I joined up with Nottingham University at their agricultural campus at Sutton Bonington on Friday to get students and staff to have a go on the Wattbike. There was a fantastic buzz around the atrium to the sports centre where the University had brought in 4 Wattbikes and encouraged the passers-by in the reception area to give it a go. The team stayed until 9pm that night as a very steady supply of eager footballers, hockey players and gym users flooded onto the bikes. In the end more than 100 people raced on the Wattbike against friends and colleagues, a record number for 1 day, all of whom will be finding their way onto the Wattbike ranking.

Nigel Mayglothling,  Assistant Director of Physical Recreation and Sport said “We had a very high conversion rate of visitors “having a go”, with well over 100 people taking part in the Power Test and in the 200m races,  folks of all ages and shapes taking part which was especially pleasing to see. Feedback on the bikes was very positive throughout the day.”

Little did we expect such a small campus to provide the 100 odd racers it did, and being in such a rural setting many of them were extremely keen on the wide-ranging resources of the Everyday Cycling website as the days get longer and warmer. 

Last and certainly not least, special note must go to Matt Chesworth, the new king of the flying 200m lap who dropped in before a gym training session to post a jaw-dropping time of 9.47s. He then returned after his session in jeans to knock out a further 9.75s just to prove it wasn’t a fluke first time round. The Vet School student plays rugby mainly but admits that he does a ‘little bit of cycling in the summer’ ……….. by his times and technique though we reckon he does more than just a little!