Belvoir Triathlon Club

The SaddleDrunk team is pleased to announce that we are the new Official Kit Supplier for the Belvoir Triathlon Club from November 2015.

The team has met with Karl & Steve to design an outstanding kit.Soon to be revealed to the public eye.WARNING: YOU MIGHT FEEL IN LOVE..

The kit is hand made and hand tailored in our factory in Italy. The Belvoir Tri Club Members will be able to start purchasing online the kit by next week.

The kit compromise a complete list of items from head to toes and enabling them to purchase direct to us 365 days a year,day or night.

The SD team is looking forward to a long friendship with the club.

Have a good week everyone.

Do not forget to vote for us at the Time Out Love London Awards

SD Team

361°Cup Cycling Open, China

This week SaddleDrunk guest writer is Alex telling us is amazing experience in China last weekend.Happy reading.Credits for the photos to Jennifer Carruthers.

The Police

Sweet surprises....

It isn’t often that a spur of the moment decision, made with very little knowledge of the logistical details or potential outcomes, works out to such utter perfection. Such was the case when I was surprised by an invitation from Daniel Carruthers to travel to compete in couple of bike races in China - the

361°Cup Cycling Open in Jinjiang and the Tour de Qiandao Lake near Hangzhou.  I’d been to China for work once before, but I’d never heard of either of these places, let alone the events. I’d also never traveled outside the country for a race. In fact, it was only through a mutual friend that we made contact via email and Facebook. Other than that, I hadn’t even met Daniel in person!  So going into this, I really had no idea what to expect. And that’s what was so attractive about the proposition. It smacked of ambiguity and adventure and it was something that I just could not resist.

Due to the distance and location, travelling to Jinjiang from Austin, TX is guaranteed to be an arduous task. It doesn’t make it any easier when you show up at the airport with an expired passport! Luckily, I’d arrived a little earlier than usual and was assisted by a delayed flight arrival. This just barely gave enough time for my lovely girlfriend Katie to make the hour-plus round trip to retrieve my valid passport. That self-induced fiasco soon passed and then it was just a matter of negotiation the next three flights to

The 2014 361°Cup Cycling Open

The organizers of the 361°Cup did an absolutely superb job attending to every detail of the race.  On arrival, I was greeted at the airport by a couple of college co-eds who took  my bags and escorted me to the hotel shuttle. These volunteers, who spoke very good English, were a delight to be with. They were excited and helpful. Couldn’t have been a better way to arrive after almost 30 hrs of travel.  An hour later, I was at the hotel being greeted by several more volunteers who checked me in, took my bags and even  sat down to have lunch with me.  If I asked for anything, they sprang into action. They truly made me feel welcome.

 The following day, Friday, was scheduled to be a recon of the race course for all the teams that were competing. It was here that I began to realize the magnitude of this event. I can’t name all the countries that were there, but here’s a representative list – Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Germany, Malaysia, Serbia and many more. I had no idea there would be so many international riders competing! In fact, the CCN Team Daniel had assembled was also very cosmopolitan –Daniel is a Kiwi, Matt Boys and Trent Morey are Aussies and Gary Loafman is an Okie (In Texas, we consider Oklahomans as foreigners). This was turning out to be a big deal!

The team 3rd position

Race day, Saturday, arrived and it was more of the same. Race start was on the open grounds of a convention center that was absolutely packed with volunteers, organizers, staff, visitors and even a bike racer or two. There were television crews, a giant sign-on board, a full on opening ceremony and what seemed like half the residents of Jinjiang in attendance. Spectators were asking for autographs and taking selfies with us.  And what made it really special was that these people were truly joyful about it!  They were very happy and very gracious, all of them!

 So how did the race unfold…. Without getting too deep into the details, our team did very well.  Matt and Trent got into the winning move on the second lap. I missed out on making the break, my mishap may have been just enough disruption to allow the break to escape. I managed to quickly remount and rejoin the peloton. Where I stayed out of trouble and finished in about 11th place out of the bunch sprint. Team leader Daniel had a very strong sprint, finishing 2 places ahead of me after having moved up some 30-40 places in the final 1km, while Gary also finished safely with our group. Impressively, Matt and Trent snagged 7th and 10th places, respectively.  With all those placings, our team claimed Third overall in the Team Classification.  Now, I’ve seen a podium or two in my day, but they were nothing like this awards ceremony. It was spectacular!  There was a processional, music, plaques, trophy, bouquets and even magnum bottles of champagne!  Like I said, it was a veritable Pro Tour level celebration.  Never in my life have I been sprayed with Champagne on a huge stage!  I'm still shaking my head at how amazing the entire day was! 

Thank you Alex.

Have a good weekend you all.

Be safe out there.

SD.

Latest media release from WTB.

As UK and Italy ambassador for WTB and Freedom, SaddleDrunk is please to announce the following:

WTB and Freedom Merge to Form Wilderness Trail & Freedom

MILL VALLEY, CALIFORNIA – April 1, 2014 – Long standing mountain bike brand Wilderness Trail Bikes, known throughout the industry as WTB, announced today that it will be merging with its urban counterpart, Freedom.  Effective immediately, the two separate brands will form one, Wilderness Trail & Freedom, rebranded as WTF.

“We’ve asked for WTF for quite some time now,” elaborated Justin Kirkwood, WTF’s creative director.  “The ThickSlick tire’s overwhelming success is irrefutable.  Now under one roof, WTF will offer a staggering portfolio.  From 16 versions of the WTF ThickSlick to 11 different WTF Vigilantes spanning 26, 27.5, and 29”, WTF has augmented its reach.  The future is bright for WTF.”

All existing WTB and Freedom products will immediately transition to WTF products.  Tires will clearly display WTF lettering on sidewalls and saddles will also broadcast the new WTF acronym.  The wolf head logo will stay while the lettering will change to appropriately display the new brand, WTF.

About WTF

Founded in 1982, WTF was formed in the birthplace of mountain biking to design better bicycle products.  Through durable, affordable, and effective bicycle products as well as countless hours spent advocating on cycling’s behalf, WTF continues to promote bicycle usage as the way of the future.

Have a good day and Let's get SaddleDrunk.

SD

My Advice on Winter Training

During the winter period or the lazy months some seasonal cyclist try to avoid cycling.This caused by a lot of factors like the layer up onion effect, which some seasonal cyclist might find it too much to handle.Also the fact of not owning a winter bike could be a peer pressure factor making the ride miserable where everybody else take out the nice bike geared up for winter with mudguards and the rest to not get the bum dirty.What about in the old days when they had to cycle in the middle of the snow is shorts and nothing else. It is funny because a lot of those having winter bike also are the same cyclist that follow the Velominati Rules.Which if i recall after many debates with those cyclist rules number 5 say something like to tough up to be polite.But look at this picture and actually be a real cyclist.

This guy(that you all must know him) had is family jewels up on his throat.Therefore before instead of posing,or being vain just try to ride normally and be like everybody that is saddledrunk. Intoxicated with the freedom of cycling.

Going back to advise you on training during the winter months, it is to carry on cycling of course,and taking in consideration all the festive meals and the relevant drinks(if you do drink) and Christmas Parties that you have to attend.

One of the worst mistake made by some cyclist during off season is to loose drastically weight and follow some stupid diets that will only damage your body causing deficiency of vitamins. This is totally unacceptable because during off season and winter cold months your body need all the fats to keep you going. Therefore I suggest to all of you to eat as much as you can, like the old chinese buffet 0.99$ per person, during the winter months with a big "BUT" which is to make sure that your bike does not get cobweb around it and  flat tyres.

So just keep pedalling 3 times a week or more and maintain your regular distances, slow up your pace because you dont want to get injured due to the cold muscles. Then just enjoy and feel SaddleDrunk.

Some friends that are pro-cyclist or/and pro-athlete in others sports different than cycling are taking holidays around the world just chilling and reading books,listening to music but their passion is still in their minds, in doing some sort of training related to their own discipline.

My training for the winter is to keep carry on cycling, running short or long distances, swimming and going skiing keeping my legs and core always training.

I like to indulge myself in food badly during the winter times,but I struggle to put weight on.Remember my proverb,which is not a chinese one is "Just keep Rolling" meaning don't stop. Your will power, your mind are the strength of your body.

You have to remember that during those periods if you go out you could be the only one out with the animals.The crispy air helps you breath and training harder for the condition during the summer.You might notice some different sceneries even if it is your local route, smell new essences from the wild.You may find Santa getting ready with the raindeers.

Remember also to take part in different winter series or sport events that you might enjoy it to keep the competition mood high. So, when you come to do your first event next season you do not have the common human being feel, known as "pissing my pants".

Merry Christmas from SaddleDrunk.