#richard pascoe

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Richard Pascoe - Founder of One and All Cyling - Rolya Zine Production

Richard Pascoe - Founder of One and All Cycling from Joel Hewitt on Vimeo.

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One and All Cycling’s race group receive a briefing from Richard Pascoe before training begins. Perranporth Aerodrome. May 16, 2013.

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Ricci - Words by Samuel Moore, photography by Joel Hewitt

Richard Pascoe is known to friends and customers as Ricci, a nickname which harks back to his time in the European racing circuit. He is the founder of One & All Cycling, a cycling club which, at only five years of age is by no means garnished in – or perhaps burdened by – heritage, but which models itself on the simple Cornish motto of inclusivity.

“It was a desire to set up an organisation that maybe had a different approach to cycling. When I started it, it was just me and one other guy in a car park on a Sunday morning, and then three or four Sundays later it was four people. Then they all gathered their crew and all of a sudden it’s ten, fifteen, and before you know it it’s the size and the influence that it is now.”

Indeed that size and influence encompasses hundreds of adult members who regularly embark on weekly Sunday rides from the Bike Chain’s sister establishment, Bike Chain Bissoe Bike Hire and Café a few miles out of Redruth, as well as competition sportives, criteriums, time trials, and BMX and MTB events. Not only that, but One & All Cycling also boasts one of the country’s only self-funded cycling academies for under-18s.

“About a year ago, with my wife Liz Heart and cycling coach Fiona Telfer-Brunton, we set up the Academy, which has now got 120 under-18 members in it. That’s unique because it has coaching and education; it gives every young person under 18 access to different forms of cycling – road cycling, mountain biking, BMX – and from that they’ve got pathways in to developing groups; we’ve got one for Olympic development platforms now, which is very rare for youth cycling. We’ve also got some girls that rode the World BMX Championships last year.”

But it is not all about the competition, and, as the club’s namesake would suggest, anyone wanting to join in would be unbelievably welcome:

“We’ve got a starter group, which is basically just taking people out very leisurely – half an hour to an hour – giving them the basic skills of group riding, so that’s the fun group. We’ve got a fitness group and then we’ve got Group 1, Group 2, Group 3, Group 4 and then a Race Group, so you can pick a group according to ability as well as the distance and average speed you want to go out at. So just come along really.”

Family History

Although One & All Cycling is a young organisation, its majority founder’s bloodline is steeped in two-wheeled history. As Ricci leans back in his chair, absorbing the clamour of co-workers serving customers, answering phone calls and wheeling bikes in and out of the workshop, he speaks of his father, Len Pascoe, who last year received a Lifetime Achievement Award from British Cycling.  

“My father was an amateur cyclist who as a teacher really wanted to help develop people. He helped professional riders, notably riders with the great TI Raleigh Team – they were the Sky of their day – and my father helped coach and mentor Brian Jolly, who was the British professional champion. He [Len] was probably one of the first to work on weight training for cyclists and mineral drinks and that type of thing, so he had a deep knowledge and passion in cycling.”

Being surrounded by such passion as a child, it was only a matter of time before an 8-year-old Ricci was spinning a “cute Holdsworth bicycle”. Fast-forward twelve years and Ricci had reached First Category status as a rider; however, despite competing in numerous top races across Britain and Europe, the dream of donning the rainbow jersey or the maillot jaune never came to fruition:

“I look upon my racing as categorised by failure all the way through. When you’ve got some of the world’s best that could just ride away from you – and it didn’t matter how good you were going, how much training you were doing or how fast you felt you were going – you realised that these guys were literally just cruising when you were flat-out. It’s kind of a harsh reality really. I probably stopped racing at too young an age and at a very serious level.”

But where would cycling be today if it were not for the passion and conviction of its devotees? Ricci strived to make a career of it, establishing a mail-order business in the 1970s, designing a range of cycle clothing under the guise of ‘Ricci’, and exporting across Britain and Europe. 

“I packed in trying to carry on racing in this country when I realised I couldn’t, for example, travel to Scotland to race one weekend and carry on with business. The business was always based here because I lived with my parents in Redruth; we bought this premisis in 1985 and gradually shifted from a mail-order base to a retail base.” Bike Chain Ricci was born.

28 years later, and having established One & All Cycling as the fastest-growing cycling club in the South West, future plans rest on both the expansion of the club itself and investment in cycling across Cornwall and the South West. 

“I always say to people ‘it’s your organisation’. You’ve come along and joined, I’ve got no right to it. You know it’s about what we’re saying to people; telling a story is very important, and it’s that story that inspires people. That’s why we need people to come along and be part of the process and see what they can give. I call it a ‘sausage machine’, that’s one of my favourite mantras at One & All. We all join at the bottom end – you may turn up one day in flip-flops and cut-off jeans – then usually by the end of the year you’re in lycra and clip-in shoes. We’re all part of this process.” Investment

On February 28, 2013 Torbay City Council debated and voted on a proposal to form a partnership with British Cycling and build a 1.5km closed race circuit and 400-metre outdoor velodrome. The results of the debate have not yet been revealed, but if approved it would be the biggest investment in cycling the South West has ever seen. Investment is the only way cycling will develop in the region - it would not only raise the profile of cycling in general, but also bolster much-needed economic growth throughout the county. When asked whether Cornwall’s ‘awkward’ geographic location and relatively sparse population mitigates interest from Government-backed schemes, Ricci resolutely discredits such thoughts: 

“Obviously we are surrounded by water with only one direction to go, and population may limit opportunity, but that’s a very traditionalist viewpoint. What we should be saying is ‘look, this is how great the region is and this is what we can do’. We have some great terrain and what I like about, say, the Welsh and Irish tourist boards are that they’ve made the best of their resources. Now we could do that in Cornwall. We could be a showcase for all to see; we’ve got the best of the weather in the UK and sometimes we don’t always necessarily put forward what we’re good at. 

“A Centre of Excellence is something we could do. Sailing has got it in Weymouth – Ben Ainsley obviously being a Falmouth boy – and Wendy Houvenaghel, an ex-World Champion and Olympic cyclist, in Bodmin, so we do produce strong athletes down here. Here at One & All we have some world-class patrons like Taylor Phinney;  we also have UK domestic pros like Steve Lampier, Chris Opie and Yanto Barker on board who give us some cream for making the world look at us.” Moving forward

Ricci’s ire for developing young cyclists – for cycling in general – is astoundingly affective, and he is a man in popular demand. Indeed, on the morning of this interview he received a phone call from the local radio wanting to run a feature about his exploits. Despite the media attention, however, Ricci is just Ricci, and developing the Academy for the next generation of riders is his highest and most fervent priority – there are even some pre-emptive blueprints for going national:

 “Yanto Barker really likes the model that we’ve got and he’s talked about rolling the idea in to five or six clubs over the whole of the UK” – a lop-sided grin appears – “so whilst it’s kind of a tongue-in-cheek thought for now, it probably has more legs than most possibly realise. We would definitely like to develop the academy. We’d like to have an under-23 team in the next four to five years which should lead on to some bigger things.”

These are ambitious plans for any grassroots club, let alone one that is based in one of the least-populated regions of England. When told as much that gritty demeanour of a cyclist expels itself in a full tour de force:  

“We’ll do it. We’ll drive it. I’d put the team meetings together, we’ll get some good people in the room and we might start looking at grant funding, but we shouldn’t just live on hand-outs, you know. We’ve got to make ourselves self-sufficient, we’ve got to work with sponsors, and we’ve got to take a bit of subs or something like that. ”  

Whatever the future may hold, one thing is for certain: One & All Cycling is the new breed of cycle clubs, grasping that oft-repeated strap-line of Inspire a Generation from the 2012 Olympics and moulding it in to something tangible. Ultimately, it is building on something which is less of a ‘club’ in the most traditional sense – there is no pretence or exclusivity here – but which is a collection of passionately like-minded people who simply want to bring cycling to all.

“What makes One & All so unique is the people within it, so long as we keep the grass-roots going. That’s got to be the future of any sport that any club in the UK should replicate – life is about putting something on the table rather than taking something off it.”

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An old photograph of Richard ‘Ricci’ Pascoe, founder of One & All Cycling, during his racing career. Bissoe, Cornwall. 9 May, 2013.

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Richard Pascoe, founder of One and All Cycling. Perranporth, Cornwall. May 16, 2013.

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Richard Pascoe, founder of One & All Cycling, talks about strategy and how the club can move forward as a racing organisation and as a business. Bissoe, Cornwall. 9 May, 2013.