It's not about the Bike ~ Oh yes it is!!!!!!!!!

How can you assess the success of the Great Britain team at the World Cycling Championship? What do you put it down to?

• Outstanding athletes......and they are


• Skills of our team members......honed over many years of competition


• Fitness levels.......at the very best


• A great backroom staff......experts in every field


• The expertise of the psychologist.........to tune the mind to the idea of success


• Leadership

Whilst all the above are true and part of the success story, I put it down to..............

"THE BIKE"........

.....Each bike has taken years of preparation and given all the R&D is probably costing £100,000 to produce. Yep each bike ~ £100K ~and the team needs loads of them. So let's not forget the sophistication of the technology of the bike when assessing the success of the current team.

And who pays for this? You & me ~ so we play our part too.

What an outstanding World championships these have been.

Well done everyone and let us the taxpayers give ourselves a pat on the back as well!

Victoria, Victorious ~ Red White & Blue truimph at World Championships

Victoria is Victorious

Red White & Blue Rainbows over Manchester

Golden day for Great Britain at the world championships

Victoria Pendleton, Chris Hoy, Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish helped take Great Britain's gold medal haul to nine

Staff and agencies
Saturday March 29, 2008
guardian.co.uk

While others fall, GB Team goes on to nine golds and two silvers..................Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton, Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish helped take Great Britain's gold medal haul to nine on another triumphant day for the host nation at the world cycling championships in Manchester
Pendleton clinched her second gold medal when beating Simona Krupeckaite 2-0 in the best-of-three sprint final, while Wiggins and Cavendish succeeded in the Madison taking Great Britain past their total of seven golds from last year's worlds.
Pendleton's success followed Chris Hoy's record-breaking ride in the men's sprint on Friday evening, in which the Scot became the first cyclist to take world titles in four different disciplines.
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Wiggins's triumph in the Madison, meanwhile, in partnership with the Isle of Man's Mark Cavendish, earned the Londoner a personal hat-trick of rainbow jerseys. Cavendish recaptured the title he won back in 2005.

The day was completed by Chris Hoy's victory in the keirin. Hoy, the first British men's sprint world champion since 1954, was in control throughout the race, easing to the front as the keirin bike swerved off-track. He led the subsequent laps, increasing the pace steadily, and none of the other riders had the power to go past him.