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a journal - cycling, sociology, social media

Sunday 12 May 2019

TdY: Teesside team, Teesside artist, Teesside icon.


Last week I was at stage one of the Tour de Yorkshire and what a grand day out it was, and the day gave me an obvious topic for a blog post. I didn't want to just write a race report with pictures though, other people, such as my friend Larry Hickmott over at Velo UK can do that stuff way better than I can. So as there are several local and family links with the the race I have used my usual approach of starting with some decent pics but then taking it in a slightly different direction. 
Regular readers will know of my association with Teesside based Ribble Pro Cycling as I have previously posted on how the team began here Evolution of a team. My son Jack established the team back in 2012 and it has grown year on year since then culminating in making the step up to UCI level this year and participation in the TdY.


The Team Ribble Endurance SL race bikes with their stunning 'glitter' paint job attracted a lot of attention at the Doncaster start, and also really stood out during the TV coverage in what were often wet and dark conditions. The rider's spare bikes, the Ribble Aero 883s can be seen behind on the brand new team cars which also looked really impressive in the race convoy.


The Hyundi team cars and a VW Transporter van were provided by Intak self drive and were custom wrapped and had their roof racks fitted only a few days before the tour. The team are also fortunate to have this mini hybrid from Cooper Mini Durham. With six riders, nine helpers and four vehicles the four day race was a complicated logistical challenge and a huge amount of work was done prior to the race. Credit must go to Tom Timothy Team Principle at Ribble Pro Cycling who produced an extremely detailed plan of the four days that worked perfectly.


The riders before the start of stage one and a final briefing from Team Manager Matt Cronshaw (centre) and L-R riders Zeb Kyffin, John Archibald, Jacob Tipper, Scott Auld, Alex Luhrs and Dan Bigham. Instructions from Matt and the team's objective for the stage and the following days was pretty simple - get riders in the break.


                                                              Matt overseeing the final warm up


            Yours truly with a big Team Ribble personality, our man from the valleys Gruff Lewis.

                             
          The posters for this years Tour de Yorkshire produced by the artist Mackenzie Thorpe.

This year the TdY appointed Mackenzie Thorpe as the official artist for the race which delighted my wife Sue who is an avid collector of Mackenzie's work. Teesside born and bred Mackenzie Thorpe is an enthusiastic ambassador for our region and he recently donated an artwork called 'Waiting For Me Dad' as a gift to his home town of Middlesbrough which is now located in its permanent position at the world famous Tees Transporter Bridge in the town.


The 'Waiting for Me Dad' sculpture at the iconic Tees Transporter Bridge, nicely colour co-ordinated with my Ribble Aero 883 Custom race bike.


Part of Sue's collection of Mackenzie's work featuring the 'Transporter' is this limited edition print, also called 'Waiting For Me Dad'. No need to worry about the risks I took when producing the content for this post, Sue was out when this picture was taken ... obviously.


Not only do we have art in this week's blog but poetry too as the Transporter Bridge is featured by north east poet Ian Horn in his poem Ironopolis, the nickname given to the industrial Middlesbrough of a bygone age.

                                                                           Ironopolis - The Town That Built The World


      Where alchemists were born.
Below Cleveland's hills
a giant blue dragonfly
across the Tees
reminds us every night
We built the world.
Every Metropolis
came from Ironopolis.


'The Fastest' by Mackenzie Thorpe part of the 2019 Tour de Yorkshire collection captured in this picture at Mackenzies's gallery in Richmond, appropriately for the purposes of today's blog with a Mackenzie sculpture of the Transporter in the background.

Remember that old saying 'Chicks dig scars' ?

Local connections continue with Sue at the TdY depart alongside one of Ribble Pro Cycling's Teesside riders and someone I have known since he was a junior, Scott Auld. New to the team this season and although only twenty two Scott brings considerable experience to the squad having spent the last few seasons racing in Italy, France and Belgium. Given the significant responsibility of Road Captain for the TdY Scott went on to have a great tour, made a big contribution and finished only a few minutes down on the winner. A brilliant performance but all the more remarkable as only thirteen weeks ago he was involved in a very serious accident while training in Spain in which he suffered multiple lacerations, a broken arm and serious facial injuries which required plastic surgery - tough as they come this lad.


Sharing a joke and a pre-race bag of chips with with long serving team member DS John Reeve  



This post wouldn't be complete without pictures of these two heroes, Dan Bigham and John Archibald who did Ribble Pro Cycling proud by taking to the podium on stage one and stage three, having won the Dimension Data Most Combative Rider Awards. Dan who has featured previously on the blog here On Getting Aero and here Interview with Dan was the dominant rider in the break on the first day, in a move that was only swallowed up by the peloton metres from the line. John was equally aggressive on stage three making huge efforts to be in the break which eventually succeeded in escaping after numerous attempts. Objective achieved and exceeded fellas - congratulations.

Thanks for sticking with me to the end of this weeks rambling account, next time on the blog: 'Racing with Power'. 
Now that my race season is well under way this will be the final post in a series of three focusing on my now eight months experience of using a power meter, you can read the first two here #Power1 and here #Power2  - am I now producing a lot more watts, and hitting huge numbers ? maybe ... or maybe not.




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