2021-03-04 Cycling Weekly

FITNESS

high, they can limit the body’s ability to

perform and respond to training stimuli.

By contrast, the beginning of a natural

cycle – when hormones are low – is

often the ideal time to train hard and

build muscle.

Sims is emphatic: “Know that you have

this window of advantage in the low

hormone phase,” and adds that the

omen are not small men. This is the oral contraceptive can disturb
watchword of Dr Stacy Sims, a world-
leading physiologist who specialises in the levels of naturally occurring
female nutrition, training and wellbeing.
A former bike racer for UCI Team Tibco hormones, so understanding
and a proud applied scientist, Sims has
been in high-performance environments this is important.
for decades. Her work has been tried and
tested by the world’s top-performing Armed with this information,
female athletes, including 2019 USA
national road champion Ruth Winder. females need to track their cycles

In 2016, Sims published Roar, a so they can match training intensity
training guide that lifts the lid on female
physiology’s best kept secrets. The book to hormone levels. “Put in the high-
was widely hailed as a game-changer in
understanding female physiology intensity session when your body can
as pertains to sport. Sims agreed to
speak to CW to help us bust the most handle it,” Sims advises. “Get the really
prevalent myths while providing the
corrective truth and, for good measure, strong power and training stress when
throwing in some ‘biohacking’ tips for
improving performance. your body is in a low hormone phase.

MYTH: ALWAYS TRAIN THREE Work on technique in the high hormone

WEEKS ON, ONE WEEK OFF days before your period – that’s your
Three weeks on, one week off – a build
phase followed by a shorter deload period. deload week.”
Online and in books, this is the most
common structure for training plans. The Whether you are a male or a female
idea behind it is simple: progressively
push the body until it is ‘overloaded’, then – male sex hormones can also fluctuate
pull back and give yourself a chance to
recover before you go again. significantly – effective training demands energy availability (LEA) but women

It may follow a three-to-one pattern – that you pay attention to what your body are particularly susceptible. In the short
shorter or longer depending on how you
respond to training. If everyone’s doing is doing and how you are feeling so you term, under-fuelling limits your ability
it and has been doing it for so long, it
must work, right? Wrong, at least if can match your training to to reap rewards from your hard work. In
you’re female.
your physiology. the long run, it has serious implications
TRUTH: MATCH YOUR
for overall health, including endocrine
TRAINING TO YOUR
MYTH: TRAIN LOW TO dysfunction and higher risk of bone
HORMONE CYCLES
Hormones influence how we adapt BURN MORE FAT fractures. For women, the obvious sign of
to training. For females, this includes
how we build muscle, how we adapt Carbs are the devil, they say... Less is LEA is disrupted or missed periods.
to intensity, and how we metabolise
carbohydrates. When hormones are more. Train low, bro. Body fat stores more “Women tend to burn more fat and

than 100,000 calories of latent energy – amino acids during exercise compared

burn some of it off to fly up climbs faster. to men, regardless of the intensity,”

If everyone’s doing it, it must work, right? explains Sims. “Men blow through

Wrong if you’re female. carbohydrate and have to work harder to

burn fat. Women are born with more of

T R U T H : F A S T E D R I D E S A R E A the protein and mitochondria to burn fat.”

FAUX-PAS FOR FEMALES Lael Wilcox’s 2016 win at Trans Am and

Under-fuel Fiona Kolbinger’s

and you should “Women must win at the 2019
prepare to eat during and Transcontinental
underperform. around training, Race stand
Consuming too testament to
few calories for females being

training pushes especially early champion fat-
the body away burners in very

from adaptation in the morning” long events.
and towards While female

conservation. bodies are

“High-intensity training is for nought if predisposed to going long, carbohydrates

you haven’t fuelled,” Sims warns. are still required to power the aerobic

Men and women can fall foul of low engine. Females need to fuel the fire with

48 | 4 March, 2021 | Cycling Weekly

RIDER’S VIEW

‘Dr Sims
changed my

mindset
completely’

Strength work should be an Tayler Wiles is
integral part of any training plan a 31-year-old
female pro with
carbohydrates at all times, especially their breakfast, but women cannot do Trek-Segafredo on
if we go hard. Before, during, and after this.” That protein shake does need to the UCI Women’s
workouts, carbs are our friends, not foes. be the first thing in your hands after a WorldTour. She has
ride. “Male muscle enzymes are different worked with Sims
“Carbo-loading has been shown to be and they can afford to do lower-fuelled for years. In her
less effective for females,” Sims explains. rides and recover with breakfast, but a view, what Sims is
“If it’s a 90-minute tempo session, maybe woman must eat in and around training, doing – filling the knowledge gap for
take a banana and eat it in the second especially early in the morning,” warns women – is invaluable. “I think I have
half of the session. It doesn’t have to be Sims, “otherwise they aren’t going to get read Roar five times!’ she laughs.
something major but you have to keep the training adaptation.”
that fuelling going.” In the early days of her career,
Sims is unequivocal: for females to Wiles followed the mainstream
S I M S ’ S Plan your nutrition benefit from their hard work, they need to thinking in professional cycling.
fuel for recovery within 30 minutes. Myths about training and fuelling
TOP as much as you plan pervade all levels of the sport.
MYTH: GYMS ARE Limping home from (underfuelled)
T I P your training! FOR MEATHEADS long rides was standard. Missing
Cyclists don’t do gyms. Overgeared periods was a badge of honour.
MYTH: THE RECOVERY efforts will do the trick, and we need
to be light like a butterfly to fly up Then Wiles started working
WINDOW IS WIDE those climbs; muscle gains are counter- with Sims and her mindset shifted.
The latest research says that the recovery productive to staying light, right? Wrong! Instead of fighting her physiology,
window is more like a barn door: refuelling she started to work with it. With
within two to three hours is fine – no need TRUTH: WEIGHTS Sims’s help, Wiles biohacked her
to have the protein shake pre-prepared ARE ESSENTIAL physiology with these changes:
and ready to down the minute we get in “If you want to attack off the front, Q Paying more attention
the door, right? Wrong if you’re female. to get to the top of the hill first, you to fatigue
need strength,” explains Sims. Force Q Tracking her cycle
TRUTH: REPLENISH WITHIN production requires strength work, and Q Understanding how much
this is particularly important for females. carbohydrate she needed to fuel
30 MINUTES training and racing
“Often we get up and are keen to get the “For women, the older you get, the Q Changing her mindset around
workout done – but we pay less attention less you have for [force] production. You nutrition: from restrictive thinking
to the nutrition,” cautions Sims. “We to positive decisions around what
know that men can go out and do these fuel she needs to get stronger
hard sessions and recover by eating Q Fuelling with real food, even
for races

“When you give your body what
it needs, then your hormones
are good, your cortisol is good,
and you get fitter and leaner,”
enthuses Wiles. “Female athletes
of all disciplines could benefit from
knowing this.”

Cycling Weekly | 4 March, 2021 | 49

FITNESS

have to replicate that with plyometric TRUTH: HYDRATION pulling water from other spaces in
work, with heavy lifting, just to maintain
that muscle integrity,” advises Sims. “In AND REFUELLING ARE the body to dilute what’s in the small
addition, strength work is beneficial for
bone health.” What about cross-training SEPARATE NEEDS intestine.” Long story short? You need to
with running? Not ideal, says Sims. “You
need to have multidirectional force on the “The main point of hydration is to keep drink lower-concentration carb drinks
bone, which you can’t get from running
or walking.” If you hate a gym, fear not – your body-fluid levels high enough to so as to hydrate optimally. “It’s not about
you can get it from 10 minutes of multi-
directional jumping. However you get it, continue functioning properly,” Sims carbs for fuelling,” explains Sims.
get into it. Without it, you’re leaving your
chips on the table. explains. Blood is the major vehicle “It’s about carbs to allow the fluid to

MYTH: HYDRATE WITH for transporting be absorbed.”

CARB-RICH DRINKS fuel and waste “Too many carbs Sims advises
Most hydration products advise around the body. in your drink that most athletes
drinking 500ml every 45-60 minutes When you are may hamper need to keep
or drinking to thirst. Most products dehydrated, the carb in a
combine hydration with energy, and their your blood gets hydration drink
marketing tells us they’re helping us
with this two-for-one convenience, or thicker and hydration” at three to four
three-for-one if they add in extra salts. everything is per cent, less
Simple, right? Not so.
harder. You’re than what many

cycling through treacle, almost literally. sports drinks contain. Females have a

“Ninety-five per cent of fluid reduced ability to absorb fructose, so

absorption happens in the small Sims advises avoiding it. With (generally)

intestine,” Sims explains. “When less muscle mass and blood volume than

highly-concentrated [hypertonic] males, females are more sensitive to

carb-containing fluids go into the small

intestine, it increases pressure. The body

pours water in to reduce the pressure,

Listen to your body, recognise
sensations, train accordingly

50 | 4 March, 2021 | Cycling Weekly

body fluid losses. Those taking the oral mouth without disturbing the gut.” Her And finally: listen to your body
contraceptive or in high hormone phases advice is simple: “The fuel that you use Cyclists are champions at pushing
may have a muted thirst mechanism, so during training matters. You need a good through pain, ignoring those natural
it’s better to drink to schedule. variety of high-fibre fruit and veg to feed cues. Yet those same natural cues are
the lower gut.” key to ‘biohacking’ for performance, i.e.
MYTH: GET YOUR ENERGY IN working constructively with your own
ANY FORM YOU LIKE MYTH: PREGNANT WOMEN biology. How does Sims square
When you’re burning through calories, MUST STOP RIDING this circle?
you don’t need to pay as much attention If a woman is pregnant, it’s time to ease
to what you put down your gullet. After up on the training programme. You can “I tell people to do 10 minutes of
the daily requirement boxes are ticked, still exercise a bit but you need to row it yogi mindfulness, but really it’s just
everything else is just fuel for the fire. back. The growing foetus needs all the understanding sensations,” explains
When we ride, the easier we can get more energy it can get, especially in the Sims. “Once you become more in-tune
carbs on board, the better. Or is it? second half of a pregnancy, right? to the feelings of external and internal
Well, it depends. sensations, it’s easier to tune into the
TRUTH: PROTECT YOUR GUT key questions: Am I tired from sleep? Am
– EAT REAL FOOD TRUTH: EVERY PREGNANCY I tired from muscular fatigue? Or am I
“You have athletes who are conscious IS DIFFERENT tired just because I’m bored? It does take
of what they are eating, but what they Mother-of-one Sims speaks from some time, but you can eventually start to
eat during exercise tends to be simple experience. “Every pregnancy is different, pinpoint the subtleties.”
sugars,” explains Sims. “If all we ingest even if a woman has more than one kid.
is simple sugar [when we exercise], the If you are fit, then you can keep doing it; Sims concludes by coming full
bacteria that thrives on it will thrive in your body will tell you when to stop.” circle to the beginning of the
our gut.” Over time, this leads to gut conversation. “If you’re tired or failing
health imbalance. Sims insists on fuelling Sims notes that there are evidenced to make fitness gains despite fuelling
with real food on the bike. positive effects from exercise for the appropriately in and around your
foetus, such as increasing capillarisation training,” she advises, “then you can
What about when you need that quick of the placenta. She acknowledges that remove fuelling from the equation and
hit in a race? No problem, says Sims: some obvious changes are required, e.g. interrogate other factors.” For women,
“When you are looking for a quick hit avoiding competitive group rides due the this also means understanding that
to raise your blood sugar, you can use a risk of crashing. Sims advocates staying your physiology is not the same as male
glucose tablet that can be absorbed in the as active as long as it feels good to do so. physiology – because women are not
small men.

TRAINING WHILE PREGNANT

‘Empower yourself with knowledge’

Rebecca Durrell is a and give women in sport more Q extensive warm up and cool downs
32-year-old rider with options,” says Cusick. “There’s Q management of body temperature
Continental Team CAMS– lots of research showing Q excellent fuelling at all times
Tifosi. She is the current that women can train pretty Q attention to hydration
UK national road series robustly throughout their Q volume more than intensity
and national criterium pregnancy.” Q allow for natural weight gain
champion, and is right now Q be mindful of injury risk
expecting her first baby Knowledge is just one part Q limit accumulated fatigue
(and may have given birth of the equation, of course.
by the time we go to print!). Durrell underscores the importance
“Open and honest of this final rule: “I train based on
Durrell aims to return to racing communication between athlete and feel and what’s right for my body.”
later this year. Despite a wealth of coach is key to training safely,” Cusick She is positive about her experience
science to support women returning advises. “The first job I have as a coach and looks forward to racing later this
to sport after pregnancy, it’s too often is to be a source of information so the year. Reading Roar was a turning
regarded as difficult or ill-advised. athlete can make an informed decision. point for the high-achieving rider. “So
Luckily, Durrell’s coach Tim Cusick The second job is to have a coaching much is misunderstood about female
understands how to support athletes strategy – not a ‘plan’ – because you physiology,” she says. “We should be
to train during and post-pregnancy. have to be flexible.” learning this at school.”

“Knowledge should be empowering Cusick follows eight rules when
working with pregnant athletes:

Cycling Weekly | 4 March, 2021 | 51

Gestating a
revolution!

Author Hannah Ross reveals how she tapped into the
history of revolutionary women cyclists to challenge

convention on cycling while pregnant

52 | 4 March, 2021 | Cycling Weekly

F or eight months of 2019, I I take things easy, but to my relief she for everybody” to raise awareness that
swapped urban north London
for rural Aude, in the foothills encouraged me to keep up my normal it’s possible for women to exercise more
of the French Pyrenees, to
level of activity as during pregnancy

long as it felt right. ‘ W H A T I L E A R N T ’ than they have

write my book Revolutions: How Women When been led to believe.

Changed the World on Two Wheels, researching my Moderate exercise during pregnancy I had no racing

about the history of women’s cycling. book, I learned reduces the risk of complications, ambitions but I

When I wasn’t at my desk, I was on my how in the 1890s, yet uncertainty persists. knew I could keep

bike, and instead of slogging up the when cycling Pregnancy pushes the body to the doing my usual

A1000 to Hertfordshire each weekend, was the new limits of human endurance – it’s a long weekend

I was cycling straight from my door into craze gripping biological Tour de France! rides for as long

sensational scenery – hills and mountains the West, women Go at a pace that feels comfortable, as it still felt good

in every direction. I was the fittest I had were enthusiastic and take particular care in the to do so. As my

ever been. converts. But they first trimester. jerseys became

When I found out I was pregnant that came up against Make alterations to your bike set-up to increasingly

autumn, I did not think twice about many who thought make the position more comfortable difficult to zip

continuing cycling. I thought of Nobel they shouldn’t be as you get bigger. up, those rides

scientist Marie Curie cycle touring in on a bike at all, became less about

the 1890s while eight months pregnant, with even some medics claiming that the miles and more about whether there

only cutting it short to return to Paris just to sit in a saddle would be their ruin, was a good cafe for those now even more

to give birth. I wanted to maintain my causing an array of disorders including important cake stops.

fitness as much as possible, and I knew infertility and physical deformities. I had never been pregnant before, so

it would be better for my pregnancy and Nonsense, of course, and today we have I had no idea when I might stop. I was

recovery to stay active. I remembered pro cyclists like Lizzie Deignan who kept also continuing to commute the five

Pippa Lyon, one of the members of the training until three days before the birth miles each way by bike to work and

InternationElles – the group who ride of her daughter. She was signed up by to midwife appointments, where I was

every stage of the Tour de France to raise team Trek-Segafredo while pregnant and the only person in the waiting room with

awareness of women’s exclusion from the was training again six weeks after giving a helmet.

event – whom I joined on stage 15 in 2019. birth. Seven months later, Deignan was When the pandemic hit, those rides out

She had given birth just 11 months before back racing, winning The Women’s Tour of London had to stop and instead I joined

taking on that epic challenge. Pregnant two months after that. every other cyclist in north London doing

women were once encouraged to rest With new research showing that Regent’s Park laps. The now-lighter traffic

up, but now, provided the pregnancy is pregnancy pushes the body close to the made me feel more secure on the roads,

straightforward, they are advised to keep maximum limit for human endurance, it even with a sizeable bump. The low-

active for as long as is comfortable. makes sense that new mums can return impact nature of cycling also made it an

A potential complication for me is I to sport stronger than ever. Deignan ideal exercise, since relaxin, a pregnancy

have a genetic condition called Marfan’s highlighted a scarcity of information hormone, made my ligaments more

Syndrome, which can, albeit rarely, cause available on training during pregnancy stretchy. And given the risk of Covid

fatal heart complications. This is more as an elite athlete, and instead sought transmission on public transport, biking

likely with a spike in blood pressure, the advice of other pro cycling mothers became one of the safest ways to travel.

something that can happen in pregnancy. Dame Sarah Storey and Laura Kenney. In the end, I had a C-section, so it was a

I worried my cardiologist would insist She told me there needs to be “education frustrating six weeks before I was able to

do more than a short walk without pain.

But within a few months I felt almost back

CHAMPIONS OF YORE to normal. My first proper ride, along the

‘INSPIRED BY FEMALE CYCLING rollercoaster lanes of the South Hams, in
STARS OF THE 1890s’ Devon, was only just a bit more punishing
than I had feared it might be. It felt so

The idea for my book Revolutions came swapped life in the circus for one on the exhilarating to be back in the saddle.

out of learning how my great-grandfather track, racing first a penny-farthing then Now, of course, the challenge to find time

had won medals in races at Herne Hill a safety bicycle – against other women, for riding really begins!

Velodrome in the 1890s. I was curious as men and even horses. And France’s Lisette Photo Daniel Gould

to whether women were also competing Marton who set an Hour record and

at this time, and after some research, I became a global cycling star. Or the UK’s Revolutions: How Women Changed the

discovered that they were. Some of them Monica Harwood who competed in six-day World on Two Wheels by Hannah Ross is

had even got quite famous; for example, races in front of thousands. I was inspired, published by Weidenfeld and Nicholson in

French-Canadian Louise Armaindo who and my research took off from there! Hardback and eBook on 1 April 2021.

Cycling Weekly | 4 March, 2021 | 53

TRY THIS

AERO DRILLS

Hannah Grant’s Coach George Fox (gfoxcycling.co.uk)
says: “Focusing some of your sessions on
SWEET POTATO RACE CAKES your racing position is crucial, whether
you’re time trialling, road racing or even
Grant says: blending at low-medium speed. just doing hard group rides.”

“Like most of my cake recipes, MAKES Taste. Add more spices, zest or Repeat this three or four times:
these cakes are gluten and sweetener if you like. Q 5min in relaxed position @ Z3-4
dairy-free, with no added 12 4) Grease the muffin tins/ Q 2min holding your most aero possible
sugars. They are made on a base position while keeping effort level brisk –
CAKES paper cups and dust them with on a TT bike, pull your shoulders in to get
narrow; on a road bike, drop your chin, pull
of baked sweet potato, shredded coconut. in your shoulders and drop your elbows
to create a 90-degree angle between
to which you can YOU WILL NEED 5) Spoon the batter forearm and upper arm.
Q Recovery between efforts: 5min @ Z1-2
add any filling, fruit Q 300g baked sweet potato into the tins/paper
JUST LANDED
or chocolate. The Q 4 eggs cups and press the
TRIBAL ACTIVE
perfect snack for Q 65g rolled oats berries into the ENERGY SMOOTHIE

a long day on the Q 2 tbsp shredded coconut batter. Try to keep Thicker than a normal gel, Tribal’s
‘smoothie’ boasts “100 per cent organic
bike – tested and Q 6 dates them flat – ingredients” including African baobab
fruit, apple puree and brown rice syrup.
approved by many Q 2 tbsp of firm honey about 2.5cm high. Each one provides 32g of carbs, plus
vitamin C, fibre and electrolytes.
pro riders!” Q 1 tsp vanilla 6) Bake for £14.99 (six), tribalsportsnutrition.com

powder/essence 25-30min at Got a fitness story?
Email [email protected]
Method Q 1 tsp cinnamon 170°C/340°F,

1) Bake the sweet Q 2 tsp baking powder and rotate once

potatoes until they Q zest and juice of 1 lime or twice during

are tender, and Q 1/2 tsp salt baking, until

allow to cool. Q 100g melted coconut oil golden brown.

2) Blend all the (or similar)

ingredients, except Q 30g each blueberries and For more Hannah

the coconut oil raspberries (fresh or frozen) Grant recipes,

and the berries, visit hannahgrant.

until smooth. com or buy her book Eat Race Win

3) Add the melted coconut oil while (stocked by all major book shops).

54 | 4 March, 2021 | Cycling Weekly

ZWIFT RESULTS

Cycling Weekly’s Club Ten TT and Winter Lockdown RR Series

CW WINTER LOCKDOWN CW CLUB TEN
RR SERIES: RACE 5 HUUB POWERED!

The penultimate race (Innsbruck, 27 Feb) saw Charlotte Colclough MEN

clinch the overall, while it’s all down to the finale for the men

Pos Name Zwift team Time w/kg Av. W

CATEGORY A 1 Simon Myatt - 20:25 5.6w/kg 427w

Pos Name Zwift team Time w/kg Pts 2 Pete Younghusband Race3R 20:31 5.4w/kg 369w

1 Peter Merritt TBW23 51:22 4.6w/kg 10 3 Ben Short VCV Alfred 21:22 5.1w/kg 361w
51:39 4.2w/kg 9
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9 Adam Bailey - 4 Sarah Lucas LiveByCycling 23:52 4.0w/kg 206w

10 Will Barr - 5 Sadie Mitchell Poole Wheelers 24:39 3.4w/kg 236w

CATEGORY E - WOMEN SERIES STANDINGS BEST 3 SCORES

Pos Name Zwift team Time w/kg Pts Category A A Pts Women (Cat E) E Pts Category B B Pts

1 Charlotte Colclough TCRCC 53:25 4.3w/kg 10 1 B. Millar 23 C. Colclough 30 Savoyad 30
B. Morris 26
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1:01:14 3.6w/kg 4 J. Fisher 10
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6 Flora Perkins -

7 Lou. Williams - L. Williams 9

8 Carly Hanson - 1:02:53 3.6w/kg 3 7 G. Gacek 15 N. de Pennington 8

9 M Sellars LPCC 1:03:26 3.2w/kg 2 8 A. Bailey 10 L. Jackson 8

10 Carol Parsons - 1:04:55 3.4w/kg 1 9 P. Merritt 10 M. vd Plas 8

10 A. Slater 9 M. Nakaji 8 B. Maddison 9

CATEGORY B

Pos Name Zwift team Time w/kg Pts JOIN US EVERY WEDNESDAY AT 6PM
OR SATURDAY AT 10.30AM
1 Savoyad DIRT 54:08 3.8w/kg 10
55:36 3.9w/kg 9 Club 10 and Winter Lockdown RR Series
2 Bruce Diesel GRC 55:45 3.8w/kg 8 Sign up via the Zwift companion app or www.zwift.com/
55:46 4.0w/kg 7
3 Ian Mitch - 55:54 3.7w/kg 6 events/tag/cyclingweekly. Results published in the
4 Chris Thomas Halifax Imps 56:02 3.5w/kg 5 magazine each week are taken from Zwift Power.
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6 Neil Walker Contact RT 57:15 3.9w/kg 1
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8 Darren Humphrey England CC

9 Baz Morris teamWKG

10 Lukasz Rozumek -

Cycling Weekly | 4 March, 2021 | 55





How will riders respond to having superstar Anna van der Breggen
giving them orders from the team car, wonders the Doc

I t’s always reassuring if you can stashed away during their glory years
convince yourself that those with media appearances, commentary,
in charge know what they’re endorsements and splashing their names
doing. It’s a luxury that few of us over bike brands. The pros at the bottom
enjoy. Personally, I often spend much of of the ranks tend to quietly disappear
my day contemplating just how much back to ‘normal’ jobs. The riders in the
incompetence there is in the world, and middle are the ones who move to the
how so much of it got to be above me in team car, the motorised end of the sticky
order of importance. Then I wonder if bottle, and the radio.
that’s what they want me to do, to ensure
I never have sufficient focus to rise above Van der Breggen, on the other hand, is
my lowly station. definitely a star, and one who had a career
of making the impossible look relatively
Which brings us, in a roundabout way, straightforward. Just the sort of person
to Anna van der Breggen, who started off you’d want in the team car, no?
her final season with a win in Omloop
Het Nieuwsblad last weekend. She’s Well, look at it this way. If you’re riding
planning to switch to management next for her, you will spend the entire race
year. If I was a rider, I think I might have waiting for the radio to crackle into life
mixed feelings about that. with job offers that you don’t want. Over
the smooth-jazz soundtrack that I like
It’s certainly not universally the case, to imagine her playing on the team car
but by and large the riders that go into stereo, you’ll get an instruction like, “OK,
management are from the mid-range. now just ride the entire peloton off your
The big stars find an easier living, wheel, and solo the last 40km. Do it
supplementing the savings that they now. What are you waiting for? I can

How to… restore an old bike

If you’re restoring an old bike, your first Don’t paint it yourself. Get a you’ve done is try to paint a bike that’s
decision is whether to rebuild with modern
components, or with the originals. It professional. While it’s possible to paint carved from a giant potato. You can
will, of course, be the latter, for you are
authentic to your core. But it’s worth a bike as a DIY project, and it will give the get reproduction decals from specialist
making a conscious decision so
you can remind yourself of your finished frame a home-grown quality, companies. They won’t go on straight.
own innate nobility. Not for you
the easy way. More on this later. it will in practice look a lot like what You’ll probably end up spending almost

Next, source the components. as much as you did on the
Ebay is good for this. Allow a
100 per cent contingency fund It’s a mess, but it’s your mess bike on strange old tools. This
in your budget for all the other is excellent news, because it
random crap you’ll end up
buying. (“Hey, look! An original justifies restoring more bikes
set of Ever Ready lights from
1985! Wow. I wonder if they were since you already have the kit.
as useless as I remember?”)
Although, of course, the next

bike you do will require a totally

different set of tools.

The final result will be heavy,

not have enough gears, stop

badly if it ever stops at all, make

worrying creaking noises, and be

the best bike you’ve ever owned.

58 | 4 March, 2021 | Cycling Weekly

Van der Breggen is bowing out
at the height of her powers

see you on the TV, just sitting there with why doesn’t it? That’s really strange, and ACTS OF CYCLING
your mouth hanging open. Up the road a bit disappointing.”
with you.” STUPIDITY
The truth of it will probably be
It’s a close relation of the problem you something a bit more sympathetic. I’ve been informed of a rider from
get with an over-qualified teacher. The After all, it’s not as if she hasn’t been Surrey who shoots straight to the top
best teacher is someone who only learned observing the weaknesses of others. of my ‘dumb injuries’ ranking for 2021.
to do whatever it is about a week ahead I don’t suppose she tours the peloton, His problem was his new carbon-
of you, because they can remember what asking others why on earth they’re soled shoes, and his gravel drive.

“Riders who go into management Fearful of scratching the soles, he
are usually from the mid-range” did what any of us would do, and got
a pair of large slippers. He would put
it’s like to not know. At the other end of breathing so hard when the pace is so these over the shoes to walk down Photos Getty Images, Alamy
the scale, I had a maths teacher at school easy. She’ll have got used to it. the drive, then take them off and tuck
who’d been a professor of something or them under the hedge.
other before descending to mere school- Still, for her riders, life might be a bit
teaching, and who literally couldn’t think nerve-racking. The fact she’s planning Getting back one day, a slipper had
down to our level. He was humiliatingly to retire while still at the height of her vanished. (It had, it transpired, been
and obviously fascinated by just how powers and at the age of only 30 makes stolen by his dog.) So naturally he put
stupid we all were. it even worse. It’s not even as if a rider on the one that was left and started
can mutter under their breath, “Oh yeah? hopping, with his bike, toward the
I can imagine van der Breggen being Well, why not get out of the car, get a bike house. Halfway there he tripped over
a little similar. “This rider looks like off the roof, and come have a go yourself, the bike and concussed himself on
it should be able to hit 500 watts if you think it’s all so easy, old woman.” (and my informant swears this is true)
for five minutes no problem. So That would be the last thing you’d want. a garden gnome.

Cycling Weekly | 4 March, 2021 | 59

FROM THE ARCHIVE

Atlanta Olympics
women’s points
race 1996

T he field for the women’s points
race circle the velodrome in
Atlanta at the 1996 Olympic
Games with varying degrees
of tech on show – from the ever-popular
Campag Ghibli rear disc wheels that only
recently received a major overhaul, to the
now banned Spinergy wheels. There are
also some very basic-looking box-section
front wheels being ridden.

Winner of the race, France’s Nathalie
Lancien, can be seen on the right of this
picture, wearing number 17. It would be
unfair to call this a lucky win – she took
bronze in the points race at the World
Championships the year before – but it
was to be her last international medal. 

This was the first women’s points race
on the Olympic schedule; it had only
become a world title event in 1998
when Britain’s Sally Hodge won in
Ghent, Belgium. 

The women’s points race would only
run at four Olympics, with Marianne Vos
(Ned) winning the last one in Beijing
2008 in dominant fashion. At the 2012
Olympic Games in London it became one
of the races in the six-race omnium event. 

The points race remains a World
Championships event. The current holder
is none other than Elinor Barker.

The track in Atlanta, at Stone Mountain
Park outside of the Olympic park, was
built in an unconventional way, without
slats running around the track, and was
not a popular venue. It was pulled down
soon after the Games.

Photo Bongarts

60 | 4 March, 2021 | Cycling Weekly

Cycling Weekly | 4 March, 2021 | 61

FROM THE ARCHIVE

Cycling and
Mopeds

14 November, 1962

Thousands f lock

to Earl’s Court and

Simpson on his

Tour ride

T he Cycle Show at Earl’s Dr Woodward analyses the anatomy of a rising star
Court was a very, very big
deal back in the 1960s.
Despite this period seeing
the beginning of the downturn in British

manufacturing, there was no dimming

of people’s enthusiasm for new kit, with But no matter how Simpson. He recalls in

more than 41,000 visitors on the first big the show, it doesn’t his own words the 1962

day. The magazine clearly did well from excuse that cover. Taken Tour where he became

the event as it’s packed with adverts from from a high vantage the first Briton to wear

brands telling readers where they can find point, it seems to show the leader’s yellow jersey.

them at the show. Even Johnny Helms the opening of the event He took it on stage

produced a page of cartoons especially with lots of people 12 that went over the

for the occasion. gathered round someone Tourmalet, Col d’Aspin

at a lectern. and the Peyresourde.

CLASSIC ADVERT There isn’t a For this he rode 45/49
RALEIGH bike in sight. chainrings with a 13, 15,
18, 21, 24-tooth block on
Inside there

are several pages the rear. That’s a smallest

of reports from gear of 49 inches for a

the show with, mountain stage. 

thankfully, plenty of bikes to look He lost the jersey the next day on the

at. A caption on one of the photos summit finish of Superbagnères.

showing a Viking bike announces

that topping the show was a road NEXT WEEK’S ISSUE
racing bike worth £100. 

Also in this issue, the foremost TIRRENO-
British cycling coach of the time, ADRIATICO PREVIEW
Dr C. R. Woodard, looked at

the build and physiology of TT Fitness: Finding your
champion Frank Colden, who Dr training sweetspot
Woodard confidently labelled as
a potential world champion based How the UCI is tackling
on a rudimentary assessment concussion

of his physique. However, not Frame stiffness – is it really

to downplay the mental side of so important?

racing, Woodard also stated: “I Tirreno-Adriatico race preview

don’t believe there is anything

Raleigh had several adverts in this issue, and more important to an athlete than ON SALE
was clearly out in force at the Cycle Show. this thing called confidence.”  THURSDAY MAR 11

On the page before was a

champion in the making – Tom

62 | 4 March, 2021 | Cycling Weekly