The Downing brothers’ Out of the Saddle Club has teamed up with the Sheffield-based Claremont Sports Medicine Centre to organise a weekend of roller racing and sportive riding in support of the Danny Porter Foundation.
- Rapha Condor Sharp pro Dean Downing
Rollapaluza roller racing will take place at the Mercure Hotel, Sheffield on Sunday October 15, with twelve teams, including a top professional in each, to battle it out for top honours. A public taster session, which includes child-sized bikes, will also be available.
The Ride of the Falling Leaves sportive will then taking place the following day, with a choice of 50km or 100km routes, designed by Team Sky professional Russell using the roads he used to train for the Giro d’Italia.
“It’ll be great to see people out with us at the weekend,” said Rapha Condor Sharp pro Dean . “We supported the Danny Porter Foundation last year and will continue to do our best to get the cycling community involved and raising money.”
The Out of the Saddle Club, founded in 2010, was set up by Russell and Dean to raise money for good causes, with the Danny Porter Foundation, a cancer charity, chosen as the beneficiary for the weekend’s riding.
Head to www.csmapc.co.uk for more information and to enter.
Meanwhile, Dean was one of only 1,982 riders, from 6,000 entrants, to complete Acte II of this summer’s Etape du Tour.
The ride, run over stage nine of the Tour de France, took in a 208km route from Issoire–Saint-Flour, with seven categorised climbs in the heart of the Massif Central – and heavy rain, strong winds and cold temperatures turned the event into one of the most gruelling day’s in Etape history.
“It was really tough, the weather proved a real challenge for many riders. All the descents were extremely cold and pretty tricky,” said Dean, who finished eight hours, 45 minutes and rode with cycling-specific travel insurance from Cyclosure.
“The adverse conditions caused a number of crashes which is why it is so important to make sure that your travel insurance is sufficient for participating in organised cycling events.”
