52 Cycling Voices - 34: Evie Richards

When speaking to mountain biker Evie Richards it's like a breath of fresh air, as I found when I interviewed her last year. Even though she is Britain's top female cross-country mountain biker she comes across as very modest and relaxed, with a well-balanced attitude to life. Having said that, when I spoke to her I found that things hadn't always been so easy-going for her, notably a few years ago when she suffered from disordered eating. Things have improved somewhat since then. She has fulfilled a dream of becoming an Olympian, when she competed in the Tokyo Olympics. She has since also become a World Champion, as well as Commonwealth Champion at the Games that took place on a course at Cannock Chase near Birmingham. Well done, Evie!

Evie Richards, aged 25

From: Great Malvern, Worcestershire

Occupation: Cross-country mountain bike racer

I always loved the Olympics. I just dreamt of being in the Olympics. It wasn’t necessarily cycling  when I was younger, that I wanted to get into. I just did every sport until I found one that I could go to the Olympics in. So for me it was the Olympians who inspired me – people like Jess Ennis, Tom Daley who were my true inspirations – or Jonny Wilkinson in rugby – we used to watch a lot of rugby, so it was …so for me it wasn’t until I started racing and I was racing world championships that ….I remember in my first world champs I sat on the side line and my friend was teaching me the names of all the riders. I never really watched cycling as a kid. So it wasn’t that I had an inspiring person in cycling. But now from me racing against different people and watching different races there are so many inspiring people. 

I got into cycling with my friends, and we used to ride around in the local hills. Local riders like Commonwealth Mountain Bike Champion Liam Killeen and World Downhill and Enduro Champion, Tracy Moseley (T-Mo Racing) would do coaching sessions.

Liam is the person who first helped me when I got into riding. He used to do efforts with me and friends on a Tuesday after school. On Thursday we would do Turbo in my friend’s garage and he would lead it for us. It’s funny because after four of five years of cycle racing I went back to him for coaching along with Matt Ellis, a GB coordinator. I also had Katy Curd as a coach. She's a retired downhill rider, and does all my technical coaching. Then there's Tracy. They are all people that I’ve grown up with, and they all live locally. So I feel lucky to have this team of people near to me. 

I feel like we’re probably freaks of nature around here in Malvern. I think from such a young age you don’t really go on the computer, you don’t really have a phone. If you do something you knock on someone’s door and you go up the hill and go adventuring or something. It’s quite cool. It’s like all the boys I went to nursery with are my best friends and if we wanted to see each other we’d just knock on the door and go on an adventure together. So I feel like we’ve always been brought up just being outside, and I feel that that’s probably had something to do with it. 

If you look at the men, like Tom (Pidcock) and Matthew (van der Poel) they can just do everything well. But for me, I prioritised the mountain bike because it was always my dream to go to the Olympics. I raced all the mountain bike races, and then I'd have a short break and use cyclocross races as training over winter. I never feel like I am going very well in the cyclocross races, but it is my favourite way to train. 

I love how crazy cyclocross racing is, and I do think I was born to do that discipline. I think for mountain biking I have to work a lot harder for it – all the skills don’t really come naturally, but I think I’m lucky that I am good in cold temperatures and I like the chaos of it, so I was pleased with my result at the World Cyclocross Championships in Oostende, where I finished 7th.

I love it so much. I think one year I would like to properly race it – be training for cross, and do loads of training on my cross bike and everything. But at the moment I can’t peak for everything like those boys do, so I focus on the mountain bike and use the cross to train through it.

I do put myself under pressure when I race. I’m a worrier and I feel like I always put pressure on myself – it’s not always from external pressure. Like I remember when I watched the Olympics when I was eight, I couldn’t watch the running, all the athletics because I wanted to be there so badly. I couldn’t watch it and I was already putting pressure on myself at the age of eight. 

I think without anyone around I put a lot of pressure on myself. As I grow older, I learn how to deal with that better. I work with an amazing psychologist and he’s taught me how important it is to work out what other people are putting on you, and how much you actually want it. I feel really lucky to have a great psychologist who helps me deal with all the pressure otherwise I’d be a nervous wreck at all the races.

In the past disordered eating and RED-S has been a problem for me. Sometimes you feel you have to grow up very quickly. When you I got into cycling and left school I just wanted to win so badly and I thought the way to do that was to be the lightest I could be.

I don’t think there was anyone to point me in the right direction at that age. I lived on my own and there wasn't anyone to pick up on it and say "You probably should be eating more." So it was actually when I moved back home after three or four years when my mum was like, "Oh my gosh you are so bony; you need to put on some weight." 

I was very lucky to have a very supportive family who caught it at the right time and helped me, and I realised how unhealthy it is for women not to have periods. Before that I remember seeing many doctors and asking if it was okay that I was not having a period. And always, the answer was yeah, that’s fine don’t worry about it. 

When I was growing up there was a lot of disordered eating in sport and you were aspiring to be like someone who wasn’t actually healthy. The difference now is if you go on social media there are so many people talking about their experiences, or encouraging people to fuel their riding. 

I worked with Renée McGregor and she was amazing. She helped me get better and it’s not even a problem anymore. I think it’s so important to educate people about this. Under-fuelling is something that can ruin a young rider and ruin their career from a young age. It can lead to a really short career. 

Covid made things very complicated when going to races because of all the paperwork and it was worrying. You need a Covid test, a letter from British Cycling, a letter from the race organisation saying that you’re racing. You need a higher status letter, so normally one from an Embassy, with an official stamp. There’s loads of other paperwork you need, though those are the three main ones. If you don’t have one of those there’s no chance of you getting across.

We have to travel from Heathrow Airport, which is nearly three hours for us. Once when we got to Heathrow we were told there was no way we would be flying, as we didn't have the right paperwork. So there we were - people who had travelled from all across the UK and we met at the airport -  only to have to go home as the trip was off. Then a few days later, we got a message saying, "Quick - book yourself in for a Covid test! We’re going in a couple of days!" We just about managed to get across to our race in Spain in time. It was so stressful!

I love riding my bike, but I also love non-cycling things. I’m very competitive but I think if you saw me in the street you probably wouldn’t think I was a cyclist. I don’t really like talking about bikes. Bikes are my day job. I don’t want to see my bike or my phone on my day off. I like doing mini holidays. Like me and my mum do a 48-hour retreat on my rest day just after training. 

My friends are really important to me and that’s such a really big part of my life. I like to go and have coffee with them or have barbecues up in the hills and stuff like that. Just doing anything that isn’t cycling with my friends is fun. I’m not really into shopping but I’d rather go to a little market when there aren't huge crowds, and I’m with people I really love seeing.

I do love sport. We’ve grown up doing it, and I love running, love swimming, wild swimming. I also like to play tennis or do anything outdoorsy. 

I think there can be a lot of pressure on young riders very early – whether it’s from parents or teachers or just from themselves. I think with me I was very lucky to have this group of boys and we would ride and have a camp fire or we would ride in winter to some random Tesco ages away and buy ice cream, sit outside on the kerb and eat it. So I think the importance at a young age is just to find a group of friends and just go on adventures, exploring places on your bike. 

I get a lot of messages from parents or kids asking me what training plan should they be doing, but I really think at that age you should just be having fun. If you want to race and do efforts then race each other, but don’t go out and thrash yourself because you feel like you ought to at that age. Find a group of people you can socialise with and make memories together. I think it’s so important because there are a lot of people who are so narrow-minded and all they do is cycling and that can only last so long, so you might as well, at a young age do as many sports as you can and just have fun really." 

Other Cycling Voices

Pauline Ballet

Tracy Moseley

Helen Wyman

Monica and Paola Santini

Janet Birkmyre

Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig

Emily Chappell

Michelle Webster

Caroline Martinez

Maria David

Back doing cycle races and cyclosportives - kind of!

After years of no cyclosportives, this year I have decided to make a comeback to organised bike events. Interestingly, the coronavirus pandemic has played a part in that. After a couple of years of limited opportunities to do races and other mass participation events I now want to make the most of the chance to take part, at least while I've got my strength and faculties. 

Finish line at the Fred Whitton Challenge

When the pandemic hit us in March 2020 and sports events were cancelled, many of we sporty types felt a massive hole in our sporting programme of activities. 

Sure we still had the freedom (unlike some other European countries) to go outdoors and train, but not having a challenge to aim for meant that something was missing. It's not as though I was a prolific racer like I had been about 15 years ago, but pre-pandemic bike racing was something I had had in the back of my mind as something I was going to restart at some point in the future. 

However, as the old adage goes "you only appreciate something when you no longer have it", and this situation spoke exactly to that scenario when all racing was put on hold. All I could do at that point was to look whimsically at the list of races that I could have done here or there, and if only I could get up to the Lake District, Wales or Surrey Hills to do a cyclosportive here, a fell race there, or even a triathlon. 

So when the big, high-profile events opened entries I decided to apply - for (in order of difficulty) Ride London, Fred Whitton, and the Etape du Tour. However, the one snag about doing cyclosportives is that you have to do them - you have to put in the miles, do the training, feel confident in your ability and get yourself to the start line. So far, I have had a better year than most in recent times in terms of getting out on my bike and doing rides. I've got up to the Lake District a couple of times, the Peak District, and of course my local hills in Surrey and Kent. Plus, 

I have also been abroad for cycling, with trips to Italy and France. What I have found though now, in my veteran years is that it's quite difficult to get out and ride when I have to juggle that with life. When trying to run a house and keep the cheques coming in, that has to take priority over going out on your bike for six hours - even at the weekend. It's quite different from when I was in my 20s and 30s and felt relatively care-free. Also, back then you could turn up at a race and "wing it". 

These days one has to pre-enter races and I generally end up racing against young'uns who are 20 or 25 years my junior, who work on their power/FTP on all kinds of new-fangled gadgets and Zwift. They get themselves coaches, and quite a few race for a semi-professional team. 

So to turn up for a race now for me, has to be a properly considered decision with various questions to ask myself. Will I be competitive? How does this balance against the pile of admin, gardening, and DIY that I have to do at home - particularly if I have to allow four or five hours to do the event, and in these economic times can I justify paying this entry fee, particularly if there's a real possibility that I will finish in last place in the race! So despite all the best intentions these are the questions that run through my mind when it comes to bike events. 

Note, that I also like doing other events - running races, swimming events, triathlons and SwimRun, which I started doing last year. So that complicates the mix further. Consequently, my bike racing hasn't gotten into a full flow. I did the Fred Whitton Cyclosportive in May this year. Not feeling fully confident in my ability, I chose their cop-out option of doing the Lamb and Lion route - after Newlands Pass you can divert back to Keswick and take the main A591 road back to the HQ at Grasmere. Easy option, my a*se! I still did 73 miles and around 2,000m of climbing, including Honister Pass at the end of the day! 

I did another cyclosportive, Ride London-Essex cyclosportive. It was considered easier than the Surrey Hills version of the event. In fact, I would say it was different but equally challenging, as the course undulated constantly instead of the previous editions which had three distinct climbs through the Surrey Hills - Newlands Corner, Leith Hill and Box Hill - interspersed on a mainly flat route. The Etape du Tour (Briançon to Alpe d'Huez) is still to come, and we'll see how that goes.

In terms of more competitive events, I did a criterium race last Friday evening at Herne Hill Velodrome. As expected I was dropped from the group of women who turned out. To be fair, it was a fairly technical course with a number of tight corners. I was happy to ride slightly slower and get around the corners in one piece, albeit in last place, rather than to stack it in front of a large captive audience! There will be some summer cyclocross events taking place on Friday nights at Herne Hill too. Hopefully, I will get across to do one of those. The journey continues, even through my advancing years!

Photo of the day - 19: Cyclocross season opener at Ardingly

Photo: Dave Hayward

After yesterday's fun-packed day of a hill climb race in the morning and Swim Serpentine in the afternoon, I was feeling a bit tired and not really in the zone to be doing a competitive bike ride. But today was the day of my first cyclocross race of the year, the London and SE League race, organised by Dougie Fox of Crawley Wheelers.

Cyclocross racers wait impatiently and avidly all through the spring and summer for the season to begin. While other folks begin to bemoan the rapidly disappearing summer (or the UK version of summer) cyclocross racers get more excited as the weather turns greyer, colder, and damper!

I had paid up for this event, and had had it marked in the diary for a few weeks, so I really wanted to go. Also, we barely had a cyclocross season last year due to the pandemic. So I wanted to make up for that this year. The only problem was that I was feeling quite sluggish and felt more in the mood to admire the nature as I tootle around, rather than eyeball my rivals through eyes of fierce competition as I pedal in anger.

In any case I went through the motions and got in the car to drive to the South of England Showground, Ardingly, where the event was taking place.

At moments like this when you aren't rearing to go your brain picks up on it and you end up getting things wrong. Firstly, I got the venue too late to be able to do a recon of the course. In fact I got to sign-on 10 minutes after it officially closed. 

Secondly, I failed to put my helmet on. I think the fact that I was wearing a hat led me to falsely believe I was wearing my helmet. When I realised the error, we had less than 5 minutes to go before the 12.30 start. I pedalled like mad back to the car and put on the correct head gear. Looking at my watch as I rode back to the start line I thought I was doing okay for time as it was 12.27 I would be able to reach the start line within three minutes. However, at 12.28 I heard the whistle go and the pack sprinted off in the distance, while I was still 50 metres from the start line! Whoops!

I think that was the adrenaline kick that I needed to get into the race, given that I was well behind the field. I didn't panic, but just rode at a steady high pace, and focused on not getting my racing lines wrong. Thankfully my summer gravel rides had helped improve my bike handling, and I was able to get over the various mounds and drops on this fast flowing course without too much problem. 

As it was a first race I just hoped to get around cleanly and not really focus on the result. I did manage to catch a few women - Monica Zamojska from Brixton Cycles, helped by the fact that she crashed on the hurdles; then Elaine Owen from De Laune CC. There was another De Laune CC woman who I caught right in the finish straight, but she was better at getting over the hurdles than I. In any case, I was pleased with how my race went, considering my rubbish start. 

For me, the main thing was how good it was to see the old faces again - Liz Orr from Kent Velo Girls, Emma Porter from Penge CC along with Wendy, a new Penge CC rider who I also saw yesterday at the hill climb. I did manage to say a few words to Caroline Reuter of Dulwich Paragon, who is still queen of the London and SE league. I had hoped to chat a bit to my old sparring partner, Suzie Wise of C&N Cycles, but she has made so much progress since the last time I saw her that she was way off in the distance. And after the race, we both got caught up talking to different people. Hopefully I will catch her (in the race and after the race!) next time. 

All in all, it wasn't a bad afternoon out, and I am actually looking forward to the next race.

Photo of the day - 19: Short bike ride along High Peak Trail

 

As this was my final day in Matlock before returning to London I thought I would have an "easy" day riding along a rail trail. The nearest one to me was the High Peak Trail, which can be joined in the nearby village of Cromford. So I rode three or four miles along the A6 to Cromford where I could pick up the trail. It wasn't that easy to find, and I did a few a couple of unnecessary detours. But eventually I found a back lane which rose up quite steeply to get me onto the trail at Black Rocks. I guess they don't call it "high" peak for nothing! The trail is very pretty, though I found it tough-going at times, especially in the initial part where the trail dragged uphill to Black Rock. It then dropped down, only for me to start climbing again to reach Middleton Top. This trail also doubles as the Pennine Bridleway, a long-distance off-road path with different sections I have ridden in various parts of the Peak District. The path also goes through Yorkshire, and is quite challenging. This may explain why the High Peak Trail felt like harder work compared with the nearby Tissington Trail which I rode a few years ago. It was possible to continue along this trail to Parsley Hay, where I could join Tissington trail and do a big circuit to get back to Cromford and Matlock. However, being stuck for time I left the High Peak Trail and navigated my way along various un-named bridleways to head towards Grangemill Farm, then back to Matlock via Brightgate. This was a fun route, though at one point I made a wrong turn and ended up on the edge of an industrial quarry - which would have been interesting if I had fallen on track! In the end, this "shortened" route still had a riding time of over two hours, and with extra time added on for map-reading and getting lost the total outing was almost three hours! It had been a good day's off-road riding. Now I know why so many people rave about off-road riding in the Peak District. There is so much choice. Also, there's a chance I will be back here again soon as I have signed up for a cyclocross race in Matlock, which will take place very close to Grangemill. At least I will know what to expect.

Photo of the day - 12: Cyclocross is boss

Cyclocross at Astor College, Dover [Photo: Matt Bristow]

I enjoy that Monday feeling after having spent the previous weekend racing. There were two hill climb races, a bit of trail running, and of course, cyclocross race. After all, it is that time of the year. This was my first cyclocross race of the season (though the second race in the series). So I took myself over to the course in Dover and took the start line. (I had pre-entered, as is now compulsory during these Covid times.) Still feeling tired after the previous day's efforts at the two hill climbs and a bike ride, I didn't imagine I would be able to ride really hard. So, over the 40-minute race, I just raced to get round. There were a lot of twists and turns on the cambers of the hills, as well as a couple of steep climbs and a sand pit. I negotiated my way around these obstacles somewhat sketchily like Frank Spencer, though that was part of the fun. I finished 12th out of 14 women, and was lapped twice by the winner, Emily Ashwood. (22 women had entered the race but there were eight non-starters.) In any case it was an enjoyable afternoon out, with a friendly atmosphere. It was good to catch up with the old faces from last year too.   

Photo of the day - 4: No cyclocross for me; mountain biking in Peaslake instead

This is the village centre at Peaslake, in the Surrey Hills. The bus shelter and the village shop and post office are normally heaving with mountain bikers at the weekend. On this very rainy and windy day there were very few people out. Just a few hardy souls, and me. I was there as consolation for not being able to get to the cyclocross race I was meant to do in Sandwich. My 'cross bike had dodgy handlebars and I couldn't get them fixed in time. With the race being an almost 2-hour drive away I wasn't going to get there in time, so I had to forego that and instead went mountain biking closer to home. It was good to get out to this part of Surrey Hills, as normally I tend to be on the nearer Leith Hill side. Biking turned out to be a real muddy mess as I splished and splashed over the trails at Pitch Hill and down Barry Knows Best. It wasn't pretty - it wasn't a long ride either given the weather, and it was getting a bit dark. But I am glad I went. Shame I didn't think to get out my camera while on the rain-swept trails!

52 Cycling Voices - 27: Adeline O'Moreau

Adeline is a real force on a cyclocross bike. I got to know her when she was based in London and racing for The 5th Floor cycle racing team. I did a few of the summer cyclocross races a few years ago when they promoted the series and I was quite impressed at how she was able to coordinate the rounds with her team-mates, man the sign-on and administrative parts of the race, compete and even win the race - all in one day.

She has since set up her own team, Good Vibes Only and that seems to be going well - especially as those good vibes come from her and her team-mates when riding bikes built by Adeline's own fair hand.

I got caught up with the Adeline about her bike riding and bike frame building.

Photo: Russell Barton

Adeline O'Moreau, aged 30

From: Habay-La-Vieille, Belgium

Lives: Sheffield

Occupation: Designer, frame builder and owner of Mercredi Bikes

I was born in Belgium, but I grew up a bit all over the place as we lived in several places through Europe. 

I must have been quite little when I first rode a bike. I remember being at the seaside on a red trike with white wheels. Then I got the bike with stabilizers that my older brother outgrew. 

I learned to ride in Finland where the residential streets were really safe at the time. 
One weekend, when I must have been five, my mum went away for the day and I told my dad I was going to ride without the little wheels by the time she came back. 

Though growing up, there wasn't really much of a cycling culture as such, so after childhood I didn't ride a bike much, apart from the occasional pedal through the woods. 

I came to England in 2012, when I accidentally got a job as a junior designer in a little agency in London. It all happened really fast. I applied just to see what they would say, and two weeks later I was there! I really didn’t expect to find myself still in the UK seven years later.

It was only after arriving in London that I picked up cycling again, because I couldn’t stomach paying the immense fees for public transport. Public transport seemed like a racket to me, so I bought an old bike on the internet. Taking up cycling again blew my mind a bit. Riding on the left hand side was absolutely terrifying! Roundabouts were the worst; it took me so long to feel confident I was approaching them the correct way.

I got into the London racing scene when I got intrigued by cyclocross. Although I am from Belgium, the homeland of 'cross, it’s not that popular in the South of the country where I was, so I was not familiar with it. 

My first race was the Rapha Supercross fun race in Alexandra Palace in 2014. I turned up on my single-speed commuter bike and had the time of my life. Little did I know tequila shortcuts and foam cannons were actually not the norm in cyclocross racing! 

After that, I tried to put together a 'cross bike using an old Cantilever brake touring frame I found on eBay - a Nigel Dean with magenta to pale pink fade [paint design]. It was gorgeous but utterly useless. It fitted 30mm knobbly tyres in a squeeze and rode like an overcooked spaghetti. I rode it around Epping forest for one winter, where I met Clare [Ross] on those rides. She convinced me to join Brixton Cycles. 

Eventually, I cobbled together the courage to go to a race. Unfortunately, I got lost on the way there and never made it to the start. I think it was the last race of the 2014/15 season. 

Racing for her new team Good Vibes Only
(photo: Mick Brown)

The 2015/16 'cross season was amazing. At Brixton Cycles Club I met some amazing folks that year - Monika [Zamojska], Clare, Stef [Lai] and we all motivated each other and shared train journeys to races. Lots of Brixton lads were also racing. We had a really good thing going.

One of the key things about cycling has been the amazing circle of friends I got to develop through riding and racing. 

We would go to races by train, or met at races or on club runs and started sharing a few hours on the bike and motivating each other. We all progressed at similar rates and kept pushing each other a bit more.

Incredibly Cross started happening around that time too. It's an unsanctioned series of races, with fancy dress encouraged and held at a secret location. 

The craze that lured me into the sport through the Rapha Supercross seemed alive and well at Incredibly Cross. It was so much fun.

I am quite down to earth about my racing. I know I’ll never be the next big thing, but I do it because it’s fun. I like the challenges of the courses, the conditions, the visits to different parts of the country and the world. 

Clare and I joined The 5th Floor the following season as they started the women’s team. There was interest from the team to compete in some serious road races and some criterium series, so I tried my legs at those, but it wasn’t the same as 'cross. 

It’s a challenge fitting in all the training and racing around my work. I think everyone who wants to race and train around a full time job finds the same. There aren’t enough hours in the day! 

For me, the hardest part is to stay motivated for several weeks and months in a row. My attention span is quite limited, so I easily forget the big goal in the future in favour of the small immediate one.

In a way, I’m glad I didn’t start racing until well into adulthood. As a child I was pretty carefree and non competitive. I had LOTS of energy but I’m glad I could expand it in the garden and the forest, exploring and just being myself, without it needing to be something ‘productive’. I also did lots of theatre as a kid, especially improvisation, which I loved. I think I had a bit of a thing against set rules. 

My favourite place to go bike riding at the moment is the Peak District. We moved to a place near there recently because the riding is so great and I never get tired of it! The weather can be a challenge, but I think I’ll get used to it, and find strategies that work, plus the right clothing - at least I hope so. Whenever I ride, I never go out without a large snack though.

I got into frame building when I decided to design a bike for myself. I wasn't sure if it would necessarily work. I guess it’s in my nature to just throw myself at things and see what happens. 

"Making a bike is one of the most empowering things ever": Adeline at work in The Bicycle Academy
(Photo: Christopher Lanaway Photography) 

I like making stuff, and learning in practical ways. It wasn't that the way to fix my problem was to make a bike that fitted; I just knew I had a problem I wanted to solve. 

And I think in a way it’s really cool to set out to do something you don’t know anything about, because then you don’t know how difficult it can be, and you are always learning. The more I learn about making bikes, the more there is to learn. 

I only knew a tiny bit about bike mechanics when I first started riding. I learned most things on the spot. Whenever a problem happened I would try to find the solution myself. 

Before I started cycling in London, I didn’t know how to fix a puncture. The first few weeks on my Raleigh, I rode in the hardest gear cause I didn’t know how to shift gear. I had never seen downtube shifters in my life.

Somehow, after fixing punctures and indexing gears, it seemed like making a whole bike was the natural thing to learn next, so I attended a course at The Bicycle Academy.

I didn’t really see it as a course to become a frame builder. I had no ambition as such to make it a job at all.  It was just like a holiday for me, a treat - spending a week or so in a lush little town in Somerset learning to work with metal. So in that way, I was very excited. I didn’t go with the intention to change my job at all. 

During the week I lived a number of emotional moments. At the end of every day, I could see and touch and hold the fruit of my labour. That was amazing for me - very different from my usual digital work as a designer!

On the last day of the course, I took a step back and thought, "Holy shit I made a bike!" Everyone else at The Bicycle Academy was also like "ADELINE YOU MADE THIS!!!!" It was pretty emotional.

After that, there was the moment when the bike came back from the painter. That was also really emotional. 

And the day I finally could swing my leg over the bike - that was actually so stressful. We were in Wales and the bike kept making this tick tick tick noise and I was so worried. It turned out the gear cable had popped out of its guide and was tapping against the stay - no, the bike was not at all going to explode! I had a great time after that.
Making stuff feels so empowering, so fulfilling. 

The Bicycle Academy has been a real inspiration and continues to be super super helpful. You can hire a workbench if you’ve done a course, so you can make more bikes in a really good, positive and supportive environment.

Initially, I tried not to look at what other builders were doing too much, and instead took cues from my design practice and sought advice from the network of folks I knew in the creative industry too. 

There's always more to learn in frame building
(Photo: Christopher Lanaway)

I got super lucky on many occasions. Shand Cycles, the adventure bikes company from Scotland, gave me a set of tubes they had won at a show. 

They wanted to help someone who was starting up, so they reached out to The Bicycle Academy who in turn reached out to me. I got to rent a bench and use the tubes there.

As I had been self-employed for a few years, flying solo as a frame builder didn't really scare me. So Mercredi Bikes was born.

Another really amazing thing that truly propelled Mercredi into people’s radar was Grinduro Scotland and the following one in California. I got to make and race a MTB for the event, and in the US I got to meet some amazing folks who really took care of me.

As well as that, I have also always rented workshop spaces from other builders. That has been super helpful. You can go a bit crazy in the workshop on your own, and it’s much nicer to share the space and the lunch breaks! 

The second bike I built was for my friend, Clare. Her 'cross bike had been stolen so she had no race bike anymore. I wanted to help out with that, of course. 

Making a bike for her was a super interesting process. Clare went through the whole procedure as if she was a regular customer, and not one of my closest friends, which helped me set up a framework for how I could work. We did the bike-fit like I still do fits now, and the design process was a two-way conversation like it still is today. A lot of my work now is still informed by this first batch.

For the making part, I went back to The Bicycle Academy which was super helpful. I was doing most things by myself but I could ask questions and run through my next steps with everyone there, and they were really a positive and supportive environment. 

Clare rides two bikes I made now, and though we don’t get to see each other so much since I have moved, I get a text every now and then about how riding the bikes makes her smile or feel strong or have a super fun time. I love that so much. 

Combining bike racing and frame building is tricky, because you need to be super switched on for both, and it can get quite tiring. I think a lot of folks have found it super hard to carry on riding as much as they would like to while running a frame building business. 

For me, it’s super important to carry on riding as much as possible. Firstly, I need it for my own mental health. Secondly, I think it brings me a lot of interesting feedback that I can use in the bike building when I get to test out theories in the real world. I’ve got two 'cross bikes I made. They have subtle differences that I’ve been testing, and it’s amazing to get a feel for what you would have otherwise only known in theory. 

Racing is a way to test out bike-building theories

I am beginning to see more and more femme/transgender/women (FTW) bike frame builders. In recent years, it seems that there has been a very strong drive to bringing the community together, supporting each other and making room for more folks. 

The industry is still really heavily dominated by white dudes, but I think we are growing our corner and the future looks a little brighter. 

Bike shows can be really awkward; I’ve had some pretty shitty experiences and I think it’s important to say they happen. 

A lot of folks still expect builders to look a certain way and they are thrown off when you don’t look like how they expected a frame builder to look. It can be micro-aggression on micro-aggression, and I get really tired of that stuff. 

But on the flip side, there are some folks who come to a show knowing about my work and are just genuinely super keen to discuss and meet up and that’s so lovely. 

As an industry I think more should be done to become as diverse as the world we live in. Everyone can bring something amazing to the table through their background and experiences, and enrich the work we do. 

There is still a lot of work to do to reach that point, but there are some great initiatives. For example the Philly Bike Expo / SRAM inclusivity scholarship supported four builders to exhibit at this year’s show and the work they brought was out of this world. It goes to show that bringing all these different ideas and minds into the industry will push us all forward and refresh the scene a lot. 

From a business perspective it’s also a no-brainer. Why wouldn’t we bring on board so many more people? More diverse builders doesn’t mean all the builders who were there before will run out of business; it means our industry will open up to their communities and that’s awesome. I think the saying goes "a rising tide lifts all boats". 

My advice to anyone wanting to get into bike frame building is making a bike is one of the most empowering things ever. If you feel like doing that, The Bicycle Academy is a wonderful place to do so, and there is no obligation to turn it into a job.

If you do want to make it into a job, you've got to treat it like a job, so put in the same hours, and work to the same standard. 

Take your time to define your vision and your plan, work backwards from there and then work your butt off to meet each step along the way to make your vision happen.

It's worth knowing that there is a lot more to running a frame building business than making bikes, and you really have to embrace all these aspects straight away. You will need to have a solid business plan, do accounts, spend a lot of time on emails with customers and suppliers, and be patient and hard working. 

Find out who you are as a builder and what you are interested in doing, and find out the same about your customers. Not everyone will want to see you succeed, but that’s not a reflection on you. 

It will be hard and the workshops can get really cold and lonely, but it will be very rewarding in many ways. Remember, there is a community of builders out there who will be ready to help and guide you, so don’t be afraid to reach out. 

If anyone wants to reach out to me, my address is on my website and I will do my best to help in any way I can. 👋 

Website: www.mercredi.co.uk

Twitter: @Ecunard

Instagram:  @m_recredi  

Other Cycling Voices
Jenni Gwiadowski

Sarah Strong

Alex Davis

Hannah Bussey

Gema Fernandez

Geraldine Glowinski

Michelle Webster

Maria David

Daily photo - 28: Record number of women cyclocross racers at Milton Keynes

While the world was watching the women compete in Yorkshire at the World Road Race Championships, another big women's cycling event was taking place at Campbell Park, Milton Keynes. Velobants cycling club organised a cyclocross race, CX in the City 2 which attracted a record 165 women racers. This is something that has never been seen before in any race, particularly as it wasn't a national level event, but a round of the local Central Cyclocross League.

Photo: Keith Perry

When last year's event, CX in the City 1, took place on the course from the 2014 UCI World Cup a large field. This year the organisers set an ambitious target to get 100 women to the start line. Fran Whyte and her club mates at Velobants CC did a lot of work to promote the event, notably with the help of 10-time national cyclocross champion Helen Wyman. A lot of women on the Velovixen women's chat group who were unfamiliar with cyclocross decided to have a go once the concept was explained to them. That helped to swell the numbers to a massive 165.

It was quite a momentous occasion, though sadly I wasn't able to race it because I was doing work around the World Road Race Championships. It sounds like everyone had a great time and it was a massive achievement for Velobants and the wider women's cycling community.


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Daily photo - 15: More cyclocross at Crystal Palace

The second part of my double-header weekend took place in my local area - at Crystal Palace Park. Contrary to the previous day where I had to cycle over to central London and catch a train to the home counties, today I just did a 10-minute ride up the hill. It was nice to take things leisurely in the morning.

The sketchy descent that caught many people out 

Where last year the course was based around the upper terrace of the park, this year the area used was lower down, around the area where the Tuesday summer circuit races take place. Given that this section of the park is on the sloping part of the park it meant the course was a distinct step up in terms of skills and strength.

My memory of last year's course was of long fast straights over gravel and a few short sharp climbs and descents, including one descent and climb where many people had to dismount. This year's course had a similarly tricky descent and climb, but it was not the hardest section.

There were some very testing climbs that people ended up walking/running up. There were also a few sections that had loose terrain. One such are was on a steep descent immediately after a steep climb, and contained a couple of tricky bends.

The top riders were able to ride it, albeit slowing right down to negotiate the turn, but the for the rest of us we were really caught out on it. Some people dismounted from their bikes at the first turn. Then there were others like myself, who very gingerly went around the turn, but had to try and get round those riders who had dismounted and were walking down the slope. Oh, and as if that wasn't enough there was a stake and taping to clear as well. So it was all a bit of a mish-mash. Needless to say this was a popular area for spectators, of which there were many.

The Crystal Palace round of the London and South-East cyclocross league is a popular event as it is a very nice venue, set in the historic park. The train station is right on the edge of the park so it is easily accessible even without a car. As it was a sunny day and many visitors to the park, there was also a fair amount of people out on picnics and curious onlookers. Furthermore, with lots of cafes and restaurants nearby in the Norwood Triangle riders can head up there for their post-race celebrations or commiseration.

On one occasion on the infamous descent I failed to clear the tape and just rode straight into it, snapping it in the process and almost coming off my bike. That probably provided some entertainment for people watching, and given this was my local area people recognised me so I couldn't hide behind any anonymity!

Sharing the podium with Tracy Wilkinson-Begg (1st) and
Elaine Owen (3rd) (Photo: Caroline Reuter) 

At least I wasn't alone in breaking the tape. The course marshals were kept busy constantly having to fix and re-fix this section! But hey ho, when you're so tired and heaving and dribbling you are beyond embarrassment or caring to apologise!

I ended up sparring with a woman called Kath from Dulwich Paragon. She was physically stronger than me, but I was able to pass her on the technical sections. In the end, she got the better of me on the last lap.

I think the combination of racing at Milton Keynes the previous day, plus running sessions on Saturday evening and Sunday morning had begun to take their toll on me. It was a good match though, even if I did get lapped by the winner, Kath's team-mate Caroline Reuter. The pleasant surprise was that I won second prize in the women's vet50 category.

It was nice to win back my entry fee. That money can go towards a sports massage. I damn well needed it after a weekend of putting my body through the mill. Looking forward to the next one!




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Daily photo - 14: Cyclocross at Milton Keynes

The first part of my double-header weekend of cyclocross was at Milton Keynes Bowl. I cycled up to Euston train station and made the half-hour train journey up to Milton Keynes. Getting to the Bowl was just a 5-minute cycle ride through South Loughton Valley Park and past the Teardrop Lakes.

Pain faces on one of the numerous climbs each lap  (Photo: Keith Perry/Central Cyclocross League)

This was the first round of the Central Cyclocross League, so a lot of people had come out to play and the fields were big. There were 50 riders in the women's race. That's the sort of number you get in the National Championships! We even had our own separate race, which doesn't often happen in local league races.

There was a wide variety of levels too - from experienced National Trophy contenders down to newbies. Some had only raced on road, so were getting used to the whole off-road thing. The course was not massively technical though, and was wide enough to allow for overtaking. It was just a bit bumpy on the grass!

Given that I have never raced in this league before (I usually do the London League) I hadn't expected to be gridded, but they found a place for me. And surprisingly, it wasn't right at the back! On the sound of the whistle we all charged up the hill and tried to get ahead of as many opponents as possible.

The course was over a wide area of parkland set on the side of a hill. There were so many switchbacks that it made me dizzy. Also some of the tight turns on the descent were tricky and the ground was slightly loose so you had to try not to let your back wheel slide away. At one point I got over-confident after I passed a few women and thought I could throw the bike around the bend, but I completely misjudged the corner and almost came down. Thankfully I rescued it, but I did lose a few places.

There was a bunch of around five or six of us who all played cat and mouse between ourselves. Some were stronger on the bends, some where stronger on the flat straight sections, others dismounted and remounted at the hurdles very efficiently. One woman was able to bunny-hop them. My strength was probably on the hill as I was able to stay in the saddle and spin a granny gear and then have something left to negotiate other challenges.

Cyclocross is so taxing, as you are constantly at almost 90% effort (or at least I am) throughout the 40-minute race. It also makes it difficult to have the faculties to do much else apart from pedal and breathe very loudly. As time went on and I became more tired it was difficult to focus and see which way the course went. All I could see was a mass of course tape glistening in the sunshine, and at one point I completely missed a turn and went off course, breaking through some loose tape. More time wasted. But it was all good fun, and was a good sparring match with the other women.

I met Jules and Nancy, a mother and daughter who were racing, and we were all around the same level. They were from London too, but because they're in the North-West that puts them in the Central Region. So I am not sure when I will see them again, unless I suddenly decide to turn up at Regents Park for some 6am laps - something that club cyclists North of the River seem to do a lot. Hmm.

Great to catch up with Fran from Velobants

I crossed the line between Nancy and Jules, and just in front of the young lady on the pink bike who had been bunny hopping the hurdles. It was good to get a competitive race, and not get lapped by the leaders, which included Velovixen Fran from Velobants. The only thing was that because we weren't lapped we ended up doing more than 40 minutes. I recorded almost 48 minutes of racing on my Garmin. No wonder I wanted to drop when I crossed the finish line!

It was a good day out, with music, refreshments, commentary, and crowd support - all the stuff that makes for a fun event, especially after a good work-out.




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Daily photo - 13: About last weekend in the Forest of Dean

Local residents at Whitemead Forest Park at Forest of Dean

After my cyclocross race in Gloucester Boating Lake I went back to the Forest of Dean mountain bike trail centre for another quick blast.

I had hoped to try some trails that would be more challenging than the family trail.

One of the local riders told me about some blue trails that had berms and bumps near Ellwood. So I parked up near Cinderford and then rode through the forest as my warm-up to head towards Parkend and then on to Ellwood.

En route I passed this area, Whitemead Forest Park. It looked quite inviting, but I was keen to press on to find some trails. However, I couldn't help but admire these free-roaming sheep. I managed to snap just two of them, but there were around 15 in the flock.

Who knows, they might have been on their way to the nearby Woodman Pub - which is probably where I should have gone because not long afterwards I bonked (ran out of glucose). My efforts in the cyclocross race and the riding around the forest began to take their toll.

A Sunday roast and a glass of beer would have hit the spot nicely!




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Daily photo - 8: Getting back into cyclocross

You know autumn is here when Sundays are filled with cyclocross races up and down the country. I had hoped to do some of the summer cyclocross races in the evenings, but it was hard to get to the venues in time for the 7pm starts.

Now that they are on Sundays it is much easier to manage and this is what I call the proper cyclocross season. I've been quite looking forward to it - maybe because I am feeling slightly fitter after the training for a marathon and doing regular rides.

Photo: Sarah Dawe, TTL Photography

So during my weekend away in Gloucestershire I signed up to do a round of the Western Cyclocross league. The round took place at Gloucester Boating Lake, not far from Lydney and the Forest of Dean mountain bike trail centre where I was yesterday.

This league had a pleasant local feel, which reminded me of how cross used to be when I first started 16 years ago. You turn up on the day, pay your entry fee and then race. You can register to be in the league if you want, but it's not compulsory. At £15 it's comparatively inexpensive. The modern bit is the timing chip you wear around your ankle, that they give you on the day. You return it after the race in exchange for your licence (which you would have left with them before the race). It's all very convivial and down at a personal, human level.

The last time I raced in the Western Cyclocross league was last year just before Christmas when I did a round at the Mendips Raceway, near Cheddar Gorge. It was a non-technical course but the race became properly cross-like and testing (for me) when the weather turned quite wet, pretty cold, and miserable. So it was nice to race on a warm sunny day this time around.

As conditions were dry, it was a fast flowing course through the park, over short laps. There was nothing particularly tricky apart from a couple of short sharp lumps where you had to give it a bit of welly to get up to the top, and zigzagging through the trees. Like with most cross races there were the usual hurdles too which I wasted time on since I couldn't remount quickly.

During the race local people gave us lots of encouragement, while afterwards the racers chatted among themselves. There were only nine women racing in our race, which took place with the male over 50 vets. I finished 8th, though one woman DNF'd, so I guess that means I came last! That was no bother for me though, as I was in a little duel with another racer, so we had our own race within the race.

I spent most of the race chasing her down and she never quite managed to get rid of me until the end.  At one point she messed up a corner and I managed to get past her. That should have been my opportunity to make a real dig and gain time on her, but I sat on my laurels and she managed to come back and overtake me.

There was probably a lack of grrr or gung-ho instinct on my part because it didn't occur to me to put the hammer down and get ahead. Or maybe deep down I didn't feel quite as confident as I thought I was. When she came past me I preferred to put the pressure on her. It worked to a degree, but in the end I lost a bit of focus on the last lap and she opened up an unassailable lead. It was a good duel, though the fact that I had the energy to go mountain biking afterwards meant that I could have ridden that bit harder! Note to oneself for next time.

The racer's name was Charlie and she was from Cotswold Veldrijden cyclocross team. They've got quite a strong team of riders, so there's no shame in finishing just behind one of them.

Charlie told me about other races in the Western League that would be fun to do, including one around Christmas that goes through a cow shed. I look forward to that!

So cyclocross is on, and I look forward to doing more races and hopefully getting a bit of my attacking mojo.


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My Cycling Year So Far - Cyclocross

Gee, I can't believe it's May already. Time marches on so fast, I barely know where I am!

Massive apologies for the silence on these airwaves. I was too busy riding my bike! Talking of which, here's a bit about what I've been up to.

In January I took part in the National Cyclocross Championships, vets race. I wouldn't normally do a race at such a high level, but I just couldn't pass on the opportunity given that it was taking place locally at the Cyclopark near Gravesend, Kent.

Now that I am well and truly a vet, I don't have to worry myself racing with the elite racers though, knowing that at least if I get lapped I won't be pulled out of the race. Having said that, I did have a moment in the race where I really wanted the commissaire to tell me my race was over - instead he told me I had another lap to go - much to my despair and my screeching legs!

The course was harder than I have ever raced on. It was a real assault course of a lap, with a flyover, steep drop-offs in rapid succession, steep off-cambers, steps, thick sand, a steep descent onto the tarmac and a fast bit of tarmac up to the finish line. That was the best bit!

The flyover at the Cyclopark for the National Cyclocross Championships

For once I had the time to get myself properly organised and go to the venue the day before race to do the course recon and pick what my racing lines would be. It went well, even if I did feel pretty pooped after three laps.

But when race morning came, all the nerves set in and I was falling all over the place during the warm-up lap. By the time I was on the start line, I was covered in mud from the times I had fallen over during the warm-up lap! On one of my crashes on an off-camber I tangled with a young girl who was also warming up. I felt bad about that, as she looked as if she was going to cry.

When I got back on my bike I noticed that my handlebars were bent, and also my derailleur was locked into one gear. I feared I would have to race the course on a single-speed bike! Luckily, I was able to get help from a mechanic in the pits, who was working for the Jewson team. That was so nice.

I also went through a freaky moment of feeling like I couldn't ride and wondered how I was going to get around the course without trashing myself, or my bike even more. As I had arrived at Cyclopark in good time I was able to practice the tricky off-camber section several times.

A guy from the Velobants team who had seen me struggling came over and gave me tips on how to ride that section. Silly me, I had also forgotten to let air out of my tyres. Because I had cycled on the road to the train station at Bromley South, and then again from Meopham to the venue I had high pressures in my tyres and forgot to deflate them when I was warming up.

Suzi Wise and myself, so relieved that we got round the race okay

 Once I reduced the tyre pressures by half, everything came together and I felt so much happier riding the tricky sections.

I probably rode my best cyclocross race in a while, and really felt emboldened to ride like I had nothing to lose - even if I still took a couple of tumbles.

It was great to have Fran from Velovixen, and who also rides for Velobants, cheering me on. In fact there were a lot of people around the course cheering us on - more than we ever normally get. I even ended up in a dual with a Twickenham racer.

Then the next day I watched how it was done when the elite women raced, and I managed to see number one cyclocross racer Helen Wyman fly up the hills that I could only walk up during my race. She came third in this race, though seemed in good spirits, chatting to all her fans. It was a great weekend of cyclocross, and I actually feel like training properly for the nationals for next year.

The elites showing us how it's done on that hill - Helen Wyman (right)

That has been one of my memorable experiences on the bike this year. I have had others, such as my ride at the Tour of Flanders and a riding into France and the Paris suburbs. We have also just had the Tour de Yorkshire and I managed to ride stage 3, from Bridlington to Scarborough, which was lovely and tough in equal measures! More on that in later posts.


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