Innehållsförteckning för April 2, 2020 från Cycling Weekly

Hands up who has suffered a dip in motivation of late? Join the club. A few weeks ago, courtesy of a smart turbo trainer, an FTP test and a few interval sessions, I was regaining a bit of fitness and looking forward to a summer of riding. With that now gone I’ve struggled to keep riding. I’ve done a bit, but more to clear my head and get some fresh air than improve my fitness. The good thing is I know that motivation will come back. In fact I am already at the stage where I’m planning in my head when and how I can start to get back into it. I know that’s the first step. Motivation can come in many forms: a challenge from a friend, the lure…

The plight of an ICU doctor who had his bike stolen has inspired a raft of cycling companies to set up a scheme to get bikes to the UK’s doctors, nurses and other frontline staff that need them as they fight the coronavirus. Intensive care consultant Dan Harvey was finishing his shift at 2am one morning last week when he discovered Nottingham University Hospital’s bike lock-up had been broken into. His beloved Ribble titanium CGR was among the bikes that had been stolen. Harvey, who said he values the ride home as it allows him to “clear his head” after a hard shift, posted about the theft on social media. He said: “I woke up the next morning and I was pretty down about it really. And then there was…

A couple of years ago I decided that I was allergic to turbo trainers. The deadening ride feel rendered flashbacks of churning away through muddy fields in cyclo-cross races, but without the fun, and I repeatedly found myself hitting a physical or mental wall before actually hitting ‘pause’ during an interval. Before throwing in the towel and forgetting all about my power zones, I decided to give the same sessions a go on my rollers. Surprisingly, I could finish the sets without entering a state of emotional and physical turmoil. Technology has since progressed. Turbo trainers now feature heavy flywheels which create more inertia which in turn creates a more realistic ride feel. As a result, I now flit between the turbo trainer and rollers, depending upon the session. However,…

Online training data played an important role in recruiting riders to the Skoda DSI Cycling Academy – set up to give talented young female riders the chance to develop their skills under the tutelage of Dame Sarah Storey. Cycling Weekly spoke to Storey to find out how riders were chosen for the five available spaces on the academy. “We whittled down many hundreds of applications,” said the 14-time Paralympic champion. “There are major gaps [in opportunity] across all age groups, particularly at junior level. The distances that youth girls ride and race, compared to youth boys, means that some female riders are set up to fail straight away.” For this reason, the Skoda Academy team took an unusual approach, sifting through Strava data to find otherwise hidden talent before holding…

Having put Alicia through her paces at the Porsche Human Performance Centre, physiologist Jack Wilson gives his verdict Body fat: 19.7 per cent Aerobic threshold: 131 watts Lactate threshold: 162 watts VO2 max: 43ml/kg/min Given the recent birth of her son, Alicia’s body composition has obviously changed considerably over the past year – so the results of our analysis were actually very positive. Her body fat percentage is currently 19.7 per cent – already within the 16-20 per cent ideal range for a female endurance rider. As a new mother who is breastfeeding, she should limit weight loss to 0.5kg per week maximum. Alicia’s aerobic (AT) and lactate (LT) thresholds of 131W and 162W respectively, will improve as she gets back into targeted training at specific training zones. Given her…

British Cycling has had to put the search for a new lead sponsor on hold, following the blighting of world economies by the coronavirus crisis in recent weeks. This is a another blow for BC, which only learned in February that it was to lose current sponsor HSBC at the end of the year — halfway through its contract — after the bank announced a drop in profits. It comes as the governing body was also hit by the postponement of the Olympic Games until July 2021, leaving its top athletes with financial uncertainties. “It is going to make [looking for a sponsor] much more difficult,” said BC’s CEO Julie Harrington. “And at the moment, I should imagine getting an appointment with any marketing director or chief executive, to talk…

Our riding has changed beyond all recognition, but like us, the CW5000 riders are determined to keep turning the pedals. Big rides are mostly out, but with the ‘one form of exercise a day’ government recommendation, and cycling offering a self-isolating commute, people are still out on their bikes. And then there’s Zwift. The numbers on the interactive riding site have gone through the roof while Sufferfest has just announced a new four-week plan to help your fitness through this time. During the lockdown our advice is to keep any outdoor rides short and local so you’re less likely to get into trouble. This means our focus has shifted away from big miles for the time being so our April challenges have been adapted so you can do them on…

Tour de France sets deadline day Tour de France organiser ASO has apparently set a final deadline of 15 May to decide whether the 107th edition of the race will go ahead. This is according to Belgian broadcaster RTBF, who interviewed two French mayors on their concerns of hosting the French Grand Tour during the coronavirus pandemic before revealing the deadline date decided by ASO and Christian Prudhomme. According to one mayor, ASO will take stock of whether the Tour can go ahead as planned on 1 May with a final decision two weeks later. 0…the number of cyclists allowed in Richmond Park The popular green space in West London was kept open for cyclists, provided they observed social distancing to help slow the spread of coronavirus. But the Royal…

“Madam President.” That was the headline splash of the 18 December 1976 issue of Cycling. Pictured underneath was a smiling Eileen Gray in formal attire, looking happy if a little uneasy, perhaps uncertain of exactly what the future will bring. The picture had been taken at the annual British Cycling Federation’s (BCF) National Council meeting, held in Blackpool the previous weekend. Prior to holding votes on introducing new track titles, increasing subscription prices and limiting cash prizes for amateurs, came the election of Gray to the position of BCF president. It was a four-horse race that went just one round – the 56-year-old Gray immediately claiming 38 of the 75 votes cast and so securing an overall majority at the first time of asking. “It was an emotional moment,” Gray…

I’ve ridden past this road a thousand times. It’s on one of my regular evening loops, but for reasons that I couldn’t really tell you I’ve never actually been down it, writes Vern Pitt. You’ll know the kind of route I’m talking about here. The one where you know every inch and every pothole. Your legs know where to push and where to ease off, independent of your brain. This loop tells you if you’re in good form, the sensations of countless rides over the years seared into your synapses. But I’d never taken that left turn down this road and in all honesty I couldn’t tell you why. Maybe it was the fear of the unknown or a contentment with my route or maybe I did come down here…

Giro’s Angilis helmet is all about keeping cool. This MIPS-equipped helmet offers ‘wind tunnel ventilation’ via 32 vents with internal channelling, designed to send a pleasant draught over your head and back out the other side. Coolfit padding takes care of sweat control and there’s an anti-microbial finish to prevent bacterial build-up – this is a helmet we’ll be testing thoroughly when the summer finally arrives. The Angilis uses Giro’s Hardbody shell which wraps from the outside of the helmet to the inside and is said to boost durability when compared with others on the market. The in-mould construction method means that a tough polycarbonate outer shell has been fused directly to the helmet’s impact-absorbing foam layer, meaning that the ventilation can be delivered optimally without any effect on the…

■ Training regularly on the attempted climb at different times of day meant I knew how my body would feel and react. ■ Using a climb close to home meant I had access to support if I had a mechanical or nutrition problem. ■ Stopping in the evening to bath and change my kit refreshed me for the final part of the challenge. ■ Having a support team to count my reps and remind me of my nutrition plan meant I only had to focus on riding my bike. ■ Clear visual markers for the start and end of segments made it easy to know every rep had been counted. ■ Being joined by other riders for parts of the attempt relieved the boredom and kept my mind off the…

LEAH THORVILSON 2016 American Thorvilson was the Academy’s first winner; she went on to race in the women’s Giro, a number of Classics, and remains a competitive time triallist with her current club Amy D Foundation. TANJA ERATH 2017 The 30-year-old German has continued to show her pedigree, most recently taking first place in the sprints classification at the Spanish stage race, Emakumeen Euskal Bira. ELLA HARRIS 2018 The first Zwift Academy winner to take victory in a pro race, with her stage two win at this year’s Herald Sun Tour, the New Zealander also triumphed at the 2020 under-23 Time Trial Nationals. JESS PRATT 2019 The Australian has had little opportunity to demonstrate her flair, but at the beginning of 2020, she rode to an impressive ninth overall at…

Following the success of last year’s Big Fitness Challenge, we’ve recruited three new high-striving riders for 2020. We’ll follow their progress as they pursue demanding fitness goals through spring and summer. The coronavirus crisis may have brought a crashing halt to most of their racing and event plans, but they’re keen to prove it’s still possible to sustain the hunger and keep working hard even when competitive opportunities are in seriously short supply. We’ll be with them every step of the way.…

The only comfort in these difficult times is that at least cyclists are better adapted to deal with them than the average. Most of us have been socially distancing for years anyway. Hell, time trialling might as well have been invented by someone who’d seen 28 Days Later and thought it was a documentary. There’s more. Those of us who’ve committed months of training for a big race target already have infection paranoia perfected. Masks? Right here in the bike store. Hand sanitiser shortage? No problem. A quick rummage through a few coat pockets yielded sufficient half-empty bottles for several years of lock-down, all bought in a last-minute panic at airport branches of Boots. Let’s face it, if we wanted to be sociable, we’d have taken up some other more…

A friend recently reminded me about the system one of the local clubs used to use to cope with the fact that a pair on a tandem used to show up to most of their club time trials, and had no other tandem to race against. Instead, they were placed among the solo riders. However, to ensure that they didn’t get any advantage from the innate speed of a tandem (twice the horsepower, less than twice the drag), they volunteered to impose a handicap on themselves. The suggestion that everyone agreed to was that the pair would take it in turns to breathe. Apparently it was a great success.…

Since its initial announcement, BC’s governing body, like much of the rest of the nation, has been planning furiously for how to get through the next months. Its first move was to release an eight-week programme of rides and races on Zwift. “In the absence of physical organised activity, whether that’s recreational or whether that’s competitive, we just thought it was really important to get something out quickly,” said Harrington. “I think most of my team will say ‘oh bloody hell we’re busier than we were before!’” And she added that in the future BC could well offer members the opportunity to race against the stars: “We’re increasingly going to be able to get some decent competitive races out there, hopefully where people can race against members of the Great…

Name: Kate Bradley From: Originally Cumbria, now Abingdon near Oxford. Riding since: I was a child but racing time trials since 2017. How many miles so far? 2,029 miles. Why did you sign up? I got injured last year and lost motivation. This was a good way to get it back. Training plan or just riding? As a swim coach I loosely have a training plan that usually involves riding my bike every day. Longest ride? Longest-ever ride is 346 miles (National 24hr TT Champs); this year about 50 miles. Indoor to outdoor riding ratio? I ride about 95% outdoors. Main target this year? The National 12hr TT. Taking a break from the 24hr. How have you adjusted to the lockdown? By making sure I make the most of my…

My son, Fergus Robinson, spent the last two seasons with the Holdsworth Zappi team living in Italy, trying to break into the pro ranks. A series of misfortunes, including multiple crashes and fractures, have prevented him doing that so far. This February he moved to Spain to spend his last year as an U23 with the Eiser-Hirumet team. With only the first race of the season under his belt coronavirus struck the country and he has been living in complete lockdown ever since. Despite the prospect of no racing in the foreseeable future, he continues to train every day indoors on the most basic turbo, and running up the stairwell in his apartment block, keeping his dream alive come what may. An example to us all I think Rhiannon Robinson,…

From the 1960s, Eileen Gray penned a regular column for Cycling. Dubbed ‘Grayline’ it ran for more than 20 years and she used the column for various means. This extract from her 27 December 1975 column lays bare Gray’s no-nonsense approach and her disdain of equality legislation, despite her battle to create more opportunities for female athletes. “There has probably never been a time when the Equal Opportunities Bill was less needed than today, and events in Canada, where the women seem to do OK in this modern world without legislation to insist upon their rights, certainly have proved the point. “Ginette Vachon, a charming petite blonde who wears her hair in a ponytail and favours casual trousered outfits, has been elected president of the Canadian Cycling Federation. Quite an…

Indoor cycling is certainly not the ‘needs must’ form of torture training that it used to be. Immersive online worlds such as Zwift’s Watopia and Sufferlandria from The Sufferfest, partnered with direct-drive smart trainers, create a truly absorbing and – FTP tests aside – enjoyable experience for those pedalling indoors. And now, trickle-down technology is bringing the experience to a wider audience via more reasonably priced units. Enter the Elite Suito. The Suito is not Elite’s entry-level smart trainer (there’s the Zumo at £450 and the Muin at £275 that provides one-way interaction) but it is an all-singing, all-dancing model which provides many of the benefits of the more expensive designs. This is the first machine from the brand to arrive preassembled, with a Shimano 11-speed cassette already adorning the…

Julia Sobik, Head of Sporting Events at Alzheimer’s Research UK – the country’s leading dementia research charity “Matt did an outstanding job of raising funds for groundbreaking dementia research in memory of his grandfather, who died in 2013, and in support of his other grandfather, who is living with the early signs of Alzheimer’s disease. “Dementia affects a significant proportion of the population – more than half of UK adults know someone with dementia. Matt is really open about discussing the impact of Alzheimer’s on his family, which helped many people connect with and understand why he was taking on this challenge. “By taking on a genuine challenge and something that not many people do, he was able to get the support of his local press and social media. Choosing…

CW asked the coach of the GB under-23 men’s Academy Ben Greenwood whether online riding is the next big thing in talent-ID, and inadvertently sparked off a family debate… Is talent-ID going to be revolutionised by platforms like Zwift? I was chatting to Monica [Greenwood’s wife, GB Cycling Junior women’s Academy coach] about this and we got into a debate. Initially, we didn’t fully agree – she thought I wasn’t open enough to it. I know some of the other talent development coaches have already tried out some stuff with Zwift. What was the crux of the disagreement? There’s obvious potential in harvesting data from lots of riders – but how much of it would be useful? My initial argument was that, because you need a smart turbo or a…

The biggest single injustice of hard work and a training ethic is that you have to keep doing it. If life was fair you’d only have to get fit once, and then you’d just stay fit. Like passing an exam; the best thing about GCSEs is that you don’t have to do them every year to keep them. This is a particular stress when you can’t train, due to illness, injury, work commitments, or deadly global pandemics out of unconvincingly plotted science fiction films. The first reassuring thing is to remember that fitness declines quite slowly. All other things being equal (in other words don’t put on 10kg by living on an exclusive diet of doughnuts) you lose condition at about one per cent a week. So you’re many months…