Mike Christie, from X-Factor finalists G4, has launched the official song for the climatic final stage of the AJ Tour of Britain Cycle race, which is heading to the Isle of Wight on Sunday 11th September.
Titled ‘Ride The Isle’, the song is a celebration of the nearly 150km, fast-paced race between Ryde and The Needles Battery.
A multi-award-winning singer/songwriter, Mike now lives on the Island. He was approached to write the anthem by Visit Isle of Wight:
“I was asked by Visit Isle of Wight to write this, as the official song for the Tour of Britain cycling race, to help bring awareness to the race and showcase it to a new audience.
“I had recently released a song I wrote for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee called ‘The Heartbeat of Our Nation’, which I performed in various places across the island over the bank holiday weekend in June, so I’ve now got a reputation for writing songs for occasions shall we say!”
AJ Bell Tour of Britain organisers say that the song is a first for the cycle race. Peter Hodges, PR and Marketing Director, says:
“It is definitely the first time that the modern Tour of Britain has enjoyed an official song and music video for one of our stages, which goes to show the lengths to which the whole community on the Isle of Wight is embracing the event. It is fantastic to have someone like Mike writing and performing the song, and we are now looking forward to hearing it in person in Ryde before the final stage gets underway!”
Mike explains how ‘Ride The Isle’ came together:
“I started by researching the Tour of Britain race; what it consists of, who and how many take part, as well as the specific route on the Isle of Wight amongst other things. I wanted the song to be informative, as many people coming across it won’t know what the race is all about, as I didn’t. But when people hear their hometown in the lyrics, it may well inspire them to follow the riders as they whizz past their doorstep at high speed on 11th September!
“I was also aware that there will be riders and cycling experts listening to the song, so everything needed to be 100% accurate, but beyond that I wanted it to really resonate with them. To my knowledge, there has never been a song like this released before, certainly not one listing the names of the jerseys that are awarded to the cyclists, and what they signify”.
The video was filmed by Michael Dangerfield of Wight Productions at The Needles, the finishing post of the day’s racing, and will mark the end of 8 days of cycling, which sees 18 teams make their way from Aberdeenshire to Island, via the Scottish Borders, Sunderland, North Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Gloucestershire and Dorset.
Wow. Thought in these PC times Derek Sandy would have been a must have.
Let’s hope this guy is of equivalent talent or better.
Whole community of the Isle of Wight, well I beg to differ, seeing as most of the comments are dead against this ridiculous spectacle of stupidity. Still there are hundreds of potholes on the route, let’s see how the overpriced bells and whistles of a bike cope with those. Oh and if there is an accident don’t go to the hospital, as most of the staff can’t get to work because of all the road closures.
Yup, and access and egress to most of West Wight will be closed off for 5 hours. Perhaps if an emergency vehicle is required it will come in via the Solent….
Never mind pot holes, they have put dozens of signs up weeks beforehand and many are blocking pavements and placed at junctions so as to create a hazard and obstruction blocking view of traffic ,why need signs up now all the tourist will of left the Island and Island people not bothered, besides I have driven past so many and print so small and alot on not worked what they actually are telling me. Who has paid for them ?.
These signs are causing many obstructions, they have been put out to early and are creating blackspots for motorists and will cause many accidents.
Usually when Roadworks are taking place, no signs are put out at all, you only realise when you get to the point of the Roadworks and you have to drive all the way back and take a different route.
Come on Island Roads / IW Council get your act together.
Think Motorist.
Think bike on 11th Sept
Utter drivel. Which has most likely cost the council tax payer a pretty penny!
What will happen at pedestrian crossing on the route? Cyclists are ‘supposed’ to obey traffic lights, so if a pedestrian wants to cross the road that has been closed to traffic, will the cyclist have to give way or will the pedestrians have to wait? Could anybody supply a sensible definitive answer to that.
In my experiance cyclists dont give way on a crossing so they should they do that when racing. Try it if you can take the abuse.
Sounds like an easy compensation claim to me but I’m sure they will just take the crossing out of commission for the day.
A singing superstar that no one has ever heard of! What is this cr4p?
As stated on an earlier post, that did not fit the IE remit.
HE IS SO BAD THAT HE IS GOOD.
Reminds me of an episode of ‘Father Ted’, a song for Europe.
Will it be as good as ,my lovely horse??
LMAO……YES, Better even.
You may not have heard of him…..have you thought of getting a life?
What a load of rubbish – I hope he didn’t get paid for this!
This is probably one of the best songs I’ve ever heard. I love it.
What’s the CLIMATE got to do with this, Darren?
Surely you mean ‘CLIMACTIC’ final stage . . .
I think ‘superstar’ is a bit of an exaggeration….
Superstar??? On what planet?
The Island of Wight !
If you lot were given a million quid, you’d complain it was in £50’s and not £20’s. Get a grip you whinging ars*s
Just heard the song. What an amazing track, and a great video, and no doubt the locactions will prove a big tourist attraction. I got the G4 album. They did cut My Way, and scaled down Bohemian Rhapsody, but it is a great record, and another celebrity for your island. Every day your chunk off the mainland gets better and better.
I remember when being a star meant being well known by the general public. Never heard of this bloke. It seems that anyone who has been on any crap tv programme for 5 minutes is referred to as a “celebrity” these days.
why has my comment not been allowed?
Ha ha. This reminds me of a Norwegian comedy duo called Ylvis. They had a song 10 years ago called Stonehenge. Done in jest. Sorry, but this song seems the same in terms of crap lyrics etc but sadly this seems like it’s meant as serious??!! What a joke actually. If you were going to do a song/video to showcase the event (that might be viewed by many) then wouldn’t you show clips of different areas of the route and not just a bland bit of rocky crop with the occasional view of the Needles? IMO the usual rubbish effort by the IW Tourism et al. All mouth and wanting but zero effort.
Hope he has not gave up his day job
It’s the IWCC which is Riding the Island: like a cheap village bike. Used, abused, unheard, and uncared for. But still they get their massive bonuses from our taxes. Sell our houses and fields to their mates, grant permission for development friends and stables for the great and the good, as long as they are described as playrooms for the grandchildren… How to keep warm this winter? Stand next to County Hall after someone is pushed too far and sets it on fire. Don’t worry, council, it won’t be arson as that doesn’t happen here.
hardly a super star is he