LONDON 2 PARIS 2016

As promised we are back for our famous ride.THE L2P "SADDLEDRUNK" RIDE.

Enjoying an Ice Cream in Isle St.Louis

Please find the following links to our 24 Hour London to Paris Challenge.  I would suggest the following dates:

1.       June 10rd- 12th 

24 hour ride from London to Paris taking place over a weekend totalling approximately 180 miles (288 Km) and 7,500 feet (2,300M) of ascent with an overnight stay in Paris before returning via Eurostar to London.  Participants will ride the classic London to Brighton route then on to Newhaven where they will catch a ferry to Dieppe before continuing on to Paris.  Participant bikes will be brought back to London by Viva Velo. 

Ability level: Commuter cyclists and upwards.

Loving is Caring.

Leave London Friday lunchtime and arrive back London Sunday.

VIVA VELO will  provide:

• 2 x Ride Captains (at least one to be First Aid qualified)                                                                    
• 1 x Driver/Mechanic to accompany the group
• Support Vehicle to provide mechanical and emergency assistance as required
• Baggage transfer from UK to France
• Bike return from Paris to London
• Hotel 3 star (twin/double occupancy) on B&B basis
• Ferry outbound including private cabin(twin occupancy)
• Eurostar
• Special Edition SaddleDrunk Jersey 

For any further details please contact staff at VIVAVELO or email at store@saddledrunk.com.

All of us here at SD Team wish you Merry Xmas.

SD Team

Stretching at the Station.

Scottish Borders visit to Peebles Cycling Club.

Few weeks ago the SD Team was hosted in the Scottish Border region by a lovely couples. Kevin & Trish.

My visit was aimed to explore the lovely area and to meet the amazing Peebles Cycling Club during their annual Hill Climb Race.

On Saturday morning a couple of us from the SaddleDrunk Team flew to Edinburgh. We directed ourselves South, about 1 hour drive in the astonishingsceneries to reach a little place called Broughton.

The cottage was hidden deeply into the nature, the only sound waves were from the dogs welcoming us and the essence of the flowers was blown toward us  by the a gentle breeze.

After a nice quick homemade soup and a bacon batty,we hit the road.Within few minutes I was stunned by the lovely roads and all the surrounding factors.

KC & PJ decided to take us to do the Talla an amazing place not far from their location. For them it was just an everyday ride. Talla had an interesting sign at the start, 20% advisory road sign. WOW,it was a nice tasty climb with a 39-23 was nice to challenge for 2.5km. 

After reaching the top,we stop to wait for the boys at the back and a couple of panoramic shots.

We, then carried on and to be honest with you, there are not enough words to describe the scenery and the peace that this location was sending to us "Concrete Jungle Residents".

Kevin pointing the North Star.

If you have never been to Peebles you should consider it. Not far from Edinburgh & the airport you can enjoy great time with the family but also do some road biking and MTB at the nearby Glentrees Forest home of various MTB champions.

A Social Gathering after the Hill Climb,before the social ride.

The following it was the time for the Annual Social Hill Climb for PCC. This Time Trial Climb Race was before a Sunday Social Ride.

It was beautiful to sit in the pack with the club members to listen their stories and experiences on the 2 wheels.

The SD team is pleased to announced that we are now one of the 2 kit suppliers for Peebles Cycling Club.

The Short Sleeves Jersey

PCC organise various sportive around the area,therefore you should look into this for 2016 season to take part.

Love the roads,BE SAFE,BE SEEN.

Ciao from the SD Team.

Chengdu,The Panda Region

The team flown from the Yunnan Region to the Capital of the Sichuan Province, Chengdu.

Correct , from the capital of the spicy food, like the Sichuan Paste that you find at Tesco, to the Spice Girls, not the famous band. But the astonishing beauty of the girls from this region due to the aproximity with Tibet .Also not to forget the Panda breeding centre.

Along the route.

Thanks to Rob & Daniel, I was invited to attend the Jintang Cup Elite Race, 96km Criterium race which only last just 2 hours and 3 minutes, furious definitely, fast maybe.  The organizers again was the Laochemi Group, and again it was well organized. The location was the worldwide re-known location of the ITU World Cup stage of Chengdu.

Nonno Pippo Lost in China.

During the race words were exchanged with various riders, nationalities from this small event were South Africans , Kiwis , Aussies, Italians, Hong Kong and Chinese riders.

The following day the team woke up, with a beautiful sunshine and excuses were not allowed to not ride the bike. I have managed to pulled a GPX File from my previous visits.

Nonno Pippo Standing.

We then hit the road, following Mr GPX and it was like I remembered. FLABBERGASTING.

Flab..... WHY? We rode past by little villages , little communities, a friend of mine would say: “you can feel the LOVE,SHARING & COMMUNITY FEELING” this is what make 2 wheels or 2 legs appreciate . Something that a stinky engine will not make you do that.

We did found some amazing coffee shops when we returned to the City Centre and they were extraordinary cool or “RAD”,like some people would call them.

Coffee shop in Containers

One of the next blog will be a collection of photo to summaries the 2 weeks trips.

Ciao from the SD Team.

SD.

Posing with Salice 3047 Yellow Flow Sunglasses

BE SAFE & BE SEEN. 

Stage 4, Race Around the Lake

For the SD Team today was our last stage for the Granfondo China 2015. It was a quite emotional day for us. This was caused by the fact that we were going to say good bye to cyclists met during this event. It did not matter what was their nationality,but we all stack together like “Sticky Rice”. 

Local costume along the 115Km

We shared the same passion,we helped each other out 24hours a day on or off the bike. Those events around the world with plenty of barriers not just on the saddle but also off the saddle make those trips stunning and unable to describe. 

At the start line

We started as a group of 3,already with language barrier, 2 Italians & a Scottish(both nationalities could not speak a word of proper English). We finished with a group of 50 or more. Within the group there were 29 nationalities, 5 continents were covered. What else could you have more? This strange passion of 2 wheels stuck together with some tubing & cables, brings to me always joyful emotions.

Along the route by the Lake

On this stage of 115km along the lake perimeter, with completely closed road, with towns on a stand still while our passage , with school kids screaming at us through theirs school fences and our speed of nearly 30 miles per hour average made it too short. Now I feel unhappy, because I could have spent more time admiring those little but big peculiarities that make us live our life to the full.

Fresh refeshments

We are always racing in our lives, on or off the 2 wheels, Why?  This is my question.

The answer could be quite easy. YOU NEED TO TAKE PART at the GRANFONDO CHINA.   

Please feel free to get in touch with us to get more info for the 2016 edition.

Our Team would like to say thank you to Kris, Niclas, Torben and the rest of the crew at Nordic Ways to have created an amazing event. We wish a successful finish and a Arrivederci for the 2016 edition.

A Taxi Ride

A Chinese friend of mine ,Jingyan, other day stated some amazing words:

 “WHERE MOUNTAINS TOUCH THE SKY AND WATER REACHES LAND,IS WHERE WE LIVE,CREATE AND DREAM”.

The best Ride for the day

After those emotional words we just want to say be safe on the road and love each other.

Ciao.

SD TEAM.

Mountain Cronoscalata,Granfondo China

Ciao Everyone,

After a day of rest travelling,  we arrived on Tuesday afternoon in the old town of Chuxiong, welcomed by traditional dances and music.

The hotel is located in the town square,walking distance from all the local attractions,food stalls & restaurants. 

The temperature was pleasant and everyone was happy to go out for a meal.So we all gathered and walk down the road until we found a local restaurant.

We then discovered the beauty of Chuxiong , a traditional minority people’s village which enabled us to step into the past of China.

We walked along the canals , hosted into people houses to try their local plum wine and snap few shots with them.

Dinner time arrived like a flash,  with all little BBQ food street stalls we adventured into one which we picked our raw skewers and vegetables ready for the following day Cronoscalata.

We remounted our bikes the following morning for a 23.5km mass start time trial to a summit of 2450 m.s.l with a total ascent of nearly 800 metres.It was sharp gently painful in the legs and lungs. I loved it so much after reaching nearly 2200 m.s.l. the cloud level was with us making the road nice and slippery with temperature dropped down to 6 Degrees Celsius.

A bit chilly a the the top but still amazing. Everyone was dismounting their bikes to be loaded in the truck to go to the Dali Stage.

Tomorrow will be stage from the Dali lake race,115km on the lake.

Ride Safe.Share the road with everyone.

SD Team