Cyclocross Season - Hurray!

No question about it - we love cyclocross season. We're up to our ears in mud here at Ridley HQ with victories pouring in from all over the world. Of course the top of the heap would be World Champ Z. Stybar maintaining a so-far undefeated season with a pair of World Cup victories and the leaders jersey in his closet. I'm thinking there is a good battle brewing between the two top Ridley sponsored Cross teams - Telenet-Fidea and Sunweb-Revor. Both teams are stacking up the World Cup podium appearances. On the ladies side of things Sanne Van Paasen (Team BrainWash) has been crushing it all year as well taking the Czech World Cup victory as well as the leaders jersey.

Across the Atlantic pond the Hudz-Subaru pb Ridley team has been absolutely throttling the competition across the continent. Tons of victories and podium appearances are in the history books spanning from California to Massachusetts with stops in BC and Toronto Canada for good measure.

The Embrocations guys (and girls) are rocking it out across the country - really representing the magazine, Ridley bikes and all of their partners. This shot pretty much says it all...

And of course no cross season is complete without the antics of the single speed crew. Newly signed Canuckian Wendy Simms produced two victories in two races on two brands newly built X-Fires. Literally the inaugural ride on each bike turned into a flying "V" across the finish line. Of course the golden bikini, wrestling belt and soon to be inked tattoo were well earned while dodging Sasquatch, mexican wrestlers, a kangaroo and numerous French maids...

And on the serious side Wendy retains the NACT National series leaders jersey and has her sights firmly set on adding a fifth (!!!) Canadian National Champ shirt to her wardrobe.

We're all off to KoppenbergCross in Belgium next weekend stop by and say howdy, enjoy a beverage and help us cheer for our favorite Ridley riding athletes no matter where in the world they're from.

A Ridley Ignite MTB for Andrea Dovizioso !

Thanks to Ridley dealer Cicli Zavarise of Cornuda (TV), a rapresentative of the Belgian bike company, had the pleasure, last month, to give a Ridley Ignite MTB, to the famous Moto GP rider Andrea Dovizioso, of the offcial Honda Repsol team, who has immediately started using it, for training and checking the circuits, before the races.

It might be a simple coincidence, but we like to believe that his new Ridley brought good luck to the strong rider from Romagna, as, in the two following races of his not too lucky season, he obtained two amazing second places, to Casey Stoner in Japan and to Valentino Rossi in Malaysia, probably gaining the opportunity to remain in the official Honda Repsol team also for next year, which was very difficult to think, only until few weeks before. As soon as this is confirmed, Ridley will make a new Ignite for Dovizioso in the 2011 team colours.

In the photo Andrea Dovizioso with his Ridley Ignite in the garden of his beautiful villa

Somekind of nature, some kind of soul.... simple rules to cycling

Hey everybody,

Felt like it was time to share some late evening/early morning ideas/thoughts with you. Short but powerful since i got to get in bed (starting early again tomorrow).

1) cycling is a bug, it definitely get's under your skin. You're in pain on the bike sometimes, working in the industry can be dam hard. But in the end you couldn't imagine yourself doing anything else.
I like cycling for quite some time know and it's been my job for 1,5 years; hard to imagine something else.

2) cycling must be fun!
Some simple rules though:

A) Wear a helmet!
If not for yourself, do it for your loved ones. Helmets are so cool and lightweight now,
no reason not to wear one.

B) there are no rules to cycling. I can go out with my dad and ride nice & calm for hours
chatting or i can train hard to reach a certain goal.
Last evening we went out with collegues making a pitstop to fuel up with a good Belgian
beer...
Maybe one rule after all... have fun


Sleep tight

Yannick

Catching up

It's been quite the long strange trip - Jo and I have been out traveling the world sharing everything there is to know about the 2011 range of Ridley bikes. After the hugely successful grand opening to our new facility in Belgium we hoofed it across the pond to Las Vegas and Interbike. I think we were all amazed at the reception we were given - no doubt about it Ridley was the buzz of the show. We were slam packed busy the entire show with dealers, media and competitors fighting for space in our booth. How good were we you might ask? Well how about a couple of quote from prominent media types:

"Hurry up and build the new bikes! Now everything else is going to seem a little plain..."

"...my product of the show that proved there is some true technological evolution going on at Ridley."

"Wanted to say thanks for taking the time to chat with us at Interbike and showing us Ridley's secret project... game changer for sure."

Of course Vegas just isn't Vegas without a little party program to kick off the festivities. Our Belgian brothers at Lazer debuted their new Oasis lid at the Hard Rock beach club - pretty nice and fitting location with Ridley Cross bikes at the beach. Wouldn't you guess it - the barriers ended up being fruity drinks with colored umbrellas!

Pack up the suitcase and hop a flight down under for Road Worlds and our dealer launch for Australia. We had a great launch with about 35 prominent dealers flying into Geelong to see the 2011 lineup and then watch a little bike race on the weekend. We were all a bit amazed at the number of Flemish flags and traveling Belgians amongst the crowd. Look at any finishing photo and the background is all yellow with Flandrien Lions. Big thanks to Mark, Nick, Matt, Brian and all the folks at Pacific Brands and the Bike Hub shops for making Worlds week such a Cracker of a good time!

Oh yea - there was actually racing down in OZ last week as well. Our Swedish national champ Emma Johanson opened up a killer sprint in the final 100 meters of the race to secure a beautiful bronze medal. I like to think her Asteria ISP was responsible although I'm guessing Emma's legs had something to do with it...

And our Katusha boys had a great weekend riding for their respective countries. Mr. Pozatto finished just off the rostrum in a solid fourth place on the day. I can pretty much guarantee he would have taken the bronze if the course would have been another 10 meters longer - he just ran out of real estate.

So summer is done and dusted. Time to pull out the Wellies and an umbrella - see you all out in the mud at the cross races.