Guest Post By Alex Bristol

Getting back on the saddle after a long break in 1 week

Sometimes in life, we just unexpectedly run into situations that put things on hold. Whether that is having to take time off work because of illness/ injury or being stuck indoors because of the latest pandemic, we all find ourselves not being able to jump on the saddle as much as we’d like to. 

Luckily, pushing those pedals is almost hardwired into our minds once we’ve learned how to ride properly. It becomes a case of finding the right time, the right motivation and the right mindset to start cycling again. 

Unfortunately, as easy as it seems to jump back on the saddle, there are a ton of factors that you need to work on before it’s ‘go-time’. 

We’ve created a 7-day criteria for you to follow that allows you to transition from sitting on the couch to racking up the cycle-miles. 

Let’s jump into getting you back on the saddle after a long break.

Day 1 – Mentally preparing. 

As with anything, planning starts with the mind. It is an important cognitive skill that allows you to mentally anticipate ways to execute tasks. Preparing yourself mentally lets you decide the following points to pull together our effective plan. 

Thinking of your routine will help put everything in motion. What do you wear on a ride? Do you have a particular water bottle? What route are you taking? These questions need to be answered before you jump back in the deep end. 

Day 2 – Set a date on the calendar.

As they say: Fail to plan, plan to fail. 

We’re creatures of habit. We’re too quick to put things off when it comes down to starting, especially when you’re used to not excising. If you’ve been on isolation because of coronavirus, then it becomes pretty easy to slip back into the realms of procrastination. 

The decision to start cycling comes down to how much we value completing that task in the moment. I don’t know about you, but with the new release of Disney +, it’s far too easy for me to binge-watch Marvel films back to back than jumping on my road bike. 

Now grab that marker pen, head over to the calendar and circle a day at least 3 days from now. This is when you’re going to take the steps to jump back on your bike for a ride. And yes… you’re sticking to the date.

Day 3 – Get your cycle wear ready.

Shorts? Check. Helmet? Check. Shoes? Check. 

Depending on how long it’s been, you may find that getting your gear back together for the big reunion is a daunting task. Set aside a whole day to layout everything you need. Make sure any clothes are washed and set to go. Here is a quick checklist for everything you need on a bike ride: 

• Helmet

• Sunglasses

• Padded shorts or tights 

• Cycling gloves 

• Jersey or top 

• Shoes

• Under seat bag

• Bike lock 

• Energy Bar

• Watch or GPS

• First aid kit

• Cell phone

• Money

Keep this all aside to make for easy access when you arrive at ride day. 

Day 4 – Prep your bike.

Remember, your bike has been sitting for a while and it’s crucial to ensure everything is functioning properly to prevent damage to your bike or yourself. Depending on how long it’s been, your bike may need some maintenance to get it back in working order. Regardless of the time, it’s best to give it a quick service. Start by giving the bike a clean to remove any residue. This can then iron out any faults you find as you’re washing the components down. Move onto checking the wheels and tires to ensure everything is in order. 

It’s worth paying particular attention to the brake pads. If there is any decontamination the best way to fix this is by simply replacing them. There are a ton of fixes online that suggest burning the contaminates off can be a good idea, but damaging the pads can cause safety issues when riding. Don’t be a Dangerous Dan and ensure you find the best brake pads for your road bike before you even think about stepping foot outside with your bike.

Finally, lube up the drive chain and clean off any excess dirt and you’ve carried out the basic service required to get your bike back in the road. Remember to be mindful of overspray making its way onto the rims and brake pads as this can create stopping problems when you first start off on your bike. 

Day 5 – Take it slow and take out your bike.

Today we ride. Now, it may be an urge to cycle your favorite route but, let’s face it, you may not be as in shape as you were before being a regular cyclist. Muscles will fade away with a lack of exercise and riding your bike is no different. When muscles haven’t been used for an intense workout they will fatigue faster and there is nothing worse than being 20 kilometers from home with a calf that keeps cramping. 

It’s imperative to work up towards the distances you were traveling before. A short ride will get you back in the rhythm and will be the first step to getting back to your old ways. 

Not only does the distance help build your muscle memory back to where it once was, but there’s a load of elements you will need to sharpen up on. By incorporating a short ride into the process of getting back on the saddle it allows you to familiarize yourself with the dangers of the road. Cyclists are at a higher risk than any other vehicle on the road due to the vulnerabilities when being on a bike. This means that we need to keep our wits about us at all times. 

Our awareness can slip when we’ve taken time off, which is a crucial factor to consider. It can take a split second of losing concentration to cause an accident so, allowing ourselves to build a level of concentration over extended periods can take a while to build back. 

Exhaustion is when accidents can happen, so gradually increasing your cycling time should be the aim of the game when getting back on the road.

Day 6 – Treat yourself to something new.

Well, you’ve made it. The first step of getting back on your bike has been completed and now, it’s time to reward yourself. You want to keep the motivation up and I’m sure I don’t need to mention it twice, but as a pat on the back from yourself, it’s worth committing to those cycling shoes or helmet you’ve wanted for quite some time. Buying something keeps you in the swing of going out on a ride. This brilliant post on Buffer says “It’s been thought before that novelty was a reward in itself, but, like dopamine, it seems to be more related to motivation”. 

So, even if you haven’t got something you need right now, checking out the latest cycling gear might be a good idea to help you decide on what to buy. 

Day 7 – Join a group ride.

Getting the motivation to go out on your own make take some time, but cycling with a group is one of the top ways to put everything back into practice. Groups allow you to work together to get a pace that feels right 

Cycling amongst other riders can keep your focus and allow you to increase your game by pushing yourself to keep with others. The best part, should the worse happen, you’re in good hands and not left on your own. 

Riding with others can teach you a thing or two. Whether it’s learning how to corner or keeping your pace inline with the others, group riding is a must when it comes down to learning the ropes again. 

Wrapping up

From here on out, you have enough to keep the momentum going. The basis of getting back outside is focused around the planning and hopefully, this can get you back into the mindset of bringing back your inner cyclist. 

To summarise, getting back on the road takes time to get back up to the standard you were at. As a precaution, you will need to ease yourself back. This can prevent delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and a lack of awareness and planning in your first ride. 

About the Author

Alex is a cycle expert at Pedallers and focuses on reviewing road bike accessories and general cycling. She searches for the most up to date products that matches the needs of cyclists across the world. Whether it’s recent news or the best bike set-ups, Alex is a trusted source for anything around cycling.

I miss bike races. I miss watching them. I miss following them. I miss enjoying them without needing to be cynical constantly. But mostly I miss the constant feed of interesting things to write about.

As a cycling journalist blogger hack, finding something interesting to write about on a regular basis is the food that feeds the soul. It is super easy to take the advocacy fear mongering path. One can find a steady stream of stupid comments from politicians, tales of death in the city streets, ridiculous public spending on things that are supposed to be “infrastructure.” Some can brave this stream and do the hard work of exposing these important issues. And some can do a damn good job of it. But it it as unfortunately negative view.

Bike industry news is another topic. But even that can be draining. How many times can I enthral you with yet another new product, reinventing yet another old product, by copying what an even older product already did?

But bike racing. The human drama. Battles to the finish line. Heartbreaking crashes. Overcoming incredible odds at the last minute. Ahhhhh….. that’s good stuff.

Except when it isn’t.

Despite all the lip service and ad dollars thrown at it, bike racing still has the dark cloud of doping mucking up all the fun. Stupid people doing stupid things, then trying to cover it up with stupid excuses.

I, for one, miss the times when I was either ignorant of all of the dark side stuff, or was still able to set it aside and enjoy the good. A grumpy old crumudgeon makes for a very poor cycling journalist.

So to that end – time to pay less attention to the Tour Giro Vuelta. There are still interesting, positive, and fun cycling stories about bike racing. Go find your local crit. Connect with a local “just for the hell of it ride” and remind yourself that this whole bikey thing is fun. Sprint to the city limits sign with your local cycling club safe in the knowledge ignorance that the caffeine from the coffee shop where everyone met is the only PED to worry about. Admire new products not for their super-light-weigh uber-aero technology, but their beauty and art. Screw the rules – wear your wool cycling cap whenever you want. Go to a local CX race and be a non-abusive, yet commercially intoxicated, spectator. Don’t let the doping BS ruin it for everyone else.

Just… have fun.

When you mention Sacramento bike trails, many area residents immediately think of the American River Bike trail. Also known as Jedediah Smith Memorial Trail, the 32 mile mixed use path winds along the American River between Sacramento and Folsom, CA. The trail is regarded as one of the longest paved purpose-built bike trails in the country. Not surprising that it is what many associate with the phrase Sacramento bike trails. But this gem is only part of a much larger network of bicycle infrastructure.

The American River Bike Trail is part of a much larger public use park complex known as the American River Parkway. There are various spurs and alternative, paved paths connected to the American River Bike Trail, and efforts are underway to expand those paths ever further.

The trail has become much more than just a recreational jewel. It also serves as a commuter path for folks commuting to work or activities in the city centers from suburbs. As more and more people use it as part of their daily commute, trail closures for maintenance can become more and more disruptive. Many segments of the trail do not have reasonable viable alternatives that don’t add several miles or more to commutes. In addition, communication of closures and detours tend to miss the casual or occasional users. While there is a website of trail and park status, it is not incredibly well known. The primary means of notification seems to be signs posted (hopefully well in advance) along the bike trail.

One current area of focus has been the addition of a path on the Sacramento end of the trail, on the opposite bank of the river from the American River Bike Trail. This portion of trail improvement has run into social issues due to the large number of homeless encampments in the currently somewhat secluded area of river bank. However, a recent Change.org petition is trying to spread more awareness of the potential gains of the project.

Farther south, a plan has been on the books for over 40 years to extend the Sacramento bike trails along the river, stitching together various disjointed routes of both pavement and gravel. However, this route crosses a lot of land that is currently privately held. And many of those owners are reluctant to part with it. Only time will tell how this will get worked out.

We reached out to the Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates for comment, but had not received a response by the time of publication.

…a cyclists tale.

Way back when, I started riding a bike as an easy way to make the monumental commute from Sacramento, CA to Palo Alto. It was a 7 mile bike ride, to the Amtrak Capitol Corridor train, to a bus, to another train. I did it 3 days a week on average. The bike was a very practical thing, and I had a very practical bike.

To fill that time on the train rides I started writing about my trips. Back then I think I may have even had to do a search to understand what “blogging” even was. I could not have predicted how much impact that somewhat impulsive decision to work so far from home would have on the course of my life.

But life did what life does, and there was a long meandering path. Along that path I continued to commute – sometimes more, sometimes less. I went through 4 different jobs until landing at my current job. Along the way I also changed residence and lived in the city of San Francisco. No more trains. I started a bike shop, closed said bike shop, and went back to the day job.

My cycling life was equally as eventful. I caught the bug on that Fuji Absolute DX commuter, but quickly found myself a “proper” road bike. I started riding longer and longer distances. I became a cycling nut through and through. I rode the Tour de Cure charity ride (now known as the Gold Country Tour for a Cure.) And finally what is still my favorite cycling event – the Seattle to Portland cycling classic. After moving to San Francisco I traded my long rides for short, punchy sprints across the crowded urban landscape. I learned how to feel confident around traffic, how to avoid commuter train tracks in the middle of the road, and dipped my foot into the cycling advocacy world. For one of those years I had what may be one of the most beautiful daily commutes on bike I will ever have. I traced the shoreline of the city along the bay almost completely from south to north. The flat lands of Sacramento were a distant memory in the shadow of the San Francisco hills. I even rode the damned Wiggle.

Those journeys are evident here on JustAnotherCyclist as well. What started out has a blog about commuting became a full fledged cycling blog. The more I rode, the more I had things to write about. The more I wrote about cycling, the more I wanted to get out there on the bike and experience more things to write about.

And here we find ourselves today with a moment of reflection. There have been several of those moments for me here on JustAnotherCyclist before.  Today, however, is clearly one of those circle of life kind of things.

My fiance and I recently moved out of San Francisco and back to… Sacramento. After a very long silence here on JustAnotherCyclist, I again find myself posting from an Amtrak Capitol Corridor train. I travel from Sacramento to San Francisco only one day a week now, but it is just the same as it was back then. Life has steered me away from the cycling world a bit in the last 6 months to a year, and it feels good to be coming back.

Now…. just gotta get that damned creek out of the BB30 on my Cannondale and remind myself how much joy I can get out of riding more than 10 or 15 miles at a time.

Not too long ago I I related to you the ‘Feel good story of the day‘ that I’d stumbled upon on Facebook. It is an epic tale that should have been titled Michael and the well ridden bicycle. Our intrepid hero Michael had run into a lovely lady and her bike in need or repair. Well, there is now a second part of that’s story. That’s right – Michael actually connected with the bike’s owner and lived up to his word.

Loose front wheel nut, both brakes seized, no changeable gears, loose rack, very tight bottom bracket, unbelievably cruddy chain, three spokes broken on the back wheel which was out of true. The only new parts were the spokes

Michael Glan

The bike had some easily identified maintenance issues – things that clearly showed the miles this bike had endured. I couldn’t help but wonder how a modern bike would have held up under the same usage.

Michael jumped in to get this baby running a little more smoothly for Helen:

First clean the chain then rebuild the back wheel

Click to view slideshow.

Then get the brake cables and mechanisms freed and lubricated, free [up] and lubricate the bottom bracket, secure all loose nuts and fixings, lube the chain.

 Finally adjust the gears. It had an unusual Sturmey Archer 4 speed hub gear. Setting these correctly is fiddly

Helen picked up the bike this morning and did a test ride up the road, she returned with a smile from ear to ear! She wanted to pay me but I said I would only accept a bottle of cider.

Michael Glan

Big thanks to Michael for not only sharing this story, but perfectly personifying the essence of what it means to be a true member of the cycling community. There are some fantastic organizations that help community members keep their bikes ridable. However, it is the one-on-one personal interactions that leave lasting connections. Not only for the people involved, but also for the people that witness.

Michael’s followup came at the perfect time for me. I was struggling with the news of a couple of deaths here in San Francisco. I also had my normal struggles with how certain elements of the cycling community react when these sorts of tragic events happen. It was the exact time I needed to hear something positive to counteract our fixation on the negative.

Thank you Michael. And Ride on Helen!

Click to view slideshow.

There is no such thing as too many bikes. There is, however, an unfortunate condition known as “too little space.” Because of a chronic case of too little space, I reluctantly made the decision that I would need to clear out a couple of bikes.

I don’t like talking on the telephone. I also don’t care too much for meeting random people. I especially don’t care too much setting up times to meet people that don’t show. So… selling the bikes on classified services like Craigslist was not really appealing to me. I did have a different idea however – why not just give them away?

I suppose I could have just left them on a random San Francisco city corner where they would most likely quickly find themselves in one of the many bicycle chop shops that spring up like weeds. But these bikes had names damnit! I had a personal connection to these bikes. One of them, in fact, had initially been given to me. No, these had to find a good home. These bikes didn’t need to be sold – they needed to be rehomed.

And that is exactly what I did. I reached out to the groups of cyclists that I actually know (Like, in real life. IRL OMG!!) to see if any of them were interested in these bikes. The process was very much like what people will do with pets. I wanted to find a good home for these bikes – not just random stranger. Surely I could have probably sold these for a few bucks and turned that money back around into my touring bike project. But this somehow felt a whole lot better. I got to share in the love of bicycles with fellow cyclists, and these bikes get to continue to make someone happy.

The cargo bike named Sherman went to another Xtracycle convert rider who also just so happens to be the cofounder of SF Yellow Bike Project here in San Francisco. Waldo – the Breezer Lightning mountain bike – will find a home with an old friend from school. We knew each other years ago and almost 800 miles away, but somehow managed to reconnect here in the fair city of San Francisco.

Many will probably think me funny for this approach. Many also think me funny for the way I like to personify and name my bikes. To that I say… I know. Everybody funny. Now you funny too…

Once you begin to climb any of the various cycling social niche ladders, you can’t go far as an American cyclist without catching at least 2 films: Breaking Away and American Flyers. I’ve watched both of them dozens more times than I care to admit. After my recent acquisition of a cowboy hat, I immediately found myself thinking of David Marshall Grant’s character (who, brilliantly, is named David Grant in the movie.) The scenes of him riding with his cowboy hat are, to me, the very embodiment of innocence in American cycling. Or at least how I imagine American cycling to be before someone decided it wasn’t about the bike. At any rate it is a lot better than those other cycling movies that try to make the Italians out to be bad guys.

But at any rate I felt that somehow there would have to be a wealth of trivia about American Flyers. I mean… it is Kevin Costner. With a fat stash. And David Marshall Grant. Playing David Marshall. It has to be a cult classic – right?

Sadly, not so much.

The movie geeks among us can probably find more tantalizing tidbits about some obscure movie involving Kevin Bacon than you can about American Flyers. Which is sad, because at least American Flyers has a big, hairy Russian with a hipster beard as the bad guy. And after all, what is more American than hating guys with hipster beards?

But… all is not lost. You don’t need trivia and make believe when there are real world tie-ins. Turns out that ShaverSport, the sponsor of the team in American Flyers, is an actual company. And yes… you can get reproductions of not only the ShaverSport team jersey they road with in the movie, but also “Hell of the West” jerseys. Because again, what is more American than taking a term attributed to the French and coopting it as our own?

So, despite the lack of American Flyers fan clubs, I can still grow my hipster ‘stash (but not hipster beard,) race dogs for sprint practice, lose my shoe, waste energy throwing bottles to over-act my sense of anger, pretend to be drowning while on a treadmill with lots of pretend scientific instruments stuck all over me, assume that I have some rare fatal disease that it turns out my brother actually has, and generally set the prototype for the arrogant American cyclist that will ultimately actually exist.

Thanks to a little something I call stop light sprints, those damned self-entitled cyclists are helping me get faster. If you find yourself working a lot, you start to get creative with your training. I don’t drive to work – ever – therefore I always have an opportunity to take my leisurely 5 mile commute and turn it into something less leisurely.

First off – let’s talk about the gorilla I just invited into the room with the title. Stop signs. Stop lights. Those things where we all know that outside of Idaho and a few places in Colorado we are all supposed to stop. And the place where many of us don’t stop. Stopping and training. Aren’t those terms mutually exclusive?

Well, I’ve taken my stop light to stop light commute, short time for training, constant moral battle over what to do at a stop light on a bicycle, and glued it all together into a brilliant strategy for what to use stop lights for: stop light sprints.

Here’s the idea. I do the legal thingy and come to a complete stop at a stop light and wait until the light turns green. However, while waiting it is almost inevitable that some other cyclist will go around me and through the red light. I watch them continue.

But then, when the light turns green, I’m like a greyhound chasing the the lure around the track. I set out to catch – and pass – each and every cyclist that rode through the red light. I’m sure more than one fellow San Francisco bicycle commuter has wondered who in the hell that wacko was that caught up to them, panting and wheezing, struggling for air.

But these are the types of things that can really make a difference for someone that, like myself, has a day job (or three) but still has a strong desire to continue to ride and get stronger. You have to find creative solutions and motivations. These little “sprints” are of course entirely in my head. The person I am “racing” has absolutely no idea what I’m up to. But it both motivates me to push harder then I would if I were simply commuting, and frankly helps make my commute a hell of a lot more fun. Sure, I’m riding basically the same route, day in and day out. But throwing a little challenge in there helps make it more interesting.

There are numerous reasons why commuting by bicycle is better. Upping the fun factor of your trips is just icing on the cake.

We hear it all the time. “Those damned self-entitled cyclists!” We hear the word privilege thrown around too. Terms generally used to refer to socio-economic issues. They are often invoked in discussions about running through stop signs and stop lights. I’ve always found it frustrating, as I suspect that many of the people that are saying it are using it as a slur without really understanding what it means.

So what is the term “self-entitled” even supposed to mean, if anything? I think we can all agree to the context there. It implies that some people believe that cyclists believe they have a right to ignore certain traffic laws. Yes – I know that was confusing, some people believe that cyclists believe… I’ve always tried to be very pragmatic about stop sign and stop light running. We all know it is illegal in most places. Many are working to change that, but until then I couldn’t imagine any cyclist honestly believing that running through stop lights was their “right.”

Damn I’m naive… 

For a short time I participated in an online community called ‘NextDoor.’ NextDoor is intended as a way for members of neighborhoods to communicate with each other. They have a few different ways they try and validate that you actually live in a particular neighborhood, and limit your viewing of comments to only those posted by your neighbors. A great idea, that ends up being a horrible idea. But that was where I came across a bonafide self-entitled cyclist.

I can’t recall the exact discussion but it involved cycling in the neighborhood. My neighborhood has a four lane divided road through the center that serves as the primary bike route. It is frequented by neighbors heading to work, as well as commuters heading into our out of the city. It has a nice gentle slope to it for several blocks that allow for a really easy ride in the downhill direction. Couple that with the fact that all of the intersections have lights that are default green for those on the street, triggered only when there is cross traffic, and you can really bomb down the road without much effort.

But there are red lights. And they do get triggered. And that is where Mr. self-entitled cyclist comes in:

The cops gave me a ticket for running a red light on my bike. Don’t they have something better to do? I’m just not going to ride my bike anymore.

Random self-entitled cyclist (paraphrased from memory)

Wait… what the hell? I don’t think anyone is under the illusion that it is legal to run a red light on your bike in most places. Folks that do decide to roll red lights and stop lights at least understand that they are, in fact, breaking the law. No matter how much some may argue for a modification to the law, stop lights are stop lights. So Mr self-entitled cyclist is upset because he got a ticket for doing something illegal. OK. Tickets suck. Vent a bit.

But then he drops the “I’m just not going to ride my bike anymore.” Is he trying to punish all of us by not putting the effort in to ride his bike unless he is allowed to do something illegal? If there is an example of “self-entitled” – this is it.

Unless I get something special, I’m just not going to do it at all. So there…

You know what Mr. self-entitled cyclist: that’s just fine. I’m constantly trying to encourage more and more people to ride bikes, but in your case I’ll make an exception. Cycling gets enough bad press as it is. I don’t think this guy is hurting anyone’s feelings by not throwing a leg over the top tube and making us all look bad out there.

News of the launch of the IKEA Sladda urban bike began to spread shortly after the recent Red Dot Design awards. The bike received Best of the Best in the product design category. While we assume that the Red Dot judges had an actual, physical product, as of yet it is only the officially released graphic rendering of the bike and accessories that has been made available.

UPDATE: There are some actual photos circulating now. This german website has some, as does road.cc.

The bike is scheduled to be released on August 1st, and will be limited to UK stores – at least at this time. It is being sold as the bike, which accessories to be sold separately. Available accessories include a trailer, racks and bags.

Every detail of the bike is designed to make life as simple as possible for the user, including the rust and oil free belt drive that lasts for 15,000 km, the automatic gears, and the click-in knob system for hooking accessories on and off.

If we assume the rendered image being circulated is accurate, we can deduce a couple of things. There is a single hand-operated front disc brake, and we assume a coaster brake setup inside the rear, internally geared hub. A bracket on the left chain stay would seem to confirm the incorporation of a coaster brake. The angled top tube – while not a true step through – also creates a much lower step-over height for ease and comfort.

A dual leg kickstand adds stability when loading cargo onto the bike. The optional rear rack appears to have proprietary pannier hooks which may limit the bags that can be carried to only those offered by IKEA. Full fenders and flat handlebars further underscore the emphasis on comfort and utility.

Taking inspiration from Scandinavian city-living the aluminium frame bike includes belt drive and a range of accessories including a trailer, rear bag and racks.

Flat pack bike?

Word on the street is that the bike will be sold as a flat-pack product. In the language of IKEA, that means it will be sold packaged in the iconic flat boxes. In other words… some assembly required. This does create some concern, as an improperly assembled bicycle falling apart when in use poses a much greater risk than your book shelf collapsing. However, The Telegraph appears to have gotten ahold of the assembly instructions and it would appear that key components with the greatest risk of failure are actually shipped pre-assembled.

Specs known at this time

• Belt drive system for increased durability
• Automatic two-gear system
• Adjustable handle bar for choosing both angle and height
• Aluminium frame
• Double kick stand for steady loading
• 26 and 28 inch frames available

The Sladda also comes with a 25 year warranty on the frame and a 10 year warranty on the belt drive. (Wish I could get a warranty like that on my chain!)

UPDATE: Despite some of the previously public information, the latest press releases from IKEA state the sale price of the bike at £450, discounted to £349 for participants in the IKEA Family loyalty program.

IKEA not new to bike related stories

This is not the first time the Scandinavian retailer has been in bicycle related news. In the past IKEA gave away bikes to all of their US employees – although reviews of the bikes were met with less than stellar comments. And before that there was a 2006 folding bike giveaway for their UK employees.

The Sladda definitely seems like a step up from that (in)famous US IKEA bike, while still maintaining that distinctive IKEA look and feel. For better, or for worse.

About IKEA group:

• Our vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people and we offer well designed, functional and affordable, high quality home furnishing, produced with care for people and the environment. The IKEA Group has 330 stores in 28 countries. In addition there are more than 40 stores run by franchisees outside the IKEA Group. The IKEA Group had 771 million visits during FY15 and 1.9 billion people visited IKEA.com www.ikea.com
• IKEA UK has 18 stores. The first IKEA store in the UK was opened in Warrington in 1987. There are 6800 employees currently working at IKEA UK. IKEA had 42million visitors in the UK stores in the year to 31st August 2014.
• Despite the tough economic climate, IKEA UK reported total sales for the year to 31 August 2014 of £1.411 billion.