Guest article: The Isle of Wight is a World-Class Cycling Destination

Written by Joe Staunton

As an Islander, LeBlanq proved what I already knew: The Isle of Wight is a World-Class Cycling Destination

I didn't move back to the Island for the cycling - at least not at first.

I moved back to my hometown of the Isle of Wight in March 2020, intending it to be temporary.

Lockdown hit. My wife and I got stuck.

But we chose to stay.

For years, I've been telling anyone who'll listen that I think the Isle of Wight is one of the best cycling destinations in the world.

And, at the LeBlanq Joyride festival proved why.

But more than that: it's not just a great place to ride a bike.

It's the perfect host to 'Joyride' - to blend what LeBlanq does brilliantly: music, food, friendly people and quality riding all in one weekend.

It worked because the weekend beautifully mirrored the Island's unique heritage and DNA.

The Island

Contrary to some belief, the Isle of Wight actually has quite a lot of road! 700 miles of it that you can ride on (with tonnes more off road).

There are rollers, flat stretches, solid climbs and quite a few short, steep, sharp sections that often catch you off guard.

The LeBlanq routes over the course of the weekend took in some of the best ones and did a cracking job of weaving together some of the island's hidden gems.

Bank Road climb is a personal favourite of mine. It rises up from the absolutely stunning Ventnor seafront, which on Saturday treated us to pan flat glistening blue vistas and then finished with a picturesque quaint British tea party-style coffee stop at the Ventnor Royal Hotel - a hotel Charles Dickens stayed at and wrote some of Oliver Twist.

This stop was a detail that as a local, I really enjoyed.

The Military Road is a 17km stretch of beautiful smooth tarmac that runs from the southernmost tip to the westerly coast. You get chalk-lined views and crystal blue seas on your left as you're motoring along and it became the venue for the Sean Yates TT segment - 8.8km for 1988, the year Sean wore the yellow jersey (more on this later…).

The Needles Battery switchbacks are the islands ‘alpine’ climb. Locals rumour that the Battery Site was the testing facility for the nuclear programme in World War II, I have no idea if it's true, but it's the kind of story that gives a climb character and I enjoyed recounting this to my group.

At the top you are rewarded with incredible 360-degree panoramic view across the island, over Tennyson Down, across to Swanage and Lymington on the mainland. It's one of the best viewpoints on the island, and it's a great climb to get up there.

The Island is also famous for its weather. We have more sunlight hours than anywhere else in the UK, which is why we grow produce that other parts of the country struggle with - tomatoes being the prime example! We were gifted with some of that incredible weather over the course of the weekend.

Joyriding with Isle of Wight DNA

LeBlanq didn't just route us through the island's geography. It fused together the best parts of the Islands DNA, which is one of the main reasons I believe it was such a great success.

One of these bits of DNA is music and on Friday night, I found myself dancing to ‘Annabelle Stop It’ alongside Denise Lewis (Gold Medal Olympian) whilst receiving a dancing lesson from Allison Jackson (Paris-Roubaix winner and Canadian national champion) focussed on how to dance to ‘Crank It’ by Soulja Boy. This was my first schooling of the weekend from Allison (stay tuned for lesson two)…

Dancing is not normally my forte but even the most left footed of us were drawn to the dancefloor that night.

These kinds of moments at a LeBlanq event aren’t scripted, they are just the kind of things I learnt that happen when you chuck a load of similarly minded people in a pot together, whether elite athletes, weekend warriors or wellness enthusiasts.

On Saturday night, we were treated to a Michelin-starred tomato garlic champagne that Michelin starred chef Steve Drake had developed for us. If I’m being honest, I usually don't like champagne at all, but after giving IOW tomatoes the big one over the course of the weekend (in my tour guiding capacity), I thought I had to try. And wow - what an improvement! I’ll be squeezing tomatoes and garlic into my next glass of celebratory champagne with a story to tell.

At one point, I found myself sandwiched between two gold medal Olympians in Dani Rowe and Greg Van Avermaet in a SlowMo Sauna. The SlowMo wellness area was run by local DJ Rob DaBank and his wife Josie, and for me and a lot of others this was a real addition to the weekend. ‘A quick sauna’ every single time turned into plus two hours of Sauna and cold plunging with lots of chat in the hot tub post ride.

The TT Segment…

We rolled out on Sunday and Chris Lilywhite (former Milk Race winner) of the Black group said he would like to give the TT segment another go… We had a strong group and after a fair bit of tussling along the flats of the Military Road, Allison Jackson decided to up the ante and attack on the final climb.

I saw my only opportunity to most likely ever compete for a (what felt like a, somewhat competitive!) finish with a Paris-Roubaix winner and went after her…

I was rewarded with an incredible leadout for the line, but was completely and thoroughly put away by Allison and her incredible sprint endurance and taught my second lesson of the weekend - don’t delude yourself that you could beat a Paris Roubaix winner!

I was absolutely chuffed though! Really not something that happens on your home roads every day.

What really topped this off was that we were able to laugh and chat about it on the beautiful descent back down to Freshwater Bay after because of the super friendly environment the weekend created.

A Beautiful Fusion

The Isle of Wight's festival heritage runs deep. In 1970, Jimi Hendrix played the Isle of Wight Festival - a five-day event that drew 650,000 people, more than triple the entire population of the island at the time.

The festival announced the island to the world as a place where something special could happen.

LeBlanq did the same thing, but for cycling. A beautiful event, expertly executed.

As a local, it was the delicate fusion of values of Joyriding and the Isle of Wight which made it such a success.

The roads. The music heritage. The local produce. The sunshine. The local wellness businesses. The friendly people. The Olympians and the locals, riding together on roads that offer everything from flat speed to switchback climbs to panoramic views that draw you to stop mid-effort just to look.

I came back to the Isle of Wight during a lockdown and ended up staying because the cycling was beautiful and the outdoor life was possible.

LeBlanq has proved that this island isn't just a place where you can have a good ride.

It's a place where world-class cycling events can also belong.

The island didn’t need LeBlanq to prove it.

But LeBlanq is proving it to everyone else. Chapeau!