Meet the Ride Captains: Team Civic Engineers

Meet the Team Civic Engineers Ride Captains for this year's Knight Frank Cycle to MIPIM.

Your Ride Captains are there to look after everyone on the road. Experienced, empathetic and supportive, they’re a wonderful bunch who have been cycling with us for probably longer than some would care to remember.

We asked them for one anecdote from a previous Cycle to MIPIM, one piece of advice for new riders, and some thoughts on their fellow Ride Captains (RCs). Their answers will give you a great insight on what to expect out on the road (and possibly, in the bar afterwards!). Here’s an introduction to the Ride Captains of Team Civic Engineers:

David (Johnno) Johnston, Partner – Commercial Property, Wedlake Bell LLP

Anecdote: Hearing a group of school children singing something like "Allez les vieux" as we rode by – Google it….

Advice: Don't stress – if you get involved, join in with the training rides and get time in the saddle you will be fine.  Remember that it was a "first time" for everyone sometime.

Your fellow RCs:
Sam McClary –  so lovely and unbelievably supportive (as long as you keep both hands on the handlebars and close the gaps)
Nicola Lovell – only person I know that says "brutal hills" like she enjoys them
Richard Trubshaw (Trubs) – not quite the best rider to come out of the Isle of Man
Paul Burke – just a genuinely decent man with the best collection of equine puns in the world

Gareth Atkinson, Director, Civic Engineers

Anecdote: On my first Cycle to MIPIM, I bought a set of brand new wheels (hoping a little less weight would provide some marginal gains).  On a long slow climb on Day 4 there was a “coming together “ a couple of rows ahead in the Peloton resulting in Dickie (Richard Heath) slowly falling on my front wheel and folding it in half.  No one was injured and I was back on the road with a spare yellow trimmed wheel from the awesome mechanic team in no time.  Make sure you get the right insurance for cycling abroad. I got another pair of lovely new wheels when I got home.
 
Advice: Maybe not get new wheels. Nah … get new wheels! Definitely get new tyres. 

Your fellow RCs: With Paul and Johno on Team Civic expect the ride to be filled with some decent tunes from their bike boom boxes.  Make sure you send your choices to the team Spotify link (when we’ve got one). 

[Gareth below centre, with two fellow Cycle to MIPIM 2019 riders]

Nicola Lovell, Associate - Planning & Development, JLL

Anecdote: On the final day of pedElle 2021, after a few days of climbing a significant amount of metres, one of the ladies realised that she had another chain ring and had completed the whole thing in the small ring. Great for climbing… but no wonder there was no joy keeping up on the descents and flat sections!

Advice: Never use other people as a judge of your own ability (progression is you vs you) and always ignore those that seem to be constantly having to prove themselves worthy (chill out).

Your fellow RCs: I was terrified of Sam (McClary) when I first met her, and for a while after that actually. But secretly I think she is a bit of a teddy bear.

Paul Burke, Partner, Maples Teesdale

Anecdote: Proper cyclists use KMs. Dickie (Richard Heath) used to mess with Will Monk’s Garmin changing the setting from miles to kms.  Will had borrowed the Garmin so didn’t know how to switch it back and hated distances being measured in kms.  When he worked that out, Dickie changed the language settings to a foreign language.  Much hilarity ensured.

Advice: The three C’s; chat, chat, chat (or is that the three Ch’s?)

Your fellow RCs: An awe-inspiring crew; always a wheel to follow, a shoulder to lean on, a hand on your back, words to encourage, jokes to make you laugh, guiding lights, jelly babies, jelly tummies (that’s just me)

Samantha McClary, editor, EG

Anecdote: My favourite story from so very many wonderful years riding to MIPIM with Club Peloton is the year I decided not to do the 6am roll out as it was freezing (and it wasn’t my leg) and I was particularly tired. I chose to spend the first session cuddled up on the warm (yet already slightly pungent) coach getting a few more ZZZs. The extra sleep was wonderful and I bounded off the bus (don’t ever call it a bus to the driver FYI) ready to join my leg and whizz through the beautiful lanes of Northern France with my fellow Cycle to Mipimers. However, as I started to get everything ready I realised I had made something of a faux pas. My bike shoes were more than 50km away, on the radiator in a Novotel, still drying out from the soggy ride the previous evening. Um. I will never forget the look on Nick Hanmer’s face when I told him what I’d done. Politely, he only called me a muppet – I know in his head he called me much worse.

But as is the Club Peloton way, help was at hand. Members of the team went all the way back to the hotel (a 150km trip by the time they met us at the next stop) to collect my shoes. For punishment, flats with traditional toe straps were put on my bike and I had to cycle the next leg in barefoot trainers. It was not pleasant, but was definitely not punishment enough. This is by no means a recommendation that you should leave your shoes behind drying on a radiator and not worry about it, but is a story to show just how phenomenal the CP crew are and how they will always go above and beyond to take the very best care of you. Even if you are a muppet.

Advice: Separate your kit by day and put them in separate bags. Make sure you have the next day's kit bag out and ready to jump straight into the next morning. You will always be too tired to think properly. Prep before you head off on this wonderful adventure and you will reap the benefits. Also, don’t leave your shoes behind.

Your fellow RCs: While you form a very special bond with everyone who takes part in the Cycle to Mipim, riders, crew, support, there’s something extra special that happens between the ride captains. The shared concern and love that we have for ever rider on the road brings us that little bit closer. The extra energy that concern you have for others does sometimes make us a little bit more tired than we might look, which is why I always have the greatest respect for every RC who digs a little deep to find that smile, that kind word or that slightly fluffy jelly baby that has been in their back pocket a little too long to lift another rider up. I’ve been that other rider before (and will be again I’m sure). It means a lot.