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After years of sniggering at triathletes and their silly training regimes and bike handling skills, Charlie is finally going to race a triathlon or two.

I have been at it for a month or two now and to begin with it seemed pretty simple; train 5 or 6 days a week, an hour in the pool, an hour’s run or a couple of hours on the bike each time and finnish each session whimpering with exhaustion. But now I find out that I was doing it all wrong – rather than jump in the water and whip myself into an agony of exertion, or run like I was Coe breaking the mile record for the first time (remeber the last brutal 100m?) or ride a bike like a drug free domestique in the Tour de France, I have now found out that I need to do some complicated arithmetic involving my age and resting pulse, buy a heart rate monitor and then make sure I train in my aerobic zone (130 to 140 bpms more or less). Where is the fun in that!? That is exactly why cyclists laugh at triathletes and why nobody wants to sit next to a triathlete at dinner.

Triathletes of the world you have nothing to lose but your chains! Throw away your training calendars, your heart rate monitors and your food-weighing scales and just do what the hell you feel like each day (but just do it hard). You might lose a couple of minutes on your PB, but who is counting anyway?
Rant over….

Looking for something original to fill the long Summer holiday? How about a 24 hour cycle race…..

For those with a very low ratio of IQ to VO2 max, you can do the whole thing on your own – the rest of us can enter in teams of up to 8 riders. For more information see  http://www.24heuresvelo.fr .

custom bandanaWe actually supply a lot of custom kit for cycling and triathlon events (mainly jerseys for charity cycle rides and similar) and we have supplied custom jerseys to events such as the Help for Heros cycle ride to France  and the London to Paris ride. We can also supply give-away kit for entrants to races to take home with them, such as custom bandanas, buffs, musettes (feed bags) and so on.

We supply a unique pro cycling team in the USA with kit – they are Richmond Pro Cycling. They are one of the top teams in the US, finishing 4th in the USA crit series in 2008, but what is special about them is what they do when they are not racing.

Richmond pro cyclingRather than be dependent on one or two big name sponsors, they decided to integrate the team with their community, teaching local kids to ride bikes and inspiring them to make something of themselves. They also raise money for a lot of local charities. That way that have encouraged the local community (in Richmond, Virginia)  to support the team financially.

Craig Dodson, runs the team and races in it and lives off thin air to pursue his dream – and so he has recently been nominated by Outside Magazine/Crocs Footwear as an “inspiring sole”. This award recognizes five athletes who have dedicated their lives to raising awareness for meaningful causes.

It takes seconds to vote and for anyone who wants to help raise the profile of cycling and supports the idea of cycling teams integrating into their local communities, it is a great thing to do.  http://www.inspiringsoles.com/pages.php?pagename=awardnom_submit&pagecolor=green

You can find out more about the team at http://www.richmondprocycling.com. Well done Craig and lets hope for an even better 2009!