.

Apparently "The Hardest Cycle Race on Earth is not in France!" (according to Outside Magazine).

There are plenty of cycle races around the globe that bill themselves as the hardest, Le Tour de France (TdF) and Ironbike both have a good shout. But when you stack up the figures nothing quite compares to The Tour Divide.

First up, Le Tour is a Pro race, fully supported, with all the pampered luxuries that the teams can muster. It's also on European roads, riding 6.8kg carbon super-bikes.

Ironbike (MTB) is tougher. Racers camp together every night before tackling ferocious climbs and terrifyingly exposed descents, one after the next.

Tour Divide is longer than TdF at 2745 miles. It has more climbing than Ironbike - 200,000 ft/61,000m. That's not a typo! And it is entirely self-supported. Racers cannot accept any outside assistance and have to be completely self-sufficient for the entire duration, including carrying all of their necessary kit, from food, clothing, maps, and spares, to camping gear. They also have to navigate The Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR - The longest off-pavement route in the world) all the way from Banff in Canada to Antelope Wells, New Mexico, on The US/Mexican border. Most of it on remote trails frequented by Bears and Mountain Lions, amongst other hazards like snow, altitude, and deserts. Oh, and the clock starts ticking non-stop from the second you start.

The American "Adventure Cycling Association" recommends taking 64 days to tour the route. The fastest Tour Divide racers do it in less than sixteen.

It's a bold claim from Outside Magazine but all claims are subjective, it just depends who you ask. "Shaggy" John Ross (speaking to Privateer Magazine) thinks The Colorado Trail Race is the hardest. I have several friends who are firmly in the Ironbike camp. Tour Divide is almost certainly the longest though. 

The Strathpuffer 2015.

The Strathpuffer is a 24 hour mountainbike race held annually in The Highlands of Scotland, on the edge of The Cairngorms Range,  and it's something of a unique event. It is held in January each year, boasts 17.5 hours of darkness, and usually delivers a mix of wild conditions; anything from high winds or heavy rain, through to snow and ice! It is considered to be one of the toughest 24 hour races in the world. And that is the whole point of it! :)
It's also hugely popular; 800 racers took part this year including Solo's, Pairs, Quads, and specially for the 10th anniversary, 10 x Teams of Ten.
The Solo category sells out in less than 10 minutes every year! The hardest category is the most popular. Go figure that out! :D
Mitch Bryan and I both had a score to settle. I attempted it in 2013 and Mitch in 2014, both of us retired before finishing.