Colin Lewis Cycle Chat January 2012

Cycle Chat 28.01.12

The Mid Devon C. C. have over the years built up a great reputation for launching young cyclists on to the national and international scene. Brennan Townshend is the latest after winning the Mid Devon Spring Pursuit Series last year he went on to bigger things and won the Junior Tour Of Wales in 2011.

He has now won a contract with Team Raleigh and was at their 2012 launch at the famous Raleigh Cycles HQ in Nottingham this week. The launch coincided with the bike manufacturer celebrating its 125th.

Two of the most high profile names to join the squad are current National Criterium Champion Graham Briggs and Australian rider Bernie Sulzberger, the latter joining the team later in January after riding the Tour Down Under in Australia.

Also joining the squad are Evan Oliphant, Brennan Townshend, Simon Holt, Russell Hampton and Tobyn Horton from the UK, and US-rider Daniel Holloway.

Team Raleigh-GAC will target the Premier Calendar, Tour Series and the Tour of Britain races in the UK, and thanks to its continental licence and results over the past three years the team will also race across Europe, Asia and the US.

It would be great to see the Raleigh name featuring highly on the domestic scene again. As well as the SP Team bikes they are also the Raleigh Militus, designed by Raleigh USA and for sale in the UK in 2013.

The team now head out to a training camp in Majorca and its domestic racing season kicks off at the Eddie Soens Classic at Aintree, Liverpool on Saturday 3rd March 2012.

With current National Circuit Champion Graham Briggs in the squad the Raleigh boys should be at the forefront in the Critérium and sprint finish Premier Calendar races this season. It remains to be seen how the new boys will adapt to UK elite racing, but Raleigh have certainly invested in some quality riders to bolster the team and will be hopeful the champagne they tasted at the team launch is the first glass of many in the coming season.

Simon back from his jolly to the Canaries where he was there for the launch of the new Cervélo S5. (See photo) Yes it had to come after electronic gear change the next option for road bikes had to be hydraulic braking!!

The S5 is the most advanced aerodynamic road bicycle ever developed by Cervélo. Inspired by the demands of the world's top pro riders, the S5 deploys everything Cervélo has learned in 16 years of aerodynamic design, and combines it with advanced material engineering honed in our Project California facility.

Using the latest TrueAeroTM shapes combined with our most advanced lay-up knowledge, the S5 doubles the aerodynamic advantage the S3 had over traditional road bicycles. By adding BBrightTM and SmartwallTM engineering, they have maximize energy response, and raise the torsional rigidity a whopping 12% over its highly acclaimed predecessor.

The result is a quantifiably faster bicycle, which is also agile and responsive, yet smooth and comfortable on the toughest road surfaces.

Until next week,

Bob.

Cycle Chat 21.01.12

Jon Locke is well under way with his new team Endura Racing (see photo). The Team was presented to the press at the recent London Bike Show. The launch event brought the full team to London ahead of a season where we will once again race against the biggest teams in world cycling whilst tackling an exciting UK calendar in what promises to be a great year for British road racing.

Over the course of the event new signings Russ Downing, Zak Dempster, Dean Windsor, Jon Locke, Ian Bibby and Jonny MacEvoy had a chance to tell the crowd about how pleased they were to join the strengthened Endura Racing team and of their ambitions for the year ahead. Key members of the 2011 squad also spoke of their excitement of more firepower being added into the mix

The team are definitely not racing to make up the numbers - they want to win stages. They will be fighting with WorldTour teams in these races and it's going to be very difficult. It's about spreading the wins throughout the team. They want to see every one of these sixteen guys in the team win a race this year and so do we!!

At the moment the team is in Mallorca with the first race for Jon being the Tour of the Mediterranean on Feb 9th.

Jeremy Hunt (Sky ProCycling), after spending time at his home in Gerona, has his first race in Qatar from 5.2 - 10.2 followed by the Tour of Oman on the 14th. Interesting to see that Mark Cavendish is also selected in the same 8 man team!!

At the moment the Tour Down Under has started and top Brit after 4 stages is Geraint Thomas in 48th spot whereas teammate Edvald Boasson Hagen is handily placed in 7th.

By the time you read this shop boss Simon will have returned from the Canaries where he has been with Cervélo as a dealer on their annual promotion. More of this next week!

I see from the Cervélo website that they will be unveiling their new Time Trial bike the Cervélo P5 Aero in Tenerife whilst he is there!! They are calling it ""the most advanced and the most aerodynamic" triathlon bike on the market!!"

Until next week,

Bob.

Cycle Chat 14.01.12

I told you a few weeks ago that I missed out on riding the Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset yellow test bike as it hadn't arrived when I visited CLCycles. Well I made up for the disappointment on Christmas day (See enclosed photo) and I wasn't disappointed!!

We visited Simon on Christmas day and on returning to his house after a walk turned off right into Colin Lewis Cycles. No I didn't get one as a Christmas present but a free ride was some compensation!!

Mounted after tucking my trousers in my socks and was delighted with the ease of changing gear with just a light tap of the lever up and down the gears with the front mech also adjusting as well to stop the usual chain clatter as you get to either1st or 10th.

I was going on very nicely cruising along thinking that the Di2 was taking the whole effort out of pedalling until grandson Jonathan turned the screw to give me a 10% hill. The Di2c was suitably adjusted for the increased effort with ease and up we went.

Yes it was all that I thought it would be plus more. Definitely the way to go when the wallet says "Yes"!! It took that big swing of the lever out when changing up gears to a simple tap.

It was good to know that it had been well tested by the Pro teams and designed to not let you down at a crucial time.

Want to give it a go and make your own mind up?? Either call in the shop or give Simon a ring on 01803 553095 to book a ride. This technology is in and I reckon it will supersede the old technology within a few years for the serious cyclist.

Local news is that up and coming Mid Devon cyclist Brennan Townshend has got a contract with Team Raleigh for this coming season. Brennan has just finished his final junior year with overall victory in the prolific Junior Tour of Wales in August where he used his climbing prowess to great strength to take the win from the best juniors in the country.

On signing for Team Raleigh Brennan said "To ride for Raleigh in their 125th anniversary year means a huge amount to me, I feel honoured to be given the opportunity to be racing and training with some of the biggest names on the British and continental racing scene. I am also really excited to be part of a British team at this point in time where the British racing scene is growing and developing. This opportunity means so much to me and I cannot wait to help the team achieve some big results in 2012."

Well done Brennan!! We will be following your progress.

Until next week,

Bob.

Cycle Chat 07.01.12

A very happy New Year to all our many readers, customers and friends. Thanks for all your support and may 2012 be a turning point in your life!!

Yes 2012 could well be yet another turning point for British Cycling after a momentous 2011 with Mark Cavendish as World Champion!!

2012 offers different challenges in the shape of the Olympic Games and also the strengthening of Team Sky who were 2nd in the ProTeam team rankings last year and aiming for further improvement this year!!

Team Sky has just unveiled the 28 riders that will make up the team's squad for the 2012 season including ten British riders, the 2012 squad also features eight new strong additions to the team.

The 10 Brits are:- Jeremy Hunt, Mark Cavendish, Luke Rowe, Bradley Wiggins , Alex Dowsett, Chris Froome, Peter Kennaugh, Ian Stannard, Ben Swift and Geraint Thomas.

Team Sky will be aiming to build on a hugely successful 2011 campaign which saw them finish second in the UCI WorldTour team rankings with 32 wins and a further 71 podium finishes.

Those results included Edvald Boasson Hagen's two stage-winning displays at the Tour de France, Bradley Wiggins' Criterium du Dauphine success, and a remarkable Vuelta a Espana campaign which saw Chris Froome and Wiggins both secure places on the Grand Tour's podium.

We thank teamsky.com for the following comments by Mark and Bradley which puts the complexion on the year to come:-

Mark Cavendish commented: "I could not be more excited about the coming season. In many ways it has felt like coming home, by joining Team Sky. I've grown up with many of the riders and management and they have shown in just two years how far they have come. It is a hugely professional set up and arguably the strongest team in the world. It is definitely a team that will win races.

"Being in a British team at a time when our sport is booming is a dream come true. I want to help continue that growth and I know that together as a team we can help inspire even more people to get on their bikes and have a go themselves."

Bradley Wiggins added: "We have a fantastic looking squad for 2012 and I think we are in great shape to build on our successes last year. The support we continue to receive from fans around the world, and especially in the UK, is tremendous and we are going to be looking to repay that on the road this year.

"If there is one thing this team is known for already it's that we have ambition. With Mark Cavendish joining the team we are ready to target sprints and GC in the same race and that is hugely exciting. There is nothing we like more than someone saying it can't be done!"

So will it be a green and a yellow?? All I know is they are up for it and will be doing their best.

Until next week,

Bob.

Colin Lewis Cycles Limited, 17 Dartmouth Road, Paignton, TQ4 5AD. Telephone: 01803 553095. Registered company number: 4095543.