London Phoenix rounded off another great year of mud, snow, ice and sweat with a great showing at the end of season Team Champs (our ‘B Team’ secured 3rd place overall). The on bike footage above is taken from top MTB LP’er Paul Troughton’s bike, and he’s also shown casually bunny hopping a fallen tree later on in the film. Awesome…

We’ve had 15 riders from Phoenix give it their all this season and they’ve pulled off some great results, including a win and a whole raft of impressive placings across the senior, vets and women’s categories. And even when we haven’t had great results (cough) we’ve had a great time, and next year promises to be even more exciting, with Cyclo-Cross now officially the fastest growing cycle sport in the UK.

So find out how easy it is to get into the friendliest, most accessible and muddiest sport in cycling, and to race with a club where we’re all winners, whatever the weather, just get in touch.

Photos courtesy of Rhodopsin Photography

Four Phoenix riders made their way up the M1 this weekend to compete in the National Cyclo-Cross Championships in Sutton Coldfield and got great results. First it was the vets race on Saturday with Neil, Stuart and Bruce competing with over 120 of the country’s best ‘cross riders in the 40+ race, followed by Gary Lingard with the Seniors

To find out how they got on click here

While the big freeze has caused havoc on London’s roads and resulted in the cancellation of virtually all the UK’s cycling events, it’s also transformed Epping Forest into a wonderful winter playground for LP’s MTB and Cyclo-Cross riders.

We’ve been out in the forest on regular forays ever since the snows first fell, and have been riding the magically transformed and silent single-track for hours on end. While we’re looking forward to getting back on the roads and competing again, many of us are secretly hoping that the cold snap continues…for a month or two!

If you’re looking for a club where you’ll be able to ride (and race) all year round, just get in touch.

London Phoenix has had an amazing December on the rough stuff with Jason Wright, Dan Jenkins, Geraldine Treacher, Paul Troughton and Sam Hart all putting in storming performances at this winter’s premier enduro mountain bike racing series – aka ‘the Brass Monkeys’.

While all of our brave riders have been outstanding, we can’t help but ’single-out’ Paul Toughton’s 3rd place at the first event which he rode Jedi-style on his rigid single speed(!), and Sam Hart who has been on the podium twice – the first when she out-classed none other than Olympic gold medallist Rebecca Romero to nab 3rd spot, and the the second when she took a stunning second place while on a brand new steed!

Sam said:

“Looks like my new bike helped alot, thanks Dad! But I then had to wear the lucky Noah’s Ark jersey (from his bike shop www.noahsark.co.uk)”

Thanks Sam’s dad, and well done everyone!!!

London Phoenix had an action packed weekend of off-road racing at the start of December, with Stuart Lockyear and Joss Miller getting top 10 places at the De Laune Cross race at Herne Hill on the Saturday, and Neil Simpson coming home a fantastic eighth in the vets category at the South East and Eastern Regional Cross Championships held at Foxhall Stadium, Ipswich.

Meanwhile our MTB crews were battling the mud at the Thetford Winter races, with Alex Christians and Jason Wright just out of the top ten in their respective 2 hour and 4 hour events, and Doug getting a creditable top 30 in the vets 4 hour race.

These impressive results follow on from a succession of earlier podium places for Samantha Hart and Paul Troughton at the Gorrick MTB races in November, so 2010 looks like it will be another stunner!

Thanks to everyone who helped get ‘Cross on the BBC news this weekend. Around 60 riders turned up for an impromptu training session and race at Herne Hill that was being filmed by Mike Bushell for the national BBC weekend news.

Special thanks go to Bill Wright and Gary Lingard for running the session at the last minute, to the guys and gals from Rollapalluza for letting us use their fab Muddy Hell course, to National Champion Jody Crawforth for taking time out to come down and be interviewed and of course to everyone who came along and helped make it such a fun day.

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