Market Research Cycle Break

So, what’s been going on in the dreamy world of market research over the last few weeks? In truth, I can’t remember,  with Clearing casting a long reach over everything at work and, even more significantly, having just completed a gargantuan bike ride in support of the National Osteoporosis Society, pushing me, my trusty iron and too much luggage from London to Paris. Bon. While I’ve been delivering at work, thought and effort have been equally focussed on training and shopping for bike accessories.

Me in training. I reduced luggage needs for the trip itself, dispensing with need for back up rider.
I also learned to ride rather than carry the bike.

“All very well”, I hear you mutter, “but what’s this cycling got to do with the University of Bedfordshire?” A glib answer might be “nothing whatsoever”. And while this wouldn’t be totally unreasonable, when you think about all the dynamics, arrangements and the potential pitfalls and pratfalls of a middle-aged man with weepy eyes inflicting himself onto the Continent on two under powered wheels, all sorts of considerations come into play. Quite enough, I'd suggest, for an academic study. Here are just a few, with links to courses we undertake here at the Uni:

• ·         Sport and Exercise Science –obviously. I’m no sportsman. No, really. This may or may not have made me a suitable case for probing, measuring and hooking up to all the machines in our School of Sport Science and Physical Activity.
• ·         Nutrition. I usually exist on crisps and rice. Crisps were provided at rest stops on the bike trip, although they looked like a trap and no one seemed to touch them. I should have someone on our Health, Nutrition and Exercise course advise me on what to eat.
• ·         Stuff. You need a bike, right? Yes. And all the gear the organisers tell you about, as well as a load of gizmos you’re sort of expected to know. Like cleats, which literally lock you to your pedals and increase the chances of falling over. Oh, and there are bike computers with more technology than NASA used to send the men up to the Moon (see Computing). All this stuff, designed for cyclists, would surely provide a few serious case studies for our new, fun filled Product Design students.

  

  London to Paris in pumps. They stank and were left in a hotel bin in La Defense

• ·         Computing – I gave up on my own Dickensian bike computer in Kent after it recorded me bombing through country lanes at a ‘risky’ 185.1 mph. I didn’t; I didn’t have cleats. After I disengaged it and blew and rubbed on it a bit, it refused to acknowledge any forward motion on my part, so effectively changed from a ten function bit of kit to a “crap clock”. Serious end cyclists filmed their trip on one gadget and recorded bananas, jelly baby and calorific intakes and outputs on another.
• ·         Marketing –someone’s done some work here, with literally £000s spent on top-spec bikes, the aforementioned cleats and computers, and enough lycra to cover the Eiffel Tower. All that money on all that paraphernalia; someone’s really pulled a fast one……
• ·         Psychology – as this was a group event of about 70 riders and 10 or so in the support team, people watchers would have a field day looking at how different groups and alliances formed over the four days. Huzzah! I was largely aloof and occasionally awkward, although fell in with some lovely people here and there. Most of the wider group seemed on the lovely scale and shared the common goals of raising charity money and powering themselves to France, although some of the more serious racers were, well, a bit serious.
•      Were this epic voyage to be dramatised, it may need some help from our Creative Writing and Media Production experts..... 



Daniel Craig as Market Researcher Andy Kingston in "The Picardy Peddler"

• ·         Event Management – would I do the same ride again? Not sure. I like doing my own thing and am ok with the whole self-sufficiency lark, but the logistics, support and care from the event organisers was absolutely top notch. And with 70 or so people to direct, transfer, feed, care for and pacify, accommodate and steer, an award in Marketing, Tourism and Event Management may have come in handy. We do one here!

So, lots going on. For me, undertaking this ride was quite a rollercoaster. I managed to hit quite a hefty charity target and was humbled by the generosity and support of friends, family, colleagues and even the kindness of occasional strangers. And there’s still time to sponsor me over on my Just Giving page.

Thanks for reading, and Happy Cycling!