World’s First Professional Commuter Team Will Commute to Work Like A Boss
[Milton Keynes – April 1, 2013]- Trek UK has partnered with media empire Cyclismas to launch a new team of professional bike commuters who will compete on the streets and trails in the daily race to get to work.
The Trek-Cyclismas Professional Commuter Team (TCPCT) is a six-person team, consisting of three men and three women (all human), who commute to work by bike over a variety of distances and terrain. The team will be competing at the highest level of ‘getting to work’ sport, and will face competition from other ride-to-workers and Strava segment racers across the UK.
Along with additional rider support from Bontrager, VeloVixen, Juice Lubes, Chapeau!, Vulpine, AfterShokz, and Visual Impact, the TCPCT will compete in a full calendar of commuting events in 2013, including Cycling Superhighways, Derby-Loughborough Uni-Derby, The Hell of North London, the Ronde Van Hebden Bridge, and Backyard Cheeky Trail To Front Door Enduro, among others.
The decision to sponsor a professional commuter team represents an extension of Trek’s involvement in professional road and mountain bike teams. Commuting is on the rise across the globe, and the number of people training to become professional commuters is growing significantly. By partnering with Cyclismas, Trek has teamed up with a no-holds-barred media outlet with global reach and influence.
“Sponsoring a team of professional commuters was really a no brainer for us,” said Trek UK’s Chris Garrison. “Commuting is a segment of the market that has huge participation levels, and there is a significant portion of people who are competing during their daily commutes. Sponsoring a team of elite commuters allows us to cast our net a bit wider into the top levels of cyclesport,” she added. “Cyclismas is an ideal partner for this venture as their visionary outlook on life allows us to look beyond the sensible. This team is no joke.”
Cyclismas Editor in Chief Lesli Cohen echoed the sentiments of Trek’s Garrison. “As media titans poised at the pinnacle of influence, what better way to extend our outreach into the farthest corners of cycling than to partner with bike behemoth Trek? And the project was tailor-made for our input. Everyone at Cyclismas likes to ride a bike, talk about themselves, and pretend to work, so TCPCT is a marriage made in heaven for us. The talented team of Ripp Finklemann and Jonny Gunn are sure to lend their patented brand of hijinks to the chronicling of the commute team’s exploits. We’re delighted to help showcase the team as they live the dream, one stoplight at a time.”
Part of the Trek-Cyclismas Pro Commuter Team’s vision is to encourage more people to take up cycling, both recreationally, and as a form of transport. Trek and Cyclismas have established a website and social media feeds that team riders will use to share stories and advice, discuss equipment and provide commentary following commuting events. The team will aim to shift their focus from doing any work to enhancing the journey to and from work and it is hoped that employers will respond by allowing them do be more idle at the office.
“Ultimately, the goal of any team sponsorship that Trek enters into is designed to create a source of inspiration for people who might want to start riding bikes,” said Garrison. “We want the website, videos, and stories from the team riders to provide a resource to people who have said to themselves ‘I want to ride to work, how do I start?’. Who better to provide that information than a team of pro commuters who have already started at the bottom and reached the pinnacle of global ‘getting to work by bike’?”
The TCPCT website (procommuter.cc) will host information for those wanting to start commuting to work by bike, team bios, team blogs, and upcoming videos throughout the commuting season, which begins on January 1st, and runs through December 31st every year.
Trek-Cyclismas Professional Commuter Team members:
Adele Mitchell @adelemitchell
Georgie Wood @georgiewoodwood
Kerry Enzor @kerrypops
Ed Enzor @morebrokenarms
Rob Hunter @divingrob
Ed Oxley @greatrock
Follow the team on Twitter: @procommuteteam and track the action with #TCPCT
Trek Bicycle is a global leader in the design and manufacture of bicycles and related products. Trek believes the bicycle can be a simple solution to many of the world’s most complex problems, and is committed to breaking down the barriers that prevent people from using bicycles more often for transportation, recreation, and inspiration.
Cyclismas is an alternative to traditional cycling reportage; we challenge conventional cycling wisdom with a wide variety of voices, using a variety of media – all with integrity, but not without humor. Our unique brand of information shines a light on both the positives and the negatives of cycling; our creativity takes the form of the written word (reportage, satire, “Onion-style” news stories, first-person accounts/bloggage, reviews, interviews, and opinion/editorial pieces), photographs, cartoons, and videos, in addition to our acclaimed Internet news show, CCNN-TV. Our goal is to spark a conversation and provoke a dialogue on what we present – both on the website and on Twitter. Our contributors include top journalists in Europe, North America, and Australia, as well as talented writers whose work has appeared in Velonation, VeloNews, CyclingNews, Carolina Cycling News, The Examiner, The Irish Times, Bicycling Magazine, and SBS Cycling Central, among other noteworthy publications and media outlets. We are also fortunate to have active racing professionals – from both the men’s and women’s pelotons – contributing blogs, race reports, and journal entries of their experiences and life on and off the bike. Their unique perspectives lend an added dimension to the Cyclismas menu of offerings
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