Yesterday I was up at Earls Court at Cycle 2008 spending time on the Focus / Wiggle stand and having a general muse around the show.

Most of the new Focus Bikes only arrived at the beginning of the week so it was the first chance I had to have a proper look at the full 2009 range in the flesh… and they are stunning! The finishing this year is a stand-out addition to the usual great specs and value for money right across the range. The bike receiving the most attention from the press was the new Izalco Chrono which is the fruit of the labour from a collaboration between Focus and Walser, the makers of the world’s most sought-after time trial frames. This world-famous frame is now available in a road-specific configuration that takes standard width wheels and is the stand out bike on the stand and well worth a look.

We have taken up virtually the entire range to the show (unlike most manufacturers!) so it is a great chance to look at all the bikes across all the ranges whether you’re after a new full susser, hardtail, road bike, cross bike, commuter or track bike!

Other highlights of the show include the funky Charge stand, the Shimano Di2 demo bikes and the array of goodies present on the Garmin stand. not to mention the various bikes you can ride on the test tracks plus the fashion shows really are worth checking out too. I also nearly gave myself a heart attack on the British Cycling stand as I unwittingly agreed to a 200m sprint race on their training bikes! If you are going to do that make sure you’ve properly woken up first!

In September 2008, 100 participants from Portsmouth and around the country are cycling in support of the Faith and Football charity, which is headed up by professional footballers Linvoy Primus (Portsmouth FC) and Darren Moore(Barnsley FC) in the event - Pedal for Primus

The aim of the ride is to raise funds which will allow the charity to extend its ever increasing work with young people both in the UK and overseas.

The Challenge:
The ride will follow the route taken by Linvoy’s playing career. It will start at Charlton FC on Friday 5th September 2008 when participants will ride to Barnet FC. On Saturday 6th September the route takes us from Barnet FC to Reading FC and finally on Sunday 7th September from Reading FC to Portsmouth FC. A total journey of 160 miles.

Simon, who works as part of the wiggle merchandising team, will be taking part in this epic event to help to raise money towards this worthwhile cause, if you wish to support the charity donations can be made via the Just Giving site at the following link http://www.justgiving.com/johnmcgee

British Cycling have put a report of Sleepless in the Saddle on their website with a bunch of great pictures of the intense mud bath that Focus & Wiggle sponsored rider Matt Page stormed to victory at.

Here’s a few quotes from the report:

Read the full review at britishcycling.org.uk

I’ve just been flicking through bikeradar.com checking out some of their Olympic features (Go Team GB!) and spotted a few pictures of German Champion Hanka Kupfernagel riding her awesome Focus time trial bike and, in last weeks road race, on her Cayo Venus.

TV sport correspondent and budding Triathlete Craig Doyle was kind enough to take a break from both his busy TV schedule and his dedicated tri training on his Focus Cayo road bike to write us his thoughts on the Olympic Triathlon next week.

Isn’t it funny the things people notice?

I was belting around the Wicklow hills on Sunday trying to put in a few decent miles after months out injured, when out of no where this chap (who was far too big for is lycra cycling gear) came along side me. Now I was 50 km into my ride and facing yet another climb, so was in no mood for a chat.

“Wiggle” he said.

I was thinking who is this sick b*****d who wants me to wiggle?

“What”, I replied

“I see you got your bike from Wiggle”, he said.

The guy was right, although I don’t think he was referring to the tiny Wiggle sticker that takes up the smallest part of my bike, but he was obviously aware that my full carbon Focus Cayo is only available here from the good people at wiggle.co.uk. This was the main focus of my new friends’ conversation. He was thinking of buying a bike off the net and wanted to know what I thought.

“Buy it” I replied, and pushed away from ‘porno bike guy’.

I was a panting mess of chamois cream and sweat when a guy on a mountain bike came along side me – “nice bike” he said in a thick Spanish accent “I like Focus, but what is this Wiggle” - he obviously had eagled eyes and had spotted the sticker. He loved the idea of buying off the net and I think they might be getting an order from a Jose from Bilbao very soon.

Anyway Jose and I got chatting and before long I was boring the nuts off him about triathlon. He was adamant that Javier Gomez would win the men’s race. There is no doubt the Spaniard is some performer, I’ve watched him up close a few times covering the race for the BBC, and in full flow he is very impressive. With 7 wins from 8 races this season, bookies rightly have the current World Champion as favourite; I’ll certainly be backing him….

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I just received an email from Lisa, our other competition winner who is participating in the London Tri next weekend. Here’s her thoughts on the race:

Some might say I am ill prepared… I have no goggles, wet suit, racing bike or trainers… However, I have enlisted a friend as a coach (’Coach Sweetman’) and am currently sourcing triathlon gear. I have completed my first round of training- couple of laps of Jesus Green and 10 lengths of the 91m outdoor pool and will complete the cycle this evening. I will then have completed each event individually leaving next week for some ‘high octane’ training to ensure I am primed and raring to go come race day. I am still to attempt to slither myself into a wet suit… I heard whispers that baby oil/ vaseline is the key? Jokes aside, my general fitness is good and I am happy to take on the challenge. Any tips welcome.

We ran a competition in July two give to lucky Wiggle customers the chance to compete in next weekend’s London Triathlon. All the entry places were filled months ago making the prize even more special than just saving the £75 entrance fee.

To enter the competition all you had to do was tell us why you thought you deserved to win. Lots did, and we picked our two favs and have given them a mere 10-days to get ready for the biggest triathlon in the world!

Our winners (coincidentally) were both from Cambridge and are Carl Myhill and Lisa Hall. I have spoke to them both and they are excited (and maybe a tad nervous) about the race but I wish them both the best of luck.

Carl’s posted his reaction on his blog:

Thrilled to win Wiggle Competition to Enter the London Triathlon

I’ve been doing quite a bit of triathlon training this year but have not entered any events yet.

I was buying some Aquasphere Seal goggles for open water swimming from Wiggle recently and noticed they had a competition with entry to the London Triathlon as a prize. All you had to do was tell them why they should give it to you.

Here’s what I wrote:

I think I should win the entry because the last event I did in London was the World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR). Cycling down Oxford Street naked has left an indelible scar on my memory which I would like to erase by participating in a fully clothed event. I’m just kidding really though because the WNBR was a great fun bike event and protest against indecent exposure to CO2 and car culture. OK, naked cyclists don’t buy much from Wiggle but how about it?

I’m thrilled that the folks at Wiggle have a sense of humour and have given me a prize entry to the Sprint Tri on 9th August. Of course what I wrote is not true - I’m not scarred by the WNBR at all. I think it was an excellent event, well organised, well received by the public and well policed (the Police joined us on bikes). I’m not a naturist by any means but I am an environmentalist and strongly believe that bicycles provide part of a solution to the rising cost of Oil, the coming of Peak Oil and our need to get about. The government are even supporting this (albeit not cycling naked) with their excellent Bike to Work scheme, providing an excellent way to buy a top quality bike cheaply…..

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The countdown to London begins…

Thousands of triathletes will be descending on the capital in less than a fortnight’s time for the world’s largest triathlon - the Mazda London Tri. Now in its 12th year, the triathlon is as popular with international elite athletes as it is first timers eager to give the swim-bike-run game a go. Held at the ExCel Centre in London’s Docklands on August 9 and 10, about 13,000 competitors are expected to race over supersprint, sprint and Olympic distances with relays and corporate waves also taking place.

Athletes swim in the Royal Victoria Dock before heading into the ExCel Centre which plays host to the transition zone and is arguably one of the largest transitions in the world. The bike route triathletes follow depends on the distance they are racing and the course they have selected. Some head out to Tower Bridge while others follow the Westminster Route which takes in some of the city’s most famous landmarks. After returning to the ExCel Centre once again for the second transition (T2), it is then time to pull on the running shoes and get out on the run course which consists of laps around the ExCel. With music pumping, the sun (hopefully) shining and thousands of spectators lining the course, it won’t be hard to see how scores of people pick up the tri bug good and proper at London…..

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Our sponsored Focus rider, Matthew Page has just sent us in his reaction from Mountain Mayhem where he put in a sterling performance. Matt didn’t quite last the distance but still finished 16th out of 122 racers! Read his detailed account of the gruelling 24 hour race below:

Mountain mayhem has come and gone, the event that I had been targeting for months. Unfortunately the race didn’t go to plan and due to extreme weather and course conditions I stopped after 14 hours.

I had arrived at Eastnor Park on Thursday, found what I thought to be the best pitch and setup a camp. We were track side and immediately before the timing tent at the end of the lap. By Friday afternoon we had finished setting up the camp, I had started my pre-race fuelling and things were looking good. I had a really organised pit area and an absolutely brilliant support team: My girlfriend Nia, my Mum, Jo and Ben who was in charge of the mechanical side of things.

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This Friday sees the start of the 11th annual Mountain Mayhem Festival. A whole weekend of bike fun centered around the 24 hour endurance race. The setting for the event will be Eastnor Castle in Ledburg, Herefordshire.
Focus and Wiggle will be represented by Matthew Page and will have our very own king of the tools Ben Jefferey who will be on hand for the full 24 hours should anything need tweaking or adjusting.