How Scottish cycling development team, run by volunteers, is on the road to victory with Wise Business

In a world where elite sports often demand resources, support, funding, and a lot of carb-loading, a group of dedicated individuals in Scotland, United Kingdom, are rewriting the script. The Cycling Academy is a unique development program aimed at bridging the gap between aspiring young cyclists aged sixteen to eighteen, and the world of professional road racing.

''Our goal is to try and generate opportunities so that riders can progress from youth level to a professional elite career. It's an incredibly difficult thing to do''.

We sat down with entrepreneur Peter, to understand the Cycling Academy's mission, its gruelling racing schedule, and the role of Wise Business in helping Peter to manage his need to pay in multiple currencies from Euro to Danish Krone to Canadian Dollar as he and the team race in Belgium, Italy, Spain, France or Canada.

''We managed to secure a race in Denmark and needed an account that could manage multiple currencies, that's why we opened a Wise Business account''

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The Challenge of European Racing

''Pro cycling is a European sport'' Peter notes. ''It's not a British thing. There is a scene in Britain, and we've been successful at producing pro athletes in Britain in the last 15 years, including Bradley Wiggins. But the centre of the sport is in mainland Europe, in Belgium, in France, Italy, Spain''.

''Up until this year, only two male Scottish home-grown athletes had made it to the World Tour in the last 28 years, which is kind of unbelievable. There's been a lot of success for Scottish riders, but oddly not any male. We started our voluntary organisation to try to solve this problem''

Peter highlights the challenge of helping young Scottish riders make their mark in Europe. ''It's quite hard to do sport in Britain because we live in a country where there are all kinds of prohibitions on running road races and development programmes as well. So for us, one of the challenges is ''how do we get these young guys who are knocking their pans racing in Scotland in all kind of weather to Europe, and make sure that when they get there, they're able to compete and adjust to the racing culture?''

''We took on one of the French teams last year who turned up with three motorhomes, four vans, 20 staff, and then it's me and a couple of other dads and a mum in our team.''

Racing in multiple countries presents logistical and multi-currency challenges, especially when it comes to transporting the bikes and paying for food, fuel and accommodation for the team. The Cycling Academy opts for a ground-based approach, driving to various locations across Europe to avoid the complexities of flying with valuable racing bikes.

''Our riders are putting in between 15 and 25 hours a week on a bike and cycling around 450 hundred kilometres a week.''

On the financial side, they handle their multi-currency operations with Wise Business, often on the road using the Wise app. ''It's kind of amazing when you think of the impact it has, that you can actually run it all from the seat of a car under extreme time pressure'', Peter says. ''And sometimes you're managing it to €20 or €30 euro accuracy over a week of no sleep.''

Getting Wise about finances

Efficient financial management of European racing is crucial: ''Financially, when we look at European events, what we have to do is think of what the cost per race is for a rider to budget properly''. Peter says the races are funded by the riders themselves but he manages the overall expenses in the currencies needed.

''Imagine doing what we do in multi-currencies before you had Wise. Your brain would explode trying to work out travellers' cheques being cashed in a bank in France somewhere.''

Highlighting the ease and speed of using the app, Peter thinks about how difficult multi-currency trips like this must have been before banking solutions like Wise: ''People used to do things like take travellers cheques and it would just be an absolute nightmare. Because the paper trail you'd create and not knowing what you actually had financially to spend at any point because of the different currencies''.

''It's mega. We've won loads of races in Britain, but podiuming at races in Europe, especially against well-funded teams is a fantastic feeling.''

''’We've implemented practical measures, like having team volunteers with Wise debit cards. This allows them to directly charge their fuel expenses in the currency needed to the team account, reducing the need for extensive expense claims later on. It's these details that help us keep things running smoothly''. Peter says that as the admin of the Wise Business account, he sets limits on his team's debit cards, however, generally everyone is on the same page when it comes to keeping costs down.

Peter is not only in charge of managing the cash flow that he sees on his phone but also downloading all the information from the account after a trip and breaking down to the riders how much they spent. ''I need to issue invoices to them, based on real cost as opposed to the estimate but it's really easy to do in the app.''

The Cycling Academy has launched the Continental Apprenticeship Fund, where patrons can play a critical role in supporting the next generation of world-class riders to gain European racing experience and take their cycling to the next level.

If there is any money left in the Wise Business account, the team either converts them back to British Pounds or in the case of Euros or Danish Krone, keeps them for future races. Peter says that he appreciates the fact that ''payments are pretty rapid'' and has local account details to collect any prize money for victorious riders. ''It's always nice when you see it land in the account, even if it's €80 for a third place''.

The Future of Cycling Academy

In a landscape where professional cycling can sometimes seem dominated by powerful teams and wealthy sponsors, the Cycling Academy's story is a testament to the power of passion for the sport of cycling, dedication from its riders and resourcefulness of its founders. This Scottish team proves that with the right mindset and the support of a dedicated community, dreams can be realised, and podiums can be conquered.

''I think in terms of total race days, across the 15 guys this year, it will probably be about 120 to 150 race days.''

As they continue to support young athletes and scale a programme to support them in becoming professionals and the next generation of cycling stars, Wise Business is proud to be supporting them along the way. Whether it's paying for pasta and rice in Euros to keep them cycling, refuelling their cars in Denmark, or paying with their Wise debit cards - Wise Business cannot wait to see how far this team can race into the history books.

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