Its ALIVE!!!

This blog is the story of QuadEPIC’s first ever test ride! I hope you enjoy....

On Friday, 6th November 2009, the bike took off on its first ever trial run. Before this day I had only taken it 20ft down my driveway, with just myself riding her.

At about 11:15am this morning, my friend George arrived with the help of his friend Ash Corner. Someone, who I will not name, let me down, big time. This ‘so called friend’ was supposed to take me to York, to meet up with George and the ‘3 Blind mice’ crew on Thursday night. This 'friend' left me stranded at the last minute, so sadly I couldn't make it. Thankfully on Friday morning, Ash came to save the day with his white van and a hired trailer.

We got the trailer loaded up and the bike strapped down, and were on the road to York at 11:30. During the drive to our starting point, I had the most random feelings throughout my body: pride, nervousness, and that sick feeling you get when you go pick up that girl you met out one night for the first ever date. I had so many people relying on me to make this work right… I was super scared and didn’t want to let them or myself down.

We arrived with enough time to spare, and had a chance to test her out at a fire station car park. I won’t lie, there were a few problems to start with, but we sorted them out.

Helmets were on and cameras were rolling… we were off! Cars passing by, along with people walking, took a huge interest in what they were seeing! Cars were beeping their horns… having them wave us on was such a great feeling. It felt so good that people I have never met were taking so much interest in what I had built.

We got an hour out of town and then the chain popped off once again on the right rear! We pulled over and re-attached the chain.

Once again we were back on the road, and things were going great. We were getting some good speed, even though on one side we had 6 gears and the other only 4. The fronnt derailleurs haven't yet been installed. Suddenly, George told me to have a look behind us. I did and couldn’t stop laughing. There were about 25-30 cars waiting to get by (haha)! We pulled over and were waiting for the nasty hand gestures, but in our amazement people were laughing, waving, beeping and offering words of encouragement.

Eventually, we arrived in Hull and did a kind of victory lap in Hull city centre before returning home to Grimsby. I’ve learnt a lot from the first ever test ride, and I have more experience as to noticing problems before they occur.

The video of this day is coming soon, so stay tuned. I can wait to share it with you.