Sargentandco's Blog

Hommage To The Wearies

Georgie Wood @ Sargent and Co — Sun, 05 May 2013 20:50:10 +0000

The sad demise of the Austin band The Weary Boys in 2007, saw the end to one of the best live bluegrass blues bands i'd seen perform. They produced six CDs in six years (2001–2007), their energy was boundless, their music: great mix of speedy 'blues grass' riffs and high kickin melodies, and last but not least; charisma – they had it by the bucket full.

One of my best friends blogs,have a listen,theres a lot to like.

SUNS OUT AND SO ARE ROBS LEGS

Georgie Wood @ Sargent and Co — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 15:55:51 +0000

The Commuter Belt Classic Sportive

Georgie Wood @ Sargent and Co — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 11:30:40 +0000

The first Commuter belt Classic is on the 11th May 2013 – Video features bicycles from Sargent amd co.

Rough Rider Sportif are back this year and have organised a fun ‘relaxing’ commuter sportif, Perfect if you have or haven’t been on a group ride before and a great first sportif; a lovely 49 mile journey from ‘Watton At-Stone’ to ‘London Fields’ through winding country lanes; something you can do at a very reasonable and comfortable pace, followed by drink, food and a Hackney disco to be enjoyed with new found friends.

Also as it is fun you can post a similar time to Georgies ‘Western Riding Classic‘* time and it will be perfectly acceptable.

For more information and to book a place visit: http://www.roughridersportif.com/

*’West Riding Classic’ Sportif is another non-competitive road cycle over the beautiful and breath taking hills and valleys of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

Strava – The Beginning of The End

Georgie Wood @ Sargent and Co — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:34:27 +0000

For those familiar with Strava please accept my apologies as I quickly overview it for the benefit of those that aren’t.

Strava is an app. Yes an application – something you download on to your smartphone so that your life will improve. You get this app. and you create a profile – Gender, Age, Weight (optional), Bike Make and Model, you can even add a befitting image of yourself riding your bike if you like.

The app. has an in built GPS and maps your journey. Certain sections of your trip will have been earmarked out by other users and given a name. For example The Seven Sisters Sprint – this is a 200m stretch of road with a defined beginning and end – when you ride along this 200m stretch it records your time and adds you to a table. The Table of Truth. Every user who has done that same stretch of road has had their time recorded and added to the Table of Truth. You can see the fastest ever time and the slowest ever time this has been ridden. The facts are laid bare.

You may believe you are something special, but let me tell you once you see the Table of Truth you will realise at best you are a mediocre excuse of a cyclist. There are people out there that ride so fast it will blow your mind. Take Claire Wright (I have changed her name for privacy purposes), she rides the Reserevoir Revver at 39.1km/h. Yes. This is flat road. How does this Claire ride so bloody fast? Do you know? I do – she is on a scooter. Yep you heard right, she is a cheat, she must be.

And then there is this Nicola girl. According the Table of Truth she rides the 250m Home Run 17 seconds faster than me. Now I drank a double espresso and attacked that road the other morning I and can’t see how it’s possible. I mean there are cars to consider and pedestrians. I was close to branding her a cheat as well, but when I clicked on her time I saw that it gives you the hour at which she rode her ‘superior’ time. And you know what she did? She rode it at 06.30 on a Sunday. The cunning cat got up specially when there is the least amount of traffic around and made herself the Queen of the Mountains (this is the title you get for being number 1 on a stretch). Well Nicola, if you are reading this, just remember what goes up must come down.

So this Strave app. all joking aside is a really good tool for anyone with fitness goals and for mapping routes – perfect for those weekend spins. It is also lots of fun as you win cups and medals for beating both others and your personal bests. You can of course also use this app. to start a hate campaign against complete strangers like I have, it’s up to you.

(It maybe worth noting that you do have the option to make all of your information private, oh and that this app. is highly addictive).

Georgie Wood

Seasonal closing times Yo F.BUM

Georgie Wood @ Sargent and Co — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 19:14:26 +0000

Un-named artist.

We apoligize that we are unable to credit the artist for his/her beutifully expressive and welcomed addition to our festive window.

We’d like to wish all of our valued customers a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and a very exciting New Year from all of us at Sargent and co. We are having bloody good time so far and hope that you all are anjoying yourselves as much as us!

We will be closed from Sunday 23rd December and re-open Wednesday 2nd January 10.30 – 6.30.

We look forward to seeing you in twenty-thirteen.

Sargent and Co wins L’Eroica

Georgie Wood @ Sargent and Co — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 14:07:50 +0000

Your initial thoughts no doubt are that this headline is far fetched, a deviation from the truth, but it’s not. Let me explain, right from the beginning.

A few years back Rob headed over to Italy with Frankie Ciao Ciao.When they arrived Rob and Frankie Ciao Ciao recruited Frankie Ciao Ciao’s dad, the threesome then set about a tour of northern Italy to buy some classic bikes.

During this two week tour they stumbled across a heady mix of characters and happened upon some real gems. On day six they met a fella with a road bike shop. The shop was filled with the usual suspects, carbon Pinarello’s, blingin’ De Rosa’s, Colnago’s dripping in Campag. Across the sea of modernity Rob spotted a lone steel steed, she glistened and shined and she said to Rob, ‘I need you, help’ (I think he made this bit up). Rob kept his cool and got his negotiators head on ‘how much, I will give you whatever you want, just let me have her’ he screeched.

The Italian shop owner was pleased with Rob’s outburst, but not because he was greedy, no, he was pleased because he had been reluctant to let her go to the wrong person and he had waited eagerly for someone to come to the shop who would love her as he had, who would give her the life she deserved. Rob, Frankie Ciao Ciao and Frankie Ciao Ciao’s dad wrapped the beautiful Cucchietti in a blanket and lay her in the back of the van.

Fast forward two years.

It was a regular kind of day, Rob was busy fixing stuff, Cassius was stood at the door frightening passers by and Frankie Ciao Ciao was in the basement doing something (we can’t remember what) and in strolled Stu. Stu Bowers to be precise. This Stu fella was after a bike to ride L’Eroica on. As it transpired Stu was a bit of face on the mountain bike scene and a pretty accomplished rider; Rob figured this would stand him in good stead for a race like L’Eroica, because even though it’s a road race on classic bikes and it’s nothing like mountain biking, it famously takes in strade bianche. For those who don’t know strade biancha is a ‘white’ road filled with tiny stones and is reputedly very difficult to ride on, even the most experienced of road riders struggle on the terrain.

A lightbulb appeared above Rob’s head (again I think Rob made this bit up), Stu should ride the Cucchietti, take her back to her rightful home, give her the outing she had been waiting for. And that was that, Rob would restore the bike, get her back up to speed and Stu would take her to Italy.

Go on Stu, you show’em lad

Stu returned to blighty victorious, he had secured the fastest time of the 2012 L’Eroica, covering the 205km in a tad over eight hours; this is a superb time for such a gruelling race. And so we have it, the Cucchietti was rode to glory on her home turf. I suppose you could argue that it was Stu and the bike that won the competition not Sargent and Co, but we like to think that everyone in the tale had a part to play in the hunt for glory.

In November 2012 the Cucchietti came back to Sargent and Co and is now on sale.
Champion Stu Bowers has continued to ride bikes and works as the Deputy Editor of The Cyclist Mag
Rob Sargent continues his quest to return classic bikes to their former glory.
Frankie Ciao Ciao came out of the basement and was never seen again.

Georgie Wood

November

Georgie Wood @ Sargent and Co — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 17:33:35 +0000

Rob and cassius will be back from their adventure and the shop with be open on Thursday 8th November, and we now have new November opening hours:
Thursday: 10.30 – 18.30
Friday: 10.30 – 18.30
Saturday: 10.30 -18.30

Bradley Wiggins Interview

Georgie Wood @ Sargent and Co — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 13:30:16 +0000

Fred Perry have done a wee interview with man of the moment, Bradders. Rather than the usual questions (is Lance really a crack head? Did your Mrs threaten to knock out Froome’s wife?), he is talking about himself, as a … Continue reading →

Bobet and Roche – two good reads

Georgie Wood @ Sargent and Co — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 12:24:38 +0000

During my jolly hols I read, Jean Bobet’s ‘Tomorrow We Ride…’ and Stephen Roche’s ‘Born to Ride’ in that order.

Jean, often remembered as the brother of the great post war French cycle champion Lousion Bobet, was a great rider in his own right, winning the World Student Cycling Championships in 1949 and commendable positions in numerous major races for a decade following. A self-proclaimed lover of Ernest Hemingway’s work, Bobet eventually turned his back on racing and pursued his true dream and became a writer.
Stephen Roche, an Irish champion hailing from the 1980s, famously tucked the Tour, The Giro and World Championships under his belt in 1987 – a wondrous achievement he shared with legendary Eddy Mercyx.
Admittedly when it comes to major successes you could argue Bobet and Roche are in a different class and they did of course ride in different eras. But regardless of wins and regardless of time, some things will always ring true – the hell of Ventoux, the pressures of endorsement, the complex relationship between riders and the Directeur Sportif, the curse of injury and of course the joy of finding of true form on the bike.
Bobet’s tale captures the imagination, so seductive is his eloquent exploration of what is it was to be cyclist in the 1950s, we found ourselves dreaming with him, turning the pages desperate to know what happens next. He is both careful and considered as he dissects the relationships around him. Throughout the book he philosophises and reflects. This is much more than a book about cycling, it as an insight into what it is to love as a brother.
Roche’s offering is straight forward. With Roche we are presented with a quick thinking and hungry strategist. He talks us through his races with a meticulous attention to technical details, the gear ratios he opted for, the bike setup, the routines. He painstakingly recalls those crucial milliseconds of thought before his legendary attacks. Roche allows us a glimpse into the mind of a powerful and determined winner; he is at times boastful, but deservedly so. It is painful to read about his demise towards the end of his career, albeit the natural order of things, you do have empathy.
The honest truth is I admire Roche’s tenacity, but I don’t particularly warm to him. You can’t help but wonder how and why the relationships throughout his life crumble and fall like decayed dominos. Roche has all the trophies and all the medals, yet for me Bobet reveals himself to be a true winner, because in him we find a man that identifies with something more than a desire to be a champion, and when the races finish you need that.

I bought my books from Condor Cycles.

Georgie Wood

Grappa Club, opportunities and toasted cake

Georgie Wood @ Sargent and Co — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 11:48:59 +0000

As with all good cycling holiday stories the conversation was soddened with ‘it was hell, ‘ I wore two pairs of socks over my gloves’, ‘I thought I might die, ‘I took a kamikaze exit down Ventoux because I needed to be warm/eat/dry/hug my mum’.

This particular tale was being relayed by the Grappa Club – called so because they drink grappa. Well if I am going to be pedantic, which I am, they ordered a grappa once; so poignant a moment was the realisation it was 18 euro a shot they aptly named themselves after it. The Grappa Club consists of four blokes who a) ride together when they can b) travel to the continent in a chaotic manner and ride together when they can, c) drank grappa once. One of the fellas lives in Wales, north Wales if I remeber rightly, one is Canadian with a name that confusingly sounds Japanese – I haven’t met these two. The other two I went riding in Hertfordshire with a few sundays ago. Strangely upon entry to the north London county you are greeted with a sign ‘Hertfordshire, county of opportunity’ – I didn’t happen upon a golden ticket, nor did I see anyone who looked like they had, it’s very nice all the same.

Anyway the real purpose of this story is the start and end point; Amici Delicatessen’ in East Finchley, so enjoyable was my experience I felt compelled to write about it. I beg you, don’t be fooled by the unassuming exterior of this family run Italian treasure trove. Me and my Colnago were momentarily transported to the foothills of the Dolomites the other Sunday. Vintage cycling jerseys hang from the ceiling, fresh pastries decorate the counter, the sound of milk being steamed, the smell of fresh espresso, ah heavenly. As I said we started here and we finished here, I won’t bore you with the ride we did in between, but fast forward 50 miles and we are back in the cafe. I ordered toasted pannetone alongside my cappucino, I had never tried toasted cake before, and the cynic inside of me thought perhaps it was going stale, hence it being toasted; well more fool me, it was a taste sensation, I don’t care if that cake was older than me, it was one of the damn finest bits of cake I have eaten. I also had some boquerones (I don’t know what these are called in English or Italian) served with fresh ciabatta, sun dried tomatoes and very tasty, juicy olives. I honestly can’t remember how much this little lot set me back, which is a sure sign it was reasonable.

I conclude that Hertfordshire makes for a pleasant ride, although I don’t think you should get your hopes up regarding opportunities. And that the Amici Delicatessen really is quite special – for one hour of my Sunday, I was lazing on a sunny plaza cooled by a Mediterranean breeze, weary from Alpine plights – and all of this in East Finchley, who’d of thought?

Georgie Wood