the testing times - feb 2009

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interested (not that I can blame you) and the three of us (Elaine, Martin and myself) will have our photo taken together" - which wouldn't have been that hard to organise because we were all seated at the same table.

Low and behold though, they all turned up, with the exception of Julia (Shaw) who got delayed when she stopped at the bar for a top-up en route. More from Julia later!!

Lots of nice people there and an opportunity to mix and mingle with all the stars so don't miss it next year. Thoroughly recommended! It’s just a shame it's all over so quickly!

Right, back to business…."issue number 2 had better be good”

Ian Cammish - Editor at Heart

If getting issue number 1 of the ground surprised me; this leaves me absolutely staggered. A second issue for goodness sake! In hindsight, the first issue probably wasn’t quite right. It was meant to be "regularly irregular and total crap" but judging by the feedback we've received we're some way off the mark.

Our contributors have been severely reprimanded and I have been assured that changes WILL be made, if not, heads will roll... probably mine!

So all we're asking for is a second chance…please?

I started trying to drum up some sort of interest in The Testing Times by off-loading a hundred paper copies of the first issue at the BBAR prize presentation at the beginning of January.

Despite my best intentions to show that we've managed to produce something that is at least on par with any available alternative (and in so doing meet our stated objective, see above) I kept getting side-tracked. I was on a mission you see! "Take your camera and get some shots of the real stars - and make sure they're in colour, not like all those we've got of you" I was told.

So, between us we took on the likes of Andy Jones and Kimroy-Silk (I didn't realise he took photos too but after hearing about him on "I'm a Celebrity…" it didn't come as any great surprise to be told it was the same chap).

As I sat down for my meal I got the seating plan out and as I looked at my main course I realised there were

just enough peas on my plate to be able to use them to tick off, one by one, the number of past, and present, BBARs there…twelve!

So, my plan was to get a piccy of us all together….and it VERY nearly worked!

The waiter service was such that I was able to meander around the thirty odd tables during the courses seeking out my eleven "friends" without missing a bite. I didn't think it would work, but the idea was for everyone to meet in the foyer sometime between the speeches and the prize presentation.

I was sure such illustrious com-pany would have far better things to do than come along.

“If you don't show up, don't worry" I said, "I'll assume you're not

Anti-clockwise, Dawson, Eyles, Allen, Hamel, Bowdler, Ward, Dorrington, Cammish, Hutchinson, Roach, Woodburn

Reports Reviews Legends Cranks Riders Kit Old Skool Carbon

Never work with animals or children

BRITAINS BEST CARPET TESTING MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009


If you have been in the sport for forty years or

more and love it’s history, then this is one

for you!

Agony, ecstasy, determination, humour, I could run out of expletives to describe this lifetime of work by Ron Good.

Over the years we see endless pictures featured in our sports magazines, we expect to see the story from the photograph. What we don't often appreciate is the com-mitment and endeavour shown by the photographer to capture that moment, which is over in a split second, not even knowing who he was, but at the same time that im-age is locked away in some distant compartment of our mind.

This book with it’s 250 photographs, along with a DVD totalling over 600 shots, brings back to life those memo-ries we have had locked away, each one reminding our-selves of events in our own lives at that time. It doesn't matter which branch of the sport you favour there is something for everyone. As I looked through the book I was reminded of the greats I had been told stories of when I started out back in 1969, riders who were already legends and whose memories live on, as comparisons are continually made between each generation of talent. I loved the 70's and seeing photo's of the Carlton, Holdsworth and Bantel riders fighting it out on the road, King Alf, Beryl Burton, Paul Carbutt and Phil Griffiths dominating their Time Trial events, these pictures cer-tainly bring back memories for me, as I strived to im-prove myself during that period. I am sure each decade will provide the reader with a 'wow' factor, with the changes in equipment and style reminding us of the achievements of our forerunners.

The 'Boot', first man under 4 hours, how did he do it on that machine? Do we really need carbon fibre? With pic-tures from all aspects of cycling, Ron has truly captured something for everyone - a collection of work to be ad-mired and enjoyed. Reviewed by Alan Roberts— top 3 BBAR rider from the 80s.

RACE RESULTS - DO YOU WANT THEM? Well it’s something we can do...if you’re interested.

Bear in mind though that Testing Times is likely to be regularly irregular in both content and frequency of issue so any results or reports that we include could well be four or five weeks out of date!

BUT...bear in mind also that Britain's biggest selling cy-cling magazine missed out completely on Andy Bason's Anfield epic last season! Well that's the sort of thing we'd like to pick up on! We believe rides like that deserve some recognition.

So, initially mail your top 10 riders and times + fastest schoolboy / junior / lady through to me at

[email protected] and I'll do the rest.

Don't bother with reports for now - if it's a BIG event or someone's whooped Hutch we'll get back to you for more details.

We’re up for it if you are?

BRITAINS BEST CARPET TESTING MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009


order to run the industrial wind machine needed to replicate the island’s true conditions but I was prepared to compromise on this element.

With the exception of a 2 week training camp when I actually went to Lanzarote, I completed the entire winter indoors from mid October to early March training on the turbo for 10-14 hours a week.

My longest session was 4 hours and my staple session was 8-10 X 10 minute efforts with a min-ute easy between.

The main trouble I had was staying hydrated. I used to drink a lot during the sessions with various electrolyte supplements but some days I seemed to fall apart far sooner than I should have.

My conclusion was that it worked pretty well.

Maybe a bit soft compared to the hardcore cold winter training but my 2006 season was a fairly good one for me”.

Master of the understatement!

As the 2009 season approaches we want to give you expert advice on reaching your goals and new PB’s

MAKE 2009 YOUR BEST EVER...

Recording one of the fastest 10 mile time trail times during 2006 in 18 minutes and 55 sec-onds make Craig Simpson, pic-tured right preparing for another arduous training session, is a great believer in the indoor trainer.

“Going in to the winter of 2005-2006 was when I first decided that training on the UK roads was not enough fun to tolerate.

So after my last time trial in September I had a look at wunderground.com and printed off the 2004-2005 weather history of Lanzarote for the period of October to March. March.

It was about October 10th when the lack of insulating properties of my bib-shorts and track mitts were starting to show.

So, I got back on the internet and ordered myself a Hygro Thermometer (temperature and humidity) and a lovely 10'000 Lux Light Box to implement my plan to recreate the conditions of my favourite place to train.

Unfortunately my budget didn't stretch to getting the three-phase electricity system installed in

“I completed the entire winter indoors from mid October to early March training on the turbo for 10-14 hours a week. .”

“My longest session was 4 hours and my staple session was 8 to 10, 10 minute efforts with a minute easy between.”

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Joel Wainmann –Team Swift—has won several National Time Trial medals and been a top 3 BBAR rider which is no doubt due to the arduous training regime he follows each winter.

“Having kept in contact with Mr Editor over last season and the winter period I was flattered when he asked me to do a detailed run down of my own winter training layout.

What you are about to read isn't hyped up to show off, nor is it what I am recommending that you should do as we are all different and one plan may not suit another.

It’s pretty simple stuff but pain-ful. Some will do more; some will do less and still be more successful than me!

I don't use power meters or coaches as, at the end of the day, it is the fastest time that wins not how many watts you've kicked out and I reckon I know my body more than any coach ever will.

So, after my last race, which was late September, I just do a 2-3 hour ride on a Sunday at tempo pace until the beginning of December.

Then I get stuck in with the turbo and I use a Kurt Kinetic Fluid Turbo Trainer which is a twat.

As I get fitter I need less food and drink. I start on two full 750ml bot-tles of Amino load, 4 cereal bars and a Turkish Delight but last week did 105 miles at 18.9 average on half a bottle and 3 cereal bars.

“Being alone, and in pain from ice cold hands I often shouted out loud "you won't fucking beat me"! It sometimes seems like a personal fight between the cold/wind/rain and

BRITAINS CRAPPEST CARPET MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

I always win, apart from early December when I hit black ice and broke my thumb! Oops!

All rides are done solo which can take a strong mind at times I be-lieve

But planning out a route and sticking to it regardless helps mentally.

The only time I stop is traffic lights; you don't stop in 100 mile TTs so why stop in training for them?

With a month to go until my first race I shall continue to up the

Joel’s Alloy Giant Winter Bike -17.5lb kitted with Shimano

NOT FOR THE FAINT-HEARTED

“Then I get stuck in with the turbo. I use a Kurt Kinetic

Fluid Turbo Trainer which is a twat.”

Sunday mileage to 7+ hour rides, if there is enough light in the day!

Don't laugh if you see the result of me getting hammered in the Team Swift 9.5, it's a hilly and I haven’t been training for them!”

Take a look at a typical training week from

Joel on the next page total respect!

Thanks to Craig and Joel for giving away

their secrets.


BRITAINS CRAPPEST CARPET MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

If you fancy doing something different this week then why not try Joel Wainmann’s weekly training

plan:

Monday: 40 press ups, 100 sit ups, 60 neck lifts, 30 bicep and tricep curls. Hop on the turbo for 40 minutes in 39x16. Sit at about 130bpm - average speed started at 16.6—now its about 18.5 with the same heart rate read-ing. Then 10 minutes warm down.

Tuesday: A 10 minute warm up then an 30mins in 53x18 at 20mph+. I call it a threshold ride. I am going as hard as I can and there is eternal leg pain. At the beginning of December the average speed was 20.07 but come mid-January it is 20.37. Heart rate average is very low at 142ish but was 165 early December. Revs are about 87-90pm, the last 5 mins or so are ridden on the rivet! Then 10 minute warm down.

Wednesday: Exactly the same as Tuesday.

Thursday: Day off, too busy shaving legs and doing my share of the

parenting!

Friday: 10 minute warm up then into a 53x14 at hard painful effort, over-geared for 30 minutes to start with. Revs are about 75pm. Beginning of December the score was 20.7 average (162 average hr), mid-January 21.1 average (152 average hr). 10 minutes warm down.

Saturday: 62.7 mile ride same route all the time. It is 748 metres of climb-ing and to make it harder I limit myself to just 4 gears - 53x16 -13. This means that on some of the climbs I am doing 12mph in the 16! The effort is tempo but I wouldn't rest if I didn't achieve a 20+average so often kill my-self in the last 10 mile or so if I think it is not on. Av hr in early December was 159, it is now 146ish. Fastest average so far 20.7.

Sunday: I have this obsession that every ride has to be 100 mile+ so last winter, and this year up to now I have achieved this. Av hr usually 135-140. Biggest mileage has been 121 but I will probably better that very soon. December total mileage was 1242 but our modest Editor put me to shame by about 650 miles! Crikey I'd have issued a press conference if I’d have clocked up that many miles.


BRITAINS MAGAZINE FOR CARPET TESTERS FEBRUARY 2009

MARTIN PYNE Martin is a legend who continues to race long

after winning the National 25

Championship in 1981 His exploits continue to attract great interest from the many enthusiasts who have followed his every move over the years.

Although he’d probably be the first to agree he isn’t quite as fast as he used to be, Martin remains as keen as ever.

Here, he looks back on some of the highlights of his cy-cling hey-days with Luke http://www.crazyaboutbelgium.co.uk : Evans

Hi Martin what are you up to these days? I’m fairly busy. I am married with three young daugh-ters, Emily, 15, Victoria, 13 and Annabel, 7. Taking them to school, brownies, girl guides and air cadets takes up a fair amount of my time. My wife, Helen, has had multiple sclerosis for the last four years and al-though she is as active as most women, I have to do as much as I can if she has a bad spell.

Where do you work? I’ve been a fibreglass laminator, for 35 years now. In the 1970’s I worked on boats but since then I have been making medical scanner covers for Broadwater Mould-ings in Horham, Suffolk. I ride to work about two or three times a week. It’s about 19 miles from my house in Barningham and on the way home I usually do a few extra miles depending on how I feel; usually about 25 miles. It’s on main roads and side roads and I ride steady but quite hard, at about evens. My training bike has mudguards, a pannier frame and lights and weighs about 27lbs.

What about the weekends at this time of year? On Saturday morning I will probably do an hour before everyone gets up. I have several little circuits, one to-wards Thetford Forest and a hillier one along the Ix-worth Road. That’s a hard road and I’m always quite knackered after riding flat out up the hills.

I probably won’t ride on a Sunday, we might go food shopping and I usually have to clean out the chicken shed which takes a couple of hours. We have 12 and they are laying six or seven eggs a day at the moment. These older ex-council houses have bigger gardens, about a fifth of an acre so it’s nice to let them out, espe-cially the free-range rescue hens which were a bit scrawny but are quite presentable now. We’ve got a guinea pig and a rabbit too.

That’s about eight hours a week, not big miles then? I have done the same training year in year out for years. I’ve had the same routine all my life — the only time I stuck to a proper schedule — I wasn’t married then — was when Stan Turner did one for me in 1981, the year I won the national ‘25’ title.

I would ride every day to work, about 12 miles, then do 20 to 30 miles after. About 40 miles most days then an hour on Saturday and 60 to 80 miles on Sunday. There were some intervals in there as well. About 300 miles a week, a good base fitness.

In 1981 I did quite a few road races in the early season as well. I had six second places, one or two down Lon-don way. I should have won one of them, I was away

On the E72 riding the bike featured earlier in Nob Off the back

http://www.crazyaboutbelgium.co.uk/�




BRITAINS MAGAZINE FOR CARPET TESTERS FEBRUARY 2009


with one bloke but he just sat on me the whole time and sprinted for the win.

I liked doing road races, I would do them till April or May before the TT’s took over. During the season I would do the odd crit. I even did the Ras the Cymru once and got fifth or sixth on one stage. A hilly race that, I was on a VC Norwich team.

What was your best ever ride? Probably the National ‘25’ in 1981. I won it by 50 sec-onds, I think Ian was second. The only other person who could have won it was that red haired bloke from London who rode as a pro…Dave Akam [Akam was still amateur at the time but racing in Holland].

I was on top form. I beat comp record for the ‘30’ on the E72 a week before with 1-00-11. On the day of the ‘25’ it was cool and very windy, conditions that suit me. I like the wind, it suits my strength. The course was the F2/25, along the A10 to Waterbeach, north on the A14, turning at the Stretham roundabout and back down the A10. It’s fairly flat but very open. I used 57x12 or 13, 126in or 128in in top, that’s what I used the whole way round. I was that strong I could use those gears into the wind and up the hills. [Cycling reported that he used 116in and 106in on the hardest headwind sections].

What bike did you ride? A Raleigh Ilkeston special, built with the latest Reynolds 753 tubing and aero seatstays. It was painted gold with black graphics and I had the rims of the wheels anodised black just for the look.

I can’t remember the make of the rims but the hubs were Omas with titanium skewers and roller bearings. Tyres were Clement number threes, silks, pumped up to 120 to 130 psi. They made a lovely sound - they just roar.

The groupset was Campag Super Record with a single chainset and seven inch cranks, or 177.5mm. I used Super Record track pedals with Christophe aluminium clips. My team-mate in the Breckland, Richard Bradley, used those Cinelli M71’s which you had to bend down and unclip each time.

[Martin’s Raleigh also had Cinelli bars and stem, with concealed cables and no bar tape. The brake levers were drilled and without rubber hoods and Martin rode in an all-black skinsuit with integral hood and Duegi leather shoes]

That bike is still around — I gave it back (to the sponsor) and someone still rides it around the Sudbury area I think.

A few weeks before the national ‘25’ I did a 49-31 on the E72 on that bike. That was eight seconds outside comp record and I probably would have got it if it hadn’t been wet on the big roundabout and I hadn’t had to slow down around the adverse camber turn before the finish.

I’m sure I’m not alone in thanking you for sharing some of your thoughts and memories with us. Good luck for the future Martin.

1981 RTTC National 25-mile Championship

1. Martin Pyne (CC Breckland) 53-00 2. Ian Cammish (GS Strada-Manulife) 53-50

(Must have jumped a lorry!) 3. John French (Coventry Olympic) 54-48 4. R. Queen (VC Slough-Office Ass) 54-56 5. M. Ballard (Unity CC-Hireconomy) 55-01 6. P. Wheeler (Charlotteville CC) 55-21 7 .D. Hinde (Crewe Clarion) 55-37 8. J. French (Oxford City RC) 55-40 9. D. Cottington (CC Orpingt-Ken Bird) 55-48 10. M. Bowen (Oxonian CC) 55-48

“Co favourite with Pyne, Eddie Adkins (‘25’ champion in 1977-78-79) punc-tured after two miles and packed at 10 miles when 1-36 down on Cammish”

“Pyne was fastest at all the intermedi-

ate time checks with 20-58 (10mls) and 36-11 (17.7mls)”

“CC Breckland won the team with Pyne, Richard Bradley (55-54) and

Simon Warren (57-26)”

“Pyne was 24 when he won the ‘25’. He was 6ft-1in tall and weighed 12.5

stone. He won many events after 1981 and still races today, but he never won

the 25 championship again”


TESTING TIMES FOR CARPET FITTERS FEBRUARY 2009

KEVIN DAWSON B.A.R. KING

I’m always interested in what cycling champions do for a living. It often seems to give you an im-portant insight into their personal-ity.

So when I talked to Kevin Dawson about his career, it came as no sur-prise when he told me he works in a milling plant, grinding stone to pow-der, smashed, shattered and ground down until there is nothing left but fine dust.

It seemed to me that this is exactly what Dawson has been doing to his fellow time triallists for the past sixteen years. During which his almost unbeatable strength at 100 miles and 12 hours has brought him the amazing total of eleven BAR victories.

If you think of giants of the past like Ray Booty or Bryan Wiltcher winning it two or three times, and riders of the calibre of Roach, Wat-son and Woodburn winning it just once, it seems incredible that one man could be so dominant for so long, surpassing even Cammish’s

nine-year reign.

True he didn’t win eleven in a row – he has lost out to Gethin Butler, Andy Wilkinson and Michael Hutchinson – but remember when he wasn’t winning he was second.

He has never finished worse than second, and he set the all-time record speed in the competition in 2003 at 28.260 mph.

Add to this his seven national championships in the 100, three in the 12, competition records at 50 and 100 miles and you have an achieve-ment which places him among the very greatest figures in the sport.

Born and bred in Doncaster he discovered cycling for himself when he was a kid.

His parents had a caravan at Filey and when he was just fourteen he would ride over to the coast fifty miles away and go sea-fishing. Cycling was the only sport he ever went in for seriously.

His first club was the Askern CC, made famous by Peter Hill, the teenage BAR champion of the 1960s, in fact Alan Robson, one of Hill’s contemporaries, was Dawson’s earli-est mentor.

Kevin started racing when he was eighteen in 1988, and road-racing excited him more than time-trialling.

But in 1991 he decided almost on a whim to take a break from the bunches and try some serious time-trialling.

Few riders can have started with such a bang; a 50 in 1:46, a 100 in 3:51, and then 3:41, Kevin had all the established stars sitting up!

And more was to come. In his first 12-hour he was well inside four hours for the first 100, still inside eight hours at 200, before slowing for a final total of 284, a magnificent debut, easily the best of the season so far, and one that placed him at the head of the BAR table.

It was only Glenn Longland’s his-toric 300-mile 12 later that year that kept Dawson from taking the BAR title at his first attempt at the tender age of 21.

He was training hard, 25 hours or more a week, but at that time it was all very traditional, with long rides and chain-gangs. No 21-year-old could conceivably post times like those without a tremendous natural talent. Kevin had clearly found his role.

In 1992 he took the BAR crown, and retained it in 1993. In both years it was Kevin’s unmatchable 12 times that gave him the victory.

He would continue as a top-flight roadman, winning elite events like the Lincoln GP, winning stages in the Girvan and the Ras, and riding both the Pru-Tours in the 1990s. But every year by late June his thoughts would turn once again to the BAR.

He didn’t set out deliberately to beat Cammish’s record of nine victories, but he realised early that this was his real territory, and he could do this

Kevin Dawson at speed

Photo courtesy Ron Good

International honours don’t come easily to our best time trialers. Peter Whitfield speaks to Kevin Dawson and Julia Shaw to find out more...


supremely well and he was more certain of winning the big prizes here than in the bunches.

If you try to analyse where his superiority lay it was above all in the 12.

This is the graveyard of so many BAR ambitions and so many great riders have admitted they rode unwillingly, Dawson on the other hand has never been afraid of 12s, he enjoys them, and no other rider ever had such a run of 290-plus rides year after year.

The 12 demonstrated his superiority, but it also provided the biggest disappointment of his career, that he never quite got to the magic 300 and competition record. In distance terms his 12-hour victories culminated in the 2000 Elmet event, where he hit 298.2, but his greatest frustration came in the 2002 National, when he did 296.11 after being off the bike for well-nigh half an hour with five punc-tures, and a road blocked by a crash.

“There was a smashed caravan lying across the road,” he recalls, “and the police wouldn’t let any traffic through, even blokes in a bike race.

The only way we could get past was to take to the grass verge. I passed Gethin while he was walking with his bike and I was running with mine – that’s the only time I’ve ever run past someone in a time-trial! I’m abso-lutely certain I could have done 305 miles that day without all those hold-ups.”

He admits that he doesn’t have a computer-sharp memory of all his rides – “It’s all a bit of blur,” he says, “but you always remember the day you broke competition record, like the 100 in 2003.

I was up against Hutch and he had broken comp record a few weeks be-fore. The only possible plan was to go flat out from the start. It was shit or bust:

I took an early lead and kept it to the end. It was the national champion-ship, a new competition record and the BAR-winning ride all in one. But

you see I had tried the same tactics in the previous 100, in the Cleveland event, and it hadn’t worked. I blew up at eighty miles. We both broke Wilko’s record that day, but you won’t see my name in the book, be-cause Hutch finished first. The sec-ond time I didn’t blow up, that’s all.”

That record still stands, and it was the second Wilko record that he had cap-tured. In 1997 he had trimmed five seconds off the 50 time, and put the record on the shelf for eleven years until Hutch smashed it last season.

With his tremendous record you would think he had deserved at least one or two international outings against the watch, wouldn’t you, but no.

“As far as international selection is concerned, time trialling doesn’t mean anything, it’s still a little back-water. If you want selection for the world’s or whatever, you have to ride the road or track, or your face just doesn’t fit.

“Back in the mid-90’s I rode in a TTT squad with Randle and Lovatt and Speight. We beat the North Wirral Velo squad, but they still got international selection and we did-n’t.“

This has been going on for years. Wilko smashed every competition record in 1996 but never got selected for anything..” These days he trains fewer hours – typically fifteen hours or so a week, but it’s more intense and structured. “Ken Matheson brought me up to speed with modern methods,” he says, “with the pulse-metre, the zones and the rest of it. Now I do a lot on the turbo, and when I go out I know clearly what I have to do, I’m not just riding the bike, it’s a calculated work-out. But the best training is still the competitive group.

I think a good roadman can ride a good time trial if he wants to, but the reverse isn’t necessarily true.

He’s still serious about his road-racing, in fact it was only a couple of years ago that he signed for the Ital-

ian team Agisko, and was flown out to Italy every weekend to race there, while still working at the mill through the week.

So what of the future? What keeps a man racing when he has achieved so much? Is he going to try to get the BAR crown back, or is all that in the past? Has he really bowed out, and if so why? “To be honest,” he says, “I knew people felt I was killing the competition. They didn’t exactly say it to my face, but I got that feeling. I believe Cammish had the same problem.

So I decided that eleven victories was enough, that I wouldn’t go for it again. In fact last season I did plan to ride a 12, I got myself psyched up for it, then I thought: Wait a minute, if I ride the 12 that means I am going for the BAR after all, which I’m not sup-posed to be doing, so I dropped the idea, I didn’t enter.” So has he any ambitions left at all? “Well yes, that 300-mile 12, it’s hovering in the back of my mind, but it’s just a vague idea, it probably won’t happen. Let’s just say it’s a bit of unfinished business. But I like winning, and I’ll keep on racing as long as I can keep on win-ning.”

Kevin Dawson is modest, level-headed and apparently relaxed in his approach, he seems to have no arro-gance, he is the least egotistical champion you could imagine.

He is not a big man, he is quietly spoken. Now that he’s approaching forty and thinning on top, when he wears his glasses and his suit he looks more like a professor than a great en-durance athlete.

But this man has achieved something unique, something other testers can only dream of, and it’s hard to see his record ever being beaten. He has added another dimension to the his-tory of the BAR.

Beneath the casual exterior lies a tre-mendous talent based on steely deter-mination, and on years of practice at grinding down his rivals, just as he grinds down those tons of stone.

TESTING TIMES FOR CARPET FITTERS FEBRUARY 2009


HELPING TO PUT THE “GREAT” BACK INTO CARPETS FEBRUARY 2009

JULIA SHAW UNCONVENTIONAL CHAMPION

On stage at the 2007 Champi-ons’ Night, Julia Shaw collected so many trophies that she couldn’t even attempt to carry them.

To win the 10, 25, 50, 100, the BAR, the Rudy Project series and the Beryl Burton Trophy was simply magnifi-cent – in fact is was almost embar-rassing.

It was like going back to the days of Beryl herself, with the audience wondering, “Hasn’t anyone else won anything?”

Having won the BAR in the previous year too, Julia had established herself as unbeatable. Yet in 2008, although she won another clutch of trophies, she didn’t figure in the BAR tables at all! Had something gone wrong?

“No, not really. I only entered one 100 and it got cancelled, so no BAR.

But the truth is that I didn’t specifi-cally target the BAR in 2006 or 2007. I was trying for the 100 cham-pionship, and by winning that I ended up winning the BAR too.

I actually prefer the shorter distances and the circuit-type events. The 100 is a bit too long to enjoy, and I don’t really like the dual-carriageways anyway.

It’s true that 2007 was a bit of a wonder-year for me, and it’s always been a problem for anyone, man or woman, who wins the BAR, because people assume you must keep on targeting and winning it or you are a failure – not true! To me, winning national championships is the greatest achievement. The BAR has always been slightly artificial hasn’t it, because you are comparing rides done on different courses on differ-ent days, so there has to be a big

element of luck in it.

“In a National Championship it’s black and white: you have to be the best on the day, whatever the condi-tions.”

In the last three or four years Julia has made an enormous impact on the time-trialling scene, and last season a 20-minute 10 and a 1:51 50 shows that she is still getting faster, but she is in many ways an unconventional champion.

For one thing she has reached the top when she is over 40, and for another she has not progressed up through traditional cycling routes. Instead she switched from triathlon, in which she started competing fifteen years ago.

“I think I rode my first time-trial in 1992, as part of my triathlon training, and managed to do a half-decent ride despite the terribly hilly course from Romsey to Stockbridge and back.

I continued with triathlon for another eight years, and competed in the World Championship, in my age group, five times. But I was always hopeless at running: I would get to the front on the bike, only to give it all away on the run. Eight years of being run down was enough, and I saw the light and switched to cy-cling. My first national victory was in the Rudy Project series in 2002.”

As with Kevin Dawson, you won-der why a rider who has won so

“In a National Championship it’s black and white, you have to be the

best on the day, whatever the conditions.”


many championships never gets se-lected to ride for Britain at interna-tional level. Does this bother her?

“In a way yes. I rode the World Mas-ters time trial in Austria last year and won it. That was a super event, a great course on closed roads, and fan-tastic weather, I can definitely recom-mend it. I’ve done a few domestic road races just for a change, but my sprint isn’t what it needs to be to do well.

I also raced in the World Masters road race, that was after the time trial, and I came fifth and really enjoyed it.

A few years ago I won the World Masters pursuit, so I’m not exactly a novice in international terms. Yes it would be great to be on the national squad, but as a time triallist I accept that’s unlikely to happen. Look at Wendy Houvenaghal: she switched to the track to get on the squad. There’s no doubt that the pure time-triallists get frozen out. That said, it would be super to see how much I could im-prove by concentrating on cycling alone, without having to go to work. I would like to see the winner of the BTTC given the opportunity to ride the World’s.”

Given her age and her unusual back-ground, everyone wants to know what

Julia’s training secret is, but she claims not to have one, at least not one that is unique to her.

For part of the year her training is relatively relaxed and unstructured: she enjoys spinning through the New Forest, where she lives, building ba-sic fitness.

During the racing season though, it’s completely different. Highly struc-tured pulse rate and power work designed to bring her to her peak exactly when she wants it. For the national championships. She got her-self a coach early on to learn the scientific basis of race-fitness, first Auriel Forester, and now she works under the expert eye of Jamie Pringle.

The science ought to be her strong-point, because she is herself a research physicist, working in the field of fibre optics and lasers.

Julia isn’t exactly burning to get back her BAR crown. Her only ambition is to go on improving, to ride faster this year than last, and she would love the chance to compete for Great Britain, even if it was just once.

She doesn’t know how long she will keep on racing. “I have thought about retiring a few times,” she says, “but after a break from the bike I always

seem to change my mind. I suppose I’m addicted to riding, especially through the New Forest in the beautiful clear air. I have a fairly pressurised job, and cycling is my great escape, especially after a bad day at work.”

Asked about the future of time-trialling, she admits she is not over-optimistic.

“There aren’t many youngsters com-ing into the sport are there? More than half the field in any race seems to be over 40. The roads are getting busier all the time, so that it gets harder and harder to find good courses. I think time-trialling needs to experiment with new types of event, like the closed circuit event at Blen-heim Palace last year, otherwise the future may not be too bright.”

A sad reflection from a great time-triallist; but isn’t it contradicted to some extent by her own career?

Not everyone comes into the sport as a youngster. Perhaps we need Julia as an ambassador, or a missionary, to go out and preach to all the triathletes. Tell them to stop running themselves into the ground, forget splashing through the freezing water, and switch to the bike and maybe become a great champion – as she has.

WEBSTER ON HIS WAY BACK Getting back on my bike... During the Beijing Olympics I found myself viewing cycle racing and hav-ing the first bit of real interest in cy-cling for several years. This led to me becoming a regular on the Cycling Weekly forum and from there the Time Trial Forum. And now for my trouble…Testing Times.

Testing Times indeed! On the Cy-cling Weekly forum, once I’d actually managed to convince sceptics I am indeed myself, I seem to spend a fair bit of time attempting to offer an “inside” view of the reality of Pro sport to a rather disbelieving reader-ship who just want to bury their heads

in the sand. At times this has become rather frustrating because the modera-tors aren’t very moderate and I can’t just get away with telling one or two posters to fuck off...bit of a shame really!

Now the Time Trial Forum’s a to-tally different situation....here there’s a far better educated bunch in cycling matters. The “tech heads” do tend to bang on a bit, they’re sometimes in-formative but all too frequently they’re indulging in a kind of “kit and tech masturbation”. Still, whatever gets your rocks off I suppose. Person-ally I’ve always found top shelf glossy magazines do the job better.

The welcome I’ve received there was, I have to admit very unexpected. I’d actually toyed with joining earlier but fear of getting mauled by a rabid bunch of 80`s riders hell bent on re-venge for some of the kicking I’d dished out back then had put me off. I’m glad to say nothing could be fur-ther from the truth and after a couple of weeks thoughts of actually putting my leg over the bike turned to actu-ally doing so. This I announced. Big mistake! One could be forgiven for thinking I’d had just one season out going on the expectation this an-nouncement has caused. What I’ve actually had is 17 years off during which I’ve indulged in the kind of

HELPING TO PUT THE “GREAT” BACK INTO CARPETS FEBRUARY 2009


debauchery one would normally ex-pect of a University student that’s failed and gone back packing to some far flung place where substance abuse is the done thing. Oh how I’ve en-joyed it!

Time has come to put this on the back burner and knock my poor body back into some kind of shape. So here I am, 3 stone over weight, two weeks into quitting smoking and about 150 miles done so far. I’m not exactly in

any danger of appearing on a start sheet any time soon but astonishingly considering the very real possibility that by around May 2009 I just might.

Join the queue of those wishing to claim my scalp as the opportunity should be there for at least a few weeks if not the whole season. Here’s the strangest thing of all. I’ve been looking at personal bests of many riders and almost all my personal bests put me in a fairly average

position these days. This has given rise to the possibility of my doing new PB`s should I actually pull off this “getting fit” malarkey. What a thought! But purely down to equip-ment “advances”, especially Tri Bars. A few tech heads will no doubt dis-agree and say its advances in training methods but I’m not convinced.

Time will tell! Boom, boom as Basil Brush might say. Till next time Dazzer

CARPET NESTING TESTING TIMES FEBRUARY 2009

BIG BEN’S DIARY

THAT’S BIG WITH A CAPITAL “B” (BECAUSE HE’S A GIANT) BEN “BIKEDOC” INSTONE...OK?

Ben burning off the calories (urm… ..nice wheels mis ter!)

“I’m knackered. When I looked at this week’s training plan I thought to myself it didn’t seem so bad, in fact I thought it was a bit on the easy side so I decided to spice it up a bit. Monday was an hour on the rollers so I de-cided to make it 2. Tuesday was meant to be a 2 hour easyish spin on the road but it was wet again so on the rollers instead.. Then I remembered I was meeting up with Redhill CC that evening for a turbo session so probably shouldn’t have tried so hard in the morning. Wednesday, the session I hate, 2 ½ hours on the road mixed pace but ending up at a set average power which means if you start on the lazy side the last bit is hell. Just to make it that little bit more interesting a gritting lorry decided to sand blast me on the A22. Still, it made me change my pace to catch up to him and express my thoughts on what he’d just done. Thursday was another 90mins on the rollers and now I’m sitting here knackered. It really wasn’t a hard week but after last week’s efforts it’s taken it’s toll so while I sit here recovering I might as well look through the Handbook and start planning what races I’m gonna be doing this season. I might even get around to putting the TT bike back together later. At the moment it’s just a collection of bits spread around the shed and dining room but after a quick check I reckon I’ve got all that’s needed except tubs. My Veloflex Car-bons have been great, 3 seasons old and never punctured but starting to look a bit on the worn side. I’ve heard PX

have some French hand made things that are pretty good so might give them a go. The rest of the bike is gonna be pretty much the same as last year. One or two small changes here and there but nothing major. Torq have kindly (or foolishly) said they are willing to feed me this season. I haven’t broken the news to them yet but I actu-ally eat quite a lot so the deal might not be so great for them! Auriel’s gonna keep trying to talk me into a 12 hour. Apparently my SRM says I can do it despite what my legs think. Planet-X don’t know this yet but they are gonna be helping out again and there’s a couple of people I’m still hoping will join in as every little helps keep me out of work and on the streets. Thinking about food again, so far today I’ve had breakfast, 2 large bowls of cereal, a banana, an energy bar (it was on the top and I couldn’t resist), then an apple and some grapes followed by 3 Ryvitas with cheese and a bagel. Turbo’ed then half a pack of pasta with minestrone soup poured over it, a litre of fruits blended up together with some yogurt, an-other energy bar ( it was next to the yogurt and I couldn’t resist). While I’ve been writing this I’ve had a couple more Ryvitas and cheese, a large bowl of porridge with some Horlicks mixed in for flavour, some more grapes and some nuts. In a minute I’m gonna be cooking duck stir fry with rice followed by chocolate cake and tonight I’ll probably end up raiding the larder again. I hear there might be some energy bars in there that need using up”


CARPET NESTING TESTING TIMES FEBRUARY 2009

GAMBLING ON...LIGHTS

However, unfortunately, they remained undisturbed in their monopoly towers and no reply was provoked, or maybe they were too pre-occupied with profit margins to read this column. If so, they are not very light-hearted.

Surely, though, their tea boy could be ordered to read them occasionally. More important, irate letters and ad-verse comment from Randonneur, my upper half, should have come to their notice.

My original cavil was against their new standard rear lighting made so close to obsolescence as to be almost simultaneous. As we move again into the gloomy weeks, this is unchanged. It is the truth that dealers are sorely disappointed and have in some in-stances introduced modifications at their own expense to improve their lights.

This is nothing compared with the remedial adjustments we make to protect ourselves against the rampant motor vehicle, and increase the life-span of the lesser-illuminated bikie.

There were times when girls relied a good deal on elastic for confidence and may still do so, for I am unquali-fied in such matters, and certainly the cyclist needs elastic to defend his per-son.

In his case it is the rubber band that keeps the light together and in work-ing order, or if the lamp is perma-nently affixed to the frame there is little chance of it surviving vibration. The dubious flickering and some-times total darkness breeds brake squeals, blaring horns and raucous

shouts not designed to improve our relations with car drivers. If your flashing light has not brought this response then the driver didn’t see you, in which case you are in no posi-tion read CYCING now.

Sometimes there is an unfortunate interview with uniformed men who are not only sceptical and without sympathy but keep you on the end of a lecture so long that three weeks’ training is missed with a rearing cold.

A lamp kept on a cape-roll? The dan-gle is less vulnerable to bumping but does swivel round to give reduced benefit as well as being doubtful in law.

Front lamps need elastic too, for the tops fly off if tubulars are reasonably inflated, and go under 10-ton lorries. As we all know, the lighting for’ard has always needed do-it-yourself in-genuity to scold darkness from our path.

If all the lamps that clutter my shed worked properly the garden could be floodlit. Their hollow cases hang from nails, covered in barnacles of rust. Two black ones brood on a shelf, loaded with batteries from last winter and seeping sinister liquid from the hole in the bottom, as a re-prisal for being forgotten in the ex-citement of spring evenings.

Every one of them gives the appear-ance of being willing to go with just a bulb, battery and a penny slipped into the bottom to stop the rattling. (The penny pushes the top off but this is countered by the elastic previously mentioned.) But somehow they don’t work that easily. The reason for this

is that you can’t mend a lamp without two more lamps – one to take to bits and use for testing the broken one, and another to shine on your work.

You start by taking light number one, looking inside where the battery used to be, at a sort of sago pudding with blue streaks. So you take a battery from number two and then start a constant rotation of bulbs and batter-ies and lamp tops, until a frenzied hour later you have three lamps that won’t work.

The batteries, which cost so much it is almost cheaper to run a car, give a warm glow under test, but become extinct ten miles out amid the thunder of heavy lorries.

Just a moment, we are getting flip-pant again, when this subject is really serious. Hey, tea boy, tell your mas-ters that Gambling is getting light-minded.

When the early months of this year were still dark, two brickbats were taken from my saddlebag and flung at the manufacturers of lamps, for the poor standard of their products

Originally prepared for Cycling circa July 1969


So we’ve done the top 5 innovations now I think it’s time to turn our attention towards the worst! These are only my personal opinions by the way.…I’ve no doubt many people have found the following products to be superb for the use they were intended….or maybe even for uses they weren't!

FIFTH ...Let's start with bonded frames. Anyone re-member those? I’ve nothing against them as frames go, infact my most cherished Ron Kit Vitus Carbon 9 still lays gathering dust at the back of the garage despite the fact the bonding came “unbonded” maybe 20 years or so ago.

It did go back to be re-glued (whoops, sorry... rebonded, I had my wrists slapped by Raleigh once for referring to their Dyna-Techs as being “glued” together!!) but no sooner had I had it repaired when the same thing happened again. The frame, forks and headset were SO light I have-n’t had the heart to sling it even though it’s highly unlikely to ever see the light of day again.

I never had ANY problem with Raleighs by the way - it’s just the bonding on the Vitus 9s that sucks! Unused cycle frames make excellent “punctured tub hanger-uppers” you know – which is something else that gets thrown to the back of the garage and never used again (i.e. punctured tubs!) because, deep down, I know they’ll never get re-paired. Well they’re knackered let’s face it!

FOURTH ...There are four things worse than bonding which is worse than useless though, 24” front wheeled testing bikes being one of them! Did they look ugly or what?

What were we thinking of? Well not me personally be-cause I never had one, but there were an awful lot of them

about you know. It all began when people started riding “low-pro” bikes – the idea being to get your handlebars down low. It would also have benefited team time trial riders as they would have been able to ride (marginally) closer together – but that's hardly a justifiable reason to ride one of those monstrosities. I mean, we're all time triallists aren't we? We don’t like people close to us and all that. That’s bunched racing isn’t it? Quite why Alf tried one I'll never know! Alf was the “King” – but he hardly looked like one on his. Although he had some “speed ma-chines” over the years no-one could call one of them, one of them, could they? Thank goodness they died a death.

THIRD In third place are “L” shaped cranks (you knew they had to be here somewhere didn’t you?) which, as eve-ryone knows, overcame top-dead-centre when pedalling (yeah right!).

Good in theory…but come on! They did have a "plus" as far as I was concerned, and that was the psychological effect they may possibly have had on the opposition at the

time – I was using something that no-one else had and I was doing fairly decent rides.

Strangely enough, the very first time I used them I came second in the National 25. I also went on to break both the National 50 and 100 mile records while using them ….which was good for the sponsor :-). Then they broke, which wasn't! The jury's out on whether or not they actu-ally "worked" (ok… it's not really…they…urm…. weren't THAT good). Alternative use? Try Ebay and use the cash you'll get to buy something marginally more effec-tive….like some of those little 6 inch silver coloured "racing" mudguards we all used to fit on our training bikes before we realised they were totally useless (remember them? Just missed a worst 5 innovations placing IMO!).

THE MAGAZINE FOR TESTING CARPETS FEBRUARY 2009

BOTTOM 5 INNOVATIONS


SECOND and runner up…….. Been-Bag’s Polartex inserts. Instead of chammies in shorts, Been-Bag (a cloth-ing company which used to operate in the Newcastle area) started making a synthetic short insert that was like the buffing head from a Black & Decker WP900 6" Ran-dom Orbit Waxer and Polisher.

A brilliant white fleecy fabric that caused me no end of boil problem in the scrotal region (that’s down south!).

That, I believe, was the beginning of ALL the ongoing problems I’ve had in that department (chronicled else-where). Four, maybe five times I’ve been operated on to sort out a problem which need never have ever arisen if someone had confined Been-Bag’s Polartex inserts to the bin where they rightly belonged! An alternative use for Polartex inserts then? Rubbish bin liners! Can anything be worse than that? Of course it can...

FIRST OR SHOULD THAT BE LAST PLACE…. the skin hat! Considered to offer superb aero advantages, the skin hat was all the rage in the early 80s (weren’t they Nob?). I think Lloydy started the trend and I must admit he looked pretty cool(ish) in his.

I remember reading a report in Cycling at the time draw-ing a comparison between Llloydy and Martin Pyne (who also used to wear one) – poor Martin couldn’t quite carry it off and took a bit of a “panning” in the press! At this point I’d like to point out that I NEVER wore one, owned one or thought about having one because I think they looked bloody awful! Probably just as well no well-meaning Aunt or Sponsor ever gave me one because they were so utterly crap I can't even think of an alternative use for one……so I might (…..just might!...) have had to wear it! In my opinion? A pretty bad idea at the time!

Right—Ricahard Bradley (top) and Martin Pyne - both CC Breckland.

THE MAGAZINE FOR TESTING CARPETS FEBRUARY 2009


mate Richard Bradley and the UK’s No.1 TT Forum I made con-tact with Mrs. Helen Pyne & nego-tiated a price for the complete bike—can she can haggle though?

The bike was packed up, shipped to the sands of Abqaiq, KSA but was found to be in quite a sorry state when unpacked. So, for the techies out there, the renovation began as follows :

1. The frame went of to Big Boy Kirky (Paul Kirk) of Bob Jackson’s for a makeover to be sprayed a nice white with red decals. Superb job Kirky!!!

2. Both 24” front wheels were trued up on a lathe at work (naughty) then fitted with Vittoria Chrono CS tubs – Madgetts of Diss

With Planet X’s “old skool se-ries” in mind, Nob shows the ex-tremes that can be taken to get a bike that fits the “old skool” bill!

“Those of you who were lucky enough to race in the 80’s will probably remember a famous mini bike ruling the roads of the A12 & A1 built by Mick Burrows (of Lo-tus fame) & made especially for the legendary Martin Pyne.

You were either in awe of the ma-chine’s looks as it came whizzing past or it flew by with such speed & smoothness you’d be thinking you were in first class of a 747 whilst this supersonic Concorde flew straight past in a different class altogether. He was a God on the E72 & he knew every bump, road marking & pothole on this stretch of the A12 to gain time on his competitors.

I embarked on a journey to reclaim the version that Martin had (which I believe is the Mark II version) & with the help of his former club

BRITAINS CRAPPEST TIME TRAILLING MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

NOB OFF.. THE BACK

3. The special forks were buffed & found sound when inspected at work!!

4. The Campagnolo Super Record Rear Mech upgraded to a Campag-nolo Record Carbon 10 (but I couldn’t resist drilling the back jockey plate).

5. A KMC 10 Gold chain was used along with a Campag 11-15 set up which has been specially nitrided by the McClaren F1 workshops thanks to Ron Dennis

6. The chainset was upgraded to a more aero version using Campag-nolo Corsa Record Pista 177.5 cranks. However the original 54T chainring was kept although the holes were drilled out bigger (I just love getting the drill out!)

Nob’s not just off the back, he’s off his rocker as he tracks down the love of his life and applies some

tender loving care to...!


7. The saddle was replaced with a sleek looking San Marco Magma MgC – so smooth.

8. The rear brake remained as a rare Dura-Ace AX cali-per because no Kronos spares were available.

9. Rear wheel? Well there is only one answer & that is the Superb Campagnolo Ghibli coupled with a Veloflex Servizo Corse Tubular.

10. The seatpin bolt was a Tiso red affair which ap-peared a lot later (Dec 25, 2008).

11. The gear lever was the original Shimano 6 speed index which works on the Campag 10 cassette which I had!!

12. Pedals? Time RXS World Champ Ltd Edition – white obviously.

By far the most challenging part in bringing the bike to as near to the Mark I as possible was the handlebars

This journey led me via the WWW (boy is this a great investigative tool) to Mick Burrows’ Wind Cheetah Company. I got his phone number in Norwich and bravely called him—but being a famous designer I won-dered if he’d have time to speak to someone like me!

I nervously dialled the number.. waited…. then a gruff voice answered. We proceeded to talk about the bars & the frame design itself. What a great down to earth guy Mick is. He hates computers and prefers the good old fax machine & phone to do his business. He must still


love the 80’s too

He faxed me a rough sketch of what the bars looked like & let me know the type of alloy used but I still had to think about all the angles etc so a lot of this was ac-tual guess work since the broken bars were not trace-able. Unfortunately, Mick said he would be unable to make them for me as it would be an extremely time consuming exercise. Even if offered a 4 figure sum he said he probably wouldn’t be interested!.

You may ask why not just use some tri-bars but I wanted to create the bars of the original as these had nice clean lines with cables well hidden & the bike just looked fast.

So again the WWW came to the rescue & I managed to find an Ilford Based Engineering company willing to take up the challenge – not sure they knew what was in store but after some 3-4 months we had managed to get the bars completed & added some brake levers that you’d normally use on tri-bars. These ensured the ca-bles would run through the bars smoothly into the aero section .

The special seat pin was manufactured by the same company. This replaced the rather ragged old seat pin which was still useable but was badly scratched & dented on its aero section. If anybody wants some jobs like this done then I will plug the company in question a s G . Midd le ton Eng inee r ing h t tp : / /www.midengineering.co.uk/

Again this took another 2-3 months as they had other work besides mine so I had to be patient. The simple but very effective front braking system proves extremely aero—more so than many of the modern machines of today. The cables enter cleanly

http://www.midengineering.co.uk/�





into the aero bars which have been fully non-destructive tested using both the magnetic particle in-spection process as well as being dye penetrant tested to ensure no cracks in the welding / machining of these delectable bars.

It now remains to be seen if the Legend himself ap-proves of this new look machine with it’s modern up-grades & a lot of patience having gone into getting it right.

Price? Well with all the renovations etc. you won’t get much change out of 8000 pounds but it’s about the history of the machine & the looks. I love it to bits.

How does it ride? Well having raced it in Cebu (another story) I find it handles extremely well & feels fast for a machine from the early 80’s. So many peo-ple have commented on this strange machine racing on Philippine roads.


It has appeared in a local Cebu Bike show & drawn a lot of attention. Even though this machine is over 25yrs old it still looks stylish, fast & innovative.

Every time I ride it, all it’s history comes alive the moment I leave the timekeeper. I feel the need to ride as hard as I can even if the heat & humidity drains my bodily functions. So the aurora & spirit of Martin still lives in this machine. I just wish I was fitter to do it real justice. I have won the occasional prize on it though so I’m not doing too bad for an old lardy boy hehehe!

I sincerely wish to thank Richard Bradley for the link to the Pyne family & for the Pyne's for parting with such a historical bike. I hope they like this small trib-ute to such a splendid machine & that they’re pleased to hear what’s happened to it since it left the UK.

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Sir Nob of Two Ghiblis

the testing times - feb 2009

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