52nd Eddie Soens Memorial

Another great day at the races! The weather for the 2013 edition of the Eddie Soens Memorial race was much better than last years. The sun was out, and even though it was a bit cold, there was no wind or rain, which all added up to perfect conditions for a great race.

As soon as we arrived we bumped into Craig, the founder of Onix Bikes, and it was great to catch up with him, as I had missed the Onix twitter ride a couple of weeks ago. From what Craig tells me, there are some exciting announcements to come about the brand and its range this year, of course, I will keep you updated as I hear more from this fantastic, British company.

The next familiar face we bumped into was James, the Spin Cycle Magazine editor, and photographer for the Liverpool Echo. If you haven't checked out issue 2 yet, It is well worth it, just click this LINK and settle in for a great read.

My little Palefishers wanted to collect Autographs today, so armed with pads and pens we headed off to find some cycling legends. ( Craig was very surprised when the lads asked for his autograph!!)

It didn't take long to find a gaggle of famous riders for the boys to bug, 

Ed Clancy MBE

Dean Downing and Andy Tennant

After we had been chased off by the riders security we found ourselves a great spot near the start line and got ready for the race to get under way.

It was a big field today, 200 riders all wanting to make the best of the great conditions.

The race is set off in 4 waves, so that the Elites have to work to get to the front after leaving the start 3 minutes after the first group.

 4th Cat, Women and Juniors 3 and 4

3rd Cat and Junior 1 and 2

2nd Cat

Elite and Cat 1

 It only took about 8 laps, out of the 30, for the Elites to catch up and take hold of the front of the race.

The day didn't go without incident though. there were a couple of crashes, one on the back straight taking out about 20 riders. 

The last third of the race was without incident, and the last lap saw the elites line out in trains to get into the last corner and then a bunch sprint of over 100 riders.

The winner was Ed Clancy, with Thomas Scully second and Ian Bibby Third.

For the full results list head over to the Eddie Soens website HERE and for a race report with reaction from the riders head over to Velo UK HERE

Enough of my waffle, here are some shots I took today.

Fast!

Rapha Train

Two laps to go

Palefish Ken 

Ed Clancy Approaching the line

He didn't even look out of breath!

Tom Murray Metaltek Knights of old. Winner of the Sprint

First, Ed Clancy, Rapha Condor JLT(centre) Second Thomas Scully, Team Raleigh and Third Ian Bibby, Madison Genesis

A taste of the podium for the junior Palefishers

This one made the boys day.

The only difference this year, apart from the weather, is that unlike my dreamy thoughts last year of taking part, this year I have absolutely no desire to enter the 53rd edition next year!! 

It's been a while since I last Bonked!

Everything seemed to be going well this week. My diet has started to work, back the right side of the wrong weight, but still a way to go, and my Mojo is well and truly back. Tuesday and Thursday spins with some of the lads from the club, and a great wind assisted 38mph on the flat on Tuesday night.
You can imagine my disappointment when after a good run out to Eureka this morning, on the way back, BANG! The wall was well and truly hit and I was in the hell of what is known in the cycling world as a Bonk! To sum it up for the uninitiated to the delights of the Bonk, you basically cant find any energy to spin your legs, let alone find the power to climb even the smallest pimple of a climb. It makes for a very slow, disheartening plod home. As I said in the title, it has been a while, and I hope it is a while till the next one. But  a big thanks to the lads who rode with me to make sure I got back ok, and as I sit here writing this, with my legs still aching, I look forward to the next ride without a dented Mojo!
Today saw some new faces to the weekend ride. To make it easy for us, two new riders to join Palefish both called Keith joined us, along with Iain who has been taking part in the week day rides for a while.
Also out for the first time was Derek's new bike, a great retro Raleigh. And also we saw an old face resurface in the group. It was great to see Ant again.
13 of us met at the Twelfth Man, the biggest group so far this year, which wasn't surprising seeing as the weather decided to be nice to us. It wasn't warm by any stretch of the imagination, and there were some Icy patches along the way, but we all made it safely to Eureka.
It was great to see Steve Smith there, on his way back from a training ride. Steve rode for the Vita team for a while, and then moved on the ride for the Kuota Spinergy team and now has a spot on the Maxgear racing team. I look forward to following his season.
We didn't stop too long today, long enough for a flapjack and coffee though.

Ant was obviously happy to be back out with Palefish CC!

As we headed back up the Chester High Road we saw Nipper heading the other way, and then when we were going through the lanes, me now in full Bonk, we saw John and Nicky who were heading out towards Chester and the Borders. The fine weather certainly was being taken advantage of!
I won't bore you with the ride ho,e as it was slow, and painful and I'm glad its over!!!

I do however need to up the miles and time in the saddle. In two weeks it is the next Twitter ride. This time it will be taking in the Ribble Valley and the Forest of Bowland. There will also be some special guests riding, including Rob Hayes. Click HERE for details. If you want to see what previous rides have been like check out my previous posts HERE and HERE

I have also signed up to the Winter Sprinter, which takes place the weekend after! so I had better get back out on the bike soon!!

Cycle Show 2012

I struggle to accept that a year has gone by since I was last at the NEC drooling over the latest bike porn!

This year I was accompanied by 7 other Palefish CC lads. I drove and took Ken, Iain and Phil, and Paul also drove Scott, Pauric and Tim. I would like to say that The lads in the other car were given a picnic for the journey by Tims Fiance!! 

We met up at the NEC, My group were there first as we didn't stop for a picnic on the way, and as reward for getting there early we managed to see Olympic Silver medallist Lizzie Armitstead being interviewed by Dave Harmon.

Right next to the Stage was the stand for the Tour De Force. Sarah from the Loch to Loch ride was there and it was good to catch up and talk about the possibilities of doing the famous Tour route, one day!

My next destination was the Onimpex Bio Racer stand. I thought I would take the opportunity to talk to Ken about our order, and also it was a good chance for the lads to see what they had bought! Ken was great and explained how the kit was made, and the differences in fabric and pads used ( very interesting ) 

It should only be a couple of weeks now and then the club will be kitted out!

Next to the Bio Racer stall was probably the biggest, and definitely one of the busiest stalls at the show, Pinarello.
After Bradley's successful Tour the marketing team had gone to town, and I thought it was a great concept.

After a bit of mooching I came across old friends, Craig and Mike from Onix. It was great to see them so busy that they didn't have time to chat at first. It seems that the next few months are going to be really exciting for Craig, so watch this space for updates. We also spoke about taking the club ride up to the new Onix showroom and doing a ride from there into the Ribble Valley. More details to follow.

Rob Hayles actual Onix RH Pro! 

 Throughout the day we seemed to gravitate back to the Onix stand and as we did all the lads had a chance to meet Craig and talk about his bikes.

A Mike tool time master class!

Next to Onix was the C3 products stand. I bumped into someone else I had met before here. C3 were the main prize sponsors for the 10 minutes of hell Tunnel Time Trial last year. It was great to catch up with Paul, and nice to know he still reads the blog!

We spent the rest of the day roaming the halls taking in all the new technology and Bling.
Here are some of my favourites.

Colnago Ferrari Bikes

Olympic Gold Medal winning Bike

Tour Of Britain King of the mountains Jersey, and Kristian House's  bike above

Albero Contador's winning Vuelta Bike

Paul Smith Designed Lotus Condor

Palefish CC Colours?

That would look nice above the fireplace.

oops!

 We  also spent quite a lot of time in the Campagnolo Box. My personal favourite bling is the Super Record carbon groupset. Very light and extremely stylish.
As the day drew to a close we took advantage of the reduction in numbers and managed to get close to the Campanolo EPS test bikes. Paul was first, then Phil. We are not quite sure how it happened, but Phil managed to slip the chain off the rings! after a little fettling the chain was back on and we carried on abusing the extremely well engineered highly tuned piece of tuned engineering!

 I think my favourite bike of the show was the Demon Manhattan. Typically I didn't get a good photo of it, but here are some from the website. http://www.demonframeworks.com/

 I also liked the track bike, and the Copper plated finish.

So, that was the 2012 Cycle show. The Wiggo effect was definitely apparent, and the traders were commenting on the high level of interest from people new to cycling, long may it continue.

I haven't got any ride information to add this week. We didn't have a club ride on Tuesday, we decided to have a social at the 12th man instead, and have an opportunity to chat in comfort. It was well attended, and some great ideas about group riding safety were discussed. I couldn't make Thursdays ride as I was driving the length of the country, almost, and back to deliver my eldest Sons birthday present! And of course, we were at the NEC today!! Some of the lads went out yesterday, and on Tuesday I shall be back in the saddle too!!