Training consultancy and energy bar manufacturer Torq has been running Team Torq Bar for a while now, but for 2006 it’s hitting the big team time with the launch of Team Torq/Kona. The new team counts eleven riders amongst its number (so if the bike riding thing doesn’t come off, it could always have a go at football) – Marcos Schier (Elite Male), Simon Burgess (Elite Male), Nick Collins (Elite Male),
Scott O’Neill (Elite Male), Steve Shaw (Expert Male), Mark Russell (Expert Male), Anthony Roland (Expert Male), Jay Spetch (Junior Male),
Lydia Gould (Vets Female), Ian Barrington and James Lister (24-hour soloists and general enduro hardcore types).

The team has secured an impressive array of sponsors – bikes from Kona, tyres and tubes from Bontrager, grips from Ergon, seatposts and bottle cages from USE, lube from Purple Extreme, lights from Exposure, helmets from Trek, shoes from Nike and bike cleaning gizmos from Dirt Worker. Team Torq Bar continues alongside the new squad – Torq Bar riders are fuelled and coached by Torq but ride whatever they’ve already got.

The Torq riders will be basing themselves in the new Torq RV, a generously-proportioned black-and-orange model powered by slightly-more-environmentally-sound-than-petrol LPG. Hopefully team boss Matt Hart has got all the LPG filling stations in the country plotted on a big map – we’ve driven RVs around the place before, and the concept of “probably making it to the next garage” isn’t really a relevant one…