Juliana Demo Ride Out
Juliana Demo Ride Out
Juliana Bicycles is a relatively new women’s brand for us here at Alf Jones Cycles for 2016, the first time we’ve had a top end carbon women’s MTB brand in the range, so an exciting progression for the shop. Juliana isn’t just any old brand, it’s the sister brand of Santa Cruz, so we’re pretty excited to have them here in the shop! We wanted to launch the Juliana range in a way it deserved, so we planned our very first all-female demo day event with a twist. I’ve been riding a Juliana Furtado for the last few months and wanted to raise the profile of the brand and let our female customers realise what all the fuss is about!
Based at One Giant Leap in Llangollen, we invited a group of potential Juliana customers and existing owners and friends to come along and test-ride the newest Juliana demo bikes, Furtado, Joplin, Roubion and Nevis, very kindly brought down by Ben from Jungle Products, but this wasn’t just your average demo ride loop! We uplifted all the girls to the top of One Giant Leap with Martin the farmer’s tractor and uplift trailer, and guided the girls out on a 2-3hr natural ride around the Berwens and the Glyn Ceiriog Valley, with our very own mechanic Andy Lund guiding the group! Our route gave the girls a real chance to try the bikes out in varied and technical terrain, and really put the bikes through their paces! Ally & Bob Campbell from Campbell Coaching also came along to help out for the day with guiding and a skills coaching session after lunch, to hone in some core techniques.
Tired but smiling, the girls finished their ride with a descent down the loose and rocky Allt Y Badi, which is well known to mountain bikers and green-laners alike in the Llangollen area. The group of roughly 20 riders were all at varying skill levels, with some pretty novice riders too and all with different bike backgrounds, but the focus for the day was riding bikes with like-minded girls, meeting new friends, getting out in the mountains together and having fun! I’m pretty sure all the girls agreed we achieved this.
After a great spread of food for lunch supplied by Jane Blackman, and a bit of time to chill and socialise, Ally got the girls practising core skills in the finish field at OGL, where they could focus on mastering mtb techniques such as cornering, front and rear wheel lifts, bunny hops etc. Jessica from Total Women’s Cycling had also joined us for the day despite being ‘out of action’ with an elbow injury, so although unable to ride it was great to have her along to help out, both Ally Campbell and Jessica are Juliana brand ambassadors.
The final activity for the day was definitely the one that complimented our Juliana Ride Out event in the perfect way. Sam from Bodhi Movement in Betws Y Coed had joined us for the day with some friends, and also ran a 1 hour outdoor Yoga session, the perfect way to stretch and unwind at the end of a really fun day.
This will hopefully be the first of many more female-focused events that we run in future, but just goes to show that with a little extra effort and a twist on the normal demo day format, we managed to create a truly awesome day out in the hills riding bikes! Watch this space for more event news……
