{"id":47889,"date":"2025-05-21T16:23:25","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T15:23:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/?p=47889"},"modified":"2025-05-22T10:18:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T09:18:11","slug":"get-to-know-merlins-staff-paul-and-his-ridley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/get-to-know-merlins-staff-paul-and-his-ridley\/","title":{"rendered":"Get to Know Merlin&#8217;s Staff &#8211; Paul and his Ridley"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/3-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-47894 lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/3-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/3-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/3.jpg 1200w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1200px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1200\/800;\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Paul is our general manager here at Merlin as well as a member of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/introducing-the-merlin-cycles-rivington-brewing-co-racing-team\/\">The Merlin Cycles Rivington Brewing Co. Racing Team<\/a>. At the weekend, his result from the <a href=\"https:\/\/ucigravelworldseries.com\/en\/\">UCI Gravel World Series<\/a> round at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grallochgravel.com\/\">The Gralloch<\/a>, Scotland put him into a qualifying position ready for the <a href=\"https:\/\/ucigravel2025.com\/\">world championships<\/a> in the Netherlands this October.  But what&#8217;s really behind his love for riding? We sat down with him to find out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-got-you-into-riding\">What got you into riding?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-47895 lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5.jpg 1200w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1024px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1024\/683;\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I was drawn to the freedom cycling gave me \u2014 the ability to just head out and explore. My dad also had an old race bike hanging in the garage that I used to admire. I wasn\u2019t big enough to ride it at the time, but it definitely sparked something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-favourite-bike-you-ve-had\">Favourite bike you&#8217;ve had?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Definitely my first proper racing bike. I remember every detail: it was a blue Reynolds 531c frame, full Campagnolo Mirage groupset, and Mavic CXP33 rims. I absolutely loved that bike \u2014 I rode thousands of miles on it and it really cemented my passion for the sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-dream-place-to-ride\">Dream place to ride?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1-1-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-47896 lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1-1.jpg 1200w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1024px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1024\/683;\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Belgium, without a doubt. The short, punchy climbs suit my riding style perfectly, and the post-ride beer options aren\u2019t bad either!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-is-the-toughest-ride-you-ve-been-on\">What is the toughest ride you&#8217;ve been on?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2-1-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-47897 lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2-1.jpg 1200w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1024px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1024\/683;\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>That would be the UCI Gravel Race in Turnhout earlier this year. I went in slightly underprepared, thinking the flat terrain would make it easier \u2014 I couldn\u2019t have been more wrong. It turned out to be brutally hard but a great experience all the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-your-biggest-achievement-on-the-bike\">Your biggest achievement on the bike?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/4-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-47898 lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/4-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/4-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/4.jpg 1200w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1024px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1024\/683;\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>One of my proudest moments was placing third in the North West Junior Road Race Championships over 20 years ago. I shared the podium with none other than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/markcavendish\/\">Mark Cavendish<\/a> and future WorldTour rider <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/mattbrammeier85\/\">Matt Brammeier<\/a> \u2014 a pretty special memory!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To find out more about our staff riders here at Merlin, follow our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/\">&#8216;Get to Know Merlin&#8217;s Staff&#8217; blog series<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paul is our general manager here at Merlin as well as a member of The Merlin Cycles Rivington Brewing Co. Racing Team. At the weekend, his result from the UCI Gravel World Series round at The Gralloch, Scotland put him into a qualifying position ready for the world championships in the Netherlands this October. But [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[4675],"class_list":["post-47889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","author-lucas-smith"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Get to Know Merlin&#039;s Staff - Paul and his Ridley - Merlin Cycles Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Paul is our general manager at Merlin and part of The Merlin Cycles Rivington Brewing Co. 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