WE ARE ViCiOUS

Video dump

2012-02-24T02:26:00.001-08:00

Chopper

2012-02-15T13:34:00.000-08:00

We won the London Cyclo Cross league team champs. We beat them all. End of story. That's the cross season over, it was good and Badass was bad. Now it's time to dust off our road and mountain bikes for the spring and summer.

We'd also like to announce the launch of our new clothing range called Chopper. It's a bit like the other stuff you buy but more expensive. Keep your eyes peeled.

Silver Surfer

2012-01-17T00:45:00.000-08:00

Silver in the National Trophy Series for Dennis Beddis (left).
And each ViCiOUS rider picking up at least 1 National Ranking Point.
Your mum couldn't manage that.

ViCiOUS CX Nationals coverage

2012-01-11T15:17:00.000-08:00

Cyclephotos did a ViciOUS special from the Cross Nationals in Ipswich last weekend.

Nobody's sure what Paul was doing with his bike over the hurdles but he looks to be enjoying himself so that's alright.

http://cyclephotos.co.uk/2012/01/vicious-velo-special/

Final results were:

Badass 8th
Boom 17th
Andy 34th
Paul 43rd
Ben 49th
Kev 25th

Happy Xmas Punks

2011-12-26T00:41:00.000-08:00

Nature

2011-12-20T08:46:00.000-08:00


Photo Credit: Paul Sheers

We're setting up the sign on for the ViCiOUS Velo race when Claire points to the track and shouts out "That bird is eating another bird!"

All spin round and stare, to understand what she's rambling on about. It was in fact a Sparrowhawk pinning a Pigeon to the start/finish straight and was trying to peck it's head off.

The Pigeon managed to wrangle itself free and flew directly towards the ViCiOUS gaggle that had clustered. With the Sparrowhawk in close pursuit we ducked at the prospect of the on-coming talons. A little bit of wee probably came out for Matt Hinse and Ben.
The Sparrowhawk accelerations and shear power straightaway closed the gap on the Pigeon and it took it down again onto the grass where the parking spaces are at Herne Hill 'drome. More deadly pecking followed and we finally figured out what was going on....nature!
The Pigeon wriggled its way free yet again, but this was going to be for the final time. As the Pigeon headed towards the fabled track entrance the Sparrowhawk swooped in and went for the kill. All ran down the bank to see the final blood bath and in that short window when the birds were out of our view, the final chapter of the story was written.
A cat clutching its' prize trotted back from having snatched it from the talons of the bird of prey, before disappearing into a neighbours' garden. All agreed, those two minutes of action was one of the most epic things any of us had ever seen!

Vicious Cross at Herne Hill

2011-12-19T14:28:00.000-08:00

Went off like a charm! Vicious Ben won the u12's and the senior race was mostly memorable for the Curly Wurly hand-up - which the commissaires bollocked us for btw, feeding's not allowed is it! BOOOOOOO!!
Warhead kept things funky and Gem Atkinson was snapping - cheers for coming along!
Disappointment of the day were the no-shows from the espresso wagon (leaving a lot of disappointed u10's who'd been promised free coffee - apologies kids) and the no-show from Ben's Mum. Gutting.
There were a lot of broken bikes on the day, but hopefully everyone still had fun - that must have been the first sighting of mud for a lot of people!

Truth hurts

2011-12-13T08:35:00.000-08:00

From Howies

There goes Ben, halfway through

2011-12-13T05:13:00.001-08:00

ViCiOUS clean up at regionals

2011-12-08T15:08:00.001-08:00

Badass, Boom, Kev, Paul and Ben headed to the south east & east regional champs last Sunday. It was dry and fast racing...and ViCiOUS medals galore.

Boom blasted off from the start and led the women for most of the race. I punctured on the first half of the first lap and had to ride the flat tub round to the pits to change bikes. Boom was still leading and had pulled clear away from Hope's Katie Simcock. Eventually with about two laps to go, the Badoom train got going. We rode together for a bit then I pulled away ending in a ViCiOUS 1 & 2 on the podium. Result.

Kev rode a strong race to come second in the Vets. He was nipping at the heels of first place by the end and he rode so fast that his face stretched a bit.

In the seniors, Paul had a race-long battle with them some pesky VCL tracksters and came in 10th followed by Ben in 11th http://www.flickr.com/photos/30401683@N06/6454570433/in/set-72157628278427063. VCL have been mouthing off about it so we'll crush 'em next time even if one of them has got big blue thighs.

.....Heinous omission not including Ben who won the under 12s with almost a minute to spare. Brilliant ViCiOUS debut!

All back to Bradford

2011-12-07T04:22:00.001-08:00

The weather sounds grim up north this week - ideal for creating a deadly quagmire in Peel Park for this weekend's National Trophy. Our money's on Badass pulling off a podium on home soil, Boom showing off some skills for a top 5, Paul and Andy scrapping for a top 30, while Ben won't get lapped. Anything could happen with Knox, and probably will.

Stories inspired by the off-season: The night of the involuntary crack deal

2011-12-06T04:19:00.001-08:00

A guest blog by Vicious’ non-cyclocrossing motormouth.

Photo by b+c+c+f on flickr

If you want tales of racing, you won’t find any here just yet, not until the weather improves anyway. I don’t currently own a ‘cross bike, but that’s soon to change. I reckon I’ll be good for the early season, like September, but when it gets cold...

I’m not good in the cold.

My mate Robin calls me ‘The Spaniard’.

I’m not good at getting up in the morning either. I’m not good at a lot of things, but what I am good at is getting myself into situations – some more dangerous than others – but real scenarios that provide good stories for the pub – or in this instance, for the blog! So here’s the first: The night of the involuntary crack deal.

A few years ago I was in a band. We made a record and the guy producing it was pretty famous. He was a bit of a hero of mine when I first developed a music taste beyond the hit parade. Does anyone call it hit parade these days? Does anyone buy singles? Anyway, he’s an all-round champ of champs, but I’m not sure he’d be too happy about me using his name, so let’s just call him ‘W’. After we’d recorded, W came to stay with me when I lived in Camberwell. We drank some beers, ate some pizza and he asked me if I could get him some weed.

In Camberwell around that time, that was about as easy as it is to buy a Flat White in Shoreditch.

Off we went, down Coldharbour Lane to the end of Pomfret Road.

No one there.

We carried on until we almost reached Brixton, under the bridge when there’s those skiddy patches of pigeon shit landmine the pavement. Sure enough, we were soon inundated with offers. My girlfriend approached a group of dealers, another, lone dealer approached me and not wanting to have their business taken away, one of the guys from the group put his arm around my girlfriends shoulders, moved her to one side while his ‘colleague’ whips out a pistol from his belt and suggests that the lone dealer ‘absconds’. I’m not sure if that was the word he used, but anyway, he did. Wisely.

We exchanged cash for class B and headed for home to watch Spaced.

It doesn’t end there, unfortunately. The lone dealer headed us/me off on the next corner and insisted that I take a look at what he’s got and pops a small lump of crack wrapped in clingfilm onto the palm of my hand.

I’ve always done this, I always attracted the loons.

My girlfriend and W walked off, heading for home with their loot and I descended into what I can only describe as a Larry David/Curb Your Enthusiasm-esque sketch with ‘the lone dealer’.

Me: ‘No thanks, you can have this back. I’m not even sure what it is. What is it?’
TLD: ‘It’s not weed, none of that, this is good shit manggg.’
Me: ‘It’s crack isn’t it? You’ve given me crack. I don’t even know what to do with this.’
TLD: ‘Yeah, now give me a tenner.’
Me: ‘I don’t want it, as I just said, I don’t even know what to do with it, have it back.’
TLD: ‘Nah, you give me a tenner.’

He then gets his phone out and starts to dial someone. The police! We have a smart guy on our hands here I thought.

TLD: ‘Right, I’m phoning the Police. If you don’t buy this, when they get here I’m going to tell them that you tried to sell to me.’
Me: ‘Now, in case you hadn’t noticed, I’m wearing glasses. I’m a little bit middle-class and I suggest you think about this properly. Who do you think the police will believe when they get here? You, who appears to be wearing a doo rag, or me?’

I popped the crack back onto the palm of his hand and walked off to join my girlfriend and W that had left me to fend for myself. Cheers united!

We went home and W wrote this song called ‘But you know it’s true’.

Apt.

This is a true story of how you should never try to impress your heroes.

Disclaimer:

Vicious London League at Herne HIll

2011-12-02T01:35:00.001-08:00

Coming soon!

Vicious Velo at the Derby National Trophy

2011-11-28T00:28:00.001-08:00

Ben, Boom and Andy started the weekend early, travelling up to the Peak District on Saturday to scout locations for a Condor Cycles photoshoot. The weather was grim: a howling gail, howling drizzle, and howling cold temperatures. It seemed winter had well and truly hit the north.

Cold, wet and with a couple of shots in the bag it was back in the Condor van to Derby for a rock n' roll night of riding the turbo in the Premier Inn, using the Gideons Bible to prop up the front wheel. Even Alice Cooper would feel bad about that. Apologies to our religious fans.

One day someone will cotton onto the fact that bike racers need coffee and they'll start turning up to races with one of those Piaggio Barrista bikes. Until then, we're sorted with Ben's Handpresso and travel kettle, and Andy's 12v Moka pot.Seriously, race organisers, get some decent coffee at your events and everyone will be happy!

There's a lot of hanging around and junk to transport at a cross race. The racing is spread over a full day, and you need to be prepared for every eventuality, times two, as you really need to be able to run the same type of tubs in both bikes should it be needed.
Derby was remarkably dry, but we all ran muds as it was greasy enough that the risk of sliding out in a corner wasn't really worth the extra speed on the straights.

Then the racing started. First up was Kevin in the vets, followed by Delia and Claire in the Women's race, with Ben and Andy racing in the afternoon with the Senior and U23 Men. Kev's cock up of the week was missing his gridding... One day he'll put his brain in before the race, be in the right place at the right time, not have a mechanical, either self-inflicted or otherwise, and he'll get a good result. Until then, 12th is about right. Our regular dueling partner Greg Simcock did cracking ride for fourth place though, well done!

In the women's race, the girls rode well, coming seventh and eighth, Badass and Boom respectively. If you could mix Badass's fitness and Boom's skills into one rider - Badoom - you'd have a podium contender, no doubt.

Juniors we like: Emily Barnes and Hugo Robinson. We should do an interview with Hugo, we could use some tips on how to go that fast and make it look soooooo easy. The kid has talent.

And then to the seniors.
Fuck it was hard. Windy as hell which made being in a group a huge advantage, but twisty enough that staying in a group was hard as hell: that concertina effect making life very unpleasant. The field was stacked as well. Both Andy and Ben did their best rides of the season, Andy finishing on the lead lap, and Ben getting caught by the leader on his final lap. And yet neither cracked the top 40.
Time was that hard work, abstinence from any kind of debauchery, lots of intervals and decent bike handling skills were enough to see you finish in the top 25 at the Trophy series. Not any more. Now you need TALENT as well.
Time to create a Singlespeed or Masters category for choppers like us perhaps?

Nick Craig: hero

Roger Hammond didn't have the best time of it. He crashed, probably more than once. His sleeve was already ripped when Boom saw him somersault and land on his head. As an indication of how hard it was, he only finished 20secs and five places ahead of Andy.

Paul Oldham: another proper working man's hero.

Then it was over, after 70mins of racing for Andy. Ouch. Then onto the long drive home to London.

Next stop on the Vicous Velo Tail End Tour is Bradford in two weeks. See you there perhaps?
Till then, there's a shit ton more shots on Flickr

Badass on Top

2011-11-21T13:36:00.001-08:00

This weekend's win in the Central CX League at Bedford tipped me into the top of the BC rankings. It'll be a battle to stay there but I've got pretty sharp and boney elbows and I'm not afraid to use them.

Dirty Mark Perry

2011-11-19T04:14:00.000-08:00

Mark's leaving us at ViCiOUS VELO and joining Dirtwheels from Otley. He'll be bringing some filth to their line up in Yorkshire. Good luck with it Mark, rip their legs off.

2011-11-16T12:57:00.001-08:00

Lady Trumpington gets ViCiOUS and flicks the V's in the House of Lords. We'll send her a special issue ViCiOUS VELO badge Trumpington flicks the V's

Welsh MTB weekend, and a kitten in a hamster ball

2011-11-07T02:59:00.000-08:00

With little in the way of CX racing happening this weekend, we decided to have a break and go MTB'ing in Wales. Ben, Boom and Andy started the weekend at the Forest of Dean in pretty unpleasant weather, blasting out a couple of laps of the new Verderers Trail, with a few off-piste additions.That afternoon, in torrential rain, we drove over to Afan and our digs for the weekend in Cymer. I think it's fair to say we'd all heartily recommend Bryn Teg House now - we rented a house for four of us. It was perfect: bike storage, hot shower, bike washing, loads of towels, fridge to fill with beer, and walking distance to the pub.
What more can you ask for?
Saturday, we met up with Paul and his mate Rob, as well as Andy's mate Rob to ride the trails at Glyncorrwg. We started with an abbreviated loop of the Skyline in the morning, then did the Wall in the afternoon. That totalled nearly five hours in the chair, when you took into account Ben's punctures at least.
A fair amount of beer was drunk Saturday night, but that didn't stop us getting up early to meet up with Boom's Cape Epic team mate Collyn and Ben's cousin Will for a 10am start. We rode the same loop of Skyline as Saturday, but rather than going all the way back down to Glyncorrwg ponds on the final descent, we used the cut through to get back up to the top of the climb, then take the Whites Level descent back down. That trail has changed a lot in recent years thanks to felling - it's almost unrecognisable from the original, even if the trail does take the same route.
What was recognisable was the centre at Glyncorrwg. I had my doubts it would be the same since Ian left, but the food is still really good with huge portions at sensible prices. Just what you need after three days of shredding.
In the pub on Saturday night Paul had everyone in stitches talking about this video. I won't repeat his description, but CJ Boom actually cried.
On the MoHawkVember front, at the end of the drive home, I tried to fill the Kangoo up with fuel on Norwood High Street. I had a hat on.
The man in the shop wasn't happy.
"Take your hat off" he gestured, which I did, revealing the Mo.
He still didn't release the pump.
I went into the shop to find out what the problem was.
"You have money?"
I showed him my Amex card. All was well.
It seems having a MoHawk makes you look like an untrustworthy thug.
Result!

MoHawkVember badges

2011-11-05T13:58:00.000-07:00

We've made these badges for everyone that has donated to Cancer Research for MoHawkVember. You can donate by clicking on the badge below, please keep the CA$H coming:

Matt and Alec join MoHawkVember

2011-11-03T14:03:00.000-07:00

We've collected over £600 in 3 days. Please donate if you can. We'll have to keep this up for a month!

Simon's Done It......

2011-11-02T14:42:00.001-07:00

JOB DONE !

MOHAWKVEMBER

2011-11-02T14:36:00.000-07:00

WORK IN PROGRESS...

Andy gets his Mo

2011-11-02T02:50:00.001-07:00

MoHawkVember has arrived

2011-11-01T02:05:00.000-07:00

Paul has done it.

He really thinks that you should DONATE TO CANCER RESEARCH

Giro Aeon in neon is on.

2011-10-31T10:07:00.000-07:00

Check out my new Aeon helmet that compliments the ViCiOUS kit perfectly - This season is all about accessories and doing the right thing with your hair.

MoHawkVember is nearly here

2011-10-29T00:16:00.000-07:00

You can donate money if you want this to happen here at the give in celebration page - it's for cancer research.

No money = No MoHawk

Rapha Supercross

2011-10-27T17:11:00.000-07:00

Photo thanks to Phil Jones

Three races, three totally different venues, all brilliant.

Rapha Supercross started with Boom, Ben and I racing in the northern homelands at Windermere and Huddersfield. Cow bells, beer and chips (not really frites) flowed a plenty. Boom and I got 1st and 2nd in Windermere on a great technical course. Huddersfield was flat and fast, and we got on the non-podium once again.

Ally Pally last weekend was the grand finale and ViCiOUS guested in the elite race. The sun was out and the course was punishing. Half of it was a long climb with a set of steps at the top. I loved it and led the women's race from the start.

Need to work on the celebration - forgot the Vs!

The ViCiOUS boys raced hard in the elites but we're still waiting for the results. ViCiOUS Andy didn't like it though - hills. Simon would have done better if he hadn't hit a hidden tree knoll towards the end, dammit.

Basically Rapha Supercross was brilliant. We'll have some more next year please.

ViCiOUS CLoWNS

2011-10-25T03:03:00.000-07:00

Boom and Waters were the highest placed fancy dressed riders in their categories at Muddy Hell. Finding 2nd and 4th respectively.

The winners of their races didn't make a single bit of effort. Those riders know deep in their hearts, ViCiOUS clowns outwitted them, pyrrhic victories count.

MoHawkVember

2011-10-14T09:29:00.000-07:00

For the past couple of years all the blokes I know have jumped on the MoVember bandwagon, growing pissy, horrible moustaches every autumn. I know it's for charity so it's inherently a "good thing" and I'm probably going to go to HELL for criticising them, but seriously, if having bum-fluff on your lip made you look like a prick when you were 14, it ain't gonna look good now you're 30.
So to recognise this FACT we decided to go our own way and institute the inaugural Vicious Velo MoHawkVember.If you're going to look like a dickhead, you at least don't want to look like you're trying to blend in in Dalston (I'm yet to see a mohawk in EC2; if they start appearing before November 1, I might need to have a rethink).
As of November 1, I (and hopefully at least Dirty Bird, Kev, and Badass) will be shaving my head to raise money for a charity I've not yet decided on. Probably something to do with cancer.
You can't go wrong with cancer, everyone hates the fucker.
By way of inspiration here are some photos of Joe Strummer looking cool with a mohawk. Joe Strummer was categorically a good bloke, you won't hear a bad word said about him anywhere.Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver on the other hand was a bit of a nutjob, but that mohawk is probably the most iconic of the last 40 years so it would be churlish to exclude it on the basis of Bickle's uncharitable behaviour. It's just a film people, calm down.
Keep your eyes peeled here for a Just Giving Page or something similar. In the meantime, go and follow Dom Mason on Twitter. He's a bike industry friend of ours who is doing MoHawkVember to raise money for his nephew who's just been diagnosed with stomach cancer. Like I said, everyone hates cancer, go and show Dom your support.

Getting in the mood for Muddy Hell

2011-10-13T11:43:00.000-07:00

Racing schedule

2011-10-13T06:15:00.000-07:00

All being well and good I am racing 6 of the next 7 weekends. There seems to be a lot of options if one spreads their wings a little from the clutches of London, so it has taken a while to nail down which races to do.

This by the way comes off the back of a total lack of planning on my part. I have been heading into each week end not knowing which race I would be doing, which is a little ridiculous when you have a family, where precision planning is the order of the day. Also it doesn't help the racing in general - going from one race to another is no good.

So I've decided to plan out my season. There are a few races I really want to do just because, a few I really want to do well in, and a few that I can't do. I am still in draft mode on the plan but the next month is looking to be sorted.

16/10 - Wessex league (Kevin and Paul plan to do this also). Was going to be doing Eastern league but we're in Berkshire visiting the In-Laws so this is more convenient.

22/10 - Muddy Hell. The whole frickin' lot of us are down to do this, so it should be a riot. Busy day leading into this, so not holding out for much but it will be good fun nonetheless. *note; need to get a light for this one, otherwise it's death round the back of the velodrome for me.

23/10 - Super Cross @ AllyPally Super exciting, say no more. 6 of us in VV are vying for 5 spots in the invitational race. whoever loses out will still get a ride in the support race so I'm looking forward to this whatever.

30/10 - National Trophy, Leicester. London League is at Hillingdon. That race pretty much finished me off last year after racing through bronchitis so it doesn't hold many good memories. This will be my first National Trophy so I'm going into it as a learning experience. Hopefully I'll make it to the National champs this season, so this sort of race with the full day schedule, and big race will help towards that no end.

The week end after I'm in Devon, no races down that way so it fits nicely with a week off! Following that is another set of 3. So that's me sorted through to December. Life organised.

Full on organisation

Now to get myself in some sort of shape for this shit and avoid any embarassment. Easy peasy with a couple kids under 3.

Pah, yeah right... Watch this space!

Racing is life

2011-10-12T08:58:00.001-07:00

Number One ViCiOUS Old Git

2011-10-11T00:42:00.000-07:00

Even though I missed last week's opening National Trophy race somehow I've managed to rack up enough points to move to the top of the veteran's national rankings. Double races on the previous two weekends and podiums in all of them helped to rack up some points but staying there is going to be a challenge...

Very post Peaks

2011-10-10T13:52:00.000-07:00

It's been two weeks since the Three Peaks but I'm still using it as an excuse for feeling wrecked (ref my last 2 races) so it's still ok to blog about it.
My peaks prep was put off track by being knocked off in a hit and run a few weeks before the race. Bastard. So I wasn't expecting much and just went to enjoy the fells and post race ale.
It was a rainy and gloomy start at Helwith Bridge. I had a bad start on the road section but clawed back places on Simons Fell and the rest of Ingleborough. The story of my race was keeping my position on the climbs and making up time by riding downhill like a madwoman.

I ended up 6th woman which I was pleased with considering the poor prep. Terry 'Dadass' Beddis got 3rd in the 60+ category. So a good day.

Photo thanks to Andy Jones (think that's his name...). I wasn't in ViCiOUS kit because I only own a skin suit which wouldn't work for the Peaks. I'll sort it out next year.

Welcome to Basildon

2011-10-08T14:10:00.000-07:00

Matt and I went to Essex today for the Eastern League at Basildon. After suffering 90minutes of his whining (see below...) I suffered an hour of racing round the hilliest cyclocross circuit this side of the Three Peaks. Seriously, three times per lap I was in my most geriatric of granny gears, grinding away at a single figure cadence. It was horrific.
In fact, it was beyond horrific, it was sadistic.
I thought Essex was meant to be flat? An ideal hunting ground for a fat lad like me. But no, apparently someone, somehow has relocated the fucking Himalayas to fucking Basildon.
I rolled in 7th, having popped like balloon in the last three laps and lost 2.30mins and 4 places in about 20mins of racing. Not ideal, but better than Matt!
Anyway, back for more tomorrow, this time in Hitchin, which unless I'm mistaken is distinctly un-Alpine, so hopefully more up my (Quality) street.

The very unViCiOUS side of life

2011-10-07T23:55:00.000-07:00

tHE problem with colds is it’s not a proper illness. You know, bone breakage, Bronchitis, man-flu – proper stuff that means riding your bike is not an option. With a cold you always think there is a possibility of getting a little bike time in. Even though you’re not on it, you’re not off it either so your head is always scanning the training plan (PAH right!) wanting to throw the leg over and get a ride in. Even 20mins on the turbo, perhaps a light hour ride, steady of course nothing silly.

Then it happens. You end up riding for two hours, go into the red Just for that split second (or maybe 30 as you power up and over the little lump in the road) and your lungs tell you it was a silly move. Like sitting on the turbo for an hour going through 1minute intervals in the dead of winter, pushing, pushing pushing even though you HR doesn’t touch 150bpm. Like Riding to work in a rainstorm, just because. It’s ok, just a cold. Except most of the time it’s not a good move. Some of the time you get away with it, push the envelope to the limit, get the rest in and recover, everything is great, in fact bonus training. These little gains tempt you to do it again, the next time you get a cold. The rest of time you take a step back.

Well this has been me. For just over a week I've had cold. Enough to render racing last week end out the question. Saturday was Eastern league, missed it – gutted. Sunday was London league @ Herne Hill. (I like the venue and it’s a well organized race, but 140starters was enough to convince me missing this was a good move). Itching to get on the bike, it wasn’t enough to stop me going for a 2hr ‘easy’ ride on Sunday. When I got home I averaged 230watts and 28.5kph. Dick head, what was I thinking? I felt fine, legs were good it’s all ok, nice and steady. Yeah well the legs were fine because you’ve rested for a couple days and the weather was amazing you idiot.

So on Monday it’s a step backwards. No worries, take it easy, see how we go. Maybe get a light turbo in. I head to the BFF press release with Andy – that keeps me off the bike, so good work. Wednesday comes and the cold is coming out – great news, contemplate a bit of cross training with Boom and Baddass… decide not to for a couple reasons, and hindsight tells me this was a good move Thursday I actually wake up feeling ok. Tickle in the throat but nothing bad, time to open up the gas only it’s not the right time, oh no. The weather tell me otherwise (ok that is a get out, but the Chaingang would’ve done me no good.)

So here’s the conclusion: colds are the worse things to get. They tease you constantly into thinking everything will be ok, go for it! For over a week my brain and body have been in a battle to convince each to get out on the bike. Then the body shivers a little, the nose snuffles and tells you to just hold off until tomorrow, you’ll be able to push that little more tomorrow, play safe, remember last year when you rode on and wrecked the season. The body is winning a battle the head normally wins and I’ve resisted being a dick and stayed off the bike other than riding to work.

Later I am racing Eastern league. I am feeling ok. I put in a few sprints on the ride to and from work and it wasn’t there. It’s OK though, It’ll all be good. I have to perform. Get on with it and smash it out! The moaning can wait till Sunday.

Anyway it's only a fucking cold. HTFU. So for inspiration I've been watching Michael Barry in a rather hypnotic motor pacing montage. Dunno why but I rather enjoy this.

This boy is nails anyway, he used to do cross too.

http://michaelbarry.ca/2010/12/the-cross/

He wouldn't have stopped for a cold, He'd have stuck two fingers up to it, wheeled his posh Pinarello and ridden behind a bike for a few hours. Onwards to Basildon!

Ben Berden on Stoemper

2011-10-07T03:22:00.001-07:00

Can't say I know much about Ben Berden beyond the fact that he A: has tattoos B: got done for doping and C: seems like a bit of a c+£t* (see below).However, the fact that he's spending the season in the US riding for a US team and doing coaching clinics and other nice-guy-things makes me think he's probably not as much of a dick as I at first thought. Take this promo vid from his team, Stoemper, as an example - it's pretty cool
* why I thought Ben Berden was a dick and this

Shot By Both Sides, and Super Cross

2011-10-05T11:40:00.001-07:00

I first heard Magazine on the BMX video Cassette. Shot By Both Sides kinda hung around in the back of my mind and I only just worked out what it is. It prompted a rediscovery of that video on MPORA too.
In other video news, we're doing the Super Cross race up at Ally Pally in a couple of weeks. We're not sure who's in the team yet, so we might be opening it up to you, the baying public.

Too hot for cross

2011-10-02T07:06:00.000-07:00

Herne Hill, London, blood 'n' sunshine

Double Podium in Essex

2011-09-25T14:29:00.001-07:00

Boom won the women's race at today's Eastern League at Springfield Park, Kev won the vets, and in the senior race we had Kev in 4th, Andy in 6th, Matt in 9th (his best result EVER - more where that comes from please!), Ben in 14th (after fading from a solid top 10) and Paul a bit further back.To top it off Delia Badass was 6th at the Three Peaks! Hopefully she'll do her a post on it (it will be her first post on here I think). What a result! Especially as she's been a bit of a car magnet over the last few months and keeps getting knocked off...

David Harmon off Eurosport thinks we're cool

2011-09-22T01:29:00.001-07:00

David Harmon likes Vicious Velo by AndyWaterman

Back to School

2011-09-05T13:55:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year to go back to school and time for me to learn a few new cyclo-cross techniques. I love this old video, no gimmicks, no fancy editing and no cool music. It's like being back at school in PE class. The look is incredibly dated but I couldn't stop watching it all.

Vicious Additions

2011-08-02T14:28:00.000-07:00

Kev's been scouring the web for bits that might complement our Vicious Kit. What do you reckon?

Hove Park crits in glorious technicolour

2011-07-17T15:09:00.001-07:00

Red Kite Cycles made a short edit of Friday night's race in Brighton. They missed my glorious fifth place high-five for Matt. That's life.

The value of a good warm up

2011-07-16T02:45:00.000-07:00

Hove Park in Brighton is home to the friendliest summer criterium series I know. There's always a good bunch of spectators, the organiser always thanks us for taking the trouble to come "all the way" down to Brighton, and you invariably get given a beer when you give your number back. You can't really say fairer than that!
It's a cool little circuit too, a lot like Crystal Palace in a lot of ways, only shorter, and slightly less technically challenging. There's one hard corner, one short climb and a long, fast straight into the corner. It's narrow too, so you have to stay near the front to do anything.
Last night Matt and I travelled down there after work. The less said about Matt's race (or lack of it) the better. I felt fresh but a bit odd after travelling about this week for work, flying home the day before. Still, these races are only for 2/3cat riders so I figured I'd still be competitive.
And so it proved when I tried to string it out first time up the climb. I succeeded in stringing it out, but I failed in leaving anything in the tank to actually keep riding with. The next seven, eight or nine laps were hell as I found myself dangling off the back of the fragmented bunch. More than once I told myself I was a goner, and more than once the pace miraculously slowed and I found myself back in the bunch. Oh how I wished I had done what the cleverer riders had done, and brought a turbo trainer along so they could warm up properly by the side of the track while the 4th cats bashed round the circuit.
By the time I caught my breath the break was long gone, four riders all a class above, working well together to lap us after 40 minutes of racing.
I never felt great all race, but after the bunch worked in unison to catch back an escapee (a proper gobby tosser who'd been winding everyone up all race) with six to go, they sat up as they caught him and I spotted a window of opportunity. He who dares, Rodney, he who dares!
I slipped past the leading riders as we crested the hill, dropped into a big gear and rode away. I looked round and I was alone. I hadn't jumped, I hadn't even got out the saddle, I'd just rolled through at the right time.
They were sitting up, tired from chasing down the gobby tosser, and unwilling to ruin their individual chances by going even deeper into the red this late into the race to get me back.
Five laps to go.
I got my head down and pedalled, splitting the course into segments: get in a big gear on the descent, roll it over, save your legs; go small on the lower segment of the climb, save your legs; get into a bigger gear over the crest to get back up to speed for the descent.
It worked, I stayed away. And when I looked at my garmin after the race, it turned out the final five laps prior to the final lap (where I knew I was safe so rolled round a bit slower) were only 1sec slower than the first five laps where I was in so much trouble.
That tells me my big problem was a lack of warm up. Maybe if I had my turbo with me I'd have been in that break?
Hove Park crits are done for 2011 now, but I'll be back next year — they're about the most fun you'll have on a Friday night in Brighton if you ask me.

Vicious Beastiality

2011-07-09T03:09:00.000-07:00

Pics by Aodan Higgins

With the cyclocross season fast approachng, some of the Vicious Velo odd-squad have been racing at Beastway, the mid-week MTB race series at Hog Hill. Paul Sheers started it all, then last week I started, and this week, Ben and Claire joined the fun.
At one point this week we had a Vicious Velo chaingang battering round the course, with us all on different types of bike, Wacky Races style: Paul on a lightweight carbon XC race bike, me on a steel singlespeed and Benji on his cross bike complete with tubs and canti brakes.
In the end Paul and Claire punctured out, guttingly for Claire whilst leading the women's race. Me and Ben still managed to win at least three categories: first singlespeed, first baggy shorts and first cross bike.
Only one of those categories is actually counted by the judges (first singlespeed) but the moral victory of the other two unoffical categories is reward enough.
With any luck we can persuade Vicous Kev, PsycheDelia Beddis, Birdy, Matt Hinshelwood and Gary Lingard to join our ranks before the end of the season. They haven't got long — last race at the end of July. Boo!

Searching for inspiration?

2011-07-08T14:05:00.001-07:00

Then look no further than this RAD lot. The first badass cycling gang, Smashing shit up.

Vicious Velo Theme

2011-06-04T13:50:00.000-07:00

Here's our ViCiOUS VELO theme tune made just for us by Alex Hutchins of Cyclones. Vicious, we're ViCiOUS! Cheers Alex it's really, really good.

Crystal Palace

2011-05-31T12:22:00.000-07:00

Vicious T-Shirts are coming...

2011-05-28T13:51:00.000-07:00

There's a real cool club on the other side of town...

2011-05-15T13:13:00.000-07:00

We have the best jersey of 2011

2011-05-11T12:38:00.000-07:00

Luke Scheybeler (founder of Rapha) gave us a name check on the bikeshow.net in the discussion on the history cycling jerseys. He thinks that ours is the best jersey he's seen this season. Thanks Luke, and thanks to the Ken Jones and Chris Spencer at Onimpex/Bioracer for helping us make it happen. We've even been stopped in the road by drivers asking where they can buy it! Crazy stuff.

http://thebikeshow.net/the-life-and-times-of-the-cycling-jersey/

Ixworth May Day Crits & Deano revelations

2011-05-02T13:59:00.000-07:00

I went up to Ixworth to do the crits. Never been before but wished I had. Fully closed crit racing around a smaller tight course with lots of different races. Spectators lining the main street and pubs selling beer! A superb recipe for a good day.

My races were hard enough but not so hard I wasn't able to be fairly active. I managed to just finish outside of the top 10 in both of my races partly as I wussed out in the sprints, and partly as my sprinting ability is fairly non-existant!

I also bumped into Deano post race (he won both of my races). Following on from rumours on our blog that he'd said our kit was fucking awful, he totally denied he'd ever said that and so he does like it! There you go - a bloke at the trafic lights at Elmer's End, South London jumps out of his car and stops us because he wants to buy our kit and Dean Downing likes it too. What better critical acclaim can we receive?

The great fire of Crystal Palace

2011-05-01T02:35:00.000-07:00

Palace has been canceled for May 3 after vandals set fire to all the gear needed to run the race - flouro vests and the like. There are more details on LCS. Hopefully things will be back to normal for the week after — see you May 10th!

RAS Mumhan 2011

2011-04-27T09:31:00.000-07:00

Just returned from Ireland having ridden this years RAS after a last minute call asking if I'd ride for Surrey League. I was planing to do a 4-dayer in Newcastle but couldn't turn down the chance to ride the RAS.
This year it was just 3 of us (John-Heaton Armstrong, Lee Tunnicliffe, myself) who rode rather than a larger contingent which usually represents Surrey League. John has or is going to post a full report on the Surrey League site so mine's going to be brief.
Great racing though, very aggressive on every stage, lots of fast riding (the bunch spent many happy hours lined out doing 40-60km/hr riding in the gutter!! ). And to top it all off we all got a nice tan.

Stage 1 Killorglin and Sliabh Luachra / 105km / av sp. 38km/hr

Flat to start with then kicked up and continued to be a rolling course until the last 5-10km. The race was neutralised for 12km due to road works then was absolutely balls out from the flag. A constant fight at the front and lots of attacking which eventually caused a split which I missed but Lee made. Did eventually get away with 6 or 7 others and with 5km to go back wheel started to lock up and I had to stop to get a wheel. The bunch rolled passed me in the process and I had to ride the last 5km in the wind eventually coming in 5min+ down. Lee did really well and got 8th, John finished in the bunch.

Stage 2 Dingle and the Conor Pass / 126km / av sp. 35km/hr

Would need the climbing legs on today! course had a few KOH climbs before the final climb of the connor pass to the finish line.
Flat out from the start again and an early crash on the narrow coast road caused a split which was brought back to everyone's relief. Soon enough there was a break of 20+ riders which Lee had made. With a few of the contenders from stage 1 in the bunch I kept my eye on them and stayed close eventually getting into a chasing group of 6 riders. With the break in view ahead of us we hit the connor pass and it was every man for himself. Came in the top 40 today.

Stage 3 Waterville and Valentia / 142km / av sp. 40km/hr

A course with plenty of KOH climbs today.
Sore legs this morning so the prospect of a hilly course was worrying. Suprisingly the legs felt fine as soon as we got going and the speed ramped up once again. I fought to stay at the front and went with the attacks eventually making the break when the field split up on the cat 2 climb. Some really windy / exposed conditions and rough roads out on the coast made for hard riding and with the pace high (40-60km/hr) the group was lined out riding in the gutter. A small group or riders made a break 10-15km from the end and I got away with another rider 5k from the line eventually coming in 28th. Lee and John finished in the bunch.

Stage 4 Killorglin and Milltown / 114km / av sp. 42km/hr

2 x flattish circuits then 10laps of the town.
Today was basically the hardest 80km race I've done followed by a 10lap crit!!
The field split 10-15km in with some of the contenders left if the bunch. Lee made the split so John and myself were left in the bunch where the teams in contention started to ramp the speed up in a desperate attempt to close the gap. It was hard riding for what seemed like an hour with the bunch lined out and the 10 laps of the town still to come. With the gap not dropping to below a minute there were a few lulls in the pace before ramping up again for the first lap into Killorglin. I felt ok over the 10 laps and stayed up near the front where the prospect of a crash was much reduced. Lee in the break got the prime on the 5th lap and came in 15th. John and myself finished strong in the bunch with alot of riders having been shelled out over the 10 laps.

Overall

Lee 19th - great ride
John 66th
Myself 57th

F&*K Kate and Wills, let's go riding

2011-04-25T14:10:00.000-07:00

We're going riding on Friday, if you want to join us, feel free — you can grab the route from GPSies.com

Geoff Waugh's ViCiOUS panoramic photos

2011-04-23T01:07:00.000-07:00

Geoff Waugh

Geoff took these fantastic panoramic photos of us at the start of the CiCle Classic.

Warhead's Cicle Classic Video

2011-04-19T23:28:00.000-07:00

Cicle Classic video

2011-04-18T23:57:00.001-07:00

Cicle Classic 2011 - Smashing it up!

2011-04-18T03:06:00.000-07:00

72nd place

Full results

Race Palmares & Full 2011 Results
www.cicleclassic.co.uk

"What fucking AWFUL kit"

2011-04-17T15:05:00.000-07:00

I happened to be standing right by Deano Downing when he said that. That's just the response we were after!
Bloody good rides by both the Marks today. It were hard out there by the look of it.

TESCO Rutland - Melton UCI International CiCle Classic

2011-04-17T13:26:00.000-07:00

167km - 4hr 28min - av speed 38km/hr

Epic race again this year and managed to do a bit better despite chain slipping off at one point and having to chase back on for over an hour.

After a good 50-60km warm up around Rutland water the race really got going when we hit the farm roads. With 150+ riders bottle-necking into the narrow country lanes the chaos ensued with the top riders going hard at the front and the punctures, crashes and general fighting for space happening behind.

With a good group moving away at around the 80-90km mark I found myself in the chasing group and was actually feeling quite good. Then, during one of the laps around Owston my chain managed to jump off the big ring as we were going hard up an incline. This took what seemed like 5mins to sort out and once going again I found myself TTing back to other riders most of which I passed until I got going with Dan Duguid from Sigma. We rode hard together for around an hour until we managed to get back onto a chasing group.

Going into the last sector of off road, which was a terrible piece of road, I felt strong and with 2km to go was thinking about the finish. All hopes of crossing the line were dashed though as we were stopped on the exit to the main road and told that we were outside the time limit!!!!!

Still got placed though and am pretty chuffed. Hopefully next year will be a better performance.

Our newest member (temporarily!)

2011-04-16T13:10:00.001-07:00

Ok, before you shout at me, I was asked to "guest" ride for a team in the 7th edition of the Rutland Classic. The team was ViCiOUS Velo, punk rockers who ride bikes! If you see the kit, it's unmistakable!!

Anyway, being a UCI race, we were required to sign in the day before and this was probably my first indication I was out of my depth with the likes of Malcolm Elliot, Zak Depmster, Dean Downing, Rob Halyes and even Ian Field kicking around the hotel car park! And that was just the domestic teams- Belgian, Spanish, German and Irish teams were making up the 165 strong peloton.

On Sunday, the centre of Oakham was packed with press and stars- although our kit was providing a good attention grabber (I was asked to pose with the mayor!) before we set off, each team was welcomed to the podium and a quick interview introduced us to the crowd- our aim for the race? "find a pub"

The race set off at a blistering pace! And I mean blistering! Such a large bunch caused a few crashes early on, not surprising with closed road spreading the bunch across the road. Our average speed for the first two laps of Rutland water was 48.3k/h! We hit 80 k/h on the slightly downhill sections! It was impossible to check where I was in the bunch, too scared to look behind.

As we entered back into Oakham, the roads narrowed dramatically and with street furniture and traffic islands in abundance, it became harder to hold a position. At one point, I had to ride up a footpath across a grass verge just to stay upright. (sorry to the spectators!)

1hr 25mins in and we still were on an average speed of 47k/h. The all he'll broke loose as we turned sharp left and into the farm lanes.

Vision immediately obscured by dust and the lack of the road edge meant just pointing the bike forward, shifting to a bigger gear and pushing through.

The bunch remained generally in tact for the first half of the race, hills I had feared seemed to be less of a challenge as we approached most of them at 40k/h you were half way up them before you knew it.

The sectors through the farmyard were mind-blowing. Absolutely no Tarmac, just hard packed dirt, rubble and gravel- major skills required.

I remember thinking As we past through the feed zone "what a silly place to put it? We are all going far to fast here" turned put, it was an ideal place- you just didn't get a chance to let off the power!

It was at about 100k that there was a split in the field, I was with a group of around 60 riders including Dave Clark, Rob Hayles and half of Spain by the sounds of it! We worked on to pull the groups back together, but the hammer had truly gone done now. A touch of cramp sent me to the back of the group in a second, with little I could do about it. In amongst the team cars looks like a good place to be when you see it on the telly- but trust me- when 32 team cars are thumping across dirt roads, it's the last place you want to be. I drafted behind the KTM car, then Endura Racing, them Rapha Condor before managing to tuck up behind Sigma Sports flash Merc. Struggling to see the group ahead, despite it only being 100 yards from me, I tried to relax and wait until a return to Tarmac.

The sector through the farm and village again took it's toll on my rear tire, punctures in this event are a "when" not "if". I flipped the wheel out, holding it aloft as car after car brushed past me. My only hope was a neutral car to be near the rear of the following vehicles. Alas, it was not to be and my race had ended at 120k.

A kind spectator game me an inner tube ( I can't afford a guaranteed tub puncture) and I rode back to the feed zone to watch the end of the race be fought out.

It was certainly impressive to watch, and even better to be a part of (for 3 hours at least) and clear from the faces of the riders at the end that it was just as demanding for them.

Zak Dempster Rapha Condor Sharp took an impressive sprint victory. A hard fight at the end of a long 4hrs.

Mark Thomson

Public Image

2011-04-14T13:10:00.000-07:00

It's all about your public image these days, even for us. Apparently some people have already been upset by what we're doing but we've got nothing to prove. We ride our bikes, ride hard and don't have to apologise to anyone for getting off our arses and doing something positive. If you don't like us, tough, we're not going away any time soon.

Oi, Andy, what are you doing?

2011-04-12T08:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I've been taking advantage of there being no cross races to ride my mountain bike. Good times!

Wally Gimber 2011

2011-03-24T01:22:00.001-07:00

Sunday saw the annual running of the Wally Gimber Trophy promoted by my old club Dulwich Paragon. This was my first real race of the season with a strong field and 6.5 laps of the challenging Tenterden course (Total distance 135km).

The action and attacks started straight away which made for a high pace and within the first lap a small group of the strong contenders (M.Backstedt and co) had got a gap. This lead group grew over the next lap with other riders bridging across and joining up.

The rest of us were left to fight it out in the bunch with another small group of riders making the break on the accent of the hill, which I wasn't able to go with. The pace in the bunch was then up and down with riders attacking and counter attacking trying to make a break for it. I made a number of hard efforts and attacks to try and distance myself, but was ineviatibley reeled back in.

The last lap saw a few riders from the bunch (Windy Milla, Dynamo, ....) establish a gap which they were able to maintain to the finish. With the line in sight and the momentum in the bunch building up, my now heavy legs had had enough and so had I. Kevin crossed the line just after me but had the valid excuse of being ill over the last week!

A bit disappointed not to have made any of the breaks and finished higher up, but this was the first real test of the season and there's plenty of improvements to be made over the next few months.

2011-03-07T06:34:00.000-08:00

Second race of the season for me was the San Fairy Ann spring circuits 2 on Saturday. Raced the Clayton Velo spring classic up in Lancashire last weekend. Handicap event with some of the top British boys in the Elite group. I ended up finishing in the chasing group and felt pleased with 22nd place in my first race of the season.
This weekend was the first time I've raced at Hog Hill due to living up in Yorkshire now. Having spent the last 3 months clocking up the base miles, and just starting to get some intensity going, 30 times up the hill was going to get the blood flowing! I felt pretty well during the early laps, just trying to hide and not expending to much energy. Kevin seemed pretty active early on which I think he payed for a bit later on when things started to heat up.
When the pace did go up and the attacks started, it was just a case of staying on wheels and trying to go with the moves. With a break of 8 or 9 riders getting away the rest of the field started to fragment with another group forming and others chasing. Just didn't have enough to go with it and ended up in a group of 4 with Kevin, which also split up in the last few laps. The race leaders came across the line just as I was crossing it for my final lap.
A bit disappointed not to have finished a bit further up the field but good workout all the same, ended up with 20th place!

Cafe Punks

2011-02-27T06:33:00.001-08:00

After yesterday's poor performance at Hog Hill I needed something gentle. I met up with Dirty Bird, Graham and Charlie (Sid's cousin no less, look how well he flicks the V, it's in the genes). Birdy and Graham gave me a good beating while I was down, once I'm back on form I'll try to repay the favour.

2011-02-21T14:05:00.000-08:00

Welcome to ViCiOUS VELO's latest addition to the team. Veteran drinker Gary Lingard, he's a Cockney Hackney boy that's been dishing out the aggro all season in the National Trophy Cyclo-Cross season and almost found himself staggering onto the podium at the National Championships. Good to have you in the band Gary.

ViCiOUS VELO Podcast by NASTY GRIND

2011-02-21T02:01:00.000-08:00

Our mate Lord Muck has put together a punk rock podcast just for us. He's partial to a bit of rotten racing himself so who better to choose some punk to listen to when you're smashing it up on your bike.

Check our more from Lord Muck at www.nastygrind.com

Nutter

2011-02-20T11:28:00.001-08:00

Kinda tempts me to get my BMX out again during the cross off-season.
Then again...

Cicle Classic 2010 - Smashing it up!!

2011-02-13T14:24:00.000-08:00

This is for Andy and Kevin. Just to make you feel a bit better - I wrote my bike off for 4 months last year doing this and have only just been able to start sleeping on my right side from the shoulder injury!

Till next year

2011-02-13T13:00:00.001-08:00

Broke my bike, race over. Season over.

See you in September.

Self abuse - London League Team Champs

2011-02-13T12:40:00.001-08:00

Following on from punching myself in the face and smashing up my teeth last weekend, this weekend I started work on remodelling my ankles. I did two laps this time before falling off my bike, rolling my ankle and smashing my knee into a tree trunk. Seriously though that I'd bust it at the time.

Not to be out done, Waterman decide to rip an ultregra lever off of his handlebars by smashing it into the muddy quagmire at high speed. That was his race over.

Meanwhile Dirty Bird was keeping it clean today and finished with himself and bike in one piece. Likewise, new ViCiOUS VELO rider Paul Scheers kept himself on the straight and narrow to finish in the top ten at today's London League team champs. Shame you can't rely on your team mates to finish, if either me or Andy had made it to the chequered flag we would have been second team. That wouldn't have been very punk though, self destruction is far preferable to being second best.

ViCiOUS VELO guide to Rotten Racing - #3a Team Work

2011-02-06T13:21:00.000-08:00

Remember: Never openly celebrate your team mates victory, after all it SHOULD have been you. As Richard Groenendaal shows, one finger displeasure is good, but at ViCiOUS VELO we believe the use of two fingers is always better. (Image comes courtesy of Melv.)

Today's race was bollocks

2011-02-06T13:11:00.000-08:00

I took a chunk out of one of my front teeth by smashing myself in the face running over the hurdles, it was pretty stupid. It felt worse at the time than it really was as I had bits of teeth, the taste of blood in my mouth and I couldn't see the damage. Having already punctured and been forced to run half of the overly elaborate course it was my cue to DNF. Shameful I know but I was worried about my good looks... in retrospect I should have kept going as even though I'd dropped a load of places through puncturing I was still first place veteran. Up until the puncture things were going fairly well, Andy and I had been in a group of three racing for 4th, having just been given the slip by the leading three. I wasn't on my own though Darren Barclay wasn't there in the head either, usually he's winning, today he never saw the front of the race. Cross fatigue...

Gonna see the dentist tomorrow, will ask what happens if I leave it broken. Could do with keeping hold of the several hundred quid they will want to fix it. Kind of like my new look too.

London League team champs next weekend and then cross is over for this season. One last big push.

Photo: Richard Wood - flickr

A weekend of no racing is a weekend where ViCiOUS VElO go mountain biking

2011-01-31T07:05:00.001-08:00

London League - Wilmington

2011-01-23T13:07:00.000-08:00

Photo: Phil Jones

It was the first London League for ViCiOUS VELO so the new kit got a few comments, I really thought everyone would hate it but most people came up and said how much they liked it. The course consisted of substantial lengths of single track through woodland squeezing between the gaps in the trees. By end the end of the race both Andy and I had both shredded our skin suits on the trees, that's how tight it was in places. Not good for passing and with the large London League fields of riders getting to the trees first was crucial.

Andy and I were both gridded on the front row at the start, from the off a trio of Arctic riders lead out the race leaving us fighting for the places behind them. Darren Barclay lead from the start to win solo. Today I had the measure of Andy (very rare) and it was down to me to chase the Arctic boys. First of all Matt Holmes came into sight and I passed him without t0o much trouble and quickly put time into him. The next rider in my sights was 2nd place junior Alec Briggs. I managed to pull him back and get myself onto his wheel as he looked to be taking it quite easy, perhaps unaware that I'd caught him. I started to think about where I was going to attack and then the shit hit the fan - I crashed into a back marker that had crashed just in front of me leaving me nowhere to go. After I'd untangled my bike from his I was up and going again but with my handle bars bent sideways riding the technical stuff was a bit tricky. A quick bike swap at the pits and I was back in business. I'd lost a lot of time, Alec was long gone so I was back to battling for 3rd with Matt Holmes breathing down my neck.

In the woods Matt decided to pass me where there really wasn't space for two. I came out the loser, forced out of the corner as he came through the inside to crash off the course into a tree. By the time I was back on the bike, with my chain back in place the gap was massive and the bell for the final lap was ringing. Demoralised by my crash I continued round the last lap with no hope of catching Matt and was almost caught by Paul Sheers. I finished in 4th place overall, just off of the podium and 1st veteran.

Andy fought on to finish 6th in spite of dropping down to 9th at one point. Phil Jones took a load of photos, I'll add them later.

P hoto: Phil Jones

How far away is Pont-Chateau? Can we have a National Trophy there next season, please?

2011-01-17T09:39:00.000-08:00

Rutland — Trophy #6

2011-01-17T09:01:00.000-08:00

Rutland Cyclocross 2011, course pre-ride from Andy Waterman on Vimeo.

So, that's the season over, bar the shouting. I ended up 27th in the Rutland National Trophy. I managed to avoid going down in any of the first lap crashes — caused by a too-tight course with one distinct racing line which 90odd blokes all wanted to be on — but I did get held up a couple of times behind fallen riders. It didn't make too much difference though and I finished that first lap in the low 20's which would have been good — riding with the likes of Mike Cotty, Darren BArclay and Jamie Newall. But then it started raining, and although I felt perfect happy on the off-road sections, I managed to slide out on a tarmac corner. By the time I'd put my chain back on I was back in the mid-thirties, and feeling a bit pissed off.

As the rain continued to fall, I kept going the same speed, glad to have plenty of targets to chase, and picking people off along the way, until eventually I was seconds off Greg Simcock, someone I've had a few good battles with this season. It was the last lap, so I gave it everyhting, until eventually, I gave it too much and slid out on one of the final corners, just as I was about to make contact.
To be honest, crashing there was probably a good thing — sprinting on slick tarmac would have been lethal, and sprinting for any position lower than top 10 is embarassing anyway. Don't do it kids.
Although it probably wouldn't be as embarassing as Kev's pre-race intervew with me...

ViCiOUS VELO - Rutland Cyclo-Cross pre-race interview with Andy Waterman from Kevin Knox on Vimeo.

Dear the media

2011-01-14T08:46:00.000-08:00

Dear Media professionals/graffiti artists/results compositors, from this point on we respectfully request that in all media releases ViCiOUS VELO be written in capitals with lower case "i"'s.

There is no "I" in ViCiOUS VELO.

Sticking with our punk ethos, you are free to hyphenate and/or use the prefix "Team" as you prefer. Failure to comply with our initial request however will result in withdrawal of your media agency's access to the team, and possibly other sanctions through the courts.

How this will look in written communications:

Correct: ViCiOUS VELO smashed the field to smithereens and won by 24mins.
Incorrect: Team Viscous VelO were disqualified for being drunk.

You will notice the author of the second quote has also spelled the word ViCiOUS incorrectly. What an idiot.

Thanks for your help in establishing the proper team name standards. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

Oh yeah, go read Team Leopard Trek's letter to Cycle Sport

National Championships - twice the ViCiOUSness

2011-01-10T12:13:00.000-08:00

Photo: Ed Rollason

Vets race: I had a bit of a fight with Mark James. I wondered if the ViCiOUS kit had anything to do with it? After that the battle was on, he'd got away from me but I wasn't going to let it go. The rest of the race I was chasing to get places back and thankfully I managed claw the places back that I lost and finish ahead of Mark. I was 7th and less than 30 seconds off my main goal of a top 5. Without the tussle it could have been top 5...

Seniors race: no fights. I was gridded on the 4th row and had a really good first half a lap avoiding both of the big pile ups on the first couple of bends, I couldn't believe my luck. The rest of the race was a continuous battle with so many riders within just a few seconds of each other. I just kept on trying to chase down the next rider and not give up. Loads of shouts of encouragement really helped me on, it was incredible. I had no idea were I was, at one point someone said 37th to me. The chequered flag was a long time coming, 1hr12 mins of grinding through the mud but I was so pleased to have achieved my goal of not being lapped, and on the drive home, even more pleased when I found out that I was in the top 30! Without my tyre blow-out on the final lap a top 25 could have been possible. I'm feeling stronger and really looking forward to Rutland next week, gonna smash it.

A Massive thanks to everyone that helped us out one way or another, or just came up to us to ask about ViCiOUS VELO. Also, a special thanks to Ken Jones and Chris Spencer from Onimpex/BioRacer for getting our kit made and ready for the Nationals in next to no time.

Photo: JoolzeD

National Championships, Derby: 20th place

2011-01-09T14:06:00.000-08:00

pic by www.amwphotography.co.uk for British Cycling

Just back from an awesome weekend at the National Championships in Derby. I really, really REALLY wanted to come in the top 20, and I did, finishing 20th. Just made it!

The race started well for me, from the third row on the grid I was out of trouble despite some nasty crashes on the start straight. From that point on, I can't really remember much — I just kept my head down, kept pedaling, tried not to crash and tried not to let people overtake me. I was pretty much successful on all fronts, bar not letting people past. At one point I was up in about 15th, but that didn't last long...
I'll let Kev come on and update you on his double weekend, racing Saturday in the Vets and Sunday again in the seniors. Tough guy!
It was great to get loads of support all the way through the race. It's amazing how many people are getting behind us already, and we've only done two races in ViCiOUS kit. Thanks everyone who cheered us on. Special thanks to anyone who gobbed on us, called us cunts and jeered us — we love that stuff. Keep it coming!

Looking anguished - pic by www.BritishCycling.org.uk

Foxhall Stadium Eastern League Video

2011-01-06T14:51:00.001-08:00

Check this out — video of our first race in Vicious Velo colours up at the Elmy Cycles Supacross in Ipswich. The course was great, although I came off at one point and wrapped a load of thorns round my cassette, dropping me back from 5th to 9th with 3 laps to go. I worked my way back up to 6th but those last few laps were a massive panic.
Kevin did well to win the Vets race and come 10th overall. He's interviewed at the end of this vid; blink and you'll miss it though, he's not at his most articulate at the end of a race haha.
Taylor Johnstone was on the receiving end of some Viciousness courtesy of Nathan Miller, when Nathan pushed him off the course through the final few corners, earning Nathan a time penalty for the second week running, only this week, he was the race organiser too. Getting disqualified from your own race is a new level of Viciousness, BRAVO!

What is Vicious Velo a reaction against?

2011-01-05T08:42:00.000-08:00

Just saw this on answers.com — someone asked "What was Punk music a reaction against" and to quote the answer:

"rock music had become very stale; it was all about long solos and using 12 different guitars. It was extravagant and pretentious. And the culture surrounding it — the hippie ideals like peace and love and everybody being nice to everybody else — seemed trite, unrealistic, namby-pamby, and doomed to failure."

Replace "rock music" with "cycle racing" and you'll see where we're coming from. Being a bike rider has become all about doing long boring rides, and wearing bland, boring clothes, on bland, boring — yet remarkably expensive — bikes.
Fuck that.
Vicious Velo is all about taking things back to basics.

Legs n Lungs n Rock & Roll

Go check out our press release on Cross-Crazy for more.

Gp Sven Nys - be mean

2011-01-04T06:27:00.000-08:00

Vicious Velo Kit has arrived!

2010-12-30T14:37:00.000-08:00

The kit showed up, so we thought we'd go and strut our stuff up at Crystal Palace. We own that place, you hear me? We're looking at you Stuart Spies.
And you Ian Paine.
Don't mess with the Vicious Velo.

Yellow snow and a return to form

2010-12-28T13:46:00.000-08:00

We had quite a good return to racing at the traditional post-Xmas puke-fest at Footscray in Kent. I (Andy, Hi, nice to meet you) came 3rd, Kevin came 7th (and first vet) and Dirty Bird gave up.

It's always heavy going down there as the ground is disconcertingly rough and covered in mole hills (weird) and obviously, with snow still hanging around, it was even harder going. Kevin had a really good start and was up into the front group with Billy-Joe Whenman, Jamie Newall and Paul Schier while I floundered a bit behind. As Jamie and Billy escaped, Kev got dropped whilst I started moving up, first past him, then past Paul.

Next thing, Jamie was sat at the side of the track picking course tape out of his cassette and I was up into second. At that point I got a time check that Billy Beans was only 12 secs ahead and I was catching him, so it occurred to me I might win. Which would have been nice.

Didn't happen though. First Newall flew past, I sat on his wheel for a bit, but got so much filthy yellow snow and slushy shit in my eyes I couldn't actually see any more as we entered a technical bit, so had to slow down to have blinking fit.
Then, when he caught Billy, he attacked, with Billy jumping into his wheel and extending his lead.
After the race we hung around for an hour and a half to receive our prize money. I got £10 for coming third, which, as the entry fee was £12 meant I only lost £2 — seriously, what's the point of giving out prize money, especially for a podium, that is less than the entry fee????
They couldn't work out the placings as far down as Kev, who came 7th, so he left empty handed. Hilarious.
And freezing.

Snow's all gone now, so with any luck our kit will be racing to our South London squat/clubhouse unimpeded from Belgium. If you want to see it in action, come along to Foxhall Stadium in Ipswich next Sunday — we'll be there, suited and booted.
Can't wait.

All these EXCELLENT photos are by THISview on Flickr — check out his stream

Not a Christmas carol - UK Subs

2010-12-24T01:50:00.000-08:00

Worth persevering through the intro (which is awful) for the classic line, "Hey Santa you cunt, where's my fucking bike?"

Bilenky Junkyard Cross gets the Vicious seal of approval

2010-12-23T09:19:00.001-08:00

Bilenky Junkyard Cyclocross 2010 from In The Crosshairs on Vimeo.

None of it's 3m wide, the obstacles are all about to fall down, the gridding is a mess etc etc etc.
And yet this looks way more fun than most London League races.

Bilenky Junkyard Cross Helmet-Cam from In The Crosshairs on Vimeo.

Merry Fucking Christmas

2010-12-23T04:17:00.000-08:00

It looks like Vicious Velo might be making our race debut at the London League on the 27th. Get ready to be shocked, appalled and enthralled.
Oh yeah, get on the comments to persuade Vicious Kevin to get a mohawk in time for the National Champs. Cheers.

Good Cross Look

2010-12-21T07:48:00.000-08:00

Andy, you've got the welly look. You just need to take it to the next level and strap a rubber chicken to your head like this dude!!

Vicious winter training

2010-12-21T01:55:00.000-08:00

It's not all turbo training and cross racing for us: on Sunday we took Ben and Boom from Condor on a delightful tour of South London's premiere dogging spots, linking up parks and playing fields and little patches of woodland. We never got further than about six miles from home and yet we still managed to ride 2.5hrs without getting cold or bored.
This doesn't really look like much, and on an MTB in the dry, it isn't. On a cross bike though, it's pretty sketchy, just becasue there's shit loads of slick, cambered roots all across the line you want to take.
Good to see Dirty Bird back on his bike — he's third man through. He's a nob isn't he?

Here's our jersey. Will anyone notice us?

2010-12-20T12:54:00.000-08:00

Time for the turbo!

2010-12-19T04:21:00.001-08:00

One ride out this week up in the dales, not ideal conditions though! Only came off once. Rest of the week spent in my cellar on the turbo

Never mind the bibshorts, here comes Vicious Velo kit!

2010-12-16T13:10:00.000-08:00

BioRacer has almost got our kit ready to dispatch from Belgium. How bloody good does this look? With any luck we'll have it by Christmas

Stockpiling

2010-12-15T13:29:00.000-08:00

......thats another 50.......much more fun than getting on the Turbo!

My initial image of cross

2010-12-15T06:21:00.000-08:00

This is what I thought cross was all about. Will be breaking bones next winter though after seeing Andy and Kevin in action on Sunday.

Vicious Badges

2010-12-15T05:23:00.001-08:00

Birdy has been busy making Vicious Velo badges. Gonna put some on my trenchcoat.