November 2010

On Monday morning when the alarm went for work it was actually a relief to see 7.30am appear. We say that because on Saturday and Sunday we were out soaking up cyclo-cross but it all began with a 5.45am start.

On Saturday we headed under the sea, through the Channel Tunnel, and popped out the other side ready for a short drive to the Belgian town of Koksijde.

The small town was hosting round three of the UCI Cyclo Cross World Cup. Koksijde is a particular favourite of ours because it's easy to get to and there is loads of sand, courtesy of the town being on the coast. The dunes on the course are steep and the sand is deep. Which makes for fantastic racing.

Apart from watching supremely good bike handling and racing, we made sure with completed our checklist - 'things to do when in Belgium' - and we took pictures on our iPhones to prove it.

1. Eat frites with mayo.
2. Dress up in so many layers that it's difficult to get your hands to touch.
3. Eat a bratwurst sausage with ketchup, mustard and onion, and get it all over your hands.
4. Buy Belgian beer, usually for less than the cost of a bottle of Coke.
5. Drink Glühwein (we had cherry flavour this time).
6. Buy an unecessarily big bar of Milka chocolate.
7. Sing along in the beer tent, despite having no idea what the words are.
8. Cheer on National Champion Helen Wyman who was racing in the women's event.
9. See at least one crash that makes the crowd go 'oooooooouufff'.
10. Get a picture of Sven Nys, the golden boy of cyclo-cross and every Belgian's favourite rider.

Sunday was a trip to Southampton for round three of the National Trophy Series. The temperature never went above 1 degree. It could have been argued that it was colder than Belgium. Claire finished in the top five in the elite women's category. Producing a strong ride in the youth event, Emily also finished 5th for Rapha Condor.

Hats off to British rider Ian Field who raced on the tough Koksijde course on Saturday and then won on Sunday at the Trophy.

More cross?

Watch the final two laps of the World Cup race at Koksijde here.

See images of the race by master photog Kristof Ramon here.

Read the report of the National Trophy Race in Southampton here.

It's nearly time for the Condor Cycles Christmas Party and we've decided to have a Karoke meets X Factor sing off.

Emails have been flying around with staff suggesting and claiming their song choices. Somehow they became bike related then the email system went into overdrive.

Is This the Way to Campagnolo - Tony Christie/Peter Kay
Hello, is it SRAM you're looking for? - Lionel Richie
Cassette on Fire - Kings of Leon

Those boys in black that ride our Leggero road bikes to victory have quite big hearts, we've decided. In the past month they've all been working their assets off to raise money for charity.

It started with Deano, who teamed up with his brother, Russ Downing, for a sell out night, packed with cycling celebrities. Dean had paint thrown at him and auctioned the signed print. The night was a huge success and raised over £4,000 for the Danny Porter Foundation.

Dan Craven has got his MO out of Movember. He is sporting a rather ridiculous moustache for the month of November. He even raced the African Champs and Tour of Rwanda with his unusual facial hair. Dan popped into Condor upon his return from racing in Africa. He brought us cup cakes and showed off his efforts.

Every penny raised goes to The Prostate Cancer charity and you can sponsor him here for his tash-tastic growing skills.

Speaking of the Prostate Cancer charity, our friends at Sharp, who also sponsor the Rapha Condor Sharp pro team, have thought up a once-in-a-lifetime ride to raise money. The Gran Corsa d'Italia is a chance for you to ride a stage (or several stages) of the 2011 Giro d'Italia, fully supported, just like the pros, with our Rapha Condor Sharp team riders too.

Rider Ben Greenwood has written an incredible peice about the ride and reasons to do it over on the team blog - we recommend you read it.

While Ben was writing Kristian has been riding. 2009 National Champ, House, interrupted his rest month and flew out to Italy on Monday to ride stage nine of the 2011 Giro as part of a recce for the Gran Corsa ride. The stage Messina to Etna features not one but two ascents of the volcano over a 195km stage with 3535m of climbing. While Etna and Italy are beautiful in the summer, climbing a mountain/volcano in November is, and we quote John Herety, "bloody freezing".

http://www.dannyporterfoundation.org

http://www.prostate-cancer.org.uk

http://www.grancorsa.com

This autumn, it was the turn of our decrepit website to get an utter revamping, the aim to represent the Condor brand and our retail store online. This was not an easy task, hence why we kept you waiting. We wanted to get it just right.

A new online bike builder allows you to build a Condor to your exact specification, and if you're not sure what kit to go for, you can select one of our popular 'finishing kits'.

> Have a go on the new bike builder here

Take a look at the latest frames from Condor. Re-designed product pages allow you to zoom in on every aspect of the bike.  View gallery images, which highlight subtle details found on our frames. Use the product pages to learn more about what the frame has been designed for, features, colour options and geometries.

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