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At the time of writing this I am sat at 2025m above sea level in Italy supporting Matt Page at the Iron Bike MTB endure. My year so far has been a busy one since March and I have been working pretty much every weekend up until now either at Wiggle events or providing race support for the athletes as well as doing my weekly job at Wiggle. Not having much time to race myself I have been training hard but commitments to the Wiggle sponsored athletes at races means I am a very busy Mechanic.

I have been supporting Lee Williams throughout the whole British Mountain Bike series and it has been a rollercoaster year for him. Illness has played a big part but this never stops Lee and the Williams clan turning out at the races and giving it their all, come rain or shine, in good health and bad Lee always races to the highest level he can.

I have got to know Lee and his family very well over the last couple of years and can’t help but admire their passion towards Lee’s racing and their support is unsurpassed at all the events. Dalby World Cup was one of the highlights of the year as well as the National MTB Champs where Lee fought a tough race chasing down Oli Beckinsale and le and Liam Klien the whole way to take a well deserved 3rd place on the day.

Ben Simmonds has also been racing at some rounds of the National Mountain Bike series and although I don’t get to support his road races it is always great to catch up with him when he decides to have a blast at the off-road side of things.

I have also been supporting Matt Page for the 3rd year in a row at all his major endurance races and was there when he once again won the National 24hr Solo champs in Newcastleton for the second year running. Again I have got to know Matt, his fiancé Nia and his mum Catriona very well over the last three years and they always give Matt maximum support throughout which really helps Matt through the long hours of 24hour solo racing. Newcastleton was no exception and the weather was miserable for the whole race making the support vital to Matt and playing a big part in his win.

Obviously he is the one riding the bike at the end of the day but I know how vital it is for him to have a fresh bike each lap of the race especially in the bad conditions. I spent the whole race cleaning the spare bike each lap and changing brake pads to keep up with the demands of the course. All this hard work is gratefully accepted by Matt and win or lose I am always aware how much my hard work means to him both in regards to mechanical and moral support.

I have a lot to thank Wiggle for as well, as I have had a lot of support from the staff and management and know they appreciate how much effort I put in to making sure the riders have all the support they need. Recently I have been promoted to Athlete and Event support co-ordinator within Wiggle and have the marketing department to thank for this as they realise the importance of me being able to focus all my efforts on the event and athlete support and this was becoming difficult with my daily job building bikes in the workshop for the Wiggle customers. This role means I am further involved in the organisation and logistics side of the Wiggle events and my role means I have the responsibility of making sure that all the equipment and stock needed for each event is loaded into the Wiggle vehicles on time and that the vehicles are properly maintained. There have been a few trips to Europe recently too including the Etape Du Tour stage 1 and the Iron Bike 8 day endurance event in Italy.

I am also responsible for the maintenance of all the athletes’ bikes not only at the races but also if they need them serviced at Wiggle HQ. These not only include Matt, Lee and Bens bikes but also the bikes of Carolyn Hewett and Emma-Kate Lidbury who have both been having excellent seasons with triathlons they have been competing in. I take a lot of pride in my work and am always happy to hear that an athlete is pleased with their bike or finished well in an event.

When I do get a chance to race I have mainly been competing in criterium race at the local tracks although the start to my season wasn’t the best as I was suffering a lot with hamstring problems, these appear to have been sorted now though and I’m looking to continue racing from September onwards as this is a quieter time of the year in regards to race and event support. I love racing with the other Wiggle staff riders, Pete Kitching, Richard Pearman, and Jon Cannings and they are all more experienced than me which means I am constantly learning a lot from them and they are all a great help.

Wiggle has also been supporting me greatly including supplying Lake Shoes and my Focus Izalco and Raven race bikes. The company is really behind the staff getting involved in racing and this really shows through.

Right, that’s enough from me for now; you can keep up to date with all my race and event support as well as my personal race feedback on my twitter which is @bennj84. Look out for my blog from the Iron Bike event soon as well.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed and get a bit of an insight into the life of a team mechanic.