Vanessa (Nessie)

Started riding from the age of 3. She bullied her neighbour into removing her stabilisers and after many crashes, cuts and bruises was then able to ride unassisted.

Fell madly in love with her Raleigh ‘Chipper' (baby Chopper) and eventually progressed to her well beaten Raleigh Grifter. During her early twenties she relied on her much trusted Ridgeback Hybrid (purchased from The Bike Shed, Crediton) but then abandoned cycling to continue at a higher level with her Martial Arts.

Joined The Bike Shed Exeter nearly a decade ago and has had many bikes including 4500 Trek (MTB), 1400 Trek (Road), Cannondale Cippolini (Road), 2003 Full suspension Fuel 90 (MTB), 1000 Trek (Road WSD), 6500 (MTB WSD) and now looking finally to upgrade to either a ladies Specialized Sapphire, Specialized Enduro or WSD Trek EX8 but she loves all equally!

What equipment?

She highly recommends that ladies consider the bikes specifically designed for the female riders as they offer better fitting geometry, have ladies saddles, the forks set up from point of sale for the lighter rider and loads of other components to match. The shorter top tube and better placement of hips over the cranks suit her riding position and increase comfort over longer distances.

She is currently riding a 6500 WSD Trek, 2003 Trek Fuel 90 (short travel full suspension), Trek WSD 1000 Road bike and a battered 4500 Trek hard tail with not one original piece of componentry! She is an advocate of women specific products including bikes, all aspects of clothing, shoes, saddles and helmets - there are now so many products available to ladies!

She tends to favour Hope headsets as one as never let her down to date, XT hollow tech cranks (lovely and stiff), Specialized mountain bike shoes, Altura ladies shorts and 3/4s and all of her bikes boast egg beater pedals (never clogged up!). She also loves her hand built wheels (built by a colleague), Mavic 317 disc rims built on to hope hubs - yum!