Archived from the Club Blog & first published here October 6, 2014.

Alex Kew has been a member of the Phoenix for four years and is the current Time Trial Secretary

What’s your bike ownership history or what do you currently ride?

The usual back catalogue of a Raleigh Grifter in the dim and distant past with my first road bike being a Clements Reynolds 531 tubed bike. My current bikes are a Van Nicholas Euros which I have used for training, sportives time trialling and commuting. This year I took the plunge and have bought myself an Argon E-80 tt bike, which has helped me knock a few seconds off my PBs.

How did you start cycling?

I’ve always cycled or done some triathlons of some sort but in the last few years I have found it harder and harder to stay injury free when running, so cycling has become a more important way for me to keep fit and keep the belly at bay.

What made you join Kingston Phoenix?

I wanted to improve the cycle leg when I was competing in triathlons. I always seemed to be going backwards when compared to other competitors and I decided that I wanted to do some time trialling to improve my bike speed and I saw that the Phoenix did their evening 10 time trials. I came along to my first one in 2010 and have not looked back since.

What has been your most memorable cycling experience?

This year I competed in the Alpe d’ Huez short course triathlon which took in the 21 hairpins of the mountain climb. It was a fantastic day and I couldn’t stop grinning the whole way up. It helped that my swim leg was so bad that I was able to overtake a lot of other riders on the ascent. The run at the top of the mountain was a different story altogether but it was still a day I will never forget. In a completely different vein I supported some of our riders in the National 24 hour Time Trial and it was a complete hoot. I spent most of the time eating while watching my club mates suffering on their bikes. It was a great 12 hours.

What has been your worst cycling experience?

I have the usual stories of being caught in biblical weather or getting my nutrition wrong and suffering the consequences. A couple of years ago, Simon T convinced me to take part in the Pearson Sportive, a 100 mile ride out to Brighton and back, when my longest ride in the preceding 3 months had been a 10 mile commute. I spent the entire ride slumped over the bars trying to hang onto Simon’s wheel, trying to convince myself that it was all ‘miles in the bank’. I had a similar experience this year when I took part in the SCCU Sporting 21 and I got up late so didn’t have a proper breakfast, but I decided to bulk the morning out by cycling to the start and back to make a 60 mile ride. By half way through the tt I knew it was going to end badly. This time it was Brain’s wheel that I was trying to hang onto as we cycled home. How I was able to cycle so slowly and still stay upright is beyond me. I’m pleased to say that the vast majority of my cycling experiences have been good ones.

What cycling/sporting achievement are you most proud of?

Winning the Pete Mitchell Trophy last year for the Hill Climb Championship was a real honour. Racing the Forestman Triathlon in 2011 was a great experience and I was really pleased with my cycling fitness at that time. I felt pretty bombproof and was the lightest and fittest that I had been in 20 years. This season has been a good one for me with personal bests at 10 and 25 miles and over a Half Ironman distance at triathlon. I seem to be getting faster as I get older, which is nice! So if I can keep that going for a few more years then I’ll be pleased with that.

What are your plans for the rest of this season or next season?

I really want to go sub 60 for 25 miles next year. It’s such a bench mark for a cyclist and it’s a badge of honour I want. My current PB is 1:0:56 which I achieved this year on fairly patchy training, so with a solid winter under my belt I hope that I should be able to take a fair chunk off of that and get that sub 60. I suppose I should do my first 100tt and 12 hour next year. We’ll see. Other than that, I just want to keep enjoying it by getting out regularly with my friends and enjoying the sport.

Do you have any particular cycling or sporting heroes?

I suppose Chris Boardman was the first cyclist who I took real notice of, when he won the individual pursuit gold medal at the Barcelona Olympics. I remember going up to Lilywhites in London to see his Lotus bike which was such a modern piece of engineering at that time. Nowadays, the people I most admire are those people like Ron, Doreen and Brian Powney, Lisa, Frank, Ray Dare, Ann Bath and many others who have done some amazing things in this sport and also given so much to the club over the years. I am very proud to be a small part of that and to know these riders.

Sum yourself up in three words.

Usually off course.