Hope Women

Hope Technology

A place for sharing and following women's riding adventures
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04/12/2024

I have a confession to make: I’m terrible at looking after my bike.

Dip into our latest blog post from ambassador Rosie

https://www.hopewomen.com/blog/terrible-confession

Photos: Pete Scullion

28/11/2024

🔥 Summer round up🔥

Next up we have Vic Peel....

Summer 2024 has been a summer of change for me – some huge circumstantial changes: moving back home to farm life again after 4 years away; my wonderful little pup, Greg, coming into my life; leaving my old job after 11 years at Johnson Matthey and starting afresh at Rolls-Royce, and buying a new house again. Thankfully, during the last 6 months, bikes and some wonderful groups of friends have been a fantastic bit of consistency in my life. Training has kept me on the straight and narrow with some structure and routine, and despite my race calendar looking fairly bare results have been pretty acceptable – which goes to show: happy head, fast legs (fast-ish in my case) 😊
Oh, and I went to Belgium for the world gravel champs, representing GB – blog to follow!

21/11/2024

🔥 Summer round Up 🔥

Next up with Julia Hobson...

Summer is always a crazy busy time of year for me. Back to back weeks and months of guided trips in the Alps mean I often feel like those memes you see of a swan swimming gracefully on the surface while no-one sees the frantic paddling underwater just to stay afloat 😂 This year with lots going on personally behind the scenes felt like that more than ever.
But thankfully all my Endless Trails MTB trips went well with lots of happy guests, great days shared in the mountains, and memories made, making all the work involved in organising these trips feel 100% worth the effort!
The weather made things 'challenging' at times, but it's part of the game when you work as a guide, and i still have to pinch myself every day that I've created a life for myself which evolves around riding my bike in beautiful places!

19/11/2024

🔥 Summer Round Up🔥

Next up we have Becky Preece......

My summer of riding bikes and having lots of fun!
Just before summer really kicked off Nicole and I decided it might be quite fun to take part in a Duathlon (run, bike, run). I still had some form from cross season so I just needed to improve my running fitness! 5 weeks ish of doing a lot more running, it was time to go and race. Obviously I went in with zero expectations having never done one before but to my surprise I actually crossed the line in first, totally unaware of this at the time until a videographer came over and chatted to me and informed me that I had won 🤣 if you haven’t already, I would absolutely 1000% recommend entering one, they are so much fun!

Summer didn’t really arrive in England early so a holiday to sunny Mallorca was booked swiftly! 5 days of riding bikes with friends. We stayed in the most amazing villa which I named Casamor 🤣 the week started off with torrential rain, which obviously I was not expecting being in “sunny” Mallorca but we made the most of it and rode every day, clocking up lots of miles and drinking a little bit of beer 😉 I finally got mrs read drunk too!! We got to the second to last day and checked the weather forecast and noticed that the sun was typically coming out the day we were leaving, so we all made a very wise decision to extend the holiday for another 2 days! So finally we got 3 days of glorious sunshine which we’d been waiting for the whole holiday!

My plan this summer was to clock as many miles as I could and Mallorca definitely kick started that.
I arrived back in England to the usual, gloomy grey sky, so there was only one thing to do. Book another holiday 🤣 my next adventure took me to Girona to visit my best friend, Zoe. There was less bike riding but still lots of activities! We hiked many miles, swam in the most beautiful sea, went on a mtb adventure to swim in a river and again, drank a little bit of beer 🫣 but the sun was shining everyday and I got the vitamin D fix I needed!

Sadly I had to face reality and return to work but most of my weekends were consumed with lots of bike riding and a very wet and rainy weekend in Scotland, riding mountain bikes around Golfie, one of THE best places to ride, rain or shine, this place is amazing.
After riding Golfie I thought I’d enter an enduro. It was one of the tweedlove series in Glentress, it was another soaking wet weekend but mountain biking is always better in the rain 😉 and all the hope gang were there so I had such a fun weekend riding and hanging out with the gang!
Summer always ends far too fast, especially when we don’t really get a proper summer but I definitely made the most of it, no rain stops play when you’re a northern girl 😉
Now it’s time to knuckle down and get race fit ready for the cyclocross season for lots more rain and mud ☔️💩

14/11/2024

🔥 Summer Round UP🔥

Next up is Roos Op de Beeck

My season went a bit with some mixed feelings. This winter and during the season I had not so much time to train and ride. That’s because we are renovating our house. The amount of races were the same as last years. But the amount of riding way less, sadly! So we had the split our time 🤷‍♀️

But overall I’m super happy how my season went actually. The first downhill races I qualified first, which I was super surprised about. But in my final run I didn’t managed to get that first place. That was a bit frustrating for me actually. That happened twice.. I came once 2nd and one time 3rd..

The last few downhill races didn’t went very well. I was feeling really good on the bike during training but somehow I didn’t make it during the final run. But overall I managed to be 2nd overall winner of IXS Downhill cup series. Which I’m super happy about. There were some close battles, so there will be definitely a revenge next year! 😛

Also did my very first Megavalanche this year! That was something else, but so happy that I did it! It was the hardest race I ever did! Too bad we didn’t start at the very top of the glacier. So I have to go back to feel the full experience!

24 Race results:
- Jura Sick Race: 6th (mini mass start in France)
- Belgian Enduro cup Chaudfontaine: 2nd
- IXS Downhill cup Winterberg: 2nd
- IXS Downhill cup Willingen: 2nd
- Enduro de la semoy: 4th
- IXS Downhill cup Steinach: 3rd
- Megavalanche Alpe d’Huez: 3rd elite, 12th overall
- European Champs Champery: DNS
- IXS Downhill cup Ilmenau: 10th
- IXS Downhill cup Bellwald: 9th
- IXS Downhill cup Overall: 2nd

Sadly I had not so much bike time between the races. We went before the Euro Champs in Champery to les Portes du soleil in France for some riding. But except from that we had no time for other roadtrips. Next year I hope to do it better! 😉

12/11/2024

🔥 Summer Round Up 🔥

Next up is Laura Martin.....

Last year was really busy for me with mountain biking and trips wise and I wanted to take a slower pace with this summer as there was a big change happening for me and I knew I wanted to spend more them at home. I have always lived in the Scottish Highlands and this was my last summer here. I wanted to do as much at-home biking as I could before moving on. This summer was wet even by the Highlands summer standards. But It was nice to spend more time locally. Including attending a few events like the last Fort William Downhill World Cup.

A trip to Andorra mid-summer broke up the miserable weather. Vallnord has some of the world's best downhill biking and I love going there! The trip was amazing, with miles of downhill laps and a few off-piste ones too and did I mention the food. I was in heaven. Biking paradise.

Moving and then an injury took up most of my time. I have now moved south and I do not recommend doing as many house viewings as we did or packing an house when it is a 12-hour round trip but it has all come good in the end and there are some excellent biking trails right beside me. I already have big plans for next year. But this year's summer was all about basking in my last Scottish Highland summer. I am so lucky to have been able to do this and thankful for the opportunity. Sometimes you have to slow your pace down to get things back on track and I am happy I did.

11/11/2024

🔥 Summer Round Up 🔥

Next up is Ruby James....

This summer was all about taking it back to basics and finding my balance again.
Spending time on my bike with friends, van life adventures and enjoying the sunshine in between the chaos of work life and finishing up my MSc Dissertation.

08/11/2024

🔥Summer Round Up🔥

Next up we have Ella....

With two big goals of the Olympics and World Championships taking place in July and August, my summer mainly consisted of training and racing. I spent 2.5 weeks on a training camp in Morzine for the Olympics spending plenty of time on the bike but also quality time off the bike with friends. Following this I raced the national championships at Dalby Forrest before travelling out to the Paris Olympics.

Having the opportunity to go to the Olympic Games at 19 was insane and the whole experience from receiving my Team GB kit to racing at the event itself was so special. Without any time to unpack my bags from Paris I travelled out to Andorra for a 3 week training camp before the World Championships at the end of August. This was one of my most enjoyable few weeks of training I’ve ever done and was so fun exploring new roads and trails. Then I achieved my season goal of a medal at the World Championships which was the dream end to my summer! Being able to spend my summer with good people in amazing places made it one of the best yet.

05/11/2024

🚨 New supported rider 🚨

Please welcome Katie May to the Hope/Hope WMN fam!

Never without a smile, this pocket rocket can be found on her home trails in Aberdreamshire!
Bike life started out on family rides on classic trail centre routes in Cumbria which soon turned into lapping up the natural trails of Aberdeenshire for Katie. Who is now no stranger to the enduro racing scene too.

Not only does Katie ride bikes and race bikes she is also a coach, guide and 1/3 of the organising power behind the successful festival. Katie is a busy lady! Oh yeh, as well as doing a 9-5 too!

Welcome onboard Katie!

04/11/2024

🔥Summer Round Up🔥

Next up is Katy McGowan

I love the summer, and this year was pretty epic! Kicked it all off with my birthday and between working in our local bike shop, hanging out with friends and going paddle boarding; I also managed to fit in some awesome racing 🙏

First up was a trip to Wales for the British National Downhill Champs. Had a fun weekend of laps and was happy to finish 3rd. The number of talented lassies racing bikes just now is pretty amazing!

Two weeks later we had the van loaded up for our bike trip to Europe.
We spent the first 4 days riding in Morzine and I think it’s now one of my favourite places. I just love the whole vibe of the place (and now I’m learning French so I can move there 😉).
The second part of our trip was in Switzerland where I was doing my first European race at Champery. We were lucky to get booked onto the campsite right at the venue and met loads of cool people. The whole event was brilliant; the steepest track I’ve ever experienced! I was a little nervous after track walk but as soon as I got on my bike for the first practise lap, I was loving it (although mum was a nervous wreck 😆).
The whole experience got even better when I was surprised by my uncle who had flew out from home to surprise and support me. I cried 🥹.
So thankful for a good steady race run, finishing in 10th and absolutely loved the whole experience. Hopefully I can do some more European races in 2025 🤞🏻

The following weekend we were back home, repacked and off to the next race which was a little closer to home. The first ever officially recognised British Enduro Champs 🇬🇧at Ae Forest.
It took me a good few miles & stages to get back to grips with my Scott Genius enduro rig after spending 2 weeks on my downhill bike but luckily there is no pressure for practise day so it was super chill & pretty fun.
Sunday was race day - 5 stages, 22miles and 3000ft climbing. The first 3 stages went well, I felt smooth and was really enjoying it. Stage 4 I got held up by another rider and lost a fair bit of time - wasn’t sure how this was going to affect the final result. All I could do was put down a good run on stage 5 and salvage whatever time I could 🤞🏻
Woohoo I won - British Enduro Champ!!

And just like that, summer was over and it was time to go back to school.

I love riding bikes on a normal day, but when racing takes you to amazing places with great people, it really doesn’t get any better ☺️

01/11/2024

🔥 Summer Round Up 🔥

Next up is Annie Le

Summer 2024 has been a bit of a wild ride for me. I kicked off guiding the first Sisters In the Wild Scotland bikepacking trip, on a route i had put together. I was both nervous about how it would work with actual people, but also, having not cycled or done much of anything, i was worried if i would be able to keep up! Luckily the group was fantastic and the sun shone for us! The route turned out to be not too bad either 😉

I love guiding, and sharing my favourite places with people, and this trip was exactly what i needed to feel motivated to start adventuring for myself again. Unfortunately, that sunshine seemed to be the last of summer, as we moved into June, the wind and rain were relentless. Its easy to always have excuses as to why we stop doing the things we love, but sometimes i think the lack of motivation is our body's or brains way of saying we need a rest. I will always try and go out, but on the understanding that if I'm not enjoying it once I've warmed up (about 20min) that i will trust myself and go home and try and eat a big nutritious meal instead.

By August i thought things were back on track, unfortunately i ended up with two separate stomach bugs, that wiped me out pretty badly. But, the weather was still rubbish and i recovered in time for the back to school sunshine in September! A week of guiding in glorious weather followed by playing in the early season snow. Then back to t shirts for some personal bikepacking from home, trying out some new trails that turned out to be boggy messes, but with some incredible camping, and listening to the deer begin roaring. All in all, its been a bit of a washout, but i live in hope that better thing lie ahead 🙂

28/10/2024

🔥 Summer Round Up 🔥

Next up is Ffion James

I am currently writing to you lying in the sun in Argentina! I’m spending the autumn on a sabbatical travelling around South America - Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Peru. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time but it’s never really fit into my life with work, racing, studying, covid etc. - finally I’ve found some time and gone for it!

I would love to be involved in this. Bikes have played a different part in my life this year but no less of an important one. I’ve had some amazing adventures including organising my own (unofficial) gravel cycling festival for me and my mates, trying my hand at BMX, riding with my 2 and 4 year old nephews (they have some talent), and racing my local crits for the first time in 5 years.

Outside of cycling, I am enjoying pursuing my love of music (particularly drum and bass / garage) by learning how to DJ and going to some awesome festivals this year. Riding and raving are the two things that make me happiest right now and I’ve met some amazing people this year through both.

I’ve also realised how much I enjoy organising events and hosting for people. My dream would be to organise a successful event/festival that combines my passion for mountain biking and electronic music in one.

24/10/2024

🔥 Summer Round Up 🔥

Up Next is Cheri Mills Coaching

My summer started with a trip at the end of June to the alps to take on my first stage race, the alps epic, 5 days 1000’s of meters of climbing and lots of techy downs.
Stage racing is hard and looking after yourself physically and mentally was a good challenge.
3 local lads from Wales also raced and it was great to meet up in the evenings to chat through the days events, friendships were formed.

I stayed on in the haute alp region for another month mainly road riding and col bagging, motivation to ride was still high.

When i returned home the physical effects of burying myself in the race took hold and rightly so, we are not machines! My arthritic knee flared up and a few months of low motivation to ride settled in.
I kept up the off bike strength and rode easy a few times per week although i had to force myself, i felt guilty that i didn’t want to ride and worried about loss of form.

I did a little guiding work, lots of skills coaching, fixing cars and bikes with extremely big saddles 😳 as well as building the performance side of my business developing training plans.

Still feeling pretty low mentally i decided to enter the British marathon champs to kick my butt into gear, i had a month of specific training for that and ended up with a good result feeling super on the bike, on reflection if i would have carried on burying myself i would have burned out big time and likely got ill, the lesson i learned was to listen to the messages your body is telling you and don’t feel guilty, life’s too short for that.

16/10/2024

Annie's off again!

Annie will set off on her Hope'd up Salsa Timberjack singlespeed to complete the Arizona Trail Race tomorrow (Oct 17th). The 800mile route starts from the border with Mexico, makes its way through cactus strewn desert, Pine forested hillsides, and across the mighty Grand Canyon, where riders have to endure the 23 mile hike-a-bike finishing up at the border with Utah.

Annie's been acclimatising for a few days before the start, trying to get used to the 40C heat but it also looks like she could be quite at home where in a few days she could be in 3C with a chance of snow!

Safe travels Annie!

You can see where Annie gets to on DotWatcher: https://dotwatcher.cc/race/arizona-trail-race-2024

15/10/2024

💥 Summer Round Up 💥

Next up in our summer round up series is

1. TT world champion, a discipline 2 years ago that I thought I was super bad at and really didn’t enjoy.
2. The moment I had trained everyday for.
3. My first world title - team pursuit, with my best friends and a world record to go with that too.
3. Picture taken during the elimination race of omnuim world champs. A race that already is mentally so challenging became even tougher after a hard get down partially dislocating my shoulder when leading the omnuim.
4. My face says it all - omnuim world champion.
5. Somehow winning a pretty big race against some pretty big guns?
6.7.8.9. Feeling just so lucky to ride my bike in the most beautiful places. And meet so many lovely new people.

04/10/2024

Best of luck to team rider Vic Peel who has qualified and will be competing this weekend at the World Gravel Champs in Flanders, Belgium.

The 135km route will start in Halle and cross the Forest of Brabent to finish in Leuven.

Go Vic Go!!

PC: Down Media

01/10/2024

Come ride bikes this Saturday!

To celebrate the launch of the MTB Community Toolkit that's been created by Project FIAS there will be a ride with Ride Bristol and all are welcome! The toolkit is designed to give ideas & guidance to help set up and grow women+ mountain bike communities.

Meeting at Pedal Progression (BS8 3PX) at 9am, rolling away from 9.30am with free coffee and pastries when we return!

There will be different groups riding different things so there will be something for everyone!

See you there!

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Videos

Slopeduro Bike check from @charlotte.k.bikes

🔥Summer Round Up 🔥 Next we have @jessrollingstone…. It’s been an unexpectedly brilliant year, winning the Elite British DH National Series is just incredible. I had to dig deep, came away with 3 National Wins and 2 Second places. I was 4th at the Elite National DH Championships with some close racing between us. Enduros went well too… two wins at the Welsh Enduros, 2nd at Ard Rock and 2nd in Master National Enduro Championships. Just want to say a HUGE thank you to HopeTech for their support this season, I am genuinely so proud to be using Hope products. When you want to do your best, you need the best.

Limitlass 24! Year 3 and it just keeps getting better and better! Thank you for letting us be a small part of it! 🌟Coaching with the best female coaches. 🌟Workshops with experienced, knowledgeable folk. 🌟Fab expo village. 🌟Guided rides with the best female guides. 🌟Inspiring film night. 🌟Panel talk. 🌟Immense warm ups, Yoga and wild swims Huge well done @katieemay31 @annariddz and @fee.mtb for your efforts, dedication and passion you put into the event. It really does show! Providing a space for women to progress and have fun on bikes! Amen to that! 🙏 Also a big thank you to the volunteers too 🤘👊 We cannot wait for next year! #hopewmn #morewomenonbikes #hopetech #ridebikeshavefun #limitlass #dunkeld #scotland

⚙️Tech Tuesday📐 We’ll be heading to @limitlass this weekend in Dunkeld, Scotland. For the rider goody bikes this year we’ve designed and made a coaster! Complete with the Hope Women and Limitlass logo. Produced by the laser cutter that makes our brake rotors, using 410 stainless steel. What better way to remember your rad time on bikes every time you have a brew at work or at home! #hopewmn #hopetech #limitlass #ridebikeshavefun #dunkeld #scotland #morewomenonbikes

Ard Rock ‘24 really was one for the books! 🙌🏼 Huge thanks to all who joined us for a Ride Out, or swung by the stand over the weekend! We had a blast and we hope you did too 🥳☀️ Another big thanks to the @ardrockenduro team and all involved for another top weekend 🚲🤍 See ya next time! #ardrockenduro #swaledaleneverfails #yorkshiregold #somuchfun #hopetech #hopewmn #summervibes

Just some @marthagmarthag clips from @crankworx Innsbruck to get us hyped for the weekend 🙌🏼💃🏼 Do you have any riding plans for the weekend? See you out there 🚲👊🏼 #weekendloading #letsgoridebikes #hopewmn #hopetech #crankworx #innsbruck #morebikes

Awesome weekend in the sun supporting the @dirt_divas_mtbgravel Festival 🤩 Hearing everyone talk about their progression as the weekend went on was incredible, well done ladies 👏🏻 We had a great time in the event village with @deviatecycles, @comriecroftbikes, @trailbloom, @_shredlikeagirl 🙌🏻 Thank you to everyone who came by, demo'ed products and purchased some merch from us all🫶🏻 #hopetech #hopewmn #dirtdivas #celebratingwomen #scotland #aberfoyle #mtb #ridebikeshavefun #morewomenonbikes

Fresh off the back of a very successful Crankworx Rotorua, with a win in both the Duel Slalom & Air DH and a 3rd in Speed & Style, we got @marthagmarthag to answer us a few burning questions! Check out the link in bio to see what she had to say! #hopewmn #hopetech #ridebikeshavefun #morewomenonbikes #crankworx #dh #duelslalom #pumptrack #airdh #speed&style #queen👑

Crankworx Rotorua starts very soooooon!! And we’ve got not just one shredder competing but 2!! You can catch both @marthagmarthag and @mmurmaider competing in a few events over the next week! Go get it gals! 💃😎🔥 You can catch Martha & Emma in the Air DH and Speed & Style. Martha will also be competing in Duel Slalom and Pump Track Challenge. Emma will also compete in the Whip off Champs too! #hopewmn #hopetech #ridebikeshavefun #crankworx #crankworxrotorua #morewomenonbikes

Check out our Jess Stone MTB in the Shires! A British bicycle film dropping today on Red Bull TV!

Wow wow wee wow! What a year! Big love to all who have made it a magical year on bikes. Looking forwards to more bike fun in 2024 with you all. PC: Sadie Aldridge Photography JWDT.photography Adam Wright

Two months on and the memories and good times are still strong! The Hope WMN Enduro encapsulated everything we love about riding bikes! Bringing like minded folk together to ride bikes, have fun! With a bit of friendly competition thrown in! Hop back into the edit @pencilmountainstudio made for us to see what went on! The PMBA Enduro Series Hope WMN series next year will be a 2 round series, visiting Scotland on both occasions. Kirroughtree in April and Ae Forest in August. Entries are live! Watch this space for news on the Hope WMN stand alone event 2024💥