I’ve just returned back to Lugano after a great time in Perth where I have spent the last 2 months spending time with my brother Craig and catching up with him since the last time we saw each other for a good length of time.

I also used this time recovering after a demanding year and then once fully recovered, getting out on the bike building up my training towards the start of the 2010 season. What was new this time was that thanks to Wiggle I had the use of the Focus Black Forest Mountain Bike and I was able to get out on some great trails with Craig and the local MTB’ers and have a lot of fun, see some great wildlife and sharpen up my bike handling too.

My first ride was in the forests around Kalamunda and we rode a variety of trails which were on hard terrain like some single tracks which had lots of logs scattered at unexpected places all around the trails and they kept appearing out of nowhere! Most times I just had to jump them and took a lot of air without even knowing what was going on! It seemed that these trails had been well built and the jumps were all do-able for a first timer, and then after a few weeks they became more exciting and challenging as I took them at higher speeds. I was treated to seeing some Kangaroos jumping along through the forest and at another part of the ride we heard a rustling swooshing noise and then 2 emus appeared charging along through the trees with their big black bodies and long legs and necks standing out against the green background!

Other parts of the trails were very sandy and dry, and there was also ‘pea gravel’ which was like marbles in places and my first time on this type of surface. It took some time to get used to this and there were a few descents when the bike just felt like it was fish tailing around beneath me and all I could do was point the bike in the right direction, keep some weight over the back wheel and hope for the best!

Craig and I headed over to Melbourne for a few days at the end of November and checked out the course for the World RR Champs in October, it’s very tough and great to know what to expect. We got together with our cycling friends based in Melbourne and entered a few teams into the 24 hour team MTB event held in Forest. We had 3 teams all together under the Cycleinn banner and Craig and I were teamed up with Matt and Caroline Jackson and Tim and Nicole David.

It was an amazing weekend starting with setting up the tents and equipment, riding the course and getting to know what was going on as this was my first time at an event like this! Craig did our team’s first lap and from then on it was a routine of checking my estimated start time on our team’s lap board, get ready, eat food, get to change over zone on time, disinfect wheels in trough, blast round the course for a lap, hand over to team mate, clean bike, shower, food then rest or sleep until about 45 minutes before I was next due to ride. It was great fun zipping round the course and a really fantastic atmosphere with all the competitors out on the course. We rode through the night and I thought one helmet light would be enough but as soon as I was out of the start arena I knew I’d made a mistake, it was dark out there and with all the twisty trials and logs springing up out of nowhere on the new ‘night lap’ which we hadn’t ridden before so I took it very steady or tried to follow riders ahead.

Matt helped fit a handlebar light for my second night lap and knowing where to go I was able to go for it and enjoy pushing the limits of myself and the bike again. As the Sunday morning dawned we were lying in 2nd place team in the mixed 6’s and tried to maintain this through to the end.

It brought back a lot of memories from my MTB races in the 90’s and the atmosphere was fun, everyone had a great time and enjoyed the courses and event. I’m not sure how much off roading I’ll be able to do during the rest of the season but I’ll be taking every opportunity I can as it is a nice change and good to sharpen up the technical skills. The Focus Black Forest was fantastic, a great hard tail with good handling, good quality equipment and very responsive. Thanks Wiggle for your help in creating this opportunity for me!

Some news in from Vision 1 Racing Team member Dani King.

Wiggle have loaned Dani a Focus Pista Track bike to compete on, so far she’s won 3 individual Bronze medals at the Championships in Manchester. This is her first season as a senior. Her medals were awarded in the 3km pursuit, Scratch and 120 lap Points race.

Dani also finished 11th in the European Track Championships in Belgium Oct 24th 2009.

Congratulations Dani!

Dani King & Vision 1 Racing are being sponsored by Focus for all their Bike Frames

Time Trial Frame: Focus Izalco Chrono 2009

Road Bike Frame: Focus Cayo 2009

Turbo Trainers & Rollers:
To help the team train Paligap have sponsored the Vision 1 Racing Team with: CycleOps Turbo Trainers & Rollers.

Components:
For various cycle components Paligap have sponsored the Vision 1 Racing Team with: Ritchey Cycle Components

On Saturday I was at Cycle 09 in Earls Court to support my sponsors and take part in some Questions and Answers on stage with fellow cyclists and the world’s leading ladies in their own different disciplines of cycling, Victoria Pendleton (Track Sprint Olympic Champ), Rachel Atherton (Downhill World Champ) and Hollie Avil (Triathlon U23 World Champ).

I got the day off to a great start visiting the Wiggle crew and spending time with visitors and fans answering questions about my experience on the Focus Izalco Chrono and Cayo that I have been riding this year and then also signing some autographs and hearing some of the fans’ own experiences this year. I also got to see the new models for 2010 and if it is possible to improve on the ’09 range there will be some great bikes for you next year! In the last few weeks since my season ended I have been winding down doing some riding but not on my road bike, instead I have been riding a mixture of road and trails on the Focus Mares cross bike, kitted out with Ritchey bars and stem, Sram red and Continental tubs glued on to some prototype wheels being developed for next year by Walser Cycles.

It’s a great carbon fibre frame and although my skills are a little ‘rough’ having not been off road since last winter I felt comfortable on the bike and quickly gained confidence and more speed as I got used to the handling and sliding around on the loose surface.

After the time with Wiggle I was on stage for the first Q&A of the day and had some nice questions from the girls of Herne Hill Youth Cycling Club and, they presented all of us with a club hat which looks smart and has their website on www.hhycc.com [so I will be checking up on you!!] Following that I spent some time with Action Medical Research www.action.org.uk/get_involved/cycling who organised the Ride 24 which I went to this summer and saw for myself how much fun everyone had while helping raise money for a great charity. AM also have a series of 100 Mile events around Britain so check out their website for one locally. I had a nice time to finish off the afternoon at British Cycling and even started one of children’s bike testing ‘races’ or sessions depending on how the children chose to complete their time trying out a variety of different bikes on a small circuit which also tested their skills and speed!

Like every year, when I visited Cycle 09 I also bumped in to a lot of friends and even people who I had not seen for a long time! It was thoroughly enjoyable and I would recommend it to everyone with even the smallest interest in cycling… I say this because on the Adult ‘Bike’ Test Track I saw one person zipping around on a 3 wheel tricycle / scooter with a motor and no pedals what so ever… but it looked a lot of fun and if it helps spread the benefits of cycling then I’m all for it!

Best wishes, Nicole

To view Nicole & Andy’s answers from the Cycle O9 question time session with Wiggle please view the links below.

Question time with Nicole Cooke.

Question time with Andy Walser

Here’s a quick update from Nicole Cooke’s Vision 1 Rider Vicki Whitelaw who’s been out training on her Focus bike.

Back in Italy and loving every minute! I’ve been punishing my body to the maximum with training, often barely able to move in the afternoons after a session in the morning. Oh, except to head down to the corner shop for my dose of Italian gelato!
Whilst living the life of a professional cyclist, I have very little need for the thousands of hairdressers in this country, gelaterias, well I am having trouble staying away from them! If it weren’t for my regular intake of this yummy food, I’m not sure I could get through a week of training.

For those of you into icecream-let me tell you it’s far better. It’s completely different. Icecream is hard. Gelato is soft and as soon as it hits your tongue, you are overcome by the intensity of the flavour. Often there are boxes of fruit or other natural ingredients by the door of a gelateria, freshly delivered and waiting to be added to the next batch of gelato. Proof that you’re getting natural home made flavours! It has half the calories and half the fat of icecream. So I guess that means it’s a “double scoop per favore!”

Next stop on the racing calendar is Plouay World Cup- an incredibly tough circuit of hills galore. So, in preparation, guess what’s been on my training program?! I think that in the last week I’ve covered climbs ranging from 3km right up to 20km long. I’ve sprinted them, done the very exciting ‘strength endurance” efforts on them, motorpaced them and for my sanity, I’ve also descended them. More times than I can remember. My legs better thank me for all this effort come Plouay next Saturday because right now, my legs feel completely detached from the rest of me. From tomorrow I have 3 days of ‘tranquillo” riding so I’m hoping I can find them once again.

The frequency of motorpacing has increased and I was enjoying these sessions until last Saturday when hill motorpacing was thrown into the program. Following my friend Sandro on his red scooter up the solid 3km climb to his house several times was the toughest session I had done in a very long time. I’m surprised I made it home after that one. Sandro is loving the speed we reach on the final down hill run into town. “90km/hr” he proudly says when we have our session debrief and plan our next meeting. Each week, with a wide grin on his face, he attempts to crank it up just that little bit more so he can tell his mates in the bar our latest motorpace PB.

There have been some great sessions on my Focus Chrono bike. I’ve been tweaking my time trialling position and technique and am excited by the progress. There are some great stretches of road in this area to allow substantial length intervals. They hurt like crazy, but I know they are good for me.

Following Plouay, I will be riding Trophee D’Or, a women’s 5-day tour in the centre of France. I’m eager to see how all of this training transfers into racing and am hoping by the end of the tour, I will be bouncing with good form as September comes around.

Ciao from sunny Italy,

Vicki x

Vicki Whitelaw & Vision 1 Racing are being sponsored by Focus for all their Bike Frames

Time Trial Frame: Focus Izalco Chrono 2009

Road Bike Frame: Focus Cayo 2009

Turbo Trainers & Rollers:
To help the team train Paligap have sponsored the Vision 1 Racing Team with: CycleOps Turbo Trainers & Rollers.

Components:
For various cycle components Paligap have sponsored the Vision 1 Racing Team with: Ritchey Cycle Components

Here’s a quick update from Nicole Cooke’s Vision 1 Rider Aurore Verhoeven who’s been out training on her Focus bike.

2nd Part of the Season

After the French Championship, I was in Belgium to ride the European Championship U23. I’d crashed the previous day during the training. For the race, I wasn’t 100%… I stopped my race 2 laps before the finish.

The next day, I took the plane to Milan to go to the training camp in Italy near the Magiore Lake. It was very nice with the good weather and the mountain. The ideal conditions for good training! During these days, I rode a men’s criterium in Brugg, I finished 4th and Katie 2nd.The journalists and photographs came to the training camp to interview Nicole and took a team photo for the regional paper (Lombardie).

After the training camp, I rode a race with the team, the Carnavale di Cento (Italy). It was a race all flat with a lot of wind. After 5 laps, 10 riders (I think) escaped. Good work from the team Menikini come back the peleton at 30″, for the last lap, it was me and Vision 1 who made the break at 5kms before the finish. I finished 10th at the sprint. Giorgia Bronzini won.

From 21st July to 26th July we were riding at the International Thuringen Rundfahrt in Germany. It’s a big race with the best teams! Each day was very hard, with the repetitions of the cobbles and the bumps. It was again a very good experience at international level ! It was incredible! I didn’t finish the Thuringen, I stopped my race during the 5th stage.

1st stage: 18th at 10″
2nd stage: 17th at 43″
3rd stage: 34th at 7′14″
4th stage (Time Trial): 46th at 5′13″

The last day, I followed the race in the car with the team DS.

See you soon friends!
Aurore x

Aurore Verhoeven & Vision 1 Racing are being sponsored by Focus for all their Bike Frames

Time Trial Frame: Focus Izalco Chrono 2009

Road Bike Frame: Focus Cayo 2009

Turbo Trainers & Rollers:
To help the team train Paligap have sponsored the Vision 1 Racing Team with: CycleOps Turbo Trainers & Rollers.

Components:
For various cycle components Paligap have sponsored the Vision 1 Racing Team with: Ritchey Cycle Components

1st August: I have had an eventful few weeks in July, first of all was a great training camp for Vision 1 about on Lago Maggiore where we were able to spend quality time training together and also enjoying other experiences available to us in this popular cycling region. I was very proud setting off on our rides each day and seeing the whole team looking fantastic and
turning heads as we rode out to start the day’s training.

The camp led on to 2 races and both were very disappointing for me, although for the team there were some great results for the riders who took their opportunities with both hands and also gained a lot of valuable experience. I caught a virus which totally knocked me down and my legs went from feeling great and raring to go, to feeling like jelly with no power left anymore. I pulled out of the Thuringen Tour in Germany and knew that it was important to begin recovery straight away. After a very easy week I
have begun to feel better and started riding again. It is a very important to make sure I am healthy and ready to start training again as now is the time when my preparation for the World Champs begins. After a few days home in Wales I am now back in Switzerland and looking forward to the next

2 months ahead.
Tonight (1st August) is the National Day of Switzerland and there is a big party in Lugano, with fireworks in the evening and this was my last day ‘off’ now through to the World Champs and the end of my season at the end of September… Can’t wait to start!

Nicole x

Nicole Cooke & Vision 1 Racing are being sponsored by Focus for all their Bike Frames

Time Trial Frame: Focus Izalco Chrono 2009

Road Bike Frame: Focus Cayo 2009

Turbo Trainers & Rollers:
To help the team train Paligap have sponsored the Vision 1 Racing Team with: CycleOps Turbo Trainers & Rollers.

Components:
For various cycle components Paligap have sponsored the Vision 1 Racing Team with: Ritchey Cycle Components

Stage 3, Schleiz, 23rd July 2009, 125.2km

In trying conditions Vicki Whitelaw finished 4th on Stage 3 of the International Thüringen-Rundfahrt yesterday and moved up to 8th overall. A 125km loop near the town of Schleiz, Germany, the third stage was run in wet, muddy conditions. The rolling climbs and rough descents splintered the peloton into a number small groups over the course of the race. A group of 15 riders broke away on one of the climbs with Whitelaw included in the selection.

Two riders were able to escape the group and ride solo to the finish. Whitelaw found herself sprinting for third place. There was a final corner 300m from the finish which the rain made treacherous. After the finish Whitelaw said she

“descended well and kept my focus on the right hand corner, careful to not over analyse it but to take it wide and smoothly. I survived it and then was faced with an uphill sprint, trying to claw my way back to Eva. I was gaining on her, but ran out of road and she crossed in third with me finishing 4th.”

Today’s stage (23rd July) consists of a 23 kilometre individual time trial.

Results:
1 Villumsend Serup (Team Columbia HTC)
2 Duster Sarah (Cervelo Test Team)
3 Lechner Eva (Gauss RDZ Ormu-Calnago
4 Whitelaw Vicki (Vision 1)
34 Verhoeven Aurore (Vision 1)
37 Cooke Nicole (Vision 1)
43 King Dani (Vision 1)

Vision 1 Racing news hot off the press, yesterday’s first stage of the Thuringen Rundfahrt in Germany.

Stage 1, Altenburg, 70.7km, 21st July 2009

The International Thuringen Rundfahrt, a six stage tour in Germany, started yesterday with four laps of a rolling 19.5km circuit, which included tough cobbled sections. It was probably the toughest start to the Thuringen Rundfahrt in many years, and the victory went to Marianne Voss (DSB Bank) in a sprint to the line ahead of Emma Johanssen (Red Sun Cycling) and Rasa Leleivyte (Safi Pasta Zara Titanedi). The course was challenging and tested the handling skills of the riders and the rolling roads tested their legs and ensured that the pace was fast.

In the final kilometre the peloton was all together and the descent to the line ensured a fast sprint for the top places. An exhausted Vicki said

“It was a lot harder than I expected. That was tough, there were a lot of broken cobbled sections which meant riders were skidding everywhere. There was also a lot of braking and accelerating which made it very hard on the energy systems. It was a really leg sapping stage and I am hoping it isn’t going to get harder from here. If that is an indication of the rest of the week then it is going to be a tough tour !”

See the race action below:

Results
1. Marianne Voss (DSB Bank)
2. Emman Johanssen (Red Sun Cycling)
3. Rasa Leleivyte (Safi Pasta)
4. Ellen Van Dijk (Team Colombia High Road)
5. Sarah Duster (Cervelo Test Team)
13. Nicole Cooke (Vision 1)
18. Aurore Verhoeven (Vision 1)
21. Vicki Whitelaw (Vision 1)
29. Danni King (Vision 1)
46. Katie Curtis (Vision 1)
80. Jackie Garner (Vision 1)

The latest BBC Video Dairy is now online following the Vision 1 Racing Team. Join world and Olympic champion cyclist Nicole Cooke as she takes part in the British Road Race Championship in Abergavenny, winning the national title for the 10th time.

Click here to watch Nicole’s latest Video diary.

Nicole Cooke & Vision 1 Racing are being sponsored by Focus for all their Bike Frames

Time Trial Frame: Focus Izalco Chrono 2009

Road Bike Frame: Focus Cayo 2009

Turbo Trainers & Rollers:
To help the team train Paligap have sponsored the Vision 1 Racing Team with: CycleOps Turbo Trainers & Rollers.

Components:
For various cycle components Paligap have sponsored the Vision 1 Racing Team with: Ritchey Cycle Components

Olympic and World Champion cyclist Nicole Cooke inspired over a hundred Abbott employees to fit fitness into their work life when she spoke at the opening of their office gym on June 29, 2009. Just two days after winning her 10th British Championship in Abergavenny, Cooke spoke to the Abbott team about her own experiences and gave clear, motivational advice to get them into exercise.

The highlight of her visit was a raffle, held in aid of the Children’s Heart Federation, with the star prize a Focus Highland Peak 2009 Mountain bike donated by us. The lucky winner was Nick Kennedy who has vowed to make cycling to and from work part of his daily routine.

“It’s great to see a company take their staff’s health and fitness so seriously,”

said Nicole who herself enjoys the benefits of Abbott’s EAS sports nutrition.

“Regardless of whether you’re training for the Olympics or preparing for an important meeting, regular exercise and a balanced diet will help you maintain peak performance.”

Nicole Cooke & Vision 1 Racing are being sponsored by Focus for all their Bike Frames

Time Trial Frame: Focus Izalco Chrono 2009

Road Bike Frame: Focus Cayo 2009

Turbo Trainers & Rollers:
To help the team train Paligap have sponsored the Vision 1 Racing Team with: CycleOps Turbo Trainers & Rollers.

Components:
For various cycle components Paligap have sponsored the Vision 1 Racing Team with: Ritchey Cycle Components