London – Edinburgh – London Audax Documentary

London Edinburgh London – Official Documentary from MadeGood.films on Vimeo.

 

There’s a great new documentary on the legendary, London Edinburgh London Audax ride coming out tomorrow (1st of June 2016) and is available to pre-order now on Vimeo.

MadeGood.films have given CyclingShorts.cc readers a discount, if you enter the following code ‘lelpresale’ at the checkout you will get 10% off when purchasing the film. This code will be valid until the end of June 2016.

The 54 minute film ‘London Edinburgh London‘ follows a group of cyclists from around the world on a remarkable feat of endurance. Join their ride up the length of Britain – from London to Edinburgh and back again – in under five days. Travelling over 1400km, a continuous distance far further than most of them had ever ridden before, our unlikely and eccentric heroes are not only tested physically but face the mental challenge, “can I push myself further, can I go one more day?”

 

Hipster Paradise – Spin London

GuardianSpin London

Brick Lane, in the heart of London’s East End and formerly known as Whitechapel Lane has always been a vibrant melting pot of a place and the earliest known record of its existence was on a woodcut map that was printed sometime during the 16th Century. It has been home to many communities of immigrants throughout its colourful history. Always a staging post to upward mobility. That mobility sometimes being slow, sometimes quite rapid. It has been home to French Huguenots, Ashkenazi Jews, and then Eastern European and Russian Jews in the early 20th century. It has been an epicentre of changing small scale industries centred around the clothing industry. Weaving, Leather making, Exquisite tailoring and the sweatshops of the rag trade. Home to Fagin and Jack The Ripper. It still retains its flavour of an amalgam of the new and tentative amidst wide boy small entrepreneurs. Shops momentarily flourishing displaying “vintage” clothing….aka, overpriced elegantly displayed jumble sales. The earnest Guardian reading fashionistas leaving their tatty chic boutiques to browse scratched vinyl records and other vendors tatty chic furniture. 35mm cameras that will never be used and they buy their fabulous Indian sub continent, Eastern European and Far Eastern street food lunches in cheap and plentiful non eco friendly styrofoam boxes.

The Truman Brewery’s disused premises opened above a now drained well in 1863 are themselves a tatty chic exhibition space in keeping with the area and ideal therefore to house the show “SPIN” devoted to the urban cycling revolution taking place in London, with a nod here and there to the sporting and serious leisure cycling side of things enabling the hipsters their radical touch of the esoteric work of cycling.

HipsterSpin was a show for Hipsters. No doubt whatsoever about that. There was the very deliberate wearing of 20,30,50 year old continental race team kit. I saw one guy. Beard long enough to plait and use as a climbing rope in his Gan team kit, hanging on Chris Boardman’s every word and nodding sagely as he munched on his tofu burger before clattering away in an ancient pair of wooden soled track shoes, converted to take the cleats of a set of middle ‘80s Look Classic pedals. Yes, it really was that sort of occasion. The exhibition was a truly enjoyable reflection of Brick lane’s very nature on to the world of cycling. There was a plentiful amount of beautifully crafted clothing, hand built bespoke bicycles (in steel of course) and the feeling that rather like the place 100 yards down Brick Lane that has now ceased attempting to trade in contemporary Vietnamese Folding food, many of them, for all of their skill and genuine innovation would struggle to stay in business much beyond two years or so. That is a great pity, because in the reviews that will follow shortly, I am going to take you on a wander through the best of SPIN and introduce you to some of the start up businesses that are attempting to take root.

If you’d not seen Rollapaluzza before, you might have been forgiven for turning away before you entered the place. They’d set up their usually thriving space and were attracting their usually lengthy queues accompanied by music so loud and a commentary so unintelligible that you have to walk away or give in. We walked away and that was the point at which we recognised the advantage of this very solid old building, step into the next room and the sound that filled the entrance hall was all but eliminated by the purposeful 19th century walls. A moment to reflect on some art work, depicting some of the greats of our sport….up to the 1990s (yes that was the first indicator) Bartolli, Coppi, Simpson, Merckx, Rijs, Anquetil, LeMond, Hinault, Boardman, Obree, Yndurain, Abdujaporov, and my hero (shut up… its my article) the finest climber of all time Marco(Il Pirate) Pantani. None of them were particularly flattering, but at Brick Lane prices I wasn’t going to be hanging one in my shed anyway.

The whole feel of the show was not so much a display of products to do with the world of cycling, but products that were designed to fit lifestyle choices of which cycling is but a part. Cycling fits very nicely into the choices made by the eco friendly….correction, obsessively eco friendly and thats not necessarily a bad thing, but there is a pedantic quirkiness about almost every exhibitor that makes sense to some. Indeed, with the exception of one or two of cycling better known brands. Boardman Elite and Bianchi, most were at the end of the cycling spectrum that says commuter or courier rider that seek form over function. Indeed the more conventional the product on offer the more out of place it looked.

Selva-1024x640A number of the products quirky or not, really did impress and I shall review them and in some cases road test them too. There was the stuff that did interest me. The bespoke frame builders, some of whom were brazing but joint and brazed steel frames that are becoming popular again amongst some sections of the regular cycling community. Sadly when we were there these craftsmen were not drawing anywhere near as much attention as the stand selling those bloody ridiculous Dura Ace equipped Bamboo framed bikes…… yes, exactly what I thought!

As I say, there was a kind of studied pedantry to the wares on offer. Quill stems, rat trap pedals with old style toe clips barely a modern pedal on view. I fell in love with a gorgeous titanium framed bike… The frame was brand spanking new, but everything on it was a (admittedly beautifully done) restored and refurbished ‘80s item. The entire group and finishing kit was old style 5 speed friction shift Campagnolo record. It gleamed. It stunned….. its price tag made me wince……. no, trust me you don’t want to know.

When it comes to anything approaching regular bike choices these folk are cautious. Yes I want something that says serious cyclist, but I don’t feel comfortable going into my LBS, so I’ll stick my nose in the trough with names I recognise Boardman, Bianchi and Cinelli… We can’t be seen to be going into Halfords or Evans and buying something cheaper and far more appropriate to our needs, it has to say chic. It has to say, “at weekends my other bike is a Porsche and my winters are spent at Cortina or Chamonix”.

Yes it was a Hipsters show and if thats your thing, good on yer. You’re riding a bike and anyone who has read my drivel before, knows that this will always get my vote. I half begged to be given this assignment and I’m glad I went for the few products that were in my jaded opinion worthy of attention and for the wonderful (and well attended) interview and Q&A with my hero of the entire show, Martyn Ashton. Will I go again next year? No. But I love Brick Lane, the street food etc, the tiny record stalls and the markets. I even like the quirky nature of SPIN….it’s just that very little of it was for me.

Tour Series 2016 – Edinburgh Gallery & Report

All images ©www.chrismaher.co.uk / CyclingShorts.cc

 

Graham Briggs solos to a third win for JLT Condor p/b Mavic on the cobbles under the view of Edinburgh Castle.

Going into round three of the Pearl Izumi Tour Series, JLT Condor p/b Mavic lead the way winning in the Isle of Man and Motherwell. They are five points clear as a treat of rain promises to dampen the one-point-six kilometre circuit that takes in the Grass Market and the foot of Edinburgh Castle along the way.

The peloton strung out gingerly as the light faded and the rain began to pour on the first official lap of the circuit.

Pedal Heaven’s Alex Paton lead the field along in the early stages and team-mate Rory Townsend powered over the slippy start-finish-line for the first sprint of the evening.

JLT Condor p/b Mavic’s Graham Briggs opened up a gap going into the second sprint and there was no reaction from the peloton.

With the peloton diminished, a nine man chase began pursuit. But slippy cobbles proved much of a hazard for many of the riders.

No one was able to break-away from the leading group as Briggs soloed to a soggy victory in Edinburgh.

With many teams having their riders pulled off the course in the final laps, Madison Genesis were the only team to finish four qualifying riders and take the Team Classification on the night, clawing back one point on series leaders JTL Condor p/b Mavic.

 

Individual Round Classification in Edinburgh

Rank – Bib – Name – Team – Race – Time -Laps Completed 

1 82 Graham Briggs JLT Condor P/B Mavic 1:12:56.039 27

2 29 Rory Townsend Pedal Heaven 1:13:49.892 27

3 87 Chris Lawless JLT Condor P/B Mavic 1:13:49.986 27

4 12 Tom Stewart Madison – Genesis 1:13:50.944 27

5 51 Albert Torres Team Raleigh GAC 1:13:51.358 27

6 25 Jack Pullar Pedal Heaven 1:13:52.391 27

7 89 Jon Mould JLT Condor P/B Mavic 1:13:53.115 27

8 67 James Lowsley-WilliamsNFTO 1:14:03.417 27

9 155 Matt Nowell Wheelbase Altura MGD 1:14:04.735 27

10 20 Alex Paton Pedal Heaven 1:14:08.533 27

11 9 Gruff Lewis Madison – Genesis 1:14:10.114 27

12 2 Alex Blain Madison – Genesis 1:14:11.931 27

13 3 Matt Cronshaw Madison – Genesis 1:14:14.059 27

14 47 Sebastian Mora Team Raleigh GAC 1:14:17.419 27

15 41 Matthieu Boulo Team Raleigh GAC 1:14:57.195 27

16 104 Sam Harrison Team Wiggins 1:15:09.642 27

17 45 Morgan Kneisky Team Raleigh GAC 1:15:46.966 27

18 40 Evan Oliphant Team Raleigh GAC 1:15:47.042 27

19 23 Will Fox Pedal Heaven 1:05:00.711 23

20 70 Johnny McEvoy NFTO 1:05:01.240 23

 

Chain Reaction Cycles Points Overall Classification after Round 3

1 29 Rory Townsend Pedal Heaven 33

2 45 Morgan Kneisky Team Raleigh GAC 21

3 87 Chris Lawless JLT Condor P/B Mavic 17

4 23 Will Fox Pedal Heaven 17

5 51 Albert Torres Team Raleigh GAC 16

6 82 Graham Briggs JLT Condor P/B Mavic 15

7 89 Jon Mould JLT Condor P/B Mavic 15

8 12 Tom Stewart Madison – Genesis 10

9 47 Sebastian Mora Team Raleigh GAC 7

10 41 Matthieu Boulo Team Raleigh GAC

Team Classification for Round 3

1 Madison – Genesis 4:56:27 10

2 JLT Condor P/B Mavic 4:58:08 9

3 Pedal Heaven 4:58:10 8

4 Team Raleigh GAC 4:58:53 7

5 NFTO 5:26:55 6

6 Team Wiggins 5:56:55 0

Team Overall Classification after Round 3

1 JLT Condor P/B Mavic 39

2 Madison – Genesis 35

3 Team Raleigh GAC 30

4 Pedal Heaven 29

5 NFTO 27

6 Team Wiggins 0

Pearl Izumi Tour Series – Motherwell – Round Two

All images ©CyclingShorts.cc/www.chrismaher.co.uk

 

Jon Mould relished the win in Motherwell for JLT Condor p/b Mavic after making the decisive five man break mid way through round two in Motherwell.

As the leaders were eventually reeled to-with-in jumping distance, they were joined by another four riders before the elastic snapped one-more.

Approaching the back-end of the race, rain fell and soaked the course, and the risk to push-on became ever-more dangerous.

The nine leaders maintained a healthy gap with Ian Bibby, NFTO trying hard to chase them down.

Mould had been joined by Olympian ‘teamie’ Ed Clancy, just back in the country from a block of altitude training and they positioned themselves carefully on the front into the final slippy corner, before power-sprinting up-towards the finish-line. It was Mould, Albert Torres, Team Raleigh GAC, then Clancy, one, two, three.

Extending their lead overall, JTL Condor p/b Mavis will wear the leaders Pearl Izumi jerseys as we cross to the eastern side of Scotland and round three of the Tour Series in Edinburgh on Thursday 19th.

 

1 JLT Condor P/B Mavic 4:37:27 10

2 Team Raleigh GAC 4:37:32 9

3 Pedal Heaven 4:37:34 8

4 Madison – Genesis 4:37:34 7

5 NFTO 4:37:37 6

6 Team Wiggins 5:46:00 0

 

Team Overall Classification after Round two

1 JLT Condor P/B Mavic 30

2 Madison – Genesis 25

3 Team Raleigh GAC 23

4 Pedal Heaven 21

5 NFTO 21

6 Team Wiggins 0

 

Chain Reaction Cycles Points Competition

1 51 Albert Torres Team Raleigh GAC 15

2 23 Will Fox Pedal Heaven 14

3 89 Jon Mould JLT Condor P/B Mavic 12

4 12 Tom Stewart Madison – Genesis 6

5 29 Rory Townsend Pedal Heaven 5

 

Chain Reaction Cycles Points Competition overall after Round two

1 45 Morgan Kneisky Team Raleigh GAC 17

2 29 Rory Townsend Pedal Heaven 17

3 23 Will Fox Pedal Heaven 17

4 51 Albert Torres Team Raleigh GAC 15

5 89 Jon Mould JLT Condor P/B Mavic 12

 

Round Two Individual Results – Motherwell

1 89 Jon Mould JLT Condor P/B Mavic 1:08:57.901 40

2 51 Albert Torres Team Raleigh GAC 1:08:58.398 40

3 80 Ed Clancy JLT Condor P/B Mavic 1:08:58.990 40

4 23 Will Fox Pedal Heaven 1:08:59.339 40

5 12 Tom Stewart Madison – Genesis 1:08:59.362 40

6 67 James Lowsley-WilliamsNFTO 1:08:59.568 40

7 41 Matthieu Boulo Team Raleigh GAC 1:08:59.734 40

8 70 Johnny McEvoy NFTO 1:09:00.204 40

9 25 Jack Pullar Pedal Heaven 1:09:00.276 40

10 4 Felix English Madison – Genesis 1:09:02.705 40

11 87 Chris Lawless JLT Condor P/B Mavic 1:09:44.155 40

12 2 Alex Blain Madison – Genesis 1:09:45.197 40

13 62 Ian Bibby NFTO 1:09:45.572 40

14 82 Graham Briggs JLT Condor P/B Mavic 1:09:46.284 40

15 47 Sebastian Mora Team Raleigh GAC 1:09:46.772 40

16 29 Rory Townsend Pedal Heaven 1:09:47.042 40

17 9 Gruff Lewis Madison – Genesis 1:09:47.099 40

18 45 Morgan Kneisky Team Raleigh GAC 1:09:47.163 40

19 20 Alex Paton Pedal Heaven 1:09:47.663 40

20 164 Joe Nally Scotland Cycling Team 1:09:49.655 40

Matrix Fitness Grand Prix 2016 – Motherwell

Images ©CyclingShorts.cc/www.chrismaher.co.uk

 

Woaw! A Big Deal for Eileen Roe as she seals her first win of 2016 in Round One of the Matrix Fitness GP in Scotland, wining a four-way sprint up-to the finish-line for Lares.

Round one of the Matrix Fitness Grand Prix took place in Motherwell this year. One of six-in-the-series, saw former National Circuit Champion and Scottish local Eileen Roe take the victory in a four-way sprint up-to the finish-line to the cheers of a home crowd.

Now riding for Belgium outfit Lares-Waowdeal on the continent, Eileen had wanted to returned home, feeling a little lonely after a nine-week stint in Europe. Being the only fluent English speaking girl on the squad, rode the first Women’s Lincoln Grand Prix on the weekend before finishing tenth, behind winner Alice Barnes, Drops Cycling Team, and Nikki Juniper, Team Ford Ecoboost who came in seventh.

It was Barnes that initiated the first move in Motherwell after Aprire-HSS Hire, Team WNT and Podium Ambition p/b Club La Santa drove the peloton for a couple of laps of the relatively square one-point-two-kilometre-circuit that finished with a long drag from the bottom final corner.

Juniper had counter-attacked and Roe knew which girls she had to look out for. She had seen how well Barnes rode to victory at Lincoln, and decided to go with group, with Annasley Park, Team Breeze joining them as the peloton strung apart, they soon built up a fifteen second lead.

The race was run over forty-five minutes with five final count-down laps to the finish line.

With two laps to go there was a pile up which unfortunately took out Mel Lowther who was later taken to hospital to be checked over.

The four leading riders increased to a twenty-five second gap on the chasing group as they started passing back-markers. An aggressive ride by Barnes also saw her claiming the two sprints and the jersey along the way.

It looked at one point like the main peloton would reel-them-in with Podium Ambitions Gabby Shaw and Lauren Creamer chasing hard, and Jo Tindley and Lydia Boylan, Team WNT  taking over, but the impetus went off and the four extended their lead.

With the final laps quickly approaching, the girls started looking across at each-others moves, trying to anticipate who would be their biggest rival.

As the final one-hundred meters marker pasted, it was Eileen that kicked the hardest to win the second visit to the Motherwell round on the Matrix Fitness GP.

Interview – Eileen Roe Matrix Fitness GP Motherwell 2016 Winner by Cycling Shorts

Chris Maher of CyclingShorts.cc catches up with the delightful Eileen Roe after her solo effort at round two of the Matrix Fitness GP in Motherwell.

Talking to Eileen after the race she had said, “There was a rider represented from each team” in their group, and she though if they worked together, they would say away to the end”. 

“I guess that they weren’t bothered about myself because the Tour Series is all about the “team” this year. So I think they were happy to have me along with them and contributing to the work”.

She went on to say that she wouldn’t be contesting any more of the Matrix Series as she returning back to her own team duties shortly before starting a big block of European racing on the continent. Firstly a big 1.1 UCI event in Belgium, the Gooik-Geraardsbergen-Gooik on May 29th, from then-on it continues every week, she went on to say. Check out this Testogen review that is one of the most popular fitness products that can really work out for you.

This is Eileen’s first win of the season, finishing third in the recent Dwars door Vlaanderen.

 

Results:

Team Classification & Overall after Round One

Rank Team Points

1 Drops Cycling Team 98

2 Team Breeze 79

3 Team Ford Ecoboost 78

4 Podium Ambition p/b Club La Santa 70

5 Team WNT 52

6 Aprire HSS Hire 25

7 Velo Schils – Interbike RT 23

8 Sunsport Velo 21

 

Sprint 1

1 100 Alice Barnes Drops Cycling Team 5

2 147 Annasley Park Team Breeze 4

3 256 Eileen Roe Lares Waowdeals 3

4 180 Nikki Juniper Team Ford Ecoboost 2

5 27 Jo Tindley Team WNT 1

 

Sprint 2

1 100 Alice Barnes Drops Cycling Team 5

2 256 Eileen Roe Lares Waowdeals 4

3 147 Annasley Park Team Breeze 3

4 180 Nikki Juniper Team Ford Ecoboost 2

5 27 Jo Tindley Team WNT 1

 

Sprints Classification & Overall after Round One

1 100 Alice Barnes Drops Cycling Team 10

2 256 Eileen Roe Lares Waowdeals 7

3 147 Annasley Park Team Breeze 7

4 180 Nikki Juniper Team Ford Ecoboost 4

5 27 Jo Tindley Team WNT 2

 

Individual Round Classification

Rank – Bib – Name – Team – Race Time – Laps Completed – Points

1 256 Eileen Roe Lares Waowdeals 0:46:02.227 24 40

2 100 Alice Barnes Drops Cycling Team 0:46:02.404 24 38

3 180 Nikki Juniper Team Ford Ecoboost 0:46:02.803 24 36

4 147 Annasley Park Team Breeze 0:46:02.817 24 34

5 102 Ellie Dickinson Drops Cycling Team 0:46:10.183 24 32

6 20 Lydia Boylan Team WNT 0:46:10.751 24 30

7 142 Hayley Jones Team Breeze 0:46:11.007 24 29

8 109 Annie Simpson Drops Cycling Team 0:46:11.495 24 28

9 2 Lauren Creamer Podium Ambition p/b Club La Santa0:46:12.406 24 27

10 11 Gabriella Shaw Podium Ambition p/b Club La Santa0:46:12.605 24 26

11 65 Louise Laker Aprire HSS Hire 0:46:12.661 24 25

12 182 Charlotte Broughton Team Ford Ecoboost 0:46:13.067 24 24

13 120 Lou Collins Velo Schils – Interbike RT 0:46:13.164 24 23

14 27 Jo Tindley Team WNT 0:46:15.979 24 22

15 205 Alice Sharpe Sunsport Velo 0:40:18.392 24 21

16 243 Neah Evans Scotland Cycling Team 0:46:53.406 24 20

17 110 Abi Van Twisk Drops Cycling Team 0:46:59.443 24 19

18 183 Henrietta Colborne Team Ford Ecoboost 0:47:00.483 24 18

19 4 Amy Gornall Podium Ambition p/b Club La Santa0:47:00.952 24 17

20 143 Emily Kay Team Breeze 0:47:14.119 24 16

21 3 Grace Garner Podium Ambition p/b Club La Santa0:48:09.436 24 15

22 187 Charline Joiner Team Ford Ecoboost 0:45:43.561 23 14

23 28 Hannah Walker Team WNT 0:45:43.972 23 13

24 160 Madison Campbell Team Footon Velosport 0:45:44.071 23 12

25 106 Rose Osbourne Drops Cycling Team 0:45:46.540 23 11

26 47 Jenny Holl Team Jadan-Weldtite 0:45:49.554 23 10

27 85 Kelly Murphy Boot Out Breast Cancer Cycling Club0:45:57.220 23 9

28 163 Suzetta Guerrini Team Footon Velosport 0:46:13.646 23 8

29 68 Gemma Sargent Aprire HSS Hire 0:40:13.426 20 7

30 203 Josie Knight Sunsport Velo 0:40:14.430 20 6

31 184 Julie Erskine Team Ford Ecoboost 0:40:15.218 20 5

32 61 Lucy Chittenden Aprire HSS Hire 0:40:16.366 20 4

33 208 Genevieve Whitson Sunsport Velo 0:40:16.870 20 3

34 206 Maddy Scott Sunsport Velo 0:40:17.026 20 2

35 84 Nikola Matthews Boot Out Breast Cancer Cycling Club0:40:18.558 20 1

36 82 Monica Dew Boot Out Breast Cancer Cycling Club0:40:18.574 20

37 246 Tanya Griffths Starley Racing 0:40:30.932 20

38 126 Nicola Soden Velo Schils – Interbike RT 0:41:02.256 20

39 41 Sarah Bradford Team Jadan-Weldtite 0:41:15.743 20

40 21 Sam Burman Team WNT 0:41:23.097 20

41 44 Rhona Callander Team Jadan-Weldtite 0:41:23.302 20

42 200 Eileen Burns Sunsport Velo 0:41:32.233 20

43 124 Sandra MacKay Velo Schils – Interbike RT 0:39:56.977 19

44 123 Katherine Kimber Velo Schils – Interbike RT 0:40:32.075 19

45 121 Caroline Guest Velo Schils – Interbike RT 0:41:12.207 19

46 80 Ellie Coster Boot Out Breast Cancer Cycling Club0:39:46.289 18

47 83 Kristy Howells Boot Out Breast Cancer Cycling Club0:40:41.746 17

 

Non-finishers

146 Melissa Lowther Team Breeze

25 Keira McVitty Team WNT

9 Katie Prankerd Podium Ambition p/b Club La Santa

 

Interview – Eileen Roe – Matrix Fitness GP Motherwell Winner

Chris Maher of CyclingShorts.cc catches up with the delightful Eileen Roe of team Lares Waowdeals after her solo effort at round two of the Matrix Fitness GP in Motherwell. Click below to listen to the interview.

Interview – Eileen Roe Matrix Fitness GP Motherwell 2016 Winner by Cycling Shorts

Chris Maher of CyclingShorts.cc catches up with the delightful Eileen Roe after her solo effort at round two of the Matrix Fitness GP in Motherwell.

 

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