BRITAINS CRAPPEST TIME TRIAL FANZINE?
JANUARY 2009
Welcome to “Testing Times” – the regular (as in monthly… hopefully) and very irregular (as in…well see for yourself) utterly crap testing fanzine. An idea conceived by Dave (the boss) at 3 o clock one cold morning in the middle of winter 2008 and nurtured through to this sorry state by me and my mates….so I’m not entirely to blame ok? So what’s the idea behind it all? Well it’s not going to be a billboard for Planet X products – well that’s what I was told when I answered the phone in my jim-jams shivering my bollx off at 5 past 3! Me and my mates are all cycling enthusiasts. Even if we weren’t trying to sell stuff or write for such illustrious publications as Cycling Weekly (and get paid for it – like some of my mates do) we’d still be showing an interest. We’d still be surfing the net (when we should be working) looking for any interesting cycling related titbits. We’d still be keen to know what’s going on in our own little world of domestic time trialling. But we’re all finding stuff like that is becoming harder to find these days. When I was a lad there were some superb journalists at work…Alan Gayfer, Ken Evans, Dennis Donovan, Bernard Thompson etc…all clearly able to demonstrate the extent of their literary genius in the publications available at the time. We think there’s a bit of a gap in the “market” and we’re going to try to do something about it…ok? Hopefully there’ll be something of interest here for everyone…we’ll try to keep it current (with it being once a month or so, that will be difficult - but we’ll do our best), interesting and varied with the odd touch of humor thrown in for good measure. Anything anyone finds offensive
isn’t meant to be. All those contributing are doing so out of the kindness of their hearts, because they love the sport and they’re all thoroughly good eggs. If you see them around let them know what you think (within reason of course) and if you receive a call from any of them for info be gentle with them….ok? Finally... Some of the photographs used in this issue have been taken from the DVD entitled "A Time-Trial Album" from the Bernard Thompson Photo Archive. Bernard and his wife Eth supported time-trialling for many years and were present at all of my competition record rides - I hold fond memories of both Bernard and Eth. RIP both Right…let’s get the show on the road then…
Ian Cammish - Editor at Heart
SEE MORE AT WWW.PLANET-X-BIKES.COM
PAGE 1
BRITAINS CRAPPEST TIME TRIAL FANZINE?
JANUARY 2009
OLD SCHOOL SERIES What originally started off as a flippant remark during a conversation we were having over a cup of tea and a piece of cake has now turned into a full blown, season long time trial competition. All well and good on paper, but the "proof of the pudding" will be when we see unofficial old skool records how many turn up won't it? there's no excuse! OK, so we've Thanks to the all the event got a couple of red herrings thrown in and for anyone who organisers I contacted here are the twelve counting events (quite hasn't already guessed they're the remarkable that not one of them ones on the J and K courses, but since there's been quite a bit of said "no" don't you think? interest expressed in the ….much appreciated chaps!): competition we thought it best All you have to do to qualify to spread the events as far afield for the overall series is ride any as we could to give as many two 10s and any two 25s. At the people as possible the end of the season submit your opportunity to take part. If we times to me and I'll do the rest. hadn't included any events in As you see, we've managed to that part of the country we'd latch on to events being run on have been discounting an awful some of the fastest courses in the lot of people. country so if anyone seriously We want people to take part thinks they can have a crack at and enter into the sprit of things either Sturgess's or Alf 's
“All you have to do to qualify for the overall series is ride any two 10s and any two 25s. At the end of the season submit your times to me and I'll do the rest.” by having a go…..times aren't necessarily important…..we just want everyone to have a bit of fun ok? The more retro the better though! Rules and regulations are as relaxed as you want them to be - entering into the spirit is more important than entering any competition you see! There will still be prizes though, and they'll go down to 20th place. I reserve the right to claim them all if I'm the only entrant ok? They'll be spread right across the board so you could win a prize simply by turning up looking the most retro…great eh? Who needs to go
Good Friday - 10th April
City RC Hull 10
V718
Sun 19th April
E Anglian CC 25
B25/4
Sat 25 April
Catford CC 10
Q10/19
Sat 2 May
Bath CC 10
Sat 16 May
Team Swift 25
V232
Sun 7 June
Hitchin Nomads CC 25
F1
Sat 13 June Mon 29 June
Dursley RC 25
U47
U46B
a3crg 25
P885/25
Seamons CC 25
J2/9
Sat 22 Aug
Team Sanjan Design 10
F2a
Sat 12 Sept
Kent Valley RC 10
L1015
Sat 26 Sept
Wrekinsport CC 10
K52/10
Sat 15 Aug
SEE MORE AT WWW.PLANET-X-BIKES.COM
PAGE 2
BRITAINS CRAPPEST TIME TRIAL FANZINE? fast anymore? Fed up with training in the cold? Hate the turbo? Well forget all that…..have a year out and ride our series instead! Right …. that's the majority of us sorted. Now let's cut to the chase shall we? I don't know about you, but I'm REALLY keen to see how close anyone will be able to get to
Sturgess's and Alf 's records. Will anyone be able to beat either of them? Can anyone take the hundreds of pounds on offer for beating either of the records? Alan Rochford (Alf 's mentor of many years) has kindly offered a £492.40 bonus for anyone beating Alf 's record for the 25 (49-24) going old skool in one of the counting events. PowerBar
JANUARY 2009 has also offered a similar award (£500.00) to anyone beating Sturgess's 18-48 for the 10 under the same conditions. Of course, anyone taking the series seriously will be bound by more stringent rules and regulations to be found elsewhere ….or later….or made up at the time…but fear not…if you beat the records fair and square you'll get your dosh ok?
RIDE THE RIDE To cyclists of the 1960s and 70s, Engers was a legend – a showman, a rebel, a genius, or just an awkward bastard, depending on your point of view. Alf ’s quest to become the first sub-50 minute man was no secret. He himself said he wanted “to put the record where other blokes couldn’t get at it.” He was already competition record holder with 51:00, and had been six times national 25 champion, but none of this was good enough. In August 1976 he had been on schedule for a 48-minute record on the A2 in Kent, when he was pulled off the road by the police for dangerous riding. For this he was suspended for a year, and he spent the 1977 season indulging his second great passion – carp fishing. In 1978 he was back, but he found he was no longer unbeatable, and he lost his champion’s crown to Eddie Adkins. Alf was now 38 years old, and he began to ask himself if he had run out of time to achieve his dream-record. The answer Engers was a baker by trade, came on the A12 is Essex, on the often working through the night, morning of Saturday 5 August, in and that weekend he clocked off the Unity CC 25. at 3 a.m., went home for a snack, and slept for a couple of hours.
For anyone with any aspirations to take Alf’s record, Peter Whitfield sets the scene...
SEE MORE AT WWW.PLANET-X-BIKES.COM
Not bothering with breakfast – just coffee and mint-cake – he drove up to the race and met his friend Alan Rochford. It was an overcast morning, trying to
PAGE 3
BRITAINS CRAPPEST TIME TRIAL FANZINE?
JANUARY 2009
decide whether to rain or not, the wind coming and going. There was the usual heavy coastbound traffic on the A12. Warming up alone, Alf tried to concentrate, and look for signs that he might expect a fast ride, but there were none. The week before he had done a 52 in very wet conditions, so clearly the form was there, but he didn’t feel specially strong physically this morning. He did however feel an unusual sense of relaxation, an inner calm, and when he came to the line the time-keeper’s voice sounded spaced out. As he sped down the slip road, the last man in the field, the rain seemed heavier, and there was obviously going to be tail-wind on the outer leg. He was on 55 x 13, and he found that he was travelling at an incredible speed, yet the sense of calmness remained, almost as though he was on auto-pilot, his mind controlling his body from the outside. He passed rider after rider, and even some slowmoving cars. He had arranged to get time-checks on Derek Cottington, but he was a nonstarter, so the checks were on Eddie Adkins instead: he was a few seconds up in the first mile, and by the turn it was almost 1:30 up. The 15-mile mark passed in 25:30 – 35 mph plus. Now he turns, and yes the wind is there, but he seems able to cut through it – a thin-air day as some riders called it. He is still holding close to 30 mph, and there is no sign of a sell-out. Now it dawns on him that he really is onto a special ride, that this could be the day. A club-mate holds up a sign that reads simply “It’s on!” The auto-pilot has switched off, as the pain starts to build. The last miles burn into his legs, and he knows he is in a
fight now. The turn-off comes into view, and he’s up the slip road, heaving himself up out of the saddle – a thing he rarely does – desperate to keep that gear turning, and he’s over the gradient, just. People up ahead are waving and shouting as he turns into the finish. He’s at his limit, and he’s still not there. He summons one last kick for the line, then slides unsteadily to a halt. Everyone seems to be surging around him, and Alan Rochford runs up and kisses him. “You’ve done it,” he says, “a forty-nine!” He is surrounded by people trying to slap him on the back or shake his hand, and then he hears the actual time: 49:24. Adkins had finished minutes earlier in a new record time of 50:50, then someone ran over to him and said “Alf ’s done a 49!” Adkins thought they meant 50:49, then he got the full story. So did Alf himself. At last it was over: ten years of trying, the disappointments, the heartaches, the conflicts – they were all over, and he was free of his selfimposed burden. He had climbed his personal Everest: no matter how many people might go there in the future, he would always be the first. He looked up at the sky, expecting to hear a heavenly
SEE MORE AT WWW.PLANET-X-BIKES.COM
choir: instead, somewhere, a dog barked. Sadly, that wasn’t the only barking that day, for Alf ’s enemies were already gathering. He had ridden dangerously, he had taken pace from the traffic, he had overtaken cars – these were the accusations against him. An inquiry was started and ratification of the record was put on hold. It seemed that some people were determined to humiliate him, to deny him his record. For three months the official wheels turned, then the opposition crumbled, and the new time of 49:24 entered the record book, where it remained for twelve years. Perhaps the Old School races will give us the answer, because it now seems isolated from us: we see it as the culmination of a style of timetrialling that has passed away. As for Alf himself, he raced intermittently for a few more years, but how could it be anything but an anti-climax? He switched to triathlon, where he became a vet’s champion, and then eased off, to concentrate on carp-fishing, where he also became something of a celebrity. But that’s another story, a part of the untold history of Alf Engers, cycling legend.
PAGE 4
BRITAINS CRAPPEST TIME TRIAL FANZINE?
JANUARY 2009
SPONSORSHIP...? Lesson One - Learn the lingo. When dealing with potential sponsors you need to be well armed with a good selection of management noblocks, these phrases are designed to how your understand the world of business, and cover the fact that your simply trying to get as much cash, and product for as little effort as possible. Good examples are -
Ian Cammish has been lucky enough to be sponsored a lot of his career, and there are some things aspiring riders should understand before going down the sponsorship route, here are some ground rules...
“I believe sponsorship is a 2 way street.” “We’re looking for a win win.” “I believe in a symbiotic relationship.” Lesson Two -Spot the winners. There’s no point buttering up a sponsor with no money, if there’s no pot to piss in, then go piss somewhere else. Lesson Three - Go for the expensive product.
Lesson Five - Encourage the sponsor to take on a Don’t let the sponsor fob you team. off with last years crap, make a Make sure the team beeline for the highest spec comprises at least one decent product. rider so you can hang on his shirt tails when you have (yet another) crap season! Lesson Four - Never forget how good you were no matter how long ago it was. Lesson Six - Never divulge your real address to If you’ve never been the sponsor . good…..use your imagination… nine times out of ten the sponsor That helps when he gets the won’t have a clue! bailiffs in to retrieve his kit!
SEE MORE AT WWW.PLANET-X-BIKES.COM
Lesson Seven - Never use your own name when selling sponsor’s kit on Ebay. Best to wait a year or so before selling team clothing too… bit of a give away otherwise! That should do for now…I’m sure there are plenty more….got to dash…dinner’s on the table!
PAGE 5
BRITAINS CRAPPEST TIME TRIAL FANZINE?
JANUARY 2009
DARRYL WEBSTER Ian. “ Why did you stop when you did at the end of 1989?” DW. “At the end of 89 I’d had a shit year with Teka. I’d struggled to get much racing done because the Teka team was 23, 24 riders strong, enough for a team in two races at once and still have riders sat at home. I'd failed to make an immediate impression, failed to learn Spanish, and had hated being away from home even on the few occasions I had been. Teka squad was appallingly badly organized. I’d gone the first 4, 5 months without being paid, when I did finally get something it was stuffed in an envelope given to me by a guy Id never met in an office in Santander. 1.25 million Pesetas .. about 8 grand. Took a bit of explaining at customs and down the bank when I got home!
Go and find some blasts from the past was the brief! Plenty of people to choose from…the first being Darryl Webster, multi national champion tester from the 80s. Initially this was going to be a short piece, but after asking him a few questions, he responded in such a way we thought it made pretty good reading as it was…so left it well alone! Hope you enjoy it as much as IAN CAMMISH did.
My contract had been for £20,000 sterling. When I finally got the balance of my pay late in the year tax of 4 grand had been stopped at source...so they said. My accountant advised there'd be scant chance of getting that back. There had also been a sharp economic downturn in 89, something the PCA seemed to be in total denial about. So, with no
SEE MORE AT WWW.PLANET-X-BIKES.COM
PAGE 6
BRITAINS CRAPPEST TIME TRIAL FANZINE? contract by January 1990 I resigned my post on the PCA committee and packed it all in.
different difficulties effecting people including Heroin abusers.
I moved to Wales two years ago this Christmas, met a local gal, and she moved in with me DW. “ Well I’d got married in recently. We have two dogs, and October 89, had a big mortgage, she has her three horses, and I'm happy as a pig in shit. desire to have kids, etc. So I Ian. “ So what did you do then?”
went Taxi Driving to pay the bills, worked long hours, bought a few more cars to let to other drivers and basically got on with the real world.
Ian. “What do you consider your best ever ride?”
DW. “ Bloody hell , that's a tough one. I really couldn't say..here's a few , the reader can I raced as an Amateur in 91, choose there favorite. My Manx managed a Bronze medal in the Mountain TT Record stands out 50km points race, a couple of top from 83, 1.27.37..it stood around a tens in Star trophy races, and decade, stuffed Lloydy by about 2 generally had fun till I ran out of minutes and I believe is still the steam after the Track fastest ever over the timed climb Championships. section. In 92 I started a Cycle shop with my brother Martin, stayed with that till mid 94. It was then my marriage failed and I fell out with Martin and returned to Taxi Driving. I haven’t had a relationship with Martin since.
JANUARY 2009 stands out for me. I did the final two and a half laps on the front to take the team from behind to a bronze medal winning ride off. On the road people remember my Nissan Classic stage 3 win, where I won from a 101 mile solo break on a stage of 130 miles in length. However for me my two stages of the 3 Days of Flanders in 87 stand out. Shame I punctured on the final day. Ian. “What's the furthest training ride you ever did?” DW. “Bloody stupid question!...I suppose my 12 hour ride of 274 or there abouts in 87 because it definitely wasn't racing!”
On the Track my quarter final ride in the 1980 Junior World Team Pursuit in Mexico City
I met someone else, totally away from the cycling, and was rarely seen from there on by the cycling world. I grew my hair, went to Glastonbury Festival for several years, started smoking and generally enjoyed a really good five and half years till that relationship failed. I moved in with my father who then was diagnosed with bone cancer about June 2000, dyeing in September. It was then things took a real downturn, depression really hit me (something I'd struggled with on occasion in the past) and I attempted suicide via prescription tablets. From March 2001 I started studying, eventually doing a Counseling qualification and working privately with various
SEE MORE AT WWW.PLANET-X-BIKES.COM
PAGE 7
BRITAINS CRAPPEST TIME TRIAL FANZINE? Ian. “Off the
JANUARY 2009 finest rides ever any were. Ray Booty's first sub 4 hour 100 also impresses me a lot. As you can see “Best rides”, for me aren’t about fastest ever and I really believe it’s important to respect a sport’s heritage” Ian. “ Is there anyone you consider good enough to beet King Alf ’s 49.24 or Collin Sturgess’s 18.48 from the current crop of time triallists in the coming season’s “Old Skool” series?” DW. “ You’re asking the wrong Guy , I'm just starting to find out who is who these days so I cant really make any judgment though my suspicion is there isn't” Ian. “ Any advice to the readers on how to go fast?”
bike, DW. “ You have to train so did you do any other form of hard your teeth hurt, Ride the training?” track, Train behind a Derny when you can” DW. “ I swam, ran, did DW. “ Blimey, how long have weights and circuit ,training in Ian. “Smashing Darryl…that’s you got?,,Lol...My main regret is the qym, so I'm a big believer in just great. It’s been good to catch not putting Road Racing above off-bike training in the winter, up with you. If there is any truth everything else after 82. I probably because I don't actually whatsoever in the rumor that you genuinely believe I had the talent enjoy bike riding as much as may be tempted to race again, to win major stage races but many others do , I never really I’m sure I’m not the only one to pissed about with small bear did. That might sound strange wish you the very best of luck events and keeping Jack Fletcher but it’s true. I rode a bike to win mate!” happy (Manchester Wheelers races, if I hadn't I doubt very Incidentally Darryl now lives sponsor). much Id ever have done it “ near Carmarthen – “My gals, Ian. “ Who's you best pal Ian. “Apart from my 3-31-53 Anna and Sophie are now 18 and from cycling?” hundred (sideways Harry Hill 15. Sophie’s like me, Anna’s like DW. “ What's a TV Burp wink to the reader!), her mum, different as chalk and pal?” ( Laughs) My longest what do you consider the cheese! I moved here standing friendships in cycling greatest ever British time trial predominantly to get away from are all ordinary club riders whom ride?” City life and cus, having visited I see now and then...non are well the area a few times I like the DW. “ That's a tough one, known. Good examples would be yes……your own 100 record peace and quiet and the amazing Jeff Jones and his son Simon. I've impressed me massively, as I'm coast line. I’m 20 minutes from known them since I was 14, 15 several fantastic beaches and sure you know. However for me year old and recently attended occasionally go out on the sea in one of the greatest cyclists of all Simon's wedding. Strange to my Canoes….but very carefully time was Beryl Burton, and her think I held him in my arms as a 12 hour record that actually cus I’m scared shitless on the new born. open sea”. outstripped the men’s record – that has to stand as one the Ian. “ Any regrets about not doing something during your career?”
SEE MORE AT WWW.PLANET-X-BIKES.COM
PAGE 8
BRITAINS CRAPPEST TIME TRIAL FANZINE?
JANUARY 2009
BBAR CHAMPION 2008
NIK BOWDLER In the good old days, when I was a lad, blah de blah, we were always given an insight into the year’s BBAR champions – either my eyesight’s fading and I missed it or the cycling press have missed out on a couple of scoops! Our respected roving journo’ Peter Whitfield hasn’t missed a trick though…..here’s what he found out! Just over fifty years ago, an electrical engineer working for Ericsson was Britain’s supreme time-triallist, a man by the name of Ray Booty. Now another Ericsson engineer has won the BAR championship: Nik Bowdler. Nik would not claim to be on the same level as the legendary Booty, but he is an exceptionally intelligent, committed and determined man: he has been building up his riding and racing for a dozen years, so perhaps he is only just getting into his stride. He comes from Manchester, went to Surrey University and settled in Guildford. He is 39 years old so he’ll be a vet next year, but he has set himself some personal targets that are so ambitious he’s keeping them secret for the moment.
camp in Tenerife, and spent nine days riding up and down Mount Teide. It must have done something for me, as I won my first race in February, the Team Swift 10, in 20:11, when the temperature was exactly at freezing point! ”
point at the start was Kevin Dawson’s non-appearance for this famously fast event, and the obvious boost this gave to others’ BAR chances. Things didn’t seem too promising however as it was a windy day, and Nik spent the first 10 miles being blown all over the place because he had opted The first high point of the season came in the API 50 at the for a deep-section front wheel. A quick stop for a wheel-change end of May, when he felt he was improved things, but he was still really flying. Even so, when he was told he’d done a 1:39, he said on the point of quitting after the “No, that’s not possible,” because first lap because of the wind. He he’d never even ridden a 30-mph decided to press on, and went into overdrive on the home leg: 25 before. “I don’t normally get After finishing fourth in the emotional when I see my time up with the tailwind and his big gear BAR table last year, he made a definite decision to go all out for on the result board,” he said, “but turning, he was passing people as if they were standing still, and that was pretty special.” He the big prize this year. “I had was clocked at 50 mph on one worked out later that this was major problems in my personal stretch. His winning time of life too last year,” he says, “which the fifth fastest 50 of all time, 3:37:52 was to remain the season’s only 1 second outside Obree’s might easily have driven me to best, and it put him into the record of 1993. give up cycling altogether. But BAR lead. instead I realised that cycling was He had made the best By the time the Elmet 12 holding my life together, and the possible start to his BAR came round, the news was that best thing I could do was to give campaign, and the second act Dawson had not entered and that it everything. I went off in followed a fortnight later in the he wasn’t planning to ride a 12 at January for a private solo training BDCA 100. The big talkingall. The way seemed open for
SEE MORE AT WWW.PLANET-X-BIKES.COM
PAGE 9
BRITAINS CRAPPEST TIME TRIAL FANZINE? Bowdler, but there remained the small matter of the 12 itself, the graveyard of so many BAR ambitions. The event took place on the hottest weekend of the year, and Nik’s chosen hotel in Selby was well within shouting distance of the local night-spots: the sounds of carousing, screaming, and breaking glass went on all night, so no alarm clock was needed when 4 am came. Not the best preparation for a vital 12-hour race, and on the way to the start he could hardly keep his eyes open. He missed his start and lost two minutes, and found himself tired and dehydrated after that hot, sleepless night. He had hopefully taped two schedules to his bars, one for 290 miles, the other for 300. In spite of the setbacks he was surprised to find himself getting up towards the recordequalling 300, and he pressed really hard towards the end. At the finish the bad news was that his computer must have been wrongly calibrated: the 300 was out of sight, and he even missed 290 by a couple of hundred yards. But he had won the event comfortably, and now topped the BAR tables at all three distances. This turned out to be enough, although the great Cammish did close the gap a little in the final 100 of the season. Nik celebrated by recording his first-ever sub-50minute 25 in South Wales, a ride he found harder than his 30-mph 50. It had been an amazing season: he had hit all his targets, improved all his times radically, and won the BAR by a decisive margin. The only niggle was that he had not actually beaten the multi-champion Dawson. But that was because Dawson had not given him the chance, while
Nik’s times at 50 and 100 miles were noticeably faster than Dawson’s this year. How did he do it? Well, his training hasn’t changed much over recent years, he has just made it more intensive. It’s all based on 50 commuting miles a day – a basic 1000 miles a month, plus longer sessions at weekends and 10’s for speed. It’s a remorseless routine that he reckons is essential for anyone with serious BAR ambitions. Then there is his personal weapon – you can’t call it a secret weapon because it’s the one thing everyone knows about him – he turns massive gears. He uses a custom-made 77tooth chainring, giving him an incredible top gear of 170 inches. How and why did he develop this unique personal weapon?
JANUARY 2009 BAR so decisively, other riders are sure to look carefully at his system. Ordinary riders who find it hard enough to get a 110 inch gear turning without some help from the wind, will look with incredulity at the idea of churning a 170-inch gear, yet it’s undeniable that it has worked for him. Interestingly, one of his biggest inspirations was Graeme Obree, for his self-belief, for doing things his own way despite being laughed at and criticised.
Nik is a time-triallist through and through, he doesn’t do any other kind of racing, and like many time-triallists he is concerned about the sport’s diminishing profile. He thinks the cycling press is to blame for this, for largely ignoring timetrialling. “If they reported timetrials properly, people would get “I stumbled on it by accident the idea they are worth riding, wouldn’t they. Why is it now OK really,” he explained. “I found I to ride a 100-mile sportif or a was doing my fastest rides when 300-mile audax, but not OK to I was using my top gear, which started out with 54x11, then 55, 56 ride a 100-mile or 12-hour time trial? I think the BAR should and 57. I thought it would be definitely stay as it is, you more efficient to use the 12 sprocket, so I went up to 63, but shouldn’t throw away all that found I went faster still on the 11 history, and the 12 is a very special challenge which deserves sprocket. So I went to 69, but tremendous respect.” was still using the 11, so I made sure by going up to 77 then For Nik winning the BAR removing the 11. The cadence is was always his deepest ambition, much slower than normal of and he now has the satisfaction course, about 60 rpm. My theory of seeing his name on the trophy is that this is more efficient in alongside the greats like Joy, terms of oxygen cost, although I Booty, Colden, Roach, Watson, have no data to back this up. No, Griffiths, Woodburn, Cammish, I don’t find any side-effects like Butler, Wilkinson, and Dawson. muscle, joint or back strains.” To him time-trialling is the Is it possible that Nik has hit purest and most challenging form on a major breakthrough in time- of racing there is: don’t try telling him that the BAR is boring, outtrialling technique? Or is it dated, finished or irrelevant. something purely personal, Having won it after a dozen years something that suits him, like of trying, he knows better than Obree’s handlebars? So far there hasn’t been a rush to imitate him, anyone what it demands and what satisfaction it gives. but now that he has won the
SEE MORE AT WWW.PLANET-X-BIKES.COM
PAGE 10
BRITAINS CRAPPEST TIME TRIAL FANZINE?
JANUARY 2009
BBAR CHAMPION 2008
LYNN HAMEL There are several surprising things about Lynn Hamel – some of them strike you as soon as you meet her, some of them are hidden. For one thing she is small and amazingly slight. She is rather self-conscious about this, but most cyclists would be green with envy, wishing they too could weigh just eight stone and pack the speed and power that this girl does. This is an athlete who won her title with a 1:52 ‘50’, who missed a sub-four-hour ‘100’ by seconds, and who flew up Bank Hill, Matlock, to win the women’s section of the hill-climb championship by a big margin; you don’t do any of those things by carrying excess weight. Lynn is 23 years old, she has been cycling since she was 16, and this is only her third really serious year of competition. Last year was her first tilt at the BAR distances, and she finished a fine second behind Julia Shaw. Now, Shaw fans will point out that this year Julia recorded faster times than Lynn for both the ‘25’ and the ‘50’, before her BAR chances fell to pieces when her chosen ‘100’ was cancelled. But remember that even last year, when Julia was sweeping all before her, Lynn’s ‘100’ time was noticeably faster than Julia’s. Could Lynn have taken the BAR if Julia had got her ‘100’ ? We’ll never know, but luck and planning have always been part of the BAR, and this year Lynn had both. She seized her chances, improved her best times at all three distances, and rode away with the title, with a winning
speed considerably faster than last year. At 26.193 mph, it was the fourth fastest women’s BAR time ever: only Jill Reames, Jenny Derham, and Beryl herself have ever gone faster. Lynn obviously has natural athletic ability, which combined with her light build makes her an outstanding distance rider. She is also a talented runner with a 3:30 marathon to her credit. In one marathon she remembers going off course through bad marshalling, running more than 28 miles, and still finishing inside four hours. She lives in Cumbria, between the Lake District and the Lancashire Fells, so she gets plenty of chances to build her climbing skills. She showed her versatility again by taking the bronze medal in the National Pursuit Championships in September. This versatility is part of a plan: she intends to ride road races next year, with the aim of selection for the National Squad. Her training has the structure and planning that is now standard for the serious tester, using the modern technology – power cranks, pulse monitor, king-cycle testing and so on, under the guidance of her coach Neil Lawson. Lawson’s training lab used to have green walls, hence the name of her team “The Green Room Group”,
SEE MORE AT WWW.PLANET-X-BIKES.COM
which has puzzled many people. Her training is 150 – 200 miles a week, mostly aerobic and mostly alone, and emphasises quality over quantity: she is almost never out for more than four hours. She knows she needs to strengthen her upper body: she reckons she missed that fourhour ‘100’ because of the pain that set in in her neck, forcing her to sit up over the final miles. Off the bike she has a surprising career for a cyclist: she is trying to establish herself as a writer, with a series of children’s books which she has written and illustrated herself. At the age of seven, she invented a family of mischief-makers with springs instead of legs, who stayed in her
PAGE 11
BRITAINS CRAPPEST TIME TRIAL FANZINE? imagination and who have now become the heroes of her books. She has already discovered how tough and competitive the literary world is, but she is convinced she has something original to offer. Lynn has had more than her share of health problems to battle with. She suffered from childhood anorexia, she is prone to anaemia, and she has recently had a plica (folded or knotted tissue) removed from her knee, which has troubled her for years. But the biggest surprise of all about Lynn is that she suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome,
which is a relatively mild form of autism. In her case it has taken the form of psychological tension and anxiety complexes. She had quite a hard time at school, but the success and friendships she has found in cycling have helped to boost her confidence enormously. It is hard to believe that this bubbly and talented girl has had this shadow hanging over her early life. She was as excited as a child when she knew the BAR title was hers – the news came the same weekend she won the pursuit bronze medal – and her rapid rise to cycling stardom has
JANUARY 2009 helped to transform her life. Her cycling heroes are Beryl of course, and, going even further back, Eileen Sheridan. Gethin Butler, her near-neighbour, was also an inspiration. She is looking forward to new challenges next year: good road-race placings, faster pursuiting, and national championship time-trial medals. She will definitely be defending her BAR title, and her big timetrial ambition is get that subfour-hour ‘100’, and maybe even up-date Jenny Derham’s 12-yearold competition record at last – so watch out for news on all these stories in 2009.
BIG BEN’S DIARY
THAT’S BIG WITH A CAPITAL “B” (COS HE’S A GIANT!) BEN “BIKEDOC” INSTONE…OK?
“Well just completed my 7th day of sitting inside on the turbo/rollers, not because it’s raining but a combination of it being freezing outside and just getting some new Kreitler rollers. I love new toys, beginning to think toys are the only reason I ride, never liked just going out and riding around unless there’s a reason for it. It used to be because it was my only form of transport, then a couple of years back I got a driving licence and my time on the bike
dropped off massively. Now the main reason to ride is to get new toys, unfortunately this means I have to race which means I have train and if I can do an hour or two on the rollers watching a film instead of going out and freezing then I will. So far this week I’ve watched Starwars, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Sphere, and most of a Simpsons box set and I’ve managed all of this without killing myself, Empire Strikes Back nearly got me as I rode into an asteroid
SEE MORE AT WWW.PLANET-X-BIKES.COM
field and had to take evasive action to avoid being taken out by a particularly big one and riding into the wall next to me and then as Luke and Princess Leia chased storm Troopers through the forest in Return of the Jedi on speeders I got very close to sticking my head into the large fan next to me avoiding a tree, I decided to look away from the screen until that bit was over after that, The other revelation this week is that folk music is great to turbo to, odd I
PAGE 12
BRITAINS CRAPPEST TIME TRIAL FANZINE? know but it just seems to work for me and the time fly’s by.
dark/raining/cold or all 3 so I’ve gone back to sleep for a couple of hours then done a turbo w/o or an easy ride with Kaaren for a I did try on Sunday to get couple of hours, Its amazing how out of bed in time to meet up lazy you can be and still go quick, with Redhill cc for their Sunday A few people have told me in the morning ride but just like the last past that if I actually took it 6 Sundays the alarms gone off, seriously I could be quite good at I’ve looked outside and its been
JANUARY 2009 it and every now and then I go through a couple of weeks where I do stick to Auriel’s plan but then I decide there’s loads of time before next season and I go back doing the minimum I can get away without people noticing and telling me I need to get a proper job!”
TOP 5 INNOVATIONS A lot of things have happened over the years which have made cycling racing so much easier. OK…hitting your maximum top speed still hurts as much, but getting there is so much easier than it used to be. How's that then? Well here, in the next of my top 5 series, I'll let you know why I think that is…….
the training you've been doing tells you that "x" watts is your optimal power output how much easier could it be to ride at that? No mega-highs (which would lead to oxygen debt), and no troughs….a nice long drawn out effort riding to "the" number. One of the best innovations I'm sure - but only the fifth best in my opinion!
FIFTH Although we've often been slagged off for being FOURTH Clothing. Not nothing other than juggernautthat we used to ride around chasers (do you know I was once starkers or anything like that, but even heralded as Britain's motor haven't things improved? Riding paced champion?) I'm still in the winter used to be the convinced that there is an art to absolute pits. If you think it's time trialling. Admittedly the hard now, you don't know the occasional passing Army convoy half of it. I've been so cold I've helps.....but at the end of the day, chafed my nuts so much they've on any given course, the result bled..and didn't even know about will be the same. It's just that it until I peeled off my shorts the speeds will be faster. (the old woolly type too!). Recently, riders have tended There were never such things as more and more to use power overshoes - you just stuck your meters rather than ride on "feel". feet in brown paper bags before I tried one last year and could putting your shoes on…only definitely see the advantages but "reasonably" effective but not for one reason or another I that good in the wet! We used couldn't quite get on with it. If to ram newspapers up our fronts I was starting over again though, to give some protection against there's no doubt in my mind that the cold…and news print got I'd be using one because I'm sure everywhere (much like Dunlop it would help. I mean…..if all rim cement used to every time
SEE MORE AT WWW.PLANET-X-BIKES.COM
you stuck a tub on…you remember that?)! The absolute pits! Today though? Zero Wind, Gore-Tex, Roubaix…the list goes on. There is no reason to get cold any more - cycling's a pleasure (as I try to tell myself at 6am each morning as I launch
PAGE 13
has rrent h and rance.
BRITAINS CRAPPEST TIME TRIAL FANZINE?
C2MAX can be found in the following:
more ydrate ption **
ested search
d to the
m
JANUARY 2009 SECOND So…up to the top two! In number two I've got the turbo - not that I use it that often mind you but I consider them to be the most likely reason why everyone hits the ground running in the first events of the year. Strewth... no-one used to knock out 20 or 21 minute 10s in the middle of winter did they? That was unheard of until the turbo reared its ugly head. Now people shut themselves away in their garages for hours on end, sweating buckets and burning mega-calories during the winter instead of sitting infront of the TV piling on the pounds. Little wonder that everyone's flying so early in the year. Personally, mine's a last resort. I find them so hard I prefer to get out on the road. BUT… there's no doubting the benefits of using them regularly…if only they didn't hurt quite so much I'd use mine more often!
FIRST PLACE OK so we've had disc wheels,…we've had skin suits…the aero hats… the tri spokes….but the biggest plus going has got to be tri-bars *. Wallis, et, al, “Oxidation of combined ingestion of maltodextrins and fructose during exercise.” Med Sci Sports Exercise, 2005:31:426-32. **Currel, K Jeukendrup, A. Superior endurance performance with ingestion of multiple transportable carbohydrates. Med Sci Sports hasn't it? They MUST be Exercise 2008:40:275-81. worth at least a mile an hour difference surely? They're so myself into the pitch black fluids alone - and if you want you comfortable to use too. Little freezing hell-hole that is the 21 can even eat those lovely chewy wonder then that everyone's miles between my home at bars without heaving up. Better been going faster since they were Waresley and the office at still, try PowerBar's Vanilla gels - first sanctioned for use by the Waterbeach)! I couldn't believe how yummy (then) RTTC in the early 1990s. THIRD Diet is next on the they were after virtually pewking Thanks to them (the tri-bars..not my guts up trying one of their list. Does anyone else the RTTC!) I'm going no slower remember trying to ride 12 hour rival's products during this year’s now than I was 25 years ago :-) events eating nothing other than championship 12 (like swallowing Not for one moment do I rice pudding, malt loaf and Mars a mouth full of "gob" every half consider I'm still as "fast" though bars? (I'll call them events rather hour that was!!!). I've honestly - but I reckon I won't be the only never enjoyed anything quite as than races because that's what one who is about to be bought tasty as them…PowerBar's vanilla back to earth with a bump when they used to be…only Longland could ever race them!) Is it any gels…ok? In fact…sod Planet Xs own old skool series wonder we used to get sick eh? diet….in third place I'd put takes off in the New Year. It’s These days you can get round on PowerBar's vanilla gels….period! certainly going to be interesting. Yummy!
SEE MORE AT WWW.PLANET-X-BIKES.COM
PAGE 14
BRITAINS CRAPPEST TIME TRIAL FANZINE?
JANUARY 2009
PREDICTING THE FUTURE IN 1978. GAMBLING ON….1979 JANUARY – BCF national coach/manager/director applications received. Phil Griffiths asks for “my old job back.” A British rider finishes 1978 World’s road race. All Continental pros change teams. FEBRUARY – Further letter to Editor reiterates the aerodynamics value of the dimpled golf ball, the fluffy tennis ball and the oval rugby ball. What was hitherto thought to be creating turbulence is now regarded as streamlining. Reliability trials run off at 30 mph. Complaints of dimpled mudguards. MARCH – Engers announces new “speed machine”. Named E72.49.24. Frame made of golf balls with fluffy rubber brake levers and leather oval wheels. Jimmy Saville offers £10 a mile to anyone riding a Viking anywhere, anytime. Please! APRIL – British pros upset that nonentity East Anglian CYCLING correspondent only referred to them as “greats”. Schoolboys on 135 – inch gears doing 20 minute “10s”. Beryl Burton continues into forty-second year without being beaten by a female. Presented with Yorkshire. MAY – Milk Race details announced. No place for Gt Britain’s team. China in. A mobile artificial Devil’s Staircase will be included in every stage. Empire Stores’ Marathon won by only Continental entrant. British pros have a grievance. “Too far.” London should be nearer Bradford.
Mick Gambling contributed around 5000 articles, race reports, interviews etc for Cycling Weekly, formerly cycling. They encompassed a 40 year period, 1965 – 2004 and half that period, to 1985, included light-hearted pieces. Many were topical for the period, although some are still relevant to the present time. A taste of these will be produced on a regular basis. Mick is still alive and pedalling in Norfolk. Reminded that he works for Post Office. British pros grouse that primes in an under-14 schoolboy race higher than their event. Organizer tells them they should bring their relatives too. Harrogate Festival huge success again. Staffmen have collective breakdown after producing 200-page guide issue and then reporting six races a day. Editor Ken Evans visits Harrogate psychiatric hospital with typewriters and paper. JULY – Tour de France winner found to be taking amphetamine, benzphetamine, steroids and Fisherman’s Friend. Attempted to cheat dope test by fitting rubber bulb in left ear, with tube taken through body. Kiss by UCI president causes accidental discharge. Soigneur admits “This operation standard practise.” Rider fined 20 francs and suspended one week, if it isn’t inconvenient.
AUGUST – Leicester track championships. Schoolboys and juniors hailed as-champs of the future, as in every previous year. World’s selections do not include Continental-based amateurs, as “They don’t have anyone to beat over there.” Rex Coley achieves JUNE – 25-mile championship. life ambition – picked for sprint Alf Engers DNS under emergency and kilometre. Engers, now on rule banning oval leather wheels. new bike, wins National “12” by New GS Strada-Lutz recruit Eddie two holes and three straight sets. Adkins retires when leading at 24 Accused by the RTTC of middlemiles after receiving message from of-the-road riding. His solicitor Phil Griffiths. Gold for Griffiths proves, by using long words, Alf who thanks Gas Board for help. rode on hard shoulder
SEE MORE AT WWW.PLANET-X-BIKES.COM
SEPTEMBER – Sercu wins genuine “go-all-the-way”Skol Six by a day. At home in Belgium with feet upon final night. Engers wins BBAR at record 35 mph, the “speed machine” outlawed retrospectively to 1-1-79.Phil Griffiths, c/o the Post Office, Boroughbridge, succeeds to his fifth title and wins RTTC chairman outright. OCTOBER – National hillclimb won by Dennis Donovan. Outcry for dope tests at all championships. D.D. insists he only eats and drinks D.D. Official reply: “British riders do not take anything naughty.” CYCLING clothing and lighting issue. Riding gear now completely covered by Continental gibberish. Lights selfdestruct period reduced from three months to a fortnight. Batteries designed to last up to end of road where you live. NOVEMBER – Motion from district level, “to modernize and increase interest in the BBAR the distances should be 25, 50 and 100 miles in selected events.” Unsuccessful, as too progressive. Another motion, to include “24” and new 48-hour, carried, all events to be on Boro. DECEMBER – Dulwich “25” won in 40-24 by Engers riding down central reservation with solicitors at every 5 miles and on 1980 speed machine made entirely from badminton shuttlecocks. Accused of hang-gliding.
PAGE 15
BRITAINS CRAPPEST TIME TRIAL FANZINE?
JANUARY 2009
NOB OFF.. THE BACK For those that think this is about the failing UK Economy, getting laid off or going to be sacked, then this is not the place for you so bog off!! This goes back to when Dinosaurs ruled the world of what is called Time Trialling although we move forward to one the greatest of periods for this odd sport the late 1970’s to early 1980’s & the founder of this Cyber Rag Sir Ian Cammish whom I’m told has won 9 BBAR’s which sounds like to a commoner drinking sessions, competitions in 9 boozers. Probably the reason he has a handle of Tosser (To55er) on UK’s number 1 Forum Time Trialling UK. The writer of this piece would like to claim it started (Testing Times) from the Forum most of us know & love. With my SAS partner (Secretive & Stupid) banging our thick heads together & piecing a thread entitled TT Legends. For those who don’t know we posted articles from when Cycling Weekly had legendary status in the years mentioned above along with photos from my partner which some had never been seem before!! We’d had no idea that all the lurkers, voyeurs & other dropouts would actually join & expose there tales of woe. Those that opened there bleeding hearts are Champions John Pritchard who bores us with his Poly CC dittos, Eddie Adkins who is still learning how to type bless him, Pete Wells a well traveled man & just recently Darryl Webster the former Punk
who loves the middle of the road. Just some examples of museum artifacts we have with us still who are now learning the art of talking. We still need the likes of Mick Ballard, Derek Cottington, Martin Pyne, Roger Queen to unleash their tales & sign up so through the effort of Testing Times we hope these “Greats” would also expose themselves to us. The writer spends a little time off the forum & has been banned twice & still restricted for god knows what? However he only rates himself a number who made up a field in an event but is stuck in a time warp of the great era as previously mentioned hence the love for all things that don’t work such as the glorious PMP L-shaped Cranks (still looking for a 177.5 Left Hand crank), Superb Modolo Kronos Calipers & Levers & M71 Cinelli Pedals but they made you go fast or look fast.
quite a following on the forum. I admire real gardens when Percy Thrower was King compared to the rubbish we get in today’s world which looking at some of the forum members gardens is a complete insult to Percy. So as a short I wish this new addition ‘Testing Times’ gets off to a cracking start & we get to eat our chips off it whilst we read all the (good) crap & BS that will be coming as another ditto from this great era & Congratulations to Sir Ian “To55er” Cammish for this effort. Sir Nob of Two Ghiblis
I am assigned in the desert of Saudi Arabia with a fascination for Camels & just love PVC/ Rubber as a fetish & also have
SEE MORE AT WWW.PLANET-X-BIKES.COM
PAGE 16