The Richmond Park of the North-West!

For keen cyclists based in London one of the key focal areas to ride a bicycle is Richmond Park. Go there on any Saturday or Sunday and you will be struck by how many people are riding around. 

The perimeter road of the Park is approximately 7.5 mile in circumference, so it is a convenient distance for any cyclist.
For the novice 7.5 miles could be a challenge, especially when going anti-clockwise and tackling the climbs up to Richmond Gate and from Kingston Gate. Racing cyclists enjoy practicing chain gang training rides over multiple laps of the park and challenge themselves to complete a lap in under 20 minutes (without being caught for breaking the 20mph speeding)!

I used to really enjoy going to Richmond Park, both for cycling and for running (the park is popular with hundreds of runners too!). Being there is like being in the countryside despite being less than 5 miles from Chelsea. It is peaceful, lush and there is even a bit of wildlife in the form of deer which have been there since the time of Henry VIII.

I miss Richmond Park, with its lovely trees, nature reserves and beautiful views over the suburbs of London. But the great news is I have now found the answer to that here in the Northwest - Tatton Park!

Just after the pretty, upmarket town of Knutsford is Knutsford Gate, which leads into a vast area of parkland, that gave me the same feeling of openness and freedom as Richmond Park. There are quite a few similarities between these two Parks. Both parks have listed buildings and stately homes with bijou tearooms. Both have nature reserves and green spaces where you can lose yourself away from the madding crowd. Both of them seem to be under flight paths to major airports!

There a couple of small differences. Richmond Park has a few hills, and Tatton Parks has a couple of long lakes (or meres). However, there is no doubt that on any Saturday or Sunday both parks become awash with walkers, runners, horseriders, people fishing and cyclists doing laps.

So that's where I was last Sunday with a group of cyclists from Manchester Wheelers. This club, which is quite active in the North-West had organised a women's training ride in the park. Although it was the first time I was meeting the other riders everyone was very welcoming and I felt quite at home with them within a short time of starting the ride. One lap of the park measured five miles and was largely flat, with a section of the lap going outside of the park boundary.

Around 15 of us turned out for the ride and we split into ability groups. Acouple of guys were there to give tips and advice on "through and off" and "holding the wheel". It was all useful stuff, especially as I was a little rusty on all of this given my lack of road racing activity last year.

Riding around felt like the good old days - enjoying a training ride, seeing other local cyclists and saying hello and returning home feeling motivated and invigorated to do more.

So, I think I will be back in Tatton Park before long. I get the feeling that this could become one of my local hangouts over the coming months.

Crossed out!

The cyclo cross season is now over. Phew!

While I expect and I don't even mind a bit of mud in my running and cycle races I must admit that this year's mud was getting a little bit too challenging. With the rainfall of biblical proportions that we have been having it is just as well that the season has come to an end. I don't know if my bike could have taken any more!

It's a shame I didn't manage to end the season on a high. My last race took place last Sunday at Haywards Heath, Sussex. It was the team championships.

In recent years I have not been able to do this race as I was either on a birthday weekend away, or not even in living in the country, as was the case last year.

So I felt good about supporting the race, which was organised by local 'cross stalwart and all-round good guy Dougie Fox.

I didn't even have a team since my club, Dulwich Paragon had not managed to get anyone together. But Dougie put me in a composite outfit with some guys who I had not actually met before. In fact I didn't even meet them on the day. (Sorry guys.) I must also apologise to them as I did not finish the race. My competition ended within a few minutes of the start whistle going. I hope they had not been counting on me as one of their top 3 finishers.

Due to me stupidly forgetting all my credit cards up in Macclesfield that weekend I wasn't able to pick up the hire car I had reserved for my weekend in London, so I had to travel to the race by train. That was quite straightforward so I didn't mind too much, especially as it was sunny, if a little cold and windy.

Unfortunately my gears on my bike were not changing very well and things were clunking and jamming a bit too much. The last time that happened my bike got chain-suck and my race was over. Not being big on mechanicking I couldn't do anything about it at that moment, so hoped for the best. But these were all pipe dreams really. No sooner had the herd of bikers rounded the first corner than we were in 6 inches of clag! My bike was not liking it, neither were my feet!

I could hardly pedal, and I was worried that something was going to go. So I made an executive decision to quit before something broke completely and then I would have no way of getting back home!

It was a shame, as it looked a good race and it would have been good to catch up with folks I knew, including Paul who was down all the way from Finchley, and Luke the editor I write for at Cycling Active. Hopefully I'll see them soon.

The cyclo cross season seems to be starting earlier and earlier each year since they have started a summer cyclo cross league, so it'll only be a couple oif months before we are back cyclo cross racing again! Some might call it sacriledge!

I turned on my heel, trudged up through the trail back to the race HQ and then made my way home, braving the mini floods on the Sussex lanes.

Anyway, here are some photos (taken by the lovely Higg) to remind me of some of the good times I had over the cyclo cross season. Overall this was a fun season.

My races were in various places, so I didn't really get involved in any league battles. Some of my races were done on a mountain bike, which made it very tough going at the Yorkshire cross round in Beverley, and the Rapha Supercross round in Manchester. But it was just nice to be back doing a cyclo cross race after a couple of years' absence.

My favourite race of the season was the Northwest league round at Heaton Park, Manchester - simply because it was the first 'cross race I did on my return. The riders and the spectators were friendly, the weather was sunny and the course was kind to me!

Then things became more challenging, with my muddiest races being at the London League round in Penshurst, and the East Midlands round at the Bakewell Agricultural Showground.

My toughest race was easily the Nationals. It was pretty muddy too, but with just so many off-camber sections I spent a lot of the time off my bike! It was all good fun, though and I really appreciated the encouragement from the spectators, even if I couldn't show it during those embattled moments!

Funnily enough, my cycling club didn't award a women's cyclo cross trophy this year. They probably thought it wasn't worth it because none of the girls had raced.

And they're off! London Rapha Supercross

Ah well, I know what I did and I am happy with the way my season went, considering I had been out of cyclo cross for a couple of seasons. I look forward to next season.

The mud at Bakewell

Macc Supercross

Tackling the Philipsberg, Manchester Rapha Supercross

Whoops - loving the Bakewell sand



Enjoying the London Rapha Super Cross

                                                 



That hill in South Park, Macclesfield!

Toughing it out at the Nationals

And the band played on!



My moment of the week - 2

A few good women!

I recently did an email interview with Helen Wyman for Sportsister online magazine ahead of the World Cyclo cross Championships. I got a real sense from her answers that she was really looking forward to racing in Hoogerheide (the Netherlands) and she was raring to go. So it was really great news to learn that she got a bronze medal at the championships.

A lot of noise had been made about the likes of Marianne Vos, Nikki Harris and Katie Compton, so it was always going to be a little tight gauging who would complete the podium. In the end Vos rode to a seventh championship victory, followed by Eva Lechner of Italy, and Helen finished ahead of Nikki Harris and Katie Compton for third place.

That's Helen's first ever podium finish in a World Championship race. I am so pleased for her. I have alot of admiration for sportstars like Helen who plug away year in, year out, often without much recognition in the media, but stay highly motivated nonetheless. That gives us all hope that we too can live the dream if we perservere.

So once again Marianne Vos is World Cyclo cross Champion - as well as being World Road Race Champion, World Track Cycling Champion and London 2012 Olympic Road Race Champion. This woman is unstoppable!

I must admit that the day we all crowded round the big screen on that rainy August afternoon at Box Hill cheering for Lizzie Armitstead to get a gold medal for team GB, I secretly didn't mind that she was beaten to the line by this superwoman from the Netherlands.

We have seen her really turn herself inside out to win races across various cycling disciplines and an Olympic road race title was missing from her palmares. So I didn't feel too bad about Armitstead being pipped by a woman who was making history. Marianne Vos is a massive inspiration for women's cycling and I look forward to seeing her do even greater things.

Saying that, she may now get the chance to shine now that it has been announced that there will be a UCI women's race in Paris on the final day of the Tour de France. Following tireless work by the Le Tour Entier (LTE) campaign which involved the likes of Kathryn Bertine, Chrissie Wellington, Emma Pooley, and Vos herself,  to have a parallel women's Tour de France, Amaury Sports Organisation has given the go-ahead for a women's one-day race.

 

The race will take place on the last day of the Tour, right on the Champs Elysees, where the all eyes of the world will be focused. There's no better platform to showcase women's cycle racing!

I think that's probably the best we could hope for at this stage. A 3-week long race around France, along with all the associated logistics is not something that can be done overnight. There would also be important questions over how this would fit into a the women's road racing calendar, given the various other racing commitments that women have at that time of the year.
Having said that, it would be great to see the return to the calendar of short stage races like the Grande Boucle Feminine and the Tour de L'Aude, as well as a women's Tour of Italy that is not beset with sponsorship issues.

For now, a women's cycle race in association with the world's most famous cycling event, held in Paris is a step in the right direction, and that is cause for celebration.
I really appreciate the work done by these women to raise the profile of our sport. I hope this can lead to more positive things for women's cycling, and women's sport in general.

Two-penneth worth - 2

The Cyclepassion calendar

A recent issue of Cycling Weekly had a debate article relating to the Cyclepassion calendar. This followed on from a number of complaints from readers after this most esteemed cycling journal published an advertisement for the calendar which displays photos of female racing cyclists posing with their bikes.

More specifically they are made up, with their hair beautifully coiffeured, dressed in a very comely fashion, often in leather and heels, revealing more flesh than they would do when out on their bikes, and showing off a sensual pout.
These "glamour" photos are featured alongside a corresponding photo of the athlete in racing action on her bike.

Readers have been outraged that Cycling Weekly would publish this "chauvinistic rubbish". One reader thought he had "gone back in time by about 40 years", while others dismissed the calendar as porn and demeaning to women.

Although I have never bought the calendar and have no plans to buy it, I must say I quite like the idea behind it. I think the photography looks good and I like the way that they portray the femininity of each of the riders. It is always nice to see another side to these hardcore athletes, though I must admit that some of the photos lack taste.

Even though some of the photos look a little bit clichéd is that a reason for people to be outraged by it? Could it not be seen as just another form of artistic expression that can be appreciated or not, depending on one's personal tastes? I am not that keen on Modigliani but it doesn't make me send flames over the internet when I see one!

The models for the Cyclepassion calendar are not forced into doing it. Posing for a calendar is one of several ways of raising your personal profile in this day and age where people can achieve "celebrity status" through a variety of routes.

The women featured in the calendar are elite athletes who are well-known in their own right - people like road racers Hanka Kupfernagel and Liz Hatch, mountain biker Gunn-Rita Dahle-Flesja, and cyclo cross racer Nikki Harris have featured on the calendar. They could have put a cyclosportive to their name, they could have launched a range of bikes or clothing, written a column in a publication or appeared on a celebrity dance or reality show! But hey, they've chosen to be a model, and who am I to lambast them for it?

Whether we love it or loathe it, this is called freedom of choice. If the footage that shows the making of the calendar is anything to go by the women appear to be really enjoying the experience. In fact, they see themselves as very lucky to have the opportunity since, according to Anke Wilken the originator the calendar in 2006, there are so many more athletes applying to be featured in the calendar than the 12 places available. It is quite a dilemma for her selecting the chosen few!

For me, some there are stylish photos and there are some less stylish photos in the calendars. But it is still a long way off pornography, so I have no problem with it.

Drawing a parallel with Cyclepassion's older, more exclusive, classier counterpart, the Pirelli Calendar, this has gradually become a well respected publication after the initial protestations when it was first launched in 1964. With only limited copies of the calendar available to a carefully selected clientele, the recipient of this calendar from the Italian tyre company is bound to feel like very privileged! In fact, the photographers and the models involved in its production see it as a prestigious moment of their careers. Kate Moss, who has appeared in the Cal on a number of occasions described modelling for it as "the best job ever," while Clive Arrowsmith who was commissioned to shoot the 1991 and 1992 editions described it as being "like a knighthood of photography." The Pirelli Calendar prides itself on taste and has moved with the times by shooting the models with their clothes on. Indeed the current calendar, which celebrates its 50th anniversary contains previously unseen photos taken by the late Helmut Newton in 1985. All of the models are fully clothed and look as lovely as ever.

When Annie Leibovitz shot the photos for the 2000 edition of the calendar she saw it as an opportunity to look at women in a way that has integrity to it, and in a very classy way.

I have no problem with that, and I think that's what the Cyclepassion calendar is trying to do. And who knows, it might still be going in 50 years' time!

Lunchtime jaunt - 1

Bollington - Blaze Hill - Macclesfield

One of the advantages of working in the new place, up in Macclesfield, is being able to ride my bike at lunchtime.

It is something that I have been able to do in the past - for instance, the times when I was home based  in London I could easily find quick routes around South London. When I worked in Central London it was even possible to do reps around St James's Park or Hyde Park, while trying not to frighten the tourists crossing the road!

Sadly, when I was in Milan this was a definite no, no. First of all there were no changing/shower facilities after finishing my ride. Secondly, places to ride were quite limited. There was only really a stretch of canal path on the Naviglio Grande. Thirdly, and most importantly there was no secure bike park so there was no way I'd leave a road bike chained up outside the building. It wouldn't have lasted 30 seconds - and I know through bitter experience! So really, if I went to work in the morning with my road bike, by lunchtime I would have had no bike to use for my lunch-time jaunt!

Moving to Macclesfield, situated right on the edge of the Peak District has been the best antidote to 18 months of being in an urban sprawl of Milan with its lack of green spaces. This area of Cheshire offers the best lunchtime cycling that I have ever had so far.

So I make the most of it. There are lots of country lanes near where I work. Quite a few of them go uphill! There are even some steep roads with cobbles for if I wish to practice for the Tour of Flanders, which I have signed up to ride. I will talk about the different routes over time.

The route I will talk about in this post is the standard jaunt that I take at lunchtimes. Even though it's only around 9-miles long it is a good little work-out, since it involves around 250m of climbing. One of the local hills to where I work is Blaze Hill - a climb that lasts less than 2 miles but gives a height gain of around 170m. There are a couple of 15% gradient sections, especially the early part of the climb, coming out of Bollington. Prior to doing Blaze Hill there is also the leg tester on Grimshaw Lane, which I always find a bit of challenge, especially as I tackle it from a low speed after having taken a sharp right from the main road through Bollington. But it's all good fun.

The descent back towards Macclesfield is lovely and sweeping, with a couple of tight bends but great for maintaining your cornering skills. There is also a short spike known as Tower Hill to stop you getting too complacent about freewheeling!

This is a good quick spin that can be done in a lunch hour without being accused of "skiving away from your desk!" When I get back to the office I feel like I deserve my lunch!
I can certainly feel myself getting stronger these days, so the hills must be good for me. I must just try to remember that whenever I heave and wind my way up Smithy Brow!

The route is here

Two-penneth worth -1

A new type of post on my blog for this year is the "opinion" post. I have done a few such posts in the past, such as the podium girls post and the post on cyclist accidents and fatalities, but from now on I will put them under this series known as "two-penneth worth". (Or two cents' worth for my transatlantic and antipodean readers!)
The posts will be on any subject, including themes outside of cycling - like this post. So here goes with my first opinion post of the year. Looking forward to doing more.

Politician has extra-marital affair - et alors?

I'm not surprised to hear about what is happening in François Hollande's personal life at the moment. This is really not such an unusual thing among French politicians. In fact it is practically de rigueur that French politicians spread some of their wild oats outside of the marital home!

Former president François Mitterand had a love child with a woman that wasn't his wife. In fact in the 80s when the then UK Transport Minister, Cecil Parkinson resigned from his job over an extra-marital affair it was the same French President who famously said "if everyone in my cabinet resigned each time they had an affair there'd be no body left apart from my transport minister, who is a woman." Well, that woman was Edith Cresson, and Monsieur Mitterand was in the sack with her!

In France, playing away is not confined to politicians either. One of the most well respected journalists during the time I lived there in the 90s, Patrick Poivre d'Arvour, vehemently denied there was anything between himself and fellow newsreader Claire Chazal - until the day the media was suddenly presented with their 10-year-old love child!

I too recall a few occasions where I was propositioned by guys who were married. I never partook in any of those games though!

As far as I can see, the most noteworthy news about President Hollande's affair is the fact that he's been caught with his pants down, as well as the fact that he was spotted looking very unstylish on his 3-wheeler scooter travelling to one of his trysts - he could have at least gone there in a chauffeur driven car, like Jacques Chirac used to do!

While the French population has given a gallic "tut tut" to Hollande's ungentlemanly behaviour towards his partner, Valérie Trierweiler, the chattering classes have not been endeared by the reaction of the twice-married Paris Match journalist. This first lady had never been taken into the hearts of the people of France in the first place, since she ousted Ségolène Royal from the President's side. French women have an unwritten rule to not make themselves look like the victims of their partner's or husband's infidelity. By landing herself in hospital after an apparent overdose and depression Valérie Trierweiler has solicited many disapproving looks.

But out of all of this, my question is why should the British media impose its own values on the French president? Why are they talking of him resigning? Surely this is a private matter for Monsieur Hollande? Surely at the limit it is a matter for the French electorate? Folks are clearly annoyed over what the Co-Prince of Andorra has done, but none of the vox pops you see on TV have your average homme dans la rue calling for his resignation.

I am not saying that I am in favour of infidelity or even that it should not be condemned. I just don't see why it should be used as a yardstick for measuring the success or future of a man's political career. I can't see why the private life of any politician should take centre stage in world politics.

It is tempting to think that part of the reason for the media frenzy on this side of the Channel is fuelled by a jealousy that politicians here would not be able to do the same thing and get off scot free! Many UK politicians must be looking across whimsically at their counterparts in the Elysées Palace and the Assemblée Nationale, who have all kinds of mistresses and love nests under the eyes of the Parisian elite classes while still tucked away from the glare of the media (usually). Now that François Hollande has been "outed" by Closer magazine, the British media are making a real field day of it and calling it "payback time".

Who knows, a time may come when a British politician can have an extra-marital affair, even a love child, and still keep his job. Actually, that day may have already come - just ask Mayor of London, Boris Johnson! Sacré Bleu!

My Moment of the Week - 1

National Cyclo Cross Championships

Since returning to the UK I have slowly been getting back into competitive cycling. I haven't been particularly prolific about it. I just wanted to do a few races that would be fun and without worrying too much about my result.

The cycling that matches these criteria is cyclo cross! It's always fun - even when the course turns into a mudbath! These were the conditions we were faced with over the weekend at the National Cyclo Cross Championships in Derby.

My race, the female vets, was the first one of the day. Already that was tough enough. At some moments it was like riding through treacle and you had to really push hard to turn the pedals and get the bike moving - and that was just on the flat sections! As well as that there were lots of adverse cambers to ride down and around. Well, they were too slippery for me to ride so I ended up running those sections. I also had to run up the steep banks and through the sandpit. I didn't feel confident that I could ride through the sand, and I didn't want to risk falling and getting a horrible mixture of sand and mud into my chain!

Given the conditions I would have done well to have had an extra bicycle in the pits. I was at a distinct disadvantage to my fellow competitors, most of whom had two bikes and a pit crew. I didn't have the best race. I finished in last position out of 29 women. But hey, I am glad I went and I had a good day. Even though our race was first thing in the morning there was alot of crowd support and lots of folks cheered me on.

As well as this race being memorable for being the first national championships I have ever done, there were other stand-out moments.

Firstly, I only went to these national championships because it was the first time ever that they were holding a separate women vets race. Normally all women race as one big group with the elite/international riders mixed in with vets.

For someone of my ability it would be pointless doing this race as I would be lapped within 15 minutes by the likes of Helen Wyman and that would be my race over. But this year British Cycling agreed to put on a separate "older woman's" race, mirroring what happens with the men. They also said that if they had at least 20 women enter the race this year then they would stage it again next year. I wanted to support the initiative so I entered the race.

In the end we had 30 women sign up for the race, which is great news. I may have come last, but I don't mind that too much as I know I didn't have a great race and I can certainly improve on my performance. And now I know that there will be a women vets race next year so I have something to aim for, and I can get involved in a race that was as exciting as that between the two frontrunners!

The other noteworthy aspect of this event for me was that I spent the rest of the time interviewing the winners of the different races for Cycling Weekly magazine.

I always find interviewing fun, and it's also a great to learn about the different riders. I had been a little anxious about doing the first few interviews because I was going to have to interview the winners of my race immediately after racing myself - barely after getting my breath back, covered in mud and in the cold.

In fact, I was more preoccupied with my strategy for doing a coherent interview while staying warm and looking presentable than I was about my racing!

Things worked out ok in the end and I managed to interview everyone. I particularly enjoyed meeting young Megan James, sister of World Track Cycling Champion Becky James.

I was also very honoured to interview Nick Craig. He won the male vets race on the Saturday and went on to race the elite race the following day, taking 3rd place in a stella field. Impressive bloke, and very pleasant too. So, all in all it wasn't a bad weekend for me. Photos by Aodan Higgins