Vamos en España , 23rd March 2017 !!

Ciao a tutti,

In collaboration with PA Cyclism we have created a cycling package to Spain for March 2017. Those Spanish tour can be for Road Bikes or Mountain Bikes. There will be plenty of climbing this is why the area has been used copious times by the VUELTA.

Fresh water to keep you hydrated.

History on route.

The date for March trip is departure on 23rd of March 2017 and return on the 26th late evening.

3 Days of cycling + 3 Nights = 570€ plus flight

Every night amazing fresh food.

The prices above includes:

• Half Board accommodation in double room
• Great local Staff to make your wonderful trip amazing
• Daily Energy pack (gel + bars + powder)
• Transfer from & to Madrid Airport
• Daily Support Vehicle to transfer your luggage between hotels
• Full travel Insurance
• Free Cycling Jersey

Wild Nature

We have left the freedom to each individuals to book their own flights,given them the flexibility to stay longer or depart at different times.

If you are interested in joining us please email for more infos at ride@saddledrunk.com

Viceroys Triathlon Club

The SaddleDrunk team is pleased to announce that SaddleDrunk has become the new Official Kit Supplier for the Viceroys Tri Club from October 2015.

The SaddleDrunk creative team has met with Mark Yeoman several times to discuss design and material to manufacture the best kit out there available for cyclist and triathletes. Knowing Mark abilities to perform at Highest standards in the world of Triathlon,  the SD creative team and the production team has pushed to their own limits to makes Mark's dreams to come true.

The kit is hand made and hand tailored in our factory in Italy. The Viceroys Tri Club Members will be able to start purchasing the kit by next week.

The kit compromise a complete list of items from head to toes and enabling them to purchase direct to us 365 days a year,day or night.

The SD team is looking forward to a long friendship with the club.

Have a good week everyone.

Do not forget to vote for us at the Time Out Love London Awards

SD Team

Latest News. Halloween 2014 Bike Ride

Attention all SaddleDrunkers

We are organising a bike ride for Friday Night 31st of October starting around 8pm from a Location in Ealing. We will be cycling around London,during the hours of Darkness.

Requirements are bike,legs,lights, cash for drinks and food.All kind of bikes welcome.

Costume optional.Riding speed will be easy and social. Strava not allowed.

More details to follow.

If interested please email us at

store@saddledrunk.com

Thank you and see you soon

SD

My First Closed Circuit Race Imperial Winter Series (Hillingdon) 2013/2014 Round 7

It has been a long time that I had something pestering me, and it was taking part in a Closed Circuit Cycling Race. Lucky enough, not far from me there is the famous Hillingdon Circuit. After acquiring the full racing license, I have decided to enter for the Imperial Winter Series 2013/2014 at Race 7th. The series is organised by Imperial Racing Team were you could admire great expertise in managing the event, thanks to Richard and Lucy and the rest of the team behind the scenes.

I was pleased to go because the weather is still surprising us with beautiful sunny skies and warm temperature.Funny enough it was not just my idea, but other maybe 170 rider thought the same,where as per routine the organisers had to consider a waiting list.

Overview of the circuit and the "Commissaire" box.

We started with a nice warm up for few laps before getting to the start grid,the field of riders was quite big including about 10 novices(like me) doing the first race on closed circuit.Richard, from Imperial Cycles gave us including the ladies a race briefing reminding all the rider the correct procedures to enjoy the race.I could see that some teams like London Dynamos,Kingston Wheelers,Twickenham Cycling Club and many more placed their rider at the front of the grid,obviously due to team tactics.

For me being a novice I decided to start at 3/4 down the grid to understand more the race,the techniques and tactics of the race.A guy next to me before starting he advise me to get at the front of the pack as soon as possible.

Start of the race.

Off we go. We started the race and the pace picked up very quickly, the wind was with us in some part of the circuit,so for most of the laps was sprint and relax. The sprinting at the front was the concept of breaking away for the teams to see who probably was up for the game,but being my first race I did not know if it was an usual standard technique.

After few laps I could see that I was confident with the speed,an average of 41km/h and everything else around during the first part of the race.I decided to go at the front with some others,I stayed there for a little while until I felt a big slap in the face by the wind during a turn,making me losing speed and position within the peloton.Obviously was a bad move,but I was able to rejoin the peloton without losing drastically a position and the drag.

Fighting at the front.

Well, the race was going to be come to an end where some rider pulled out of the peloton because the speed increased even more, and everyone was fighting to go to the front for the last final 5 laps.Therefore I have decided to attack and go at the front again, within the peloton you could smell burning rubber from the brakes,people going off line not supposed to do that.

6 laps to go and everyone was hungry for the front, I was overtaking to the right and I could feel hands or handlebar of my left bum cheek.More and more it was becoming like a rugby scrum on two wheels. Without realising I found myself with the front pack but with wrong positioning causing me to go on the grass once and shortly after that for the second time,which for me meant game over, as I lost speed to rejoin the peloton already ahead like a bullet train.

I was able to finish the race with a little group of other riders,that were left behind from the peloton during the race.

As per my first race, I was pleased and enjoy it so much, I have learned the lessons and few tactics for the next race.The result of the race I think I was not last but at the back, which make me work more on improvements for the next.

There were definite a lot of riders being SaddleDrunk.You can see the race graph on http://connect.garmin.com/activity/428100746 .

Thank you until the next time.Just Keep SaddleDrunk.

On the way to King Of Mountain Challenge Taiwan 2013

Good Morning all,

I have just  arrived in Hong Kong and I am now waiting for my flight to Taipei, Taiwan.

During the flight from London I managed to sleep for nearly 10 hours.. I think I needed to rest a bit...

Last night in London was hard to leave particularly when my son told me: ” Please daddy stay with us”... I had to fight hard with myself to regain the force to leave.

I have been given the chance to ride with the PRO from Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, la Vuelta and all other champions from different part of the world at this amazing event 16 hours away from home. I am sure that there will be other occasions in the future for them to join me in my adventures....

So, now lets talk about this event.

The main event, which is on Saturday is called KOM Taiwan Challenge, KOM stands for King Of The Mountain, obviously you might imagine why...

We will start the race  at 0630 on the road next to the beach at sea level and we will be finishing the race (hopefully) at 3275 meters from sea level after a distance of 105km.

I have done races where the distances where much longer, but the peculiarity of this one is that the total climb is long 87km, which means that nearly 90% of the race will consist in cycling up hill.

The total ascent is 3500 meters, quite a lot for such a short distance if you think that most of the best cycling events in Europe in the Alps the do the same amount in at least 140km or maybe more.

Obviously having the top boys and girls in the race, means that all the entourage of cars will be following the big peloton of  444 riders from all over the countries.

There will be different 4 feeding stations with mechanical support from Shimano.

The top riders are expected to finish it within the 4 hours mark, about myself....  I am happy to finish within the limit time of 6.5 hours.

The other event will be held on Sunday Morning at 0630 next to Sun Moon Lake, in a remote area of Taiwan, this race will be much shorter and will give the chance to local rider to ride with the PRO (professional).

In this race, if my legs don’t hurt too much, I will push hard to see if I can keep up with the top dogs and play the game with them, hopefully without crashing.