Ladies
Ladies night with Chris Garrison.Trek UK media maven and TotalWomensCycling.com contributor Chris Garrison has probably delivered more seminars focussed on helping women get more out of cycling than anyone else in the bike industry.
We have 60 tickets for the night. If you would like to book a place mail steve.jones@thebikefactory.co.uk or just pop into the store. The tickets are free along with the wine and chocolate :-)
Publication Date: 15/03/2013 09:44:27
Boardman Bikes In Store
The Bike Factory's Dave Quinn remembers selling Keith Boardman one of Chris' first road bikes. He was very pleased to watch Chris' cycling career take off, and now he is especially proud to be associated with the new ELITE range of Boardman Bikes for 2012.
The next generation of Boardman bikes is here. The all-new world-class ELITE Series has been designed for a single purpose: pure performance.
Chris Boardman is an Olympic, Triple World Champion and World Record Holder. Chris has excelled at the highest levels within cycling and he remains at the heart of British cycling today - he is often cited as being an inspiration to the current generation of successful cyclists. Chris is passionate about the sport and its positive impact on the nation and the environment. Chris and the entire Boardman team want as many people as possible to share in their passion & experience the thrill of cycling for themselves.
"My promise to you is that every single bike will adhere to our three fundamental values. I work closely with the team at every single stage to ensure that all bikes offer the highest level of performance, utilise great design and are of a superior quality - the result is a truly world-class product throughout the ELITE range."
Go to http://www.boardmanbikes.com/ for more information.
Publication Date: 06/07/2011 16:18:42
Venge - More Bike Than Aero
Creating the world's fastest UCI-legal road bike required a new formula for lightweight, stiffness, and aerodynamics. Specialized left the world of cycling and took the Venge to Mclaren, where we applied materials, technology, and manufacturing methods normally reserved for a different kind of racing.
Solve the formula at venge.specialized.com
Publication Date: 23/03/2011 13:17:31
Ride With Davina Mccall
Specialized are delighted to announce the launch of Davina’s DIVA 100; a women’s only charity bike ride lead by TV personality Davina McCall, organised by children’s health charity Action Medical Research and sponsored by Specialized. The TV host will be fronting and riding in Davina’s DIVA 100, setting out from Cowdray Park in Midhurst, Sussex, on Sunday 8 May. Davina caught the cycling bug after doing Sports Relief’s John O’Groats to Land’s End ride last year and hopes the DIVA 100 will inspire more women to get in the saddle. Supported by Specialized, the event will offer a choice of two stunning countryside routes – the 100km challenge or a shorter 50km course for those looking to take it a little bit easier. Specialized say they are delighted to be associated with the Davina’s Diva 100 and Action Medical Research. Their goal is to communicate their passion for cycling to women who may be looking for the next challenge or a good excuse to get back on a bike. Davina’s passion for the sport makes her the ideal ambassador for the sport and Specialized are very excited at the prospect of riding alongside her and hundreds of female cyclists. Entry costs £28 and riders will also need to raise a minimum of £50 in sponsorship. Register at www.action.org.uk/davinas_diva100
Publication Date: 31/01/2011 17:24:02
Things Are Looking Up For Brammeier
Did you have a plan to get into an early break in the World Championship?
Yes, it was always the plan to be aggressive at the start and try to get up the road for as long as possible, so I made sure I was at the front in the neutral zone. There was a slight hill for a couple of kilometres just after the start, so there was a good chance a break would go early. I hit the front as soon as the flag went down and went full gas. I had a little gap so kept sprinting and a few joined me. We had about 30 seconds within a couple of kilometres. I committed myself 100 per cent and did some big turns to try and pull the gap out. I did some big turns at over 50kph and before we knew it the gap was over twenty minutes. All I was thinking about then was eating and drinking as much as possible and staying out front for as long as I could.
There was a point were I was thinking we could have made a massive impact on the race. We came within less than two minutes of lapping the bunch on the circuit. I tried to organise the others to try a big effort for ten kilometres to try and catch the bunch and gain the lap, but they weren’t interested! Maybe I should have done it on my own? That is the one thing I regret about the race. It wasn't a million miles away from the rainbow jersey going to one of us in the break.
When did HTC-Columbia first approach you?
My agent was in contact with Brian Holm and Rolf Aldag a couple of months ago. I had a few conversations with Cav, Brian and Rolf in September and I eventually signed a contract the week before the worlds. I have signed for one year but I'd like to think that I will be part of the team for a while longer if all goes to plan.
You’ve known Mark Cavendish for a long time. He used to stay at your house when you were kids, what was that like? How did it feel to see his career take off when you were on the same level as juniors?
We practically lived together for about five years. He used to stay with us when he came over from the Isle of Man. We were best mates for a long time but after he turned pro we lost touch for a while. I always knew Cav was fast and possibly the fastest in the world, but it was only after a few years as a pro that he started to get stronger and getting to the end of races in good shape. I was with him a few years ago having coffee in town. He was really down and frustrated with how things were going and was starting to question whether he was good enough. The next day he won the Schelderprijs and that was the start of it all for him. As I said it didn't surprise me how good he became but it is strange when I see the reception he gets from the public. To me he's just the same old Cav.
Publication Date: 11/10/2010 11:15:48
Matt Brammeier Part Two
You had a bad accident which almost ended your career. Did you have a Plan B? How did you get back to form, and what was your first race after the accident?
There was no plan B. I was out training and a halfwit truck driver decided to turn left on me without indicating. I don't know specifically what happened, all I remember is a lot of load snapping sounds and pain like I can't describe.
At first I tried to stand up but my legs were like spaghetti so I thought it was better if I lay down for a bit. I saw my femur was in half and thought it was all over. There were some hard times and plenty of tears but I was determined to get back. It was a while before I could ride again, but the first day I did was the best day I've ever had on a bike. I was only out for half an hour with Nikki my girlfriend, but it felt so good to be pedalling again! My first race was a small Kermesse in Belgium about seven months later. Needless to say I was belted out of the back just after half distance. I still have a few issues I need to address with a few muscle imbalances and occasional pain but generally I’m okay.
What advice would you give to a young rider who wants to make a career in bike racing?
If you’re serious, the first thing to do is get in touch with Sid Barras at the Dave Rayner fund and tell him you want to become a professional! The Rayner fund have been instrumental in my career so far. They supported me through thick and thin and I owe them a lot. Get yourself to Europe and never give up, even when it seems like it’s not going to happen for you. If you really want it you can get it. Sometimes it may take longer than you'd like but you will get there in the end.
Publication Date: 11/10/2010 10:46:14
Steep Learning Curve For Cummings And Team Sky
It’s been a long three weeks for Steve Cummings, and it’s clear from what he says and by the tone in his voice that his first Tour de France has taken its toll.
‘I'm completely wasted, I have no intensity left in me. I knew it would be hard, it’s the Tour de France after all, but I didn’t expect to feel this bad.’
Cummings is speaking from his hotel room in Paris. Just a couple of hours earlier he had finished in the main bunch on the Champs Ellysses, something he had been looking forward to over the previous seven days.
‘I'm relieved to have made it to Paris. I was just looking forward to finishing, then getting home and resting up. If this was any other race I would have packed up and gone home a long time ago.’
He hesitates for a moment before continuing. ‘But you can’t stop in the Tour. No one stops unless they’re sick or injured, and even then most riders don't stop, they carry on and hope they’ll recover.’
He laughs when he says this, and its clear that despite the pain he has been through Cummings has enjoyed his first Tour.
‘The Tour is a truly a special race. The people that come and watch make you feel like you’re a hero because of the noise they make. Put the atmosphere together with the free coca cola that gets passed up to you and its fun, in a sick sort of way, particularly on the descents. They require a lot of concentration and there is little room for error, but we have to make time back on the race leaders somewhere.’
He has spent the last three weeks supporting the team, but here was one day when he was unable to do anything to help, and it’s clear that he is upset by this. Stage 18, from Salies de Bearn to Bordeaux, saw Team Sky attempting to get Edwald Boassen Hagen into a winning position in the last five kilometres, but Cummings was nowhere to be seen.
‘I wanted to help but I couldn't get to the front, I just didn't have the legs. That's a horrible feeling when you can't help your team mates but hopefully they understand.’
Team Sky have come in for some criticism for their performance in their debut Tour de France. When asked about this, Cummings gives a straight, but diplomatic, answer.
‘It’s been a steep learning curve during a difficult first Tour, but I think we have shown resilience that we can all be proud of. I'm sure we’ll go away, look at the good and bad things and try and improve for next year.’
Publication Date: 27/07/2010 09:17:49
My Name Is Clamp. Bobby Clamp.
If you don’t know me, then more fool you. I don’t know where you’ve been for the past fifty years because when it comes to making champions in bike racing, I have been at the forefront of making champions in bike racing. My name is Bobby Clamp, a fully qualified RTTC and BCF coach with gold badges from both of them to prove my credentials. I am a No Nonsense Lancastrian from Oswaldtwistle, and when it comes to coaching bike riders, there’s nobody who knows more about it than me. You only have to look at my record in the BBAR to see the kind of riders I’ve produced, and as far as I’m concerned, the BBAR is the ultimate gaol for all cyclists from this green and pleasant land we call Britain.
Do you know why its called Great Britain? I’ll tell you. It’s because we have given the world some of the greatest time triallists the world has ever seen, and – even though modesty should forbid – most of them lads were coached by me. Take Ken Joy. I told the lad everything he needed to know, and he went to the continent in 1953 to give that Jack Anquetil a lesson in how to ride a time trial in that Nations Grand Prix. I never heard from Ken after that day. I imagine he was so humbled by my coaching technique that he just didn’t know how to say ‘Thank you, Bobby’.
But Ken wasn’t my first champion. It seems like only yesterday that I coached my first lad, Nobby Stakeworth. He came to me with nothing, but I turned that lad into a champion, and it was only when he had to go and do his National Service on Christmas Island in 1954 that he lost the chance to win the BBAR.
Anyroad, the reason I’m telling you this is because I’ve been trying to relaunch my coaching career after a little break from teaching young rider how to be great. I went to see that Brailsford fella for an interview to coach his Sky team. I’ve got to tell you – and I know I shouldn’t laugh – but I came away with the impression that he didn’t have a clue what he was talking about!
He was going on and on about all kinds of pschologicialal mind bending nonsense, and in the end he gave the job to a lad called Sean. Or was it Scott? Or was it another lad called Shane? And there was a fella called Ellingworth who was talking about beds for the team, which they take from hotel to hotel. There were so many young kids there falling over themselves to get the job that I lost count.
He didn’t give me the job and that’s his loss, because even though I don’t have any experience in that Tour de France, I wouldn’t have told my lads to clog it on the first big mountain on the first day in the Alps. Them Astana foreigners must have been laughing their socks off, especially when they gave our Sky lads a good kicking later that day. Now, if only that Brailsford fella had given me the job. We could have been looking at the first Sky rider to win the BBAR and that Tour de France in the same year. I’ve been in touch with Bradley. I’ve told him I can turn him into a BBAR winner, so watch this space!
Publication Date: 15/07/2010 19:34:23
Cummings Has Got A Lot Of Bottle
One week into his first Tour de France, Steve Cummings is taking some time out to reflect on the last seven days. He’s talking from his hotel room just three hours after finishing stage seven from Tournus to Station des Rousses. This was the Tour’s first probe into the foothills of the Alps, and on the surface, it’s been a disappointing day for Team Sky. Geraint Thomas has lost the White Jersey as leading young rider, but Cummings is philosophical and already looking ahead to the next day’s stage.
‘That’s bike racing isn’t it, these things happen. Geraint has showed everyone what he is capable of, and we know we’re going to see a lot more of him in the next couple of years. Everyone knows his name now, so he’ll just get on with the job, like the rest of us in the team. It’s the real Alps tomorrow, so we’ll see what happens there.’
The ‘job’ as far as Cummings is concerned is looking after Brad Wiggins. It’s what he is there for and he has no illusions about that. This role covers everything from making sure his leader is protected in the wind, to bringing bottles from the team car. This may not seem particularly difficult to the uninitiated until he explains the logistics behind it.
‘I was on bottle duty the other day. The heat was incredible, so I made eight trips back to the car during the stage. I normally get between six and eight bottles each time, so when you’re doing that so many times during the stage, it adds up.’
Stage three saw Cummings released from team duties – well, for a couple of hours at least - when he was in the leading break on the road from Wanze to Arenberg.
‘I got in the break, which was perfect for me and the team. The group was a good size and we worked well together. I attacked the break on the fourth sector of cobbles because they seemed to have eased a bit. I wanted to get across as many sectors of the cobbles in front of the peloton, because you know what it’s like trying to ride roads like that in the bunch. I gave it a good go, but the Cancellara group caught me on Sector 5. I stayed with them, but then Sean (Yates) told me to wait for Brad after that sector. I pulled for as long as I could to help Brad close on the front, then Vino attacked and I couldn't accelerate. Then Geraint’s group caught me and he asked me to pull, which I did until the last kilometre and then rolled in. Job done’.
The next two weeks will see Cummings carrying a lot of bottles as he continues in his support role, but will there be a chance for him to shine again?
‘I don’t know, I’ll just have to see how it goes. I know what my job is here, so I’m just getting on with that. If a chance to get in a break comes up I’ll take it, but you never know what’s going to happen in the Tour. It’s completely different to any other bike race.’
Publication Date: 11/07/2010 10:51:33
Happy To Say, You Proved Us Wrong Cav!
Eighteen hours before Mark Cavendish roared to victory in the fifth stage of the Tour de France, I had been in a deep and meaningful conversation with Alan, an old cycling friend. We’ve both done a bit of racing, and we both like to think we know what we are talking about.
The subject was ‘What is wrong with Cav this year?’ and the reasons for his apparent lack of form were analysed at great length and much faux expertise over a couple of bottles of red wine.
The reasons for his lack lustre perfomances - too many to go into here - lead us to the conclusion that the Manxman would not repeat the amazing success of just twelve months earlier. There is too much going on in his life, we reasoned. This time last year, he was focussed on just one thing, and one thing only, but now….?
Let me make one thing clear. Both myself and Alan are massive Cavendish fans. Last year, when his Champs Ellysses sprint made his win look like a solo victory, we launched ourselves into the kind of dance that only Dads can do.
Cav may be a quarter of a century younger than us, but he is a British cycling hero, a sprinter who can take on the best in the world and make them look ordinary, and we weren’t afraid to celebrate in our own middle age – and it has to be said, embarrassing - manner.
But back to our analysis of the reasons why he has failed to repeat last year’s success. The fact that his helmet made a brief cameo appearance just minutes after he lost the sprint to Allesandro Pettachi on stage four only served to add fuel to the fire which we had been stoking all evening.
‘He’s lost it, hasn’t he? That’s worse than spitting your dummy out, that is, he’s chucked his helmet out of the bus! He’ll be lucky if he wins one stage this year’ said Alan.
We looked at the screen and nodded our heads in the sage manner of two men who know what they are talking about. Incidentally, someone who is close to the Team Columbia hierarchy sent me a text later that night which suggested that Cavendish was a tad embarrassed by the helmet hurling incident. Apparently, he didn’t expect the headgear to roll down the steps of the bus after he chucked it, and was heard to say: ‘Oh For F***s sake’ when he saw the cameras focussing on the team helper who retrieved it.
Of course, Mark Cavendish proved us wrong when he asserted his authority in Montargis on Thursday afternoon.
The tears he was barely able to hold back spoke volumes. The voice cracking with emotion told us even more. We saw how much this victory meant to him. The tears were the proof of just how much pain and frustration this young man had been through this year. After seeing Cav on the podium, Alan and I looked at each other, raised our glasses, immediately forgot about our conversation from the previous night, and then launched into another bout of Dad Dancing in honour of our hero.
Publication Date: 08/07/2010 20:37:13
