It was an honour and a pleasure to be interviewed by Sarah Connolly this morning. An honour because Sarah is pretty much the last word on all things to do with women's competitive cycling, and being recognised by her means we've already made it. A pleasure because she's fab to talk to, and seems almost as excited about the newborn Syndicate as we ourselves are.
It also felt particularly appropriate for us to be ushered further into the limelight by someone who has, almost singlehandedly, and with years of hard work, created a passionate and dedicated following for women's cycling where none existed before. We met Sarah when we were down in Bristol for Bespoked a couple of weeks ago, and listened rapt as she told us how she'd realised only very belatedly that women's professional racing even existed. Rather than launch a campaign of public moaning in the hope that someone would eventually change this, she told us, she decided to take matters into her own hands, trawling through the entrails of the internet to find whatever information and coverage she could on women's racing. She's now an acknowledged expert, and if you want to know anything - or everything - about women's bike racing, her website is the very best place to go.
And this (as you'll learn from listening to the podcast) is one of the many many reasons we've set up The Adventure Syndicate. There's a lot we don't like in the world of cycling (be it competitive or adventurous), and we're fed up with listening to ourselves complaining about it. Why not instead, we asked ourselves, take a leaf out of Sarah's book, pick up the reins ourselves, and become the change we wish to see in the world? And as soon as we started telling people about it, and watched their faces light up as they clamoured to get on board, we realised the change was already underway.