Chat: Pedal Heaven Boss Craig Peter

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Chat with Craig Peter, boss of a team that has really made its presence felt this year on the road, Pedal Heaven Racing Team

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Chat: Pedal Heaven Boss Craig Peter

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The team on the podium after a big victory with Craig Peter on the right joining in the celebration

Anyone following the sport of cycling in Britain in 2016 will have had no choice but to sit up and take notice of the Pedal Heaven racing team. They moved up to UCI in 2016 and with it, they made a big impact on the racing here.

The season has not been without its disappointments like not being given a ride in the Tour of Yorkshire and then not qualifying for a ride in the Tour of Britain. The boss Craig Peter though is working over time to get the funding for the team to run again in 2016 which is great news with so much uncertainty for 2017 and British based UCI teams.

Pedal Heaven Racing Team is named after the store that funds it, a retail outlet with an online presence which in Craig’s words is a ‘busy old store’. Catering for a wide section of cyclists with family bikes to high performance bikes and different types as well from mountain bike to road to BMX and so on.

They are at Pedal Heaven, says Craig, passionate about knowing about what they sell and he explained how if a staff member hasn’t ridden a mountain bike, then he’d want them to do that and same for road bikes etc just so they understand the bikes the shop is selling.

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The team has also been lucky with some of its sponsors too. “We have the likes of Specialized and Conti (Continental) tyres etc and whilst we had offers from others for this season, I’m very loyal to my sponsors who have helped us grow. Specialized have been brilliant so hopefully next year we’ll get the funding to do it properly”.

Craig’s been involved in cycling all his life and at all the races, there he is, helping to set up the team camp along with others from the staff to get it ready for the riders. It’s easy to see that the team matters and that’s all helped to make them successful in 2016.

“This year we have had goals doing the Prems, Tour Series and other races and we definitely hit those goals. We made mistakes on the way but 100% we hit those goals”.

There have been many memorable moments and victories and asked to describe how such a young team has managed that, Craig replies “It’s a family unit and they care and if you have riders who care, when the chips are down, they will ride hard”.

“If you get riders racing for big money, they can ride selfishly and it doesn’t really work but this team has no prima donnas which is why it works. They care about what they are doing and why.”

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Joe Fry can’t believe it, he’s just gone and won a Prem!

Asked for highlights, I tell him for me, the win at Reservoir was certainly a big one. Craig agrees. “Seeing Joe’s face on the finish line was amazing. He showed what a smart lad he is, calculating what he had to do and knowing he’d won before he’d crossed the line which shows he knows what he’s doing”.

“The Tour Series as well seeing Rory (Townsend) getting a jersey and our first team win and then Chepstow and the one two with Harry and Alex in such a good way, they really drilled it. I’d had bad news that week and we had to put it to bed and focus on the racing so I am really chuffed with the riders.”

One of the biggest disappointments has been non selection for the Tour of Britain. “It’s very hard not to have been selected as it was a big goal for me and the team. Ultimately the riders are gutted we were not selected. We rode RideLondon and they were really chuffed at doing that so we just need to pick ourselves up now.”

Coming off the back of not being selected for the Tour of Yorkshire as well makes it especially difficult but Craig adds that he does think they have done well working with such a little budget. The one thing that comes to mind re the British teams not being given the chance, is it reduces a pathway for riders outside of the teams to aim for. There are so few chances for riders to make their mark in major UCI events, that is hard to imagine the disappointment a rider feels after giving it everything all season to try and be part of this massive event.

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1-2 for the team thanks to Harry Tanfield and Alex Paton at Chepstow

“I feel we raced professionally last year and I think that showed in the peloton where teams respected us and gave us room to race.”

Craig added that whilst they have had a set back with one of their sponsors, they are cracking on and trying 100 per cent to come back next year and to be that little better which based on what they did this year will be very good indeed.

Good luck to them this week racing in Belgium and for 2017 …

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