Top Soloist Rob Lee hangs up RACE wheels!

 

News Posted: 24 Sept 2008

Rob Lee, team manager and 24 hour solo racer on the IronHorse Extreme race team, has announced that the 2008 season was his last as a regular on the 12 and 24 hour race circuit. However, far from leaving the sport Rob, who set a new record for completing the South Downs Double in May this year, has declared that he intends to carve out a new path with the aim of inspiring the next generation of soloists to take up the challenge.

 

Rob Explains his decision and his exciting plans for the future

I'm not motivated simply by winning and never have been. There is a myth that perpetuates amongst certain elements of the UK enduro scene that will tell you that Rob Lee is all about winning. It isn't true. What I've always been motivated by is measuring myself, be that against something I've never done such as riding non stop for a certain duration of time or covering a distance as fast as possible.

 

I've never won a race because I set out to beat the other competitors but rather winning those races has been a by-product of challenging myself to be faster/stronger/better organised than I've ever been before. Basically I like to measure myself and have always worked to my own personal criteria when judging what is success. Winning doesn't automatically signal success in my book, whereas finishing in any position having given it everything you've got certainly does.

As the seasons have passed and I've evolved, both as a racer and an individual, my criteria for success has contained more and more elements that are based upon motivating others. The team I created, my coaching work, skills tuition and partnerships with UK magazines to coach and teach riders have all been a product of this.

 

Riders I've coached and members of my team have been witness to me entering races at less than peak physical condition simply to motivate them by demonstrating the power of the mind and it's importance when racing a solo 24-hour. I've ridden beyond reasonable physical limits and broken myself, and in the process beaten riders who know they could have, and should have won, simply to motivate someone.

Attempting the South Downs Double this season opened my eyes to the possibilities for inspiring others and capturing the collective imagination. More people have told me how that one day of my life inspired them to do something - everything from dusting down that old bike to taking on the biggest challenge of their sporting lives - than anything I've ever done before; racing a bike will never be the same for me with that knowledge inside.

So now I am setting myself a new project that I hope will inspire many more people, in all different ways, to do things with bikes. It will stretch me and push my limits, I will need to call on all the skills that mountain biking, and being outdoors, have given me and learn many new ones just to make this a reality.

My aim is to record a series of 24-hour style challenges similar to the South Downs Double. Seven in total and each one a ride of it's own merit that will push any rider attempting them to perform at their very best. This will be the physical element of a project that I hope to complete over the next two years.

Another big part of the project will be to write a book that will detail many of the aspects of endurance mountain biking, the history of the solo, anything that adds to the colour and flavour of this sport, and weave that story around the seven rides which will stand as a real lasting challenge to anyone who would like to give the whole thing a go for themselves. Races and competitors come and go but the routes and times of these challenges will be recorded for the generations of riders that follow.

As the main aim of the project is to motivate individuals, and invigorate the scene, it will include a website and blog, articles for magazines, video diaries and real time on-line tracking when I attempt each of the challenges myself. Basically I'm going to push this as far as it can go and really try for some great coverage for endurance mountainbiking, both within our own industry and the media as a whole

I can't promise I'll never line-up on a start line again but I can say that racing won't be my main focus for at least the next two years!"

Anyone interested in sponsoring the project can contact Rob: 7xtwentyfour@live.co.uk

For more information: http://sevendeadlyspins.blogspot.com | www.ironhorse-extreme.com