Young racer Lewis Askey is the reigning 2015 British National U14 champion on the road, on the boards of the velodrome, on a mountain bike and through the mud and ruts of cyclo cross.
Since 2014 Lewis and younger brother Ben have been winning with Spin. These boys don’t take prisoners, so I built them a selection of tough as nails, super fast race wheels, for both disc and conventional brakes. Their dad Paul has a particularly accurate weighing scale in his bike shed, upon which every piece of his boys’ race equipment gets assessed. Durable, dependable and quick simply wasn’t enough! These wheels also had to be super light.
Every weekend, from early January through to late December, you’ll find the Askey Boys up bright and early and ready to race. You’ll see them slotting in their Spin Industries wheels, then heading out on course to smash the competition.
At the recent Stratford CC round of the West Midlands League Cyclo Cross series I had a great time hanging out with the members of Team Askey, from Nan & Granddad Margaret and Bill, to Mum & Dad Michelle & Paul. Ben won the U12 race finishing solo, well over a minute ahead of the field.
And in the U16 race, Lewis and fellow Lichfield rider Toby Barnes pulled away from a class field right from the gun, and continued their head to head battle until the very last hairpin, where sadly the crowd was cheated of a sprint finish when Lewis slipped his chain. Barely slowing down, Lewis managed to get it back on at the exit of the hairpin, only to sprint flat out onto the last set of double rollers and crash, hitting the ground heavily enough to split his skid lid in two.
In his typical never-say-die display of grit and determination, Lewis quickly bounced back up off the deck, slung his bike over his shoulder and sprinted the last few hundred metres to the finish line on foot – still far enough ahead of the rest of the field to take a well deserved second place.
A few minutes after the race, a most humble and modest Lewis reflected on his stellar year in the sport which you can watch in the short video above, which includes some sublime footage of the race action in full Spin On These Hi Def Slow Mo
Thanks to all the members of Team Askey for their unflinching support and dedication to their sons’ cycle sport, and to Lewis and Ben for putting their trust in our race wheels. As they say, Spin On These and Win On These. (OK, that may have been me who said that…)
And thanks to you for watching!