24th December 2007

Happy Christmas and a Vegas 2008 to everyone!

23rd December 2007

Las Vegas Institute of Sport/PerformanceCycles.co.uk is now officially registered with both British Cycling and Cycling Time Trials.

17th December 2007

The entries for the 2008 Hell of the North Cotswolds are open now and filling fast - it always sells out quickly and despite only being open for a couple of days, it's already about 1/4 full.

For those that don't know, the HONC is a 50 or 100k enduro ride but with a more of a road flavour than most, being split very roughly 50/50 road and off road. It starts/ends at Winchcombe which is near Gloucester, so not far from all those based in Bristol but still worth the trip for those further away. It's quite a different event to most enduros with the large amount of road, meaning that narrow tyres at high pressure are the order of the day (many people do it on cyclocross bikes though by all accounts that's pretty grim if it's dry and rutted...). The route has a cake stop at half way (with lots of cake/tea/etc included as part of the £12 entry fee) and you can bail onto the shorter 50k route if you're stuggling. The route is partly marked out by marshals but you should expect to do some route finding - directions and a map are provided and in general are pretty good - you can of course always just follow the crowd (and there's always someone with a GPS...)

Several of us have ridden it multiple times and would definitely recommend it.

Link to the event below and this year for the first time, you can enter online which makes things easier. If you're interested, get your entry in ASAP. It's also very local to Performance Cycles so it'd be good to get a substantial showing of the LVIS kit whatever your level. Please make sure that you put "Las Vegas IS/PerformanceCycles.co.uk" as the club when you enter

Hell of the North Cotswolds Official Site
Winchcombe CC

3rd December 2007

John raced the second round of the Thetford Winter Series taking a significant step up the rankings, finishing 4th having made the cut to do the extra lap. John now sits fourth in the series ranking though if his progression up the rankings continues, it seems likely that he'll climb further by the end of the series.

12th November 2007

John and Martin raced round 1 of the Thetford Winter Series at the weekend finishing 7th and 48th respectively. John described the course as "Not much in the way of gradient but there were a couple of sizable bomb holes which added interest. The rest of the course was about 1/3 fire road (hard packed flint mostly) and 2/3 single track through forest which got pretty lumpy as the track compressed between tree roots. Not as much fun as Coed y Brenin and less technical that the Twentyfour/12 but a good day out".

In the course of the race, John's back was complaining about the lack of suspension on his bike while Martin's thumbs apparently stopped functioning which must have made gear shifting interesting... That said, Martin did only fall off once which is a new record.

Results here
 

17th October 2007

LVIS has taken on a sponsor in PerformanceCycles.co.uk, a company recently started by Andy K and Andy W, fellow LVISers. Details of the sponsorship deal have been emailed to all members.

For 2008, as well as mtbing, we'll also be doing more road racing, time trialling and cyclocross but as ever, we'll be ensuring that the LVIS ethos is upheld hich may prove to be controversial in the world of TTing. We will shortly become affiliated to British Cycling and Cycling Time Trials.

There'll be a calendar put together of events that we'll be targeting, including all the main ones from 2007.

To properly promote our sponsor, we've got an updated kit design - see the Shop - though we've deliberately kept it fairly similar.
 

12th October 2007

The results of the Cheddar Bikefest have been carefully analysed and the statistics are available here.

1st October 2007

The weekend saw a hugely successful LVIS squad at the Cheddar Bikefest - 6 teams raced and showed everyone the stylish way to do it. The women's team (Beccy, Kirstie, Sally and Tess) won their category while the top men's team (Andy B, Leon, Marcus and Nouveau) finished on the podium in 3rd place despite racing on singlespeeds on a very hilly course that massively favoured geared bikes. The other teams had good results too with the Red team (Andy A, Andy L, Antony, Martin) also finishing in the top 10.

More importantly, everyone had a great time making the best of unseasonal (ie non-monsoon conditions) weather. The evening's festivities where the prize money from the podium teams was quickly spent of the official LVIS cocktail (Dark and Stormy) went even better...

Results at timelaps.co.uk and pics at sleepmonsters.co.uk and more pics in the gallery as they arrive.

Las Vegas Institute of Skort - 1st Women's Team
LVIS Gold - 3rd Men's Team
LVIS Red - 9th Men's Team
LVIS Purple - 15th Men's Team
LVIS Green - 19th Men's Team
LVIS Wizards - 16th Men's Pair

24th September 2007

Details for the Cheddar Bikefest are available here

3rd September 2007

LVIS will be entering 5 teams in the Cheddar Bikefest:

LVIS Gold: Andy B, Leon, Marcus Nouveau
LVIS Purple: Dylan, Fraser, Chris, Giles
LVIS Pink/Las Vegas Institute of Skort: Beccy, Kirstie, Sally, Tess
LVIS Red: Andy L, Andy W, Ant, Martin
LVIS Green: Joe, Neil, Phil, Stu
 

28th August 2007

A busy weekend for LVIS:

First was a track day at Newport Velodrome with the several different disciplines tried out including some flying 200metres with the following results:

Second was the first LVIS team to compete at a rowing event for a while. Bristol Regatta saw LVIS field an eight comprising Ruth, Rob McK, Rob B, Dylan, Chris, Ash, Steve, Rob J and Marcus. An eventful first race duing which their opposition steered into the LVIS crew's lane while both crews were neck and neck saw the opposition DQ'd. Unfortunately the final was a less successful affair with the LVIS crew losing out but clearly getting more enjoyment from the event than anyone else and living it up Vegas style in the evening.

14th August 2007

Shamed into action by John's write up below, Andy L has now written up the Mountain Mayhem 24 hour event from a couple of months back.

Another year, another mountain mayhem dawns. For the tenth anniversary mayhem, the requisite weather (torrential rain) had been setting about the course for the preceding week so there were few doubts about tyre choice as racers headed towards Eastnor Castle. The mighty LVIS was fielding two teams, each blending the ages old experience of the multiple mayhem competitor with the fresh-faced optimism of those completely unaware of the ordeal that faced them.

Regrettably the booked Irn Bru greasy spoon catering van failed to materialize and the Scottish contingent were soon heard to complain, Camp LVIS however soon quashed all grumbles, complete with sun awning, bike stand, changing room and drawing room. Indeed some members of the team began to question the wisdom of venturing onto the course at all considering the comforts of camp.In order to keep our minds from the challenge ahead, the team scooted into Fraser’s spangly new LVIS tour bus and lost no time (or formalities with road junctions) in roaring into Ledbury for an excellent meal and several sleep assisting sports beverages.

Morning dawned, and as team members emerged from sleeping quarters, Camp LVIS geared up for the coming 24 hours. At 2pm, as traditional, Marcus and Andy Wilcox set out for the run around the lake and first lap honours. Returning, reports where that the course was sticky but passable, in the coming laps however, the passage of riders turned many a singletrack section into a foot wide fudge-based riding experience. Off camber sections were tricky, prompting many to investigate grip levels off piste. Soon climbs became strange relief, as least grip could be found.

As darkness fell, the two LVIS teams continued to trade places, the first pair of riders paired up for the first night lap stint, eager to complete their paired 3 laps stint, hand over to the second pair and get out of the strange cloying heat of the night and into bed. Then, just as the pairs handed over to each other about 3 am, the rain came again, even Hecker’s Alley turned quiet as riders not on the course sought canvas-based shelter. The course turned trickier still, LVIS soldiered on and LVIS Black began to creep ahead.

As the sun rose again, experienced mayhem riders reminded themselves there were still an extra 2 hours to go and that as the course turned fudgy, energy sapping, they would need to conserve some reserves to finish. Ruts opened up, or closed, lines vanished, huge swathes of vegetation lay trampled, the run into the stream began to resemble a wet playground slide, concentration and focus was all. To that end Breakfast was procured and LVIS rode on.

Then the circus started. Within sight of the finishing hour, the course turned comical. Large sections of ‘singletrack’, cut up over 20 hours began to incorporate large amounts of grass and fern. Bikes and wheels locked solid, to keep riding was scarcely faster than walking, largely reliant on luck and sheer bloody-mindedness. Machines handled like narrow boats on the slick slippery descents, roots and ruts made a mockery of talented riders. Hundreds resigned themselves to a long push, or even carry. Chains snapped, freewheels bound, bikes became burdens.

LVIS carried on to the last, finishing solidly; glad the challenge had been met. The weather next year can’t be as bad – can it?

8th August 2007

John has written up the Bontrager Twentyfour12:

The Bontrager 24/12 this year was a perfect event for those who either had little experience of mountain biking or hadn't done much in the way of training. Torrential rain the night before the off produced soggy conditions which, although not too challenging on the pre-race pitch inspection turned into the Somme-of-the-Cotswolds with the addition of several hundred riders. By the end of 24hrs the inexperienced had gained lots and those who'd not got many miles under their wheels had a whole lot more.

No one taking part complained of a lack of variety in the course - the early part of the lap provided fast, grassy downhill to test your bottle with technical forest sections to catch out the weary, river crossings, bombholes (if you were daft enough) and a much talked about moguls section. Then there was the weather - initially wet conditions at the 1pm start dried by evening with drizzle starting in the early morning. Andy L was heard to remark that he didn't mind dry or wet but hated in-between conditions. So it chucked it down for the reminder of the event. This introduced the riders to the sport of bike carrying as the steeper slopes were all but unrideable in the worst of the conditions and pushing your bike had the wheels and frame clogged with mud; to the extent that Andy W was sporting a disc rear wheel after his last lap.

Not content with enforced hardship certain members of the team decided that not bringing lights would add to the challenge of night riding. Faced with pulling out of the night rides and facing the wrath of Dylan or riding with sub-optimal lighting our plucky team rode on. With a steady climb through the leader board over the event Team LVIS were left ruing that he event was only 24 hours long. Honestly.

26th July 2007

LVIS in print - Nouveau has penned (keyboarded?) an article about the Bristol 12 and it's available to read here (Page 80) at Wide Open Magazine.
 

23rd July 2007

Gareth and Marcus have just finished the Transalp MTB race - eight days of riding up and down mountains. With competition extremely fierce (there are no slow teams in an event like this!), Gareth and Marcus got a great result finishing 145th out of 296 teams and that in spite of Marcus trying to make things harder for himself on the last day by riding it singlespeed (a broken mech hanger apparently was the excuse but the suspicion is that Marcus thought that he was still feeling a bit fresh...).

Results here.
 

17th July 2007

Another 24 hour race, another rainy weekend... Two LVIS teams fought the stormy conditions at the Bontrager Twentyfour12 to once again get some great results.

The team of Alex, Andy L, Andy W and John finished a spectacular 6th in the 24 hour race while the team of Scott, Steve, Stuart and Gavin finished 14th in the 12 hour race, valuing their sleep too much to race through the night.

Results here and stats here. Pics in the gallery.
 

28th June 2007

Fresh from his riding in the Alps, Warren's been taking in a bit of running in Edinburgh as a warm down. Results
 

25th June 2007

Mud, mud and more mud. That was the story from the LVIS teams at the Mountain Mayhem 24 hour event. Intermittent rain throughout the event and in the days leading up to it meant that the course was a Malvern mud bath with several sections so bad (one christened "The Somme Singletrack") that bikes were stopping dead due to the mud clogging them.

Despite all of that, the LVIS teams kept their spirits up and pushed right through the 24 hours taking encouragement from the close competition between the closely matched teams, eventually finishing high up in the standings: 42nd for LVIS Black and 51st for LVIS Red out of 293 teams. Results here and statistical analysis here. Pics available in the gallery (updated as more become available).

19th June 2007

News just in from Warren, our Scottish representative - he finished the Time Megeve Mont-Blanc last weekend.

In his own words: "3000 m of climb in 118k. Totally destroyed. Kit looked good though."

Good to see he has his priorities right - true Vegas spirit.

Results: here.






 

13th June 2007

The results from the Bristol 12 have now been heavily analysed and are available here. Let the banter begin!

Pics from the weekend are available through the following links:
Photo-it.com
theImageFile.com
EdgEventPhotos.co.uk
Bristol 12 Photos 1
SSUK Photos 1
SSUK Photos 2

10th June 2007

What a weekend! The Bristol Bike Fest 12 Hour Enduro and Singlespeed UK (SSUK) Championships took place with a strong LVIS showing. More details to follow (and there are a lot of stories to tell) but in short, the LVIS team won the Team Singlespeed category at the Bristol 12 while Andy B and Nouveau from the same team finished 2nd and 8th respectively at the SSUK. Pics as they become available are in the gallery.

Bristol 12 Results here but in short:

LVIS Singlespeed Superstars: 1st
LVIS Black: 18th/43 Competive Male Category
LVIS Green: 22nd/43 Competive Male Category
LVIS Red: 28th/43 Competive Male Category
LVIS Orange: 31st/43 Competive Male Category
 

8th June 2007

LVIS now has a group set up in facebook. You can reach it here.

8th June 2007

A video from Nouveau, LVIS' Sustainable Transport Exec.

5th June 2007

Details for the Bristol 12 are available here.

27th May 2007

Giles finished 9th/116 in his category and 101st/607 overall in the Tour of Wessex, comfortably beating the Gold standard time of 6 hours for the hilly 100 mile route. A couple of pics are available here (3187 and 3188) and here (1254 and 1255)

27th May 2007

Some pics of the CLIC24 are now available online at StudioSixImages.com. If you spot any more please point them out - it's hard to identify the riders under a layer of mud!

17th May 2007

Three LVIS riders took part in the Bristol South CC's weekday timetrial. While maybe not setting the world alight with their times on a very windy evening, there were a couple of mitigating factors - firstly the use of non-TT bikes and secondly not being seasoned to the grumpy nature of TTing. That said, thanks to the Bristol CC organisers who did make us welcome.

16th April 2007

A result we missed from the weekend was Sean winning at the Dynamic Wye Valley Endurance race as part of a mixed team of two.

14th April 2007

The LVIS team racing at the CLIC24 event contended with horrendous conditions (crank deep mud and near constant rain) but came through in good spirits and with good results. Gareth and Marcus both racing solo  were 2nd and 3rd respectively (on 17 and 18 laps. The 'winner' was on 19) out of 80 competitors (results). The 4-man team of Andy L, Andy W, Fraser and Mike finished 5th= our of 87 with 22 laps (results). Go Vegas!

10th April 2007

The latest delivery of LVIS kit has just arrived. Good news for our teams racing at the weekend who are likely to need as much kit as they can get their hands on with the forecast not looking too desert-like.

9th April 2007

With the CLIC24 approaching this weekend, our intrepid team (Marcus and Gareth racing Solo and Andy L, Andy W, Fraser and Mike in a team) have provided some pre-race quotes:

  Marcus: ""I'm only happy when it rains", "Remember - it's not a race (honest...)"
  Mike: "Come rain and high wind it's going to be a great weekend of riding around in circles with the spirit of LVIS behind us" (with tongue firmly in cheek)
                        Andy L: "Ye gads, where are my Trailrakers?", "Is there an LVIS poncho going spare?"
                        Andy W: “I have fitted new brakes….let's hope they work!!”
                        Fraser: "Typical, I've just bought some summer tyres. Oh well, won't be wearing them out too fast then!!"

It's also worth mentioning that of all the people taking part in the event, Marcus has so far raised the second highest amount of sponsorship for the event. If you want to sponsor him, you can do so here.
 

16th April 2007

Leon and Nouveau took part in the Hell of the North Cotswolds, a 100km on and off road event ( not officially a race, but...) at the weekend. In Nouveau's own words:

"We finished in just over 5 ½ hours- at one point we were 45 min behind the leaders, but then we got a bit lost and had another puncture and, worst of all, had to map read! Grrr!"

(Pics from David Birkin Photography)

4th April 2007

Zero G Cycles (Formerly Garland Cycles) have agreed to offer all LVIS members a 10% Discount. Just show them your Membership card when buying.

15th March 2007

Orders are now being taken for the finest in racing sartorial elegance or LVIS racing kit as it's otherwise known. Details in the shop.

13th March 2007

Marcus, Gareth and Dan have just got back from working hard out in Spain, toiling away on the smooth roads, under the sun...

8th March 2007

We have confirmation that LVIS has two teams entered for the T-Mobile Giant Mountain Mayhem event this year.

The teams:

LVIS Black: Andy W, Darren, Dylan, Gareth
LVIS Red: Andy L, Fraser, Marcus, Martin
 

7th March 2007

Marcus has a sponsorship page for the CLIC24 race. Feel free to sponsor him here.


 

23rd January 2007

LVIS will be claiming a numerical superiority when they take on the Bristol Bike Fest 12 hour mountain bike race. With 5 teams entered (including the coveted number 1 team number), LVIS will ensure that the event has style in abundance.

The teams:

1 - LVIS Single Speed Superstars - Leon, Nouveau, Alex, Marcus
2 - LVIS Black - Dylan, Andy W, Gareth J, Darren
3 - LVIS Red - Mike, Andy L, Fraser, Giles
4 - LVIS Green - Steve, Scott, Chris, Stuart
7 - LVIS Orange (Corinum CC) - Andy A, Andy K, Pete B, Pete H

3rd January 2007

We have confirmation that Marcus and Gareth's entry to the Transalp MTB race for 2007 has been accepted. The entry list is available here.

2nd January 2007

Happy New Year to all of the LVIS! May 2007 be filled with success and celebrations!

The Calendar for 2007 is being updated so if there are any events that should be added.

2006 News Archive