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From Bissoe with love...
Welcome to Rolya Bike Chain Ricci are proud to present this self-published title in association with journalists across Cornwall and the South West. Rolya is a new digital zine dedicated to all things cycling. With emphasis on quality photography and writing, we are Cornwall’s only cycling-dedicated publication. Inside you will find: interviews with the most prominent figures in Cornish cycling today, including professional riders; features documenting the more unseen and quirky aspects of cycling in the South West; issue-by-issue profiles of One & All Cycling’s Youth Academy riders. We hope that in future Rolya can be a promotional tool for all aspects of cycling, be it for health, education or simply enjoying Cornwall’s scenery. Please browse, share, and most of all enjoy! Special thanks go to: Ricci Pascoe; Emily Howarth; Tony Ward; the staff at Bike Chain Ricci/Bissoe Bike Hire and Café.
Editor’s Letter ‘Roller, Rouler, Rolya’ When cycling in Cornwall, the opportunity to be a ‘rouler’ rarely presents itself, what with the leg-crushing climbs lurking around every hair-pin bend. But the challenging parçours are just part of this beautiful county’s charm. To be a Cornish ‘rouler’ then - or ‘rolya’ as St. Piran might have said in his Celtic tongue - is to be different, to be unique and do something new. This is the basis that we at Rolya have built upon, documenting the stories of those who have formed a rich cycling heritage in Cornwall and of those who are going to shape it in years to come. Indeed, this debut issue itself documents two generations of a family steeped in cycling history - the senior and the junior. The former’s cycling career having been, gone, and settled; the latter’s only just beginning. Of course this month is all about the Giro d’Italia, and it is only fitting that this zine is released in tandem with the 96th edition of the grand tour, an event that has inspired new creations across the board in 2013: new race-leader jerseys designed by Paul Smith; a new time trial bike for Sir Bradley Wiggins. As well as lashings of pink, you will find in this issue Cornwall’s very own piece of Maglia Rosa history, nesteld unpresumingly within the walls of Bike Chain Bissoe Bike Hire and Café - the home of One & Cycling.
Samuel Moore
“When the spirits are low; when the day appears dark; when work becomes monotonous; when hope hardly seems worth having; just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.� Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
@RolyaZine issuu.com/rolya rolya@outlook.com
One & All { } for
The founder of One & All Cycling Richard Pascoe speaks of his brain-child, pro racing in Europe, and why Cornwall could be the cycling hub of the UK
WordsSamuel Moore photographyJoel Hewitt
profilerichard pascoe
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I ‘It was a desire to set up an organisation that had a different approach to cycling’
Top right: One & All Cycling Academy rider Melissa Blake-Lomax
t is a smell that can bring out the nine-year-old in any adult. That rousing concoction of virgin rubber, unworn clothing and the metallic tang of chain-oilsoaked aluminium you can almost taste. Combine that with enough carbon fibre to supply a fleet of F1 cars to McLaren and you have yourself a bike shop. At Bike Chain Ricci, tucked away in an unassuming corner of Redruth, Cornwall, the fastidious array of spotless, high-end road and time trial bikes could betray the likes of a London-based superstore, one you wouldn’t consider gracing without at least £100 cash casually tucked in your jacket pocket. That is until you notice the ‘70s blues record playing on a loop over the stereo, and the husband and wife who have just bought their daughter a bicycle from the extensive family range on offer. This is one bike shop with far humbler beginnings; this is a place for one and all. At a coffee table piled high with cycling magazines, catalogues and newspaper clippings, 48-year-old Richard Pascoe settles himself in to a comfortable armchair, leaning back against the Bike Chain Ricci branded cushions whilst seeing to a coffee with discernible satisfaction. He is known to friends and customers as Ricci, a nickname which harks back to his time in the European racing circuit. He is the founder of One & All Cycling, a cycling club which, at only five years of age is by no means garnished in – or perhaps burdened by – heritage, but which models itself on the simple Cornish motto of inclusivity. “It was a desire to set up an organisation that maybe had a different approach to cycling. When I started it, it was just me and one other guy in a car park on a Sunday morning, and then three or four Sundays later it was four people. Then they all gathered their crew and all of a sudden it’s ten, fifteen, and before you know it it’s the size and the influence that it is now.” Indeed that size and influence encompasses hundreds of adult members who regularly embark on weekly Sunday rides from the Bike Chain’s sister establishment, Bike Chain Bissoe Bike Hire and Café a few miles out of Redruth, as well as competition sportives, criteriums, time trials, and BMX and MTB events. Not only that, but One & All Cycling also boasts one of the country’s only self-funded cycling academies for under-18s. “About a year ago, with my wife Liz Heart and cycling coach Fiona Telfer-Brunton, we set up the Academy, which has now got 120 under-18 members in it. That’s unique because it has coaching and education; it gives every young person under 18 access to different forms of cycling – road cycling, mountain biking, BMX – and from that they’ve got pathways in to developing
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groups; we’ve got one for Olympic development platforms now, which is very rare for youth cycling. We’ve also got some girls that rode the World BMX Championships last year.” But it is not all about the competition, and, as the club’s namesake would suggest, anyone wanting to join in would be unbelievably welcome: “We’ve got a starter group, which is basically just taking people out very leisurely – half an hour to an hour – giving them the basic skills of group riding, so that’s the fun group. We’ve got a fitness group and then we’ve got Group 1, Group 2, Group 3, Group 4 and
then a Race Group, so you can pick a group according to ability as well as the distance and average speed you want to go out at. So just come along really.”
Family History Although One & All Cycling is a young organisation, its majority founder’s bloodline is steeped in two-wheeled history. As Ricci leans back in his chair, absorbing the clamour of co-workers serving customers, answering phone calls and wheeling bikes in and out of the workshop, he speaks of his father, Len Pascoe, who last ▶
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‘I look upon my racing as categorised by failure all the way through’ year received a Lifetime Achievement Award from British Cycling. “My father was an amateur cyclist who as a teacher really wanted to help develop people. He helped professional riders, notably riders with the great TI Raleigh Team – they were the Sky of their day – and my father helped coach and mentor Brian Jolly, who was the British professional champion. He [Len] was probably one of the first to work on weight training for cyclists and mineral drinks and that type of thing, so he had a deep knowledge and passion in cycling.” Being surrounded by such passion as a child, it was only a matter of time before an 8-year-old Ricci was spinning a “cute Holdsworth bicycle”. Fast-forward twelve years and Ricci had reached First Category status as a rider; however, despite competing in numerous top races across Britain and Europe, the dream of donning the rainbow jersey or the maillot jaune never came to fruition:
“I look upon my racing as categorised by failure all the way through. When you’ve got some of the world’s best that could just ride away from you – and it didn’t matter how good you were going, how much training you were doing or how fast you felt you were going – you realised that these guys were literally just cruising when you were flat-out. It’s kind of a harsh reality really. I probably stopped racing at too young an age and at a very serious level.” But where would cycling be today if it were not for the passion and conviction of its devotees? Ricci strived to make a career of it, establishing a mail-order business in the 1970s, designing a range of cycle clothing under the guise of ‘Ricci’, and exporting across Britain and Europe. “I packed in trying to carry on racing in this country when I realised I couldn’t, for example, travel to Scotland to race one weekend and carry on with business. The business was always based here because I lived with my parents in Redruth; we bought this premisis in 1985
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and gradually shifted from a mail-order base to a retail base.” Bike Chain Ricci was born. 28 years later, and having established One & All Cycling as the fastest-growing cycling club in the South West, future plans rest on both the expansion of the club itself and investment in cycling across Cornwall and the South West. “I always say to people ‘it’s your organisation’. You’ve come along and joined, I’ve got no right to it. You know it’s about what we’re saying to people; telling a story is very important, and it’s that story that inspires people. That’s why we need people to come along and be part of the process and see what they can give. I call it a ‘sausage machine’, that’s one of my favourite mantras at One & All. We all join at the bottom end – you may turn up one day in flip-flops and cut-off jeans – then usually by the end of the year you’re in lycra and clip-in shoes. We’re all part of this process.”
Investment On the February 28, 2013 Torbay City Council debated and voted on a proposal to form a partnership with British Cycling and build a 1.5km closed race circuit and 400-metre outdoor velodrome. The results of the debate have not yet been revealed, but if approved ▶
Top Left: Ricci taking calls behind the shop’s counter Top Right: A ‘Ricci’ frameset circa 1970 Above: Bike Chain Ricci’s selection of Trek road bikes
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it would be the biggest investment in cycling the South West has ever seen. Investment is the only way cycling will develop in the region - it would not only raise the profile of cycling in general, but also bolster muchneeded economic growth throughout the county. When asked whether Cornwall’s ‘awkward’ geographic location and relatively sparse population mitigates interest from Government-backed schemes, Ricci resolutely discredits such thoughts: “Obviously we are surrounded by water with only one direction to go, and population may limit opportunity, but that’s a very traditionalist viewpoint. What we should be saying is ‘look, this is how great the region is and this is what we can do’. We have some great terrain and what I like about, say, the Welsh and Irish tourist boards are that they’ve made the best of their resources. Now we could do that in Cornwall. We could be a showcase for all to see; we’ve got the best of the weather in the UK and sometimes we don’t always necessarily put forward what we’re good at.
“A Centre of Excellence is something we could do. Sailing has got it in Weymouth – Ben Ainsley obviously being a Falmouth boy – and Wendy Houvenaghel, an ex-World Champion and Olympic cyclist, in Bodmin, so we do produce strong athletes down here. Here at One & All we have some world-class patrons like Taylor Phinney; we also have UK domestic pros like Steve Lampier, Chris Opie and Yanto Barker on board who give us some cream for making the world look at us.”
Moving forward Ricci’s ire for developing young cyclists – for cycling in general – is astoundingly affective, and he is a man in popular demand. Indeed, on the morning of this interview he received a phone call from the local radio wanting to run a feature about his exploits. Despite the media attention, however, Ricci is just Ricci, and developing the Academy for the next generation of riders is his highest and most fervent priority – there are
profilerichard pascoe Left: Ricci tutoring at an Academy turbo training session
‘We would like to have an under-23 team in the next four to five years’
even some pre-emptive blueprints for going national: “Yanto Barker really likes the model that we’ve got and he’s talked about rolling the idea in to five or six clubs over the whole of the UK” – a lop-sided grin appears – “so whilst it’s kind of a tongue-in-cheek thought for now, it probably has more legs than most possibly realise. We would definitely like to develop the academy. We’d like to have an under-23 team in the next four to five years which should lead on to some bigger things.” These are ambitious plans for any grassroots club, let alone one that is based in one of the least-populated regions of England. When told as much that gritty demeanour of a cyclist expels itself in a full tour de force: “We’ll do it. We’ll drive it. I’d put the team meetings together, we’ll get some good people in the room and we might start looking at grant funding, but we shouldn’t just live on hand-outs, you know. We’ve got to make ourselves self-sufficient, we’ve got to work
with sponsors, and we’ve got to take a bit of subs or something like that. ” Whatever the future may hold, one thing is for certain: One & All Cycling is the new breed of cycle clubs, grasping that oft-repeated strap-line of Inspire a Generation from the 2012 Olympics and moulding it in to something tangible. Ultimately, it is building on something which is less of a ‘club’ in the most traditional sense – there is no pretence or exclusivity here – but which is a collection of passionately like-minded people who simply want to bring cycling to all. “What makes One & All so unique is the people within it, so long as we keep the grass-roots going. That’s got to be the future of any sport that any club in the UK should replicate – life is about putting something on the table rather than taking something off it.”
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Thanks Damiano
We have now seen during stage one and stage two of the 96th Giro d’Italia Mark Cavendish claim the famous - now designed by Paul Smith - Maglia Rosa jersey, to then relinquish it to Salvatore Puccio of Team Sky following the second stage team time trial. The mainstream, when asked about cycling, will more often than not feel that the Tour de France is the biggest and most coveted of the three grand tours. When it comes to commercial/financial benefit and what the race can do for a cyclist’s career - even with a single stage victory - then they would be completely right. However, the vast majority of cyclists and die-hard fans consider the Giro to be the most romantic and desirable of the three grand tours. Here at One & All Cycling’s base in Bissoe, Cornwall, we actually have a piece of Giro history strewn proudly across the ceiling, along with plenty of other famous jerseys . This comes in the form of Damiano Cunego’s GeneralClassification-topping Maglia Rosa. Cunego won four stages of the overall parçours during the 87th edition of the Giro in 2004 to claim the biggest victory of his career to-date. It was One & All Cycling’s founder Richard (Ricci) Pascoe who bagged us this beautiful jersey whilst on a ride in Italy with the Barloworld Cannondale professional team in 2005. The topic of discussion was how to create a club such as One & All Cycling in Cornwall, as well as a successful cycling academy. With his unique relationship with the Cannondale team, the kind gesture by Damiano Cunego of the signed winner’s jersey helped get the ball rolling.
Well he wasn’t going to say no was he.
Come down to Bike Chain Bissoe Bike Hire and Café, Cornwall, and see this piece of historic memorabilia for yourself.
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Bike Chain Bissoe’s resident chaperone Tony Ward tells you why you should pay him a visit
rolya01 Samuel Moore: In a nutshell, could you explain what Bike Chain Bissoe is all about? Tony Ward: It’s a two-faceted business initially. It covers the café side of things - supplying food for the people out on the trail or those just dropping in for something to eat or drink on a casual basis. It’s also the home of One & All Cycling , which has 350 members at the moment and is rapidly climbing in numbers. They use it as a base for their Sunday rides. We also have a bike hire and sales facility. We have a fleet of around 200 bikes at the moment which people hire for the day and a range of products on sale for trail-side - just bits and pieces that the riders may need. SM: How and when did you get involved and what is your role now? TW: I’ve known Ricci [Pascoe] for about 15-odd years now. We had a conversation a while back during one summer about expanding the business [Bike Chain Ricci], developing it and pushing it forward. Him and his wife Liz have done a fantastic job here - it’s only been going for six years now but with the growth in cycling and how it’s developing in the county we want to make a flagship facility that will both stand out in Cornwall and help the sport grow.
‘You know the name of the club is One & All because we welcome everybody’ SM: Would you say that this is a unique facility, given its many applications? TW: It is yeah. There are a few places around that are trying to replicate the business model we operate here, but I think we’re pretty unique in what we’re doing. Say, covering the mountain bike hire and the hybrid hire, getting people out on the road as well as having the home of the cycling club here. We’re encompassing all facets of cycling really. We have a lot of kids in the Academy now and we’re hoping to build a skills track
interviewtony ward
here to help coaching. SM: Could you explain a little more about the skills track? TW: Sure. So it’s a ten-acre site that we have at the moment, and the café and the cycle hire only takes up a very small part of that. Out the back of the site there is a fair bit of land which we would like to develop, the main objective being for coaching through British Cycling and our various coaches that we have involved with the business. The skills track will basically be in the form of a pump track for skills sessions for the kids at various ages to have a go on. I mean we have kids as young as four, five years old starting up with the Academy now and going right the way through to 18-to-20-year-olds. It’s going to be mainly focused on the youngsters really.
somewhat awkward geographic location in terms of getting the customers in? TW: Well we just have to appeal to as broad a spectrum of people as we can. You know the name of the club is One & All because we welcome everybody no matter who they are or what they do; whether they ride mountain bikes or road bikes or want to go out on a tandem. I think where we are is an ideal spot because it’s quite centrally located in Cornwall. You know, stick a pin in the map and draw a fifty-mile radius around Bissoe and you’ve got water on every side. So we’ve got to appeal to the band of land that runs from Penzance and up to as far as Exeter. People do come from far and wide to use what we have here and they enjoy what we do, so it’s just a matter of building on that repeat custom, be it via word of mouth or social media.
SM: So will that be mostly BMX and MTB coaching? TW: Yeah mostly BMX and mountain bike. The facility we have for taking kids on the road is off-site at the moment, but we’re looking forward to encompassing everything in the near future. SM: How do you intend to deal with Cornwall’s
Bikechain Bissoe Bike Hire and Café is open for custom all year round. hire@bikechainbissoe.co.uk 01872 870341
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Young, co n fid e n t , and unaffected: 11-year-old Emily Howarth talks about cycling with all the amiable naivity of youth (and gives us her tips for this year’s grand tours)
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Emily Howarth, 11 Joel Hewitt: How long have you been cycling?
JH: Do you enjoy watching cycling?
Emily Howarth: I have been cycling since about this time last year, so about a year now.
EH: I really do enjoy watching cycling on TV because it’s amazing to see how they go around the corners and ride so close to one another. I don’t think a normal person could that, and they do it for so long. The Giro d’Italia goes on for one day short of three weeks and they can just go on and on and on for ages and it’s fascinating. But then again, their muscles are trained to do it.
JH: Other than your uncle Ricci, what got you in to cycling? EH: Everyone at school was doing different things outside of school and I thought that maybe if I try cycling it’d be a bit of fun exploring a different sport to everyone else. JH: What would you like to achieve within cycling? EH: In cycling I’d like to achieve at least similar to what my uncle Ricci did. I would love to be involved with the GB development squad and then try and get involved with track cycling. JH: When do you begin racing? EH: I’m going to be racing the Cornish Series, and the races up in Somerset for One & All Cycling and that is pretty much all the races we have down here to take part in. JH: What do you think about the closed circuit training nights that recently started at Perranporth? EH: The nights at Perranporth are really good. You definitely get new experiences of riding in groups and doing lots of skills-based training. This is great because we don’t really get the opportunity to do group based training up at Wheal Jane because it’s quite small. But where you have the airfield in Perranporth, it’s massive! And you learn a lot more skills and have better opportunities. It has definitely changed the future of One & All Cycling for the better I think. JH: What sort of things do you do off the bike to help you on the bike? EH: Off the bike, I do a lot of mental training about getting my head around what I’m doing. I like to plan out my life, by putting my school-work on one side and my cycling on the other. So overall this will help me with my cycling at the club. Also I do turbo training with my school so that I get a bit of extra training to prepare for races.
JH: Who is your favourite rider? EH: Wiggo. Probably Eddie Merckx and Bernard Hinault from the past, but also Mark Cavendish, Chris Froome, Wendy Houvanaghel, Victoria Pendleton and probably Chris Opie because he’s local and you can sort of look up to him. He comes to our races at Portreath and you can just say “Wow! An elite rider in Cornwall”. But overall I’d have to say Wiggins because he started on track but then converted to distance and stamina riding which is really hard. I see it in my friend who rides BMX and is moving in to road cycling and finds it a lot tougher physically. What Bradley does is amazing. When he won the Tour de France it was amazing and hopefully he will win this year’s Giro. JH: Who is your tip for the Tour and the Giro? EH: Chris Froome for the Tour de France. In the pro teams they choose a different person every year that they want to win overall. Team Sky are choosing Chris Froome this year and they chose Bradley Wiggins last year, and the whole team worked together to help him win it. So with the team behind Froome, I think he’ll win it this year. As for the Giro, I think Wiggo will definitely win it. JH: In one sentence, sum-up why One & All Cycling is so special to you? EH: One & All Cycling is special to me because it has great coaching; it actually connects with your inner rider, it’s fun and their is absolutely no intimidation. That’s all you can ask for in a good cycling club.
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CS Dynamo
Wed 15 May
Exeter Wheelers
Circuit East Devon Series 1 TT
Sat 18 May
Camel Valley CTC
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Sun 19 May
Marizion Triathlon
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Sun 19 May
St. Budeaux
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Tue 21 May
CS Dynamo
Wed 22 May Wed 22 May
Royal Navy Marines CA Camel Valley CTC
Circuit East Devon Series 2 2-up TTT
Thu 23 May
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Penzance Wheelers
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Sat 25 May
Cornish Series 3
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Portreath
Sat 25 May
Dales Racing Team
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Ladock
Sun 26 May
Circuit Youth Series 3 TT
Wed 29 May
North Devon Wheelers North Devon Wheelers One & All Cycling
3-up TTT
Tresillian
Wed 29 May
Cornish Series 4
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Thu 30 May
Mid-Devon CC
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Sat 01 Jun
Plymouth Corinthion
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Sun 02 Jun
Helston Triathlon
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Sun 02 Jun
Cyclelogic
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Mon 27 May
Sun 02 Jun Tue 04 Jun
ND Wheelers CS Dynamo Cornish Series 5
Fraddon Grand Prix East Devon Series 3 Circuit Circuit
Wed 05 Jun
Perranporth
Wed 05 Jun
Camel Valley CTC
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Penzance Wheelers
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Sun 09 Jun
Yeovil CC
John Andrews RR
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St. Budeaux
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Sun 09 Jun
BC SW Youth Stage Race
Circuit
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Truro CC
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Wed 12 Jun
Okehampton CC
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South West Series 3
MTB
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Falmouth Triathlon
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Falmouth
Sun 16 Jun
Plymouth Corinthian
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Plymouth
Sun 16 Jun
Plymouth Corinthian
GHS SW Champs
Plymouth
Wed 19 Jun
Camel Valley CTC
TT
Roche
Wed 19 Jun
Tavistock Wheelers
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Sourton
Thu 20 Jun
Penzance Wheelers
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Leedstown
Sun 23 Jun
One and All Cycling
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Roche
Wed 26 Jun
St. Austell Wheelers
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Lanivet
Thu 27 Jun
Mid-Devon CC
TT
Buckfastleigh
Sun 30 Jun
Revo Racing
TT
Sourton
britishcycling.org.uk/events
Callington
Tresillian Sourton
Rolya Bike. Camera. Pen. Subscribe by sending your email to: rolya@outlook.com
Over the coming months we will be looking to expand the content of this zine and we will happily accept contributions for future issues. Please contact us at rolya@outlook.com with ideas great and small.
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Richard Pascoe
Editorial EditorSamuel Moore Staff Photographer/writerJoel Hewitt rolya@outlook.com
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Grazie!