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A Day At Wiggle

A Day at Wiggle – Thursday 10 December 2009

Have you ever wondered what the offices of Wiggle look like? Have you ever thought who works on the Bloggle site as well as the fancy ads that you see in the press? Or who the creators of the email and website banners are? If so, then read on.

A couple of months ago I thought it would be a great idea to give everyone who reads our Bloggle site an insight into a ‘Day at Wiggle’ for me – Richard Pearman – and to show you some pictures of our offices. However, before commencing any further into this article, I’ll quickly explain how I ended up at Wiggle and with the role I have now.

In April 2007, after having been made redundant from my previous employer, I applied for a part-time role at Wiggle with the intention of becoming full-time once I had successfully completed a thirteen week probation period. I began my time at Wiggle working downstairs in the processing department, which involved taking customer orders from the system, going out into the warehouse and collecting the goods then finally packing the items before they were loaded onto the lorries with the good intention of being delivered the next day (or two).

After 12 weeks in the processing department, I heard of a job opportunity upstairs which was just what I was looking for. It involved creating web pages and filling them with images and content so that customers could view and eventually purchase the goods displayed. This was something I was used to doing and had knowledge of from my previous employment as well as it being a great personal interest of mine.

After having worked upstairs within the Merchandising department for a further 4-6 weeks, Paul informed me that I had fulfilled the tasks given to me and that the position was mine if I wanted it. I accepted the role and this is now my position at Wiggle.

My day starts at 8.30 am and after greeting the ladies in the Finance department, namely Sian and Barbara, who can’t believe how chirpy I am in the morning, I sit down at my desk, prepare my notes and press the button to boot up my PC.

Once booted up, I started my working day answering several emails which I received from suppliers and also the good-in department. I also sent out emails to suppliers requesting image content for future projects I have in the pipeline. Today I had more than the usual emails to answer as I had just returned from a holiday trip to Cyprus (more on this in a future Bloggle piece). Once any problems have been sorted out it’s down to the tasks for the day.

One of the tasks today was to upload more products from the Token brand. These included various items such as spacers, lockrings, track sprockets, handlebars and stems, as well as many more. Once I had finished with Token the plan was to continue with FSA, but Wiggle is a very busy place and my priorities change on a daily basis.

As my job involves communicating with other departments within Wiggle, I’m usually sent emails regarding new images, extra items to add on to already existing pages (say a new colour option or size option), so inevitably I get side-tracked a lot of the time as these need sorting out virtually straightaway. I was sorting some of these emails out when Richard Land (known as Lando within Wiggle) walked through the door, plonked himself down in his chair, asked me about my holiday (which I told him), and then told me about his swine flu experience, which sounded nasty.

Lando sits next to me and we work well together – Rich buys the stuff you buy and I place it on the site for you to see, so we are always communicating with each other about products and what to put on the site and what not to put on it. Rich tries to get all the information I need, but sometimes this is not possible so it can be a struggle to get images and content at times.

Once Rich had his tea, not Cadbury’s hot chocolate, and I finished off a few more emails, Rich told me of a range of clothing that needed to go up on the site ASAP. Like I mentioned before, my priorities can change daily which I don’t mind as the needs of the business change daily too. The range of clothing I had to get stuck into was the Madison Range. So my first step was to download all the images from the Madison b2b site in one large zip file. As this was going on I opened the latest edition of the Madison ‘Parts and Accessories’ book which contains details such as pricing and part numbers to see just how much I had to create.

By now the time was just shy of 10.30 am. With a couple of emails sorted out it was time to start creating the Madison range. The CMS (Content Management System) I use is very simple and is designed in such a way that creating pages is easy to do. It’s like a crossword puzzle to a degree – you fill in the gaps and once completed I send it ‘Live’.

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17

New Forest Sportive Ride

The New Forest Sportive event was held on Sunday 11 October 2009 with the HQ in the lovely town of Brockenhurst which is situated in the heart of the New Forest National Park.

When entering the event you could choose from three different routes – Fun, Standard or Epic, depending upon your cycling ability. The Fun route took you on a 40 mile ride around Brockenhurst, Lyndhurst and Beaulieu, cycling through some lovely areas of the New Forest. The 70 mile Standard route and the 100 mile Epic route took you around Brockenhurst, Lyndhurst and Beaulieu, but these routes also took you further North heading towards Salisbury and as far South as Norkywood.

Due to my lack of fitness and recent arm injury thanks to crashing in a circuit race 5 weeks ago chipping my bone in my elbow, I decided to ride the Standard route which would take me on a lovely 70 mile journey through the forest and heath land. My partner Nikki, with good cycling form coming out of her year’s racing, decided to keep me company for the day.

The trip to Brockenhurst College, the event HQ, took us around 40 minutes from Denmead and was pretty much straight forward as we travelled down the M27 towards junction 2 (Cadnam). The only slight hold-up we encountered after leaving the M27 was when we approached Lyndhurst. Lyndhurst has a one-way system and in the summer months is a bit of a nightmare to travel through. It’s a great little beautiful place to visit though, but be prepared for some heavy traffic as you approach it.

We soon entered Brockenhurst and found the entrance to the college very quickly and were welcomed by the friendly ukcyclingevents team who directed us to the large car park areas. The weather earlier in the morning had not been great – raining, but as we parked up this had blown over thanks to the strong winds. The roads remained damp, but I was just glad to be starting in the dry. For me there’s nothing worse than starting a race, or cycling event, when it’s tipping down with rain and you are getting cold waiting for the off. Many of the entrants had started early, as we had originally planned, but due to our slight laziness in the morning we commenced our 70 mile cycling journey at about 9.20 am as a small group of 5.

During July 2009 Wiggle teamed up with Focus Bikes to offer a superb opportunity to win a trip to the Vattenfall Cyclassic event in Hamburg on August 16th 2009!

The Vattenfall Cyclassics one-day race is a true celebration of cycling. It is one of the youngest one-day road races in the UCI ProTour but it is one of the best races because organisers combine a high quality professional race with a day of cycling for everyone who loves two-wheels.

Read Part 1 of Richards blog – Meeting the Comp Winners and our Day in Hamburg.

Read Richard Pearman’s account of the race day below.

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Vattenfall Cyclassic Update Part 2

Part 2 – Sunday (Sportive and Pro Race Day)

The following morning was an early wake up call. My night’s sleep was not a good one as the room was very warm and we had no air conditioning to keep us cool. The hotel was also next to a major road which never seemed to quieten down with traffic. The windows were open to let some air in, but the noise was sometimes just too noisy. Eventually I did sleep, but not enough for me (7-8 hours is my normal quota).

We had to arrive for breakfast early then return down to the lobby to cycle to the start of the Sportive event. Many of the mechanics were up and about loading their respective team vehicles and preparing for the day’s event. Rich, Craig and I couldn’t hang around for too long as we had to cycle 2 km’s to the start. We also had to locate our starting point which was very hard because as we neared the area we were greeted by thousands of cyclist all looking for their own starting points.

Thankfully we had signed on the day before so all we had to do was locate where we had to be. Eventually we found our starting point so waited here for the rest of our group. Thorsten, Andy and their other guests were also riding. We arrived first, but soon after the others arrived. Everyone was wearing their Focus kit, which was given to us on Saturday, and apart from some hairy legs we all looked the part.
The start was delayed by 30 minutes, which was slightly annoying as we had hurried ourselves unnecessary, but things like this happen and it’s best that we got there in good time as we had come all this way.

The start was slow, which was expected. Getting our group of around 1000 cyclists going quickly from the start was not possible. It’s weird to see the rider’s way in front moving off, as slowly in front of you people are moving and you can see the movement heading towards you and soon enough it was our time to clip in and pedal.

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dhb Sportive Ride

On this lovely sunny Sunday morning I (Richard Pearman) and 10 others, including Nikki Wheeler ( my partner), Richard Land (Wiggle employee), and 8 members of i-Team Cyclists Club met up at Wickham Square to ride a 73 mile route that Wiggle intend to use for a possible 2010 Wiggle Sportive Ride.

Click the link below to view the ride information

As I know the local lanes quite well, due to the number of years I have been a cyclist, I planned the route along fairly quiet country lanes, taking in beautiful scenery and incorporating some challenging climbs to test riders on the day. The route itself is based on the numerous dhb names given to Wiggle’s clothing garments – Wickham being the starting point, which is the dhb eVENT Waterproof Jacket. Other examples include Weston (Waterproof Jacket), Rogate (Long Sleeve Jersey and Bib Tights), Elstead (Wheel Bags) and Finchdean (Long Sleeve Jersey and Shorts/Bib Shorts).

After having all met up, we set off at about 10.15 am to recce and get a feel for the route that goes through many quiet villages, which on a day like this particular Sunday (hot and sunny) was very pleasant and enjoyable. The pace was not too fast, just a steady ride, with all of us staying together on the flat parts and then re-grouping at the top of the tougher climbs.
The first long climb was Hampton Hill, which is just outside of Swanmore and is a gentle climb that takes you up to Corhampton Down. Once at the top of Corhampton Down there are lovely views of the Meon Valley all around you. Descending down to the valley below we then crossed the main A32 to take the quieter country lanes to Meonstoke. Just before the Hurdles pub, we took a sharp left turn and it was at this point that one of the rider’s chain came off. Could of done with a K-Edge Chain Catcher, but it didn’t take long for them to sort this out and rejoin us.

Meonstoke is a beautiful village next to the river Meon and during the summer season it is used as a starting point for a couple of local road races. The reason I say this is because we went past the village hall that is used as the HQ for these races. Shortly after passing the village hall, we then began the first tough climb of the day that takes you to the Naval base called HMS Mercury, which is a favourite training area for local cyclists due to the steep climbs, fast descents and excellent views of the basin surrounding East Meon.

It was here that we saw Toby Neave riding in the opposite direction, but we didn’t stop to chat as it looked like he was on a training mission. Once we went through HMS Mercury we then took a sharp left and descended heading towards East Meon. Before getting to East Meon we took a right hand turn to Weston, which is just west of Petersfield, and were able to cycle two abreast along this picturesque country lane enjoying the usual banter along the way.

As this ride was going to be a long day in the saddle, certain riders would have to peel off along the route due to prior family commitments. Bob Hatton was the first to leave us at the top of Mercury, but knowing Bob he probably did extra mileage before he joined us and afterwards as well.

The route took us through Buriton, South Harting, Rogate, and having crossed the A272 we then climbed the long (and energy sapping – according to Nikki) drag to the Milland Valley. From here we cycled to Milland and took a right hand turn to Iping, finally stopping again at the A272. After about a 5 minute stop where everyone regrouped we crossed the A272 and cycled into Elstead taking in a climb (short, but very steep) and descended back into South Harting. As we approached South Harting we took the little lane on the left that took us to the top of the South Downs. This climb is extremely tough and is also known as ‘Downs Place’ and gradually steepens as you near the top. I would suggest gearing of 39 x 25/27, or if you have a compact a 34 x 23/25 or even higher.

Once we had regrouped again at the top it was a fast descent back down to Chilgrove where we took a right turn, and then briefly stopped for a group photo and a breather before continuing through North Marden, Stoughton, and finally briefly stopping once again at Walderton. Chris Powell left us at this point, heading back to Hayling Island, whilst the rest of us carried on through West Marden, and Compton.

We stopped at Compton’s newly refurbished village shop/tea room (which comes highly recommended to any cyclists who find themselves out this way) to replenish our water bottles, but discovered lovely homemade cakes and plenty of choice too, so we decided to stop as it would have been rude not to sample the wonderful cakes on offer. As some of the riders needed to be back by a certain time, Sam Arnold, Andy Redding, and David Shaw carried on whilst the rest of us were marking the cakes 10 out of 10.

Twenty minutes later the remaining 6 riders clipped back into their pedals and started the final leg of the journey back to Wickham. We had about 25 miles to complete the route, and the following climbs ahead of us – Finchdean Down, Chalton, (where Rob Capel and Richard Land peeled off – Rob back to Cowplain and Richard to Chichester), Speltham Hill (Hambledon 1 in 7), Cams Hill, and Lodge Hill (Newtown).

On the final leg, Fraser unfortunately punctured as we came into Clanfield and although he told us to carry on we decided to wait for him to change his inner tube so that the remaining 4 of us finished together.
Once we reached Hambledon Nikki made the decision not to tackle Speltham Hill (as it’s not one of her favourites and would have been one very steep climb too many!), but to carry on to the Cams Hill (another steep one) ahead of us and at her own pace with no pressure from us men.

The three of us then tackled the “brick wall” (it certainly felt like it at the time). It’s a lovely climb with fresher legs, but not quite so enjoyable with tired legs, but nonetheless a great challenge for anyone. After about 3-4 minutes of pain it was a quick descent back into Hambledon to tackle the next steep climb – Cams Hill. Once at the top it was downhill all the way to Newtown to start the final climb of the day – up Lodge Hill towards Hundred Acres. Once at the junction it was a right turn and only about half a mile back into Wickham, where there are at least 3 choices of tea rooms.

Out of the 11 riders who set off about 5 hours previously 4 riders made the complete journey back to Wickham.
Personal note – I think the route is challenging with a couple of steep climbs, numerous smaller climbs to stretch your legs, plenty of fast descents, and lots of fairly flat sections to recover before the next climb and to get into a nice steady rhythm.

The final route is going to be approximately 80 miles which will be a good challenge for many riders, but not too long to become a struggle if you have a bad day or run out of energy. The climbs are evenly spread throughout the course giving you plenty of time to prepare yourself for the next one.

Back in May 2009 Wiggle offered the opportunity to ride the Vatternrundan in Sweden. One lucky Winner and two accompanying riders from Wiggle went about tackling this challenge head on. We have three reports from each of the participants for you to read.

Here is the first installment. Enjoy!

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Vatternrundan

The Vatternrundan – Rich Pearman

When Rich Land mentioned to me that I had the opportunity to ride an event in Sweden known as the Vatternrundan, I was very pleased as this would be my first trip to Sweden and also would incorporate my favourite passion – cycling. Rich soon explained that the event took place around a huge lake known as Lake Vattern and the event would start and finish in the town of Motala, which is situated on the Eastern side of the lake.

He then explained that the event would be run throughout the night and continues well into the following day and that the race distance would be 300 km’s. I immediately found the appeal and challenge of this event. It was not the distance that concerned me, but knowing that my first attempt at this race mean I will be cycling for at least 10 hours without any sleep, something I have not even considered before.

Thursday – Fiona Spotswood (Wiggle competition winner), Chris Chance, Adrian Bird (both from Nemesis) and my fellow work colleague Richard Land, known now as Lando at Wiggle, all met up at Standsted airport early Thursday morning. After all the introductions we quickly checked in, dropped off the bike boxes and bags, travelled through passport control and into the departure lounge where we decided to have a breakfast chit-chat in one of the café’s onsite.

The flight to Sweden took around 1 hr, 45 minutes and upon leaving the plan we were greeted by lovely warm sunshine and a very small airport. After walking quickly through Swedish customs our luggage was already waiting for us on the conveyor belt and within minutes we collected our belongings and walked out into the fresh air. Chris picked up the hire car whilst we all walked over to meet the van driver who would take the bikes to Karlsberg where we would meet our hosts for the trip.

Driving down to our base at Karlsborg (Brodit’s HQ, our Swedish hosts) I was instantly taken back by how good the roads are here. These roads are super smooth, clean and extremely traffic free and you start to realise that you are in cyclist’s heaven. As we travelled the 200 km’s to our hotel you start to understand why over 19,000 people had registered to ride the event. After meeting our hosts, we then drove the ½ mile or so to our hotel, checked into our rooms and chilled out for the rest of the day enjoying the lovely view over the lake.

Friday - I woke up feeling totally refreshed after the long day of travelling the day before. I looked outside the window and noticed that it was raining. Oh dear I though as this was a total change from the day before. Anyhow, after breakfast we drove back up to Brodit HQ as we had four bikes to build. We also met up with other guest of Brodit who had travelled like us the day before – some from Germany and a few others from the states.

Once everyone was happy that their bikes were all put together, tyres pumped up and all nuts and bolts tightened, lunch was next. Broadit took us to a lovely restaurant in Karlsberg where lasagne was the choice of the day. Unfortunately Lando’s pallet was unable to take the lasagne, so a healthy salad was his choice. Now, being one not to waste food I noticed that Rich’s lasagne was sitting on the table looking for a home. With a mammoth ride looming and no one else showing a keen interest on this delicious plate of food I ask if anyone else wanted to clean the plate. With no other takers I promptly took the plate, but sharing is in my nature so split this extra potion in half with Adi.

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FBD Ras Stage Six

Stage Six – 22nd May 2009-05-22

Today’s stage started back in Scariff and with a 20 km drive from the hotel on the outskirts of Limerick we had to leave earlier than usual. Breakfast was at 7.30am with the plan to leave around 9.15am to arrive at the HQ in plenty of time. The weather this morning did not look good. Fine drizzle, wet roads and a cold wind greeted us as we left the hotel entrance to take the bags to the van. We did agree last night at our race meeting to ride in if the weather was dry but as the weather was still bad approaching Scariff we decided to drive straight to the start.

The drive to Scariff was fine. The route took as back on the roads used yesterday so we knew exactly where to go. Scariff lies in a small dip between two mountain ranges, one known as Slieve Aughty Mts and the other Slieve Bernagh Mts, and both in the county of Clare. Once at Scariff it was the case of getting the riders signed in and check over the bikes. Richard Hoult told us earlier at breakfast that he was not feeling to good and that yesterday’s stage took a lot out of him even though he was off the back in a small group riding comfortably.

Looking at Rich today he was not looking to good, but you never know with stage racing. One minute you are down, then the next you are fine. With this in mind Rich remained positive whilst warming up and bravely started the event. As the riders were warming up I found a lovely little pub with a real rustic feel to it. As you step inside it’s like going back in time. The pub had solid wooden beams holding up the roof, a log fire and that old fashioned feel to it. At a table in the corner of the pub some of the Ras motor cycle marshals where having cups of coffee whilst sheltering from the rain outside.

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FBD Ras Stage Five

Stage 5 – 21 May 2009

Day five of the Ras and again the weather starts off cloudy and damp. Thankfully though the rain had passed over earlier in the morning, but you could see dark clouds building up over the higher mountains in the direction of the race so you knew at some point the riders would be getting wet. Breakfast this morning was at 8.00am so I had about 15 minutes to get dressed and ready before joining the others downstairs. Richard Hoult, the chap I was sharing the twin room with, also started to stir thanks to his alarm calls on his Blueberry device, which is far more modern than my alarm clock.

Today’s stage started back in the town of Killorglin at 11.00am with the race then heading to Scariff 155 kms away. The route is mostly rolling with a couple of 3rd category climbs thrown in to spice things up. With the strong tailwind these climbs would be fast and I was sure some of the riders would find this very hard and be dropped off. Hopefully our riders would be ok, but time would tell. Over breakfast we all mulled over John’s situation and the pain he must be in at the moment. It’s hard for everyone knowing that your team mate lies in a hospital and you can’t do anything about it. All we could do was to wish him well and hopefully John would be back in the UK with his family.

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FBD Ras Stage Four

Stage 4

Walking down the stairs to the breakfast area and passing the window in the hotel reception area I took a quick glance outside to see what the state of the weather was and witnessed a lovely view of the harbour with four fishing boats laying peacefully on the water with the hills in the background and clear blue skies. This was a lovely opportunity to take a photograph to give you some idea of the spectacular scenery Ireland has to offer

Before opening the door to the right of the window I decided to walk outside and take in the view. As I stepped outside and crossed the road to get closer to the harbour wall, the other thing you noticed is how quiet it is here. Hardly any noise from the local traffic could be heard and it was lovely. Anyhow, after spending ten minutes taking in the view, I then walked back into the hotel, met up with the rest of the team and had breakfast with endless tea or coffee all delivered with a polite and quick service.
The van got loaded up about 1 hour later and with my eighties music playing and Chris and John sitting next to me in the van we set off back to Cahiriveen for the start of today’s stage. Today’s stage is 178km’s long and finished in the town of Killorglin, just 25 km’s up the road from Cahiriveen. The race today does finishing in Killorglin, but on the second time through. The race leaves Cahiriveen, travels into Killorglin then heads out to Dingle taking in several minor climbs and the hardest climb of the 2009 Ras. This climb is known as The Conar Pass and is extremely steep on both sides. One side of the climb being a lot longer (race route) than the other and once over the climb it was then straight back to Killorglin to complete the stage.

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FBD Ras Stage Three

Stage 3

Another day dawns and opening the curtains reveals a nice, bright sunny morning, with patchy clouds low in the sky. Instead of my cheap alarm clock waking me up, which I have had for years, the sound of the church bells ringing 7 times pleasantly replaces the dull tones of the alarm and on hearing the bells it reminds me that I have jobs to do and staying in bed means they won’t get done. So while the others were sleeping, or just lying in bed reading their books, I got changed and started to tidy up the van ready for the days driving. I checked the van over for any punctures, leaks (water/oil) and more importantly the fuel level.
After checking over the van I checked out the time of breakfast with the staff and also picked up the laundry, which I sorted out when we arrived at the hotel after the event yesterday. After collecting the clothing and paying the manager the 8 euro’s we owed him I then took the lot to the guys who promptly sorted all of it out. Once the riders were ready, the whole team strolled into the breakfast area and reflected on the previous days racing over slices of toast or bowls of cereals.

As the start of today’s stage was in Cobh and just down the hill from the hotel, I had no reason to drive down to the race HQ for today and get involved with searching for a car park space with all the other vehicles, so therefore I decided that it would be far easier for me to leave and start my long drive too Cahirciveen, on the Ring of Kerry, when the riders left to sign on.
The journey I took travelling to Cahirciveen was by large the same route as the race. During the first part of the trip I stopped twice, once for petrol and the other for food. Once at the junction with the R569 on the N22, the race turns left entering the Ring of Kerry where the riders faced a tough road with numerous small climbs and one large climb, known as The Coomakista, which has a category of 1 in the KOM rankings. Not taking this left turn meant that I carried on along the N22 to a town known as Killarney passing the Killarney National Park, a beautiful area with high mountain tops and deep, rich green forest ideal for walkers or MTB riders.

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FBD Ras Stage Two

Stage Two

The following morning, after a perfect night’s sleep, the team took the morning trip down the breakfast area to eat as much as possible hopefully giving themselves plenty of energy for the 110 miles which lay ahead of them today. Soon after breakfast, the van got packed and the bikes put on the team car, but instead of the bikes and riders being taken to the start, which was back in Wexford, we decided that they should ride the 2 miles to help loosen up their legs and help relieve the aches and pains from the racing the day before.

Today’s race started at 11.00am in Wexford and with the predicted strong winds and rain, today’s stage was going to be hard. Also with 2 category 3 climbs and 1 category 2 climb on the route, this would also play a deciding factor in the stage today.
Because the race route covers roads which the team vans would also use, it was the case of leaving the HQ ½ hour before the actual start giving me plenty of time to arrive at the hotel and drive back to the finish. The first hour of my drive was fine, with only one stop which was shopping at Lidl to collect some chocolate, bread rolls and 4 packs of coke and after 10 minutes spent in the shop the Surrey League team van was back on the open road making its way to Cobh, the finishing town. The next hour soon passed by without too many problems, apart from slow moving traffic holding me up.

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