Stay in Bath and See the Bath Bike Trail

On August 18^th colourful decorated bikes went out on display across Bath. A few days before that the rainbow collection of umbrellas which had been strung between the buildings in Bath Southgate were replaced by red, white and blue bikes. Bath has well and truly embraced bicycles as its decoration of choice this summer, which might seem a bit of an odd choice at first, but there is a reason.

On Thursday September the 8^th the Tour of Britain will be visiting Bath. Not only that, but for the first time Bath will be hosting a stage finish!

Started in 2004, that first Tour of Britain represented a key moment in history for the sport of road cycling. In 2004 96 riders took in two of the home nations over the course of five days before riding to the finish in London. Since then the race has grown in size and now lasts eight days, takes in Scotland, Wales and England, and involves twenty of the world’s top teams, including ten of the sport’s top tier UCI WorldTour teams.

One of the reasons we’re so happy that Bath is hosting a stage finish is that it means that those watching (we’ll certainly be there) have the chance to meet the riders. Those riding are some of the biggest stars the sport has to offer (last year Mark Cavendish, Alex Dowsett and Sir Bradley Wiggins took part). There will be the opportunity to collect their autographs, and talk to them about what being a professional athlete is like and what kind of preparation and dedication it involves.

So to celebrate the race coming to Bath, Bath has launched the Bath Bike Trail. Fifty-three businesses across Bath have signed up and now have their own uniquely decorated bikes (and there are some pretty unusual decorations in the mix) out on display and ready for selfies and travel snaps. Not only is going bike hunting a lovely thing to do on a sunny summer afternoon but some of those businesses involved also have promotions running alongside the trail.  

These are a few of the promotions on offer:

• ·       Bloomsbury are offering a 10% discount for all Bath Bike Trail participants on all full price items in store.  
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• ·       Kingsmead Square Traders are asking people to take a selfie with their bike and use the hashtag #LoveKingsmead on Twitter or Instagram.  The best selfie wins a goodie bag from the Kingsmead Square Traders.
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• ·       The Fudge Factory are offering a free fudge box to whoever tweets the best photo of their bike to @BathFudgeShop.
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• ·       Mogers Drewett solicitors are asking for a selfie with their bike and a tag on Twitter and Facebook with the hashtags #BathTOB, #TOB2016, #blingyourbike for the chance to win £50 of Amazon vouchers.  

If you’d like to take part in the trail and you want to know where the bikes are around the city, then the free downloadable map of the trail, along with details of other promotions on offer, can be found here. The hashtags to use to follow all the action on Twitter are #BathToB #Bathbiketrail and #ToB2016, and the account to follow is @Love2cyclebath.

Just a final note; if you are in Bath and bike hunting don’t forget to come and see our bike (number 19) at Dukes and tag us (@DukesBath) in any photos!