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Stars join sportive riders for 2010's final Prostate Cancer Charity Tour Ride

1,800 take to Staffordshire roads including five lucky road.cc users

It may be over a week since this year’s Tour of Britain finished, but some of the stars of the race were back in the saddle yesterday to ride part of the route with 1,800 other keen cyclists - including five lucky road.cc users who won places on the ride through our Schwag Grab last week.

The occasion was the third and final Prostate Cancer Charity Tour Ride which followed the itinerary of Stage 2 of this year’s race, starting and finishing in Stoke-on-Trent, with pros taking part including Ed Clancy and his Motorpoint-Marshalls Pasta team mates and Kristian House with colleagues from Rapha-Condor-Sharp.

Clancy and his team mates, including the evergreen Malcolm Elliott, rode the 80km sportive route, and afterwards the Olympic gold medallist said: “I enjoyed it. It was a good day - and nice to see my teammates on a day when we are not competing, in a stress free environment.

“The number of cycling fans has really grown in the past few years, largely following the success we have had at the Olympics and in the Tour de France. You could see on the Tour of Britain stages, a few weeks ago, there were a lot of spectators out on the route especially to watch the bike ride.

“The Tour Ride is a great opportunity for people to be able to actually ride the same route themselves and challenge themselves against the pros. It was really well organised with food stops along the way, race cars and good signage. Prostate cancer is the most prevalent cancer in men in the UK, so it was also good to do this for a good cause and get the message out there,” Clancy added.

Riders were able to ride three separate distances, all using the Tour of Britain route – a family ride of between 1 and 25km, the 80km route Clancy and his team mates chose, and the full 161km itinerary used in the Tour of Britain itself, equivalent to 100 miles to mark this year’s centenary of the incorporation of the city of Stoke-on-Trent.

That stage had been billed in advance as possibly the toughest of this year’s race, including as it did the climb of Gun Hill, although foul weather on the following day’s Stage 3 in Wales, including the climb and descent of the Black Mountain plus the merciless Constitution Hill in Swansea, meant that accolade went to the Welsh stage.

House, last year’s British Road Race Champion, also opted fofr the 80km route, riding alongside team mates Dean Downing, Graham Briggs, Ben Greenwood and Dan Craven, plus Paul Molyneux, Managing Director of sponsor Sharp UK and a pretty keen cyclist himself, having completed this year’s Race Across America as part of the Sharp4Prostrate team.

“There was a really good atmosphere,” enthused House, a former Staffordshire resident, afterwards. “It is not often we get to ride when there is no pressure to compete or to ride with our sponsors. It was great to have Paul there too. One thing that really impressed us was the number of kids we saw riding. It is brilliant that the ride is open to families too. This is how we are going to see the sport grow, by getting children involved early.”

Molyneux, whose efforts in the United States helped race £80,000 for the charity, said of yesterday’s ride: “It was really well organised and we had great weather for it. I think The Prostate Cancer Charity Tour Rides will just grow. It is a great concept, allowing people to ride the same route as the pros. I will be back in 2011.”

Riders from the Rapha Condor Sharp Ladies, Horizon Fitness and Johnson Fitness teams also participated, as well as celebrities in the shape of former footballer Mark Bright, England Gladstone Small and DJ Mark Goodier, the latter having previously taken part in the South West Tour Ride earlier this month.

“I did the London Ride for the Charity last year and decided to up the stakes this year with a tougher challenge, in Stoke-on-Trent,” said former Port Vale player Bright. “As a Stokie, and keen cyclist myself, it was a proposition I could not turn down. It was pretty impressive to see so many people, from all across the UK, at the start line. As well as enjoying a good day’s cycling, everyone taking part was also showing their commitment to getting the message out there about prostate cancer.

“I have been an Ambassador of the Charity for several years now. In particular, I am a supporter of their fantastic work to break down the taboos around the disease in the African Caribbean community, where men are three times more likely to develop the disease than white men.”

The three Tour Rides this year form part of the charity’s endeavour to get people to ‘Unite ByCycling’ to help raise awareness of prostate cancer, the most common cancer contracted by men in the UK.

Mark Bishop, Director of Fundraising at The Prostate Cancer Charity, commented: “It was great to see hundreds of people joining together on two wheels to Unite ByCycling and help to spread the word about prostate cancer. We were delighted to be joined by the professional riders. The event today was a huge success and we would like to congratulate all of our fantastic riders who took part and thank them for all of their hard work and determination.”

Hugh Roberts, CEO of The Tour of Britain added: “The Prostate Cancer Charity Tour Rides are a real testament to the success of our partnership, which is now in its second year. To see so many people, from professional riders to families at the event in Stoke-on-Trent, shows how the unique concept of the Tour Rides has caught the imagination of all cyclists.”

The five road.cc users who took part in the ride were Fasted, Flandrian, Alexlnumber1, Munded and Demoff, so don't be shy, let us know how you all got on!

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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5 comments

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fasted | 13 years ago
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Thanks for road.cc for selecting me. It was my first sportive - but it won't be my last. I rode the 80k challenge ride and I had a great time. I thought the course was good,well sign posted and well organised and with that last climb just about 8k from the finish it shows the course setters have a sense of humour. My time was 4hr 7min which I was pleased with especially consider I made full use of the 3 food and drink stops- full marks for the flapjack, goodie bars and drinks oh and my age! The nickname is ironic

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Simon E | 13 years ago
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Great writeup by demoff.

I was one of the road.cc schwag winners, so thank you to the organisers and Road.cc.

After some debate I decided to take my two young children along. As a result we could only do the 6km ride, as my daughter (who has just turned 7) wouldn't have managed the longer routes on her tiny Cnoc 14. However, they both did a grand job, even though we had to walk the short, steep hill in the middle. They loved it and want to do a longer route next time.

At the finish we all received a t-shirt, a substantial goody bag including a copy of the Comic as well as pasta/M&S sandwich and a medal. The kids were chuffed to bits and both took their medals into school to show them off on Monday.

The Rapha team came past while we were on the climb, followed a few minutes later by the Motorpoint boys, and Ed Clancy gave us a wave. Afterwards we took a look at the Pinarello stand and I explained that the man standing there was the legend that is Malcolm Elliot.

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Parking was a nightmare and we repeatedly got sent the wrong way when we were trying to get to the start. I wasn't impressed with the amount of waste produced (pasta plates, plastic packaging etc) but we're all looking forward to doing another one.

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demoff | 13 years ago
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Its a earlyish Carbon Giant TCR, the cable stop bracket is a double attached via expoxy resin and 2 rivets for reinforcement. Giant changed this on later models to one stop either side of the headtube. On examination by a top mechanic it appears that there has been water ingress under this as there was a white powdery deposit and it would appear that the stress of cable tension changes has caused it to pop off off. The legend that is Edgy has since drilled rivetted and expoxied it back in place.

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Tony Farrelly | 13 years ago
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Sounds fantastic demoff - really glad you enjoyed it.

So, what caused Syd's cable stop bracket to shear off?

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demoff | 13 years ago
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What a day there was no option we were doing the big ride from the off. We were parked up a few minutes from the start just after 7am. Fuelled up we were away early doors only for disaster to strike just after 7 miles. As Syd changed back up to the big ring the double cable stop bracket on his downtube sheared off leaving him in 39x12 with no quick fix there was no option other than for him to pack. We were both gutted, my offer to accompany him back was declined and he set off to the start whilst I jumped onto the next group.

Early miles were rolling but nothing too strenuous and allowed for the opportunity of catching some fast wheels.
Shortly after the first drink stop the route split and I settled in for the long haul. As we approached the first KoM climb you could almost feel the groups tense and then like a Medieval army the climbers went forward to attack.

Ramshorn Common was hard but nothing compared to Hollingsclough Moor which was an evil beast coupled with a drop in temperature and a strong wind at times and as expected the toughest climb of the day. The downhill made some amends long and fast and I clocked up 51mph. Lunch was just a few kms further and I was chuffed to get my hands on a coffee and a slab of flapjack.

Refuelled and on my way my chip beeped as we started a climb but there was no KoM signage so it was not until twenty miles on that I had it confirmed that we had done Gun Hill nowhere near as tough as Hollingsclough Moor though.

There was little respite as we made for home with rolling roads and one nasty final short stinger at 85mph. Riding back into Longton park was sweet knowing I had done it and it was made sweeter as I turned a corner to ride the last few hundred metres barriered off leading me to get out of the saddle and sprint for the line. Fantastic to be the other side of the barriers as the spectators banged the boards.

The organisation was spot on with the exception of a few missing KoM signs but some would say not knowing was a blessing. All the food and drink stops were really well stocked with Mule bars, gels, bananas and energy drink.

Route signage was fantastic and clear there was never any cause to think which way you were going.

There were some nice touches the National Escort Group being there was brilliant. We were making our way up a climb when a motorbike slowly eased past all lights flashing made you feel great and we had a Tour Car in front of us on the way in for a short while which was cool as well.

It was a great days riding thanks to the Organisers and RoadCC for the opportunity to take part.

Oh yes my time no official times posted as yet but my computer said 6hours and 45 minutes a tad slower than I wanted but it was one hell of a 100 mile loop.

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