E T Veteran Leaguer - lvrc.org.uk · Veteran Leaguer L E A G U E O F V E T E R A N R A C I N G C Y C L I S T S ... with your Handbook for the 2008 season. However, my work as Editor

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Veteran Leaguer

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AGUEOFVE

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GCYCLISTS

The official newsletter of the League of Veteran Racing Cyclists

Volume 16 No 04 Autumn 2007

InsideEditorial 2

Announcements & amendments 3

From the Chair: Don Parry 4

Point of View: Tom McCall 4

Annual General Meeting: Report 5

Regional News 6

Life in the Forties: Don Gilling 8

General news & Comment 10

Results, September 11

Pictures 12 – 13

Performance-enhancing drugs 16

Tour de France Quiz 17

Caption competition 18

Letters, obituary 20

Reviews 21

Coaching Pages: Coping with Winter 22 – 23

Page 2 The Veteran Leaguer: Autumn 2007

The Veteran Leaguer is theofficial Newsletter of theLeague of Veteran RacingCyclists

Newsletter EditorRay Minovi,45 Augusta Road, Moseley, Birmingham B13 8AETel/fax: 0121-449-1347email: [email protected]

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AGUEOFVE

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Cover PicturesWhat you might call a domestic shot of the AB break in the East Coast Road Race.From left, Brian Field, Lee Johnston (1st A), Tony Parkinson (1st B & 1st overall)unfortunately obscured, Steve Marrows (2nd B & 2nd overall); and Mel Blackford(2nd A) taking on fuel. Small picture: Martin Vesty in the East Coast Road Race .Photos: Jim Sampson

You can see The Veteran Leagueron the website in full colour

Executive Committee 2008Chairman: Don Parry, Castle Farm Cottage, 32North Street, Rothersthorpe, Northampton NN73JB01604-831969 [email protected]

Secretary: Peter Wilson, 52 Knoll Drive,Southgate, London N14 5NE [email protected]

Treasurer: Ian Booth, 1 Arden Leys, AspleyHeath Lane, Tanworth-in-Arden, W. MidlandsB94 5JE01564-742002 [email protected]

Registrar: Colin Dooley 62 Gillhurst Road,Harborne, Birmingham, B17 8PB0121-427-2149 [email protected]

Events Co-ordinator: Barrie Mitchell, HollyCottage, 15 High Street, Marton, Rugby CV239RR01926-632948 [email protected]

Editor The Veteran Leaguer & CoachingSecretaryRay Minovi, 45 Augusta Road, Moseley,Birmingham B13 8AE [email protected]

Results Co-ordinator: Tom McCall, 1 NorfolkRoad, Thornton Heath, Surrey CR7 8ND 0208-7680081 [email protected]

Stock Controller: Steve Watson, 49 TreadwellRoad, Epsom, Surrey, KT18 5JR, 01372752687 [email protected]

Co-opted non-executive membersOne representative from each regionAdvertising Manager: Jim Golden, FoxgloveCottage, 18 The Village, Keele, Staffs 01782-624631

Press Officer: Greg Ashley, 01788 891507

Social Secretary: Mick Ives, [email protected]

ICF Representative UK: Peter Ryalls 01246-413515. [email protected] Representative Belgium: Graham [email protected]

Webmaster: Jim [email protected]

Website: www.lvrc.org

Good news and less good news

A RUMOUR HAS GONE round that my last Veteran Leaguer would infact be my last. I’m pleased to say that it wasn’t. However,members should know that I’ve been seriously ill for the last six

months and had two major operations in September and October. I’mcurrently taking a drug which, among its many side effects (most ofwhich I don’t have) includes a feeling like mild flu, headaches, a poorappetite, and a general desire to lie about on the sofa and not do anyserious work. Hence the lateness of this issue which should, of course,have appeared before Christmas, and which you should receive alongwith your Handbook for the 2008 season.

However, my work as Editor has to be seen from now on as provi-sional – in other words, I’ll go on doing it as long as I can. This meansthat the LVRC should try hard to find a replacement for me.

Strenuous efforts by a number of people have increased the RacingCalendar compared with last year. I know this because it takes up anextra page of space. There are welcome innovations: Mick Ives hassucceeded in obtaining sponsorship for the Percy Stallard Series fromSpiuk, the clothing and equipment retailer; and for the first time inseveral years there will be an LVRC Track Championship at the hand-some Newport track. Whether this will turn out to be a one-off, or thefirst of an annual event, depends entirely on you, and a big turn-outcould establish the event for the foreseeable future.

Most of the organisers for the season are the same ones who havebeen keeping the League going for years. Like your Editor, they’re notgetting any younger, and we really do need organisers and helpers,especially from among the younger members. It doesn’t need much ifenough people do it: if every active member gave up one day’s racingto help out in some capacity or another it would mean that a smallnumber of members wouldn’t have to give up a dozen weekends. Andthink of the warm glow of satifaction you’d get from knowing thatyou’re working for a good cause.

Good luck to everyone for 2008.

The Veteran Leaguer: Autumn 2007 Page 3

Announcements, additions, amendments

Objective of the LVRCThe provision of a programme ofcompetitive and social cyclingevents for male and female membersof 40 years of age and over

The Veteran Leaguer welcomes allcontributions from anyone – letters,comments, results, articles, reports,pictures, anything as long as it’s notjust personal abuse – we can all getplenty of that at home.

Our favourite way of getting mate-rial is by e-mail, but we’d muchrather have it handwritten than notat all. If you can type it or supply iton disk we’re even happier. Word,.rtf, or ASCII are all fine.

If supplying pictures, please leavethem separate from the docu–ment(s). Preferably, photos should bein jpeg format.

Deadline for next issue: 20th March 2008

To all contributors

Steve Watson, 49 Treadwell Road,Epsom, Surrey, KT18 5JR01372 [email protected]

Cheques payable to LVRC, please

Cloth badges £2.00Metal badges £3.00

LVRC Shop

Legro’s Training Camp 20081 or 2 week training camp holidays in MajorcaPrices from £198March 31st to April 14th 2008Contact Dave Le Grys 07930 648469 for detailsEmail: [email protected] visit www.mastercoach.co.ukThe Tour of Majorca will be on April 2nd – 6th – agreat opportunity to see Europe’s top riders inaction.

National ChampionshipsWeekendIt was proposed at the January meeting ofthe Executive Committee that for the 2009season (and, presumably, thereafter) the lastweekend of July be set aside for the NationalRoad Race Championships, and that no otherevents be organised on these two days. In2009 the dates will be Saturday 25th & Sun-day 26th July.This does not mean that all the Champion-ships should be at a single venue. ExecutiveCommittee invites offers from organisers topromote some or all of these races.

Website for organisersRace organisers may find useful awebsite which allows them tomanage their events on-line, with anumber of advantages. The site islargely self-explanatory, so get on itand have a look: http://www.riderhq.com/organiser

The 2008 Annual GeneralMeeting of the LVRC will beheld on 8th November 2008 atNapton, Warwickshire, with thedinner & Prize Presentation onthe same day.

Changes & confirmations ofaddresses

REGISTRAR for Region 2: Fred Lee, 15Grangefield Avenue, Burley in Wharfedale,Ilkley LS29 7HA 01943-864360

TREASURER for Region 7: MichaelKerridge Coad House, 9 Colossus Way,Bletchley Park Bletchley MK3 6 GU 01908-649802

TREASURER for Region 8: Kevin Green, 8Elmore, Yate, South Glos BS37 [email protected]: 0798-2244139

Phil Cooke ChallengeRide100 Kms or 50KmsDunchurch-Towcester-DunchurchSunday 24th February 2008

Event open to all (no clubmembership required). Just pay,sign on, and ride!

Event start and finish, DunchurchVillage Hall on A426. Parking,changing facilities, refreshments.Route sheet provided, Certificatefor all finishers,well-marked-outroute. Entry £3.00 to be paid onthe day, profit contribution to go to“Myton Hospice”HQ open at 09:00hrs

Promoted by:Mi Racing-QATechnology-Crowhurst-Gale

Details from: Martin Hackley Tel.01788-810212 for further details


Point of View Tom McCall

From the Chair Don Parry

In my area the “Over the Hill Gang”has regular Tuesday and Thursday runsunder the name of . The number willvary according to people’s othercommitments, or the weather on theday – anything from half a dozen totwelve or fifteen.

What this means, of course, is thatwe will ride, as a group, in pairs. Wewill mostly keep to the smaller roads,but, inevitably, we will meet up withmotorised traffic. It is, of course, aworking day for many, and it will notbe long before motorised traffic willcome up behind the group, and theywill be looking to overtake. There will,of course, be private vehicles, but also,a lot of commercial vehicles – mostlysmall or medium size vans. Some arepatient, but most are not. Even if mostof them were not in too much of ahurry, well they will suddenly be, whenconfronted by a group of cyclists. Afterall it is an insult to the average workingman to have to be held up on a road,by a group of non-Road Tax payingcyclists, who ‘should not be there inthe first place’.

We all know the format – rev up theengine, hoot the horn, and, even ifthere is adequate space to overtake,pass as close as possible to the group,with that final pathetic little flourish,when they cut across the front of thelead rider. Oh – I nearly forgot thegesticulations as they speed off! On aweekday, it will more than probably be

the only group of cyclists they will seeall day, but, the red mist descends assoon as they are held up momentarily.They will be patient with horses (fear ofdamage or litigation), tractors and anyother slow-moving vehicles, but notwith cyclists, who are more vulnerablethan all the others.

This type of situation gives rise to anassociated question – when should agroup of cyclists single-up to facilitatethe passage of overtaking vehicles? TheHighway Code advises that we should,on either busy, or narrow roads. Thismakes sense – one on the grounds ofsafety, and one on the grounds ofcourtesy, and I personally do not havea problem with this. However, bear inmind that the average ignorant motoristbelieves that we should be in single-fileall the time! I don’t know where thismisinformation comes from, but this isat the root of a lot of problems be-tween groups of cyclists on the road,and overtaking motorists.

I can recall many situations, where Ifelt that a motorist behind the groupcould safely overtake, but they do notdo so, because they want to see areaction from us, like singling-up. Afterall, we are lesser non-motorisedmortals – at least at that time! I knowthat some of my riding companionsfeel that I can be too intransigent attimes, but I do not feel that a group ofcyclists needs to single-up at all, if theroad is safe for motorised traffic to

overtake, with a small degree ofpatience. We are not second-classcitizens, and we do not need to do thisunnecessarily. Additionally, I sometimesfeel that a long line of singled-up ridersis more difficult for a motorist tonegotiate than a more compact group.There is also more likelihood of thempulling over into the middle of thegroup if they cannot complete theirovertaking manoeuvre due to on-coming traffic suddenly appearing.

I live and ride mostly in Surrey, and Ihave a fairly busy urban section tonegotiate before I get out onto quieterroads. Apart from meeting up with theweekly group, either my ride out andback, or my other rides, are usuallydone solo, and, strangely enough, Iusually feel safer on my own. Yes, thereis more traffic on the roads, yes, thereis more congestion, and, yes, mostpeople are usually in a hurry. You haveto ride positively, be observant, antici-pate, and let people know what youare doing. Occasionally, if a motoristgives way, or makes room for you, Ialways thank them, as I feel it is a bit ofimportant PR, like stopping at Redtraffic lights. However, the red mist isnot usually there – strangely, this isusually reserved for when a group ofcyclists is encountered!

It is an interesting business riding onurban roads!

I hope you are all wintering well andstacking the miles in. There is anotherexcellent programme of racing arrangedfor the 2008 season and the details willbe on the web site and with you shortly.Arranging this calendar is a major pieceof work and so we owe a huge round ofthanks to Barrie Mitchell and Mick Ivesat the centre and all the Regional offi-cials and organisers for making this hap-pen. I hope you enjoy the fruits of theselabours.

There is one less Stallard event this yearbut we hope this is only a temporary loss.This series will have sponsorship for thefirst time being supported by ‘Spuik’.

All the National Championships are inthe Midlands (Region7) this year so an-ticipate full fields because travelling willbe relatively easy for most people.

Thanks therefore to Region 7 but wereally do need other people to come for-ward in future willing to put these eventson as having everything in one region isnot particularly healthy from an organi-sational development point of view.

Three week entry deadline for allStallard and championship events –don’t forget!

There will also be track championshipsthis year, at Newport, which we believewill be well supported. The level of sup-

port this year will have the most signifi-cant influence on the decision to repeatin 2009 – or not.

All-in-all, a terrific programme of high-quality competition delivered by a com-pletely voluntary organisation. We are theenvy of many.

Good luck toe v e r y o n e f o r2008.


Main Points

Annual General Meeting 2008

VVVVV Subscription goes up to £16

VVVVV Entry fees stay the same

VVVVV £1000 to David Rayner Fund

VVVVV A proposal that women under40 should be admitted wasturned down

VVVVV LVRC Track Championship atNewport in November

VVVVV No EOL for Championships andStallards – 3-week closingdate.

LVRC say ‘No’ toyounger women!The most controversial issue at thisyear’s AGM was another attempt tomake LVRC membership available towomen under 40 (30 was suggested).The proposal failed because of possi-ble problems with the Equal Opportu-nities Act: if you lower the entry age to30 for women, then men can claim thatthey’re being discriminated against.This effectively makes it impossible todiscuss the proposal at all, unless aSpecial Meeting votes by a majority of75% to alter the Constitution.

Chairman Don Parry reported an ex-cellent year, but there are problems onthe horizon, principally fewer races anda fall in membership, and difficulties withthe police in some areas. The website isup and running at an initial cost of £2000with an estimated annual upkeep of£300. We aim to investigate the possi-bilities of instituting on-line membership,the benefits of which would be mainte-nance of membership details centrally,thus improving communication and con-trol of finance, while easing the work-load of the regions. Don said he intendedto keep up a dialogue with BC whilemaintaining our independence becauseof the huge disparity in scale and profileof our respective organisations.

Treasurer Ian Booth reported that withfalling membership (approx. 180) duemainly to the demise of Eastway, revenuewas down (£2250 membership and£2688 levies). However, we are on asound financial basis but we can expectan increase in insurance, the possibilityto have to pay for race in some areas andPercy Stallard support.

Registrar Colin Dooley asked for acloser membership audit (possibly on-line registration would be the solution).

Ray Minovi said that the LVRC shouldmake serious efforts to find a replace-ment for him. The meeting passed ainanimous vote of thanks and apprecia-tion for all Ray’s hard work over the years.

Results Co-Ordinator Tom McCall re-ported that despite continuing dialogue

with Cycling Weekly, reportage was barelyadequate, that the Percy Stallard eventshad been a great success this year andreminded all promoters of the impor-tance of getting race results and a shortdescription of the event to him and JimGolden ASAP.

Jean Flear, standing down as StockController after years of hard work,earned a big vote of thanks. It’s possiblethat the membership does not realise theworkload needed to produce medals,trophies and jerseys for all events plusthe engraving.

Jim Golden, Webmaster, reported thatthe website had been a great success witha lot of visits and enquiries, and said thathe expected that the whole websitewould continue to grow in stature.

International Racing Secretary PeteRyalls reported that we had about 50entries for the ICF World Championshipswhich were a great success. In the Over-60s category the LVRC providing the larg-est contingent from any country.

Officials were elected en bloc. SteveWatson replaces Jean Flear as Stock con-troller, and Greg Ashley was co-opted aspress secretary.

ProposalsIt was agreed that the LVRC again do-nate the sum of £1000 to the DaveRayner Fund. Pete Wilson suggested itwould be nice to have a record of theachievements of the riders currentlysponsored by the fund to publish on ourwebsite.

National championships and StallardSeries events will in future have a three-week closing date, and there will be noentries on the line.

Annual subscription was raised to£16.00.

Recommendation of Racing number13 will be amended to read ‘events oftwo hours duration.’

A proposal that a special fee be ar-ranged for day licences failed, the aimbeing to encourage new members. How-

ever, Executive will consider this at nextmeeting.

It was proposed that race organisersshould receive free LVRC member mem-bership. No decision was made, since it’sa practice already in use by a number ofregions, and any region which wishes todo the same may do so without refer-ence to the AGM or Executive Commit-tee.

There was some discussion about fundsheld by Regions, and a suggestion thatbalances above a certain level (£1500 or£2000) should revert to central funds.Executive Committee will discuss.

Total attendance at the AGM was 29.

The Dinner was a great success andMick Ives and his band of helpers de-serve a vote of thanks for all the hardwork they have put in to make this pos-sible.

Mick Ives announced at the dinner thathe had succeeded in obtaining a spon-sor for the Percy Stallard series in 2008


News fromNews fromNews fromNews fromNews fromthe Regionsthe Regionsthe Regionsthe Regionsthe Regions

www.CicloCostaBlanca.com

Training and Touring baseHotel villa or apartmentsGuided riding & plannedroutesCyclosportivesDiscounted weeksBike Hire

Winter 2007prices from £125

Tel: UK 0121-288-1143Spain: 034-966-780-132

Costa Blanca Spain Cycling BreaksDordogne:South-West FranceVVVVV Quiet well-maintained roads, very little traffic V V V V V Varied terrain ideal fortraining and touring V V V V V free route maps 40km –120 km VVVVV 6 gîtes in block,tranquil private woodland setting, views over countryside VVVVV Self-cateringaccommodation for max 24 peopleV V V V V Suitable for individual or blockbookings V V V V V Secure cycle storageV V V V V Swimming pool with hydrotherapyfacility June – SeptemberWeb site: www.nieudegat.com

For brochure contact:Mike and Olwen MellingTel: 01548-852089e-mail: [email protected]

Region 2Happy New Year!Our region’s AGM, held in October, re-sulted in the lowest attendance for manyyears: a total of only 17 attended. All of-ficials were re-elected, but as JohnDowning has remarked in his Region 5reports, all these officials are getting olderand we need younger people to pick upthe baton.

The Region will provide eight eventsto the race calendar and our race co-ordinator, Dr Alastair Cameron, hashinted he might put on an additionalevent in August. Many thanks to the cur-rent organisers, marshals and helpers.Again, we do need more people to havea go and organise events. There is sup-port and we offer free membership toRegion 2.

A date for your diary:Derek Brownewill again will be organising the ‘ClassicBike Display’ on Sunday 20th April atWade House Community Centre, Shelf,Halifax. Items can be taken to auctionand all proceeds to the Dave RaynerFund. Contact Derek on 01274 674693.

Another big thank you to our editorRay Minovi for continuing to produce theLeaguer. Best wishes for a successful re-covery Ray from all in Region 2.

Dave Hamilton

Region 5Jenny Downing has retired from organ-ising so in 2008 the Tom Simpson Me-morial Race will be organised by Lee AnnMcCarry assisted by members of

Harworth and Dinnington Cycling Clubs.We missed the Ray Levers Trophy Race

in 2007, but are pleased to announcethat the event in 2008 will be promotedby Doug Bond assisted by members ofSheffield Phoenix. The event is on 13th

April and will be on a new circuit nearBlyth in Nottinghamshire. That’s the goodnews: however, race will be under TLIrules, so join TLI or take a day licence.

Reminder to all race organisers, a bal-ance sheet is a legal requirement, pleasemake John Flear’s life easier by sendingbalance sheet any surplus and levies of50p per rider asap.

Many thanks to Jim Sampson for somereally good pictures, well done to Jim andall members who have given time andeffort in helping our region to be a suc-cess.

Sad to announce the death of DerekHemingway. Age 68 from cancer. Derekwas a member of LVRC and also Velo99. He was originally a member ofWombwell Whs and more recentlyAxholme Whs. A keen sportsman, he alsohad interests in mountaineering, sailingand was a keen skier. John Downing

Region 6Good news is that all the funding andplans have been finalised for the newcircuit at Tudor Grange Park, Solihull.Work will start as soon as weather per-mits, and the first events to be run onthe 850-metre circuit should take placethis summer. The region will put on aboutthe same number of events as last sea-

son; Stuart Hall will organise the Tour ofthe Abberleys; and Michael Amery hasarranged to promote a new LVRC TrackChampionship, sponsored by BushHealthcare, at Newport in November.

Region 7Regional Treasurer and Events Co-ordinator Michael Kerridge has movedhouse. His new address is: Coad House,9 Colossus Way, Bletchley Park BletchleyMK3 6 GU. Telephone: 01908-649802,mobile 07939-168679

This is a quiet time of the year for rac-ers, but for organisers it is the start of thebeginning, especially this year in Region7. In our Region it will be a hectic timeas we are promoting all of the NationalRoad Race Championships, two PercyStallard events plus eighteen other events,plus the Dinner and Prize Presentationplus the AGM . What else is there?

There will be a lot of knocking on doorsto recruit Flag Wavers, drivers, judges andfor anybody who can take money andplace the first ten in every race. Pleasegive your help. It will be badly needed.

Ron Day

Region 8Please note that regional TreasurerKevin Green has a new address andphone number. They are: 8 Elmore,Yate, South Glos BS37 4JGMobile: 0798-2244139

Region 9When warmth returns to this part of theplanet region 9 will be found healthy andactive with a planned programme of 10road races and 34 circuit race. With thecontinuing fiasco at Hogg Hill all datesand venues for the circuit races are pro-visional but will be confirmed in ampletime and appear on the LVRC and Lon-don Cycle Sport websites. The road sea-


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son will start on April 16th with theGlendene’s Essex Early Starter and cir-cuit racing a month earlier on March13th. Dunton, Fowlmead and Hillingdonare the circuit venues with Hogg Hill apossibility somewhere on the distant ho-rizon. I note with incredulity that theplanned Hogg Hill is now considered toohilly and the Eastway legacy velopark cir-cuit not suitable by those who threw outthe Rammey Marsh venue. Fowlmead isto be welcomed into the fold with theRegion 9 Crit Championships to be heldthere on June 15th. The Region’s RoadRace Championships will be held on theViper circuit on August 10th during a jointSouthend Wheelers and Ciclos Uno pro-motion. The two stalwarts of these or-ganisations, Fred Little and TrevorMaddern, are itching to start racing againafter injury and sickness so the blue rinsebrigade can expect an even more torridtime next year. The Finsbury Park are awelcome new promoter with Sid Lovattorganising a new road race again on theViper circuit. Bill Ollis, our long-servingand suffering Registrar, confirms theLeague’s subs are increased to £16 for2008 and, due to distribution costs, youwill not receive any further copies of TheVeteran Leaguer if he has not banked yoursubs before February. Bill has decided tostand down at the end of next year whichraises the problem of ageing regional of-ficials soldiering on well past their sell-by dates and are thinking of retiring totheir overseas-based yachts and holidayhomes. Time for new blood to come for-ward. Bill has fortunately found a replace-ment in Mike Cross of the Lantern Rouge– does that now mean we are all ex-pected to come last! No problem for mebut you lot may find it more difficult.Seasons greetings. Richard Wall

LVRC PublicLiability Insurance– the best value on the market forthe Over-40s . It covers membersfor both social and competitivecycling at all times in UK and allEuropean countries except Switzer-land. Limit of Indemnity:fivemillionpounds.

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IN AUGUST 1940, when I was 14, Iused to ride to my work as a traineemechanic on a Hercules with

dropped handlebars. A young manFreddie Baker, two years or so older thanme, who worked there introduced meto his cycling club, the Ealing Manor CC.My first club ride was out to the Bagshotarea. On the ride home I found myselfstruggling to keep up with two ladies rid-ing a tandem. In subsequent years I haveoften wondered how many potentiallygood cyclists and club members were putoff’ cycling by such a rude introductionto club life. In my case I obviouslythought ‘I have to do better than this’and promptly got down to the job of pro-gressing beyond the tuggo stage. It was asink or swim situation.

From memory two of the fastest 25-mile men of that time were in the EalingManor, George Fleming and Pape. I thinkone of them had broken the hour in aTT on the road. George Fleming had theability, on the track, to go so fast that hedropped riders off his wheel.

In 1942 a proposition that the EalingManor should join the BLRC was carried.Then, in true democratic manner an Ex-traordinary GM was called, attended bymembers I had not seen before, and thedecision to join the League was reversed.Several of us then left the Ealing Manorand formed the West London Road Clubwhich joined the London section of theBLRC.

Our club runs used to start from TheGreen Man public house in West Ealing.The Worthing run used to start from theGreen Man to more or less kick the sea-son off. A club in Kingston used to or-ganise the Portsmouth run later in theseason. On one of these runs, after thewar, the police stopped it and suggestedthat it should be broken up into smallergroups. In reality these training runs wereout-and-out races and as such may I wellhave kindled the fire for Massed Startroad racing in many riders.

During the war and for several yearsafterwards it was difficult to get equip-ment suitable for road racing, and indeedthis persisted for several years after thewar. Officials made a point of incorpo-rating as many hills as possible in thechosen courses. This often made it es-sential to have a low enough gear for onesteep hill and it was of no use for the restof the course. Rather a dilemma if oneonly had three gears to use. I had ac-quired a Cyclo hub that incorporated afree wheel in its design. This type of hubhad an extra double-sided cone and ballbearings inside to facilitate the freewheelpart of the assembly. The beauty of ithowever was that three ordinary fixedwheel type sprockets could be screwedon and hence one could ring the changesgearwise. Some one, I forget who, toldme that if the flange was ground off asprocket one could fit four cogs insteadof three. I followed this suggestion andhad no problems.

In those early days many riders usedsingle-roller Simplex gears, with not manyteeth engaged on the smaller cogs, andthe chain would sometimes jump a toothor more under heavy loading. I used atype of gear where the jockey idler was

mounted on a curved arm under thechainwheel and a fork mounted near thecluster was used to change gears, anOsgear, I think. The increased chainwrapped around the cogs prevented anyjumping . One club member had achange mechanism named somethinglike Victoria Margaritta. The fork to movethe chain was mounted above thechainstay and to change gear the riderpedalled backwards (in fact the VittoriaMargherita – see box, facing page, fordetails). Reverting to the question ofgears, in the early days many of us onlyhad three speeds, then four, in my casestill with a one-eighth chain. Then fourwith a 3/32 chain and then five. Thedouble chain ring, with a very simple anddirect lever operation gave an immedi-ate eight gears to most of us. Who couldpossible want more than eight?

I started my demobilisation leave inNov 1947 and in due course I ordered aframe from Percy Stallard in Wolver-hampton, Accles and Pollack tubing,road angles and a 41½ wheelbase.

My first major event was the 1948Dover to London held on Easter Sunday.I rode in the 1948 six day from Brighton

… continued on page 14

The field leaves the South Coast in the 1948 Brighton–Glasgow. Author DonGilling is the rider nearest the cameraman at the rear of the film car.

Life in the FortiesDon Gilling

Don Gilling might seem to have begun cycling seriously at probably the worst possible time for the sport:the War,almost complete absence of equipment, a depleted racing programme. But there was racing, the first open road racewas run, the BLRC was founded, and stage-racing in Britain took off.


International News 2007

WORLDS 2008 WILL be held atAchtmaal in Holland onSunday Aug 3rd not far across

the border from Antwerp, at least anhour’s drive from Ghent.

The 8.25 km circuit is flat andwithout too many corners. The startand finish is quite narrow but the restof the circuit is normal width, they holdmany races on it without complaints ortrouble. There will be a photo finishand video in 2008.

‘The circuit looks good and theorganisation looks even better,’ writesGraham Webb. ‘Only one problem atAchtmaal is a traffic island with bol-lards, but it is 100% promised that thiswill be removed for the championshipsand rebuilt afterwards! All the rest isgoing well and I will make a finalinspection on the 27th April 2008.

The circuit is 8.25 km, totally traffic-free with the width of a ‘B’ road. TheOver-60s race will start at 09:00 and is6 laps; +50 10:30, 8 laps; +40 12:30,10 laps; and the amateurs 15:00, 14laps. Pre-race entry through the LVRC& TLI will be Euro6, on the dayEuro11. Riders will need to bring theirown safety pins and something forattaching the frame N°. Riders thirdparty insurance is not the responsibil-ity of the organisers and must bedone through own federation, LVRCor TLI. Riders with a deficit of 4 to 5minutes on the leaders will be taken

UCI Masters, StJohann, Austria.August 2008World Cup Road Races: 24, 25, 26AugustWorld Masters Road Races 28, 29,30 AugustWorld Masters Time-trials: 27 Au-gust Hill Climb: 25 AugustUCI Licence required. Entries on lineexcept for time-trial. One lap: 40 km

Information from the website,www.masterswm.org,or from: Harald Bauman, A-6380 StJohann in Tirol, Postfach 77, Aus-tria.

ICF Road Race Championships: 3rd August 2008

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Ghent

Antwerp

Zundert

N263

A1-E19

A14-E17

AchtmaalBreda

Belgium

Netherlands

Motorway from Ghent to Antwerp, E17,follow ring until exit Breda, E19, takeexit N° 1, Meer, head for Zundert andfollow signs to Achtmaal. Parking isarranged and overnight campers will beallowed to use the car park at thefootball ground, where race dressingrooms and showers are situated.

Website: www.wielersitezundert.nlPeter Ryalls will do a block entry for LVRCriders. Entries to him on standard formwith sae and £6. Date of birth is essential.11 Devonshire Close, Dronfield, DerbyshireS18 1QYClosing date: 4th July 2008

out of the race. There will be Euro1624in prize money, spread over the 4races. The main race organiser, Ad vanBroekhoven, will be posting about thechampionships soon onwww.wielersitezundert.nl I think thathe knows a bit of English, but I haveoffered him my services with transla-tion. There are some photos of thecircuit on his website as they holdmany races on it, including the lastedition of the Dutch championships.’

Achtmaal in Holland is just aboveAntwerp, direction Breda. It’s a goodhour’s drive from Ghent: motorwayfrom Ghent to Antwerp, E17, thenfollow the ring until exit Breda, E19,take exit N° 1, Meer, head for Zundertand follow the signs to Achtmaal.Parking is arranged and overnightcampers will be allowed to use the carpark at the football ground, where therace dressing rooms and showers aresituated.

The 2009 championships are for theBelgian ECW federation, Guy Crassetin the French part of Belgium. 2010 isfor the WAOD in Flanders and 2011 isstill open to the LVRC, TLI if anyonefancies organising these champion-ships. I have got approval from the ICFfor the Deal circuit, (pending inspec-tion) even though it is a bit short inkms. Any suggestions or offers for2011? Graham Webb.

The Vittoria Margherita derailleur gearnamed in honour of Princess Margheritawas launched by the Nieddu brothers in1935 and trumpeted ‘Imperial Italy, leaderof the world’. The Nieddus claimed to haveinvented the tension arm and pulley, and tohave won ‘all the championships and greatbicycle races of the world’ – although theGradient derailleur, using a similar tensionarm, had been patented in 1896.

The Margherita was in fact an excellentproduct, simple, robust and inexpensive. Itallowed the rider to adjust the chain ten-sion and it even worked when clogged withmud. It could skim over cobbles and pave-ments without breaking the tension-arm,

the rear wheel could be removed withoutthe jockey pulley getting in the way. On theother hand, you had to backpedal to changegear and considerable skill was required.The gear won numerous classics and stageraces, including the Giro d’Italia (1936 –1940), and in 1938 Gino Bartali won theTour de France on one. In 1939 Vittoria pro-duced a 5-speed model.

The Vittoria Margherita derailleur


Stallard: Hall of Fameat lastPERCY STALLARD, THE man who introducedroad racing to Britain, was finally to beinducted into Wolverhampton’s Hall ofSporting Fame at a ceremony to be heldat Aldersley Stadium (now Aldersley Lei-sure Village) sometime in November. Hejoins Hugh Porter and Bob Thom. Stallardorganised the first open road race inGreat Britain, the Llangollen to Wolver-hampton, in 1942, in defiance of thecycling authorities (the NCU and theRTTC, now CTT) and was instrumentalin creating the British League of RacingCyclists, the flag-bearer for modern roadsport. In 1986, when the BCF rejectedthe idea of age-related racing, Stallardwas a co-founder of the LVRC. His in-duction into the Hall of Fame is the re-sult of years of campaigning by membersof the Wolverhampton Wheelers andother leading ‘rebels’ like Dave Orford.It’s taken a long time, but justice seemsat last to have been done.

Motorists less carefulwith helmet wearersSOME TIME AGO a study suggested thatwearing a helmet might encourage somecyclists to take more risks. Last year DrIan Walker, a traffic psychologist at BathUniversity, looked at helmet use from thepoint of view, not of the cyclist’s psychol-ogy, but the motorists. The result of hisresearch is that he’s discovered that driv-ers perceive cyclists without helmets asmore vulnerable and less competent thanthose with. Dr Walker has measured howmuch extra distance drivers give to non-helmet wearers compared with those inhelmets. On average, motorists pass 3.3inches closer to you if you’re wearing ahelmet. Dr Walker included a special cat-egory for white van drivers, and confirmsthat they really are a menace – they pass4 inches closer.

All drivers are also sexist. When DrWalker wore a wig to impersonate awoman, cars allowed him an extra 5.5inches, because they thought they werepassing a female cyclist. The research

doesn’t run to establishing whether thisis down to driver gallantry, or the beliefthat women are more likely to be incom-petent.

Campagnolo goelectronicELECTRIC DERAILLEURS HAVE been aroundfor some time since Mavic launched theirfirst some years ago. You’ll remember thatthe Mavic suffered such a series of prob-lems, mostly to do with the electrics get-ting wet, that they eventually gave it upas a bad job. Having tested theirhandbuilt prototypes in the professionalpeloton, where they experienced someof the same problems as troubled Mavic,Campag think they’ve got it sorted. Thepros said they liked it, and even at theend of a 160-mile classic the system stillretained 87% battery life.

The battery is built into the bottle cage,a bar-mounted computer (which doublesas a normal bike computer) runs theshow, and shifting is via small motors builtinto the changers. The levers look thesame but operate micro-switches insteadof cables. Confusingly, the system is de-scribed as ‘self-learning’, so ‘there is noneed to adjust cables for optimum per-formance’. There is in fact only one thincable along the chainstay – wireless is notan option at the moment because itwould need too much power. The clev-erest bit is undoubtedly the front mech,which automatically trims the changer soas to avoid the chain rubbing on the cage.

The whole gruppo electronico is saidto be ‘close to production’, so maybe thatspecial Christmas present …

£750 rear mechA COUPLE OF MONTHS ago there appearedon the market what must be the mostexpensive weight-for-weight piece ofcycle equipment ever. the Carbonsportsrear mech is, they say, to be sold at £750,or £6.25 per gram (28 grams equal oneounce, so that’s £175 per ounce) – itweighs in at 120 gms, 60 gms lighter thana Campag Record. However, it’s com-patible with both Campag and Shimano,and apart from screws and bolts is allcarbon fibre.

90% ‘want to ride towork’WHEN I WAS IN full-time employment I wasfor ten years the only employee who cy-cled to work. The school was seven milesaway, but in reasonable weather I usedto do a 22-mile loop. If it rained I onlyhad seven miles to get home. If it didn’t,the world was, as Arthur Daley used tosay, my lobster. This is why, when cyclistsask my advice about fitting their traininginto a busy schedule, I always recom-mend using the ride to and from work asa basis, doing your training during thehour or more you’d spend commuting,home for the evening meal by aroundsix, training completed. Then I sit backand listen to the string of reasons whythey can’t do it. No, they say, they preferto waste time in the car, get home, havesomething to eat, then go out training –by which time all they wanted to do wasdoze on the sofa in front of the televi-sion. I’ll be the first to admit that condi-tions couldn’t have been better for me:there were purpose-built changing roomswith hot showers, so I’d take clothes forthe week on Monday and take themhome again on Friday.

A recent survey by outdoor clothingcompany Rohan found that 90% of peo-ple said they would consider cycling towork if they could freshen up before get-ting to their desks. Rohan, of course, sellbreathable outer clothes, so they wantto believe this is true, but can it really beso? 90%? Nine out of ten of all those sin-gle people in motor-cars would, given theright conditions, give up their cars in fa-vour of cycling to work? Think what thatwould mean for the public roads at eighto’clock on a weekday morning.

Of course, it might encourage daily util-ity cycling if employers really did go tothe trouble of providing showers andchanging accommodation, but I suspectthat the figure for actual users would im-mediately shrink to about ten percent.However, it would be nice if employersput in some facilities, if only to call theirbluff.

News and Comment


Results: SeptemberReading CC, Stoke Row, Henley-on-Thames.30 September. SE England Green Jersey series,final counting eventReading’s vets Road Races were promoted on thetough Stoke Row course.Race 1, A/B/C: The race split on the first lap, with13 riders going clear. Andy Eagers (Derby Mer-cury), one of the pre-race favourites, won in asprint finish from Craig Wilson (Ciclisti Vecchi)and Martin O’Grady( VC Deal). The chasing bunchgradually lost riders, a small group of seven fin-ishing at 3 minutes. Graham Hindle was ReadingCC’s best finisher, 4th in his Age Group.A - 1. Andy Eagers; 2. Craig Wilson; 3. JonStephenson; 4. Brendan Heaslip; 5. PeterRobinson; 6. Andy LloydB - 1. Martin O’Grady; 2. Simon Williams; 3. NeilBradford; 4. Paul Doel; 5. Julian Cann; 6. MikeInder;C - 1. Martin Hulbert; 2. Jim Moffatt; 3. BobGarlinge; 4. Graham Hindle; 5. Colin Bateman; 6.Eric WilcockRace 2 (D cats only) also split on the first lap,with a group of nine breaking away. The race waswon by Ralph Keeler (Wheels In Wheels) fromMartin Hackley (MI Racing) with Tony Woodcock(Glendene CC) in third – he may be over 65, butprefers the challenge of riding in a younger race.D - 1. Ralph Keeler; 2. Martin Hackley; 3. TonyWoodcock; 4. Lindsey Ruocco; 5. Ron Hewes; 6.Dick NaylorRace 3 for 60+ categories was won in fine styleby John McMillan (Finchley RT) who broke awayafter one lap had been completed, staying awayfor the rest of the race. The course reduced therace to a small group, which split in half on thepenultimate lap after an initial move by BrianDacey (De Laune). But those left behind closedup after some positive relaying, and the group tookthe bell together. On the false flat after Nettlebed,Andy Hicks (South Western) attacked and gaineda small advantage, which he managed to main-tain to the finish for 2nd place. The uphill sprintfor 3rd was taken by Tom McCall (Thornton Heath)from Keith Brooks (Ciclisti Vecchi).E - 1. John McMillan; 2. Andy Hicks; 3. KeithBrooks; 4. Richard Williamson; 5. Alf Davies; 6.Allen JanesF - 1. Tom McCall; 2. Ken Haddon; 3. Mick Ives;4. Brian Dacey; 5. John Murphy; 6. Roger Batson

First a vote of thanks to Steve Watson for con-ceiving, and persevering with the Jersey Series.The events have all been keenly contestedthroughout the year, with some prolific overallwinners, and close-fought battles for podiumplaces.A Cats: Andrew Meilak built a solid platform inthe early events with 3 wins in 5 rides. He fol-lowed this up with a further win in the secondhalf of the season, and was never headed.Andrew Bates was 2nd overall with consistentresults through the year, with Craig Wilson 3rd,but from only 4 rides!1. Andrew Meilak, 73; 2. Andrew Bates, 57; 3.Craig Wilson, 44; 4. Matt Seaton, 35; 5. MarkSimmonds, 32; 6. Andy Lloyd, 20B Cats: Martin O’Grady was a clear winner,scoring points all season, and with 3 wins. Teammate Tony Upson was 2nd, collecting 1 win onthe way, but only just clear of Julian Cann, wholooked at one time to be on course for a higheroverall finish with a series of high early seasonplaces, including 1 win.1. Martin O’Grady, 71; 2. Tony Upson, 58; 3.Julian Cann, 56; 4. Keith Jarrett, 25. KevinChambers, 43; 6. Paul Doel, 28C Cats: Martin Hulbert was at the head of af-fairs all year, although he was pressed by ColinBateman in the first half of the season. How-ever, Hulbert finished in style with 3 straight wins(4 in all). Colin Bateman was 2nd overall fromMick McManus who had only 4 rides.1. Martin Hulbert, 73; 2. Colin Bateman, 61; 3.Mick McManus, 44; 4. Max McCalla, 38; 5. PaulBird, 36; 6. Brendan Heaslip, 24D Cats: Tony Woodcock took an early lead inthe competition, and led throughout, with 3 winson the way. Tony, who is an F rider, prefers totest himself in a younger age group, and with

some effect! The next few placings were closelyfought, with David Williams emerging as 2ndoverall from Terry Devine, but by only 1 point.Terry, now an E, also opted to race at a youngerlevel all year. Alan Clarke and Dave Woodswere not far away, with a tie for 4th overall.1. Tony Woodcock, 69; 2. David Williams, 48;3. Terry Devine, 47; 4eq. Alan Clarke, DaveWoods, 41; 6. Lindsey Ruocco, 37E Cats: Sid Lovatt finished on top after a sea-son of consistent results. Keith Brooks cameclose at one stage with a win, but Sid wasunreachable. Keith Brooks was 2nd overall, witha dead heat in 3rd place close behind by AndyHicks and John McMillan, who impressed with3 wins, but without the minor results to backthem up.1. Sid Lovatt, 69; 2. Keith Brooks, 3eq. AndyHicks, John McMillan, 50; 5. Tony Coe, 46; 6.Roger Jackaman, 41F Cats: Brian Dacey and Roly Crayford sharedthe spoils in the first half of the season, andthe battle was spiced up by the arrival of TomMcCall as a new F in the second half of theyear. Unfortunately, Crayford’s campaign wasaffected by accidents during the year, butDacey’s accumulated points total proved to beunreachable, despite McCall’s 3 straight winslate in the year. However, the final result wasclose, with Crayford and McCall dead heatingfor 2nd overall only 2 points adrift.1. Brian Dacey, 69; 2eq. Roly Crayford, TomMcCall, 67; 4. Tony Burnham, 55; 5. MickCurtis, 35; 6. Terry Anderson, 11G Cats: Arnold Russell was impressive with afull house of 5 wins. Norman Bright was a meri-torious 2nd.1. Arnold Russell, 75; 2. Norman Bright, 69

SE England Green Jersey series, Final Points GC(15 for a win down to 1 for a finish, best 5 count)

LVRC CD or DVD, £7 or £8The LVRC CD contains 28 back numbers of the Veteran Leaguer, 55 back numbersof Cycle Coaching, 100 pages of training and nutrition, over 1000 photos & videos,a total of 650 Mb of material. The DVD contains twice as many photos, and otherodds and ends, totalling 3.8 Gb. The photographs can be shown onmost modern television sets and printed using a computer andprinter. Magazines and articles are in .pdf (Acrobat) formatand you will probably need a fairly up-to-date computerto look at them and/or print them. The disks are checkedon several different machines and drives before beingsent to you. Half the proceeds go to the LVRC, half tothe David Rayner fund.

CD £7, DVD £8, from the Editor, address as on page 2,cheques payable to LVRC.


From top right: Colin Willetts & MelvynCooper holding the watch at theAbberleys time-trial; Dave Worsfold andPeter Greenwood in the PeterboroughRR; Les West wins the Severn Stoke RR;Mike Allen in the Vic Sutton RR


Pictures from the Ernie Clements MemorialTwo-day in Malvern


1. Mick Donnelly (A) 58.072. Phil Bull (C) 59.203. Peter Greenwood (D) 59.244. Phil Rayner (A) 1.00.145. Dave Hudson (C) 1.00.206. Paul Stubbs (B) 1.00.227. John Herring (D) 1.00248. Nick Giles (B) 1.00.259. Tony Taylor (E) 1.00.339. Ray Robinson (D) 1.00.39

10. Malcolm Whitehead (C) 1.00.4411. Richard Howes (B) 1.01.3612. Graham Trulove (D) 1.01.3613. Phil Holloway (A) 1.02.1014. Barrie Mitchell (E) 1.02.1015. Kev Shand (D) 1.02.1516. Paul Davis 1.02.2717. Jeff Bowler (E) 1.02.2818. Dave Rutherford (E) 1.02.5219. John McMillan (E) 1.02.55

Time-trial ChampionshipWarmington, 7 October. 24 miles

All the winners, from left: Organiser Dave Penn, Tony Taylor (E), Keith Mathews (G); PaulStubbs (B); Phil Bull (C); Averil Swann (L); Peter Greenwood (D); Alan Colburn (H); MickDonnelly (A); Mick Ives (F)

20. Mick Ives (F) 1.02.5621. Greg Ashley (A) 1.03.1722. Avril Swann LA) 1.03.5823. Nick Wood (C) 1.04.4524. Dave Williams (D) 1.06.0925. Martin Russell (C) 1.06.1526. Richard Cowan (C) 1.06.1927. John Dixson (F) 1.06.4228. Ron Clews (B) 1.07.0029. Andy Hicks (E) 1.07.3030. Vincent Jenkins (F) 1.08.4631. John Grumbley (E) 1.08.5232. Don Parry (D) 1.09.1033. Aann Staley (LD) 1.09.1534. Clive Faine (E) 1.09.1635. Roger Hargreaves (D) 1.09.3336. Alan Colburn (H) 1.11.1337. Murray Kirton (F) 1.11.3038. Dennis Knabe (D) 1.12.5939. Alex Zebedee (LA) 1.13.3340. Ian Howell (D) 1.14.4341. Keith Mathews (G) 1.22.3342. Steve Ireland (G) 1.26.45

CategoriesA: 1. M. Donnelly; 2. P. Rayner; P. HollowayB: 1. P. Stubbs; 2.N. Giles; 3. R. HowesC: 1. P. Bull; D. Hudson; M. WhiteheadD: 1. P. Greenwood; J. Herring; R. RobinsonE: 1. T. Taylor; B. Mitchell; J. BowlerF: 1. M. Ives; 2. J. Dixson; V. JenkinsG: 1. K. Mathews; S. IrelandH: 1. A. Colburn

to Glasgow and finished sixth on the firstday. The second day to Wolverhampton,partially wind assisted, was a flier. A fiveor six strong break away developed justafter the start and as what was left of thepeleton entered the park at the finish wesaw the remains of the initial breakawayin front.

On day three I came off on some loosegravel while descending Holme Moss.Betty and Len Hook picked me up ontheir way back from Glasgow. They toldme that Tom Saunders had won the sixday. Apart from the usual abraded skinand the gash in my scalp I was very luck-ily unhurt.

The following year I lasted all the wayto Glasgow. The final stage was very fastdue in part to a strong following wind.

Double chain rings had arrived but evenso feet were really twiddling the high topgears around. I seem to recall feelingcomfortable for the first time during thatstage. This feeling of comfort was en-hanced at the finish when I was intro-duced to the bathing facilities availableat a top football club, dozens of us in avery large deep bath full of very hot wa-ter.

I now live in a very pleasant housingcomplex here in Haywards Heath. I haveenclosed a few photographs of that era.I will be happy to make contact withanyone who raced or helped duringthose days of old. I have with your helpspoken to several ex-BLRC members. Ifanyone has a contact detail or news ofGordon Piper I would appreciate it.

… continued from page 9Life in the Forties


1. Stoppages(a) to greet President de Gaulle; (b) to protestagainst drug testing, introduced the daybefore; (c) to protest against ‘unreasonable’multiple stages, early starts etc; (d) toprotest against drug testing and police raids.

2. Winners(a) Maurice Garin, 1903; (b) François Faber,1909; (c) Henri Cornet, 1904; (d) FirminLambot, 1922

3. Nicknames(a) Maurice Garin; (b) Francois Faber; (c)Gino Bartali; (d) Hugo Koblet; (e) RaphaelGeminiani; (f) Charly Gaul; (g) FedericoBahamontes; (h) Eddy Merckx; (i) BernardHinault; (j) Marco Pantani

4. (a) Either 1913, or 1919 – no-one can beabsolutely certain – so the first wearer mayhave been Philippe Thys or EugéneChristophe; (b) 1953; (c)1933; (d) 1975; (e)Merckx, 1969, 1971, 1972; Hinault, 1979; (f)Bartali, 1938, 1948; Coppi, 1949, 1952;Bahamontes, 1959; Merckx, 1969, 1970.

5. (a) Gino Bartali in 1948; (b) François Faber,1909; (c) Charles Pélissier, 1930: 8 wins, 7second places; (d) Eddy Merckx, 34

6. Mountains(a) 1910; (b) 1911; (c) Restefond, or Bonnette,2802m; (d) L’Izoard; (e) Coppi; 1976.

7. Abandoned in yellowS. Maes 1937, protest at a time penalty forbeing pushed by spectators; F. Magni, 1950,when Bartali pulled out both Italian squadsbecause, he said, he’d been assaulted; W. VanEst, 1951, crashed into a ravine; L. Ocana,1971, crash; P. Simon, 1983, broken scapulafollowing fall; S. Heulot, 1996, tendinitis of knee

8. DeathsCepeda 1935, crash; Simpson, 1967, heatexhaustion; Casartelli 1995, crash.

9. Teams(a) 1930; (b) 1962; (c) 1967; (d) 1969; (e)France & Belgium, 10 each; (f) Peugeot, 8

10. World Champions

Le Quiz: réponsesGeorges Speicher 1933; Louison Bobet1954; Eddy Merckx 1971 & 1974; StephenRoche 1987; Greg LeMond 1989

11. (a) Le Comte de Dion; (b) In order towipe out Le Vélo; (c) Géo Lefèvre

12. French words(a) a list of a rider’s performances; (b)feeding station; (c) the time limit; (d) thelarge group of (usually) non-climbers in themountains grouped for survival; (e) thebroom wagon; (f) he holds up the slate onwhich time gaps are written

Minervois MaisonsProprietors: Chris & Helen Remnant (ex. VC Meudon & LVRC)

Self-catering holidays in village houses and gîtes. Quietroads with varied terrain, suitable for all abilities, idealfor training or just pottering.

Accommodation: each house sleeps up to 6 and has all theusual facilities. Linens included.

We offer:Itineried routes RacingGuided rides Epreuves cyclo-sportivesRides with local Clubs

La Tuilerie, Route de St Pons, Travers de Belveze,11120 Bize-Minervois, France

Telephone: 00 33 (0)4 68 46 56 41

or 00 33 (0)6 89 61 06 88

E-mail: [email protected]

And when you’ve finishedcycling for the day, why notsample the local wines fromthe producers. Wine-tastingtrips can also be arranged.

Come to the beautiful département of the Aude

‘Thank you for showing me the quiet roads of thishilly area. Pity the roads in Surrey aren’t likethat!’ Alex Atkins, Evans Cycles RT

Wim van Est pulled from the ravine


PERFORMANCE-ENHANCING DRUGS (orat least drugs that were believedto be performance-enhancing) are

known to have been used by athletessince the time of the Ancient Greeks.Their professional athletes added thingslike powdered asse’s hoof to their drinks,presumably in the belief that it wouldenable them to run as fast as the ass, butthere were other substances, some ofwhich may have worked.

In modern times the first performance-enhancing drugs seem to have been pain-killers. In Victorian times a craze for ul-tra-endurance events grew up. Six-daynon-stop running races took place, of-ten indoors (Smithfield Market) and therewas heavy betting . As usual, wherethere’s big money, then people will doanything to get their hands on it. Drug ofchoice was strychnine, which simply dullsthe pain. Pain-killers (Palfium, for in-stance) were still being used into the late1950s and early 60s.

In the 1890s a prominent athletics andcycling trainer, ‘Choppy’ Warburton,became notorious for doping his athletes.He carried the stuff in a black bottle. No-one knows what it contained, but it wasprobably mainly strychnine. He was thetrainer of Arthur Linton who won the1896 Bordeaux-Paris and who died threemonths later of typhoid. However, a ru-mour spread that Warburton had poi-soned him, and he was eventuallywarned off the tracks.

In 1904 an American runner is knownto have used some stuff in the OlympicGames. In 1924 the Pélissier brothers toldAlbert Londres that they used cocaine.

We see therefore that performance-enhancing drugs have been in use sinceearliest times, and in modern sport sincethe late 19th Century, well over 100 years.

After the second World War ampheta-mines, developed for use by servicemen(aircrew, submariners etc), came on tothe open market and their function instaving off fatigue was recognised by en-durance sportsmen. It’s probably fair tosay that by 1955 more than half the Tour

de France riders were using them. Therewere serious incidents – Jean Malléjaccollapsed on the Ventoux and nearlydied. The Tour doctor, Pierre Dumas, leda campaign against them and warned,‘If this goes on, someone will die.’ Hewas the man who, 12 years later, tried invain to revive Tom Simpson.

The professional peloton, however,were strongly opposed to testing. Itsleader, five-times Tour winner JacquesAnquetil, admitted openly to taking am-phetamines and argued that profession-als should be allowed to do as theypleased regardless of possible conse-quences like sudden death. The testingprocedure, he said, discredited his pro-fession. This man, who thought nothingof injecting himself with all manner ofunnatural substances, stood on his dig-nity when it came to giving a urine sam-ple.

His attitude to drugs testing, particu-larly his claim that it was impossible tobe competitive in the Tour without them,has adversely influenced the stance ofprofessional riders to the present day.

In 1960 a rider in the Rome OlympicGames collapsed and died. It was estab-lished that he had taken Palfium, a pow-erful painkiller which operated in muchthe same way as strychnine. RogerRivière’s career-ending accident in the1960 Tour de France was attributed atleast in part to the same drug – it wassuggested that his hands were numbedand unable to judge the braking forcerequired on the descent of the col wherehe fell into a ravine.

But the anti-drugs lobby gained at leasta hearing, and in the middle of the 1960stests began to be introduced. There wasno suggestion that the aim was to pro-tect riders health, although that had beenDr Dumas’ main concern. This was ananti-cheating move.

When I rode in the Olympia’s Tour ofHolland (an amateur race, though theDutch sponsored teams were profession-als in all but name) one of their salariedsoigneurs showed me his large fibreglass

case crammed with drugs and pointedthem out, phial by phial: supplements,vitamins, dexedrine, Tonedron (the lasttwo are amphetamines) and so on.

The first tests in Britain were conductedon the Milk Race in 1965, following thestage to Aberystwyth. As a result the firstand second, both Spaniards (Erenozagaand Santamarina), tested positive foramphetamines and were thrown out,along with Ken Hill, the first British riderto be caught and sanctioned for drug of-fences. All these riders were amateurs,of course.

The first tests in the Tour de Francewere carried out after the stage to Bor-deaux in 1966. Poulidor is supposed tohave been the first rider tested. Furiousat this outrage to their dignity, thepeloton, led by Anquetil, stopped fivekilometres after the next day’s start, andwalked for a hundred metres in protest.

The next major developments wereanabolic steroids and blood doping,which appeared in the 1970s. Steroids,(Dianabol, Clenbuterol) combined withintensive training or heavy resistancework, built muscle and bulk in strengthathletes and were used by enduranceathletes to hasten recovery and make itpossible to train harder and more fre-quently. The East Germans ran a drugsprogramme for 10,000 of their athletes,whose names we now know. Through-out the 1970s, 80s and early 90scorticosteroids continued to be used bythe professional peloton, until they werereplaced with something much more ef-fective.

Blood doping is the most directly pow-erful performance-enhancing method forendurance athletes, since it increases theoxygen-carrying capacity of the blood. Itcan be done by re-infusion of the ath-lete’s own stored blood (frozen for a min–imum of six weeks while his own bloodrebuilds itself), by transfusion from a do-nor, or by injecting synthetic EPO.

Blood doping was used in track andfield athletics from the early 1970s butseems not to have been used in cycling,

Performance-enhancing drugs:a brief history

When a member asked for information about drugs in cycle sport the Editor was inspired to sketch out thisbrief history.


probably because both methods requirecomplex equipment and medical exper-tise. EPO, which didn’t begin to take ef-fect in cycling until around 1993, canbe done by the athlete himself with asimple injection.

In 1997 the UCI declared itself con-cerned about the riders’ health and fixeda limit to the red blood cells in any indi-vidual’s blood. There being no scientifi-cally-obtained data on which to decidehow much was too much, the figure of50% was plucked from the air. Manda-tory blood tests would measure the leveland anyone over the limit would be sus-pended for 14 days. Every professionalteam knew at once that its riders hadto be close to that limit if they were toremain competitive. On one occasionthe entire Banesto team tested at 48.5to 49.5, a situation impossible in na-ture. In effect, the UCI told the profes-sional peloton: ‘You may cheat up to acertain limit.’ The centrifuge, for deter-

mining your haematocrit level, becamepart of the baggage of many riders. Therehave been protests that ‘many’ peoplehave a level over 50%, but no team orrider has ever produced medical evi-dence and asked for an exemption. Toget near the threshold the great majorityof riders have to be artificially boosted. A90-minute warning of a test is enoughfor a rider to get his haematocrit down toa safe level by water perfusion.

In preparation for the Olympic Gamesin Sydney in 2000 a reliable test for syn-thetic EPO had been devised, making itpossible to distinguish between the in-jected substance and the athlete’s ownnaturally-produced hormone. One of theresults was a return to ‘old-style’ blooddoping, using either the rider’s ownblood (undectable) or a donor (detect-able). Tyler Hamilton tested positive twicefor donor blood at the Athens Olympicsin 2004 and the Vuelta time-trial a fort-night later. In 2005 Madrid police raided

In his other capacity as Editor of Cycle Coaching, the journal of the Association of British Cycling Coaches, the Editor has been runninga ‘Drugs Watch’ page since 1996. All back nos of Cycle Coaching and The Veteran Leaguer, plus 2000 pictures, plus numerousarticles on training and other subjects, are on the LVRC DVD at only £8. Some of this material can also be read on the ABCC’s websiteat www.abcc.co.uk

a clinic in the city and discovered ablood-doping factory for athletes wheretheir blood was stored in bags. 107 cy-clists have been named and many of theblood bags identified.

Other performance-enhancing drugsused by cylists include human growthhormone, caffeine (at one time injectedintravenously), Actovegin, THG, corti–coids (Kenacort), DHEA, DMT, Pira–cetam, and many others.

Most of those performance-enhancingdrugs which are effective also have del-eterious side effects such as: acne, de-velopment of male characteristics inwomen and of female characteristics inmen, sterility, damage to the immune sys-tem, thrombosis and death. Addiction todrugs may also produce damaging psy-chological effects which in some caseshave led directly or indirectly to mentalbreakdown, suicide and death by over-dose (Seamus Elliott, José-Maria Jiménez,Marco Pantani, etc). VVVVV

1. StoppagesWhy did the Tour stop: (a) In 1960, atColombey-les-Deux Eglises, on thepenultimate stage, Pontarlier – Troyes?; (b)In 1966, 5 km after the start of stage 9,Bordeaux – Bayonne?; (c) In 1978 justbefore the finish of Stage 12 at Valenced’Agen?; (d) In 1998, at the summit of theCret de Chatillon?

2. Winners. Identify the riders and give theyears:(a) The first; (b) The heaviest; (c) Theyoungest; (d) The oldest

3. Nicknames figured from the beginning ofthe Tour. Who were:(a) The Little Chimney Sweep; (b) TheColossus of Colombes; (c) The Lion ofTuscany; (c) The Pedaller of Charm; (d) TheBig Gun; (e) The Winged Angel; (f) The Eagleof Toledo; (g) The Cannibal; (h) The Badger;(i) The Pirate?

4. Jerseys. Give riders and years.(a) In which year was the yellow jerseyintroduced, and who was the first wearer?(this is a trick question); (b) In which yearwas the points jersey introduced; (c) Inwhich year was the mountains classification

Le Grand Quiz autour du Tour de Franceintroduced; (d) and the polka-dot jersey; (e)Who won yellow and green in the same year; (f)Who won yellow and mountains in the sameyear?

5. Stages(a) In 2004 Lance Armstrong won threeconsecutive mountain stages. One other riderhas achieved the feat. Who and when? (b) Onerider has won five stages in a row. Who andwhen? (c) Who appeared on most stagewinners’ podiums in a single Tour? How manyand when? (d) Most stage wins ever?

6. Mountains(a) The first year in the Pyrenees? (b) The firstyear in the Alps? (c) The highest? (d) Which colcrosses the Casse Déserte? (e) L’Alpe d’Huezwas first used in 1952. Who won? When was itnext used?

7. Six riders have abandoned while in theyellow jersey. Riders and years?

8. DeathsThree riders have died. Names, years, reasons?

9. Teams(a) First year of national teams; (b) Reversionto trade teams ; (c) Reversion to national

teams; (d) Final reversion to trade teams; (e)Most successful national team; (f) Mostsuccessful trade team

10. Only five riders have won the WorldRoad Championship and the Tour in thesame year. They are?

11. Origins(a) Who was the rich aristocrat who foundedL’Auto?; (b) Why did he set up the paper?;(c) Who came up with the idea of the Tour?

12. French words. Who or what are:(a) Palmarés; (b) Ravitaillement; (c) Lesdelais; (d) L’autobus; (e) La Voiture Balai;and (f) What does L’Ardoisier do?

Answers Page 15


Fabricolor Caption CompetitionSend your proposed caption(s) to the Editor at 45 Augusta Road,Moseley, Birmingham B13 8AE, or e-mail to [email protected] in writing, please. £20 prize for the winner from our spon-sor, Fabricolor.

ABCC Coach Courses

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For its qualified coaches the ABCC providesfull insurance cover, regular issues of CycleCoaching News, and its annual coaches’conference, Pedal Power. The ABCC hasover 450 registered coaches.

For details of ABCC Courses contact:Jim Sampson, 19 Forbes Avenue,Beverley High Road, Hull HU6 7AJTel: 01482-857774 or E-mail:[email protected]

ASSOCIATION OFBRITISH CYCLING COACHES

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Results of Competition 3/2007

1. I wanted to improve my aerodynamics.The bike is low-pro all right,but the knees are a bit of a problem.2. This wasn’t what I had in mind when Iordered a low profile bike.Roland Collicott, Westerley CC

I know Mick is good at getting sponsors, butI draw the line at having to race on this!Joe Rowe

Look, I’ve told you before – I don’t carewhat you do, you’re not getting a Junior’sLicence back— OK !Kev Wilson, Solihull CC

That growth hormone seems to have donethe trick!Carl Halpin

1. Gastone takes his sponsor’sproduct responsibilities very seriously. 2. Specialized would not give Gino a bikeas there was no room on the jersey for theirname.3. Disqualified from the race because hehad forgotten to take the mudguards off. Mike Cross

It may have been a good deal, Mick, but thisis ridiculous!...Richard Tyler

If I rode like this, Mick, we could just get onemore sponsor’s name up the inside of mythigh.Lance Ravenhill

1. My coach did say, ‘Go back to basics andyou’ll be more stable.’Stephen Maxey

1. Q: what happened Jim? A: neutral serviceran out of spare bikes.2. Mom, Mom come quick, Junior’s been atthe steroids again.Robin Maclagan

1. Not only was the team’s spare bike a little onthe small side, but a quick tap on the brake levershowed the index gears were shot too!!2. Neutral service my arse!3. Next time a team offers me a bike to sign forthem I’ll ask for more details first.Mick Davies

And the winner, from Stephen Maxey: Comeon, you new kids on the block. If you thinkyou’re tough enough and wanna race – bring iton!


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From Tony TaylorMay I take this opportunity to offer mysincere thanks to all those involved inorganising the 2007 LVRC NationalDinner and Champions Evening on the24th November at the super DunchurchPark Hotel. It was a most enjoyableevening enlivened by some magnificentcontributions from members andguests. League Chairman and staunchrepublican Don Parry demonstratedhow vets can endure pain when he bithis tongue when offering the LoyalToast; he soldiered on through theagony to announce all the prize-winners with interesting cameos ofeach. Six times Tour de France com-petitor and Anquetil’s super-domestique, Vin Denson, was afascinating Chief Guest but denied thathe had accepted the invitation to avoidthe cost of an expensive candle-litdinner for two to celebrate his 72nd

birthday. He did however, admit thatthe saving could pay for a few cans ofWD40 to oil his new steel knee joint. Itwas pleasing to note that the loudestround of applause was in support ofthe toast to Ray Minovi who, it wasagreed, has done more than any othermember to promote the activities ofthe LVRC.

The presentation of awards demon-strated the talent which exists withinthe LVRC’s membership of over 2,000.The final award of the evening was toJack Watson of MI Racing who won theHandicap Road Race Championship,was second in the Criterium Champi-onship and third in the UCI WorldMasters Championships; this latterachievement earned him the FormiesTrophy for the best Continental roadrace performance. Jacks’ superb haul oftrophies contributed to MI Racing’stotal of twenty-one awards on theevening.

All the trophies were cheerfullypresented by Vin who also generouslyprovided the most popular items in thespecial auction of cycling-relatedmerchandise. The two dozen largeblack and white prints of Vin handing abottle of beer to Anquetil during astage of Le Tour contributed most tothe LVRC’s coffers. There was a finalnostalgic moment when former team-mates Vin, Derrick Woodings andBantel’s founder Mick Ives proudlyposed for photographs with theiroriginal Bantel jerseys. Vin and Kimthen danced the night away to musicexpertly provided by ‘Jazz SalonRouge’.

Thanks also to Robin and AllisonCorder, directors of Velo Tech (thedistributor for the Spanish companySpiuk in the U.K.) for a fine display ofcycling merchandise and for announc-ing that their company will sponsor theoverall classification in the PercyStallard series next year. This is reallygood news.

I don’t know how Mick Ives man-aged to provide such an excellentmenu including wine and all of theabove for only £25 but it was excellentvalue for money and hopefully moremembers will be tempted next year.Many thanks to Mick and his helpersfrom MI Racing. It was a memorableevening and consistent with thereputation of the LVRC for high qualityevents.

ObituaryTHE MAN TO whom Tom Simpson ut-tered his last words has died aged 78.As Hall, mechanic on GB Team in the1967 Tour de France, got the dyingrider back on his bike, Simpson said,‘Me straps, Harry, me straps.’ It was atraumatic experience for Harry, whostill had Simpson’s frame numbermore than 30 years later.

British cyclists will remember Hallas perhaps British cycling’s most fa-mous spannerman. For years,throughout the 1970s and 1980s, heprovided service at dozens (possiblyhundreds) of races, working from theback of a converted Mini pickup.

Born in Manchester and originallya printer, Hall founded his cycle shopin Manchester in 1957 on Hyde Roadin Gorton and subsequently movedto the city centre in Cathedral Roadand later Hanging Ditch, where it re-mains a Mecca for northern bike rid-

ers. The shop sponsored some of Brit-ain’s most prominent cyclists, includ-ing some who would go on to ridethe Tour de France, such as PaulSherwen, Graham Jones and RobertMillar, for whom he built frames. Itwas a unique deal, in which the rid-ers were given a bike, to be paid forat the end of the season. But if theycould get photos of themselves andthe bike in a cycling magazine duringthe season, they would get credits tospend on kit at Hall’s shop.

Hall had been a racing cyclist him-self before acquiring the shop. Hewould convey himself, his mates andtheir bikes to races in a convertedflatbed truck which was used in theweek for delivering coal. From the late1980s, he took a back seat in the shopto return to racing as a veteran, win-ning the British and world champi-onships in his age category in 1989.

Harry Hall

He leaves his wife Jean and sonsGraham and Robert.


23 Days in July: a film by TimSullivan. 52 minutes + 56 mins extras.£19.99 from Bromley Video Entertain-ment, Ten Acre Farm, Stonehill Road,Ottershaw, Surrey KT16 0AQ. Phone:[email protected] 1982 PHIL ANDERSON wore the yellowjersey in the Tour de France for nine daysand finished fifth overall. The followingyear an Australian company made a filmof his ride, hoping that he’d win. Circum-stances combined to thwart him. First,there was never a realistic chance thatAnderson could ever win the Tour – hejust wasn’t a good enough climber; andsecond, he was a member of the rabidlyFrancocentric, disastrously mismanagedPeugeot team. Anderson, Millar andRoche, not being French, were all wastedin trying to protect Pascal Simon whosebroken shoulder blade, everyone knew,must result in his abandon as soon as therace hit the Alps. He duly abandoned,and everyone’s efforts were wasted. Butthey were pros, and one assumes thatthey got paid for doing what they weretold to do.

The fact that Anderson didn’t pull offthe big win is, if anything, an advantage.The result is a really excellent movie (de-signed, you assume, to fit into a one-hourTV slot) which is about the Tour, ratherthan of the Tour. I think the washed-outcolour is deliberate and meant to evokenostalgia, rather than merely being afaded print, but it works either way.

The extras include an interview ofAnderson by Phil Liggett, which is muchtoo long – you really need a historian’smotivation and concentration to followit all the way through – but which never-theless contains a number of interestinginsights: the sheer pain of professionalracing and even training, going to theAlps to train over 12 cols in four days,turning pro rather than wait a few monthsfor the Olympics, because you want acareer, not a one-off. Most curious isAnderson’s view that re-introducing ama-teurs to the Tour would ‘kill the sport’.Some of us think that it’s professional-ism and the money it brings that’s dam-aged all sports. There’s some uninten-tional humour too, caused by leaving inall Liggett’s fluffs and stumbles.

The other extra is, however, pure golddust: half an hour’s really excellent foot-age of the 1985 Amstel Gold, run off inthe most wretched conditions of rain andcold, steel frames, toeclips and straps,flapping brake cables, nearly all filmed

at road level in the mud and wet, from amotorbike, the rawest racing you eversaw: vélo verité. RM

The Flying Scotsman. Film. Jonny LeeMiller, Billy Boyd, Brian Cox, StevenBerkoff. Directed by Douglas Mackinnon.98 minutes.A YOUNG MAN cycles into the woods,parks his bike, and heads into the treeswith a rope. Fortunately it breaks, he sur-vives his attempt to hang himself, and wethen get the story which has brought theyoung man to this point in his life.

There have been few successful fic-tional films made about sport, for whatseems to me to be an obvious reason:sport is itself so inherently dramatic –melodramatic, even – that fictionalisingit can add little or nothing to the ten-sions upon which drama depends for itseffects. The results have ranged fromworthy but dull (Le Mans) to laughable(American Flyers). The triumphs, like Rag-ing Bull, have been few and far between.There are other problems, like findingactors who can make convincing athletes.Boxing can be faked, but a whole Tourde France field? The truth is that the onlygood sports films have been documen-taries like A Sunday in Hell and the morerecent Hell on Wheels.

To produce a biopic of Graeme Obreeno more than ten years after his glory dayslooks like asking for trouble: how do youfind someone who looks sufficiently likethe athlete? Well, it works. That the re-sult is towards the ‘triumph’ end of thecontinuum has a great deal to do withthe inspired casting of Jonny Lee Millerwho looks the part (uncannily at times)and rides Obree’s bike convincingly.

Brian Cox is one of the best-knownhams of film-making, but here it doesn’tmatter, because it suits the character inthe person of the local minister who sup-ported the cyclist.

There has to be a villain, and the filmmakers didn’t have far to go to find thegenuine villain in the Obree case, namelythe UCI. Here the governing body’s ha-tred of the maverick is represented in theperson of Steven Berkoff as a sort of Naziwho derives a positive relish from wreck-ing Obree’s chances – less subtle per-haps than the real Hein Verbruggen butmore satisfying here.

Most enjoyable moment is when theScotsman, largely ignored in his owncountry, visits France and finds the en-tire small town turned out in his honour.There’s a message there somewhere.

Ray Minovi

From the archivesPETER WARD HAS just sent me a copy ofthe book he published sometime in thelate 1960s (it’s not dated) called King ofSports. Many readers will rememberPeter as a first-class international rider,but desperately unlucky. His bad luckwas compounded by being a BLRCrider in a sport in which the NCU werestill powerful, and when he won the1956 National Championship he wasdisqualified for having taken twoaspirin from his wife outside the officialfeeding zone.

I remember Peter from the BradfordTelegraph and Argus 3-Day in 1959,when his bike was equipped with thefirst clipless pedals I ever saw. Theywere entirely home-made and werebased on the Lyotard platform pedal(which he recommends as the bestdesign in his book). A special shoeplate with a shallow T-section slid intothe pedal from the outer edge, and theflanges of the shoe-plate pulled upagainst the underside of the platform.To disengage, you just pulled your footout sideways. No springs were in-volved, but I assume that the sheerlength of the slot prevented pulling thefoot out accidentally. Compared withthe toe-clip and strap, which wasalways a lash-up, it looked properlyengineered. I believe Peter tried to sellit, but no British manufacturer showedany interest.

By that time, of course, the manufac-ture of cycle parts and accessories overhere was in decline – which is nosurprise, when you remember thedreadful quality of British-madeequipment compared with its Frenchor Italian equivalent. Who would buy aCyclo Benelux derailleur when theycould have Campagnolo? Or GB brakes(which had no effect except to breakcables several times a season) inpreference to Mafac or Universal?Brooks saddles were an exception, ofcourse; but another victim was thereally excellent Williams splinedcotterless chainset, every bit as good asCampagnolo and better than TA orStronglight, but alas, too late to makeits way in a market already dominatedby Continental equipment.

One area where any manual of the1960s will differ radically from today’sequivalent is in the matter of nutritionand race feeding. But this section is


10m Level 1 Long Short Level 3 Level 4

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MAXIMUM HEART RATE isn’t allthat easy to determine – to doit properly you should do a

ramp test on a Kingcycle or similar test-ing rig connected to a computer. Youride at a steady pace, maintaining yourpower output, shown on the screen,until the computer tells you to raise itby 20 watts. This happens every minuteuntil you literally can’t keep going anylonger. Many coaches won’t conduct afull ramp test for older riders. Even thenit may not be accurate: some ridershave found that in a competition they

Your Maximum Heart Ratecan raise their heart rate above whatthey believed was its maximum.For most people, especially vets, amuch more useful alternative is to baseyour heart percentages on your aver-age heart-rate for a 10-mile time-trial,the sort of thing you can do every Tues-day or so during the season. Whenyou’re fit, record your average HR forthree of them and take the average ofthat. If it’s 160, say, then that will beyour HR for a time-trial interval. Thenread off your different training levelsfrom the table of percentages.

always worth reading as a comment onthe ideas of the day, many of themcompletely overturned in the light ofmore recent science. Few ridersnowadays would contemplate taking aflask of sherry or brandy in strongcoffee to drink at ten and five miles togo. Nor would any contemporarycoach recommend this system of racefeeding: for instance, nobody in theirright mind would ride a fifty-mile racewithout at least one bottle.

There are good recommendations,though – always try out food and drinkin training before using it in competi-tion.

FIFTY MILES AND UNDER; nothingto eat or drink during the race. Yourbody has ample reserves to cover thisdistance. You will waste time andenergy eating and digesting. Half apeeled orange to clear your mouth ona hot day.

SIXTY MILES; Three-quarters fullbottle, one sandwich, one packet ofglucose tablets (medium) or a handfulof sugar lumps.

EIGHTY MILES; One full bottle, threesandwiches, a handful of sultanas, onebanana, a handful of sugar lumps,orange (peeled), bar of chocolate.

ONE HUNDRED MILES; Two fullbottles, four sandwiches, a handful ofsultanas, two bananas, two handfuls ofsugar lumps, orange, bar of choco-late.

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTYMILES; Two full bottles (drinking), onefull bottle liquid rice and sultanas, twobananas, eight sandwiches, twohandfuls sugar lumps, orange, two barsof chocolate.

This list is just a guide, many riderscan do with less, some need more.When there is a feeding station in thelonger races carry less, but enough tosee you through if you miss your feed.Watch what other riders eat and trytheir ideas whilst training, before youinclude them in your racing diet. Ienjoy jam or honey on bread, halfslices, with the crust cut off and rolledup like small swiss rolls and wrappedindividually like sweets. A dilutedhoney drink and dried fruit are easilydigestible and excellent energy foods.

Peter tells me he has some copies ofhis book left. For information contactPeter Ward, 8 Lappet Grove, PrestonPR4 0DF


The Coaching Page

BY THE TIME you read this we’ll bewell into the off-season. Indeed,the chances are that plenty of you

are already working on your basic train-ing for 2008. As I pointed out in our last,global warming hasn’t yet made our win-ter fit for unrestricted outdoor cycling.Sure, you have your hack with mud-guards, Roubaix tights, overshoes, butthere’s an awful lot of cold, dampweather when you really, really don’twant to go out – not to mention the ice,and the bitter wind which can lower theeffective temperature by as much as tendegrees. What to do instead?

I’m told that there are people out therewho actually enjoy riding indoors on aturbo-trainer. Michael Hutchinson hasbeen known to ride for six hours on one,and some people even prefer it. For mostof us, however, the whole point of ridinga bike is to be on the road, preferably along way from heavy traffic, but out there.

There are, however, two great advan-tages to the turbo: one, you can at leastget in some training when outside it ain’tfit for man nor beast; and two, it is by farthe best way of doing interval training –no traffic, hills or wind to interrupt yourschedule. Everything can be controlled.Some people watch videos or listen tomusic, but in a short, intensive session,anything which interferes with concen-tration should, perhaps, be avoided.

Indeed, interval training is the only realjustification other than bad weather forriding the turbo. It isn’t a machine fordoing long, slow, fat-burning rides on.Your turbo needs to be readily available:it’s a real drag having to set the thing upevery time the weather turns nasty, andif you have to do that, then you maydecide it isn’t worth the bother, so ifyou’ve got the space, have a permanentset-up using that old steel frame, heavytraining wheel and 8-speed cassette –you don’t even need brakes. Drape atowel over the top tube and headsetwhere your salty sweat drips and causesrust; get a 16" fan (around £20), becauseyou won’t be creating your own airflow,and your core body temperature keepscreeping up; strap your heart monitor tothe bars, take a bottle and a cheap

k i t c h e nclock with asweep sec-ond hand,and you’rein business.

Warm upfor five toten minutes,and afterthat therange oft r a i n i n gschedules isi n f i n i t e .N o n eshould takelonger thanabout 40 minutes, plus warm-up/down.If we’re riding the bike primarily as train-ing, rather than enjoying the scenery andthe chat, then intervals are far more cost-effective than any other form of training.Here are a few suggestions:

15/30. 15-second effort intervals ataround 90% Max Heart Rate (MHR), 30second recovery intervals pedalling eas-ily. In 10 minutes you do 13 of these.Then ride easily for five minutes, and doanother 10-minute block. If you’re fit, doa third. The effort interval is not a sprint– the key is pacing it so that you can re-peat it at the same level all the waythrough. Variations: 15/15, 20/20, 20/40,etc, depending on age, fitness and so on.If you’re pushed for time and cut thewarm-up/down to five minutes each, youcan do two blocks of 15/30 in only 35minutes.

Time-trial intervals. Five minutes atyour average time-trial pace (see box)with a one-minute recovery interval ona low gear. Then repeat. Six times is usu-ally enough in one session. With a warm-up and warm-down, around 50 minutes.

Three-stage. Warm up. 15 mins at 90– 95 rpm on, say, 53 x 16. 5 mins easy.Then 10 mins at 95 – 100 rpm on 53 x15. 5 mins easy. Then 5 mins riding ashard as possible at 100+ rpm. Warmdown. 40 minutes, plus warm-up/down.

Three-set. Warm up. 5 mins at opti-mum training heart rate. 2 mins easy. 3 x2 mins fast (105+ rpm) with 30-second

Turbocharged

rests, pedalling easily. 2 mins easy. 6 x 1-minute at 110+ rpm with 30-secondrests. 2 mins easy. 8 x 30-seconds veryfast (110+ rpm) with 30-second rests.Warm down. 34 minutes, plus warm-up/down.

Lactate Threshold training. Warm upfor 10 – 15 minutes. Ride for 30 secondsat 120 rpm (i.e. 60 revs, probably on agear of around 52 x 15) at max heart-rate. Rest for 1 minute. Repeat five times.Then ride for five minutes at your 10-mile time-trial pace. Warm down.

Don’t be tempted to stop pedallingduring the recovery intervals – active re-covery, gently turning a lower gear, ismuch more effective, because it pro-motes blood flow in the muscles andspeeds up recovery.

Some of these methods are pretty tir-ing (3-stage) and others can be exhaust-ing (3-set). But some, like 15/30 andtime-trial intervals leave you feelingpleasantly tired rather than shattered.This is how they’re supposed to be: don’tbe tempted into riding your 5-minute ef-forts at 95% instead of 80% of your MHR.The right intensity is very much a matterof trial and error.

All these methods help to raise youraerobic threshold, and if you do themproperly and not more than twice aweek, you may be surprised how wellthey work. VVVVV


From top left: not just a sprinter – Sid Barras leaving the East Coast field be-hind; Brian Ellis, Pete Ryalls and chasers in the first Oatcake; at the Abberleysprologue TT Stuart Hall holds off Ron Hewes; and Allan Ramsay catches JohnPowell; Gwynn Sayce working hard at Severn Stoke

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E T Veteran Leaguer - lvrc.org.uk · Veteran Leaguer L E A G U E O F V E T E R A N R A C I N G C Y C L I S T S ... with your Handbook for the 2008 season. However, my work as Editor