Brother UK Cycling Podcast

Road cycling podcast focused on the UK domestic scene hosted by Timothy John and Phil Jones. Featuring interviews with team managers, riders and stakeholders in the sport.

Welcome to the first episode of the new Brother UK Cycling podcast. Co-hosts Timothy John and Phil Jones, the Managing Director of Brother UK, talk to Dean Downing, a legend of the British road scene. Dean is the former British circuit race and madison champion and is now among the sport’s most sought-after coaches. In part one, Dean talks about the early phases of his career. He begins by describing a happy childhood spent in the Yorkshire mining village of Thurcroft, where he and his brother Russell were taught how to race by their father, Ken Downing. Dean then discusses moving to London to pursue a career in construction management and later to Belgium to begin racing full-time. He describes winning the British madison title with Russell and representing Great Britain in the same event at rounds of the 2003/04 UCI Track World Cup and the 2004 World Championships. He describes forming lifelong friendships through cycling from Australia to Flanders and reveals how he discovered training with power data late in his career. Dean explains how this revelation now helps him to coach the new generation of British professionals. Dean, Phil and Tim are joined by Larry Hickmott, founder and editor of VeloUK.net and unofficially the hardest working man in UK cycling. Larry shares his memories of Dean’s career and offers insights from his hard-earned position at the heart of the domestic sport.   Please note, this episode was recorded before UK Government measures to enforce social distancing. Brother UK strongly endorses the government’s advice and urges listeners to this podcast to #stayhomesavelives.

Episode two of the Brother UK Cycling Podcast continues a fascinating conversation with Dean Downing, the former British Circuit Race Champion and British Madison Champion and now a sought-after coach.  Dean shares more stories from his riding career, including his most cherished victory, and offers his thoughts on the challenges faced by the domestic road scene: the structural and financial issues that have caused long-term instability, distinct from the recent slew of race cancellations caused by the coronavirus pandemic.  He describes the influence of former team manager John Herety on his development as a rider and later as a sports director. He reveals the mental challenge of recovering from a hit-and-run accident at the very start of his second career as a coach, manager and brand ambassador.  Co-hosts Timothy John and Phil Jones, the Managing Director of Brother UK, are joined by Larry Hickmott, the founder and editor of VeloUK.net, for this fascinating conversation with one of the most successful domestic riders of the last fifteen years.  Please note, this episode was recorded before UK Government measures to enforce social distancing. Brother UK strongly endorses the government’s advice and urges listeners to this podcast to #stayhomesavelives.

The UK's elite road race scene is built on talent, dedication and enormous reserves of goodwill. In the third episode of the new Brother UK Cycling Podcast co-hosts Timothy John and Phil Jones talk to three people with first-hand experience of the value of family and community support.     Team Brother UK-OnForm's manager Simon Howes and his partner Michelle Jenner join us to describe long weekends (at bike races), sun-soaked getaways (at training camps), and the delicate art of preparing a casserole amid an enormous kit delivery.   Welsh hill climb champion Rebecca Richardson, a Brother UK-sponsored athlete and member of Team Brother UK-OnForm, is a single parent, business owner and elite rider. She talks frankly about an athlete's need for positive voices and the value of logistical and emotional support from her parents and the cycling community, as well as financial support from Brother UK.   Plus, Phil and Simon lift the lid on the reincarnation of the Brother UK-Tifosi women's team as CAMS-Tifosi - a privileged insight into the mechanics of sponsorship from Brother UK's Managing Director and the General Manager of CAMS-Tifosi and Team Brother UK-OnForm.    Please note, this episode was recorded before UK Government measures to enforce social distancing. Brother UK strongly endorses the government's advice and urges listeners to this podcast to #stayhomesavelives.

Hill climbing is arguably the hardest discipline in cycling - an event in which the riders literally race to collapse. It is a brutal and compelling spectacle for the thousands of spectators who line the hill at events like Monsal Head, but the inner battle waged by the competitors is equally demanding. In this fourth episode of the Brother UK Cycling Podcast, co-hosts Timothy John and Phil Jones, the Managing Director of Brother UK, sit down with two of Britain's most successful hill climbers: Adam Kenway (Vitus Pro Cycling Team, p/b Brother UK) and Rebecca Richardson (Team Brother UK-OnForm).  Adam is a former British hill climb champion and twice a winner at Monsal Head - arguably the discipline's most prestigious event. Rebecca is the Welsh hill climb champion, the reigning women's champion at Monsal Head and a podium finisher at last year's British championships.  Equipment, tactics, pacing strategy and the willingness to 'go deep' in pursuit of success, even if it means engaging inner demons, are among the topics covered in this fascinating conversation with two riders who have mastered a discipline that is outwardly simple and inwardly complex.  Please note, this episode was recorded before UK Government measures to enforce social distancing. Brother UK strongly endorses the government's advice and urges listeners to this podcast to #stayhomesavelives.