Bicygnals: What next?

We’re talking the Rolls Royce of bicycle turn signals here, with wireless connectivity front to back, super bright LED lamps and a quick release slide off mechanism to avoid having your glory tech stolen while you’re supping that Cappuccino Lite. £39.95 keeps you safe, keeps you seen.

Check it out: http://redferret.net

Base training starts today

Ahhh, what a way to start my preparation for the 2008 season. The weather was cold, but dry and crisp and conditions just perfect. I headed south at around 10am via the A24. I rode through Rusper and then on to Colgate. The roads were very quiet and surprisingly dry. The next village was Mannings Heath where I nearly got taken out by a bus. Still heading south I headed towards Poynings via: Nuthurst, Cowfold, Partridge Green, Henfiled, Small Dole and Fulkings.

I stopped to relieve myself at the bottom of Devils Dyke. Still great weather and superb scenery. At the south-most turn I headed due north towards Crawley. I completed the 3 hour ride still feeling good. I stopped in at Mom's (Gossops Green) for lunch and tea. A great day.

Ride stats:
Time: 03:00
Heart rate: 135 ave; 174 max
Distance: 84 km
Speed: 28.8 kph
Temp: 8/9/16 (min, ave and max)
Ascent: 865m

Brandon moves on for 2008

Brandon (Stewart) has announced that he is moving to a new team for 2008. He will be riding alongside JP Pearton who he rode with last year in the mountain bike disciplines: Cross country and Drifter series.

I plan to go over to PMB in January to do some hard training in the form of a camp. I hope to take loads of pictures and bring some interesting stories and facts about his build-up to the new season.

I wish him (and JP) all the best for 2008.

Victory at the final race (Ottershaw Series)

What a nice way to end the season. A lone attack at the final turn and solo to the line to grab the win. It would've been nice to face a little bit of a challenge from Paul (Holdsworth - 2nd). Mind you he did put in some huge efforts to stay away.

With weather a million times better than last week we faced a mind boggling 15 laps of the Accommodation road circuit in Chertsey. I was surprised to see Juzzy (J Hoy) there and Daniel Lloyd (spectating/training). Tom (Smith) also showed up on his training bike and provided us with the odd cheer as he went the opposite way around the circuit. We (AW Cycles) had Martin (Smith), Vinny Vegas (V Halpern) and me (Rob Enslin) at the start plus proper hard-core supporters: Bridge, Kate and James Enslin as well as Julia and her boys Michael and Lewis cheering us around with loud chanting and applaud.

The plan for Vinny to take overall honors was: Stay no further than 10th place in the group and mark your danger men - don't let them get away. In the end the leader punctured and then the third place rider behind Vinny punctured too so he just needed to finish the race - which he did - and won the series - Well done Vinny (AW Cycles gets the overall and victory on the day).

Martin decided reasonably early on to to use his super-agressive nature to attack. No one was prepared to join him as they knew he'd be too strong so they all let him hang out front. He did so amazingly for 5 odd laps - this guy is tough man! Later he tapped off and rejoined us in the group. The overall pace was high and quite a few riders trying to have digs at getting away: S Golla, P Holdsworth, Andy Bye and a few others too. The course just wasn't hard enough to split the group properly and so it stayed together.

With three laps to go Paul and Martin (Hulbert) managed to go clear. Meanwhile at the front of the group I edged a small gap and then rode hard to break away to join them. I caught them a short while after and Paul and I worked well with Martin struggling to come through at all. He eventually dropped off on the last lap and Paul and I continued. After the final turn into Accommodation road I attacked Paul and rode away to claim the win.

The results:

1 Rob Enslin AW Cycles 2.21.49
2 Paul Holdsworth Hounslow Whkrs @ 12 secs
3 Martin Hulbert VC Muedon @ 26 secs
4 Chris Moores Norwood Paragon RC @ 52 secs
5 Steve Golla High Wycombe @ 55 secs
6 Ashley Holding Wildside RT
7 Andy Betts Twickenham CC
8 Nat Spurling Finsbury Pk CC
9 Vince Halepern AW Cycles
10 Martin Smith AW Cycles
11 Keith Jarrett VC Muedon
12 James Stratton London Dynamo/Cyclefit
13 Alan Ridler
14 Rob Cranstone Royal Navy
15 Jason Humphries Norwood Paragon
16 Paul Edwards Sigma RT
17 Pete Smith Team Milton Keynes
18 Neil Edwards PM
19 Guy Pearson Pearson Cycles
20 Michael Knight VC Muedon
21 Mick McManus RT316
22 Mickael Metayer Mosquito Bikes

As on London Cycles Sport website.

Pictures by Dennis Sackett.

Big thanks to the supporters, Doug and Twickenham CC for the series.