25

Ras De Cymru Stage Race

The Ras De Cymru is a stage race consisting of 6 stages and spread over 5 days (30th June to 4th July). The event is held around the city of Newport and riders from all over the UK have entered. This year the Welsh police have granted organiser, Chris Landon, permission to expand the rider entry from 80 to 100 riders due to an increase in entrants.

The race is open to 2nd/3rd and 4th category riders including women riders of all abilities. The stages are all held on the open road, mainly road races, but two events are time trials one being a short 4.3m prologue TT and the other a 14.2m team time trial.

Team Wiggle has entered a team for this year captained by Ben Simmons and managed by Richard Pearman. The four riders who have entered for Team Wiggle are: Ben Simmonds (2nd), Jon Cannings (2nd), Peter Kitching and me, Richard Pearman, (both verging on 2nd cat). After every stage I will endeavour to send Jason a brief report on our progress who will then publish it on the Bloggle site the following day.

The Ras De Cymru is the brainchild of Chris Landon and it all started back in 2005. It is promoted by a partnership between Cadence Cycle Racing – a Welsh cycling club – and the University of Wales, Newport. Due to an increase in popularity the 2010 event has been extended from 80 riders to 100 riders with Team Wiggle just making the final cut.

Ben lives in Wales very close to Newport, but the remaining three riders all live in Hampshire and will start our journeys early Wednesday morning. We need to leave early as we must attend the rider briefing which starts at 12.30pm.

What Does a Rider Take?

Being a stage race and away from home we, as riders, have to take enough spares, clothing and food for the full duration of the event (5 days). Food usually consists of energy drinks (High Five), recovery drink (For Goodness Shakes) and food bars or gels (Torq, Accelerade). Once the riders have completed the stage, they usually down a bottle or two of recovery drinks to aid their recovery. These could be either SIS Rego or For Goodness Shakes, either way both will help the riders by replacing lost minerals that were lost during the stage and also to help muscle recovery.

Riders also bring their favourite cereals, snacks and other items which they enjoy so to eat prior or after the stage. We also have to take enough race clothing to get us through all six stages bearing in mind that the weather could be wet from time to time. Another essential thing to remember is spares. Once racing the riders face many changing road conditions and also challenging weather conditions. It is wise to bring a spare set (or two) of wheels, a couple of tyres, brake pads and also cleaning lubricants like Pedros lubs to clean and oil the chain. Tools area must too.

Results

The results will be displayed on the www.cadencecycleracing.co.uk website. You will also be able to view any photos from the event and read a full report of the day’s action.

What to Expect?

From the outset the racing will be hard. The courses are not flat with a couple having mountain finishes. Ben Simmons (team leader) has won this event before and knows what to expect. Jon is finding his form quickly and should be able to ride well aiding Ben at those crucial moments or possible get into a break if Ben misses the opportunity to do so. Peter is new to stage racing and if I’m honest will find it hard as the race continues. His job will be to finish and aid Ben or Jon for as long as possible and as for myself, I’ll find it tough too. I do have the experience with teams in stage races (The Ras in Ireland for example) and will know what to look out for and when to ride hard. For Pete and myself it will be the case of saving our energy to help Ben and or Jon and remain with the bunch over the climbs or for as long as possible. Quitting the race is not an option in my eyes unless a rider falls. This is a team event and riding as a team is extremely important even if Pete and myself are many minutes down on the leaders.

Well, roll on the first stage and I hope the good weather continues.

Richard

PS Please revisit the Bloggle site to see how our progress unfolds.

24

Ras de Cymru : Stage 3

Ras De Cymru Stage 3

Stage 3 was the Team Time Trial (TTT) covering a distance of 13 miles. The idea of a TTT is that the whole team starts together taking turns at the front keeping a high pace, but not to high as to drop fellow team mates. Being a 4-up TTT meant that one man could drop-off leaving the remaining 3 riders to cross the line together. If the third man was then to get dropped off the finish time would stop when the 3rd man crossed the line. Ideally you want all four riders to finish together so they all get the same time or if a rider punctures.

Our TTT started at 11:18 and were the second to last to start. Every team had a 3 minute interval and all teams covered the same course. The plan for us was to go hard and everyone take turns at the front for a maximum of 1 minute. If a rider could not make a turn or was getting tired then he would either miss a turn or do a shorter stint on the front.

We started well, but the course started on a long drag which steepened slightly towards the top. We were all going through, but you could see that Ben and Jon were stronger out of the four of us. As the pace crept up, Pete and I started to suffer. I dropped off at one point, but managed to get back on, but soon after Pete dropped off. The pace up the climb was just too fast for us both. Soon after Pete dropped off I also dropped off. This meant Ben and Jon had to slow up so at least one of us could get back on, which I did (Pete getting back on minutes later). Once all of us were back together we carried on.

Today’s course was basically up a long drag up a hill and then back down to a roundabout. At the roundabout you then retraced back up the climb to descend into a strong headwind to the finish. Coming down to the roundabout I dropped off, but this time could not get back on. This meant Pete had to finish with Ben and Jon. He did in the end, but found the climb back up very hard and dropped off a couple of times with Ben and Jon waiting for him.

In the end this meant we had a slow time for the TTT which wasn’t good especially for Ben. In the end we finished with a time of 31:03. The fastest time was 28 minutes something.

Not a good start to the day.

Rich

23

Ras De Cymru: Stage Two

Ras De Cymru: Stage Two

Day two and the legs feel heavy, but the race continues. We agreed the evening before to have our breakfast at 7:15am and after we would get the bikes ready, pack them in the cars and take the 45 minute drive to Talgarth, which is situated in the Brecon Beacons. The forecast for today was going to be cloudy, which it was, and we had a good chance of getting caught up in a few showers (thankfully this was not the case).

We arrived in good time and after 15 minutes getting ready we had a 10 minute warm-up or spin-out on the nearby road. We heard the whistle which meant that the chief comm wanted to give us a rider de-brief. Soon after this we lined up in the road and got the 2nd stage under-way. With 100 riders in the bunch moving up to the front was going to be difficult especially in the narrow lanes that the race took us over. To get to the actual course we had a 4.5 mile neutralised section which was nice as this helps loosen the legs. This was well controlled by the lead cars as sometimes other lead cars go to fast and you are actually racing when the pace should be a lot slower.

When the neutralised section is over it’s straight into racing with the lead car pulling away from the bunch. Being the first true road stage the pace shots up from a comfortable 22-24mph to around 26-28mph bearing in mind we are going over a rolling course. The bunch soon lines out with riders grabbing wheels to follow. Sometimes the pace lessens up and the riders bunch up, but usually this is short lived.

The race started very quickly with riders working hard on the front with High Wycombe CC having the hardest job to do today as they had to defend their man in yellow. A tall order with so many other strong riders in the field. We started off the race on smooth ‘A’ roads which was fast, but after 4.5 miles we turned onto a country lanes which had recently been “chipped” by the local council. The majority of this road was fine, but on a few sharp bends we had to be somewhat safer as some of the chipping had grouped into small areas. At this point all of Team Wiggle were safely in the race.

After another 3 miles or so we took another left heading for the climb of the day (6 times to be climbed). The pace to the foot of the climb was rapid and I was finding the pace very high and others riders also had this problem. By the foot of this climb some riders had already been dropped off but half-way up the climb I also lost contact. An incident involving 3 riders also caused a gap to open in front of me, but with dead legs I could not close the gap. Watching the back of the race fade into the distance is not a great feeling, but sometimes there is just nowt you can do about it.

I now had the prospect of a further 45 windy and hilly miles on my own or if lucky in a small group of riders. After 3 laps on my own I was soon joined by another rider (Daniel Haydon) and between us we worked well together until the bunch lapped us. As we re-joined the bunch I noticed that Ben, Jon and Pete were still here, but that was all going to change a further 5 miles up the road. Daniel and myself let the race go by and soon we were on our own again, but as we approached the climb for the last time I noticed Pete coming off the back of the bunch. Also Jon had stopped on the climb itself and was having muscle/cramp problems with his hamstrings.

I could see Pete off the back, but he carried on to eventually finish 00:01:37 off the back of the bunch. I rode up to Jon and he jumped back onto his bike and joined us also with two others who had dropped off. Our group of two was now 5 and we worked hard to limit the time Jon would lose on the bunch. Jon eventually finished 00:05:28 down of the field with myself a whopping 00:28:00 off the bunch. Ben did attack, but went to early and realised this when he saw the 1km sign. He finished at the rear of the bunch 00:00:37 seconds off the leaders (2) who got away a few laps earlier. A nasty crash involving 6-8 riders also messed up the sprint for some, but that’s bike racing for you. For me this was a tough day in the saddle and for others. Tomorrow’s racing has 2 stages. We have a 14.2 mile team time trial in the morning and a 58.6 mile very hilly road race in the afternoon. Both Pete and myself are not looking forward to this stage.

To add to our recovery after the TTT we are going 2nd to last meaning we have only 1.5 hours to recover before the monster of a stage in the afternoon. All I keep hearing is the climb known as Defynnog. Apparently it’s a bitch of a climb and we are climbing it three times. What have I let myself in for!!!

Off to have a shower and to chill out

Rich

22

Ras De Cymru :Stage One

Ras De Cymru Stage One

Like many Pro stage races on the continent, the Ras De Cymru opened proceedings with a prologue time trial. The route planned for the 2010 race should have been a 4.3 mile rolling course with a hill top finish but thanks to the local council, who new about the event, decided to lay those horrible “road chippings” causing the organisation a small headache. They was no way you could race on this stuff, so the quick thinking staff came up with another, not so hilly, TT course for us. The TT was held on the A48 and consisted of two small lumps and a fairly long drag nearing the end of the course.

Prior to our start times, we all arrived safely at Newport Uni. It has a mixture of old and new building with many sleeping blocks for the students. After checking in at reception to collect our keys we then drove to the car parking area outside the Raglan block. All four of us occupied the top four rooms on the 3rd floor and after many trips up and down the stairs we had everything in our rooms.

Time went by very quickly and it was now time to get to the race de-brief. We all off finding the gym that it was held in, had a few helpings of food and drink then turned our attention to the organisation running the event. This chat lasted about 20 minutes detailing many things that we had to be aware of as riders. Also mentioned was the fact that the TT course had to be changed at last minute, but thanks to the staff this had been sorted out and was still planned for a 3:45pm start time.

It was then time to “sign-on” and collect our race numbers, hand in our race licences and pick up our goodie bag containing energy drink and bottles as well as leaflets about tourism in the area. After this it was a walk back to the Raglan and time to check over our bikes. I placed on my white Milram Lightweight wheels, Ben put on his Standard III wheels and so did Jon, borrowing Wiggles set of Lightweights.

Once done we had to get ready and also decided to drive to the start instead of riding out. We all did a short warm-up, but we were not really looking forward to this stage. I personally hate Time Trials, so does Jon, but except that this is part of the sport. I was first up for Team Wiggle and once off I knew why I don’t ride them. I found it hard to get up to any sort of speed and could not get into a good rhythm. Perhaps the problem is in my head, I don’t know, but banging out a fast speed straight away my body can’t cope with.

The course was actually tough with a wind that seemed to be everywhere. I kept going just turning over the pedals waiting for the finish to appear. I soon cycled by the 5km to go and remembered that after the long drag it was down hill slightly to the finish, which couldn’t come quickly enough.

Once over the line I then waited for Ben, Jon and Pete as this was the order that Team Wiggle was allocated. Ben also found it tough and didn’t enjoy it, neither Jon who said this the moment he met up with us. Pete also found it hard and was just pleased to finish.

We cycled back, jumped in the cars and all said the same thing “time trials are horrible”. The only reason this prologue was in the race was to sort out the GC (general classification) and to get a rider in the leaders jersey. For many it was just a formality and just pleased it was over. Now the real racing starts.

We arrived back at Raglan, showered and headed over to the canteen for dinner. Ben and Jon had a massage, whilst Pete and I went back to our digs to chill out by watching Internet TV.

Well the race has started and we have a leader (Clive Nicholls – time of 00:10:44). Ben leads Team Wiggle with a time of 00:11:33 placing him 37th and 49 seconds off the leader. Jon finished 51st with a time of 00:11:46, 1 minute 2 seconds behind the leader, Pete finished 71st with a time of 00:12:03, 1 minute 19 seconds behind and I finished 98th with a time of 00:12:48, 2 minutes 4 seconds off the pace.

Stage Two: 55 mile road race spread over 6 laps on a rolling course. Sprint primes and KOM primes will help spice up the race which will probably break the bunch up into smaller groups. Also it is forecast that rain could dampen things, but the racing will remain high no doubt.

A tired Rich signing off.

21

Ras De Cymru Stage Race

Ras De Cymru Stage Race

The Ras De Cymru is a stage race consisting of 6 stages and spread over 5 days (30th June to 4th July). The event is held around the city of Newport and riders from all over the UK have entered. This year the Welsh police have granted organiser, Chris Landon, permission to expand the rider entry from 80 to 100 riders due to an increase in entrants.

The race is open to 2nd/3rd and 4th category riders including women riders of all abilities. The stages are all held on the open road, mainly road races, but two events are time trials one being a short 4.3m prologue TT and the other a 14.2m team time trial.

Team Wiggle has entered a team for this year captained by Ben Simmons and managed by Richard Pearman. The four riders who have entered for Team Wiggle are: Ben Simmonds (2nd), Jon Cannings (2nd), Peter Kitching and me, Richard Pearman, (both verging on 2nd cat). After every stage I will endeavour to send Jason a brief report on our progress who will then publish it on the Bloggle site the following day.
The Ras De Cymru is the brainchild of Chris Landon and it all started back in 2005. It is promoted by a partnership between Cadence Cycle Racing – a Welsh cycling club – and the University of Wales, Newport. Due to an increase in popularity the 2010 event has been extended from 80 riders to 100 riders with Team Wiggle just making the final cut.

Ben lives in Wales very close to Newport, but the remaining three riders all live in Hampshire and will start our journeys early Wednesday morning. We need to leave early as we must attend the rider briefing which starts at 12.30pm.

What Does a Rider Take?

Being a stage race and away from home we, as riders, have to take enough spares, clothing and food for the full duration of the event (5 days). Food usually consists of energy drinks (High Five), recovery drink (For Goodness Shakes) and food bars or gels (Torq, Accelerade). Once the riders have completed the stage, they usually down a bottle or two of recovery drinks to aid their recovery. These could be either SIS Rego or For Goodness Shakes, either way both will help the riders by replacing lost minerals that were lost during the stage and also to help muscle recovery.

Riders also bring their favourite cereals, snacks and other items which they enjoy so to eat prior or after the stage. We also have to take enough race clothing to get us through all six stages bearing in mind that the weather could be wet from time to time. Another essential thing to remember is spares. Once racing the riders face many changing road conditions and also challenging weather conditions. It is wise to bring a spare set (or two) of wheels, a couple of tyres, brake pads and also cleaning lubricants like Pedros lubes to clean and oil the chain. Tools area must too.

Results

The results will be displayed on the http://www.cadencecycleracing.co.uk/ website. You will also be able to view any photos from the event and read a full report of the day’s action.

What to Expect?

From the outset the racing will be hard. The courses are not flat with a couple having mountain finishes. Ben Simmons (team leader) has won this event before and knows what to expect. Jon is finding his form quickly and should be able to ride well aiding Ben at those crucial moments or possible get into a break if Ben misses the opportunity to do so. Peter is new to stage racing and if I’m honest will find it hard as the race continues. His job will be to finish and aid Ben or Jon for as long as possible and as for myself, I’ll find it tough too. I do have the experience with teams in stage races (The Ras in Ireland for example) and will know what to look out for and when to ride hard. For Pete and myself it will be the case of saving our energy to help Ben and or Jon and remain with the bunch over the climbs or for as long as possible. Quitting the race is not an option in my eyes unless a rider falls. This is a team event and riding as a team is extremely important even if Pete and myself are many minutes down on the leaders. Well, roll on the first stage and I hope the good weather continues.

Richard

PS Please revisit the Bloggle site to see how our progress unfolds.

20

Goodwood Motor Circuit

One Tuesday Evening at Goodwood Motor Circuit

You may ask yourself why I was at Goodwood Motor Circuit on a pleasant Tuesday evening! Well it wasn’t for the cars or the motorbikes that frequently hurtle around the 2.4 mile track, at great speeds I might add, or to see learner pilots taking to the air in their single propeller, single engine planes, or to see drivers taking to the skid pan trying to control their vehicle on the oil covered tarmac, but instead it was to spend an evening with fellow competitors racing push bikes.

Goodwood Motor Circuit (known as Goodwood) is a great venue for bike racing. The track is extremely smooth, around 12 metres wide and around 2.4 miles in length. It’s virtually pan-flat but this does not mean it’s an easy ride. Usually when racing we tend to have a strong Westerly wind to contend with especially coming into the chicane and start/finish straight. Also the chicane also spices things up a bit especially on the last lap as a mass of cyclists try to get through the chicane first.

Goodwood is also a great starting area for many of the youths here in the South as its traffic free and almost 100% safe and with a wide track means they have plenty of room to race. The facilities are also good with ample car parking/toilets etc.

Anyhow, enough of the blurb, I was here to race. Fellow Wiggle riders Jon Cannings and my partner, Nikki Wheeler, were also here to race. At 7pm the riders were called to the start line and after a quick rider de-brief we set off to race 12 laps. The weather was good, sunny and not too hot and with a nagging wind along the back straight, the race was going to be hard.

At Wiggle we get to see many new products and we do like to try them out before placing these onto our site. One such example came from a company called Camsports. Camsports manufacture small video cameras of all types and one that came to us was called the Nano Wireless Video Camera.

It’s a small barrel type camera measuring approx. 20mm in diameter and 70mm in length. It came in a box that had many fixing methods such as velcro straps and velcro stick-on pads for attaching to bikes, helmets, cars etc.

Tonight I was going to test this device and see how it tackled recording a cycle race. Before finding the final position for the camera I did have a few attempts on locating the best position for this camera so you could see the best view of the action. I tried fitting to my helmet, but I found that it was better suited stuck to my stem. This gives you a clear shot of what I can see and as you can see by the video it worked out very well.

The photo below shows you where I stuck the velcro stick-on pad that the camera is fixed too and after watching the 10 minute video I think is most probably the best position to place this camera.

Once Keith said what was needed to be said, I pressed one of the two buttons to start recording and set off soon forgetting that it was on. The camera weighs next to nothing and is very small. I also used another longer velcro strap, which comes with the box, so to securely hold the camera in place just to make sure that it didn’t shake around when I got out of the saddle. The recording time is about 1.5 hours and can be charged via the USB port on your PC. The file format opens up in Windows Media Player easily and the device acts as an external drive, just like a pen-drive (plug-and-play). One cable links the camera to your PC and that’s it. Job done.

The footage I took was just over 1.5 hours and captured the entire race, but I had to edit the footage using Windows Movie Maker to ten minutes to get it up on you-tube.
If you are still unsure of the quality then take a look at the “Home Movie” and see the quality for yourself. I have taken out the sound as all you can hear is the wind rushing by the camera. The camera is best used on a sunny day to get the clearest picture.

VIDEO

About the Race Footage.

Firstly you see the start of the race with a Team Wiggle rider (Jon Canings) heading for the front of the bunch. Race continues on and you can see how we as riders move around in the bunch.

At 2:05 you see Jon again as we cycle down the Lavant straight.
At 2:37 Jon appears to the front to take the lead from me (Richard Pearman) as we approach the chicane as I slip back into the bunch behind two Brighton Mitre guys.
At 3:25 we cross the start/finish line still all together.
At 3:30 Tom (No. 137) from Upgrade bikes slips by on the outside of the bunch.
At 3:45 the bunch has swelled as the event is a handicap event and we (the 3rds) have caught the 4ths.
At 4:15 you can see my partner, Nikki, riding on the inside of the bunch in wiggle colours (No. 9).
At 4:40 I’ve now positioned myself alongside Nikki.
At 5:15 I’m now in a break of four riders heading fast down the Lavant straight.
At 5:50 still in the break but heading into the chicane ready for the sprint for the prime. Graham Wyatt attacks as we enter the chicane I chase as we exit the chicane.
At 6:10 I’m closing the gap
At 6:15 I’m ½ wheel short of winning the prime.
At 6:16 race continues.
At 6:28 more shots of JC bum!
At 7:10 Jon fancies a chat with me.
At 7:20 riders are attacking as the final laps are looming.
At 7:40 I ride up to Tom from Upgrade.
At 8:05 Andy Redding from i-team puts his hand in the air to let everyone know he has punctured. This is the last lap as well. What a pity.
At 8:15 it’s the final lunge down the Lavant straight. I’m now riding next to Phil Peters.
At 8:50 race crosses the start/finish line for the last time.

That’s the footage.

The page on the Wiggle site for the Nano Wireless Video Camera can be found here

Richard

19

Tour Of Flanders Weekend Away

Tour of Flanders Weekend Away

We were booked on the 12.30 pm Euro Tunnel to Calais where we would start our journey to our Belgium destination.

We travelled with Richard Land and his wife Ruth on Good Friday in typically very wet weather on Friday. The crossing itself was very quick indeed and once in Calais and then travelling onto Belgium the weather did not improve much for the better.

We stayed in a wonderful hotel in Deinze called D’hulaege with lovely décor, very nice rooms, great breakfasts, and a restaurant with food to die for. The unexpected added bonus was that Lotto professional cycling team were also staying in the hotel that Friday night and they just so happened to be either side of our room and down the same corridor. Seeing them in the flesh makes you realise just how lean they all are, not to mention extremely tall. Nikki is only 5′ 1” so she felt like she was in the land of the giants!

The Flanders Ride

After waking up at the crack of dawn, had a healthy breakfast and packed both bikes into the car, we then drove from Deinze to Ninove to met up with Richard Carter for the Tour of Flanders randonee (we found out later that 19,000 people took part in this ride). We started off on wet roads, but thankfully no rain, but the sky was very dark and we all knew that at some point the rain would fall. As the event is basically a mass randonee everyone can start when they want to, but everyone must start before the cut off time of 10.00 am.

Richard Land has ridden this event many times before, but it was a first for Richard Carter and myself. The course itself is quite demanding and some of the climbs are steep and cobbled. The course is also comprised of flat cobbled stretches as well as downhill sections which were tricky, especially in the wet. The first half an hour was on concrete/tarmac roads, travelling through some lovely villages, but it wasn’t long before we came across the first set of cobbles, which was a bit of a shock to Richard Carter and I as we have never ridden on them before. From what we saw the trick when ridding over cobbles is to ride fast/steady without slowing up. However, this is not always possible due to the amount of riders around you.

Once over the cobbles it was back onto the concrete roads and into the countryside, but soon enough we came across the second section of cobbles. This part was longer than the first and according to Richard Land was a new section for this year’s course. By this time it started to rain which made the cobbles very slippery. As we were riding over the cobbles we noticed that there were many bottles and bike components scattered over the cobbles, shaken off by the constant vibration as you cycled over them. I even saw a bottle cage with the bottle still in it and I even heard from a friend of ours that someone had snapped their bars. I would have to say that this part of the cobbles was very rough and quite tough on the shoulders, arms and hands due to the length of this section. It seemed to go on and on, but eventually we came to tarmac roads and once around the corner we stopped.

Once over this particular section we stopped with lots of other cyclists to check our bikes over. I noticed that this was also the split for either the 75k or 150k rides. I was planning on riding the 150k ride, but with a recent knee injury thought better of it as I didn’t want to make it any worse. Being out on the 150km ride and with knee pain was not an option as the ride back to the finish would have been very painful and with the cobbles to contend with a daunting thought. Richard Carter was quite happy to do the 75k route with Richard Land going with the flow.

We carried on in the rain, cycling over more cobbled sections and tackling some very steep climbs. Richard Land mentioned that this route would take us to the legendary cobbled climb known as the Murr (where Cancellara attacked and rode away from Tom Boonan to eventually win this year’s Tour of Flanders), to be followed shortly after by the last cobbled climb known as the Bosberg.

The climb up the Murr was incredible as there were 100’s of people cheering everyone on. The cobbled climb is just as steep as it looked on the TV and as you turn the final corner you can see the chapel at the top of the hill. This is where a lot of riders stopped to recover and take in the views. The climb up the Murr caused our group to split so at the top I waited for the others. Richard Carter soon followed so I decided to go down to the last corner and wait for Richard Land so that I could take a photograph. Once all together we decided to have a quick rest, have something to eat before starting the descent and the run up to the Bosberg.

As you approach the Bosberg, which is not steep, but being cobbled, and the last climb on the ride, it can take its toll as many riders were tired, cold, and very wet. Again many people were at the top cheering us on which was nice and better still from this point on it was almost all downhill to Ninove where we had started the ride.

Like any ride it is nice knowing that the finish is not too far away so you tend to ride faster just to get it over and done with. On our approach we did have a tail wind so the pace in our large group had picked up. Occasionally the Police had to help us cross the busier roads in groups rather than the odd one’s and two’s so that it was safer for all the riders.

After just over 3 hours the 3 of us crossed the finish line and made our way to the tented area where we collected our goodies. We were able to wash down the bikes with hoses which we all did as our bikes were absolutely filthy. After about half an hour we made our way out of the tented area and rode back to our cars, got changed, and decided to visit the cycling museum in the town of Oodenaarde.

The museum is very interesting and displays a wealth of information about the history of the Tour of Flanders, the routes, the winners and riders of this legendary race. The museum also has an area dedicated to the history of the Lotto cycling team and again its riders from days gone by. You can also sit and watch a short 15 minute film showing footage of races past and present which are fascinating. If you ever visit this part of Belgium I would highly recommend you visit this museum as it is extremely interesting. Having spent some time looking around the museum we went back to our respective hotels.

Whilst we were riding the Tour of Flanders randonee, Nikki and Ruth spend a leisurely morning at the hotel and then travelled to Ghent in the afternoon to have a look around and visit the Cathedral and castle. Apparently no chocolates were consumed during their visit, but they did visit numerous bars

Like many who travelled to Belgium to ride the Tour of Flanders randonee, Sunday was spent watching the race either in a local bar or by the road side. I’m not too sure where we were when watching the race, but it was great fun. The speed the rider’s travelled over the cobbles is amazing and an impressive sight to see. Once the race went through the village it was the case of watching the remainder of the race on the screen somewhere, which we did.

Return journey on Monday.

The return journey very relaxed. No heavy rain to contend with and also no traffic hold-ups. Travelling with Euro-Tunnel is so easy. You just turn up to the check-in desk, insert your card then drive onto the train and in a short space of 30 minutes or so you are back on UK soil.

We all had a great weekend in Belgium enjoying the atmosphere and Belgium hospitality throughout.

Cleaning the bike Monday afternoon was not so fun though but had to be done as the bike was covered in grime/slime and other horrible deposits.

Verenti Rhigos 03 – This was my second outing on this machine (first was at the Killo To Go, Cheshire Cat sportive event – 100km ride) and it went very well. The bike took plenty of punishment and stood its ground admirably. The ride was very comfortable even though some of the ground cycled over were some pretty hard and slippery cobbles. The bike I found to be quick and responsive when the pace was high and it cornered well at speed. The slightly curved downtube made the bike stand out from the crowd and with some Verenti logo’s strategically placed around the frame made the bike special in its own way. The SRAM Rival groupset performed as it should, shifting well when required, sometimes under heavy load.

The bike comes equipped with Vittoria Diamantle Pro tyres and got me through the 75km without any problems. I had no sliding or loss of grip issues as we cycled through some pretty muddy lanes which was good news as it was raining heavily and cold. For me there is nothing worse than fixing a puncture at the side of the road in rain and when your hands are cold.

Even though the head tube is much taller than my racing bike (Focus Cayo) I found I could get into a nice racing position and with my dodgy back problem this is most probably a good thing (to be higher up).

18

A Day At Wiggle

A Day at Wiggle – Thursday 10 December 2009

Have you ever wondered what the offices of Wiggle look like? Have you ever thought who works on the Bloggle site as well as the fancy ads that you see in the press? Or who the creators of the email and website banners are? If so, then read on.

A couple of months ago I thought it would be a great idea to give everyone who reads our Bloggle site an insight into a ‘Day at Wiggle’ for me – Richard Pearman – and to show you some pictures of our offices. However, before commencing any further into this article, I’ll quickly explain how I ended up at Wiggle and with the role I have now.

In April 2007, after having been made redundant from my previous employer, I applied for a part-time role at Wiggle with the intention of becoming full-time once I had successfully completed a thirteen week probation period. I began my time at Wiggle working downstairs in the processing department, which involved taking customer orders from the system, going out into the warehouse and collecting the goods then finally packing the items before they were loaded onto the lorries with the good intention of being delivered the next day (or two).

After 12 weeks in the processing department, I heard of a job opportunity upstairs which was just what I was looking for. It involved creating web pages and filling them with images and content so that customers could view and eventually purchase the goods displayed. This was something I was used to doing and had knowledge of from my previous employment as well as it being a great personal interest of mine.

After having worked upstairs within the Merchandising department for a further 4-6 weeks, Paul informed me that I had fulfilled the tasks given to me and that the position was mine if I wanted it. I accepted the role and this is now my position at Wiggle.

My day starts at 8.30 am and after greeting the ladies in the Finance department, namely Sian and Barbara, who can’t believe how chirpy I am in the morning, I sit down at my desk, prepare my notes and press the button to boot up my PC.

Once booted up, I started my working day answering several emails which I received from suppliers and also the good-in department. I also sent out emails to suppliers requesting image content for future projects I have in the pipeline. Today I had more than the usual emails to answer as I had just returned from a holiday trip to Cyprus (more on this in a future Bloggle piece). Once any problems have been sorted out it’s down to the tasks for the day.

One of the tasks today was to upload more products from the Token brand. These included various items such as spacers, lockrings, track sprockets, handlebars and stems, as well as many more. Once I had finished with Token the plan was to continue with FSA, but Wiggle is a very busy place and my priorities change on a daily basis.

As my job involves communicating with other departments within Wiggle, I’m usually sent emails regarding new images, extra items to add on to already existing pages (say a new colour option or size option), so inevitably I get side-tracked a lot of the time as these need sorting out virtually straightaway. I was sorting some of these emails out when Richard Land (known as Lando within Wiggle) walked through the door, plonked himself down in his chair, asked me about my holiday (which I told him), and then told me about his swine flu experience, which sounded nasty.

Lando sits next to me and we work well together – Rich buys the stuff you buy and I place it on the site for you to see, so we are always communicating with each other about products and what to put on the site and what not to put on it. Rich tries to get all the information I need, but sometimes this is not possible so it can be a struggle to get images and content at times.

Once Rich had his tea, not Cadbury’s hot chocolate, and I finished off a few more emails, Rich told me of a range of clothing that needed to go up on the site ASAP. Like I mentioned before, my priorities can change daily which I don’t mind as the needs of the business change daily too. The range of clothing I had to get stuck into was the Madison Range. So my first step was to download all the images from the Madison b2b site in one large zip file. As this was going on I opened the latest edition of the Madison ‘Parts and Accessories’ book which contains details such as pricing and part numbers to see just how much I had to create.

By now the time was just shy of 10.30 am. With a couple of emails sorted out it was time to start creating the Madison range. The CMS (Content Management System) I use is very simple and is designed in such a way that creating pages is easy to do. It’s like a crossword puzzle to a degree – you fill in the gaps and once completed I send it ‘Live’.

(more…)

17

New Forest Sportive Ride

The New Forest Sportive event was held on Sunday 11 October 2009 with the HQ in the lovely town of Brockenhurst which is situated in the heart of the New Forest National Park.

When entering the event you could choose from three different routes – Fun, Standard or Epic, depending upon your cycling ability. The Fun route took you on a 40 mile ride around Brockenhurst, Lyndhurst and Beaulieu, cycling through some lovely areas of the New Forest. The 70 mile Standard route and the 100 mile Epic route took you around Brockenhurst, Lyndhurst and Beaulieu, but these routes also took you further North heading towards Salisbury and as far South as Norkywood.

Due to my lack of fitness and recent arm injury thanks to crashing in a circuit race 5 weeks ago chipping my bone in my elbow, I decided to ride the Standard route which would take me on a lovely 70 mile journey through the forest and heath land. My partner Nikki, with good cycling form coming out of her year’s racing, decided to keep me company for the day.

The trip to Brockenhurst College, the event HQ, took us around 40 minutes from Denmead and was pretty much straight forward as we travelled down the M27 towards junction 2 (Cadnam). The only slight hold-up we encountered after leaving the M27 was when we approached Lyndhurst. Lyndhurst has a one-way system and in the summer months is a bit of a nightmare to travel through. It’s a great little beautiful place to visit though, but be prepared for some heavy traffic as you approach it.

We soon entered Brockenhurst and found the entrance to the college very quickly and were welcomed by the friendly ukcyclingevents team who directed us to the large car park areas. The weather earlier in the morning had not been great – raining, but as we parked up this had blown over thanks to the strong winds. The roads remained damp, but I was just glad to be starting in the dry. For me there’s nothing worse than starting a race, or cycling event, when it’s tipping down with rain and you are getting cold waiting for the off. Many of the entrants had started early, as we had originally planned, but due to our slight laziness in the morning we commenced our 70 mile cycling journey at about 9.20 am as a small group of 5.

During July 2009 Wiggle teamed up with Focus Bikes to offer a superb opportunity to win a trip to the Vattenfall Cyclassic event in Hamburg on August 16th 2009!

The Vattenfall Cyclassics one-day race is a true celebration of cycling. It is one of the youngest one-day road races in the UCI ProTour but it is one of the best races because organisers combine a high quality professional race with a day of cycling for everyone who loves two-wheels.

Read Part 1 of Richards blog – Meeting the Comp Winners and our Day in Hamburg.

Read Richard Pearman’s account of the race day below.

16

Vattenfall Cyclassic Update Part 2

Part 2 – Sunday (Sportive and Pro Race Day)

The following morning was an early wake up call. My night’s sleep was not a good one as the room was very warm and we had no air conditioning to keep us cool. The hotel was also next to a major road which never seemed to quieten down with traffic. The windows were open to let some air in, but the noise was sometimes just too noisy. Eventually I did sleep, but not enough for me (7-8 hours is my normal quota).

We had to arrive for breakfast early then return down to the lobby to cycle to the start of the Sportive event. Many of the mechanics were up and about loading their respective team vehicles and preparing for the day’s event. Rich, Craig and I couldn’t hang around for too long as we had to cycle 2 km’s to the start. We also had to locate our starting point which was very hard because as we neared the area we were greeted by thousands of cyclist all looking for their own starting points.

Thankfully we had signed on the day before so all we had to do was locate where we had to be. Eventually we found our starting point so waited here for the rest of our group. Thorsten, Andy and their other guests were also riding. We arrived first, but soon after the others arrived. Everyone was wearing their Focus kit, which was given to us on Saturday, and apart from some hairy legs we all looked the part.
The start was delayed by 30 minutes, which was slightly annoying as we had hurried ourselves unnecessary, but things like this happen and it’s best that we got there in good time as we had come all this way.

The start was slow, which was expected. Getting our group of around 1000 cyclists going quickly from the start was not possible. It’s weird to see the rider’s way in front moving off, as slowly in front of you people are moving and you can see the movement heading towards you and soon enough it was our time to clip in and pedal.

(more…)