Testing Times - February 2010

SEE MORE AT WWW.PLANET-X-BIKES.COM PAGE 1

FEBRUARY 2010

WHAT’S INSIDE:

The Nikie-Bikie

Peter Whitfield on Ant Taylor

Dude ‘Masher’ Marsland

spills the beans on turbo

training secrets

Paul Gittins gets nostalgic

Graham Bickle v Alex Royle

… FIGHT!! Gavin

‘good-man’ Hinxman

adjudicates

Bob Porter

Gambling on … the right side

Sue Choccychoccy Fenwick

meets Ruth Eyles

NEW! Letters page (aka

Lettuce page … against the

better judgement of other

vegetables it must be said!)

Nob off … yer Chrono

No Sportives … no DVDs …

no race results … no taste …

you know what to expect by

now ...

Circulation: there’s still a pulse … just! PLANET X

MOVE

COMPLETE Management now

able to cycle to

work ... shop-floor

workers resign

themselves to a 25-

mile each way trip

dicing with death on

the hard shoulder of

the M18 It’s all done and dusted. The new Planet

X headquarters that has been years in the

making is now a reality. Located just off

junction 34 of the M1 next to the award

winning Magna adventure centre outside

of Sheffield, Planet X hope to make this

THE focal point for ‘a day out for all the

family’. Drop the Mrs off for a day’s

shopping and lose the kids at the

adventure centre then make yourself

scarce for a few hours in the comfort of

Dave’s new baby.

Leaked reports of heating and running

hot and cold water are yet to be

confirmed, but even the respected Ray

Eden is satisfied that his daily 25-mile

commute to work and back along the hard

shoulder of the M18 on his tried and

trusted SL Pro is worth the trip. Would

YOU argue with HIM?

Testing Times’

web-site on the

way … sometime

… somewhere … It hasn’t been overlooked but these things

take time. Resources have been

redirected to more important areas of the

business … such as the racing season

which is almost upon us. One of the

leading drivers of Testing Times, Ian

Cammish is reported to be back in

training and too damned lazy to pull his

finger out to get the thing up and running.

Competitors need not be worried (i.e.

competitors of Testing Times NOT

competitors of Cammish’s … because

he’s far too old and fat to get concerned

about). Its world-wide domination of its

own unique brand of spelling errors and

grammatical cock-ups is something its

editorial team hold close to its heart …

nothing is going to change. No matter

how hard they try! It’s doomed!

NEXT MONTH: THINGS

CAN ONLY GET BETTER

COMING SOON:

What’s your tipple?

Planet X’s new state of the art

accommodation alongside the M1

Wanted … tall stories … rumours (true or otherwise) … scandal …

gossip … etc. Contact [email protected]

DISAPPEARING

STEALIEST-EVER

STEALTH MYSTERY

SOLVED … Hyde’s weak

bladder believed to be to

blame Rumours that Testing Times’ very

trying tester Paul Hyde has been

secretly road testing Planet X’s

stealthiest ever Stealth appear to be

well founded according to a recent

report in the West Kent Daily Times.

In the course of the past few weeks,

many column inches have been

devoted to the mysterious accidents

that have been occurring on footpaths

alongside public houses and

hedgerows in and around the sleepy

hamlet of Hydesville. The cause only

became apparent when the hapless

Two of the world’s leading sports goods suppliers have

combined to produce a long overdue contribution to

triathlon transition technology. Many hours of heart burn

and even more nano-seconds of thought have gone into the

design of what has been termed ‘a giant leap forward for

triathletes the world over’. Having seen some of its highly

overpaid sponsored athletes finish bike sections in

challenging positions only to lose touch in the transition

zone, Planet X team management sought advice and

TESTING TIMES

INTRODUCES … THE

NIKIE BIKIE TO THE

TRIATHLON WORLD

Save precious time in

transition Another major scoop by

Britain’s crappest time trial fanzine

inspiration from another equally minded conglomerate and

have, together, come up with the Nikie Bikie. Designed to

fit any rider’s shoe size, the Nikie Bikie is claimed to save

‘heaps of time’ in the transition zone. What could be better

than waltzing straight through to the trot while your

competitors lose touch having to mount their bikes

(ooeerr!), change shoes, tie laces etc etc?

So simple, it’s almost stupid.

Hyde turned up at the local cop shop

to report a number of his bikes

missing. “To be quite honest I’ve tried

to keep this whole sorry story quiet …

but in the last three weeks I’ve lost

five bikes and on the occasions

nobody’s bumped into them (which

reminded me where I’d left them), I’d

have to walk home. Do you know

I’ve walked nearly 15 miles this week

alone? That’s nearly as many miles as

I clock up on my bike in a month’s

training.”

Found ... (not sure how

though) one of Hyde’s missing

stealthiest ever Stealths


ADVERTISEMENT

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Parkinson has teamed up with Planet X

gourmets Loughran, Bennett and Stevo to

launch a new range of nutritional products

aimed at the north’s hardest of hardmen.

Unfortunately, the Power was unable to make

the final showdown which was held at

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members’ metabolism was then clearly put to

the test as the Power’s proposals were read

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head honcho Loughran.

First up … for those from the land of Pork Pies and Pig

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Next up for the northern hardmen … aimed particularly

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Harking back to when eating in races was seen to be a sign

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The Power getting to grips with a Black

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your back pocket you aren’t going to feel peckish very

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The Power has already managed to arrange a national

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Somehow the 100 has always

seemed to be the classic time-

trialling distance. Poised

between the speed and the

endurance events, it’s like the

mile in running Like the mile

it has seen some sensational

breakthrough races, when

massive margins have been

carved from the existing

record: remember cyclists

gasping in disbelief when

champions like Joy, Booty,

Colden, Roach, Griffiths or

Cammish took anything from

three to seven minutes from

the record. Among these giant

100-milers there was Ant

Taylor whose 100-miling

brilliance won him the BAR

championship in 1969, but

left behind the memory of an

enigma in the history of the

sport. Taylor was an intriguing character for

a number reasons, not least because a

year after this record ride, he vanished

from the sport. It’s always fascinating

to follow the careers of great riders

who kept on and on racing and win-

ning for ten, fifteen or even twenty

years; but in a way it’s equally inter-

esting to try to understand those who

devote their entire life to cycling in its

most intense form for two or three

years, win the highest honours in the

sport, then walk away from it all, as

Taylor did when he was just twenty-

four years old.

Ant came from Solihull, and rode

first for that club, then for the Oldbury

& District. He started racing at the age

of fourteen, but he really started to

progress only when he was eighteen

or nineteen: from being a sub-hour

junior to becoming BAR champion

took him just four years. His back-

ground was slightly unusual in the

world of club cycling: his parents

owned and ran their own business,

and were wealthy enough to send Ant

to public school. This background was

important to him later, since it gave

him the independence to devote him-

self to a training regime that few other

riders could have even attempted. He

worked for his parents during the win-

ter, but in the summer months he was

free to ride all day every day if he

wanted to, and he made good use of

his time. 500 miles a week was not

unusual, with individual rides of up to

200 miles, but more often two daily

sessions: 50 in the morning, home for

lunch, then another 50 in the after-

noon, and this was a routine he kept

up for months at a time. This was full-

time cycling at its most committed:

more than thirty hours a week on the

bike, and adding in preparation and

recovery time, there was no room for

any other life.

You would expect an awesome re-

gime like this to yield results, and it

certainly did: his first BAR year was

1968, and he came second in the table

behind Roach, recording 3:57 for the

100 in the process. At the events and

in the pages of Cycling, the unsmiling

Taylor features became instantly un-

mistakable: he looked tough and

threatening, and he was cycling’s first

skinhead, with his weekly cut, almost

down to the bone. In Ant’s case this

wasn’t just an image, for he was defi-

nitely a loner, who planned, trained

and raced on his own and in his own

way, allowing no one to get really

close to him.

In the following year it was his

100-mile strength that decisively top-

pled Roach from the number one spot.

First Ant took the championship on

the Bath Road by the narrow margin

of 45 seconds over Roach, then a

month later came the return match in

the Yorkshire Century event on Bor-

oughbridge. Already this course was

coming to be seen as holding the key

to fast times, but neither Taylor nor

anyone else could have predicted

what would happen that day. Roach

was unwell and out of the picture,

leaving Ant to storm through the field

unchallenged to a time of 3:46:37, the

first sub-3:50 ride, shattering the ex-

isting record by four minutes, stun-

ning the time-trial world, and setting a

standard that would remain unbeaten

for seven years. A young Phil Grif-

fiths was second, eight minutes down,

and Jeff Marshall was third. Griffiths

ENIGMA …

ANT TAYLOR by Peter Whitfield


Photograph

courtesy of Ron

Good

had been ordered to stop by police

patrol car for riding out in the car-

riageway, but he declined their sug-

gestion, saying, “The finish is only a

couple of miles away – I’ll talk to you

there!” After the race Taylor com-

mented that his time was no fluke, but

admitted that he couldn’t have done it

on any other course in the country.

The Boro’ was like that: things hap-

pened there that were completely un-

predictable. What he didn’t mention

was that he had ridden 130 miles the

day before that race, returning from

the south coast to Birmingham! What

would his time have been if he'd spent

that Saturday resting in the garden

with his feet up?

A week later came the 12 champi-

onship, and Ant piled up 278 miles,

which would have been a new compe-

tition record – except that he finished

second to John Watson, whose 282

miles put the record on the shelf for

almost a decade. Nevertheless Tay-

lor’s phenomenal 100 had brought

him the BAR title, and with a new

record average speed. In the big Octo-

ber BAR interview in Cycling

(remember that long-dead tradition?)

Ant made some pretty surprising

statements: that he had gone as far as

he wanted to with time-trialling, that

he was going to switch to road-racing,

and that a world championship title in

1970 was his big target. Considering

that he had never in his life won a

road-race of any kind, this raised

more than a little derisive laughter,

and succeeded in annoying time-

triallists and roadmen alike. It

sounded detached from reality, and it

was not a good omen for 1970.

Not surprisingly, Ant was unable to

get the road-race results that would

convince the selectors to give him a

chance in the World’s road race in

Leicester, but he was an obvious

choice for the team time trial. He was

one of a group of a dozen who rode in

trials against each other in various

permutations, until team coach Dick

Poole had identified the four he

wanted. In one trial Taylor, Jeff Mar-

shall, John Tooby and Dave Allan

recorded 2:8:43 for the 100 kilome-

tres, the fastest ever by any British

team. With one change – Roach tak-

ing Allan’s place – this would be the

squad that would ride the World’s at

Leicester in August.

That ride became part of the black

legend of British performances in this

problematic event, and for Taylor per-

sonally it had a shattering impact. The

records show that the championship

was won by Russia, in the slow-

looking time of 2:12:18. The course

was a brute, five legs, twelve miles

each, up and down the A46 on a

stretch known as the Six Hills, on a

very windy day. The British squad

finished sixteenth, nine minutes down.

Dick Poole commented afterwards

that no British riders could possibly

have gone faster, and the riders them-

selves knew that they couldn’t have

tried any harder. But for Taylor it was

more than a disappointment, it was

the end of everything. As reported at

the time, he was dropped on the final

leg, although it was not reported that

he had actually crashed off when he

clipped one of the oil drums that

marked the turns. He re-mounted

quickly, but the others were gone, and

Ant finished alone, in a near-trance

with exhaustion and demoralisation.

Another strange thing never re-

ported, was that he had taken delivery

of a brand-new bike for the event,

which he had never tested before he

pedalled away from the start-line of

that World Championship. You have

to wonder why an experienced rider

would do that, taking such a big

chance before such an important

event. Afterwards, all four were natu-

rally despondent, but Ant was the

only one talking of retire-

ment.

And he was serious: he never com-

pleted the BAR distances that year,

and he was never seen in serious com-

petition again. Occasionally, over the

years, admirers or journalists would

contact him to wanting to talk about

the past – as for example Bernard

Thompson did in 1988, when he was

writing his history of the RTTC – but

Ant’s answer was always, “Nothing to

say.” It was a sad end to the career of

a rider who had achieved so much: he

had won national titles and set a his-

toric record for a classic distance, and

he had done all this entirely on his

own, before he was twenty-four years

old.

But then he seems to have decided

that that one failure at Leicester had

rendered all this worthless, and that he

wanted nothing more to do with the

sport. Did he forget that nobody is

invulnerable, nobody is a god? He has

never commented publicly on these

events, so his true feelings are un-

known. In some ways maybe this is a

fitting conclusion to the career of this

enigmatic champion. But whether he

likes it or not, Taylor is part of time-

trialling history. So Ant, if you are

reading this and want to have your

say, to set the record straight about

what you did and why, this is the time

to do it: we want to hear from you.


Photograph from

Bernard

Thompson’s

cycling archive

Leaked

clandestine

code of

coaching

practices

causes major

concern for

Britain’s

brotherhood of

coaches Dude ‘Masher’ Marsland of

Lincoln was last night in

hiding after being duped into

revealing top secret turbo

training methods to Britain’s

crappest time trial fanzine

Testing Times. The

scrupulous on-line

publication went under-cover,

posing as a paying customer,

and managed to secretly tape

coveted information over a

cuppa and a couple of packets

of Chocolate Hobnobs.

Dae Floyd, Dude Masher’s

former coach and spokesman

for and on behalf of himself

and any one else who cares to

listen, let it be known that

Dude Masher’s methods

weren’t as good as his own

and poo-poo’d the use of

turbo trainers. “They haven’t

a place in any serious

cyclist’s training regime.

There aren’t enough hours in

the day to fit turbo training in

if you’re doing the road

training that’s necessary to be

as good as I was. Knuckle

down to a good solid 500

miles a day and that’ll sort

the wheat out from the chaff I

can tell you!”

Floyd is believed to have been

putting on a brave face

bearing in mind that many a

successful cyclist has

followed Dude Masher’s

programme. Indeed, Dude

Masher himself has improved

beyond all recognition by

sticking to this simple

approach to structured turbo

training.

In part one of this two part

feature, Dude Masher reveals

all on the preparation side of

turbo training. Next month, as

long as it doesn’t work for us

(if it does, it’ll be kept a

secret for sure), we’ll be

letting you know the real nitty

gritty. In the meantime, Dude

Masher’s whereabouts will be

known only by the favoured

few … Time Trial Weekly

please note … he’s not for

sale either.

TIME-BASE AND THE

UNIVERSAL TURBO

This winter has been a write off so far

in terms of being able to consistently

get out and about training on the

roads. During the first week of a crisp

new white blanket of snow, everyone

loves the freshness and novelty of it

all. By the third and fourth week,

unless you are a school-kid or training

for the Winter Olympics, most people

wouldn’t care if they never clapped

eyes on another Snowman again!

Winter is the time when we reach

for the sanctuary of the garage, shed

or spare room where the trusty turbo

awaits, always willing and ready to

perform regardless of the inclement

weather outside. Those who don’t

possess one of these excellent training

aids will have to make do with the

gym as a substitute where you can

replicate sessions on an indoor bike/

rowing or running machine. If the

TOP COACH DUDE

‘MASHER’

MARSLAND BLOWS

THE LID ON TURBO

TRAINING SECRETS


gym is not an option, then running up

and down stairs or a body-weight

circuit session 2-4 times a week

should be enough to keep you ticking

over.

As it’s not possible to cover every

turbo training option in one short

article we will aim this at those who

are limited to 3-6 hours a week and

looking to increase their power and

fitness for short distance time-trials.

The first thing we need to do in any

fitness program is set a baseline. You

will need to calibrate your turbo

trainer by using either the calibration

function (if it has one) or calibrating it

yourself. The easiest way to do this is

to stick 100 PSI in the back tyre and

pedal at 18-22 mph for 10 minutes at

90-95 rpm. This will warm you, the

tyre and your rig up all at the same

time. Whichever speed suits your rig

best though-you will need to stick to

that speed for subsequent calibrations

to keep all testing protocol the same.

After 10 minutes you need to

calibrate. On most rigs without a

calibration function I have found a run

down time of between 12-13 seconds

to be the best in terms of replicating

how it feels on the road. In order to

achieve this, you will need to make an

exact note of how many turns and

quarter/half turns it takes to achieve a

run down time of 12-13 seconds once

you have turned the knob which

applies force to the rear tyre, as soon

as it touches. To do this you simply

pick a medium sized gear (say a

53x15) and accelerate up to 25mph

then stop pedalling. At the precise

moment you stop, start your

stopwatch and count how long it takes

for the rear wheel to come to a

complete stop. When you have found

the combination that puts you in the

12-13 second ballpark make a note of

the exact combination of turns from

when the freely spun tyre made

contact with the roller. All you have

to do in future is to stick to the same

warm up and calibration routine and

settings exactly to know that your data

is accurate and repeatable for you and

your rig.

Once the rig has been calibrated,

we need to set a base line test using

your speed or power to set your

speed /power levels. There are two

that I will recommend to the time-

starved athlete: one is 10 minutes and

the other is 20. All you need to do

then is choose which one you prefer

and simply pedal as hard as you can

for that period of time. For the

purpose of this article we will use the

20- minute test. I always suggest to

my athletes that they break the test

into four equal parts so the first 2.5 or

5 minutes respectively would be spent

gradually building up speed so you

don’t go off to hard and ruin your

chance of your best result! During the

2nd block (if you have paced it right)

you should be able to increase the

speed-power slightly by .5 MPH or 5

watts. In the 3rd block, you hold it

steady and in the last block hold on,

or increase slightly, emptying the

tanks in the last minute (if there is

anything left to empty that is!).

What I am looking for as a coach is

a power/speed line that builds in the

first 5-10 minutes and is then pretty

much flat to the end or with a slight

kick at the end. What I am not happy

to see is a big spike at the beginning

than a big drop or gradual drop in

power with a few spikes here and

there once the lactate from the initial

overestimation of power / speed

catches up and you are no longer able

to carry on at that pace. When you go

into the red for too long it’s game

over so it is good to have a pacing

strategy that allows you to get a feel

for what’s right and it is always better

to start to slow than too fast! On a

pain scale of one to ten (one being

effortless and ten being the last 10

seconds of an all out sprint for the

line) the first block should score a

solid 7, the 2nd block an 8 the 3rd an 8-

9 and the last a 9-10 If you find

yourself at 8-9 in the first block you

have gone off too hard…simple ‘aint

it?

So let’s say you have opted for the

20-minute test and your average

power for that test was 250w or 25

mph what then? Well in the trade we

call this your 20-minute critical power

or speed (CP-20-CS-20). On average,

your maximum sustainable 1-hour

power /speed will be between 89-95%

of this 20-minute effort. I always start

my athletes at 90% of this and then

look at their feedback scores to adjust

each one so I can see where they are

as individuals within that range. We

call this hour of power your

‘functional threshold power’ or FTP

as you may have heard it expressed

before or FTS, if we are using speed

as our measure.

To elicit a gain in FTP and top end

20-minute speed, which we equate, to

your 10-mile TT speed you will need

to train at or around or above those

speeds in order to make ongoing

gains.

Fat burning rides up to 3 hours long

would be done at endurance pace

which will be between 55 - 75% of

your estimated 1 hour pace. Using the

case above, this would be 250w x

90% = 225w x 55 / 75% = 124-169w

or 22.5mph x 55 / 75% = 12.4 /

17mph and I would tell my guys to try

and stick mid range as much as

possible within these speeds / powers.

Tempo would be 76 - 85% of FTP/S

so 171 - 191w or 17.1 to 19.1 mph.

Threshold would be 86-100% of FTP/

S so 194—225w or 19.3 to 22.5 mph.

Sub threshold would be 101- 120% of

FTP/S so 227—270w or 22.7 to

27mph.

I normally work on the following

for on the road sessions:

Endurance Zone: up three 3 hours

Tempo: up to 2 hours.

Threshold: up to 90 minutes.

Sub threshold: up to 30 minutes

total.

On the turbo, tempo would be up to

an hour – threshold up to 40 minutes

and sub threshold the same 30

minutes.

I am not an advocate of super long

turbo sessions so 90 minutes all in

would be the very maximum I would

prescribe and that would be when

doing a long tempo session and

includes warming up and down! Most

sessions would last around the hour

and the maximum I have prescribed in

a week is 4. All recovery is done with

your feet up or trickling along for a

maximum of 1 hour continuous at

below 55% of your FTP/S, so literally

taking your bike for a walk!


HOW (we used to

dress ourselves)

He races here, he races there,

On fixed wheel or derailleur,

His shorts are always clean and his

jersey’s neatly pressed,

For he’s a dedicated follower of

fashion.

(With apologies to The Kinks who,

with the surname Davies, ought to be

Welsh even if they’re not)

Sitting here on a dismal Friday

afternoon in January, looking at the

rain pouring down outside and

pondering on the dreadful snowy and

icy month we’ve all just experienced,

I (for some reason that I can’t really

explain) started thinking about

clothing. Well, cycling clothing that

is, possibly because I haven’t worn

any since before Christmas as, keen as

I am, I’m not going out in that stuff

and risk breaking my leg or arm!

These days, day to day clothing seems

to consist mainly of jeans, T-shirt and

a shirt on top (a very thick shirt – or 2

even – during January!) which hasn’t

changed much since I was a lad.

Cycling clothing however, bears no

comparison with the stuff we used to

wear in days of yore, especially

during winter, and this is one aspect

of cycling that for me at least, the rose

tinted spectacles are not worn when

reminiscing.

Nowadays, with various combinations

of relatively thin layers of modern

thermal wicking fabrics, there is no

excuse for getting cold. I have a

jacket which I wear with only a single

thermal layer underneath even on the

coldest of occasions, a practice that

would have been unthinkable in ‘the

good old days’. Add to this a pair

of ‘Roubaix’ fabric tights, thermal

socks and overshoes, thermal wind-

proof gloves and a thermal ear-

covering skull cap under the helmet

and you can be sweating madly in a

very short space of time – and not feel

overdressed or restricted.

Compare this to my typical winter

cycling wardrobe in the ‘60’s. A

‘base layer’ of M&S string vest with a

thick cotton T-shirt over which held

the sweat and quickly became cold

once stopped. Over this a woolly

racing jersey (or 2) and then at least

two thick woollen pullovers on the

outside. I very early discovered the

benefits of a sheet of newspaper or

brown paper between the layers to cut

out the icy blast on the delicate chest

area. The bottom half in the early

days was wool racing shorts under

denim jeans with a pair of toe-straps

acting as trouser-clips, football socks

and leather shoes with possibly a

plastic bag inside when really wet. A

woolly bobble hat or flat cap covered

the head and a scarf kept the draught

from the neck. All this was wind-

catching and heavy but we young lads

accepted it as normal. A cape was

worn in heavy rain – but feet and

lower legs still got soaked and the

cotton trouser fabric took ages to dry

out. No wonder we all had colds each

winter! I don’t think I ever had warm

feet in winter until the first overshoes

were introduced (early 70’s?) and

these were a revelation and, in my

mind, one of the best things ever to be

introduced to cycling. Nowadays it’s

the opposite and it has to be very cold

to get my toes tingling.

Amongst my club-mates there were

many varying attempts at beating the

cold. One guy always turned up on

clubruns with his pyjamas on

underneath all his outer layers.

Perhaps he never got undressed on a

Sunday and went straight to bed when

he got home. Another never wore

gloves but used wool socks as mitts.

Effective but occasionally a bit

smelly. An older member wore his

WW2 battle dress as a top layer and

another wore a ‘proper’ wool check

shirt complete with buttoned up collar

and tweed tie. When nylon anoraks

were introduced they became popular

for week or two and until it was

realised that they were like wearing an

unventilated plastic bag so they were

quickly discarded. One of the

warmest base layers I had was

actually an old woollen dress of my

mothers. In a beige colour and having

long sleeves it was ideal (after a

judicious shortening of the body) so

remember, you read of my early

attempts at cross dressing here in

Testing Times! (There haven’t been

any later attempts though so don’t

start getting the wrong idea!)

CURRENT TIME TRIALLISTS ARE

SOFTIES … CLAIMS TESTING TIMES’

CONTRIBUTOR (not the good Mr Gittins I might hasten to add! Ed)

“They’ve never had it so good. When I was a lad …”


My first effort at advancing my

cycling dress sense was the purchase

of a pair of grey/blue tweed ‘plus-

twos’ from Ossie Dover in Liverpool,

‘The Cycling Tailor’ as he advertised

himself. These were in a heavy-ish

wool mix fabric and were worn with

knee length socks in a toning dark /

light blue pattern and made me feel

quite ‘gen’ when I paraded myself on

clubruns and in the local cyclist cafes.

My school mates however, thought I

looked a bit of a prat whenever they

saw me on my bike! These ‘plusses’

were often worn with a ‘Combat

Jacket’ from the Army and Navy

Stores or ‘Milletts’ and, after seeing a

photo of John Woodburn similarly

attired, a beret and towelling scarf

completed the outfit. Gloves were

always wool and got wet but

sheepskin mitts became popular and

were a great improvement if a bit

bulky.

In the late 60’s plusses became a bit

out of fashion and Holdsworthy began

selling ‘Training Trousers’ which

were like ordinary ‘drainpipes’ but

with zips in the lower legs and a bit

more room for movement in the

nether regions. Wearing these one

didn’t feel quite so out of place when

in the company of ‘normal’ people but

the ‘clip-clop’ of shoe plates tended to

give the game away and you were

soon recognised as being a ‘Cyclist’

and therefore given a wide berth in

case the condition was contagious.

Another option for slightly warmer

weather was a track suit top /

bottoms. In those days, the average

track suit sold as ‘sports’ wear was a

voluminous affair which hung in

graceful (!) folds across and down the

body. Not only would the legs have

caught in the chain if worn on a bike –

the arms and body possibly would

have as well! All this promised to

radically change when various adver-

tisements (such as in the Holdsworthy

Cycling Aids catalogue) appeared for

dedicated cycling track suits. These

were shown by drawings rather than

photos and generally featured an

Adonis-like gent resplendent in a

figure-hugging sleek garment that

made him look like a world

champion. Thinking that I too would

be transformed from a skinny

bespectacled youth into svelte

championship material I ordered one

of these from the local shop and

eagerly awaited its delivery. Rushing

home with my purchase I excitedly

tried it on, only to discover that, on

me, the effect was not quite the same

as in the adverts. It hugged my figure

only in the places where it touched –

the wrists, waist and ankles. The neck

was low, the arms and legs baggy and

it was very ‘full’ in the front so that it

hung down nearly to my top tube

when on the drops. On the plus side

though – it was the right colour! The

one consolation was that – as my

mother was always telling me – I

would grow into it. More than 45

years later I think I still would be! I

did wear it quite a lot (the cost of it

meant I had to!) and thankfully it

gradually shrank in the wash which

made it fit a bit better – but nothing

like today’s lycra versions.

Shorts were hardly ever worn except

when racing. As well as being a

source of amusement and a generator

of ribald repartee from the general

populace, unclothed legs were

frowned upon by trainers and ‘those

in the know’ and the general

consensus was to keep the legs

covered at all times to prevent

damaging the delicate knees and other

tender areas. These days I hardly

wear trousers at all for the summer

months and can’t say that I’ve

experienced any significant knee

damage apart from the odd insect

sting. Owing to global warming, the

wearing of shorts has now spread to

the masses and there are now far more

ill-shaped naked pasty-toned legs on

view than ever appeared on cyclists. I

suppose the wearing of shorts is a bit

like drinking (on the bike that is).

Then we were told to avoid drinking

during a race as it only made you

thirstier which is in direct contrast to

today’s advice. How much better

would we have gone if we had drunk

more, especially in 50’s and 100’s.

Shoes are a complete subject in

themselves. In general, shoes in the

50’s and 60’s were all leather with

various add-on patches in strategic

positions to counter the wear of

toestraps and with heels to allow a

degree of walking. Dedicated ‘racing’

shoes started to creep in during the

60’s and these were generally of

Italian origin with exotic brands such

as Detto Pietro and Crodoni. The

problem with these (apart from them

being designed for dainty Italian feet)

was that they were full of holes, the

only useful purpose of which in

winter, was to allow the rain water to

run out. Conversely of course, they

let the rain water in – and the freezing

cold – which was not very helpful.

Due to popular demand, some

unperforated versions were imported

along with fur-lined options (which

included bootees) which made a

difference until the afore mentioned

introduction of overshoes. However,

they were still leather which made

them a devil to dry out. Thank

goodness for modern man-made

versions!

So, there you have it, a brief

introduction to the wonderful world of

classic winter cycle clothing. After

reading this aren’t you glad you’re

cycling now rather than then? Even

as a dyed-in-the-wool classic bike

owner I know I am!

Paul Gittins


Back in 1974, Northamptonshire’s Graham

Bickle of Rockingham Forest Wheelers set a

new junior competition record of 21:16. This

record beat the previous figure of 21:20 set by

Nick Lelliot of Worthing Excelsior CC.

Graham’s record stood until the following

season when Steve Jones of Beacon Roads CC

lowered the figure by a further 8 seconds.

The record currently stands at 19:13 set in

2005 by Glendene CC’s Alex Dowsett.

35 years after Bickle’s junior record ride,

juvenile Alex Royle of Coveryourcar.co.uk

lowered the juvenile record to 19minutes 56

seconds, breaking the 20 minute barrier for

the first time. The previous record of 20:13

was set by Ceri Pritchard back in 1993.

We look at these two impressive record

breaking riders and compare their rides,

equipment and training methods.

Testing Times tracked down both riders

(Graham is still an active tester, still racing

for Rockingham Forest Wheelers)

How or why did you get interested in cycling?

GB: My brother Alan, who is 16 years older than me, was

a keen cyclist and regularly rode time trials. Before I raced

myself I remember travelling with him to an event near

Blyth on the A1. I’m not sure if he was riding the event

and off near the end of the field himself, or if we had

travelled there to watch the race, but as we approached the

course we passed some early starters in the car. For some

reason the sight of the riders emerging from the mist one

by one really captured my imagination. It wasn’t long after

this that I started riding a bike for fun rather than just using

it to bike to school and do my paper round. Soon after this

I joined the Rockingham Forest Wheelers, the same club

as my brother, and had a go myself.

AR: My grandfather used to race long distance time trials,

and when I was 14 years old and 13 stone, I decided to go

out with him on a couple of runs to lose some weight.

What age did you start cycle racing?

GB: I was 13 years old.

AR: 14

What was your first race & how did you do?

GB: My first race was a Rockingham Forest Wheelers

club 10 on the 28th of April 1971. I recorded a time of

31:19 and the event was won by Bas Clarke in 23:00. I

came back for another go the next week and was over a

minute slower, but by the end of the season I had

improved to 28:25.

AR: Rossendale RC 11 mile Spoco 36 minutes and 5th

from last.

In the words of the immortal

BAFTA award-winning

Harry Hill … I like Graham

Bickle … I also like Alex

Royle … but who was / is

better? There’s only one way

to find out … FIGHT!!!


Typical Bickle - 21:16 on the Sawtry -

Norman Cross N10/17 course … as a junior

… going Old Skool.

Do / did you have a cycling hero?

GB: I have had several cycling heroes over the years, but

Beryl Burton remains my favourite. A great rider, she was

so consistently good. The BBAR for twenty-five

consecutive years, all those records she set and she still

found time to win seven world championships. There will

never be another Beryl - she was amazing.

AR: Fabian Cancellera (tester)

Most impressive EVER time trial?

GB: Only ever going to be one answer to that

isn’t there? Ian Cammish’s 3:31:53 ‘100’.

Done without tri-bars, disc or aero helmet.

Mind boggling! ;-)

AR: Everyone round here still talks about Ian

Cammish’s record breaking ‘100’ from 1983. I

can’t imagine there’s anyone alive today

capable of beating that without the aid of all

the aero gizmos. ;-)

What age were you when you set your 10 mile ride?

GB: I was 16

AR: 15

What was your height & weight?

GB: At 16 I was 6 foot tall and I think I weighed

somewhere between 11½ and 12 stones. I haven’t grown

any taller since then but I have grown a lot wider.

AR: 11 stones and 5ft 10ins

Were you at school / college / work at the time?

GB: I had been at work for about a month. I finished my O

levels at school one Friday in June 1974 and started work

3 days later.

AR: At school. I set the record right in the middle of my

GCSE examinations.

What was that event & date?

GB: The event was a Fenland Clarion Saturday afternoon

event at Sawtry near Peterborough on the 13th April 1974.

AR: YCF ‘10’ 6 June 2009.

Was it a good day?

GB: It must have been a good day, but I don’t remember

the exact conditions.

AR: Not brilliant, was quite windy.

Where did you finish overall?

GB: I won the junior event by 1 minute 26 seconds ahead

of Ian Cammish who is a year older than me. Adrian

Collard was the next fastest on the day - he won the senior

event with 21:58. I always felt sorry for Adrian because

during the previous season (1973) he had twice recorded a

faster time than the existing junior competition record that

I officially improved, but when the course was

re-measured it was discovered that it was several yards

short and the times he set were not ratified. The course he

used was the same one as I set the record on but, of course,

the extra yards had been added by then. Adrian’s mum

and dad presented me with an engraved tankard for

breaking the record that Adrian had been unlucky not to

claim himself.

AR: Won the event.

What was the winning time?

GB: My time of 21:16 was the winning time.

AR: 19:56

What bike were you riding?

GB: I had a second-hand 531 Mercian which I built up

myself. Most of the components were second-hand. It had

a TA chainset, 5-speed Regina freewheel, Simplex gears,

Unica Nitor saddle, Mafac break levers, Weinman

side-pull break mechanisms and some really cheap

unbranded bargain-bucket alloy handlebars that I had

bought from a local bike shop. Looking back, these bars

were probably a good choice because they were a little bit

narrower than the branded makes and would have been

slightly more aerodynamic. The wheels had 36-spoke alloy

sprint rims on Campag record large-flange hubs with

Barum PBW tubs. I used to pump the tyres too hard

though, and after breaking the record I noticed an egg

shaped lump in the back tyre. About six or seven weeks

later a split started to appear in the down tube of my frame

near the band-on fitting gear lever. My friend and

clubmate Mick Ward, who was a bike and motorbike

mechanic, fixed this for me by splitting the tube and

braising a small section of Honda motor-bike exhaust pipe

over the damaged section. I used the bike like this for the

rest of the season and recorded my best ever 25 time on it

in the September.

AR: Cervelo P2C

How big were the gears you used in the race?

GB: I used a 5-speed set up with a 52 tooth chainring and

14 to 18 close ratio freewheel. I was in the 15 sprocket a

lot during the event, and didn’t use the 14 that much. I

remember changing down to the 18 sprocket climbing the

rise to the roundabout turn. This was unusual for me at the


The lesser-spotted Royle-Mantis caught doing

what it does best in its natural habitat by Dr

Andy Waters (Techno)

time as I had always tackled this in the 16 or 17 sprocket

on previous rides on this course. Early in the season I had

been using a 55 chainring and used it again later in the

season, but I used to swap chainrings about quite a bit

back then.

AR: 55x11

What was a typical cadence that you would aim to race

at?

GB: Typically I used to pedal at about 90 to 95 rpm on the

flat and up the hills at a little slower pedal rate, but on the

day I broke the record I took it into my head to pedal faster

and tried to keep it near 100 rpm, although with a 52 x 14

top gear I must have been pedalling at a far higher rate

than this down the hill from the turn. I had used fixed

wheel all through the winter though, so never found

pedalling fast a problem. I remember counting my revs

during the race a couple of times to check it was close to

10 revs in 6 seconds (100rpm). This was an unusual thing

for me to do though because I don’t remember doing it in

many other races. I don’t know why I did it that day and

I’m not sure if it helped or not. I rode a 10 using my

normal pedal rates about a month later on the same course,

but it wasn’t as good a day and I was only 20 seconds

slower so it probably didn’t make a lot of difference. I

never used to just slog along in big gears anyway.

AR: 90 revs in 55x11 will do nicely!

Did you use a stop watch / heart monitor / power meter

in the race?

GB: I used a stopwatch so I could check my pedal rate -

heart monitors, cadence measuring devices and power

meters had not been invented.

AR: No nothing … just on feel.

Did you have a cycle coach?

GB: No I didn’t have a coach when I set the record, but

Jim Hendry was our club coach. He had given us several

talks at the cycling club and ran circuit training sessions

during the winter which I enjoyed. I picked up a lot of

useful information from him and from Les Woodland’s

book Cycle Racing: Training to Win. Jim coached me a

couple of years later when I turned to road racing and he

helped me a lot.

AR: No.

Did you do any specific training for that event?

GB: I don’t remember doing anything special, but looking

back at my records I noticed that during the 4 weeks prior

to the ride I had ridden one 50-mile, seven 25-mile, and

five 10-mile time trials. It wasn’t unusual for me to race

this regularly but because it was mid-season I was able to

replace club 10’s with mid-week open 25’s on several

occasions. I would have also ridden 3 or 4 handicap roads

races and maybe an open road race, but because I have

only kept records of time trial results I cannot be sure.

Although this wasn’t a structured training program as

such, it would have been pretty event-specific training for

riding a good time trial when you think about it - 275

miles of short distance time trialling in 4 weeks plus some

jumping about in road races to add a little more speed.

AR: Just raced a lot.

What was a typical week of training in the summer?

GB: I used to race as much as I could. It wasn’t unusual

for me to ride an open 10 or 25 on Saturday, open 25 or

road race on a Sunday, club 10’s on Tuesday and

Wednesday and a 30-mile handicap road race on a

Thursday. I rode to work and back each weekday which

only amounted to about 4 miles a day, and biked out and

back to the mid-week events which were no more than 10

miles from home. I didn’t have time to train as well.

AR: Race evening tens and race weekends.

What was a typical week of training in the winter?

GB: Between the end of the 1973 season and Christmas I

rode a 56” fixed gear winter bike when I felt like it and

went to circuit training sessions once a week. Between

Christmas and the end of March I would train in the

evenings on 3 or 4 nights a week but I had raised the gear

to 62” fixed by then. From early February these evening

rides were over a 27-mile route using the main roads

between Kettering, Market Harborough and Corby. Lance

Marshall, a friend of mine from Market Harborough,

would ride to Corby and meet up with my clubmate Roy

Crombie and they would ride together to Kettering where I

would be waiting to join them. We would ride in team

time trial fashion to Market Harborough where Lance

would drop off. Then Roy and I would ride as a two up to

Corby where he would drop off, and I would ride back to

Kettering on my own. On Saturdays I might go for a 25 to

35-mile ride and on Sundays I would go on our club’s

junior training ride which gradually built up from 30 miles


Royle on the V718. Photo courtesy of that very

nice man Andy Waters

in January to 50 miles by the end of March.

AR: Long miles but been difficult this winter.

Did you do any other sports?

GB: No - I wasn’t interested in other sports - I was only

obsessed with cycling. I was useless at other sports

anyway, and in school I was always among the last to be

picked for any team.

AR: Used to play a bit of hockey.

How many days off the bike did you have weekly /

monthly?

GB: Most weeks I rode the bike every day if you count the

ride to school or work, but I didn’t train or race every day.

Most weeks I had a couple of days off.

AR: 2-3 days a week, times 4.

Were you on any specific diet?

GB: No - just good basic food.

AR: No.

Did you eat anything special before the race?

GB: I might have had a few glucose tablets before the

race. I liked the orange ones - I think they were called

Dextrosol.

AR: Tuna sandwich.

Was that ride the highlight of your cycling career to

date, if not – what was?

GB: In a way it was because it helped me win the junior

BBAR that year which was my only national title, and

winning this was the highlight of my cycling career.

AR: No, breaking Alex Dowsett’s junior 25 mile record of

50:22 when I was 15.

Thanks very much guys, keep up the good work.

Gavin (Good-man) Hinxman (who supports the equal

rights for vegetables campaign), for Testing Times

PUBLIC

OUTCRY AS

VEGETABLES

DEMAND

EQUAL

RIGHTS TO

LETTUCES Testing Times accused of

preferential treatment Possible court case pending Testing Times’ controversial decision to devote pages of

its ‘desperate for attention this thing ain’t going anywhere’

monthly Fanzine to Lettuce contributions (see pages 18 -

19) has bought anger from vegetables world-wide.

Budgets have been blown apart to put forward a case for

equal rights for vegetables. National Newspapers are

believed to have been approached to support the cause.

However, Testing Times is understood to be the only

publication desperate enough (and willing to take whatever

is offered … not matter how small) to reap some sort of

income to fund its miserable attempt to provide

entertainment and news to the time-trial starved British

public. Evidence of the ongoing ‘equal rights for

vegetables’ campaign may indiscriminately be secreted

into forthcoming editions of Testing Times (if there are

any!). Readers have been warned. Testing Times has no

qualms or morals. Fact!

Bickle during the 1974 National Junior 25-

mile Championship on his way to fifth place


Ex BBAR now

full time bikie

on the

comeback trail Bob Porter, Hounslow and

District Wheeler’s 1972

BBAR, is reported to be on

the verge of a major

comeback as he looks forward

to recapturing some of the

form which made him such a

prominent rider back in the

early 1970s. Having made a

few tentative steps back into

time trialling during 2009, the

major achievement being his

outstanding ride in the

Seamons CC Planet X Old

Skool Series event (in which

he recorded 1-9-41 to finish

in sixth position) Porter

believes he can turn the clock

back 30 years or more to turn

out rides reminiscent of those

which led to so many national

honours with Messrs Roach,

Garlinge, Marshall and

Fairhead. Testing Times

managed to catch up with him

as he revealed his intentions

to reciprocate the training

and single minded approach

that lead to the best ride of

his phenomenal career - a

1:4:48 effort in his first ever

25 at the age of 23.

Where to start? It was 1967 I was 23

with a summer riding a bike to work 8

miles each way to Heathrow and a

chance reading of a copy of Cycling.

Cycling was full of TT reports and

pictures. I noticed that in most 25s

quite a few riders were finishing in

times of 60 minutes or less. It did not

seem too fast and I thought `I can do

that!

Next stop … my local bike shop

run by Ken Bird, he directed me to the

nearest club The Middlesex Clarion.

The next club night I was there

clutching my cheque book and asking

where to sign. It was then explained to

me that there was only one ‘25’ left

that season. The Hounslow ‘25’ (it

was September) within reasonable

distance but because it was on a fast

course, the Bath Road, I might not get

in without a qualifying time.

It turned out that there was a ‘25’

on another fast course so only 98

entered so it was on. Sunday morning

bright and early I arrived in a field on

Pangbourne Lane just off the Bath

Road near Reading, my new club

mates showed me how to get ready,

fixing a number to my polished Claud

Butler Touring bike complete with

Steel cranks, single 48-tooth ring and

probably a 14-up to something 5-

speed block. It was specially prepared

by fitting Dunlop Road Racing 27 x

1⅛ tyres.

A trip to the toilets (the nearest

hedge with not too many mines

behind) and I was ready to go. My

start time arrived and I set off

resplendent in cut-off trousers and the

cheapest jersey in the shop singing

Mother’s Little Helper to myself. It

was probably a bad choice

considering the sport I was getting

into! I was caught after about 4 or 5

miles by Denis Brown on fixed. I

thought ‘he’s not going much faster

than me’ but I still couldn’t stay with

him. I finished the ride in 1:4:48 and I

was 94th out of 98 riders. However, I

was 12 minutes behind Joe Mummery

who won with a short ‘53’. I was a bit

disappointed. 12 minutes seemed a lot

to make up so I almost decided that

this was to be my only bike race. But

the Clarion lads enthused that a ‘4’

was a good first ride. Some of the lads

had first rides eight or ten minutes

slower than mine. I went home feeling

a bit down but promised to enter the

club hill climb a week or two later at

Ranmore Common in Surrey. The

hill climb seemed more successful

with a third or fourth place. I ignored

the fact that there were only 10

starters.

Onto March 1968 and the Norlond

Combine ‘25’ somewhere north

of London. I did a 1:6:20 in very

windy conditions. This time I wore

proper woolly shorts and won the

handicap award, so my clubmates’

faith seemed justified. This also

justified the cost of a second-hand

bike with tubs (£36). Later, on 12

April, I managed to improve again to

a 1:2:34 in the Crawley Wheelers

event on the G133. I was now

creeping up and sporting a Clarion

jersey. I mentioned the BAR to my

clubmates who suggested that I might

only manage to race up to 50 miles in

my first season. This just made me

more determined to finish the required

distances.

The details of the next part of my

first season are a bit vague as during a

house move I dumped all my training

BOB PORTER

RETURNS TO TIME

TRIALLING …

Photos from Bob Porter’s

Mum’s scrap-book


diaries from this period. I remember

my first ‘100’ though. It was an early

event on a G course that went over

the South Downs, turned and came

back the same way. It was not exactly

a drag strip, but I recorded a 4:28 in

spite of carrying (and eating!) the

recommended chicken sarnies.

I only rode a couple of ‘50s’ and

ended up with a 2:5:52. The ‘100s’

were more interesting. I rode the

Westerley ‘100’ on the Bath road and

managed 4:17:53 which I hoped was

good enough for a BBAR certificate. I

then found out that myself and

another rider were wrongly reported

for jumping a set of roadwork traffic

lights and an inquiry was under way.

Thinking that I may be disqualified I

needed another open ‘100’. The only

local one was the Bath Road ‘100’ on

August bank holiday, the day after

the West London CA ‘100’ which I

also needed to ride as our club BAR

used the WLCA events. I duly entered

both hoping the dispute would be

resolved by then – it wasn’t. I did

4:30:48 in the WLCA event and went

home to bed. Up at 3:30am the next

day to ride the Bath Road ‘100’ on the

same course, I struggled a bit at

around 80 miles but finished in a long

4:28 which told me that I perhaps had

more to come. The following week I

heard that my Westerley ‘100’ ride

was reinstated! Nevertheless, the

weekend was good training for the

Polytechnic 12-hour later in the

month.

The advice I had been given for the

‘12’ was to take it steady until the

finishing circuit and then see what’s

left. Also, as I had given up eating

solid foods on the bike, a mix of

Complan and glucose was

recommended – I drank eight pints.

On the day I used a 76-inch gear until

I reached the circuit and got onto the

big ring for the two hours or so and

finished with 254 miles. My wife and

parents helped out with all that

Complan and my 2 litres of water. It

wasn’t enough and we had to borrow

more. I thought my ride was good but

on that day Martyn Roach got

competition record with 277 miles.

During the rest of the season I did

a 1:0:22 one week, followed by a

58:56 the next, proving that ‘I could

do it’ (albeit 12 months after the

original intention). I was about 58th in

the BAR and duly received my first

national award, so it was a

satisfactory first season.

A few thoughts about training:

firstly, after my initial attempts at

racing, I went on two or three club

runs and coped OK. But I still thought

that 25 miles was a good training ride.

Most of the season’s training was

eight miles flat out to and from work

on 68-inch fixed, with a few evening

25-mile rides to Box Hill. I did one

all-day ride of about 170 miles on 76-

inch fixed to see what 12 hours on a

bike would be like. After the saga of

the ‘100s’ it was probably not

necessary.

The things I remember and enjoyed

were the early morning starts with

almost no traffic and clear air – not

the qualities found in a time trial these

days – and the challenge of longer

events.

Bob Porter


From time to time there is talk of

Great Britain switching to the right-

hand side of the road. Perhaps we

may go forward a few years and look

at Cycling’s editorial, just after the

change-over date. At 11am on Sunday

last Great Britain went Continental.

After an expensive and protracted

period of preparation the signal was

given by Liberal Prime Minister

Jeremy Thorpe to “Go Right.”

There was an unexpectedly

premature ending to his speech on the

A1, as he was mown down by a

cyclist suddenly swerving across the

road.

On the O2 ‘25’ course at Blyth there

was a complaint from Pete Watson

that his 50-minute ride included two

circuits of the far roundabout in

opposite directions, because he

arrived there at exactly 11 am.

Two marshals on the course, in

trying to cross the dual carriageway in

heavy traffic, became marooned in the

central reservation and had to be fed

with food flung from moving vehicles

until dusk, when they were rescued by

a pair of slow-moving tandems.

Inadvertently, they were taken to

Leeds Indian Hospital for observation,

but after the removal of several layers

of carbon deposits were allowed to go

home.

Misunderstandings occurred in the

Essex Grand Prix road race when, at

the appropriate time for changing

sides of the road, the bunch went over

to the left!

Further problems arose when the

chief commissaire, who had thought

the new ruling would help him, drove

backwards in sheer frustration over

the brow of a hill on the wrong side of

the road into a police car.

Members of the Veterans Time Trial

Association, who had survived two

world wars, said they had never seen

anything like their disastrous 50-mile

race in the Midlands.

An eye-witness report indicates that

these elder statesmen of cycling, after

40 years on the left could not adjust

quickly to the other side and tended to

veer diagonally to and fro across the

road, often crossing the front wheels

of their vet colleagues proceeding in

the opposite direction.

Of the sixty starters, twenty finished

the event and the rest are as well as

can be expected.

A number of collisions occurred

between opposite ends of cyclists with

their heads lowered and workmen

painting new direction arrows on the

road.

The manager of an insurance

company was overheard to say that

pedal-cycle premiums would be

doubled until cyclists got used to the

new system and then left, unless the

P.I.B. notice this time.

The continent welcomed the news,

and residents of Dieppe said they

could now walk the streets safely,

without British cyclists hurtling off

the docks and up the left side of the

road.

One aspect not realized by everyone

was the necessity to swop brakes over

on the handlebars, so that when

turning left across the path of traffic a

signal could be given with the left

hand and the rear brake applied with

the right hand. Those who over-

looked this point were thrown into the

air by sudden front brakes.

The cycle trade greeted the move

enthusiastically and for no particular

reason stated it was essential that

chainrings should now be fitted on the

left of the bike, so new frames should

be purchased, and also a fresh set of

tools because the old right-handed

ones wouldn’t fit.

It is curious that with a Liberal

Government we should be asked to

ride anywhere but right down the

centre!

GAMBLING ON … the right side Mick Gambling contributed

around 5000 articles, race

reports, interviews etc for

Cycling Weekly, formerly

Cycling. They encompassed a

40-year period, 1965-2004

and half that period, to 1985,

included light-hearted pieces.

Many were topical for the

period, although some are still

relevant to the present time. A

taste of these will be produced

on a regular basis. Mick is

still alive and pedalling in

Norfolk.


Time trialling began as a

man’s sport. Many clubs

would not allow women to

join, let alone race. Women’s

time trialling has for the most

part been a novelty value

sideshow alongside the main

event and attitudes at times

towards women’s racing have

been nothing short of

sexist. One woman, Ruth

Eyles, is trying to change the

face of women’s time trialling

for the benefit of all women.

Ruth Eyles, Beacon RCC, is well-

known as the 2005 BBAR, and

national ‘50’ and ‘100’ champion. She

is a busy woman, running her own

coaching business at:

http://www.rutheyles.co.uk

She’s also one of the people behind

the new and exciting Midlands

Rankings system for events on K-

courses and the Beacon Mountain TT,

a historic high-profile 39 mile event

that enjoys a full field, including

many women.

But her favourite cause is the

Midlands Women’s TT Series. Set up

four years ago, the first year’s series

was a selection of nominated club

events where women were

encouraged to come along, knowing

that there would be other women there

to race against and meet. It was low

key, informal, enter on the day with

no pressure and fairly successful. Rod

Goodfellow donated 2 trophies in

memory of wife Chris, a very strong

local rider in 1970s. These were

awarded for Best Improvement and

Best Vet – initially the aim was not to

focus on fastest performances but

a Fastest Overall trophy has been

added since.

The series has encouraged a pleasing

number of new riders into the sport. It

enabled local women in the district to

get to know each other better and

gave racing more of a social aspect

for women. Ruth says “the social

aspect is so important for women,

much more so than for men, or at least

in a different way to men. The

majority of people doing the sport are

men so it’s easy for women to feel

overwhelmed or intimidated. The

series provides a support mechanism

to encourage them into the sport. At

the end of year, a social night was

organised which was a great

opportunity to meet off-field and chat.

There were 25 of us.”

The series now includes opens and

club events, weekday evenings and

weekends. Last year saw 45 women in

one open event which is an amazingly

high figure. Each woman only needs

to complete three events to qualify so

commitment to the series is not

onerous. Some of the women who

take part are mothers with young

families so this is a really important

point.

Ruth would love to see it spread

across the country as a model but as it

really is local and about local riders,

what’s needed is each district to set up

something similar. It’s not about event

promotion either but about getting

women to take part, to go to existing

nominated events, and there’s no

shortage of those to choose from. If

you’re a woman and you know you

can enter a race and be up against 10-

15 other women, then that race

becomes much more attractive to you

to enter. Yes of course, women can

enter any event but it really can be a

dispiriting experience to turn up and

be one of just, say, 3 women at an

event, especially if you don’t know

those women and they are off at the

opposite end of the field. Organisers

of the targeted Midlands events are

extremely happy as they’ve seen

much bigger women’s fields.

Ruth came into the sport late. In

1993, while at university, she began

by buying a Mercian cycle because

her new friends were keen cyclists.

She became a keen UK-based CTC

tourist, then joined the Beacon RCC

in 1997 and started to race. Ruth

says “New women entering the sport

may only want a 5-10 mile ride to

start with, not a 60 miles balls-out

ride. The dynamics of going on

clubruns are very different for men

and women too. Women want to

socialise, know each other’s names.

Men don’t know each other’s names

but are very competitive, comparing

equipment. The motivation for each

sex can be very different.”

To end the interview, I asked Ruth to

tell me one strange fact about herself:

“I once worked at Cadbury and was in

charge of planning production of

Crème Eggs. I would have been able

to tell you the weight of every outer

box containing 48 eggs and how many

of those boxes fit onto a pallet. And

no, Crème Eggs have not become

smaller over the years.”

If a few women, and men, take Ruth’s

words on time trialling to heart, the

sport will be a richer one.

Sue Fenwick

Ruth Eyles: a woman’s view into a

man’s sport Ruth Eyles (right)

during the BTT

Championship

2009.

Photo courtesy of

Sarah Brooke

(So much better

than Mr Kimroy-

Silks don’t you

think?)


Testing

Times’ Inbox

(aka the Letters

page … or aka

the Lettuce

page)

Why no letters?

Dear Testing Times

I was wondering whether anyone reads your esteemed

journal. The reason I ask this is that most magazines I read

have a very lively ‘Letters’ page, and indeed when I was a

young sprog trainee on a very respectable cycling

magazine [aah – not so respectable these days! –

Ed] we (ie the staff) used to write letters under suede de

gnomes in order to strike up controversial correspondence.

The usual topics were things like ‘Should the RTTC and

the BCF merge?’, ‘Please include 10s and 24-hour tts in

the BBAR’, ‘Time trials shouldn’t be allowed on

dragstrips’ and ‘Hilly time trials should be abolished’.

Off course, every time such a letter appeared there would

be a deluge of replies from indignant readers, either

disagreeing, agreeing or not caring at all. Such issues are

these days resolved with ultra-scientific online polls as can

be seen on one famous cycling magazine’s website thingy.

But I believe there is still room for a healthy letters page

which has the effect of showing just how enthusiastic and

involved the magazine’s readers are.

Perhaps Testing Times appeals to the more laconic (or

shall we say lazy?) reader and so that’s why you don’t get

any letters. Or perhaps the reason is that nobody reads

your delightful little rag. If the latter is true, I just wonder

why www.issuu.com shows Testing Times receiving up to

100,000 hits on some issues. Perhaps we should be told the

truth.

Sir Edward Nobbly-Ghibli, Dyed-in-the-wool Cycling

and Athletic Club Ltd

●If only we knew the answers to your questions we would

answer them. Suffice it to say, you have before you our

wonderful new letters page. But in fact, you are right, we

do not get any letters. We get emails (this is the

21st century you know) and yours is the

first letter we have ever received.

Therefore it not only gets pride of

place as the first letter ever

published in Testing Times,

you also win the first prize that we

have ever given – a pump. It is in fact a

breast pump for which my wife, now aged 64,

has no need.

Sent to the wrong mag

Dear Sirs

Well Mr Editor, what an astonishingly brilliant mag

you’ve got there. How you manage to produce such

astounding quality each week with that small team of

editorial assistants who always seem to be testing bikes in

the Vanatua Islands or riding sportives in even more exotic

locations absolutely defeats me. But that is not the reason

I’m writing.

I’m quite concerned about some of the drivel that has

appeared in recent editions. First of all you have pages and

pages of nutrition and health advice. If I wanted to know

that stuff I’d buy Here’s Health or Health & Efficiency.

You also have pages upon pages of obscure medical

advice to do with ligaments and knee swellings –

information which should really appear in the BMJ

Journal or Surgeons’ News. Then there are these endless

articles about sportives and interviews with selected

participants. For goodness sake, if I want to read about

jumped-up celebrities I would purchase OK! or Gossip

Weekly. I buy your mag in order to read about cycling.

I want pages about time trials, road races at home and

abroad and even about touring in sunny Patagonia. I don’t

mind product reviews – but endless reviews of bicycles

that all come from the same mass production line in


Taiwan? No thanks! Like every club member I need my

weekly shot of stuff about cycling. But I want it to be

about all of cycling not just your own favourite corner.

Now don’t tell me I can get that stuff (ie road race and

time trial results) from the internet! If I wanted to I would

– I could also get all the drivel and nonsense that you

publish every week on the internet too. What I want is

good wholesome cycling stuff about club folk, results,

write ups on obscure events and a sense of excitement that

will bring plenty of new people to my beloved sport.

So I do hope that your new year’s resolution is to produce

a magazine about cycling, not about bananas, ligaments,

stretching, constipation and without pages and pages and

pages and pages (yawn) about sportives.

H. England, Glasgow Road Wheelies

●Sorry Mr England, I think you

should have sent this email to

another publication.

Tossing Bananas

Dear Ian

I remember you as the guy who passed me on an E course

during an ECCA hundred some years ago. Happily for me

I won 3rd (or was it second?) best handicap but you went

on and won the bloody event. Now I don’t have any

complaints about that at all. You were very nice to me as

you came past me at the speed of sound. And I loved it

when you called out “I am To55er” but you must have

misunderstood what I called out to you!

I finished the event with the bonk. Had I not bonked I

would have been 20 minutes closer to your time and I

would have won first (note that, FIRST!) handicap. But

it was not to be. In fact what I called out to you was “Toss

me a banana” but you obviously thought I was

encouraging you to greater speeds and totally ignored the

fact that I was in massive sugar deficit, out of food and

about to die.

In the end it didn’t matter, because I still got a personal

best out of it and won my club’s BAR to boot. Now I

know you’ve won a few events in your time but there is

one trophy that you have never got your hands on, and

that’s my club’s BAR. However, my advice to you is

that next time someone shouts words to the effect of

‘To55er’, look around for a second. They may need

feeding.

I. Spye (by email)

●I remember it well, Mr Spye. But I would ask you to write

future emails under your real name - I know who you are -

otherwise I’ll expose you to the world.

Keep the Praise Coming

Dear Editorial Team

I would like to congratulate you on a truly wonderful

publication. There has never been a magazine quite like it

in the English language and it is something that deserves

its place in the rich annals of cycling ephemera. Where

else would you find such great editing, such wonderful

picture selection, such a great team of writers and so much

knowledge about the historical aspects of time trialling?

Indeed, I find it sad that it is only available online.

Naturally, it should be in every bookstore in the land

and in every cycle shop too. I know that there are those out

there who are doing all they can to hasten the demise of

time trialling, but with such a robust organ as yours, how

will they ever succeed?

Looking at my vast collection of cycling magazines, your

fabulous publication is reminiscent of the late great Jock

Wadley’s Sporting Cyclist. Now there was a man who

knew how to write and how to assemble a team that could

produce stunning material month after month. I can truly

say that you guys are fit to walk in the late Jock’s shoes.

Long may you continue!

Sic O’Phant, Wheel Suckers CC

●Thank you. If you or any other reader would like to

write more words of praise, we can assure you that they

will always be published. Indeed, the talented and

extremely generous owner of Planet X may well give a

prize of a brand new unused puncture patch to the writer

of the nicest letter by the year’s end.


Chrono up close – Sounds like a

watch ...

Well it’s been on the market for some time but let’s look at

this discus-like UFO crankset close up.

The Zipp Vuma Chrono has had a little custom job to

match the owner’s project which is under way.

Note that the black alloy chain ring is now attached by

nine little screws that use a torque type allen key which,

surprisingly, holds the ring on very tightly indeed. The key

factor is not to over tighten these little screws. The outer

chain ring pictured has 55 teeth, but there are also options

of 53 and 54. I’m sure the geeks out there know this

already or have visited the Zipp website at some point.

This good looking lock ring keeps a 10mm allen key bolt in

place. This is the part that is attached to the axle. The left

hand crank is a one piece arrangement.

The pedal threads are very neatly recessed and any brand

of pedal looks good when fully inserted and tightened up.

Available crank lengths range from 167.5 through to

180mm. The sample shown here are 177.5.

The custom paint job was carried out through Parlee

Cycles http://www.parleecycles.com/ who built the frame

to which this crankset is attached. I’ll tell you more about

the complete bike later this year. So keep watching this

space as Testing Times continues to evolve like a revolving

crankset.

The picture below shows the other side of the Chrono ...

sadly it is not finished in white.

It takes an inner chain ring (that’s if you need one) using 4

secure large chain ring bolts and spacers.

It used to have a 42-tooth inner ring which I immediately

discarded

NOB OFF ... Yer Chrono


Pictured above are the rather fetching gold cups which

indicate that they have ceramic bearings fitted. Once they

are finally adjusted and tuned these make the cranks spin

for a good long while.

Here is the uniquely sculptured castellated part of the

crank axle that accepts the chain wheel part of the set.

Notice the well-sealed ceramic bearings. Here is a useful

tip: Before you feed the crank axle through the bottom

bracket cups once they are screwed in place, is to put the

left hand axle crank in your freezer (preferably a

Whirlpool!!!) for 20 minutes so the axle part has a chance

to contract when very cold. Once done, remove from the

freezer and you’ll find that it slides very easily through

both bottom bracket cups without the use of wooden

mallets, sledge hammers, rubber Durex (Featherlite is best)

covered tools and so on.

The left hand crank has a stylish 30mm section and a

narrow 10mm width which is beautifully shaped to make it

very aero

The Zipp Vuma Chrono is extremely stiff. When I tried it

briefly on the rollers there was hardly any flex. It looks

good to the eye whether it be the normal naked version or

my unique custom jobby as shown here.

Sir Nob of Two Ghiblis


Sir Nob of Two Ghiblis supports equal

rights for vegetables - ”I love carrots”,

says Sir Nob

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Testing Times - February 2010

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