In your 50s you should be focusing on club riding and shorter sportives

YOUR STRENGTHS
Your climbing and finishing prowess might not be what it was, but distance (and persistence) could be your joker. Dr Simon Jobson, sports scientist at the University of Kent, says the body seems to compensate for some shortfalls relating to the ageing process. “Leg bloodflow in middle-aged athletes has been shown to be around 10-15 per cent lower than in younger athletes,” he says, “but new research shows this reduction might be compensated by an increased ability to extract oxygen at the muscle site. And while your heart can’t pump as fast, it can maintain stroke volume by increasing cardiac filling.” Translation: you’re getting the same oxygen delivery system you did before, but in a different way.

Older athletes may also have greater fatigue resistance, says Jobson. “Consistent and regular training does seem to provide fitness benefits which can continue well into the 50s, which can counter the inevitable decline in muscle mass with age,” he adds.

YOUR WEAKNESSES
Your bones are still moving targets during this decade. Testosterone levels and bone density decrease 0.4-0.75 per cent annually from age 45. By age 80, men (and women) have lost 20 per cent of their bone mass. But cycling could be the perfect antidote.

“Osteoporosis isn’t exclusively about the quality of bone,” says says Carlton Cooke Carnegie Professor of Sport and Exercise at Leeds Metropolitan University, “it’s also about the quality of muscle surrounding the bone. If your muscles are built up you’re less likely to fall and break a bone, no matter what state it’s in. The fact of the matter is that you will have accidents if you ride regularly, and you’ll get back to cycling in half the time if you maintain muscle and bone strength.”

THE FOOD FIX
You might still have the mental strength to push on through, but you need the fuel to get there, and even a mild iron deficiency can have a negative impact on your stamina.

“It’s a vital mineral used in the transport of oxygen,” says Claire Lane, exercise physiologist at Bath University. “The longer you exercise, the higher the rate of red blood cell production and the greater the need for iron.” Don’t limit calorie intake while upping any training regime, as this will severely restrict iron intake.

Matt Rabin, nutritional advisor to Team Garmin-Sharp also advises any cyclists over 50 to take the antioxidant Coenzyme Q10, which he says may improve energy levels, improve flexibility and general vitality. “It’s much easier to stay healthy than it is to recover from injuries,” he says, “especially as you age.”

THE EXERCISE FIX
Nerve conduction and reflexes slow down as we age, and for older athletes this can translate to deteriorating balance and accidents, says Dr Mark Hamer, exercise physiologist at University College London

Pilates, the Alexander Technique and yoga can work wonders in training and maintaining the neural system, he says. “Work on your proprioception – your ability to know where your limbs are without looking – by standing on one foot with your eyes closed and doing slow single-leg squats and toe-touches.” Core work will help shore up the muscular corset responsible for keeping your back in position as you age.

“Whatever you do, don’t slow down your pedal cadence,” says Andy Wadsworth, director of My Life PT. “People in their 50s think riding in bigger gears will take the strain off their hearts, which is true, but you’ll be putting extra strain on the joints and ligaments and in turn your back, so keep cadence around 80-90rpm.”

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In your 40s you can put all your riding knowledge towards success in sportives

YOUR STRENGTHS
Your heart rate declines around a beat a year from your 20s but this has “almost no bearing” on your performance in your 40s, says Carlton Cooke Carnegie Professor of Sport and Exercise at Leeds Metropolitan University. “It’s your VO2 max – how efficiently you process oxygen and feed your muscles during exercise – that’s the real determinant now. The frequency and intensity of training sessions has a positive impact, so even throwing in the occasional 30 to 60-minute quality ride can have a big impact on your VO2 max.”

Again, Rapha Condor JLT manager John Herety says you shouldn’t discount experience: “You might be more cautious in terms of risk taking, but you know how hard you can push yourself, and develop strategies to work through discomfort.”

Andy Wadsworth, director of My Life PT reckons you’ll find that you need longer to recover from harder rides and races. “Combined with more demands on your time, this will mean you’ll probably be riding more for fun and the challenge to finish than hoping to consistently beat any personal bests,” he says.

YOUR WEAKNESSES
Your peak bone mass declines from your 20s, but in your 40s it can start to nose-dive, especially in cyclists, resulting in lumbar spine, hip and knee problems. “While cycling can be beneficial in terms of reducing impact on joints, because it’s non-weight-bearing it doesn’t maintain bone mass the way running would,” says  Dr Mark Hamer, exercise physiologist at University College London. “Without such stress, bones become prone to injury and fracture.”

Also, cycling is notorious for burning up calories, but, says Matt Rabin, nutritional advisor to Team Garmin-Sharp, hardcore cyclists might not be eating enough to offset what they burn, depriving their bodies of bone-strengthening nutrients such as calcium and vitamin D. “These shortfalls could also trigger physiological problems such as lower levels of oestrogen in women and testosterone in men,” he says, “hormones that have protective effects on bones and slow the rate of bone breakdown.”

THE FOOD FIX
Match your calorie expenditure to your activity levels, but make sure they’re ‘good’ calories, Rabin says. “Oily fish such as mackerel is a great source of vitamin D to maintain bone density, as well as omega-3 and omega-6 oils for joint health – and keep snacking on nuts and fruit to maintain your antioxidant intake which will be increasingly depleted from your riding as you age, leaving you open to illness and injury as well as slowing recovery times.”

If you are starting to feel aches and pains, consider taking rosehip supplements, which might reduce the need for anti-inflammatory drugs and painkillers. Rosehips are a rich source of antioxidant vitamins, naturally reducing inflammation, as well as containing an important anti- inflammatory omega-3-like fatty acid called Gopo, which has been clinically shown to rebuild joint tissues and cartilage.

THE FITNESS FIX
That so-called mid-life crisis got you blowing the dust from your old steel frame? Give yourself time to get into the groove. “If you start cycling again too fast or too much, you’re inviting injuries,” says Herety, who recommends around two years of regular riding before taking on a sportive if you’re a complete novice.

Cyclists who have been faithfully saddling up for decades need to watch out for the I’m-old-so-I’m-slow trap. Throw in some high-intensity intervals and hills to remind your muscles and your mind that you still have a fourth (or fifth) gear.

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Your 30s is the perfect decade for longer time-trials, sportives and triathlons

YOUR STRENGTHS

Natural strength peaks in this decade, says Andy Wadsworth, director of My Life PT. “Over time, your body learns how to build and efficiently recruit the key muscles specific to your chosen discipline,” he says. That means that in distances of up to 100km, you can clock consistent times until you’re 35, regardless of how you train. “After that,” he says, “you can’t rely on your age to predict your speed. The amount and intensity of your training becomes very important.”

No doubt a set training schedule adds structure to your otherwise chaotic life, but there’s another good reason why 30-somethings try longer rides and triathlons. “Fast-twitch muscle fibres, used for sprinting, are lost before slow-twitch fibres, making it easier for you to go for distance rather than speed as you age,” says Wadsworth.

YOUR WEAKNESSES

The first signs of middle-age spread might be rearing their ugly head, but don’t blame the clock. “Metabolism slows by around two per cent a year after 30, but the biggest factor in putting on weight is less weight-bearing exercise so you lose muscle mass,” says Dr Mark Hamer, exercise physiologist at University College London.

Lean muscle burns 28 times more calories per gram than fat, he explains, and with increasing pressures on your time – climbing the corporate ladder while struggling with nappies – it’s likely that you’ll forego resistance training sessions, and your waist might well start making its presence known at the same time as your times head downhill.

THE FOOD FIX
Avoid upsizing your bib shorts by re-evaluating your calorie needs. Find your ideal number by multiplying your weight by 10, add the calories you burn training (an 80kg adult burns about 700 calories an hour cycling at moderate intensity, when you can maintain a conversation, and 800 at high intensity, when you can’t). Add 10 per cent of that figure to get your daily grand total.

On the days when you don’t cycle or hit the gym, subtract 300-500 calories from your daily total, says Matt Rabin, nutritional advisor to Team Garmin-Sharp. And never skip meals. “This slows your metabolism, which makes it more difficult to manage your weight,” he says. “Keep snacking on fruit throughout the day and keep a bottle of water to hand with you all the time so staying fully hydrated – which aids digestion and speeds up your metabolism – becomes a habit, not a choice.”

THE FITNESS FIX
Resistance training is the answer to keeping your paunch under wraps (or at least inside your Lycra). “Doing whole-body exercises for just 30 minutes twice a week will significantly increase the body’s natural levels of growth hormone to maintain lean body mass at the same time as burning calories,” says Wadsworth.

“You’ll also strengthen smaller, supportive muscles around your joints which prevent injury, and improve your cycling efficiency by maintaining the muscle fibres you need for power in the saddle.” Focus on moves like lunges, deadlifts, squats, crunch variations and planks. “Focusing on variety, form and control is paramount – add light weights when possible, but not to the detriment of control.”

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There’s no doubt that maintaining regular exercise throughout your life can slow and even reverse many factors associated with the ageing process,” says Carlton Cooke, Carnegie Professor of Sport and Exercise at Leeds Metropolitan University. He says too many people give up their usual form of exercise when they age, when what they should be doing is adapting it to suit their changing physiology and lifestyle. Here’s how to stay smiling in the saddle, whatever decade you’re in…

YOU’RE IN YOUR 20s

In your 20s you’re at the ideal age for time-trials, Olympic distance triathlons and cyclocross

YOUR STRENGTHS

You’re virtually bulletproof (handy when sprinting as hard as Cav). Your bones are as dense as they’ll get and you’re as muscular as you’ll ever be. Wear your Lycra with pride and lick the competition from the race track to the sportive, even if you haven’t been doing speed work. Your fast-twitch muscle fibres, used for quick acceleration, are most plentiful in your 20s, and your VO2 max – the rate at which your muscles can use the oxygen pumping around your system – is primed.

“It’s now that you need to make the most of your super-efficient anaerobic system with high-intensity sessions lasting anything up to two hours,” says Andy Wadsworth, director of My Life PT (mylifept.com) and an elite cycling trainer. “Events you should be able to really nail in your 20s are time-trials and other shorter, faster rides – think power over persistence.”

YOUR WEAKNESSES

Endurance isn’t your strength now, according to Wadsworth. “I’ve seen 20-something riders suffer from burn-out because they push themselves too hard for too long – your body can’t cope with really long training rides, although you can recover quickly from shorter, higher intensity workouts. Your VO2 max capacity really won’t take you much past the 2-3 hour mark. I wouldn’t advise doing more than 30 hours training a week as an upper limit – your focus really should be on intensity, recovery and form.”

As you approach 30, don’t be surprised if you start getting aches and pains in your joints, says Dr Mark Hamer, exercise physiologist at University College London. “Shock-absorbing cartilage starts to degrade from your early 20s, and people who focus on just one activity tend to suffer muscle imbalances which put extra pressure on those joints, which in turn wears out the cartilage even quicker.” On top of that, chondrocytes, the cartilage cells in charge of repair, also decrease with age.

 THE FOOD FIX
“There’s a direct correlation between nutrition and performance, something most 20-somethings only learn after years of denial,” says Matt Rabin, nutritional advisor to Team Garmin-Cervélo. He recommends focusing on easily digestible carbs so you don’t tap into your body’s protein stores, and drinking pomegranate juice after hard rides to cope with the oxidant load resulting from high-intensity exercise. “Go for simple organic foods and wholegrain energy bars, and snacking on unprocessed cashews and almonds for heart-healthy fats.”

THE FITNESS FIX
Wadsworth says your 20s should be a decade of fitness foundations. “High power, high intensity short rides and training mean you’re more likely to suffer injuries because you’re less likely to ease yourself into rides,” he says. “Regularly see a physio or chiropractor if you have any niggles, and follow their advice.”

John Herety, team manager for Rapha Condor JLT, says younger riders don’t have the ‘reference point’ older riders do. “Riders in their 30s and 40s don’t take as many chances as they know how much it hurts – becoming more calculating and self-aware makes you a better rider.”

And, he says, don’t discount stretching. “It’ll benefit your riding much more to do 20 minutes of stretching than an extra 20 minutes in the saddle.”

Tomorrow we’ll look at cycling for 30-somethings!

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Dave Lloyd ’s got something from another era, its either an old school work ethic or just pure enjoyment from riding his bike – either way he is still fast – very fast – even though he is now well into his 60’s. It made a refreshing change to spend the day with Dave. His 2013 Fondriest was cutting edge, but you see plenty of people with top end bikes plodding around. Not Dave – plodding around is an alien concept to him.  He’s fast on the flat, fast around the corners and fast up the hills. The second he feels his speed drop, he’s out of the saddle.

Dave is from a time when you had to almost justify riding a decent bike with decent performances in races, when nobody would dream of wearing a World Champion jersey – unless they actually were a World Champion. To get into cycling you had to join a club, in return for joining, the club elders would teach you how to ride. I like Dave and I like the toughness involved with riding in the 70’s & 80’s, cycling was hard and unpopular – I think in an odd way that was part of its appeal for me as a youngster.

Dave has always been fast though. Between ’73 and ‘75 he rode in the iconic red and yellow colours of the TI Raleigh Team under the legendary manager Peter Post, picking up several wins and some great results;  11^th place in the Tour of Switzerland (a race he won as an amateur), 14^th in the Paris Nice stage race. During 1975 Dave was diagnosed with an ectopic heart beat condition which back in the 1970’s meant stopping racing – effectively robbing Dave of the most productive years of a professional bike rider age 26 – 29.

Dave in a rare pose – stopped! ©Rick Robson

“Yeah just as I was getting there I had three years away from the sport, I was pretty much suicidal at the time but thank goodness Chris (Dave’s wife) got me through those horrendous times – I had worked so hard and was getting some great results” Once given the ‘all clear’ to race again his comeback, in 1979, saw him dominate racing in the UK. In the next six years he became as well known for his time trial starting effort roar as for his use of aero overshoes and balaclava. He won 125 out of the 133 races he rode; high quality races too, in 1981 he won the classic Isle of Man Time Trial by seven and a half minutes from Laurent Fignon, who went on the win the Tour De France in ’83 and ’84.  The same year, Dave put the 10 mile time trial record on the shelf for seven years when he recorded 19.11 – a 31mph ride on a steel bike with spoke wheels. Like I said – always been fast…

So, rather than one reader, we’ve decided to pick two to join our Michelin-starred team leader and recipe guru Alan Murchison. Step forward Andrew Deaner from London and Ken Ferguson from Norfolk. And to even things out Alan has recruited another cycling-chef, Hayden Groves, for the team.

Andrew Deaner

Andrew is the consultant cardiologist who famously ran on the pitch at White Hart Lane and assisted Bolton Wanderers’ Fabrice Muamba when he suffered a heart attack during a game with Tottenham Hotspur in March 2012. That’s mightily impressive, but so is his palmares.

“I’ve completed three Tour of Flanders sportives, 10 Etapes, three Paris-Brest-Paris and numerous other sportives including the Marmotte, ” explains  Andrew.

We feel that Andrew’s long-distance cycling experience will stand him in good stead for the Rat Race Road Trip – he’s a regular participant in 200km audax rides and he’s also planning on riding this year’s epic 1400km London-Edinburgh-London (LEL) event.

“The Rat Race will be an excellent preliminary ride for LEL. I’ve ridden 600km at least eight times before so I know I can do it but every time is tough!

“The Rat Race is pretty intimidating and will test us all in terms of stamina and tenacity,” admits Andrew. “Long distances like this are all about pacing yourself and eating regularly, but the thought of completing this with the team is an exciting prospect. We will have to work as a team and bring our individual strengths together.”

Ken Ferguson

Ken Ferguson, who works for sports car maker Lotus in Norfolk, is also hugely experienced. “I’ve been a keen cyclist all my life, but have been more serious about riding since I got my first ‘cycle to work scheme’ bike in 2007,” he says. “I’ve completed the Norwich 100 three times and I love using the bike to explore new places.

Over the past few years I’ve organised a number of trips including 400 miles coast to coast, from St David’s in Wales to Lowestoft in four days; 270 miles around Norfolk’s border in three; and last year a 300-mile tour around Telford, Leominster and Stratford–upon-Avon.

“I think my toughest challenges on the bike are yet to come, though. As well as the Rat Race I’ve agreed to accompany some work colleagues and conquer some Alpine cols in June: the training programme has already started as I refuse to walk up mountains!

“I reckon I fit the average profile of a typical reader, but I don’t feel average! I’ve got tons of stamina and tenacity, and a strong will and, best of all, I still enjoy getting on my bike as much as I did when I was small. Oh, and I can also peel an orange whilst riding; this may not be great in terms of nutritional value but it does help to pass the time.”

The team will be guided towards the Rat Race by coach Ben Wilson (www.personalbestcycling.co.uk) and he’s confident they’ll be a success. “The old saying ‘fail to prepare, prepare to fail’ will be especially apt here, though,” he says. “There’ll be some tough training ahead, with several long back-to-back rides and intensive efforts on the menu! Andrew, Ken, Alan and Hayden will have to train harder than they have before but do that and come May getting to Edinburgh will be a mere formality!”

Team Specialized Cycling Plus will be ride bikes and kit provided by Specialized UK and will also be supported by Garmin and Science in Sport.

Strava is the GPS app that can transform your riding, turn every climb into a race and looks set to change the face of cycling, says John Whitney… A curious phenomenon swept the Cycling Plus office at the turn of last year. After-work rides had always been civilised, steady-paced affairs, but a new training tool caused a metamorphosis in our approach. Climbs were being tackled at full gas, all in pursuit of topping an online, virtual leaderboard and having bragging rights the next day. Training became full-blooded competition and it’s been nothing short of a game-changer.

This phenomenon is a website called Strava and if it hasn’t appeared on your radar yet, it’s only a matter of time before it does.  If you’re not yet up to speed, here’s the basic concept. GPS is used to calculate your time on a stretch of road, known as a segment, to find the King – or Queen – of the Mountains. The leader gets to boast to mates until, inevitably, their record is broken, at which point the former leader tries desperately to reclaim it. This ‘gamification’ of training is an ingenious idea, yet so deliciously simple that it’s a wonder it took so long to become a reality.

All row together
To find out where it all began, you have to go back 20-odd years to the late 1980s and Harvard University. Friends and future Strava co-creators Michael Horvath and Mark Gainey rowed together, a sport unique in that the volume of training required far outweighs competition. Even when they did pin on a number, it was limited to six or seven races. This huge gap between events meant that the only way to stay motivated was to make training as competitive as possible.

This was the 1980s, remember. Training gizmos that we take for granted were years away, so when they graduated and lost their team, it was much harder to stay motivated and keep their numbers on track. College sport is huge in the US but unlike the UK, the club scene is poor, so there’s little to fall back on. Increasingly, they looked to find ways to push themselves when there was no coach around.

After gaining a PhD in Economics, Horvath taught at Stanford before founding a successful software company, Kana, with Gainey. It was around that time, in 1996, when they first got the idea that would eventually become Strava. Horvath refers to it as a virtual locker room, a place where athletes could meet in cyberspace to stay connected through workouts. It was a social network in every sense, years before the term existed. But without the technology to make their ambitions reality, the idea was shelved. After floating Kana, he went back to teaching before returning to the entrepreneurial life.

It wasn’t until 2008 that the pair thought the time was ripe to revisit their idea. They built a basic version and put it into the hands of 10 athletes. Horvath, now CEO, says even with this trial, Strava proved to be uniquely motivating – the 10 reckoned that they’d never ridden as fast. Two even joined the fledgling company. It was created first and foremost for themselves, but as avid athletes – Horvath is a triathlete – they reasoned that if they found Strava beneficial, others would too. Its growth was slow at first, but deliberately so – developing and refining it was more important. Their team, based mainly in San Francisco, grew steadily, and at the time of writing the firm employs 45 staff.

Fine-tuning the tech was top of their agenda and here, in a nutshell, is how it works. Each segment is defined by a set of latitude-longitude data points that has either been posted to the Strava network by a user or, in the case of categorised climbs, detected automatically. The method that they use is patent-pending, but they take individual points from a cyclist’s GPS data and match it to published segments to rank them on a leaderboard. Segments are usually climbs but flatter stretches of road are common, as are, somewhat controversially, descents.

Most are user-generated so the more people who upload data the more valuable Strava becomes. Topping a leaderboard with 200 names is going to be more motivating than one with 20, and the more users there are, the fiercer the competition. While we can only comment from personal experience in south-west England, segment leaderboards are noticeably longer now than they were at the turn of 2012. How did it get onto the radar of so many British cyclists in such a short space of time? “We found it works well word of mouth,” says Horvath. “If you’re an athlete, you count on the opinion of friends, coaches and training partners. You rely on them for advice and recommendations. We don’t pay for advertising in the traditional sense.”

They ran ads during this year’s Tour de France in the US. But rather than shoving a product in viewers’ faces, they wanted to create an air of mystery – a bid to speed up word of mouth, rather than a change of strategy. Like any social network, growth is dependent on users feeding back to others. In the case of Strava, there’s no better way of doing this than to work with pro cyclists like Taylor Phinney. When Phinney joined BMC last year, he became one of their professional athletes. Ted King of Liquigas-Cannondale is another – a rider Phinney calls the biggest Strava addict in the peloton.
Having cyclists of this stature uploading race and training data to their Strava profile gives amateur users a unique opportunity to compete against them. Imagine taking a KOM off Phinney on his home roads of Boulder! There’s nothing that compares in any other sport.

After leaving London, the Road Trip heads 100 miles to Burghley House, near Stamford in Lincolnshire. Here, riders taking four days – or Challengers – will stay overnight. Experts – riders who’ve opted for the two-day challenge – will have to push on for a fast, flat 96 miles to York before they can get some sleep.

After both teams stay in York, the next stage is a hilly 113 miles out of the Vale of York into the Howardian Hills and then onto the rolling roads of Northumberland. Challengers will bed down in the shadow of Alnwick Castle while Experts will dig in and push for the border…

The final stage is 87 miles of border country, starting with a testing hill climb, then crossing over into Scotland and onto some of the best cycling roads in Britain before arriving at Edinburgh Castle.

Yep, it sounds nuts, but when we mentioned the Rat Race Road Trip to Michelin-starred chef and cycling fanatic Alan Murchison – the man behind the delicious recipes in Cycling Plus – he leapt at the chance to take part. “It sounds like an incredible event,” says Alan, who finished 12th at the World Duathlon Championships in 2012. “And I love a challenge so I thought why not get a team together and try to nail the two-day version!”

Team captain Alan is cooking up a challenge…

So Alan will be captain of Team Cycling Plus Specialized and we’re looking for at least one Cycling Plus reader to join him. Before you consider putting yourself forward, though, it’s well worth taking a close look at just how tough it’s going to be. You’ve got to ride 400 miles in two days, you’re unlikely to get a great deal of sleep and you might even be subjected to one of Alan’s patented intense Great British Menu stares…

If you think you’ve got what it takes, email us at cyclingplus@futurenet.com and outline why you should join the team. If you’re selected we’ll help you out with some fantastic bikes and gear from Specialized plus training and, of course, nutrition advice!

Hurry up, though, we’ll be finalising our team members week commencing February 4th!
For more information on the Rat Race Road Trip click here!

For a foodie like me, one of the great attractions of cycling to is the licence it gives me to eat as much as I want. This concept is especially helpful at Christmas, when over-indulgence is often the name of the game. That second helping of Christmas pudding can become guilt-free, if I’ve got a big ride lined up on Boxing Day.

And the idea that riding a bike enables cyclists to eat more cake has probably kept many a rural café in business, propped up by the throngs of weekend warriors tucking into coffee and walnut. Indeed, some rides are based entirely on a search for sugary sustenance. At this time of year, cycling clubs up and down the country organise a Mince Pie Run. Dozens of cyclists, riding through the gloom with the sole purpose of meeting at a local café to eat… err… mince pies.

The quest for pie begins… (© Tom Simpson)

Now I like a mince pie as much as the next man, but I have to confess to a leaning towards the savoury. I’ve ridden many a sportive feeling heartily sick of energy gels and cherry bakewells, desperately (and vainly) hoping for a bacon sandwich at the next feed station. It would seem I’m not the only one. Mat Richardson, one of my Leicester Forest club mates, demonstrated a kindred spirit, by organising the inaugural Pork Pie Run in December last year. This was a ride with a completely savoury focus. We rode the scenic route to a farm shop near Melton Mowbray and stocked up on pork pies for Christmas.

Suitably inspired, I began to wonder – were there any other food-based rides out there? Would it be possible to construct a ride based on a whole, groaning table, weighed down with Christmas fayre? Mat and another club mate, Dave, decided to join me on my quest.

Melton Mowbray seemed a good place to start. The “Rural Capital of Food” is lauded as the home of pork pies – a fact recognised by the EU in awarding the pies a Protected Geographical Indication. A bit like the Appellation Contrôlée awarded to fine wines like champagne, it ensures that only pies actually made in the Melton area can bear the name of the town.

Pork pies were initially developed as a handy and transportable lunch for agricultural workers. At the end of the eighteenth century, they found a new niche as a snack for huntsmen – able to survive the rigours of horse-riding over hedges and ditches. Could this be the ideal savoury cycling food? I equip myself with a suitably sized version from Melton’s famous Olde Pork Pie Shoppe – could it stand up to a day stuffed in my jersey pocket?

Andy’s game of spot the pie was going well… (© Tom Simpson)

In lots of ways, a cyclocross bike makes the perfect bike-to-work purchase.  Comfortable and stable, with clearance for mudguards, sensible gearing, high volume tyres and drop handlebars, it will serve you well on the daily commute and the odd blast on a local bridleway. If you are one of the many riders who have taken advantage of the scheme and plumped for a ‘crosser, have you considered unlocking its true potential? Have you thought of entering a race? After doing just that with mixed results, Cycling Plus doctor Andy Ward

I love my cyclocross bike. After making my acquaintance on tarmac, I couldn’t wait to get it on the rough stuff – throwing myself down some local bridleways with a massive grin and a muddy arse. It was only a matter of time before I started browsing the British Cycling website to find an event I could compete in. My first attempt was a floodlit race on the local Beaumont Leys course. Made up partly of an old BMX track, it was a blast, but I soon discovered that there was more to cyclocross than riding fast down ridiculously steep banks. There were hurdles, off camber descents and bits where you had to carry your bike. It was clear that I was losing a massive amount of time on those sections – I had work to do. Fortunately Rapha came to the rescue. Their Super Cross series gives riders of all abilities the chance to race cyclocross over three dates at the end of October. Having entered the Misterton Hall event I was grateful for the chance to learn some skills from the 2011 National Champion and Team Hope rider Paul Oldham.

The training session took part at Broughton Hall in Yorkshire, venue for the Super Cross meet on 20^th October. It’s a lovely old house set in beautiful, peaceful parkland. Paul turned out to be a modest and down to earth Lancastrian, blessed with awesome bike handling skills. He told us that there were four main techniques that we would have to master if we were to get better at ‘cross: the dismount, the remount, shouldering the bike and cornering on mud.

Skill One – The Dismount

Every cyclocross race will include the odd hurdle. Whilst some top riders will bunny hop these, mere mortals like me need to get off the bike and lug it over them. In a nutshell, this involves riding up to the hurdle whilst unclipping your right leg, swinging it behind the bike, threading it inside your left leg, grabbing the top tube with your right hand, stepping off the bike – lifting it up and jumping the hurdle. Sounds simple eh? Certainly Paul made it appear so. I had a bit of previous at this, so felt reasonably confident, although neglecting to unclip my left foot did lead to an ungraceful sprawl during one attempt.

Paul’s top tips – get unclipped and ready well in advance of the hurdle and practice balancing on your bike with your right foot in the dismount position.

Colin Jackson, yesterday © ckingimages/Rapha

Skill Two – The Remount

Having cleared the hurdle, unless you want to carry your bike for the rest of the race, it is necessary to jump back on it. Experienced cyclocross riders will do this without breaking stride and with virtually no loss of pace. French junior cyclocross champion Quentin Jauregui demonstrated that the benefits of this skill can be carried into road racing with a remarkable fast change in the junior World Road Race. After watching Paul easily showing us how it was done, it was our turn. In my recent race this was my downfall and it wasn’t much better today, although with practice I did get a bit slicker. I’m blotting out the time I missed the saddle and landed on the back wheel.

Paul’s top tip – get the pace up before remounting and slide onto the saddle, putting the top of the inner thigh on first, not jumping too high.

Skill Three – Shouldering the Bike

Occasionally in a cyclocross race the conditions justify carrying the bike for a longer distance. A steep slope or thick heavy mud can be unrideable. At these times Paul explained the need to shoulder the bike, making it easier to carry and run at the same time. After performing the dismount, with the right hand on the top tube, swing the bike onto your shoulder, wrap your right arm under the down tube and grab the left handlebar. As usual, Paul made it look easy. Whilst lifting the bike onto my shoulder was not too bad, coordinating this with grabbing the handlebar proved more difficult.

Paul’s top tip – use the momentum of your first step off the bike to help spring the bike upwards.

The pick up artist ©ckingimages/Rapha

Skill Four – Cornering on Mud

If there’s one thing ‘cross is really known for, it’s mud. Taking the tight corners of a cyclocross course can be difficult enough at the start of a race. After dozens of riders have been round them several times, cutting up the racing line, they can become a nightmare. Paul showed us how to “square up” the corner, keeping to the firmer ground. Although slower in the corner itself, the better traction reaps dividends on the exit.

Paul’s top tip – keep your tyre pressures low to improve grip on slippery ground – as low as 25 psi on tubulars, 30 on clinchers

Round the bend © ckingimages/Rapha

After putting our new skills to the test we finished with some cake and a cuppa and had a chance to chat with Super Cross organiser Ian Cleverly about the forthcoming series. Whilst the events will feature elite riders like Paul and some fiercely competitive racing, that shouldn’t deter ordinary cyclists from signing up and giving cyclocross a go. True, the skills might sound a bit intimidating, but the fun race allows riders to miss out the most technical sections by taking the tequila shortcut (with its obvious forfeit) or by riding through the “foam tunnel”. The beauty of cyclocross racing is that races run for a set period of time, not distance, allowing you to go at your own pace – provided you don’t mind being lapped by the faster riders. The Super Cross promises to provide a fantastic atmosphere to race in, with the crowd fuelled by Belgian beer, waffles and frites, fired up by a DJ and frantically jangling cowbells to keep you going. You don’t even need a proper cyclocross bike – a mountain bike or hybrid would do. Why not put that commuting bike through its paces? The ride to work may never be the same again.

Andy has opened a new box of skills! © ckingimages/Rapha

Entries to the Rapha Supercross Series are still open at http://www.rapha.cc/super-cross

Andy Ward http://twitter.com/awkwardcyclist