PRO BIKE TOOL RACES TO THE PODIUM WITH OUR TWO YOUNGEST STARS!

Team members Tom and Isla take a win and third-place in the Beacon Wheelers time trial to show that PRO BIKE TOOL doesn’t just ‘know’ bikes – PRO BIKE TOOL knows how to ride them fast.

Work together, live together, win together!

Tom Roper and Isla Rush are two of our newest team members, and the 22-year-old couple hit the big time in their first races of the season at the end of last month.

Tom cranked out a dominant win in the men’s Beacon Wheelers 10 mile TT with a time of 20:03 – a mark that was well over 30 seconds faster than the second-place finisher. Isla placed third in the women’s race and set a new power PB in the process!

Although Tom banked a powerful victory, he didn’t have any idea he’d hit the podium until some time later.

“Honestly, I was a bit gutted immediately after the race,” Tom said. “My powermeter was calibrated wrongly, so I thought my power was really down and I’d done poorly. Isla could tell from my body language I wasn’t happy. But I gave it my all and I could be happy with that. It was only on the drive home my mum rung me having seen the live results and told me I’d won, I couldn’t believe it!”

Isla scored her bronze medal thanks to a perfectly prepared pacing plan.

“It was a really hard race to judge, as it was slightly downhill on the way out along with tailwind, so gauging the effort was tricky,” she said. “I knew I had to save something for the way back into the grim headwind! I stuck to my pacing plan but got worried I was going to get held up by a lorry ahead of me – but luckily it sped up and so I could keep my speed!”

For both Tom and Isla, such a strong start to the season has swelled them with confidence for the season to come.

Isla has already backed-up her third-place in the Beacon Wheelers TT with a seventh-place in the Salt Ayre road race in what was her first circuit race in many years. Isla, our Account Manager, also has grand designs on cracking the 23-minute benchmark in her 10-mile TT.

Tom similarly has his eye on beating the 20-minute time that is so respected in the time trial scene. But our Customer Service Manager has a lot more planned than ‘just’ that.

“That win has given me the belief that I’m stronger than I think,” he said. “My goal was to go sub-20 but that’s too easy! I now want to focus on going sub-19 and getting an 18min TT.”

Tom and Isla celebrated in as much style as is possible in a locked-down Penrith, with a blowout restaurant tapas takeaway and one too many cocktails and mocktails for good measure.

But now it’s back to the hard work for Tom and Isla. Tom has big ambitions to match his time trial prowess in the road racing scene and has a busy race schedule ahead. Isla also has a summer of criterium racing planned after her third-place and seventh-places in quick succession.

With the sun getting warmer and PRO BIKE TOOL’s encouraging environment and flexible approach to working hours, Tom and Isla have the time to put in the miles and build their form through the summer. All with some PRO BIKE TOOL equipment in their pockets of course!

Anything is possible for our two budding superstars. So remember the names Tom Roper and Isla Rush – you saw them here first!