During the London bike show I met lots of existing Genesis bikes owners, many of whom had great stories about rides or adventures they had undertaken on their bikes. It was a really positive experience to meet so many customers and hear the great things people had to say about our brand and how much they loved their bikes.

One Genesis bikes owner I met was a chap called Gavin Starling who last summer used his Day 1 Alfine to ride the Pacific Coast highway from Vancouver Canada all the way down to San Diego and the Mexican Border.

He sent me the following email and pictures which I thought I'd share with everyone. It makes me dream of dusty gravel tracks on far flung shores:

Hi Dominic

Good to meet you at the Bike Show on Sunday. As promised I have attached a few photos from my trip last year on my Genesis Day One Alfine. I cycled north out of Vancouver at the beginning of May for around 100 miles before crossing the Salish Sea to begin the journey South along the Pacific Coast Highway. Over a six week period I followed the coast into the USA through Washington, Oregon and California down to the Mexican border just outside San Diego. I covered just over 2,500 miles and camped most of the way down using the excellent NAtional Park System (many of the parks have specific camping areas for cyclists ). The Genesis Day One was great  and the Alfine hub provided a pretty much perfect gear range despite the loaded bike (even climbing in Mt Palomar in the Southern Californian desert heat). The bike was standard apart from a smaller 18t cog on the back, gatorskins (went through 4 tyres), a wheel rebuild to cope with the 30lb of kit and the obligatory Brooks saddle.

Here's a link to the blog : www.cyclingthepch.blogspot.com

All the best

Gavin Starling

Thanks for sharing your experience with us Gavin.