I saw on twitter on Friday that Rapha Condor JLT were hosting a team weekend in the Peak District were they were inviting fans to come and join them for breakfast, a ride, lunch and then a Q&A session. Obviously, I had to go!
So after a quick tweet to find their was still places left I persuaded my pal Alex to sign up with me and started making plans for the day.
Alex picked me up just after 7am and we piled the two bikes into his little Yaris and set off for the peaks. When we got to the pub (The Bull i' th' Thorn - can you get more Yorkshire?!) the car park was already packed full of riders and the Rapha Condor JLT transit van/mechanics mobile office. We put our bikes back together and left them by the car. As an aside, I hit a pothole yesterday on a ride and totalled my front wheel. Snapped 3 spokes and the wheel is in for repair :( Luckily I could use the Bianchi front wheel.
We went inside and had croissants & coffee (mmm!) as we prepared for the ride. The weather conditions weren't ideal, cold and windy and I'd only packed a short sleeve jersey and bibs - nightmare! I had some leg warmers but I'd just need to man up and embrace the cold on my top half. After standing next to an Olympic Gold Medallist (Ed Clancy) and ex-National Road Race Champ (Kristian House) they called us outside to get into groups after a quick briefing.
Alex and I set off in the third group led by Milk Race winner Felix English and new-Senior rider Hugh Carthy who has just been chosen to ride The Tour of Britain! The ride started off with a fairly epic descent on lovely quiet roads and moved quickly into the first Category 4 climb of the day. Alex got dropped on the first climb, caught up on the descent and then got dropped again on the 2nd climb. I didn't see him again after that.. I tried to feel a bit guilty but I was having too much fun!
The roads were quiet, the pace was quick enough and the Pro's were nice to talk to so I was having a whale of a time. One or two descents were a bit sketchy, one especially was on an awful road that was narrow, full of potholes and covered in slippy hay! Glad I got through it upright, I was a lot more nervous of the descents because of my off yesterday but didn't lose too much time.
There were two climbs of note, both around 16% one short which ended in a carpark with a tempting ice-cream van... and the other around 2miles long but did peter out near the top to around 7 or 8%. It was good to test my legs and I finished in the first 4 out of a group of 15ish on the climbs so although the pace wasn't particularly high on the flats everyone was giving it their all on the climbs (except the Pro's I guess..) so it was nice to confirm that I'm not absolutely awful. I did feel like I would need an extra gear on anything steeper (this was a Category 3 climb) so I think a 11-28T cassette might be on my Christmas list!
After a final lengthy descent and a long but shallow climb upwards we were back at the pub! Got myself a nice hot coffee and had a well deserved rest! Lunch was served soon after (pasta & spag bowl along with garlic bread) and I waited (and waited..) for Alex to get back. He turned up after about 45minutes having got a bit lost and tacked on 2 and a bit extra miles to his ride.
There was a clothing sale on too with 10% off Rapha Condor gear but I couldn't justify their prices (£22.50 for a cap, £9 for a water bottle!) and they even brought out some kit from a few seasons ago at highly discounted prices (£50 for a jersey and £70 for bibshorts) and although they look classy and probably very comfortable those prices are a bit ludicrous for someone like me.
The lady from Condor handed out a goodie bag which was unexpected. It was a Rapha mussette containing an SIS bottle and energy bar and the Rapha Condor JLT 'Summer' booklet worth at least £15 for the goodie bag. After lunch we all stood around and their was a Q&A with the riders and team manager. There were some interesting questions asked such as favourite race this year, budget for a team like RC JLT and how they expect the young riders to develop over the next few seasons.
The surprising things I took from this are
a) Once the riders reach 23, if they haven't progressed to a team at a higher level they will probably be let go to find another 3rd tier team
b) They are scouted by being 'not quite good enough' for the British Cycling programme (that Cav, Wiggo, Kennaugh etc came through) and they all seemed fairly happy with that assessment.
c) The young riders don't get paid! They get all the gear for free and all their expenses (travel, foot etc) paid for but they don't actually earn a salary from it. One of the guys has been offered a place at Cambridge Uni but has turned it down to try and make it as a bike racer - a bit crazy!
After some final words we applauded the riders and thanked them all for coming today and agreed we all had a great time. I hope Rapha Condor JLT do this sort of thing next year because I will definitely be going along!
The day only cost £10 and I think that is truly outstanding value. Decent breakfast, ride with the pros, lunch, Q&A + a goodie bag made for a very, very worthwhile Sunday!
Strava ride can be found here: http://www.strava.com/activities/79214554
Some pictures from the day:
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