World Cyclo-Cross Championships: Treviso - Italy
Friday 25 January 2008 - Training Day 2
Report & Images: Joolze Dymond
And so the preparations roll on with lots to be considered, bikes to fettle, tubs to glue, timetables to be agreed, numbers to be picked up, meetings to be attended...... A day in the life of a rider leading up to a Championship race is pretty full on and today was no exception.
Paul Oldham, left, and Rob Jebb sample the course.....
...whilst Helen Wyman (centre) runs into the media circus mid-course
Plans involved taking the juniors out for a spin, whilst the under 23's, seniors and women, either rode out to the course or did a session on the turbo. With Martin Eadon looking after the seniors Paul Oldham and Rob Jebb and women Helen Wyman and Gabby Day, Phil Dixon took to his bike and guided the juniors out in a ride around the lanes surrounding the hotel, taking in a few local villages, sampling true Italian architecture and experiencing true Italian driving! Fortunately soinjuer Helena was on hand at the rear of the group, hazard lights on in the car keeping a carefully eye on the riders, while I picked off a few select shots of the riders in action.
Unfortunately the azure skies of the previous day were replaced by dull menacing clouds, but on the horizon we could see bright sun reflected off the snow capped mountains, with a drop in temperature we hoped that this dullness would burn off and return to the dazzlingly bright and unseasonably warm weather we'd enjoyed the day before. Then it was back to the hotel where the juniors set about informing the mechanics of any tweaks they needed on their number 1 bike.
Out on the road with the Juniors, Phil Dixon and Mark Thwaites
The juniors sample some of that distinctive architecture
Then it was down for lunch and, this being Italy, of course we had pasta, lots of pasta, ideal fuel really, for the efforts to come, for everyone involved, not just the riders. Talk turned to the weather and the prognosis wasn't looking great with a rumour that actual rain had been falling!
Sandy Gilchrist hard at work on one of the bikes
Whilst the juniors had a relatively easy afternoon, it was the turn of the seniors to take a run out on the course, and to our surprise and delight the sun shone through fiercely turning the once dull day into a pleasantly warm one, with the riders now concerned that their kit would be too hot for the conditions. I for one was delighted after a seemingly endless summer and winter of grim weather it made a change to see the sun and enjoy its warmth? however I wasn't competing!
Paul Oldham shows his technical ability (left) whilst Gabby Day enjoys her recce of the course
For Helen Wyman and Gabby Day, it was just another day at the office: the course held no surprises for these two, as they'd not long ago ridden a World Cup on this circuit. Paul Oldham and Rob Jebb took a spin round with Martin Eadon to get used to the run ups: the steepest one, Paul took great delight in riding, a task that only a few of the practising riders could actually manage.
Coach Martin Eadon's Overview
I asked Martin or 'Dud' as the riders call him about his thoughts on the riders and the races to come:
"Paul and Rob like the course, it's probably not ideally suited to a rider like Rob with his running talents but with the number of run ups he'll do okay. He's a good technical rider and improving all the while. Paul is looking good, he's strong and he's looking for something consistent, with his mountain bike skills he's got good bike control so technically this'll be a ride in the park for him.
The girls have both ridden this circuit as a World Cup and they do like it. It's now a case of instilling in them that they can do it, not they need to do it. They're both more than capable of achieving good rides here, they just need to be assured all the while and have people behind them to give them that confidence. Sometimes in a team environment that's not always present. If you have a rider who is bordering between confident and non-confident, they will tend to drop towards the negative, so my job is to deliver them all the positives at the moment.
I've known Helen for a lot of years now, I've worked with her a bit and she's obviously got faith and confidence in her abilities and now it's just a case of agreeing with her and backing her with what she believes she can do.
I think we'll have a good weekend; the riders will definitely do the best they can. It would be unfair to say that we aren't going to have superb performances all across the board but I'm sure there will be some isolated incidents of brilliance and everybody else is just going to do the best they can."
Clockwise from top left: Paul Oldham, Rob Jebb, Alex Paton, Geoff Shergold
Then it was all back to the hotel once more for a shower and a rest before another bout of meetings and refuelling before finally turning in for the night.
Team Manager Simon Burney on the Team's Chances
For the juniors and the Under 23's Saturday is their big day and so far all look calm and collected, true pro's despite most having not experienced this level of competition before. As the day came to a close I caught up with team manager Simon Burney and asked how he thought the GB team were shaping up this year:
"The team's generally in good shape and good spirits so you can't ask for much more really. Although we've brought the juniors over mainly for the experience of performing on an international stage, we do try to balance this out with performance targets: we aim for certain results but know that the experience is invaluable for the riders who are here to do the best ride they can do.
Alex is the only rider who is here that is a little bit under where he was really hoping to be. He's had some injury and illness worries since the nationals so he's not quite where he should be so it's a shame as he's the one who's put the most preparation into the last 2 seasons, but he seems fine and he's happy, I'm sure he'll do good on the day.
Helen Wyman and Rob Jebb out on the course
Helen's looking pretty good at the moment, if she can repeat her performances even from last week's world cup that'd be great, it would be a real achievement for her that she deserves.
It's good to be able to bring a team to this event and have a GB rider in every race and I think all we can hope for is more riders at a level so we can bring more into the arena.
Our aim is to raise the level of our selected riders' performance so that other riders in the UK up their level to compete, so bringing the standards up. We still have to have performance targets to be able to come to a race of this standard, it's not just a case of we get 5 places so we'll take 5 riders, it's not the way it should be. Riders should have to meet a performance criteria to be eligible for a world champs and represent their country.
We have to have a realistic view on the elite men's race, which is a completely different sport to the one that we do in Britain, so all we can realistically expect is that the 2 riders that we bring will benefit from the experience. If one of them then decides one year that this is what they really want to do and moves to Belgium and makes it then its all been worthwhile."
