The Team…….Our Set Up, Our Sponsors, Our Kit. Great News !
My new team is currently called TBW Bottecchia Wigmore RT U23 with Stuart Hall Cycling holidays (New sponsor) making it into the name soon. Still a working title as I write this blog.
I touched on the team set up in a previous blog. In short we have a great management structure behind a small group of riders who are mainly U23s with a few older (only slightly!) riders to act as role models (both on and off the bike). We also have connections to a team abroad.
Our main sponsors, who give us our name are TBW (The Bike Warehouse - http://www.thebikewarehouse.net/), and Stuart Hall Cycling Holidays (https://stuarthallcycling.co.uk/). Stuart Hall Cycling is a company specialising in cycling holidays out in Mallorca. The team are very happy to have Stuart Hall Cycling coming on board this year.
Our other great associations and supporters are Andrew Hillman (the man behind Sph therapies) and Wigmore Cycling Club.
Andrew invests a lot of time into the team and supports the riders both at and away from the racing which is a truly invaluable asset for the team.
Wigmore Cycling Club is the original go ride cycling club where a lot of the riders started from. It is where the team management and the first batch of riders progressed from. The team still has strong roots to the club.
Our kit we will be as follows:
Bottecchia T1 endurance bikes (http://www.bottecchia.com/en/modelli/t1-endurance) with the new Shimano Mechanical Ultegra R8000. These bikes are new releases for 2017 so I am super excited to be getting a brand new bike straight out of the box! They have improved the stiffness, weight and aerodynamics for the new bike. I’m really looking forward to seeing how it handles and races.
We will also be using SH+ Helmets and glasses (http://www.shplus.com/index.html) for the upcoming season. They are very striking and we will all be glad to be using them especially in the more nervous cobbled bunch races throughout the year.
Through the TBW shop we will be provided SIS products(Science in Sport - https://www.scienceinsport.com/eu/bike) This is a great company and there is no doubting it’s quality if Team Sky uses it. No excuses on that front.
Lake Shoes also support us to help keep us pedalling. Super high end stuff. Love the look of them and can’t wait to get my hands on a pair (https://lakecycling.com/).
Prosport Distribution and XIT (base layers) are sorting us out with the bike kit; jerseys and shorts as well as skinsuits and base layers. I’ve already used some on the kit from last season and the shorts stand out in particular as some on the best I have ever used. (http://www.prosportdistribution.com/).
Through the shop we will also be using Chapeau Chamois Cream, a must-have product to be thankful for it in the cold wet races and training rides. (http://www.chapeau.cc/).
Hopefully not too many wet rides and races ahead but if there are the Velotozes over shoes will be a saviour. They are like a swimming caps for your feet. They are tight fitting over the shoe so they can be aerodynamic as well. I used them last year for everything from deep winter training to summer 10 mile TT. (https://www.velotoze.com/).
So those are the amazing sponsors who will be supporting us for the 2018 season.