The fact I feel tranquil now after the Volta a Portugal is the fact I’ve got an education, a business and I have lived my dreams as a cyclist. I’m looking forward and I’ll keep riding my bike. I love cycling.
This Volta, the Volta a Portugal 2013 and I really feel lucky to get here. My form is good, possibly the best ever. Obviously I get the odd pang of paranoia; I think twice if I drink a beer, worry about food - kind of stupid really.
32.4 km, 212m ascent today, in the stage to Praia de Pedrogão. What a FARCE. My TT bike was exactly at the right length when I came to this race, yet at the prologue they told me it was 1cm past the limit... It was duly cut and shortened.
Today's stats at the La Volta a Portugal 2012; 154.9 km, 4000m ascent. I wasn’t able to update this immediately as we had a nightmare getting to the hotel and only arrived at 12sh.
185.3 km, 2520m ascent today in the La Volta a Portugal 2012. The first stage after the rest day is a bit tough. The rest day can do more harm than good and I for one like to just keep on going, to get it over and done with.
184.1km, 2050m ascent. I had a bad day today from Aveiro. It was just one of those days where I just felt crap. I pushed through, did my work at the beginning, attacking, jumping across to break away and the like, but didn’t get away.
176.9km, 3000m ascent. This Volta a Portugal 2012 stage was a tough one, we had a huge mountain right at the start and several others to follow. The roads were crummy also, which made descending awkward.
151.9km, 2720m ascent from Viana do Castelo to Senhora da Graça. Last year this stage wasn’t so hard since we had four ‘rouleurs’ rather than just two this year. The race started in the beautiful town of Viana do Castelo and ended on a large mountain called ‘Senhora da Graça’ it was epic.
176.1km, 2100m ascent from Vila Nova de Cerveira to Fafe. We’re in the Minho, in the far north western corner of Portugal. It’s a wonderful place and feels like home away from home. It’s tough for racing though, it’s extremely hilly; you never go well, you’re never comfortable.
191.5km, 2400m Ascent from Oliveira do Bairo to Trofa, and today was brilliant! No long transfers this morning and I didn’t have very much to do. It was fantastic, a rest day practically.
The day started with a long transfer from our hotel in the magnificent town of Covilhã, Termas de Monfortinho, situated at the foot of Serra da Estrella. We’ve been run of our feet with with reconaisance, various signings on and parading around the palce...
Such a big fuss is made about the Volta that people forget there are other good and important races on the calendar. As ever, we put all our eggs in the one basket. I never really understood this.
At the Volta ao Alentejo I spent the majority of every single stage on the front of the bunch controlling the race. All four days. Our sprinter was quite well placed to win the race, so I was quite happy to do this.
Although my season started over a month ago in Argentina, the Portuguese season opened on Sunday the 12th February with the "2nd Trofeu Cidade de Luís", followed by the Volta ao Algarve.
The Trofeu Joaquim Agostinho is the last tune up for the Portuguese peloton before the biggest race of the season, the Volta a Portugal. A lot of the teams turn out very strong for Agostinho, as it's known. The amateur teams also turn out strong since the race is a 2.2 and the pinnacle of their calendar, aside the 'Volta a Portugal do Futuro'.
I haven’t written an update on the Tomás Swift-Metcalf Blog since the penultimate stage of the Volta a Portugal. I have been wary of writing bullshit in such stressful, emotional times. I don’t like to speak of the problems in cycling, since I find them so boring. It’s the first thing anyone outside the sport mentions when I say I’m a cyclist.
Well, I've never seen anything like that before... I'm at the Tour de San Luis and it's amazing. Not the Tour of Britain, not even the “Grandassima” (Volta a Portugal). Maybe only the opening of the Tour of Spain in Seville a couple of years ago was up to the scale of this “small” event here in the middle of Argentina.
Here’s a question for you; “How many British riders have won a three-week continental stage race?” Here’s a clue: the answer isn’t “none”. In 1988, 23 year-old Cayn Theakston from Worcester who never had a day’s coaching in his life, fought and won in one of the toughest arenas in Europe to claim the 19-stage Volta a Portugal, overcoming crashes, mountains, horrendous roads and even combines within his own team to record a win which is remembered in Portugal to this day.
We didn’t make it over to the Scottish Road Race Championships – which this year included the Sam Robinson Memorial Race - but thought it only fair that we catch up with the man who was crowned champion, Matti Dobbins of the Wheelbase CabTech Castelli team.
It has been said by many people that Michael Mørkøv is the best lead-out man in the peloton and if Mark Cavendish thinks so, then it must be true. Michael is back at Cav’s side to help him take his 35th, history making Tour de France stage win. We caught up with the flying Dane before he flew to the Tour Colombia.
It is with huge sadness that we report the passing of the Musselburgh RCC's Andy Matheson on Sunday 17th December 2023, peacefully, with his family by his side.
We caught up with Lewis Stewart and Jonny Mitchell of the Glasgow Track Racing Club recently, to hear all about their upcoming venture; launching Scotland’s very first UCI Track Team, in 2024.
Today Ribble Cycles unveiled the Ultra SL R Alumni Edition to commemorate its renewed partnership with "The Tour 21" for 2023. The Tour 21 is the vision of Geoff Thomas MBE, former professional footballer and blood cancer survivor, which sees a team of amateur cyclists (the Alumni) take on the world’s most gruelling cycling challenge by riding the full Tour de France route one week ahead of the professionals.
I write this post with a heavy heart, and to humbly ask for your help to support our dear friend and beloved colleague Ed Hood. Ed suffered a devastating stroke in February of this year, and faces an uncertain future.