Viceroys Ian Talbot and Debbie Stewart tackled the challenging 104k route of the Financial Times Cycling Sportive on Sunday, Debbie tells us her story: 

‘Having decided to enter the Financial Times Cycling Sportive on Sun 11th May I asked any fellow Viceroys if they fancied joining me…..only one person took me up and that was my partner in crime for the day  – Ian Talbot. The event had 3 distances to choose from and keen to get some miles under my belt i opted for the medium route of 104k. 

On Sunday morning I boarded the 0650 train from Walton-on-Thames ( Ian was already on it !) and after a couple of changes we arrived at Tulse Hill. The race started at Dulwich Park. I told Ian that I didn’t want to hold him back and that he wasn’t obliged to stay with me…..he was a true gent and in Viceroy style said, “We will start together and finish together. ” 

The roads were open and therefore we had to negotiate motor cars and traffic lights. I for some strange reason had not looked at the course in any great detail prior to the event which in hindsight it was probably just as well !! To say it was hilly was an understatement….the first 30 miles were never ending – it then sort of flattened out for about 10 miles and then we hit Box Hill. I never thought I would see the day that I thought Box Hill was relatively easy, compared to some of the previous hills tackled it paled into significance !! Ian was waiting at the top where he was doing a repair job as one of his cleats had fallen off his shoe. After a much needed bathroom stop –  a major feat in itself when wearing bibbed bottoms  (well for a woman anyway), we then decided ….wait for it….to have a coffee….Okay so perhaps we weren’t in the correct racing mode type of thought !! Anyway onwards and upwards…fortunately mainly downwards from this point we set off and didn’t stop again until we finished (well obviously for traffic lights /junctions etc ). The final part of the course was a lap of Herne Hill Velodrome. This was a great way to finish and a fabulous experience. 

The weather could have been worse. We got rained on twice and the wind at time was terrifying but all in all it was a great day….no records broken but a commendable distance achieved on a course not to be sniffed at.’

Great riding Debbie and Ian!

In welcoming Bijan Tahan to the club, we welcome another true multi sporter who has a great story to tell:

‘I played rugby for some top London clubs until my early 30s, then did nothing for 10 years and became a 23 stone fatty and the doctors said you’re gonna drop dead any day! So,  I joined DL gym and started swimming and spinning and did my first London Marathon in 2005 weighing  18 stone.  I carried on running regularly and joined DL swim club and later  attended tri brick classes and ran a few half marathons followed by 2010 London marathon @ 16 Stone. 

Since then I’ve participated in 2 half ironman and 3 full iron mans in Canada , Switzerland and Barcelona in 2011/12/13 reaching my goal of 14 stone when I unexpectedly got a massive 18 inch DVT in my leg . Since then I’ve been maintenance training and after a couple of operations on my leg managed to complete a Tough Mudder with Lilly Mazzoni who together with Omar trained me to the limit to achieve my goal for this challenge. 

I’m hoping to get back to original fitness and my new challenge is to attend as many Viceroy events and a Half Ironman in Lanzarote in October 2014 and full one in Brazil in May 2015 and the London Marathon at the same !time of trying to reach my dream weight of 13 stone.’

Wow, impressive targets and awe inspiring progress Bijan.

Bijan also owns Pure Motion Cycles in West Byfleet called and will offer any Viceroy member discounts on servicing bike fitting parts and labour and spares.

The 1st of the Thorpe Sprint Series was not on Colette Kitterhing’s schedule until Saturday afternoon, but knowing how hard she trains (Evem in her debut at a Christmas Panto, ‘In it to win it’ introduced her on the programme) a last minute tri should have presented little worries for her:

‘When the kids got invited to a sleep over I thought I would make the most of a free morning. So needs less to say race prep was patchy (not sure we really believe you Colette!). The swim was good, coming out the water 4th in my wave, 1st lady. Chairman Yeo would have been disappointed with the 1:13 T1, all fingers and thumbs!

Knowing the course was a great bonus and I was feeling good on the bike. It was coming back up Longcross that I spotted the RGA lady (I later found out she was called Vicky). She looked strong and was gaining on me. Spurred on I got my head down but she caught me at about the 15km mark. But she did not managed to get too much of a lead as I left T2 just in front. Numb feet and dead legs, the run was hurting! For 3k I would hear her breathing right behind me but as much as I tried I could not get my legs going faster. Then at about 4km two other ladies came past us taking 1st and 2nd. And then in the last 500m I lost grip of 3rd when the lady in green found some reserves that I could not find.

I had a great morning, loved the race and brilliant to see so many other Viceroys there.

4th female
3rd in category
29th overall

Now I need to get working on that run! ‘

Great racing Colette and good luck in The Mini Marshman next weekend.

As the rest of us were having a Bank Holiday lie in, Mick Tumilty, Carl Fisher, Lance Keeson and Rachel Hall were heading to Hampton for Thames Turbo 2. For those of you still in bed, the weather could not have been better.

After a winter of training hard, this was Carl’s first triathlon of the season and with a banner of ‘Clarkie’s Curse’ on his post race commentary, one cannot but wonder how this much awaited race panned out: ‘I got held up by the four guys who started in front of me on the swim, threw my toys out the pram but that’s Thames Turbo for you and I should have taken it in my stride! Cocked up T1 ran 10m past my bike still fuming about being held up in the swim.’

The much calmer Mick, although beginning with an equally unspectacular swim, was blazing by T1: ‘a very quick T1 (credit to Mr Yeoman) and a flying start that drew gasps of “slow down” and “oh my God” from the marshals on the road. Don’t they know it’s a race???’ But Mick, you can’t get stats like these without a bit of drama: 9.06 / (46.0) / 37.50 / (5.25/48.0)/22.09 !!

Carl was having an equally dramatic time on his bike: ‘Smashed the bike until it literally rattled itself to pieces on the roads of Sunbury.  I was about to quit and head back, when my good mate George showed up with his tool kit and got me back on my way after a 5 minute delay. Determined not to last one on the road and in an attempt to outrun ‘Clarkie’s Curse’, I turned myself inside out to catch a few guys up the road in front of me.

T2 was better than T1 and finally out for the run; I a new 5km PB (by 5 seconds) so all in all, I am please with my effort and despite being riddled by mistakes, school boy errors and equipment failures, It’s great to be back out there racing again.  Next up London Hyde Park.’

Statistics:Swim 7:01; T1 – 1:11; Bike-43:59; T2-0:59; Run-21:43; Total -1:14:52

37 mins later cycling later (with no mishaps) and Mick was back into T2 for another flyer before heading out for a steady 22min 5k and a well earned cup of water, meeting up with Lance and cheering Rachel over the line. 1.10.38 finish time and a 10th in age group.

We welcome to Viceroys another active local who enjoys both running and team sports – Charlotte Saunders: ‘My love of multisport began in 2001 during my final years of University. Two of my housemates were keen runners and triathletes and decided that I should be too! I started running again and quickly found that I was really enjoying it and began to run on a more regular basis competing in races from 5km to half marathons. The timely loan of a (rather large) bike saw my first triathlon in 2002 and I was hooked!

I found that although I was placing in both the bike and the run sections, the swim was letting me down and rather than focus on that I swapped from triathlon to duathlon! (obviously the only sensible option!). I loved duathlon and in 2002 I qualified for my first World and European Age Group Championships which was one of the most amazing experiences. I was fortunate to qualify again on a few occasions and managed to secure a Silver medal at the European Championships in 2004.

Following this I had a few years of struggling with running injuries which meant that I turned my attention to cycling and time trials. I really enjoyed these races and competed in local 10’s and also the Duo Normand 2-up time trial which is a brilliant race (and also a target for 2014 with fellow Viceroy Alan Clark where we will be against Kim Bainbridge and Nick Harmon, also new Viceroys!)

Having vowed that I would never compete in triathlons again I was convinced that I should give it one more go so I dusted off my bike and completed a sprint triathlon. Instantly I was hooked again and have been racing in sprints and Olympic distance races ever since. 2013 saw my first ironman distance race in Barcelona with ‘The C Team’ and I loved it. I would definitely like to do another.

I am looking forward to the season ahead and am pleased to be a part of the Viceroys team.’

Welcome to Viceroys Charlotte.

Hot on the heels of his wife, we welcome Nick Collins to team Viceroys: ‘I have a bit of an all round sport background – rugby until the body gave up (I was in the little but quick camp), running, and lots of skiing and sailing. Mountain biking got me back into cycling, and my wife’s love of triathlon got me into a few sprints. I had a motorbike accident two years ago – 10 ops later running may be a long way off, so I am learning to love my road bike. My goals? Concentrate on the bike, and at some point keep up with my wife in the water.’

Welcome to Viceroys Nick.

Starting in the UK’s smallest city of St David’s the Tour Of Pembrokeshire is a spring sportive along the Welsh coastline, there can be few rides that are quite as scenic as this from the start in St David’s to some of the stunning coastal bays en route.  The biblical weather and the severity of the course meant that I didn’t really pay any attention to any of this, and certainly wasn’t going to take any photos. My group, which included, my wife Libby, the local vicar (on a Trek Madone) and an assortment of friends, had opted for the truncated 79 mile (127km) route, which featured 7515ft (2,290m) of climbing.

The first few flat  miles under the spring sun were glorious, and the only easy miles of the day, once hit the hills everything changed, the rain was relentless, the hills were sapping and the wind was terrifying. It quickly became clear that staying on the bike would be today’s real challenge. The first real climb was a short 25% gradient, this was probably the least challenging section of the ride, it was here that we came across the Mavic support team, yellow car, yellow bikes,  loads of wheels the real deal. They cheered us on and and pushed me up the gentlest section of the climb. The summit plateau’ed out to an exposed plain with crosswinds threatening to blow you clean off the road. These same winds made the following descent torturously treacherous.

Then started the steady, leg-sapping, soul-destroying 8km 400m high climb to overlook Newport bay. Mind bogglingly there were groups of spectators through the route many ringing cow bells, to create a real grand tour feel. At the summit the view across the bay was breathtaking, so was the wind. The descent which followed was sheer hell, the gale force winds were determined to blow us off or bikes, I have never been more determined to stay on the bike, more people walked down the descent than up the ascent. Thankfully we all made it to the feed station. Which was by far the best feed station I have ever seen, the range and quantity of foods was staggering, faggots and welsh cakes. Despite the rain and hail we stayed a little too long at this stop and felt it on the next climb a rain drenched 20% to the summit of Tom’s Bend (907ft/276m). This was the closest I came to cracking and only Jens Voigts famous phrase “shut up legs, you’ll do what I tell you” got me through.  Finally the first sheltered, but still sodden, descent of the day. The next feed station was  at The Jubilee Inn in Letterston, the feed station was in a pub, awesome. Of course I enjoyed more welsh cakes and a Guinness (only a half there was still 19 miles to go). The last section was wonderful, fuelled by Guinness I was able to take advantage of the drop in wind and lack of hills for a fast finish. The final half mile ran past the stunning cathedral, Before finishing on a savage little climb. This hurt, it really hurt, but Libby and I finished together. The roast pork rolls, with crackling, stuffing and apple sauce, gradually eased the pain.

This was undoubtably the toughest bike event I have ever done, the course was challenging enough, but the weather, especially the wind, made this event utterly formidable. This is one of the few occasions when the climbs were more enjoyable than the descents. Well done to everyone who completed this gruelling event. Will I do it again next year, I’ll think about it…

Mike Armer has joined Viceroys from Serpentine after moving to the Walton area from Wapping.  After some promising early teen years as an 800m runner, he discovered beer and other distractions at 17 and, after a couple of years playing rugby, got bigger and bigger each year enjoying the social scene in London!  He started running again 2 yrs ago, bought a bike and decided to give triathlon a go.

‘My girlfriend told me about a guy opposite her who was always in his garage on a bike. I popped over to check out his bike one Sunday morning and it turned out it was Mr Yeoman.  After some googling I decided I should do a bit of what he was doing!”    Highlights thus far of my new triathlon life have been competing in the Laguna Phuket Triathlon (definitely a location triathlon worth considering) and getting into the GB age groupers for the ETU & ITU sprint duathlons.  I am looking forward to a few Shepperton Lake sessions and the Sunday ride with the Viceroys, as well as pulling on some pink kit for this year’s races!’

Welcome to Viceroys Mike – look forward to seeing you in a bit of pink…

Viceroys are tough, Viceroys are crazy and new Viceroys certainly fits the mould, as after not running for 2 years after an accident which had doctors saying she would never run again, proved everyone wrong this weekend by not only just ‘running’, but running a challenging 20k, completing a Tough Mudder – respect and congratulations to personal trainer Lilly Mazzoni. Unbelieveably, Lilly has only just managed to start running again on the past month, after some amazing treatments from Steve Hobson (another new Viceroy!).

Lilly (originally from Brazil), tells us about her race: ‘It was very hard, mainly because of the weather as it was quite cold, but the team work was the main thing for me, as a few times I struggled a lot as I was scared of some obstacles, but they made me do it! It was a huge mental challenge because when you think you are nearly there someone say to it that’s it’s only half way… You think, what the hell? But you carry on because that’s why you are there, to get to the end no matter what.

The last 2 miles was the hardest, as any race really, but the feeling of crossing the finishing line after been electrocuted is priceless! I enjoyed a lot and can’t wait to do it again – it was a amazing experience and I recommend it.’

The amazing Lilly has been into sports since the age of 6, doing a lot of swimming and playing handball around the country representing her school. She moved to England in 2005 and loved it!

‘My aim now is to do an Ironman, which is happening in Brazil next May. I’m really looking forward to achieve this massive goal and I’m very inspired by some of our Viceroys athletes and I know they will give me more strength and help my training to make me an ironwoman.

Looking forward to meet you all guys!’

Can’t wait to meet you Lilly – we’re certainly in awe of you already.