Your Team Vectos SLR Ride Captains

Meet the Ride Captains for Team Vectos SLR for this year's Knight Frank Cycle to MIPIM. With a radio in their ear and their eyes on the peloton, the Ride Captains volunteer their wisdom, skills and cycling experience to make sure that everyone stays safe, while dispensing Jelly Babies, humorous anecdotes and/or words of encouragement as needed. 

Here’s an introduction to the Ride Captains of Team Vectos SLR - Mike Axon (SLR Vectos), Jessica Taylor (Evolve), Jerry Tate (Tate+Co Architects), and Franck Robert (Buro Happold):

Mike Axon, Vectos SLR:

• Your favourite memory from last year’s relay? The off piste bike ride in the vineyards whilst waiting for the peloton to arrive
• What’s your top tip for this year’s riders? Pacing!
• What’s your best training tune? Highway to Hell
• What is the one essential bit of kit you absolutely cannot be without? Top tube bag 
• Link to your sponsorship page: Team Vectos SLR

Jessica Taylor, Evolve:

• Your favourite memory from the last time you rode with Club Peloton? PedElle 2021 really sticks in my mind - the pure magic of riding with such an amazing group of women, just as we were coming out of lockdown. We were all so excited to be there! And we were even blessed with balmy sunny weather in the Lakes in autumn.
• What’s your top tip for this year’s riders? Perfect the art of drinking on the move - stray water bottles can be lethal.
• What’s your best training tune? Any kind of power ballad (I'm sorry in advance).
• What is the one essential bit of kit you absolutely cannot be without? Fully charged SRAM eTap batteries, plus a spare. You don't make that mistake twice!
• Link to your sponsorship page: Jessica Taylor is fundraising for Club Peloton (justgiving.com)

Jerry Tate, Tate+Co Architects:

• Your favourite memory from the last time you rode with Club Peloton? So the last time I did C2M was 2019 and my memory is hazy but the lavender fields at sunrise are super-amazing… I think that is around about the beginning of day 3? It feels like you are cycling into Spring.
• What’s your top tip for this year’s riders? Learn to eat and drink on the bike. You only have time for one thing at a stop!
• What’s your best training tune? Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey
• What is the one essential bit of kit you absolutely cannot be without? Chamois cream (hmm does that sound weird?)
• Link to your sponsorship page: Jerry Tate (justgiving.com)

Franck Robert, Buro Happold:

• Your favourite memory from the last time you rode with Club Peloton? I have done this ride twice, and my favourite part, other than spending time with like-minded masochists on the bike, is the leg from Valence to Aix-en-Provence. The weather typically improves, the roads and villages we cycle through are a lot more picturesque than barren northern France, and my wife grew up in this part of the world, so I feel as if I have come home, which gives me a massive moral boost. By then you also start reaping the benefits of spending all these hours in the saddle and getting fit!
• What’s your top tip for this year’s riders? Make sure you find what keeps you adequately fuelled for the day as we will be burning a lot of calories. Make sure you stretch regularly and listen to your body.
• What’s your best training tune? “Alors on danse” from Stromae 
• What is the one essential bit of kit you absolutely cannot be without? Merino wool base layer – hot or cold, I never go out without one!
• Link to your sponsorship page: Franck Robert is fundraising for Club Peloton (justgiving.com)