By Ben Brown • 30th August 2010 • Posted in Rides
Phil Deeker concludes his reporting on the reconnaissance of the 2010 Rapha Cent Cols Challenge in the Pyrenees.
I write this back in my Belgian hills, just a day after we cracked open a bottle of champagne in Rivesaltes. Already it now seems like an unreal experience.
We all made it to the finish, celebrating with a predictable bunch sprint just to test our fit, swollen legs. I lost of course, but then I admire the lead-out men most! Just one of us failed to pocket 100 Cols, more due to bad luck than anything else. Four out of seven of us completed the full route of 107 Cols. Most of the event had been ridden as a tight, black-and-white group, re-grouping within minutes after each ascent and descent. Claire had looked after us like a saintly mother: our guardian angel who had provided superb support all day long.
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By Joe Hall • 27th August 2010 • Posted in Misc
Rapha Cycle Club London's H-Van exits the building in Clerkenwell. Where next?… Stay tuned. Don't forget Cycle Club NYC is still open for business until the end of September.
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By Ian Cleverly • 26th August 2010 • Posted in Rouleur
“Nobody would ride. They preferred to see me lose and a Spaniard win.”
- Robert Millar
A lead of over six minutes over a former trainee nurse by the name of Pedro Delgado on the penultimate day of the 1985 Vuelta evaporated for Robert Millar as quickly as a wisp of cloud over the Angliru.
The Scot had already congratulated his closest rivals on their brave efforts but the race was his. A puncture, a cartel of Spanish teams and the Peugeot directeur sportif intervened, and one of the biggest upsets in recent race history prevented Millar from becoming the first Briton to win a Grand Tour.
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By Jeremy Dunn • 25th August 2010 • Posted in Events
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By Joe Hall • 25th August 2010 • Posted in Rides
Phil Deeker has sent a follow up report on the reconnaissance of the 2010 Rapha Cent Cols Challenge in the Pyrenees.
5 out of 10 stages ridden and we have already climbed as much as most Pyrenean Raids do over 10 days. 24,500m Up. Yesterday officially the hottest day of the summer down here. 40°C on the Col de Bagargui will not be forgotten. Amazingly, none of us even cramped. Bodies are co-operating, albeit at times unwillingly to our deranged minds’ demands.
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By Jeremy Dunn • 24th August 2010 • Posted in Continental Road Journal
What is the one thing that you do not want to worry about when you are descending at 50 miles per hour, or trusting your lean on a gravel road in the middle of nowhere? Your tires.
Last month the Rapha Continental toiled their way up and over the Rocky Mountains as they rode Ride the Rockies, spending long days on the bike. Even with the hundreds of miles that they put in going up and over the mountain passes, they still found the time to sample a few sections of gravel, with one being 60 miles long that dropped them into Pagosa Springs.
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By Joe Hall • 24th August 2010 • Posted in Team
Master of the circuit race Dean Downing finally bagged himself a Nocturne Series victory on Saturday evening. After coming close on countless occasions in the twilight criteriums, the man from Yorkshire lit up the new circuit in Blackpool to take the win in fine style.
In front of a packed crowd the final Elite Criterium of the 2010 Nocturne Series set away at a blistering pace. Downing and Sigma's Simon Richardson (formerly of Rapha Condor Sharp) found themsleves off the front after Richardson made an impressive attack in the early stages. Deano was the only man able to stay with him and his superior sprinting abilities allowed him to cross the finish line in first place.
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