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Come for an evening with endurance-adventure race gurus Mike Hall & Ed Pickup

How to win (and come third) in the TransAm race

Want to hear what two of Britain’s greatest ultra-endurance adventure riders have to say for themselves? Get along to the Velo Cafe, Brighton at 7pm on Friday August 1 for an evening with Mike Hall and Ed Pickup.

On June 25 Hall, who lives in Cardiff became the first winner of the TransAm cycle race, a solo, self supported 4,406 mile epic across North America. Over 18 days it was a journey of endurance and a close battle of tatics and self preservation. As impressive as Hall's victory was the third place of Ed Pickup (Salisbury), ten years Mike's junior.

Hall was also the organiser of last year’s TransContinental bike race from London to Istanbul, and the winner of the first round-the world bike race in 2012.

Supported by their bike sponsor Pivot, the event in Brighton is a chance to hear about the TransAm race, their challenges and equipment choices and have a Q&A session. Mike will also present his next project which is the second Trans Continental bike race, leaving London on August 9.

There is also an opportunity for a social road ride with Hall and Pickup starting from Velo Cafe at 3pm on August 1, taking a two-hour route over the South Downs.

The evening event is free but is limited to 60 people. 7pm for a prompt 7:30 start at Velo Cafe.Those wanting to attend should express an interest by sending an email to rory [at] upgradebikes.co.uk (subject: An%20Evening%20with%20Mike%20Hall%20%26%20Ed%20Pickup) .

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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