The hardest ride I have done on the road since the Sydney Olympics – Nick Craig
On Sunday 16th February 2025 Lancashire Road Club ran their first ‘reliability ride’ which Merlin Cycles, along with the guys at Rivington Brewery were delighted to support. The event, the first of hopefully many to come also raised funds for the ‘Ride For Charlie’ charity.
For those who do not know, a reliability ride is held just before the racing season kicks off, to test a riders legs and see how they are feeling heading into the opening weekends. They are unsupported, but follow a set route – in this case, 70 miles on the long route and 40 miles on the short – and are often ridden at a fast pace. As a bonus however, Lancashire Road Club President Matt Winston managed to arrange 3 motorbike support riders making the event feel something really special.
With a fantastic turnout of 101 riders, with a good number of Merlin staff included, the route set out on a cold and windy day out from the start point in Horwich and headed out towards the flat lands of Southport. A tail wind resulted in average speeds of 25mph+, that was until the route turned to head back when the climbs begun and the now headwind made for a tough workout. The final sting in the tail was cycling past the finish point at Rivington Brewery to then tackle one final climb of Anglezarke. I wonder how many people were tempted to miss this out! The ‘win’ (remember it’s not a race!) was taken by Si Deplitch of the newly formed Merlin Cycles Rivington Brew Co. Racing Team – a great start to the year!
Back at Rivington Brewery, all of the riders were treated to a beer and an excellent choice of food options. Feedback was extremely positive from every rider as they started to arrive back from midday and continued to do so until around 2pm. Stories were shared and it was great to have former pro riders Nick Craig and Fred Salmon also join us. The ride also supported the ‘Ride for Charlie’ charity which was set up after Nick’s son tragically passed away at the age of 15. On the day, £200 was raised, with Rivington Brewery and also ourselves matching this to increase the total to £600.
Merlin Cycles were delighted to be able to support this local event, with all riders taking part receiving a special discount code at the finish. We look forward to more events with Lancashire Road Club in the very near future.
More information about the Ride For Charlie charity can be found here – https://www.rideforcharlie.com/
If you wish to join Lancashire Road Club visit here – https://www.lancsroadclub.org.uk/
Thanks to Graham Leigh from Lancashire Road Club for use of the photos
