BROTHERS IN ARMS
MD of neutral service provider, Brother UK, rides the route one day before the pros
Wanting to do something big to mark his 50th birthday, Phil Jones, MD of Brother UK, neutral service provider for the OVO Energy Tour of Britain, will ride the route one day ahead of the pros – with the help of some special friends…
As I close in on my half century – and to mark 10 years since I got back on a bike – I wanted to do something that represented a BHAG, which in business-speak means a ‘big hairy audacious goal’. We sponsor the neutral service at the OVO Energy Tour of Britain, as well as six domestic teams, so something to do with the race felt like a good fit.
Initially the idea was to do it on my own, but that didn’t feel like much of a BHAG, so I’ve roped in James Golding, the seven-day cycling world distance record holder, who’ll join me each day, as well as special guests. We’ll have a service car following us, and Cherie Pridham, sports director of the Vitus Pro Cycling team, along with us. There will also be different people joining us; for the Bristol stage, we’ll have members of the army cycling team, and in Nuneaton we’ll have Jaco Van Gass, an armed forces veteran who lost an arm and went onto become a paralympian.
We’ve also decided to raise money – 50 grand is the target – a round number that’ll match my years. We’re doing it for the Dave Rayner Fund, which supports young riders racing in Europe on their pathway to the pro ranks. I met Tim Harris, the former national champ, a few years ago – he’s involved with the DRF and I learnt a lot about the great work they do. There are riders at the top of the sport now, like Tao Geoghegen Hart and Hannah Barnes, who are thriving now, but at times in their life really needed the support the fund offers. I feel £50,000 would go a long way for a fund that’s run by volunteers.
I went to the launch in June to look at the Tour of Britain route. Honestly, I’d have been better off doing this for my 49th birthday, because last year’s route was much flatter than what’s been put together for 2018. With the World Championships in Innsbruck being really hilly, they’ve followed suit for the Tour of Britain. Stage six, from Barrow-in-Furness to Whinlatter Pass, looks particularly nasty. We won’t have been taking it easy the day before, either, on the 14km team time trial. We want a four-rider team and I’ve got some ‘names’ – specialists – in mind, and it’ll be great if we can recruit them.
To ride these eight stages back-toback is a huge challenge – I’m not sure what myself from a decade ago would think, the green guy with his £600 Specialized Allez who didn’t know what a groupset was, who set off for his first 15-mile ride and came home exhausted, but proud as punch at having done so. The distances and difficulty have increased in the intervening years, but that same joy for being on a bike remains.
I know Cycling Plus has a ‘Cycling Changed my Life’ page and that’s certainly true for me. Ten years ago I was 18 stone, with a high BMI. Now I’m 13 and a half stone, with a heart age of a 28 year old. I’m riding at 50 in far better shape than I was at 40. I want that to be the positive message of this ride. There’s too much written about the negative side of cycling, the road wars and the like. This is distracting from all the good it does, like tackling obesity and improving mental health, and how great an enabler the sport can be for people my age.