.........................................................................................................................................................................................................velo club d'ardbeg ardbeg

after much hassling of the poor folks at ardbeg distillery, and the even more unfortunates in glenmorangie's marketing department, a limited run of ardbeg single malt cycle jerseys appeared in the old kiln cafe at ardbeg. as the directeur sportif and i had said all along, these sold out fairly quickly and have continually been replenished with new stock. they are also available from www.thecyclejersey.com

there's also a winter jacket available (see below) meaning we can wear club colours all year round.

purchase of an ardbeg jersey automatically qualifies you for membership of velo club d'ardbeg, and thewashingmachinepost welcomes you to send photos of yourselves wearing the jersey and preferably with the bike(s) in the picture too.

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fame, fortune and the momentous minutes

while the gran fondo d'ardbeg has been rather more realistically re-named the ride of the falling rain, at heart, it's still the gran fondo. and it is testament to the impression that has been made by the world's members of velo club d'ardbeg, that we have achieved a whole page in the current issue of the momentous minutes.

for those of you not familar with various facets of whisky marketing, ardbeg distillery offer membership of the ardbeg committee, the chairman being the very man who is also il presidenti of the velo club, the inestimable mr michael heads. as a member of the ardbeg committee, you will receive periodically, copies of the momentous minutes which used to be in printed format, but which now appear as web based pdf. the current issue, which can be viewed using the link below, features the gran fondo/ride of the falling rain on page six.

a sure sign that, after two years worth of our begging the marketing dept. to offer ardbeg cycle jerseys, the result has really begun to speak for itself. if you intend visiting the islay whisky festival during this coming week, be sure and wear the team jersey (or even socks would do) and remember to say hello to il presidenti.

the current issue of momentous minutes can be viewed here

posted friday 22 may 2008

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il presidenti

i spent a morning with mickey heads (il presidenti) at ardbeg distillery in early march 2007 during his first hours in the job, while he was being bombarded with ardbeg information to bring him up to speed after leaving jura. and it's comforting to say that velo club d'ardbeg is in good hands because mickey actually owns a bike - possibly alone out of all the island's distillery managers. and he restricted himself to one scone at coffee break - what a guy (i ate a large helping of clootie dumpling, but purely for the carbs for the homeward cycle).

and, stalwart that he is, he didn't even flinch when we informed him that it was incumbent on il presidenti to join us for the gran fondo in august. jez, dave t and myself heartily approve. jackie thomson remains in charge of club headquarters at the old kiln cafe.

feets don't fail me now

in the never ending quest to add more apparel to the velo club d'ardbeg wardrobe, the next body part to receive the 'established 1815' logo (vcd'a was formed at quarter past six in the evening) is the part that connects to the pedals - the feet.

these rather spiffing socks are made by 'save our soles' in colorado from coolmax, nylon and lycra and fit like a glove (if you see what i mean). availability is only through the old kiln at ardbeg at the moment, though they will be available online at thecyclejersey.com at a cost of £8.50.

excellent timing though, since they'll match the super tanned legs of the velo club d'ardbeg peloton (either that or they're dirty and weather beaten).

posted saturday 23 june 2007

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winter jacket

recently arrived from thecyclejersey.com, the ardbeg winter jacket, and i took the opportunity to nip out on the company colnago between showers to see how it feels.

brian at thecyclejersey.com stated that the jacket should be washed at forty degrees before wearing to activate the stretch in the polyester outer fabric. this has turned out to be perfectly true, since the jacket felt a bit tight across the back initially, but after a couple of long rides, the stretch has eased and it feels more than comfortable.

the wind chill during my first brief exploratory tootle was at -2 degrees and the wind speed had dropped to around 35mph (i'm not kidding - the morning ferry didn't sail), but despite only wearing a rapha merino base layer underneath, cosiness was all mine. since the outer fabric appears to be particuarly resilient in the face of wind (it's windproof and surprisingly waterproof) and the inner is fleece lined, this is indeed a 'good thing' anywhere north and west of watford. in fact my only quibble with the jacket's fitting is that the collar could be a tad closer, since there is a gap at the back of the neck when on the bike (we have reported this to thecyclejersey and they are making the necessary alterations to production garments). mind you, i can't say it had any major effect on the insulation.

the jacket is now on sale from thecyclejersey.com price £58 which is an absolute steal. order immediately and then send us a pic with bike (which is really what we should do ourselves).

the ride of the falling rain 2008

hopefully, after a few more years of this, we could become seriously blase about the number of bicycles surrounding debbie's cafe in bruichladdich. 2007 saw a total of 27, 2008 brought us 39 - definitely some sort of a record for islay's roads.

congratulations and endless thanks to all those who turned out on what proved to be a very sunny morning followed by a delightfully wet afternoon. yes, all the way from debbie's, round loch gorm, on to ardbeg distillery we were warmly shined upon. back along the high road, up the glen road and back to debbie's, it persisted down in an increasingly consistent fashion. however, with such good company and a free dram at ardbeg, spirits (both types) appeared happily high. this year we held a pasta evening at port mor just outside port charlotte, a great add-on to the day and destined to become a fixture into 2009.

if you fancy joining us on 2nd august 2009, click over to ride of the falling rain for more info.

posted on monday 4 august

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tom smith

you may recognise this man from further down the page. or, at least, he was further down the page. but having opted for the team jersey to participate in this year's etape de tour (under the gilet), he has kept the faith and sent in another photo. those of you who own an ardbeg jersey and haven't sent in a photo will hopefully feel ashamed of yourselves.

long time reader of the post, tom smith, originally sent these two pics from the united arab emirates a good few years back. he earns extra brownie points because he's on a colnago (and it's fitted with campag:-) photos show tom riding on the hatta to kalba road in the united arab emirates, crossing the hajjar mountains through the wadi hilo pass and descending towards the gulf of oman. weather looks just like islay (not).

tom smith

...and with an unnamed colleague not wearing an ardbeg jersey

tom smith

warren van hutten

if we could ever get everyone together on one road at the same time, we'd have the largest cycle club in the world. latest member of the ardbeg peloton is warren van hutten wearing both jersey and socks, along with a rather natty looking pinarello.

the photos was taken just prior to his participation in the covington century taking place in loganville, georgia, in heat that matched the distance - something the is unlikely to be a feature of the ride of the falling rain anytime soon.

ethan smith

in velo club d'ardbeg, we're always keen to encourage the younger cyclists to join, thus ensuring a long lineage. jez's kids come out with us now and again, and tom hunter's son has been known to join the peloton at the ride of the falling rain. however, strength and depth don't just come from training and cycling, it can be quite important to ensure some sort of sporting prowess by looking at the potential recruit's genes.

we are nothing if not astute at committee level in vc d'a so we have placed first dibs on ethan smith, son of twice british road champion and former motorola professional, brian smith. the mighty dave t, jez and myself are currently working our merino socks off to develop into ethan's lead out train, while the mighty dave works out a training regime suitable for a five month old sprinter.

now we just have to sort out what colour of colnago he should have.

lindsay mulholland

photographed i know not exactly where, but probably in canada, lindsay mulholland with his ardbeg jersey purchased at the old kiln cafe itself, seen here astride his trek 5900 sl carbon. lindsay and his wife nina visited islay at the end of june, and had a great time, if the subsequent e-mail was anything to go by

mark bown

mark's ensconced on the sunshine coast, queensland australia and sent a couple of photos. normally one would be sufficient, but since the man is partaking in a time trial and a race, i think it only fair that we accentuate the competitive prowess that is the spirit of ardbeg (i knew i should have taken up copywriting). notice that, not only is mark wearing the team jersey, but the socks too. caps are in the (long) pipeline.

time trial bike is a giant, and road race bike a pinarello. our sponsors would be proud.

peter allen

peter (based in glasgow), joined us on islay during the early days of april, and it should be easy enough to tell that summer hadn't yet made it round the corner. so while many avail themselves of ardbeg jerseys, peter had the good sense to acquire a winter jacket.

perhaps difficult to tell from the photo, he was riding an isaac full carbon, but is a fully paid-up member of societa colnago, having one of ernesto's cristallo bicycles at home awaiting summer days.

jeff winstanley

a certain soft drink has advertised for years that drinking it gives you wings, but obviously a dram of the sponsor's product does even more than that - jeff's pic is ample evidence. taken in not terribly sunny blackpool, jeff is holding up the world's largest mirror ball without even breaking sweat.

the bicycle is a rather aggressive looking trek hardtail, so it must be bumpier on the pleasure beach than we'd all been led to believe.

the new stuff we learn day after day.

bryan milne

only similarity here is in the first name, and even that's spelt differently. taken at key biscayne, miami whilst over to take part in ironman florida (a bit like the islay tryathlon only much, much harder) - the bike is an argon 18 with ultegra groupset and profile carbon bars (obviously it is too good for the quality of rider), the cyclist is still an undertrained and unfit old guy from edinburgh (he wrote this, not me). he did however go on to complete the ironman. the flags in the background indicate (yellow) medium swimming hazard and (purple) dangerous marine wildlife - also a "stars and stripes" so that the illegal immigrants swimming ashore know which country they have arrived in.

on this occasion he did find a supply of ardbeg in panama city beach - very generous measures for $4 a time and several decent malts in new orleans. gentleman jack was also a surprisingly nice tipple.

michael cant

obviously the name is a misnomer because apparently michael can. the photo was taken at the summit of pla d'adet during the rest day of the 2007 tour de france. michael figures that it was 'the jersey wot did it' despite being left on the climb by somebody called gary from perth who had better gravity defying abilities than michael. at least another scot.

the bicycle is commendably a bianchi, aided on the way down from the top of pla d'adet by generous helpings of beer and pizza. next year's photo is promised from alpe d'huez.

i've left the date stamp on the photo for authenticity.

tony morley - it's a fix

tony turned up on islay for the gran fondo 2007 on an il pompino, fixed wheel bike with a carradice saddle bag, and we really couldn't believe he was serious. granted, islay is relatively flat, but it's not that flat. and tony also stood out by wearing the ardbeg away strip, very few of which were made, and only a very few of us possess one.

you may have gathered that the photo was not taken during the gran fondo, since we were all hidden by waterproofs, and there certainly wasn't any sun to lighten up pictures such as this. not having learned anything at all, tony figures he'll be back next year, again with only one gear.

made us all feel like wimps.

photo: karin farrent.

david seaman - the rider

if you've read tim krabbe's the rider, you will identify with the mountain in this photo of david seaman atop mont agoual (only ridden once, on this occasion). the lucky blighter was in france for the 2007 tour de france, not on his road bike but what appears to be a single speed (?) touring bike of no fixed origin (feel free to pick me up on this david).

mr seaman is no stranger to club headquarters, having joined us for the richard moore 'robert millar' evening dressed in club colours, including socks, making us all look decidedly mundane. (not for the first time, mind).

ardbeg at fire mountain lanzarote

taken at fire mountain (timanfaya), lanzarote while on a training holiday, bryan milne replete in favoured team jersey.

the bike is a bog standard giant scr2, the cyclist is a vastly undertrained and unfit old guy from edinburgh (his words, not ours). apart from the wind and heat, the worst thing about lanzarote was a distinct lack of decent malt. Ê.........................................................................................................................................................................................................

keeping the loophole open

this is sort of cheating, because the idea was originally to send in pics wearing the velo club jersey with bicycle, in either far flung places of abode or exclusive far flung areas to which sweat and toil had been expended in reaching (sorry, bit convoluted). photographs while on holiday in sunny climes shoudn't really count, but are probably entirely in keeping with the philosophy behind velo club d'ardbeg (well, if we actually had a philosophy in the first place).

the photo here is of robin thomas complete with schwinn road bike in the shiny island of majorca. nice work if you can get it.

still, he does have two water bottles

dean cook, washington, usa

a member from across the pond in kirkland, washington usa, across lake washington from seattle (all this helps you know, geography is not my strong point). dean is not only now a member of velo club d'ardbeg, but also an ardbeg committee member.

the bicycle (mmmmmm) is a serotta legend st with a triple chainset which, although we know that dave t, velo club directeur sportif has no truck with, he is a pensioner you know. if you need three rings, you need three rings - there's nothing in the articles of membership preventing it.

and washington has hills.

sara eastwood, formerly of nottingham sent us the following in april 2007. 'the move to brisbane is now complete and after spending three months shipping round the world, both our bikes arrived safely, just in time for the worst of the heat - something you rarely have to contend with on Islay. In the middle of summer, unless you are finished riding by 9am you may as well forget it, as the heat rapidly saps your energy and drains your camelback. Now it has cooled down a bit, we can go exploring this beautiful part of the world wthout fear of drying out to resemble prunes in 30 minutes. This picture was taken at Boondall Wetlands.'

we think sara may be our farthest flung member, so if you own a jersey and think you might be farther away, send us a pic.

we are not worthy

ok, not a chance we can beat this one, and shows just how far, in a vertical direction this most stylish of jerseys has travelled. the chap on the left with the beard is arthur grosvenor, in the middle is david neave and third in line is andrew patullo (very cool name for a cyclist). in case you haven't guessed, they're in the alps, but since the intrepid threetake their jerseys to other exotic locations, we're hoping for an infrequent travelogue of sorts.

kudos gents.

last of the summer freewheels

...and last of the summer jokes. just something mentioned on the sunday morning bike ride, aided by a little bit of photoshop. if only debbie's had tables like this.

close, but no cigar and somewhat later than expected, the motley crew assembled for the gran fondo. and it will come as no surprise that we all struggled to keep up with the little guy

velo club d'ardbeg founder member and directeur sportif, 'dave t'. dave's a pensioner, but that's a secret and he never tells anyone.

since i am usually travelling so fast that identification is hard for the casual spectator (who exactly are we kidding here?), here at long last is a photo of me standing still in an ardbeg jersey at bruichladdich distillery. fun.

don't think any of us can match this one.

jeremy hastings of islay birding went to the tour de france in july 2006 and took the colnago with him. selflessly wearing the club jersey and grimacing through the pain and effort, he singlehandedly (along with several thousand others) climbed almost to the top of alpe d'huez to remain within the time limit.

and no, there has been no photoshopping done to this image - jez really does look like that.

martin scott having been out for an 80km ride with the aix-en-provence cycle club through beautiful provencal villages by the mtge ste victoire that cezanne painted so often (centenary of his death this year). sent us this photo in front of the ste victoire: pierre garin, president of the club (centre in the photo) will give a warm welcome to any member of the velo club d'ardbeg - either for a ride or to try the excellent local wine.

they're all looking forward to trying a nip of ardbeg, so martin's taking a hipflask on the next ride (it's hard to find in provence). hope you've all noticed the colnago in the foreground and are beginning to see a pattern forming here:-)

major kudos to lennart magnussen of norway. lennart joined us on islay for the vca sunday ride when over for a distillery visit. not only did he send us a pic wearing the team strip, but he is also holding the jersey presented to all those who completed the 'gran fondo norvege. we'll let him tell it like it was.

"Sporting my beloved Ardbeg-jersey I set off from Kristiansand in the morning at 0850. My peloton was aiming for a total time of 7 hours to the finish 216 km away and 800 meters above the start.

Nice weather, dead calm air and a comfortable 12 deg C, made the first 100 K very enjoyable. Sadly I noticed too late I was burning more fuel than I imagined, and I had to let the peloton go about half way (110 k), calm down a bit and recover from too little food and drink. I got my strength back just in time for the heavier climbs at the last part of the race.

After the worst uphills I had about 30 k in relatively flat terrain to the finish. Sounds easy, but by this time temperature had dropped to 2 deg C and it had rained for an hour already. 1 k from the finish line I understood that I had used my left gear-shifter "upwards" for the last time that day - my left hand hadÊabsolutely no power left...was barely able to click down for the last hill up to the finish line.

But I made it! In 8h 15min.

I'm sorry I don't have any pictures, but I was (like almost everybody) so close to hypothermia I couldn't think of anything but to drop the bike and hit the showers ASAP! A lot of pictures were taken by kengurufoto I can (barely) be seen on one of the pictures of the peloton entering the first food-station. (silver grey helmet) Sadly the jersey isn't showing, I suspect the photographer is a non-drinker, bluecross-member or worse.

So, what can I say? It was one of these strange things: Horrid torture! -but still sort of fun to have done!

When the local tv-stations tried to do interviews with the few first riders to cross the line, they soon realized that no interview was possible for at least half an hour: All the riders were shaking so badly none could utter a sensible word!

Sounds great, doesn't it?

Details of/from the race can be found here and here

Results: (N= "Resultatliste")

mike smith sent me this picture taken between berwick on tweed and kelso in june 2005. excellent location. mike resides in the south of england, but is originally from wales.

bike is a thorn brevet tourer. nice.

rob martin sent this pic from canada surrounding himself with other notable jerseys.

the bike is a de rosa corum fabricated with deddacciai eom steel fitted with what i take to be a campagnolo carbon record groupset. wheels are apparently gipiemme.

quality bike for a quality malt.

dave russo sent me this pic of him with ardbeg jersey, kona mountain bike and pink squeaky pig during the islay festival of malt and music 2005. dave lives in boston, massachusetts.
dave russo with kona mtb .........................................................................................................................................................................................................

if you're going to send a pic of yourself with ardbeg jersey, send to ardbeg@thewashingmachinepost.net