Get Out and Ride in 2012

With the Olympics coming to London and more and more people than ever keen to take to the roads, 2012 looks like it could be the biggest year for cycling to date. That’s why we teamed up with our bicycle and navigation partners Specialized UK and Garmin UK to offer the ultimate prize to get one lucky winner kitted up and out riding on some of Europe’s fantastic cycling roads.

The competition ran throughout November and December and we are pleased to announce the lucky winner is Danny Whiteside. Danny was selected at random from thousands of online entrants who successfully answered the question “On which bike did Mark Cavendish win the 2011 World Road Race Championships?“. The answer, of course, was the Specialized flagship road bike, The Venge.

The fantastic prize offered was a Specialized Secteur Elite 2012 road bike, a Garmin Edge 500 cycling computer and a week at La Fuga’s Cycling Academy in Mallorca in mid-March. The aim of the prize was to give the winner the essential equipment and the opportunity to put it to great use on the beautiful and challenging cycling roads in Mallorca.

The Secteur Elite is an entry level, affordable road bike but still offers design features, comfort and quality equipment found on models higher up the in the range. The Secteur Elite is a great bike for those who are keen to get a bit more into road cycling.

Add to this the Garmin Edge 500, an all round lightweight cycling computer recording everything from altitude to GPS location plus the ability to share your workouts online via Garmin Connect. The Edge 500 will give the enthusiastic cyclist who is keen to improve the right tools and information.

With the essential kit in place the next step it to get out and use it and what better way that on the La Fuga Cycling Academy. The Cycling Academy is a completely new approach to Spring riding. Specially conceived for new cyclists and riders looking to improve, our residential Cycling Academy is the perfect place to hone your fitness and riding skills. Over the week the focus is on high quality coaching and fully supported rides to take your cycling to a new level. Features of the Cycling Academy include fully supported group rides catering for all abilities, skills sessions focussing on areas such as descending and group riding, and seminars on key subjects such as nutrition, to really boost your all-round cycling skills and fitness.

Danny visited Specialized UK headquarters in Chessington, south west of London to collect his prize and was met by Emily Hamilton of Specialized and Cameron Fraser of La Fuga. Emily and Cameron also presented the fantastic prize offered by Garmin in their absence. Sadly, Danny had ran out of annual leave at work but he has generously gifted the Cycling Academy trip to a fellow colleague at BSkyB, Nick Dodds. Nick has been riding for a few years but a recent knee operation has meant that he has had to learn to cycling and train all over again. And what better place to be able to do that.

Thanks to everyone who entered the competition and stay tuned for a post-Mallorca write up.