Basso at Cycle Show

Basso Diamante

As promised in my last posting about the Wilier’s on display at the Cycle Show, here is the next installment about the awesome Italian racing machine, Basso. There are quite a few versions, which have recently become available to the UK market, thanks to the team at Moore Large.

Basso Diamante

Above is the Diamante which is Basso’s only unique hand-made frameset built in limited quantity. So pretty much means an expensive buy either way you look at it. But if you want that something special made just for you, then this is the way to go.

Basso Astra

Now this is one beautiful racing machine. I used to own a steel version (Columbus EL OS for all you old school folk) of this now carbon monocoque only frame, and used to love riding on it everyday. Seeing this frame at Cycle Show brought back so many memories for me, the training, the racing and the winning. The day will come when I will purchase one, even if it is just for the sake of nostalgia.

According to the company website, the following is said about the Astra – the company’s flagship frame:

A new star is born in the Basso R&D department. It is dedicated to the most demanding riders. It has a full monocoque T700 3K carbon fibre frame and its front and rear triangle tubes have visible longitudinal lines that remind us of a four-leafed clover shape. The new Astra has a maximum flexion of 0,21 mm on the BB shell and a maximum torsion of 2,3 mm on the head tube; on both tests we apply a weight of 50 kgs at 40 cm distance from the fulcrum. It can be driven in long distance races in a very smooth and comfortable way, but it is very reactive and precise in fast accelerations or very winding roads. 7 colour combinations will let you choose your personalized look.

I have to confess though, when I purchase one of these, it will have to be kitted with Campagnolo. An Italian frame deserves to be ridden with complimentary Italian equipment.

Basso Astra

Basso Astra (with Campag)

Basso Astra

Basso Astra

Basso  Laguna

Now the remainder of the range in the form of the Laguna, the Reef and the Devil.

Basso Laguna

Basso Reef

Basso Reef

Basso Devil

Basso Devil

Basso Konos

Last but not least from Basso is the Konos, the company’s time-trial frame. I’ll be honest when I say that I’ve seen beter looking time trial frame’s but at least this is something to build and improve upon.

Basso Konos

I know this is going to sound like I’m working for Basso (or Moore Large), but if you have time this weekend, get yourself down to your local bike store and make some enquiries about these bikes. Xmas is just around the corner and this would make a great present, either for yourself or your partner.

And to my darling wife, if you are trying to find the perfect gift for me this xmas, then may I suggest the Blue Astra (pictured above). It would be the perfect gift .

Then again, if I can’t get it as a gift, I wonder if the guys at Moore Large will let me review an Astra for a few weeks (or months)?

The Tour of Britain is recruiting!

The final sprint at the 2009 Tour of Britain

This is going to be a short posting but just wanted to draw your attention to the fact that The Tour of Britain organisation team is looking to recruit a new office / administration manager.

Now for anyone who lives or breathes cycling, this could be seen as the perfect job (well, if you’re an office/administration manager already that is).

Details of the role have been posted on the Bike Biz website,  so if you know of anyone (or even yourself maybe) that might be interested in this role, please send this link on to them to apply.

Cheers!

Wilier at Cycle Show 2009

It’s been a week since the London Cycle Show and I’ve managed to get some time to myself to download the rest of the pictures I took during the four days at the show.

Over the past year or so I have come to enjoy the look of the Wilier racing machine, so much so that it is now sitting at the very top of my wish list. So here are some pictures from, what I would say is the world’s most beautiful racing machine:

Wilier Cento 1

Wilier Cento 1 Di2 (SRP £7695)

Wilier Cento 1

Wilier Cento 1 Superleggera

According to the little sign displayed under the bike at the sow, the Superleggera uses a special carbon lay-up and advanced materials that include Mitsubishi’s highest specification 60 ton carbon.

The frame weighs in at only 920g and the fork is 360g, saving 130g from the standard Cento 1. Apparently the snakeskin carbon outer weave is designed specifically to abosorb vibration, for outstanding ride quality.

Special order frame set only SRP4299

Wilier Cento 1 Superleggero

Wilier Cento Chrono

Wilier Cento Chrono (SRP £3499 frame set only)

Wilier Imperiele

Some wicked lines on this racing machine. Just beautiful!

Wilier Imperiele

Wilier Imperiele

Wilier Imperiele

Wilier Imperiele

Wilier Imperiele

In my next posting will be some images from the new range of Basso’s that are now being sold in the UK.

Porno Patches at Cycle Show 09

Knog's Porno Patches

So it’s been a full year since I was at the Cycle Show and showed you some of the coolest racing bikes on earth. Man, time really does fly past. I do wish it would slow down a bit, or maybe I’m just doing too much.

The Cycle Show in London opened today (well, actually yesterday but that was for the the trade). We (The Tour of Britain) have a stand there too this year and opposite us are the guys and gals from Moore Large, distributers in the UK for amongst other things, Basso Bikes and Knog. More on Basso to come over the course of this weekend, but for now I’ll tell you about Knog.

Knog are not your conventional type of cycling equipment manufacturer. Not by any means!  I saw a few months back the press they were getting about their ‘Porno Patches’ – see image above – due to them calling their puncture repair kit a porno patch. Serioulsy clever marketing as it had every one talking about it.

Anyway, so thanks to the guys at Moore Large, I was able to get my hands on a Porno Patch. Even the packing makes it look like it’s a condom. That was also the first thing my wife said when she saw me with it – “what are you doing with a condom?”

The best part of the packing is the text on the back. It says:

A lab test revealed that if you give these kinky self -adhesive patches to girls they’ll fix their bike puncture quick smart and ride away with a bike as sexy on the inside as the outside, and that if you give them to boys they’ll stick them on their nipples. Nuff said.

So if you want to get your own Porno Patch and see what the fuss is all about, get down to the Cycle Show and visit the Moore Large stand. And I’m sure if you ask nicely, you might even be able to get your hands on Knog’s Skankers 2009 (see image below). Now you’ll have to get your own to see what these are about

Knog Skankers

The Tour of Britain 2009

As some of you may or may not know, I am lucky enough to head up the marketing and PR for The Tour of Britain professional cycle race (yes, it is a full time job!). As such, I have been lucky enough to get up close with some of the world’s best at this year’s event that took place last week. A cracking event which saw some of the best racing to take place yet on British soil. Here are some of my pics from the event:

Bradley Wiggins being interviewed by the Scunthorpe Telegraph before the start of Stage 1

At the start of Stage 2:

Geoffroy Lequatre from Agritubel

Team Halfords Bikehut

Filippo Pozzato, Italian national champ riding for Team Katusha

Dan Lloyd - Cervelo Test Team

The UK's Team CandiTV - Marshalls Pasta with Malcolm Elliott and Russell Downing

In NewcastleGateshead

The Tour of Britain press office where I spent most of my time during The Tour

Then onto Scotland for the start of Stage 3

The view from the Hydro Hotel in Peebles, Scotland

One of Rabobank's many many vehicles on The Tour

The SRAM Neutral Support vehicle

Team Joker Bianchi

Team Vacansoleil

Little & Large from Team Katusha

Pozzato's Ridley - check the gold drop outs!

Mauricio Soler - former KOM Winner in the Tour de France

Ben Swift from Team Katusha

Nicolas Roche from AG2R

Edvald Boasson Hagen taking line honours on Stage 3

Stage 4 in Blackpool

Doing the typical tourist picture outside the AG2R mechanics truck

Geraint Thomas being interviewed

Ian Stannard from the ISD Neri Team

Team Joker Bianchi's racing machines

Podium Girl Becki showing off her gift from the CSF Navigare Team

The finish of stage 5 in Stoke on Trent

Some of the thousands of school kids waiting for the riders to come in at the end of Stage 5

Lauren and Becki - our podium girls

The end of Stage 6 in Bideford

Edvald Boasson Hagen's racing machine

Start of stage 7

Nicolas Roche's racing machine

Brice Feillu - stage winner in the 2009 TdF

Vladimir Karpets from Team Katusha

Kai Reus from Rabobank

Kim Kirchen

The final stage that took place in London. It must also be said that for the very first time ever in the history of London, Embankment was closed on a Saturday to a public event.

Riders lining up for the start of the final stage of The Tour of Britain

More of the riders

The Tour of Britain 2009

The different jersey leaders on the start line together

Stage 8 Combativity Award winner - Thomas De Gendt

2009 Tour of Britain Sprint Competition winner - Thomas De Gendt

2009 Tour of Britain King of the Mountain Competition winner - Thomas De Gendt

2009 Tour of Britain Champion - Edvald Boasson Hagen

De Gendt and Hagen

De Gendt and Hagen

If you’d like to see the full gallery which includes in race footage, head over to The Tour of Britain website for more.

I do have some videos from the event which I plan on getting up here within the next few days, especially now that things are a little bit quieter at work.

Graham Jones on what makes a great racing circuit

One of our best ever - Graham Jones

It’s been a while since I last posted to my blog. The new job is definitely taking all of my time – but it’s a dream job so am not compaining about it at all.

Anyway, I decided to listen to a podcast from our Tour Series event and was very impressed with it. Now I’d like to share it with you.

Do you want to know what makes The Tour Series so successful? Well, besides the management team behind the event, it also takes finding some great circuits that will demand the most from the riders, yet deliver top quality entertainment for the crowd. And knowing what makes a great circuit comes only from experience at the highest level in the sport.

Now I have the great honour of working with Graham Jones, five-times rider of the Tour de France and one of only a handful of British riders that placed within the top 20 of this magnificent race. A very humble man about his achievments, but having spent many years on the professional circuit, he is well placed to know what will challenge the boys on their bikes.

To listen to Graham tell us what makes a superb racing circuit, then click here.

I’ll have more updates in the days to come. Remember, The Tour of Britain is taking place from 12 – 19 September. If you’re in the vacinity, why not stop by and come watch the best cycle racing to hit British soil.

The Tour Series – a world first for cycling

2009 Tour Series Winners - Team Halfords Bikehut (Image by Joolze Dymond - www.joolzedymond.com)

Where in the world can you find a cycling racing series that relies on the team rather than on an individual performance? Well, in non other than the UK of course! The team at SweetSpot Group, the team behind The Tour of Britain, decided to revive the old city centre cycle racing that used to be the rage in the UK about 15-20 years ago and created The Tour Series. And boy, the teams taking part did not disappoint!

Throughout the 10-round series, all ten British-based teams battled for overall glory and gave the spectators and TV audiences wanting more on every evening of racing.

The bunch sprint at the final round in Southend (Image by Joolze Dymond - www.joolzedymond.com)

With spectator and TV viewing numbers in the hundreds of thousands, it looks like The Tour Series is set to come back in 2010 on an even bigger scale.

So mark your diaries for May and June next year and remember to look out for the best cycle racing the UK has ever seen.

Want to know the results from all ten rounds – then click here.

My ride with Magnus Backstedt on the Tour Ride

Me (3rd from right) riding alongside Magnus Backstedt (4th from right)

One of the cool parts of my job is that I regularly get to meet pro riders. Not from a looking for signatures/pictures aspect, but more along the lines of how we can work together for something bigger. Most recently I got the chance to promote a mass participation ride – The Tour Rides – and part of this included a media preview ride. Here we would take a few members of the press along with us to try out the route of the ride. The end result would be that they write about the ride, give their experiences, and hopefully encourage fellow cyclists to take up the chance to ride a route that the pro riders will take in The Tour of Britain.

So back in mid May I arranged for a few journalists to join me on a ride of stage 5 of the 2009 Tour of Britain. This route also forms the basis for the etape-style 145km’s mass participation ride – The Prostate Cancer Charity Pro Tour Ride – that will take place on Saturday 6 May.  Now I was lucky enough to have Magnus Backstedt agree to join us on the ride. Who better to join us on the tough route other than former Paris-Roubaix winner and Tour de France stage winner.

So off we (the team at RoadCyclingUK – Richard and David, Men’s Fitness – Fitness Ed Matt Ray) went from our office in Weybridge and made our way up to Britannia Stadium in Stoke-on-Trent in our newly acquired Honda-sponsored vehicles. The day looked wet and gloomy as we made our way up, which didn’t help us for what we were about to tackle. On its own, we knew it was going to be a tough ride, but to add horrible weather was just adding to an experience that we were not looking forward to.

Once at Britannia Stadium we got changed into our gear, prepared our bikes and loaded them into our vehicles. We decided with the weather and the way it was, that we would start the ride 40km’s into the route. As we headed out, the route just rose and every turn we took, the road just went higher and higher. Not something to look forward to.

Well, there are our Honda sponsored vehicles. That's me between the two cars talking to the remarkable Graham Jones

We got to our drop location, got ourselves ready and before we set off, had a few final pics taken with our Honda-sponsored vehicles.

Then the pain started – the moment we made our way onto the route, my legs began to cry for help.  The route was totally unforgiving. Over the day, our group averaged about 15 km/h. Even though we weren’t pushing it, you could tell the route played its part.

Trying to make my way along the route (yes, I have an old bike - any willing sponsors, please come forward )

Magnus and David (from RCUK) leading the pack

I have to admit that just before reaching the all famous Gun Hill, I retired to the broom wagon. It was just too much and I didn’t have a gear any bigger than the 23-tooth chainring I had on the back to help me any further along the route.

Speaking to Backstedt following the ride on what he thinks of the route, he replied: “I think that the ‘not-a-metre-flat’ character of the course will take its toll on the pro riders by the end of Stage Five [of The Tour of Britain].”

I then preceded to ask him on what his strategy would be for this sportive in preparing for it. He responded, “Ride at your own pace. Don’t get carried away and overreact to a group pulling away from you by playing catch-up because it’s too expensive.”

“I find that three 20-minute intervals ridden as fast as you can with 30 minutes of rest in between really pushes up the strength endurance in your legs.” So there you have it, Magnus Maximus’s secret weapon.

Having our last picture taken following the ride. Magnus is holding up some of the new branding we created for the Tour Ride

So, ifyou want to experience what both Magnus and myself did, why not give his strategy a go and sign up for The Prostate Cancer Charity Pro Tour Ride taking place on 6 September in Stoke-on-Trent.

According to the Tour Rides’ website, the description for the route we rode is:

The 145km Pro Tour Ride takes in the complete Stoke-on-Trent stage of this year’s Tour of Britain, providing a unique chance for riders to test themselves over the same terrain as the professionals will do battle over during The Tour and experience the full Tour of Britain setup.

The route takes riders out of the city past Trentham Gardens and across the M6 motorway and south via Swynnerton to Eccleshall, then east towards Stone, over the same roads that featured during the closing miles of Stage Four of the 2008 Tour of Britain.

The attractive market town of Stone marks 30km into the Pro Tour Ride, which then follows the Trent Valley to Sandon before heading east and skirting Uttoxeter.

Here the route becomes more challenging, undulating constantly all the way back to Stoke-on-Trent, as it traverses the attractive countryside of the Staffordshire Moorlands and on to the main test of the route, Gun Hill, just after Tittesworth Reservoir.

It’s not quite all downhill back to the Britannia Stadium, but the main climbing is done so riders will be able to enjoy the scenery as they pass Rudyard Reservoir and cross the Churnet Valley near Cheddleton.

If you want further info and would like to check out the route and its profile, you can download it by clicking here.

I do hope you’ll sign up to take part in the ride. I’ll be there myself so drop me a note if you want to hook up. Cheers!

Video: Round 1 – Tour Series Milton Keynes

Managed to get this video loaded up on YouTube that I took at the start and finish of the Tour Series race in Milton Keynes. You can see Hayles taking Gibbs to the edge. Draw your own conclusions from this.

The Tour Series kicks off with a shove in Milton Keynes!

Rob Hayles taking line honours from Graham Briggs - photo by Michelle Rudd

The brand-new city centre race series – The Tour Series - arrived in a rush of colour and high-tempo racing in Milton Keynes last night. Run-off at an average speed of 28 miles per hour, the race was won by Candi TV – Marshalls Pasta rider Graham Briggs in a controversial last few metres that saw the Doncaster rider tussle with Olympian Rob Hayles. The finishing positions of Hayles’ first and Briggs’ second were reversed by race judges after it was decided that the Halfords-Bikehut rider impeded Briggs in the last few metres.

Now being involved with The Tour Series it has been one awesome experience something that I am looking forward to over the coming weeks. The cool thing about it too is that I now get a chance to mingle with all the teams and riders. So bookmark this page and make sure to check in for rider pics and videos.

For now I can give you a podcast with Ned Boulting, the ITV presenter that we see travelling with the riders from the Tour de France, where he gives us a post race comment from the event in Milton Keynes, including the contraversial sprint finish, team tactics and the podium girls! He’ll be posting these on a regular basis, so will get them up here for you to listen to:  Ned’s podcast!

Also, don’t forget to catch the action on ITV4 on Wednesday and Friday evenings from 7pm-8pm.