Team, Equipment, Training...

Team

With my personal shift from a focus on time trials to cycloccross from 2013 onwards, I knew that the time had probably come to move on from my sponsorship by Boneshakers for pastures new. After some flirting with established teams, I rapidly came to the conclusion that I really liked the idea of setting a team up myself which I could develop and mould how I wanted. A team that was run fairly, for the riders with appropriate support for those who needed it. 
After some searching around, I found a sponsor who is cyclocross specific, enthusiastic and was supportive of me developing a Junior/U23 team. Our sponsor, Andrew Yee, owner of Cyclocross Magazine and I formed a concept and the cxmagazine.com team was born. I approached a friend of mine Ted Sarmiento to assist with running the team as he had extensive connections in the British University Cyclocross Association. 
Date Event Notes For 2013/14 we took two bright, young riders. Sarah Murray, a twenty year old medical student who at 5'1" tall packs a massive punch and is on the brink of top ten national ranking in her second season. And we have Edwyn Oliver Evans, who at seventeen is a past winner of the Three Peaks at junior and is a consistent challenger in senior races for the win.

Ted and I provide mechanical, technical and organisational support, particularly to Sarah.   

For the summer season time trials, I have not affiliated cxmagazine.com for this discipline trials and revert to the colours of my long term cycling club (since 1982!) Harrogate Nova, a club that I am passionate about and thrilled to be an active race organiser for.   

Equipment

Four committed bike riders, each with at two cross bikes, means a lot of equipment. Fortunately, I have some fantastic friends in the sport, many of whom work in the trade and see the value of cxmagazine.com using their kit. 

I have seen a great many different innovations and equipment trends. I much prefer well proven, reliable equipment that will get me to the finish line over kit that is likely to leave me stood at the side of the course as an impromptu spectator. 

One of the most important aspects of my equipment choices is reliabilty and ease of maintenence. Balancing the time demands of training-racing-home life is demanding and means that maintenance time is at a premium. There is nothing more disruptive to my sport than malfunctioning equipment. I use workmanlike, quality kit and leave nothing to chance.

I've got one eye on electronic shifting....and the other on disc brakes. I feel that both technologies have true advantages...and some disadvantages but neither one comes close to being necessary. I'll certainly adopt in due course, but only when what I have wears out......

I do not carry any superpfluous equipment that sits there looking nice in my store. Everything I have does a specific job. 

I keep an aluminum winter/CX practice bike, a TT bike, and three virtually identical carbon CX race bikes (pictured below), one of which is equipped with power cranks, slightly higher gears and clincher wheels for road training in summer. This summer CX bike acts as a stock of identical parts if something gets damaged mid cross season and saves the Saturday panic of chasing around trying to find a particular part for Sunday's race.

The three carbon bikes have SRAM Red/Force, Avid Shorty Ultimate brakes, Mavic SL wheels for road or 50mm deep carbon Hope Hoops for cross, Zipp Service Course bars & stem with Prologo perch. Cross tubulars are handmade from FMB. The road bike runs on 28mm super light tyres that'll run at just 75psi. This means that the relaxed angles and very slightly longer wheelbase will litterally make the bike float over rough road surfaces - great for 'keeping it on' when training on shitty surfaces.

The Scott Addicts make for stunning cross bikes, weighing 16.2lbs with deep section wheels and 33mm FMB Super Mud tubulars.