BlackCat rider Stephen Swindley (PMR Toachim) is currently at University in Sheffield, combining his studies with some high quality racing. As a 2nd category (British Cycling categories – 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st, Elite) rider he often comes up against Elite level riders (Sheffield and surrounding area is a traditional hotspot for cycle racing in the UK). Stephen doesn’t feel daunted by this, recognising that he is on the way up and has the talent and determination to go higher. A consequence of improvement is going into another pond with bigger fish…..mentally this can be where athletes from all disciplines “break”. If you are used to winning or being in the front of the field all the time, then you suddenly meet someone who gives you a kicking it can be very poor for motivation! To illustrate the point, back in the early 1990’s I sold a track bike to a rider who was a very good time triallist based in the South West. He had ridden a very fast 10 mile TT course through the Savernake Forest  many times and was used to winning club and open events. He informed me that the last time anyone had caught him in a time trial (for those of you who don’t know, riders start at 1 minute intervals and are seeded so the fast riders tend to catch the slower ones: Alex Dowsett once caught this particular coach in a 25 mile TT – he started 13 minutes behind me…..)  had been 10 years previously. That was until a certain Mr Chris Boardman turned up in his run-up to the Hour record and produced a blistering ride, catching him for 4 minutes!! He still couldn’t quite get over this….

Another consequence of racing regularly is the advent of crashes and punctures – another of my clients Jo Van Velzen (Deal Tri) felt her spirits deflate along with her tyre at a circuit race this Saturday. Jo has an impressive pedigree in Dutch national level swimming, though, and has a stoic but determined attitude to temporary setbacks. That’s the thing with setbacks, they are only temporary. Take Nick Saunders, another client who made his racing debut this weekend. An extremely windy day and very strong field meant that it was difficult just to stay in the bunch – as soon as any accelerations come  you have to be in the right place and react quickly.  Nick was doing both of these things well but made a decision not to close a gap and became detached from the group. A moment’s inattention and that’s it when the bunch is travelling at 27-28mph. Nick recognised this – his email feeding back to me showed that he had analysed his performance and was going to learn from his mistake. Oh, and determined? No he didn’t climb off when he was dropped, he rode until other dropped riders came up (and there were lots) then raced with them. He still got his workout and didn’t miss the training. And if this happens to you in your first race? Finish if you can, do this and you beat the quitters. And if not? then the next day or the day after get back on your bike, train and as you do this look objectively at what went wrong. formulate a plan for next time and brush the incident under the carpet. Stephen has suffered a crash, as you will read, but he is back training and has shrugged it off.  Both riders are shown here and both photos, in different ways, represent the realities of cycle road racing. In fact, of all competitive cycling. Actually, when you come to think of it, of all aspects of life!

“Hi Tim,

A bit of an update on the last couple of weeks racing.

Tameside 2/3/4:

I went over to Tameside in Manchester last Sunday (7^th April) for a Cat 2/3/4 criterium on a new circuit about 1k long with a few sweeping corners and a hairpin. Weather on the day was very still and mild. I attacked on lap 1 taking one guy with me, he wasn’t up to much so I was pretty much on my own. I was holding the bunch at about 10 or 15 seconds for the first 10mins or so, before a surge brought them back to me. I tried numerous times to get away but unfortunately there were too many guys in the bunch content to bring it to a bunch sprint aided by the lack of wind, making it very easy when in the wheels. I was reasonably well placed on the final lap but clipped my pedal on the second last corner, I stayed upright but my chance of sprinting had gone. Rolled over 18th.

Varsity TT:

The varsity time trial was held Wednesday the 10th, 12 miles through the peak district with long stretches of downhill but also one fairly steep 1.5 mile climb (I think around 8% average). The weather was pretty mild with a light southerly breeze meaning a head/cross wind for almost the entire route. I caught my minute man after about 3 miles, I was flying along the flat and downhill sections but laboured up the climb having to go down to 39×28 on the steepest section! After the climb was a long descent to the finish during which I span out the 11 and caught two Sheffield Hallam riders. I finished in 31:38 (22.7mph average) – this was only good enough for 6th place, which was quite disappointing. However,  only 34 seconds separated me from the winner (Tom Stewart),  a strong elite rider who won the Maureen Baine Memorial Road Race a couple of weeks ago. Also in my defence two of the guys ahead of me had TT bikes and another two had aero bars.

Darley Moor:

I got the train down to Derby again yesterday to do an E/1/2 at Darley Moor. The weather was mild again but with strong winds which play havoc as its a very exposed circuit. A strong field turned up with the likes of Dean Downing amongst them. For whatever reason the legs felt a bit lethargic I missed the main break, got in a chase group but I folded on the crosswind section only about 20m off the back of the break, just not having it in the legs. Downing won the race.

Sheffrec Spring RR:

A shortened national B road race (100km). The weather, although mild, was incredibly windy. On the way to the HQ from the train station I was grinding along the flat in 39 x 24 at times and nearly got blown off the road! A very strong field turned up – Dean Downing was there again, Herbalife, Metaltek, Sportscover, Altura etc… The course was flat but very exposed –  18 laps of a 4km triangular loop, with two crosswind sections and one tailwind. The race started hard and splintered immediately on the first crosswind section. My legs were feeling a lot better than yesterday but I was caught napping in the bunch while two breaks had formed up the road. I attacked on the tailwind section and managed to bridge to the second break. We proceeded to ride eyeballs out for about 50km and managed to bridge to the front break eventually. However a number of riders attacked as soon as we caught them and stayed away. I spent the second half of the race really suffering, although we kept it nice and steady for the last few laps. I cramped up in the sprint coming home I think in the top 20. The race was won by Tom Bustard of Herbalife who went clear from the front break with two laps to go and soloed it – an incredibly strong ride.

Racing didn’t go quite to plan last weekend! I noticed on Friday evening that there was a circuit race only 20mins away from me in Sheffield so I decided to do that as well as the 2/3/4 on Sunday. Unfortunately I crashed! It was quite a twisty circuit and I decided one such twist should be taken at 30mph, whilst two guys in front of me were thinking more along the lines of 20mph and swerved off their line. Strangely, my bike was totally fine, with the only scratch being to my saddle. I was a bit less fine, had to make a little trip to hospital for some bad road rash on my hip, a little notch out of my elbow and shoulder/elbow bruising, don’t think I broke any bones though!”

Won’t be too long before you’re racing again Stephen!