Going wild in the country

If you think cyclo-cross has taken off in the UK in recent years you should do yourself a favour and visit Belgium for a Superprestige series race meeting. Last weekend we visited the Gavere meet just outside Ghent, where tens of thousands gathered to watch huge stars such as Sven Nys and Kevin Pauwels power round a ridiculously muddy and technical course in the grounds of a stately home. The riders’ amazing bike handling skills were matched only by the enthusiasm of those watching them from every possible vantage point around the course - more often than not with a plastic glass of beer in one hand and a paper plate of mayo-sodden chips in the other. TV cameras were there to capture the action, the highlights of which were shown on national news programmes at the end of the day. After the races, hordes of rowdy CX fans poured into the vast fan tent to cheer on the cheesy but wildly enthusiastic singer and his dancing girls as they belted out Europop anthems and pranced around the stage. It all shows just what’s possible when TV coverage generates enough commercial sponsorship to turn what could so easily have been a bunch of grim-faced riders charging around a soggy, deserted field into a joyous, circus-like celebration of a fantastically watchable and thrilling sport. We’ll be sharing our wonderful Belgian CX adventure in much more detail in the next issue of Simpson - including what it feels like to ride an elite-level course on a top-of-the-range Ridley CX bike with the latest SRAM ‘cross componentry. Meanwhile, it’s back to the warm tea and wintry delights of the British CX scene for us.

Yorkshire roads to whet the appetite

Simpson took to the beautiful countryside of South Yorkshire over the Easter weekend to sample some of the roads that the Tour de France will race on in just a few weeks’ time. Many of them have been resurfaced, which is just as well because some of those that haven’t are in a truly shocking state. But the new tarmac is silky smooth and some of the routes it follows truly take the breath away (as do some of the hills...this is most definitely not a flat part of the world). We saw several potentially excellent vantage points for would-be Tour spectators but if you’re planning to catch the action we would recommend planning ahead – with more than a million people expected for the Grand Depart, this isn’t the kind of event you can expect to decide to attend on the day. We joined Sheffield’s La Squadra (http://lasquadra.co.uk/) riders for our Yorkshire recce and a finer bunch of chaps you couldn’t hope to meet. We will be meeting up with some of them again for the Eroica Britannia at the end of June and we can’t wait. Meanwhile, our best wishes go to Dan Kilby, one of the La Squadra team, who ended this weekend’s ride in the back of an ambulance after getting into a disagreement with some Sheffield tram lines while very generously escorting Simpson back to base. Get well soon Dan!

Simpson goes 3D

When Simpson was invited to participate in this year's Bastille Day Vulpine Cycling Fete, we didn't foresee the amount of preparation it would entail. Hats off to the hardened annual village fete stall holders as it's an art in it's own right. We commissioned our creative department with the task of coming up a with concept for our stand. It had to be transportable, easy to assemble, practical and look good. Obviously we can't reveal too much about the end result, you'll have to come along to the Fete and witness it for yourself but let's just say we're very excited by it!

The event takes place this Sunday 14th July at The Lion in Teddington, and runs from 12-6pm with big screen coverage of the Tour as well. It's also a special day for us as Stage 15 of this 100th edition Tour revisits Mont Ventoux, we remember the anniversary of Tom Simpson's passing some forty six years ago. Why not come along and say hello, it should be a great day!

Week One of the Tour

With not only the arrival of issue two of our magazine but also the launch of our Tour t-shirts, keeping up with the Tour itself has been a struggle. It's amazing, even with the multiple formats available to view the race, it's still difficult to watch each stage. On Tuesday we found ourselves on a train to East Anglia following the race via the Twitter feed. The way in which the information was being relayed felt like we were listening to reports coming back from a far-off war.

Maybe it is in that respect, each stage being an individual battle in the overall campaign for victory. We're backing Mark Cavendish for the Green points jersey and so are you judging by the sales of our Maillot Vert t-shirts. We're looking forward to seeing the big name GC contenders coming into play more as the race heads into the mountains in the days ahead.

Out of the darkness and into the light

It seems that summer is finally with us but we are seeing none of it at present. This is an intense work period right now for us. As issue two gets ready to go to press we are busy working on new designs for future projects. The calendar for both June and July is frantic but are looking forward to getting some miles in very soon.

For us the creative process is a constant refinement of ideas. Both layouts and writing get worked and reworked countless times until we are satisfied with the end result.