So who was visiting Wiggle last week? Only triple World Champion, Olympic Gold Medallist and Head of Boardman Bikes R&D Chris Boardman!

As you may know we very recently signed an agreement with Boardman Bikes to be their International partner and bring their fantastic brand of bikes to all the millions of bike customers outside of the UK.

So last week Chris was over to shoot various film pieces the range presentation videos well be featuring on the site soon to introduce the exciting range of Boardman bikes to consumers, an exclusive interview talking about some of his achievements as a pro-rider and R&D guru, and a visit to Wiggle HQ itself to meet all the teams that will be delivering Boardman quality, design and performance to customers all over the world for the first time.So we had our hands full managing the logistics side particularly as Andy Smallwood (Operations Director for Boardman) recently had a shoulder operation and couldnt drive we still got him building bikes though!

We kicked off on Monday and got all the bikes to the studio (some of which were the very first new samples air-freighted in from the factory days before which not even Chris or Andy had seen in production yet) built them all up and handed them over to the team from MTB Cut who were shooting and producing the films for us for them to get the product detail close up shots which took up most of the rest of the day. As Andy couldnt drive he had enlisted the help of his friend Rich who was somehow driving with a broken ankle and a K-wire in his hand after a nasty TT crash Chapeau!

Tuesday Chris arrived and we dove straight into an interview (which I thought was going to involve me being off camera but didnt me and the camera arent mates as any of you which have seen the other range presentation films will know!) Chris is really professional though and such a down to earth personable gent that with his years of experience working with major broadcasters and easy-going demeanour he made it a pleasure.

We discussed his achievements through his amazing career as a rider the records, the medals, winning rainbow stripes and yellow jersies and all the exciting things hes been up to since he hung up his riding shoes heading up development for the Olympic team, working with the finest athletes in the world to push the performance envelope, and of course his bike brand and how his expertise in the field of R&D and design as well as his experience as a true performance machine (he still holds the record for the fastest ever Tour de France prologue at over 56kmh!) has informed the direction of the bikes he has produced. In the afternoon we ploughed mercilessly through all the range previews and got a chance to see Chris in his element talking bikes!

First thing Wednesday we chatted over breakfast about how the shoot was going and about what was left to do then finished off the rest of the bike pieces in the studio and headed straight for Wiggle to meet up with Humphrey Cobbold, our CEO, who gave Chris a personal tour of the inner workings of the Wiggle business from the teams in marketing, IT and accounts through to the warehouse and dispatch logistics guys and our all important cytech qualified mechanics and international packing department.

The whole tour was captured by Stuart Thomson and Lec from MTB Cut so we will have a few pieces of video to show you all coming in the next few weeks. As with everything Wiggle dispatch the emphasis in the bike department is all about quality a dedication shared 100% by the Boardman brand so I look forward to being able to show everyone how we deliver it to the end consumer.

Last stop on Thursday was a quick trip up to Cheltenham to deliver the bikes to SpinMe who look after our 360⁰ imagery so they could capture the new range in all its glory ready to show the public an up-close and interactive view of what these great bikes really look like.

It was great to meet Chris again and to show him first-hand what we do here at Wiggle and judging by his tweet right afterwards he had a good time too. Huge thanks to Chris and Andy and all who helped make the week go so smoothly cant wait to see the finished results and pretty excited now that were forging ahead with the new partnership.

Both the Boardman brand and the people bringing it to life and the Wiggle teams dedicated to delivering such a high level of quality to the consumer are really a pretty special group. With the first production drops arriving imminently the opportunity for riders everywhere to get hold of their own perfectly built Boardman bike is just around the corner.