Bikemagic is proud to announce that we have taken on the role of exclusive media partner for the final instalment in Rob Lee’s Seven Deadly Spins project.

Due to conclude this Summer 2012: Seven Deadly Spins, or 7DS as it is often abbreviated to, was founded by Rob in late 2008. Built as a follow-on to his successful breaking of the South Downs Double record earlier that season, it has grown to include some of the toughest one-day endurance mountain bike challenges in the UK.

Seven Deadly Spins sets out to “take mountain biking back into the mountains” and presents seven challenges around the country aimed at bikers of all levels to consider. Endurance racers can measure themselves against the times of some of the best solo endurance mountain bike athletes, or the toughest hard-as-nails challenges. Alternatively riders of any ability can choose to do the routes over several days and at any pace they choose.

All of the seven rides that make up the final series have been selected for their combination of riding, distance, scenery and variety. All are open access and available to the public on any day of the year. Timing is left to the individual and done on Gentleman’s agreement. Many of today’s top endurance riders in the UK have already taken up the challenge of one or more of the rides.

For this final stage of the project, known as 7dsLIVE, Rob sets out to demonstrate his techniques for preparing for one of these challenges by sharing his training, providing demonstrations and video tutorials.

Bikemagic will run a 10-part blog covering Rob’s advice on the following subjects:

1. Goal setting
2. Seeking sponsorship
3. Mental preparation
4. Physical preparation
5. Endurance Nutrition
6. Endurance kit and equipment
7. Choosing a challenge
8. Navigation and logistics
9. Site inspection
10. Getting the job done

In addition we will be running a 3-part LIVE riding tutorial about preparing for a long-distance challenge. Rob will run two of his usual preparation protocols – the first in March and a second a few weeks later in April – with full GPS Tracking online, twitter and pre-, mid- and post-ride blogs covering all the bases of preparation. This will then be followed with a full long-distance Seven deadly Spin non-stop attempt in early May with full GPS tracking.

Preliminary dates and venues are as follows

1. 7DS LIVE: Welsh Coast2Coast – over 3 or 4 days (Rob Lee + Guest Rider TBC) – March 18/19/20/21. Full test/training-ride demonstration Live online with tracker, twitter and blog

2. 7DS LIVE: West Highland Way Double – over 2 days (Rob Lee + Guest Rider TBC) – April 8/9/10/11. Full test/training-ride demonstration Live online with tracker, twitter and blog

3. 7DS LIVE: Full Record Attempt: Welsh Coast2Coast – May 6/7/8. Live online with tracker, twitter and blog