Sports training camps: Why go to Mallorca when there's Manchester

Ready for my taster session at Manchester Velodrome

People tend to go on sports training camps in warm weather destinations abroad - Spain, South of France, Portugal, even Australasia. But I think that it's still possible to do and enjoy a training camp close to home, right in the UK. So I chose to go to the North-West of England. 

It's that time of year when elite athletes and amateur athletes, including some of my contemporaries head overseas to places where the sun shines a lot more than in the UK, there's less chance of rain, it's that bit warmer and folks don't have to hear stories about the latest political scandal in UK politics  [not that this sort of thing doesn't happen elsewhere, mind you!].

A large group of runners have just jetted off to Club La Santa, in Lanzarote. Some people in my cycling club went to Alicante in Spain's Costa Blanca, while a few others are preparing to go on a women's cycle training camp to Mallorca. 

I'm not averse to these sorts of trips - indeed I have done them in the past, and I've even enjoyed them. These days, I shy away from trips purely to go training because I like to get more out of my trip than each day just riding around somewhere, including a little cafe stop on a sun-kissed cafe terrace. You repeat the process every day, probably varying the café and eating a tostada instead of churros, and perhaps adding in some swimming and maybe running. 

Don't get me wrong - I love a sporty holiday. But I also like a cultural element too. When you go on these camps you are just beaming up your cycling club, or usual cycling buddy group from the UK to Spain. So you are effectively creating your own temporary British enclave in the Balearic Islands or somewhere on the coast of Spain. I must admit, that doesn't excite me. If I go to Spain, I want to be in Spain - mixing with Spanish people, soaking in Spanish culture, and vising the places that make Spain famous. 

Doing a SwimRun race while on a trip to South of France

Also, I like to give my training a bit more meaning, so with that in mind I like to take part in some sort of local sports event while there - maybe a mini cyclosportive, a running race, or as I did last Autumn in the South of France, a SwimRun race. 

Not only was there a specific focus to my trip, but I also got to mix with local-ish athletes and make new contacts.  I don't know if people would necessarily call that a training camp - I don't know what the term is. But those sorts of trips with different dimensions are what I enjoy doing when I travel abroad to do sport.

In terms of training camps in the pure sense, I am quite happy to do that nearer to home. So with that in mind, I travelled......to Manchester - well, 20 miles South, to the North-West's finest place, Macclesfield. 

It was just a case of throwing the bike and all my other sportswear in the car, heading up the M6 and less than four hours later I was at my apartment in the middle of Macc. There were no worries about dismantling the bike for the airline or paying extra to have it carried, no worries about what to take or not take through security, or keeping my luggage within the weight limit. It was all just straightforward and hassle free. I didn't even get caught up in any traffic jam on the motorway.

It was early evening on Saturday when I arrived in the East Cheshire market town at the end of a sunny day. However, sods law was that on my arrival the sky turned grey and as I set out to do a mini local spin. I felt a few drops of rain and the precipitation became heavier and heavier as I proceeded along the disused railway line, now known as the Middlewood Way. I hadn't planned on going far, and was only looking to stretch my legs after having spent a few hours in the car, so I was happy to cut short the ride.

Middlewood Way in Macclesfield

Sunday morning involved a four-mile early morning run in the sunshine along the Middlewood Way, and across to the Riverside Park through woodland between Macclesfield and its posh neighbour, Prestbury. I enjoy this area and have good memories of doing regular runs along here a decade ago when I lived in Macc. Even though its right in the town, there is a feeling of being out in the countryside, especially since livestock roam around the place in Springtime.

After breakfast I then took out my bicycle and did my training ride. This is a big area for cycling. The British Cycling talent team, based up in Manchester often come down to this area to do their training rides, and lots of local riders gather here. The equivalent of Box Hill, is a climb called the Brickworks. It's a 2.7km steady climb from the village of Pott Shrigley over moorland and past farms to near Kettleshulme, on the edge of the Goyt Valley. As I trundled along various riders past me, and said hello. I also saw a group of women on a ride. It looked like they were from the local Rapha Cycling Club. There's a cafe part way up the climb, though it would probably be better to go there on the way back down to Pott Shrigley. In fact I saw a lot of bike riders travelling down in the opposite direction, as I was winding my way up. Perhaps the cafe was their destination. I had no plans to stop there as I had a few places to visit from my itinerary and I was sure I would find an alternative place to stop if necessary.

Once over the Brickworks climb, I then climbed up the winding scenic road to be level with Blaze Hill, then took the fast descent through Rainow to return to Macclesfield and start the climb up the town's most iconic climb - the Cat and Fiddle. This is climb of  just over 10km (6.6 miles) takes you to the eponymous pub in the Peak District National Park, before dropping  6 km (4 miles) to reach Buxton. 

Despite the climbing practice I had had in South London, and earlier in February in Spain, I still felt unfit when tackling this climb. The road surface was quite rough, which didn't help. I figured that that would make me stronger. Once past the big turn in the road at Walker Barn I was officially in the Peak District, and with that the weather also became wilder, as the area seemed more desolate. There weren't that many vehicles, despite it being a main artery. There were very few cyclists too. Much fewer than I had seen on the other nearby roads.

Blaze Hill, outside Bollington, close to the Goyt Valley

Soon I reached a crossroads - a de facto decision point. I could continue to the summit, some 5km (3 miles) away, turn right towards Wildboarclough, turn back and enjoy a lovely descent into Macclesfield where the monthly Treacle Market was taking place, or turn left towards the Goyt Valley. Not wanting to disappear into some sort of Bermuda triangle along the A537 road, I decided not to continue towards Buxton, and I chose to do the latter option. This involved a very technical descent past Lamaload Reservoir. It honestly felt like riding down a wall while trying to avoid pot-holes and gravel. For the first time in decades I actually had to dismount and walk down the hill! On my way down, a few motocross bike riders came up in the opposite direction and waved at me, probably wondering what the hell a road cyclist was doing on this road! 

What goes down must come up, so I then crested a series of hills on the edge of the Goyt valley that took me back to Blaze Hill. By this time my legs were quite tired and looking at my Garmin watch I could see that progress through my itinerary had been very slow. You can't fake your fitness in the Peak District. It finds you out very quickly! And I found out that I still had some way to go to reach optimal fitness.

So with that, it was a very easy decision to return to Macclesfield via the gentler roads in the Cheshire Plain. After a long downhill along Blaze Hill, my ride then took me to Bollington, then through to, Tytherington, Adlington and onwards to Prestbury where life was very leisurely and folks were displaying their Sunday best al fresco at the local cafes. Getting out of Prestbury was more challenging than I had anticipated as there were a few hills to get over before reaching Macclesfield.

Finally, I reached my lodgings at Waters Green feeling satisfied that I had had a proper work-out. Indeed I had, as Garmin showed that I had done - more than 1,000m of climbing over 51 km. That was certainly the hilliest ride I had done all year.

With the limited amount of energy left, I then enjoyed a walk around Central Macclesfield to see the popular Treacle Market.

Monday was planned as a slightly less onerous day than on the Sunday. My bike ride consisted of a loop from Alderley Edge, a popular National Trust area of outstanding natural beauty, and heading through the nearby village of the same name, and home to many a footballer's wife (and in theory their husband) or Coronation Street actor. My loop also included Mottram St Andrew, once again Prestbury, before doing a loop up a local climb in that area, Artist's Lane. Nearby is a Flandrian type hill called Swiss Hill, but I decided to leave that one until another trip. 

Time was short, and I wanted to also do a little trail run through the woodland at Alderley Edge. One way I did this was by running along a Permanent Orienteering Course and identifying checkpoints. It's often a great way to make a run more interesting, and also to discover a new area. My run ended up being just a couple of miles as my orienteering skills were good enough to find the checkpoints quickly (That's what I like to think, anyway!) 

Straight afterwards it was a case of hotfooting it to the National Cycling Centre in Manchester, where I signed up to take part in a taster session at the Velodrome. It was billed as a taster session, but in fact I just took one of the reserved hire bikes and rode around for as long as I could in the time allowed - for me it was 40 minutes as I turned up a little late. I am not sure if I could have survived the full hour going up and down the steep bankings! 

Taster session at Manchester Velodrome

Had I been a complete novice at track cycling the coach would have spent time showing me what to do, but because I had been to the Velodrome in the past (though was not yet accredited), and had become a regular rider at my local velodrome in Herne Hill, I was allowed to get in an individual training ride, under the watchful eye of the coaches, in order to increase my fitness. 

There were a handful of other riders doing a paceline, but I wasn't strong enough to join the line, so I did my own thing. The coach said that I looked fine, but I would just need to do a couple more taster sessions so that I can then gain clearance to join the Regular Riders sessions which is the stepping stone along the way to gaining Accreditation.

By the end of the day, I was feeling a little pooped and was ready to check into my new lodgings, a private room in Central Manchester YHA. There, I had a well-earned meal and an early night to prepare for an early start at the Manchester Aquatics Centre.

Early the following morning I put on my running gear, gathered my swimming kit, and did the two-mile run from Castlefields to the university district where I joined the other swimmers doing training laps in the 50m pool at the Aquatics Centre. This popular venue is a legacy facility from the Commonwealth Games, and still gets a lot of use. It was a clean modern pool, and quite swish following its refurbishment in 2021, compared with the spartan facilities at Crystal Palace. I felt quite motivated, so did one kilometre. That was as much as I could do in the time allowed, as I still had to have breakfast, check out and then make my way back down to London.

The end of my training camp in the North-West had come, and I feel that it had been fun-packed, productive, and I like to think I have increased my fitness. Who knows, I may even be feeling fitter than if I had just doing a few kilometres here and there with my cycling buddies and sitting in a sun-drenched cafe. 

It has to be said that some people do these so-called training camps just so that they can spend time away from the UK, and some coaches that advertise the trips talk more about the well-being benefits of enjoying a cafe stop on the coast while sipping some local patisserie and coffee that is better than back home. Indeed, I see more Instagram photos of what's on people's plates than where they actually rode their bikes! 

Potato Wharf, close to where I stayed in Manchester

Granted, there's no contest when it comes to comparing the weather in Manchester versus Mallorca. But then again, wind, rain and snow are not entirely alien to the Balearic Islands. I have certainly been caught out without a pack-a-mac while cycling up to Puig Major. Even this year there have been weather reports of strong winds on Spanish soil. So weather is not entirely guaranteed even in traditionally warmer, sunnier countries. 

At least in Manchester, it's a case of better the devil you know. In any case, UK weather is so changeable that it is still possible to find a reasonable window in which to get out and ride a bike. Then of course swimming and track cycling aren't even weather dependent. 

So overall, I am happy to ride my bike abroad as long as I get the full cultural and social experience of being in that particular location. However, if the aim is purely about getting in a training camp and keeping fit I would rather keep the logistics simple and stay closer to home. 

But no doubt, I will at some point in the year end up getting a fix of riding my bike along sunny roads in a French, Italian, or Spanish hotspot, and I certainly won't complain about it!

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Cycle route: Bollington and Blaze Hill loop

Why I like cycling in the velodrome

A few weeks ago I went to the Herne Hill velodrome and took part in one of the Sunday night women's training sessions.

This was endurance training, and that was exactly what I did - endure it. I did enjoy it too, but I had to endure the fact that I didn't have much endurance!

We did various drills that involved us riding at a medium-to-high pace, and attacking off the front of the peloton to chase down riders ahead - like road racing skills.

As I had already been out for a run earlier in the day, I felt a bit too tired to get through all of the drills, but it still didn't stop me from appreciating all this track cycling.

This was my first time track cycling in Herne Hill Velodrome in a long time - maybe 8 years! I think the legendary Mr Herne Hill, Dave Creasy was alive the last time I rode on the circuit. Considering this is a track cycling venue all my recent trips to Herne Hill Velodrome had been do do cyclocross!

Although I was a stranger to the updated systems at Herne Hill, and I had to get used to riding 400m-long laps, track cycling is not alien to me. I was doing sessions at the Manchester Velodrome earlier this year. Also when I was based in Macclesfield, as a member of Manchester Wheelers cycling club I also did regular sessions there.

The thing I like about track cycling is the purity of riding a fixed wheel bike round and round the oval. The bike moves to the rhythm of your pedalling, and you have to keep pedalling and engaging your core in order for the bike to carry on moving.

There is no scope for freewheeling, and any attempt to relax and freewheel sees your feet yanked forward to remind you that the bike needs your attention and direction.

Even though the distances ridden at the velodrome are not a patch on what is done during a club ride, the training effect is huge. Even just 10 laps can get you puffing and panting.

So it's quite a handy way to get in a quality work-out without needing to spend all morning riding through the lanes to get the same training effect.

The same applies for indoor track cyclng, where I feel even more exhilarated on a 250m track with its high banking.

Doing these sessions this year has renewed my love for track cycling, and I think I will be back doing more of that next year.

Also, once I have mustered the fitness to do these drills without needing to leave the track for a breather it will be really beneficial for my cycle racing, I will ride better in the bunch when on the road, and I will naturally ride at a higher pace than the plodding I have become used to doing these days. Plus, it helps my bike handling enormously and I feel so much more in control

I look forward to going to the track after Christmas.

52 Cycling Voices - 23: Yewande Adesida

I first met Yewande at the London Nocturne about two years ago when she took part in the fixed gear race. She was riding for Velociposse at the time, and was enjoying her new adventure in cycle racing. Yewande has really made progress in her short time in cycle racing - taking a bronze medal at the sprint race at the British Universities and College Sports (BUCS)  track championships, competing in the National Track Cycling Championships. In between all that, she even found time to do some modelling for some big-name cycling brands after a recommendation from Ayesha McGowan, bike racer from across the pond.

Yewande Adesida, aged 25

From: London

Occupation: PhD Student at Imperial College, London

(Photo by SRAM)

I got into cycling properly when I stopped rowing about three years ago and then I thought about which sport to get into.  

I had been a rower for about six years and gone as far as I could, so wanted to find a sport that I was better suited to. 


I chose cycling. It wasn't completely new to me as it was part of my cross training when I was rowing, so I had done bits of it here and there.

I always knew I wanted to do track cycling so I worked on getting my accreditation at Herne Hill and the Lee Valley velodrome.  

There wasn't anyone in particular who inspired me to do more serious cycling. I always just knew that I wanted to compete and race so it was just about me getting to that point where I could do that. 

I took my time about which club to join. Then me and a friend heard about a women's racing team called Velociposse, which was looking for riders, so joined that one. They were very friendly and wanted to encourage more women into cycling. My team mate Eeva Sarlin was quite enthusiastic and encouraged me to have a go at fixed-gear racing. 

At the London Nocturne in 2017

The 2017 London Nocturne was my first crit race on a fixed-gear bike. I was a bit scared as there were a lot of sharp turns. 

I got dropped, but then I did what I could to try and get ahead of the group I was with. The race was interrupted due to crash and I also ended up hitting the barriers. I was okay, and am still really glad I did it, as the support from the other racers was great.

I raced for Velociposse until November last year, then joined a team called SES Racing, a mixed team that focuses on track sprinting and being competitive.

With them I went to the National Track Championships in Manchester at the start of this year, doing the sprint race and the keirin. Competing at the National Velodrome in Manchester for the first time was a really good experience and I really enjoyed it. It was also really tiring. I had never raced a keirin indoors before so it was nice to do well in that event and work on that for next year. All round I had a really good experience.

I finished 10^th overall in the Keirin. I was not expecting that at all, as I had raced four times, when normally I would only race twice, so it was really good.


I had done the individual sprint, which I normally do. I’ve raced that in competitions before, and I equalled my personal best in the flying 200m and came 13^th overall and was able to qualify for the match sprinting, even though I knew that that would be a tough.

I was probably a lot more nervous for the sprint because I had expectations for how I wanted to do, but I was less nervous for the Keirin because I was going into it to learn and have fun.

Yewande does some road racing too

I had been pretty nervous about racing at the Nationals with the top riders, but the people with me from my new club were really supportive, and really helpful. I don’t think I was as freaked out by the whole situation as I would have been this time last year. I have been working on my confidence, and my thoughts going into races in the past couple of months, and that has definitely helped.

I saw a sports psychologist that was available to me through university so I would go for a session every few weeks and it’s been really helpful so far.

My goals this year are to focus on sprinting and see what happens. The BUCS is my main target but I'm hoping to do well at the National Sprinters League too over the next few months. 

Before, I had been doing endurance races, but now I’m going to stick to sprint events. I will probably race on the road, but not as much as last year.

My season so far has been pretty quiet compared to last year because I've only been doing sprint events and I also had a hip injury. It was actually quite good to have a break from racing and focus on the rehabilitation stuff, but I'm back to full training now, which is good.

Things are quite busy these days because I juggle my cycle racing and training with coaching, as well as studying for a PhD in wearable technology in rowing. 

Living in West London means it takes a while to travel across London with my track bike to get to the Lee Valley Velopark in Stratford, but I am very motivated.

My most memorable day on a bike was probably last July when I won my first crit last year at a Full Gas summer series crit on the road circuit at Lee Valley. 

I had been racing for over a year and the closest I had come to winning was getting second place in a crit. The previous month I did a race at Cyclopark, Gravesend, and had been about to win it, but then I crashed and ended up in a ditch. So winning the Full Gas crit was a great feeling. 

When cycling, I never go out without Jelly Babies. I really like them. I think they’re not too sugary - or at least they don’t taste too sugary - so they are quite easy to like, and being quite soft they are easy to eat.

I think the British Cycling #OneInAMillion campaign is a good way of trying to increase the numbers of women doing cycling because it’s a great confidence booster and also a way to keep fit, and explore cycling. I definitely see the benefits of the campaign. If more people can experience cycling then it’s great.

Yewande (second row, right) with some women of colour who cycle

I think the Women of Colour cycling group set up by Jools Walker and Jenni Gwiadowski has been quite encouraging so far, too. At the first meet-up I’d never seen so many women of colour before, so it was nice to know that they existed. 

I think it sends out a really good message that there are other women of colour in the sport, and women of colour should not be afraid of getting into cycling because it shows that we exist. The group creates a positive environment for people to grow in the sport.

I have hardly seen other women like me doing cycle racing, and often I am the only woman of colour at a race. It was similar with rowing too. I used to feel uncomfortable about it, but I don't think about it so much now. Hopefully there will be more women of colour racing.



Getting to model for SRAM and Rapha was a real shock, but a pleasant one - especially with SRAM as I didn't expect to be featured. It was great to be involved with both campaigns and work with talented and enthusiastic people, and most importantly be a part of creating more representation in the bike industry - there have been lots of positive responses. 

Modelling for Rapha (Photo by Rapha)

It's hard to feel a part of a sport when you don't see people that look like you on a start line, in social media or in advertising, so to work with brands that are working to change this was such a great opportunity.

I would encourage more women to get into cycling because it’s great for boosting your confidence, learning a new skill, meeting different people, and getting to explore different places that you might not have gone to otherwise. And you get to eat lots of cake!

Instagram
@yewie_a

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One day one photo - 21

Tuesday 30th September

This is the view that I am treated to now when I go to my Tuesday Wattbike sessions at the Manchester Velodrome. This hallowed establishment, the City of Manchester Stadium (aka the Etihad) along with the velodrome both sit within a part of Manchester known as Sportcity. As well as these being homes for cycling and for football (a view that won't be shared by United fans) this area also hosts various other sports such as a national squash centre and the regional centre for tennis and gymnastics.


This area was borne out of the constructions for the 2002 Commonwealth Games that were held in Manchester - a fine example of a sporting legacy. It's great to come here, but I got caught out when trying to get to my turbo session. In Manchester town centre instead of taking the 231 to Droylesden, I had to take the Etihad Stadium bus. The passengers were all males of a certain age, (Don't Man City have any younger fans?), and annoyingly for me the service only went as far as the football stadium, so I had to walk an extra 10 minutes to reach the Velodrome, making me even later for my session. Needless to say the traffic through Manchester was chaotic, the bus was packed, and once I got off the bus I had to run the gauntlet of a mixture of pie/hot-dog sellers and mounted police.

I'm sure there were others like me who wanted to get to their own respective training sessions at Sportcity, but a football match had to take precendent over everything and we had to endure all that is imposed on us by "the beautiful game". I believe Manchester City were playing against Roma as part of the Champions League. I've no idea who won, and since all I was thinking of was giving those Wattbike pedals a blast, I didn't care!

One day one photo - 2

Thursday 11th September

Some of you may recognise this as the Wattbike zone at the Manchester Velodrome. You are absolutely right! This is one of my regular hangouts when it comes to cycle training. Funnily enough I have yet to actually ride on the hallowed boards below - that should happen in the not distant future though. But for now this is where I will go weekly as it becomes a bit cold and dark to ride on the roads, and it's a little bit boring to do turbo training on your own at home. I was at the session on Tuesday with my club, Manchester Wheelers. It was quite fun, having a coach doling out the intervals we had to do, all to the sound of kitsch 80s music. Unfortunately, I didn't get the full benefit of the experience as I had caught a later train from Macclesfield, so got there a bit late. I then had to leave early to get back to Manchester Piccadilly to get my train home again. Still, 40 minutes was as much as I could cope with for my first outing since March. Hopefully these sessions will improve my fitness, especially for the new cyclocross season - and the music will be a bit more trendy!