November 2006 Newsletter

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Urgent

All Holders of Club Trophies – the engraving season is now upon us so please return your trophy either direct to George Barnett or to George Halls Cycle Centre straight away.

New Members

We welcome Steve Cocker, Kevin and Sophie Nicholls, Andrew Pilkington, David Plimmer, Steve Sayers, Stuart Fry, Nikki Saunders and Duncan Smith.

Club Coaches and Training Plans

We now have six club coaches. George and Ann Barnett concentrate on working with the Welland Valley Whizzkids. Fred Muskett works with the Whizzkids and does individual training plans for riders interested in any of road racing, time trialling or track riding. Trevor Wise’s expertise is in providing training plans for road and track riders. My experience is of working with time triallists and road racers. Dean Barnett does everything! - all disciplines and all ages.

If you would like an individual training plan, Fred, Trevor or I could take you on. Dean, not surprisingly, is much in demand, and can’t take on any more riders.

Our contact details are as follows:

Fred – Tel. 0116 2404956, E mail fred.muskett@virgin.net
Trevor – Tel . 01572 822709, E mail trevor.wise@tiscali.co.uk
Dave - Tel. 0116 2792756, E mail dbirch@betula5.freeserve.co.uk.

Performance

Colin Griffiths and Phil Rayner finished their road seasons in style, with Phil taking first place in the 40-44 age group in the LVRC Percy Stallard national road race series and Colin taking 2nd place in the 45-49 age group in the same series. With road race success achieved, Colin then focussed his attention on the LVRC time trial championship which he won by a wide margin.

Shane Godrich, in his first attempt at the discipline, stormed away on the last lap to win the club circuit race at Bruntingthorpe.

George Atkins did wonderfully well to beat Paul Tomlinson in the club hill climb.

Gavin Hinxman completed an excellent time trialling season and it was good to see him winning the senior club championship in his first full season back with the club.

Jill Postlethwaite applied herself seriously to cycling this year and was a runaway winner of the women’s club championship.

Kristian Morris made huge advances over the season and was a worthy winner of the juveniles’ club championship.

Our posse of cyclo cross competitors is slowly but steadily growing. Standards are rising too. George Atkins is busy winning youth category races when he isn’t riding the track. Vic Barnett, as ever, is travelling the length and breadth of the country to national series races and is once again the country’s leading over 60 rider. Keith Sperry has gained high positions in West Midland league races in which Graham Atkins, Nick Barnett, Kristian Morris, Gaye and John Taylor, Georgia Toner, Sophie Nicholls, Afton Sperry and Ross Barnett are all regular competitors.

A spare £95?

Cycling shoes never wear out – they only get less pretty, and a new pair won’t make you go faster. A much better use of that spare £95 would be to have a Cycling Physiological Assessment from Loughborough University’s Sports Science Service. The test is done on an SRM ergonometer (glorified gym bike), with a bag over your head to calculate your VO2 max and a vampire taking little nibbles out of a finger at stages through the test to determine your blood lactate concentration. So, you come away knowing your VO2 max, your blood lactate threshold and your maximum power output, among other things – you can then accurately assess your strengths and weaknesses and use the data to guide your training programme for next year. Matt Plews and I went along for the tests a few weeks ago but the computer link to the ergonometer broke down. It’s since been repaired and we’re going back on November 24th. A full report will follow in the next issue, by which time I hope to have recovered from the ordeal.

If you are interested in having such an assessment, contact Rhona Blair, Sports Science Coordinator, Loughborough University, EIS/Loughborough Performance Centre, Loughborough LE11 3TU, tel. 01509 226259, E mail R.Blair@lboro.ac.uk, website www.loughboroughsports.com.

Hate solitary turbo training?

Dean Barnett’s Tuesday evening off road sessions held behind Harborough Leisure Centre will help your fitness and road handling skills as well as developing your cyclo cross abilities.

Leicestershire Cycling Association are currently hiring the Mallory Park Motor Circuit every Thursday from 7.00 to 9.00pm. and this facility will be available throughout the winter. This provides safe cycling away from traffic and caters for riders of all abilities. Several club members went last year and found it provided very good training. The course isn’t floodlit so you’ll need some lights on your bike.

Richard Stannard is running a spinning session specifically for competitive cyclists at Lutterworth Leisure Centre each Wednesday at 7.30pm. Several club members are going along to these sessions and a tough workout is guaranteed.

Annual Club Dinner and Prize Presentation

This will be held at Market Harborough Golf Club on Saturday January 13th at 7.00 for 7.30, guest speaker TBC very shortly.

Tickets are available from Wayne Holton. Please contact him for further information and to book tickets on 07736 844473. Please give Wayne your menu choices when you book.

Starters:

• Homemade Soup & Bread Roll
• Melon Boat
• Brixworth Pate & Hot Buttered Toast

Main Courses:

• Roast Lamb & Mint Sauce
• Chicken Breast in a White Wine Sauce
• Poached Salmon with a Dill Sauce
• Vegetarian Option: Nut Roast

All served with seasonal vegetables

To be followed by sweets from the trolley, coffee and after dinner mints.

Christmas and New Year

Don’t forget the Boxing Day Ten at Kibworth, start time 10.00. Fancy dress is optional.

The Saturday mountain bike group are organising a ride on New Year’s Eve, starting and finishing at Sibbertoft, followed by lunch for riders and partners at the Red Lion, Sibbertoft. Del Spicer has promised that there will be no mud this year, but don’t bank on it.

Coaching Bits

For riders with racing aspirations, this is the time of year for setting goals for the coming season and for building up an endurance base. It is also a good time to work on your cycling skills and your riding style.

The Sunday cub runs provide good endurance training and help you to become comfortable riding in a group. Numbers and the range of abilities of Sunday riders is such that we are currently dividing into three groups based on ability and aspirations. I’m hoping to incorporate, for those who want it, further skills training into the club runs.

I’ve referred above to Dean’s off road sessions – every Tuesday evening at 7pm.

Why not try cyclo cross racing – an excellent local opportunity is the event that Nick and Ann Barnett are organising at Misterton on December 10th. If you’re not going to ride it, Nick would appreciate your help on the day - E mail coltsclose@aol.com, Tel. 01455 251255.

And so to riding style – and I shall be concentrating on different aspects of pedalling in this issue and in the February issue.

Power output is obviously a key component of cycling performance. Those of you who have used a turbo or other static trainer that measures wattage, and those lucky enough to have a pair of SRM cranks, will know that you can produce the same power output using a high gear at a relatively low cadence as using a low gear at a high cadence, and, of course, even more power if you can use a high gear at a high cadence.

High cadence and low gear riding is easier on the legs. Most of the best riders will race at an average cadence of 90rpm or more, which means that at some stages of races, their cadence is likely to be 120 or more. How do you learn to do that?

First of all, when out on the road forget about the 53 ring, even if you’re going downhill. Always remain seated while climbing and engage a gear that you can spin really fast – you’re likely to find seated climbing easier if you sit right back on your saddle and hold the tops of your handlebars. On the downhill sections, try to keep pedalling for as long as you can and don’t gear up beyond 39x16. I’m working on this myself at the moment and I find it helps if I ride on my drops, if I sit right back and push my backside down into the saddle and concentrate on lifting my knees rather than on pushing down on the pedals. I’ve been surprised at the improvement I’ve made, and at my age I’m hardly the most supple of riders, and suppleness obviously helps. A further benefit of pedalling as fast as you can downhill rather than freewheeling is that it hurts your legs much less going up the other side (assuming that there is an ‘other side’).

Paul Tomlinson, who is a superb example of a fast pedalling racer, tells me that on club runs, to work on maintaining/increasing his cadence, he watches what gear other riders are using and always goes one or two lower. Try it – and if you can’t keep up with the group, the answer isn’t to go into a higher gear but to join a slower group!

Most riders, as they get to the top of their pedal stroke, lift their toes and drop their heel, to take them through top dead centre and down into the most powerful part of the pedal stroke – this seems to come naturally. Just as important though is to go powerfully through the bottom of your pedal stroke and into the up phase. Coaching manuals liken the action you should use to wiping dog mess of your shoes on one of those scraper things. I find the dropping of the toe and dragging through bottom dead centre comes less naturally and I have to think about it. I mentioned above, with reference then to fast pedalling downhill, about sitting back and pushing your backside down into the saddle and concentrating on lifting your knees – I find that if I do this, it helps me drop my toes and drag through.

Something else you could try as a means of analysing and improving your pedalling style is isolated leg pedalling. Don’t try this on the road – it’s a turbo exercise. Have a chair by you turbo and rest your free leg on the chair. Be sure to use only a very easy gear when you do this because it’s important to keep your back straight. If you strain to push and pull on the pedals you’re likely to twist your back.

Do you pedal evenly or are you stronger on one leg than the other? How can you tell and why does it matter? Most riders who are significantly stronger on one leg than the other don’t sit square on the saddle and ride with their head slightly to one side without realising it? Work with another rider – take turns in riding one behind the other, and then ride towards one another to check out whether either of you rides lopsided.

‘Lopsided’ matters because firstly, chances are that if you only have one good leg, you won’t be able to ride as well as if you had two good legs. Secondly if you ride upright, your surface area facing the wind is less (I think) so you’re likely to be more streamlined.

What can you do about it? What follows just demonstrates what a sad person I am. When I take my shorts off I always turn them inside out to wash them. I noticed one day that the padding was much more sweaty where my right buttock had been than on the other side. It soon became apparent that this wasn’t just a one off and that it must mean that I pedalled unevenly. From here on it gets even sadder – I sweat a lot on my turbo which is on the concrete floor of the garage. Sweat shows up very well on a concrete floor and I noticed that I produced a great pool of sweat on the right side but rather less on the left side so my head was obviously not directly over the centre of my handlebars. I tried to concentrate on keeping my head up straight but it didn’t seem to work. Then one day I’d been doing some work on my bike (there aren’t many such days) and I’d left my workstand (one with a pole up the middle with an arm and a clamp on it) directly in front of the turbo. Later when I used the turbo I decided to concentrate on looking at the pole in front of me. Lo and behold, there were identical pools of sweat on each side of me and when I took my shorts off…. Well you can guess the rest! Another effect of looking at the pole was that I was looking ahead most of the time rather than looking down at the cadence/wattage readout on my handlebars and when I did sneak a look down, I found that I was pedalling faster than I thought I was. This was good because my turbo work at present is concentrated on increasing my cadence. After the session, I found that my left (weaker) leg felt a little more tired than the right one – could I be working them evenly now?

You might just pick something useful out of these ramblings, but then again ……

Dave Birch 22.11.2006

Youth Development - Whizz Kids to Olympic Talent Team

My bedtime reading at the moment is called ‘Sports Psychology’.
It constantly stresses that sportspeople should always celebrate positive achievements and good practice.

It should come as no surprise then to you all that Whizz Kids is really beginning to have an impact on young people in and around Market Harborough.

I want to share with you the recent achievement of Cameron Bell.

Cameron is 4yrs old. He rides a single speed with wheels the size of dinner plates and his frame is too small to fit the smallest drinking bottle.

When Cameron first attended a Whizz Kids session he was on stabilizers and watched his older sister Laura (6yrs old) either chasing the snake or completing the skills.

The October session was in full swing when young Cameron rode into the session, a true wobbly wheeler. His technique for stopping his bike was to slide off the back of the saddle, hoping he would land on his feet and his bike would crash to the floor.

His method of starting was to smile nicely from under the brow of his peaked helmet and gesture that he needed a push to get going. Cameron completed the hour long session and continued to ‘bail out’ when it came to stopping.

For a four year old, fresh from the shackles of stabilizers, the technique of stopping and starting is a big deal!
After a few tips from the coaches, young Cameron goes home to practice with his parents.

A month later, along comes Cameron and Laura, Laura stops her bike in the more traditional way of squeezing her brakes, slides forward off her saddle and plants her feet firmly onto the ground.

Cameron on the other hand has his own unique way of stopping, no crashing or banging, but a very agile technique where he lifts his right leg over the frame between the handle bar stem and saddle, he jumps sideways off the bike with his hands firmly locked onto the handlebars. Now this way of stopping works well when he is going slow, but when he is at speed it’s a sight to be seen! His independence is confirmed when he starts by scooting along till he reaches a speed that he can stamp on the pedals and away he goes.

Has Whizz Kids made an impact?

The smile on Cameron Bell’s face confirms it.

Recently the Whizz Kids have been nominated for a Leicestershire Community Impact award in the Leicester Mercury newspaper for our contribution to sport. A nice article and picture appeared in the edition on Saturday 18th November. The results will be announced in the New Year.

Closer to home its great to see both George Atkins and Luke Marlow nominated for the Junior Sportsman award in the Harborough Mail, results will be known at the end of November.

The Whizz Kid attendance is now so great that the young people are split into 3 groups by age and ability.

Once again the Harborough District Council has been very supportive allowing us free us of all the tennis courts to accommodate the improved coaching provision.

Fancy dress will be the order of the day at the Christmas Session on Saturday 2nd December (2pm till 3.30pm). Riders are asked to decorate their bikes or ride in fancy dress.

The café will be open for parents to enjoy a mince pie and hot drink, at the end of the session the Whizz Kids will receive a small gift from the club.

Georgia Toner, Afton Sperry and Ross Barnett have been using the skills developed at Whizz Kids by competing in Cyclo-Cross for Under 12’s. All three have enjoyed the experience.

Nick Barnett, the organiser of the clubs cyclo-cross promotion at Misterton Hall, is hoping a number of Whizz Kids will follow in the wheel marks laid down by these intrepid youngsters.

During a very wet Friday, I volunteered to work in partnership with British Cycling to help deliver off-road skills to 30 Welland Park Community College and Kibworth High School students in Welland Park.

All of the of the students were ‘sports minded’ and compete in other sports to good standard.

The Whizz Kids are mainly of Primary School aged children, we are lacking teenagers, The session was an excellent success and there is some great potential in the schools. The next session will be an inter- schools race, with all the riders scoring points to see which is the champion school.

We should see some of the young people attend a Whizz Kids session in the future. Photos can viewed on the clubs website, click here for the Go-Ride page.

Group rides along the Brampton Valley Way are proving to be an enjoyable ride. On two occasions riders have left the Harborough Leisure Centre and completed a 12 mile route.

The ride is targeted at riders aged 10+ and new families. We have seen 15 riders attend both rides.

The next ride will be on Saturday 16th December at 2pm from the Leisure Centre.
Check out the Young Riders page on the club website details and photos.

East Midlands Olympic Talent Team rider George Atkins has spent his school holidays and weekends experiencing bike riding of different disciplines.

George was in the company of the British Cycling Team that experienced Mountain Bike and BMX skills. All of which involved crashing and learning the skills the hard way. George was more at home on the wooden track boards of Manchester Velodrome and out on the open road. Recently George has climbed the podium in both track and cyclo-cross events.

The highlight so far for the winter season must be his participation in the World Class Revolution Series.

And finally. A very big thank you to all the Whizz Kids who attended the November session and contributed towards Adam’Smile. Over 40 Whizz Kids raised £125 on the day; the club generously matched this sum to donate a total of £250.

It is hoped we can raise more money towards the development of a new cycle route between Lubenham and Market Harborough.

Tickety Boo
Dean Barnett
WVCC Youth Development Officer.

2007 Tour de France

Pilgrimage to Lourdes

Our 8th annual trip to watch the Tour will be our first to the high Pyrenees. The last mountain stage of the 2007 Tour is Stage 16 on Wednesday 25 July finishing on the Col d’Aubisque. It’s about 25 fairly hilly miles from Lourdes which we be our base.

Also within reasonable cycling distance are the classic climbs of the Col du Tourmalet and the Col d’Aspin. Neither of these climbs are part of the Tour so they should be relatively free of traffic. To the north are flatter roads for those who want a change from tough mountain climbs.

Lourdes is a focus for pilgrims who come to seek cures to illnesses and for the general religious experience. Believers come to see the Grotto where the Virgin Mary apparently appeared to Bernadette Soubirous in 1858. Around 6 million visitors make the pilgrimage to Lourdes every year and as a result there is a lot of hotel accommodation which is good news for us.

Our pilgrimage to the Tour will be for 24 persons for which I have a provisional booking at a hotel in the centre of the town.

We can fly with Ryanair to nearby Pau which is only 30 miles from Lourdes. At the moment it is not possible to make a booking. As soon as the July flights are live we should book our requirements without delay. I expect it will fill up very quickly

Our programme

Costs

Hotel 4 nights, dinner b&b, around £160
Flights Say £100
Taxi/transfer Say £50

Important – possible variation

I have based the timetable on a 4 night trip as previously which means leaving on Sunday so as to be able to watch the Tour on the Wednesday. As hotels are relatively cheap (around £40 per night) we could make better use of the weekend and fly on Saturday for a 5 night stay. Please let me know what you think.

Confirmation

If you wish to join the trip please confirm to me with a deposit for £75 per person. You can send a cheque or transfer direct to my bank. Contact for details

Paul Bramford
9 Gilmore Close, Oakham LE15 6FR 01572 770306 paul@bramford.com