The weekend roundup....

Another busy weekend for the Naked Bikes race team, with riders in action at the FNSS, Midlands XC and down in Brighton at the Big Dog.

Reports are coming in of riders' exploits starting with Paul's FNSS battles:

"After 7 days off the bike and training while on holiday I returned home on Thursday ready to do a full weekend racing fnss on Friday and midlands xc on Sunday. I knew Fridays race might hurt a little due to the lack of riding and it did ! Lol. The race started as a mass start which to be honest was good, after a long grass straight to get the legs going and a small wooded section I tried to settle myself down as my heart rate was hitting 197 bpm! I tagged onto the back of a few vets and settled down, I could feel myself getting faster and it felt good passing the vets and catching up some seniors. After forgetting to take my lock out off on the back rugged section and nearly having a off I got my head down and pushed to catch the guy I could see in front. After catching him on the back straight and going through the finish with the bell going for the last lap I sat on his back wheel to help with the head wind and planned how I was going to beat him. Sitting on his back wheel still and pushing him on the rugged back section he blew and I passed him got my head down and pushed. I wasn't going to let him back past ! Just in front was a vet so I decided to try and push more and catch him and after the last steep hill I was on his wheel on the back straight and passed him before the finish.
13 in senior and a few more points for the overall series in the bag . Overall a good race that wasn't as bad as I was expecting if I could just get myself a minute faster per lap I'd be in the top 10! But it's still my first year racing it will come. "

The 'Nicks' were in action at the weekend too, with both putting in some sterling performances. Mr Towers took 5th vet at FNSS, with Mr Popham taking 4th vet at the Midlands XC, putting him 3rd in the series overall.

Nick Popham at the Midlands XC

Rich was racing by the seaside down in Brighton at the Big Dog 6hr. A tough course with some vicious little climbs and steep woodland singletrack took it's toll on the assembled riders and saw Rich coming home 8th solo vet. Rumours of too much candyfloss and chips on the pier before the race are hotly denied!



Rich might not be the prettiest one in the photo, but at least he's putting the effort in! (Photo courtesy Jon Brooke)

Looking ahead....

The race team is looking ahead now to races stretching right into the winter. It may seem like a long time away with the sun still high in the sky and summer racing still firmly in our legs, but we're a team on the move and will continually look to improve our race presence and race performance. 

Here's a preview of what's on the race horizon:

This weekend sees the usual FNSS action, then Andy, Paul and Nick P take on the final round of the Midlands XC at Eastridge on Sunday

End of August Rich and Nick will head off to Verbier in Switzerland for CristAlp Grand Raid, 125km and 5025 vertical metres of climbing off road - that'll hurt! 

September we have 2 key initiatives to attend to;

Manx End2End sponsored by Manx Telecom, 8th September. Paul, Andy, Nick and Chris will be racing the 75km off road course from the Northerly most tip to the Southerly most tip of the island. 

The start of the Cyclocross season! Andy, Rich, Nick P, Josh and hopefully a returning from injury Ben will be racing various midlands based cross leagues throughout the dark months. Rumour is Paul and Nick T will be pit-bitching at some of these...

October 12th, Nick T and Andy head off to Ritchey Oktoberfest at Ashton Court Bristol for the 8 hour pairs singlespeed race. 2 gears between them and determination to get on the podium after finishing 30sec off 3rd place in 2011. 

Then starting early November with the first of 4 wintery 4 hour races in the flatlands of Thetford, Nick and Andy will begin Thetford Winter Series in the Vets and Senior categories. Like cross racing; cold, damp air, tongue hanging out like a panting dog and the greasy smell of the burger van wafting across the track, these winter races are the essence of the British grass roots race calendar. 

Forget your dusty trails and semi-slick race tyres........Naked Bikes will be putting on 700c or 29" with knobbles and keeping a high winter race profile. 

Naked Bikes en masse

Friday 2nd August and the XC team headed to Delapre Abbey in Northampton for Friday Night Summer Series. The course was a reversed version of previous years and must be considered as one of the 'proper XC courses' of FNSS. Almost entirely wooded singletrack, with leg stinging climbs and super-fast descents.

New team members U23 Josh Walling and Vet Nick Popham played a pivotal role in securing the Naked prize money on the night, meaning as a team we've been in the prize money for every round we've raced this year. Sponsors please take note of our ability to get your good name noticed! Josh raced to an impressive 3rd (he's only 16 and ripped through the field!), Nick P coming in 2nd in his first race in the jersey. Great start men! Nick Towers was a little off the pace unusually, having to settle for 6th placed Vet. 'Beaten by faster racers tonight, I'm afraid', said an off-beat Towers. Andy Faulknall and Boss Man Paul put in solid performances finishing in the middle of the Senior pack on what was a demanding course. 

Whatever the results tonight one thing was clear for everyone watching the race.........Naked Bikes Race Team gets noticed. 

After all that race effort most racers possibly had a relatively easy 'bike day' Saturday........? 

Nick T chose to work into the night prep'ing his bike for the Schwalbe 75k mountain marathon in Wales at 10am the morning after! 'It wasn't the best option' commented Towers, 'but it formed part of my preparation for CristAlp GrandRaid with Rich in August and Isle of Man E2E with Paul and Andy in September. Though not a race as such, the Schwalbe MTB marathons are as good a race practice as you can get - mountains, tough trails, race board and a target good finish time'. As it turned out all of the above applied and Nick came home 9th Vet in 4:02 - tired and need of a rest! 

Looking to the next set of races we'll see Mr Edge doing Vets 6hour solo at Brighton Big Dog and the usual suspects racing the penultimate scoring round of Friday Night Summer Series 2013. Will Mr Edge push for another podium? Walling scare the U23s again? Will Popham teach the Vets new tricks? Will Towers hang on to the Vets series lead? Will Boss Man and Mr Faulknall bully they're way through the senior field? Follow Naked Bikes and find out!

Round and round in circles

Proving that he can climb the podium steps as a solo rider too, Richard Edge took 3rd place in the Vets 12hr at Bontrager 24/12 down in Plymouth this weekend

Gurning is scientifically proven to aid cornering!

Richard managed to put away 16 laps, clocking up 191km of riding during the period.

"I'm really pleased to get my first solo podium in the bag for the team. I really enjoy 24/12 as a race, and this year was another great one. The course seemed a little easier than in previous years, but after 16 times around it, most of it got tough! I spent a lot of the race in 4th, and only realised I was in 3rd just before my final lap when my pit team mentioned that I should probably go hard on the last lap to consolidate my third place. Hilariously I managed to take 10 minutes off the previous lap time, so worried was I that I was going to get caught!"

Rich nearly cracks a smile!

Also in action this weekend were Paul and Andy, who were riding in the FNSS relay event, putting in a sterling performance to claim 4th.

Here's Andy's thoughts on the action (from what sounds like a confusing but enjoyable race!)

"It was a change to the normal FNSS proceedings this week being replaced by the annual 2 hour team relay event held at St Andrew RFC in Rugby. With only myself and the head honcho Paul representing Nakes Bikes there was a need to scout for a couple of ringers to make up the team of 4. FNSS regulars Mark Proudman and Rob Taylor were in a similar predicament so we decided to join forces. A quick reccie of the course before the start (very quick in fact - only 5 minutes for the lap including an impromptu toilet break) - 1.5 miles around a field then back via some cycling proficiency zig zags along the rugby pitch. Not your normal FNSS course but actually worked well for this type of event. We'd decided to race for 30 minutes straight, then change rider to get as much of a session in as you could in the time allocated. A strategy that was to last about 10 minutes as every other team was swapping riders almost every lap. I started us off and was 3rd into the first lap but soon lost a few places over the next couple of laps as new riders (keen to give it big guns) flew past. Next up Paul who maintained the pace for the next 2 or 3 laps (4 or 5 minutes a lap it's easy to lose track), then Rob (ringer #1) for a few more. Then time for Mark (ringer #2) to do a couple (or 6 as it turned out). With such a short course and different riders out all the time you never knew if you were first or last. However, after a bit of investigating we found that we were in 4th (only 1:30 behind 3rd). Mark was enjoying himself and was getting quicker each lap (so much so that he cut the gap to 3rd to less than 30 seconds. That's how it stayed for the final lap so 4th for the night. Enjoyable racing doing something a little different."

(It really is) Summer Series

After a spell of weather that came close to rivalling the fabled heatwave of 1976 (only vet racers will remember this!), it was no surprise that MK Bowl was closer to 'Dust Bowl' on Friday for Round 10 of the FNSS!

With both vet series leader Nick and NB Team Director Paul in action for Naked Bikes, there was double the opportunity for success.

Nick came close to another victory, with only a tyre burp standing in his way of the top step.


"I should have been first tonight! Lead until 4th lap - burped the rear tyre bouncing down a horrible off camber bank. Left with a squidgy rear end for a lap with position too tight to stop and sort it. Even trickier handling for the last lap. Managed to catch back to a couple of bike lengths, but with a short dog leg finish, getting back into 1st wasn't going to happen. So 2nd place and 99 points instead of 100 - series points 592.5 from a possible 600 and still leading - 3 scoring rounds to go. Just hoping for some strong results now to bump up my best 6 scores."

Cycling proficiency course with a flat tyre anyone?!

Paul was on similarly good form, racing with the seniors, and throwing himself into the deep end of the world of 29er racing!

"Milton Keynes would be my first outing on my new 29er Forme Winscar, and after meeting up with Nick and pre riding the course maybe it wasnt the best race to learn how a 29er bike feels! There was a good deal of singletrack along with some tight switch backs up some small but steep climbs and after spending most of the pre lap off the bike working out how to get the Forme around the tight bits I was a little worried . Back at the start Nick suggested a warm up  - anyone who knows Nick knows how dedicated he is and today this consisted of going up and down the step bowl sides - you can see why Nick is currently leading the vetern championship!

My legs now burning and Nick still warming up I was ready for the start . Flat out down the bowl sides I really could feel why everyone goes on about how much better 29ers are. I slipped into around 10th and set about going flat out for a hour! After the first lap I was feeling good but after the pre lap I had let some air out the rear tyre (too much!) and on the grass and tarmac I was struggling to keep a good pace and getting caught. Thankfully back on the gravel and single track the Forme was mega and I was able to catch back up.

Come lap 4 I was in 15 and on the tail of 14th , then on the single track I managed to pass him and pull away, pushing on and following some fast vets I came home in 14th ! Not a win or top 10 but for me I was very happy. I am also currently 14 overall in the series with more rounds still to go. I'm hoping I can push for top ten overall  - dreaming maybe but that's my goal!"

Well done to both Nick and Paul!

In other news, a new team addition, Joshua Wells-Walling managed an impressive 11th Junior Male in the National XC Champs up in Glasgow. Hopefully we'll be able to report some details of this soon.

That Friday Feeling...and 'other races, other racers'

Another Friday came around, and we got to celebrate another fantastic Towers performance, this time 3rd at Borrough Hill, Daventry (FNSS)

Over to the man himself...

Well, I was beaten my 2 faster vets so I can't complain overall. It was a course of 2 halves - big open and bumpy field sections on top of the hill followed by tight twisty wooded single track on the side of the hill. Got a good start and lead the field a good part of the first lap, more to ensure a clear run into the single track than 'break', but settled into 3rd place soon after. I struggled to keep pace with the leaders on lap 2 on the open bumpy sections, but held 3rd well and didn't get threatened. Pushed on last lap to consolidate my place.

Nick is series leader now, but there's 4 scoring rounds to go, and with several fast riders not yet having scored in 6 rounds,  it's still wide open. Results of all of leading racers will key in the final 4 races!


In case anyone feels as though we've been giving too much attention to Mr Towers recently on this blog (he does deserve it obviously!), there's lots more racing action left in the season for other team members.

A number of racers from Naked Bikes will be taking on the Manx End to End MTB Challenge on the Isle of Man in September http://www.manxe2e.org/

We will also have team presence at events including Bontrager 24/12, Brighton Big Dog, as well as Nick and Richard's Priority A race of the season, the Grand Raid Cristalp http://www.grand-raid.ch/

If that's not enough, there will be Naked Bikes representation through the Notts/Derby Cyclocross season, starting in September.

And finally, we've managed to get some rare imagery of the secret strength training regime that Nick follows in order to hit those podiums. Apprently he simply rides where there isn't a trail, and just barges his way through!

Vos? Froome? No...it's Towers!

Given the fact that for many people bike racing at the moment only involves their sofa and TV, it's comforting to know that some people are out there doing it for real, and even better to know that it's one of Naked Bikes' own, Nick Towers.

Nick continued his reign as podium king at last night's FNSS at Rockingham with a superb second place. Despite pre-races photos of the wide open, gravel course suggesting that skin suits and pointed hats might be in order, MTBs were apparently required.

As is now becoming the norm, here's Nick's race account in his own words.

"I got a decent start but soon got gapped into 3rd place by a couple of the Vet power-riders. I pushed on hard for a couple of laps before it became clear I wasn't going to make the bridge. The 2nd place Vet pulled out with a mechanical gifting me 2nd place. There was a decent gap to 3rd so was able to form a decent paced duo with the 3rd place Grand Vet and cruised home 2nd. I managed to chew the gravel on one last lap corner, but that fuelled me sufficiently to catch back to the Grand Vet and out sprint him on the finish straight. I don't think he was too thrilled to be out sprinted but age counts for nothing - Vets and Grand Vets are all old men on a mission! "

Once again sir, Chapeau!