Tips for winter cycling

Cycling through out the year is never easy. The British weather just isnt that kind. So here ar BC towers, we have compiled a uselist of tips and hints to get you through till the sun comes out again.

what do you need?

• Buy a winter bike you can pick up cheap ones for around £1500
• Buy a good quality riding jacket...about £300 should get you a good one to get you started
  
  

Now you have all the equipment, how do you prepare for your ride?

1. Rise early and have a hearty breakfast of Porridge and coffee
2. Check the weather updates, you dont want to get caught out
3. have your morning ablutions
4. check weather reports incase its changed
5. have another coffee
6. get the bike out of the man-cave(lady grottoes are also acceptable)
7. tinker with the bike and check it is road worthy
8. fit winter tyres if not already done so.
9. check tyre pressures
10. check brakes
11. check seat
12. check paint
13. check mate
14. check weather reports
15. decide which team issue winter clothing you're going to wear
16. spend 29minutes trying to squeeze yourself in to your favourite Kelme shirt from 1995
17. put your Aldi specials on. its all you have left that fits
18. hunt high and low for your left over-shoe. it was in the shoe cupboard last January
19. put second pair of socks on because the wife thing thinks she may have thrown it out
20. fill bidons with luke warm juice so it takes longer to freeze
21. dont forget skull cap for under the helmet
22. realise you forgot to put heart rate monitor on.
23. undress
24. put on chest strap
25. re-dress
26. check weather incase second coming of the iceage is predicted.
27. Head outside
28. its dark!
29. Give up and put bike away
30. watch german porn on the computer till the wife comes home
31. tell your mates "winter training is going great"

This is not an exhaustive list but i think you find it ultimately useful.

Riding in winter

Riding in winter is NOT my favourite thing to do. There I've said it. Its not like winter in Europe where is dry and cold and the roads remain clear. In Britain it sucks! Its wet and usually muddy from farm vehicles. Normally windy too. its too cold for shorts but you over heat in full thermals. Your bike is constantly dirty and none of your favourite coffee stops are open. Its just rubbish!

But this winter i am on it. I am getting out every weekend and riding as far as this blasted cold will allow. I am training 3 nights a week on a cross-trainer and with weights. I am super focused to get my massive frame from 105kg to 95kg or less. Why you ask? well Easter weekend will be here very quickly and that is when I have the task of riding the Ronde den Vlaanderen sportive. Arguably one the hardest events non-pros can enter. OK so you don't have the soaring altitudes on the Etape, Marmotte or Gran Fondo but 17 cobbled climbs of around 15-20%. I shit you not,its hard! I've tried walking up some of them and that is hard enough. So boys and girls, I'm in full attack mode at the moment.

Now those of you who know me will know of my distinct hatred for hills. I'm too heavy to get up them quickly.I struggle,scream,shout and swear at them all the way up. But Flanders is my territory!Short steep climbs I can attack full on. Just try staying on my wheel when I hit Micklegate in York. You'll know what I mean.

"I prefer not to be remembered" but remembered he will be.

It was another sad for cycling. This morning, news broke of the sad passing of Aldo Sassi. Few will know the name, but those, like me, who are fanatical for the sport of cycling will know he was the man behind the champions.

I fear I am not eloquent enough to put into words what his death means to the sport of cycling. Aldo Sassi was literally the man who made champions. He will be sadly missed in our sport.

I have copied my favourite piece in today's media which better sums up what he meant to cycling.

From Cycling Weekly website:
Aldo Sassi's battle with brain cancer ended last night, just after midnight, near his home northern Italy. The trainer for Ivan Basso, Cadel Evans and other cyclists, died at the age of 51.

Sassi was the managing director of the Mapei Sport training centre, where Evans and Basso were his star clients. He helped Basso win his second Giro d'Italia title this May. Evans won a stage and spent a day in the leader's pink jersey, he also on the one-day classic Flèche Wallonne and wore the Tour de France's yellow jersey thanks to Sassi.

Sassy also coached Michael Rogers, Charly Wegelius, Matt Lloyd and Dario Cioni. His last challenge, was taking on Riccardo Riccò after he returned from a two-year doping ban.

His history in cycling dates back to 1984. Sassi earned a Masters Sports Science and Research degree and worked on the training staff for Francesco Moser's hour record ride in Mexico City. From 1999 to 2002, he was the Managing Director at Team Mapei, where he Met Evans and Rogers.

For team Mapei, he created the Mapei training centre in Castellanza in 1996. After being diagnosed with cancer in April, he knew he had very little time left to do what he loved - to help cyclists win races.

"They say you can arrive at a manageable level," said Sassi in September, "but there is not a way to beat this cancer."

Doctors diagnosed Sassi after he had been complaining of strong headaches for four days. They immediately removed a tumour the size of two large strawberries. Sassi was left with half-moon incision on the right side of his head and some cancer cells.

"It is still there and it is growing slowly. It is very high grade and highly aggressive."

It eventually grew out of control and killed him this morning - December 13, 2010 - 51 years after he was born - April 28, 1959. He left behind his wife Marina and daughter Chiara and his passion, his work as a trainer.

He wanted to continue his work from the Mapei Centre in Castellanza. In September, refused to talk about how he wanted to be remembered.

"I prefer not to be remembered," said Sassi, "but to be here and talk with you and the entire cycling world!"

Man of the hour

Phil Gilbert has once again been nominated for Belgium's Male Athelete of the year.
A worthy honour for one the the greatest professional cyclists of our time.

You want cheese on that

Speaking recently to British pro-cyclist who is heading over the old herring pond, I learnt there is going to be quite a culture shock for him. Not just moving from Europe to race in the good'ol US of A, but also all the little things too. I mean, there is the obvious different weight categories they have in their domestic professional cycling over there. Over in Europe its pretty much a given that to be the best you have to tip the scales at around 60kg. Well to this pro i was talking to, he was told he had to gain at least 50kg to be in with a chance of race selection in his new team."Its a completely different playing field" he may have said.
Then there is the alarmingly different diet he has to get used to. No more high energy protein soya milk laxative based celery sticks. Apparently the team musettes will be handed out from a well know burger chain....sort of Mc-drive-thru style. Of course this brings up problems of its own. How DO you keep a double 1/4lb cheese burger and large fries warm in a musette? And will the super sized barrel of cola fit in a bottle cage on a 52cm bike? There are many idiosyncrasies that i clearly hadn't considered.

Recently, my contact posted on twitter that he had received his 2011 saddle. He was somewhat surprised apparently to learn that Lazy boy were now providing the saddles. Then there are of course rumours flying around that his new team have employed the services of an infamous doctor. But we have found these rumours to be totally unfounded. Dr Ruth clearly dismissed the rumours as "outrageous" but thinks "that with a little help all parties can work it out".


Early December he will be flying out stateside to take part in the training camp and to meet his team-mates. Here at the BC towers, we have managed to get a spy shot of the DS who will be providing the motorpacing that week.

Clearly this newly appointed Pro-continental cycling outfit have been taking there preparation very seriously. With a well organised squad like this, I can see them doing XXXXl things in the peloton next year.

And as a postscript to this. It is of course wholly untrue that it is in actual fact me on the motorbike. He's way to slim. AMATEUR!

Lombardiaaaaaaaaarrrgghhhh

Well, that's it. The season is over all but for a few pro-continental races. Once again the Flandrian Lion Roared in Italy at both Piedmont and Lombardy. The boy Gilbert for two years running has totally dominated the end of the season classics. Will 2011 be his crowning glory? Will we see an even stronger Gilbert? I think so.

This time of year is always a favourite with me. Not just because of the Autumn Classics or the crisp morning commutes or the beautiful sepia colour swatch of the trees or the inevitable Lotto domination, but because it officially marks the start of my training for the yearly visit to Ronde de Vlandaaren in Easter. So watch out for me on the lanes amongst the falling leaves of Yorkshire while I imagine I'm in my own Tour of the falling leaves.

cee dubyah rides again

The date is the 12th September 2010. Its almost two months to the day that one of my favourite professional cyclists did the unimaginable. Through no fault of his own he abandoned the Tour de France. Charlie Wegelius was unwell and couldn't continue in the 2010 Tour de France. I was gob-smacked, shocked and stunned. Charlie? Pulling out? NEVER! "He's a hard man! A Super high-mountain domestique! A Legend! He would never pull out" I found myself saying. Alas, it was true. Charlie has since eloquently publicised in his blog ( http://blog.canyon.com/?cat=128&lang=en )his illness and subsequent recovery. Unfortunately I am not so eloquent. I was f**king stunned that one of the greatest, hardest working domestiques in the last decade was unwell. So unwell that it could end his career. As a life long fan of cycling, it shook my very core. The last I remember being this upset about cycling was when the great Marco Pantani was snatched from us. In one of my previous posts, I wrote about my love for the cyclists that don't win but bury themselves for others. It is cyclists like Charlie Wegelius that allow people like Phillipe Gilbert or Jurgen Van den Broeck to shine. It is because of Charlie the Omega Pharma Lotto team are so strong in the mountains. I honestly felt this was the end.

On Friday 10th September 2010, I was sat watching the entire GP de Quebec. Screaming at the TV every time I saw a 'Lotto' jersey. Charlie was back. I hardly caught a glimpse of him. But the start sheet said he was there. The big 'cee dubyah' was back and riding with fire in his belly again. The GP de Quebec is a very hard circuit race over 186km. Nothing like coming back with a tough race then? It was eventually won by another of my favourite riders - the very exciting Thomas Voekler. 'Lotto's' Staf Scheirlinckx romped home in fifth. Charlie? A very credible 84th and only 2 min 9 sec down. After the very public withdrawl and publicised illness, it was fabulous to see Charlie racing again. I knew in my heart, deep down that he would rise like a mythical pheonix and light up cycling again.

And through-out his illness,when he was trying to get well again, he still has time for his fans. Pictured above is a signed Omega Pharma Lotto jersey which I will be auctioning for the Children's Liver Disease Foundation.

Yes Charlie Wegelius is definately one of professional cyclings great men.

Charlie is well and truly back. Welcome back and very well done big guy! roll on 2011?