World Cyclo Cross Championships (Holland)

 

27th January, 2006; British Cycling's Larry Hickmott reports

 

Above: Left to right, Phil Dixon, David Fletcher, Tom Last, Stephen Adams, Jon McEvoy and Ian Field outside the team hotel ready for a short run to turn the legs over.

 

Thursday's Training

Snow, ice, and a cold, cold wind. That's what the British riders have faced on their first day of official training for the World Cyclo Cross Championships in Holland. It was what we had expected in the days leading up to us leaving for Holland but quite a change to what we actually saw the night before when we arrived in Amsterdam with mild temperatures and the only stuff falling out of the sky being light rain

On the world title course for GB today were the Junior riders, David Fletcher, Stephen Adams, Tom Last and Jon McEvoy plus Under 23 rider Ian Field. It was a training session that seems to have gone well if the enthusiasm on their faces as they left the circuit for the hotel were anything to go by.

Going Dutch
The 2006 World Championship experience for the Juniors and Ian Field started on the Wednesday when they assembled at the Nottingham airport along with Simon Burney, Junior coach Phil Dixon and myself. A short flight to Amsterdam and we were all met by team soigneur John Evans who transported the riders to the Ruimzicht hotel in Zeddam whilst the rest of us went by hire car.

The hotel, which is ideally situated only a few minutes walk from the course, will be the home for the riders for the next four days and is quite different to your normal Travelodge/Ibis/Holiday Inn style hotel. This one has a very rural flavour about it right down to the original 1970 style telephones and is thankfully warm and clean inside which was comforting knowing what weather was being predicted outside.

Already at the hotel as we arrived were the mechanics Craig Denning, Peter Hargroves and Geoff Shergold as well as British Cycling's Brian Furness.

No sooner had the bags been unpacked, that the riders were sitting down to dinner before being sent off to bed whilst the staff went through the drill for the following day. Having been with GB at a number of World Championships, the staff in Zeddam may be different to those I have travelled with before but the tried and tested routine of planning ahead for the next days events was the same.

Plans being put in place for example for the riders to look at the course, rides for them to become familiar with the area and more time for them to talk to the mechanics to make sure the bikes were how they wanted them. A discussion also on ensuring everything was in order (like a list of who was in what room) in case the UCI 'vampires' showed up to take blood for anti-doping tests. Times too set for breakfast and dinner based around the activities of the day and the chores set for people like John Evans to do - which was finding a supermarket in this small village.

 

Training Day 1
All these plans kicked off the next day at 8.30am with the riders coming down to join the staff for breakfast to be followed by a team meeting. Whilst that was going on, I accompanied Brian Furness for the short van ride to the UCI Accreditation centre where we picked up the required passes to gain access to the circuit.

Later, after arriving back, I joined the riders in the downstairs back room the mechanics had sorted out for a work shop. There, the riders and mechanics sorted the bikes out for a short ride that morning to give them the opportunity to turn their legs over and escape the hotel room. It was around this time that the predicated snow started to fall and a little sliding on the ice in the car park was enough for the riders to know how careful they would have to be.

 

Right: One of many bridges around the course -- knicked named 'cheese graters' by the riders.

Taking care was something that Junior coach Phil Dixon was also keen to point out as they set off and thankfully less than a hour later, the riders returned ready to change and have lunch. That done, they got back into fresh kit for the ride to the course less than a mile down the road and once there, started the training session straight away on a course very different to any I have seen back home.

Whilst the riders rode the course, I followed manager Simon Burney by walking around it, catching glimpses of the riders from time to time as they came past. After the training had finished and the riders were getting ready to go back to the hotel, I asked Ian Field about what he felt the key points were for the course. "The first half is riding around a flat field with a lot of twists and turns and no long draggy sections where you can't get your effort out. Just short, sharp efforts out of corners."

 

 

Above: Simon Burney after walking the course, checks the tyre pressures for the riders.

 

Ian then described the second half as being the one where the race would open up. "There is steep technical descent followed almost immediately by the long run up the steps and then the road drag to the top at the windmill. That's where it's going to really tell. After the steps, you're going to already be out of breathe and then you have to push hard up to the windmill - that's going to be the tough section."

 

Right: The GB riders take in the tricky descent. Coach Phil Dixon would let them ride specific sections a number of times to ensure the riders were comfortable with key areas of the course.

The descent that Ian referred to was being saw dusted and hay bales put in place as the riders tested it and was the type of descent that reminded me of what you would find in a mountain bike race. "It is more of a mountain bike descent than a normal 'cross' one" Ian said, adding "but they tend to have these more technical descents abroad and I like it because I'm a mountain biker."

I then asked the Junior coach here in Zeddam, Phil Dixon, what he's been doing around the course with the GB riders? "We have done quite a bit on the circuit so far" he replied. "It's a course of two halves - the first half which is all corners and there is only one speed you can get around those corners and then you have the long finish straight. This is followed by the second half of the course such as the steep descent leading to the steps. Then you have a long drag after the steps to the windmill and another drag after the windmill which is not as steep as the one after the steps but it will be the telling one."

 

Above: The steep and slippery descent on the course has has saw dust sprinkled on it.

Talking about the pace of the ride, Phil said "We started on 39x25 then we moved to 23's then 19's and now we're on the big ring. They've all been off (crashed) at some point but then they've seen the top boys do that as well and its to be expected in the ice. I think in the race, there will be juniors spread out all over the place and if they can use their heads, recover where they can and then put the efforts in on the parts of the course where you can do that, they can come away with some good results here."

After we spoke, Phil and the team went out on different wheels to test those on the slippery course and give the riders a chance to find a treat pattern that they felt confident with before doing a quick lap on their own to see what the course feels at race speeds.

As they changed wheels, riders were reminded to note what the tyre pressure was and which pump they got the reading from. It's the little things like this attention to detail, which you can see by being here and an indication of just how seriously the team take such events, which for the riders will be surely be the biggest events of their lives so far.

We'll have more on the team tomorrow as more riders fly in and get ready for the competition which starts on Saturday.

 

Above: One of the real testing bits of the course -- the steps which lead to the start of a long drag. There are two sets of stairs (the second set below) and this is the most testing of the two.

 

 

 

Above: Craig Denning takes a look at Stephen Adam's bike which was dropping its chain. Helping Craig out was Peter Hargroves and Geoff Shergold.