Last Sunday’s early season classic Wally Gimber Memorial RR (promoted by the Dulwich Paragon CC) was, as usual, hotly contested by the Elite, 1st, 2nd and 3rd category field.

Results are here https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/84742/Wally-Gimber-Trophy#results and, as you can see, Stephen was the first 2nd cat rider home on a freezing day!

Hi Tim,

Wally Gimber report:

Due to the number of elite and 1st cats entered I was only on the reserve list. The weather as promised by the met office was cold – approximately 1 degree to be precise with strong winds added in for good measure.Thankfully a few people must have bailed on seeing the weather, so I did get a ride along with most of the reserve list. The commissaire’s fortunately took pity on us and shortened the race to six 20km laps (120km). The race was fast from the off with people trying to get an early break away, I hadn’t had any warm up and just tried to follow the wheels and warm up a bit. A break of 13 (I think) did get away and were never seen again. I did try a little lone escape on the second lap for 5 minutes or so, I saw the break ahead of me on a straight bit but there was no hope of getting across. I spent a while sitting in and recovering after that as it was hard enough in the bunch with a couple decent climbs and some considerable lengths of exposed crosswind sections on the circuit. With two laps to go there were a lot of attacks with guys trying to secure the minor placings. Jake Martin escaped with another rider and stayed away. The attacks kept coming, I was off the front on my own for a while and was joined by two Pedal Heaven riders, we worked well but were pulled back after 10 or 15 minutes. With a lap to go my team mate Harry Godding was off the front along with a Sigma Sport rider, back in the bunch a rider in front of me attacked and I followed. The bunch didn’t react and we got a gap, bridging to the two ahead. We worked well together and looking behind I couldn’t see the bunch. I was starting to really hurt by this point and the last time up the main climb was torture. Approaching the final kilometre cat and mouse ensued; my legs were almost spent now and certainly devoid of a sprint so I laid off the wheels and came past as hard as I could with 400m to go. Unfortunately there is a nasty little ramp to the line at which point I virtually stopped! I went over the line in 18th place just ahead of a fast finishing rider from London Phoenix. All in all I was very pleased with my performance as it’s my first top 20 in a National B road race and seeing as there were very few second cats given a ride its a very encouraging start to the season!

Thanks for the help you’ve been giving me its starting to pay off =).

Here is Stephen’s report of these two events:

“

Hi Tim – Soens report:

Conditions looked to be very good on the morning of the race – cold, but clear and bright with little wind. I was off with the second cats, the third group to be released and although we started going through and off from the start it was really quite civil – most people just waiting for the inevitable to happen. Sure enough after only about ten minutes the elite group swept by with Rapha and Raleigh on the front. From then on my main focus was to avoid crashes which were inevitable in such a huge peloton of widely differing abilities. There were two main crashes that took out a significant proportion of the field, I was fortunate enough to miss both if only narrowly – resorting to the grass verge to avoid the second. Although the pace was kept constantly fast by the Raleigh and Rapha train it was very easy to sit in the group as there wasn’t much wind, I fancied getting my picture taken so I attacked with a Sportscover/Altura guy. The two of us lasted the best part of a quarter of a lap! I did go through the start/finish area on the front however so hopefully someone got a shot of that! As it came to the last few laps it was very difficult not to get totally swamped due to the amount of fresh legs and the size of the bunch. On the last lap I was still only mid pack so with about 1km to go when a gap appeared on the outside I blasted through in the 11 sprocket, my Garmin saying I hit 39.2mph, this moved me right into the top 20 or so places, but no one was willing to let me on a wheel so I just had to try and find a little shelter on the outside. Unfortunately more guys came round in the last 5-600m leaving me firmly boxed in again and finishing mid-pack 54th. It was nice to ride alongside all the domestic pros but without anyone on hand to move you up or hold your position for the sprint with Rapha/Raleigh/Sigma drilling it you have to sprint to move up with the result that you can’t sprint for the line! The average speed was 28.1mph and the race was won by Ed Clancy.

Just to add, I got roped into doing the Varsity hill climb today (Uni of Sheffield vs Sheffield Hallam). It was up Monsal Head. I was first Hallam guy and 3rd overall with a 1:33 which I was rather pleased with! I should have gone up one cog bigger but that was just down to not recce-ing the climb properly. I beat quite a lot of good riders including an elite and a couple of first cats I think so its quite an encouraging sign

second was 1:32, the winner did a pretty special 1:23 so ten seconds back, I was hoping going in just to not embarrass myself so I’m quite happy with that. I think come October when road racing is done for the year and I get a lot of good hill interval training done I can shave that down quite considerably.”

About 3 years ago I was riding with the local triathlon club Deal Tri. On a Saturday ride we used to get a number of people who were either time trialling or road racing and so I began to structure the “fast group” rides into simulated racing as the season approached. One day a tall young man on an old bike came out with us and, as every coach does, I had a Eureka moment! I watched him turn the pedals efficiently and his position on the bike was superbly natural. All of us agreed on that day that he would be a talent to watch….

On to the present day and Stephen Swindley (Team Toachim/PMR) has won 2 South East Road Race League Races and has podiumed in other events. He approached me to coach him and I was happy to help him move up to 2nd category quickly. I should point out at this time that it is Stephen, not me, who had to pedal the bike – I just gave him the sessions! I watched as his position on the bike became even more efficient and his not inconsiderable engine grew bigger. Stephen can now produce over 400 watts in a RAMP test and, importantly, can produce a very high percentage of that power for a long time. This latter element formed the basis of his training last year – to increase his threshold power. Stephen will be testing with me in a couple of weeks time – watch for a post on his numbers and how you can increase your FTP!

Stephen is lucky as not only is he a very powerful rider but he is also blessed with a high power-to-weight ratio. Despite being one of the tallest riders I coach (those who have met me know most people are tall to me so this is no mean accolade!) he is also very light – in the low 70s in kg when on form. This makes him super at hill climbing (more in a minute). He also has a big sprint – his 6s numbers will form part of my next post – and we further improved this by giving him specific sprint sessions which were progressive and could be incorporated into an endurance ride. As so many 3rds and 4th category races end in a sprint this type of training is vital if you want to win, yet this type of effort doesn’t feature in some riders programmes. This may well be to do with the fact (OK – my opinion, but based upon conversations with my clients) that most people train what they like training i.e. what they are good at, rather than what they don’t enjoy i.e. what they are poor at!

Last September Stephen moved to Sheffield to attend Uni. I still coach him and he has started this season with the aim to go up to 1st category and to mix it with the Elites. Earlier this month he competed in the Eddie Soens Memorial RR at Aintree – a handicap event for Elites down which is always fiercely contested. He has written a report for this blog and sent a pic of him leading the bunch – no mean feat to get to the front at the speeds being travelled and in the company present! He also rode a “bonus” event in march – a hillclimb organised by his University – and did a super time considering the time of year.

I will be featuring Stephen throughout this season as a BlackCat rider. His race report and pictures are in a separate post on this blog.

I have just received this report from Will Anderton, Calum’s Dad:

“Saturdays race in Itcheghem was chaotic. To cut a long story short, Calum got taken out on the 2nd corner. He got straight back up, untangled his chain and then noticed his bars had been strung round. Coupled with a slight pulled muscle from the fall he had to abandon. He found it hard. The other GB riders who we went out with were in a small group at the felt of the race, eventually finishing 2nd, 3rd and 4th out of 109 riders. For Calum to have to stand and watch was gut wrenching. But that’s bike racing, it certainly won’t be the last time.
We picked him up, dusted him off, repaired what was needed on the bike, and his mates cheered him up.
Sundays race in Merkedamme was where he could take his frustration out. It was another big event. A proper Kermesse race, tight, twisty and with sections of Pave. 16 laps of a 3.3km circuit.
Calum was hugely strong, putting in attack after attack and at one point had a single lead of over 30 seconds on the lead group. Eventually he realised he wasn’t going to survive on his own so went back into the group. Again, he covered attack after attack and had another few goes at getting away. His efforts were in vain, and it came down to a bunch sprint. Always a time trialist and never a sprinter, Calum did remarkably well and finished 9th and was awarded the same finishing time as the winner. The 5 GB riders all finished in the top 12. His efforts were noted and Calum was awarded a prize for the ‘Most Aggresive’ rider. Pretty good considering the company he was in.
That was only his 2nd race of the season. It’s going to take him 6-8 races to be firing on full cylinders, so signs are promising. He’s back out in Belgium for another 2 races in 4 weeks time before the domestic National Series starts”.

That’s bike racing…one day you’re down and the next you’re up! Specific training has helped Calum over the past couple of seasons. It’s the coach’s job to analyse performance and plan training. The repeated efforts over 6 – 40s and also, more recently, 60s have improved Calum’s “jump” over the past two seasons and increased his ability to get away from a fast moving bunch. His longer efforts on the road over the winter may well make the difference to him in these type of races this season, particularly where an endurance ride has been made more difficult with periods of “tempo” riding in the latter stages.

Great result, Calum – more to come I’m sure!

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I have been helping Calum with coaching and testing for a couple of seasons now. Calum is a 15 year old rider who has a very bright future ahead of him. Last year Calum won the South East Regional Youth Circuit Race Championships along with two London League Cyclo Cross rounds. He also turns a nifty pedal against the clock so, in short, he has a big engine which is only going to get bigger….

Calum has tested with me on a number of occasions using my Wattbike (a great piece of kit, fabulous for coaches) and has a very impressive MAP (Maximal Aerobic Power). This is his average power over the final minute of a RAMP test (I used the British Cycling protocol for this) and it was over 400 watts. This gives him a very impressive watts per kilo figure of 6.25. What do these figures mean? Well, 7 watts per kilo would be a very good level for a professional cyclist. So, a big engine….

Calum’s Power Profile is also impressive. Last season I used the protocol  used by the Australian Institute for Sport (Quod et al) and we tested Calum’s power outputs over 6 seconds to 10 minutes (all in one session, all at max effort. Try it! Great workout even without a power meter…). Even on slightly lower resistances Calum could still average 313 watts in his final 10 minute interval (the last of 7 intervals in the session). What does a power profile tell us? Well, in Calum’s case that he is a largely “aerobic” rider who does have a sprint but this could be improved. Over this winter Calum attended my twice-weekly turbo training sessions in our home town of Deal, Kent and I tailored them to develop his 10-20s sprinting power. Coupled with an endurance ride on a Sunday (under the watchful and very experienced eye of Malcolm Whitehead, local legend and super-talented veteran) these have been Calum’s key sessions in the off-season (the odd cross race excepted). Has it paid off? Calum took 7th place at Gravesend Cyclopark the other week in a 1.5 hour crierium for Elites, 1sts  and 2nd category riders. He did this on restricted gears and was off the front for a while. So, yes, he’s going well! Calum is racing in Belgium this weekend – watch future blog posts for news of how his season is going. Oh, and find blackcatcyclecoaching.com on Facebook for updates.

Photos as before by  Michelle @ http://shellelouisephotography.wordpress.com/ and http://maxhectorphotography.com/