Scottish Highlander Getting Up to Speed for Manchester
Interview: Craig MacLean
January 2007
Craig MacLean with 500lbs plus on the bar, grimaces as he works through this routine during another day at the 'office'.
One of the longest serving and most popular riders with spectators in the Great Britain Cycling Team is sprinter Craig MacLean. The Silver medallist in the Sprint and Team Sprint at last year's World Championships in France is busy preparing for the Manchester UCI World Track Cup and the UCI World Track Championships that follow. BritishCycling.org.uk caught up with him in the gym recently and in between watching him lift hundreds of kilos, spoke about his upcoming challenges on the boards.
2006 - A Break Through Year in the Sprint
We began our chat by talking about last year, which saw him back to form following a career dip post Olympics and a nondescript year in 2005. Craig admits that he had a satisfying World Championships in 2006 and that his racing in Japan that followed also went well for him. 
"It was a bit of surprise to get a ride in the Team Sprint at the Worlds to be honest. I felt a bit of a fraud just stepping up in the final and taking the medal but individually, I certainly earnt it in the Sprint."
Asked if doing well in individual events took on a new importance because of the strong competition (now seven riders) for places in the Team Sprint, Craig replied "A little bit. I think looking ahead to the 2008 Olympics where we're going to be limited with the number of riders we can actually take, I think if you can double up and have medal potential in an individual event, then I'd hope it would stand you in good stead."
Right: Silver in the Men's Sprint at the 2006 Worlds, a career highlight for Craig.
"It all depends on how the Team Sprint is going though. If we have a good chance of winning it, they (the selectors) may say forget the individual events so I have to be prepared for that as well."
Asked how he feels having to fight for his position as man 1 in the Team Sprint (with Jamie Staff), Craig says "I don't think I have ever been uncomfortable with it. It certainly brings the best out in us all and it makes it difficult for the selectors when we are so close together. There is also the fact that one day it could be me and another it could be Jamie because no two days are the same."
Craig explained that he feels the key to his success last year was consistency. "I was fairly injury and virus free which enabled me to train consistently and I had a few good performances at World Cups with no enforced breaks which makes a difference because quite often the guy that wins is the one who has had the least injuries."
Japan
Last year was also a success for him in Japan where he did the Keirin circuit. Talking about that time of the season, he says "It's a bit stressful in that you don't want to crash (Craig has come away from there before with a broken collarbone) but also there is a bit of money at stake so you want to do well too. It takes a few races to get into it but last time it went pretty good for me."
"I'm also looking forward to going back this year when it will be a bit longer, 10 weeks plus, so there are more races this time. It does break up the monotony of training in Britain in the summer but then you do tend to miss all the good weather here as it's the rainy season out there!"
'30' Somethings
Asked if getting older and being in his 30s now has had a positive or negative effect on his sprinting, Craig replies "I think there are only positives really. I am stronger in the gym than I have ever been and faster than I ever have. The only negative that I can think of is that I have limited years ahead of me but that is also a driving factor in wanting to make what time you do have left in the sport, the best you can possibly make it."
"As long as I am still going faster and getting results, I'll carry going on and am not ruling out London 2012! Sure, we (Chris Hoy, Jason Queally and Craig) have had it to ourselves for a long time but it's also true that the young guys coming through do motivate you."
Life Style Pressures
Being a professional cyclist spending long periods away can take its toll on their personal lives and it's one of those things that can have a negative impact on a cyclists form despite their commitment to the training and racing.
Craig, like many in the team, has had his fair share of ups and downs and says "that is probably the hardest thing about the sport in that there is no consistency especially for relationships and your training when travelling. It does put a big strain on you definitely and for me, has caused relationships to break down in the past but touch wood it won't this time. It is never easy though".
"Especially with the Olympics coming up and you get more and more focused and you get more cautious about getting your rest. You don't want to be chasing about catching up with friends and the rest of it which is the sort of stuff you'd do if you weren't a cyclist and you have a 9 to 5 job. Where as in this job you may only train from 10 to 5, you can never leave it there. Also on your mind is ensuring you get your recovery time and you're thinking about the next training session and what impact if I go to the shops, what that will have on my training the next day and the day after."
"So it is certainly quite stressful from that point of view, especially for your partners. You have to a very understanding girlfriend to let you focus on your goals because I have to do what I do and not leave this world not knowing."
"You can let your hair down but you can't do it very often. I had a couple of drinks at New Year and before that in July, and one down side to getting older is if you do have a drink, it takes longer to recover!"
"This is what I have done full time for the last 12 years and is all I have known and part of the reason for the drive in going on is because I don't know anything else. I just want to keep on going whilst I am getting the results."
Its all very different now to when he started with GB development programmes in place for riders not long into their teens. On this, Craig says "I wasn't even cycling at the age these boys are now. I didn't really start until I was 21 or 22 so I can't imagine what it must be like for them so young to be in this environment. I think you have to have a strong personality to know you want to do this at that age. I didn't!"
Flat out in the gym. The work load takes its toll as Craig tries to recover from another set lifting weights.
Manchester World Track Cup
The next goal for Craig is the Manchester UCI World Track Cup starting on the 23rd of February. Asked what his programme is likely to be, he says "I wouldn't rule out me doing the Keirin as an individual event on the Friday and then hopefully the Japanese Keirin as well on the Sunday. Ideally, I'll be sitting out the sprint (Craig won this in Sydney)."
"For the Keirin, its more about getting up there and getting a feel for it as I haven't done it since Japan last year. I don't want to bust a gut doing it though because I want to be fresh for the Team Sprint on Sunday because the selectors are always watching."
With the GB team, winner of every round of the World Cup for the Team Sprint continuing to look at different formations and test riders with an eye on coming up with the best set of riders for the World Track Championships in March, Craig will no doubt be riding the Team Sprint in one British line-up or another at Manchester.
The day we watched Craig's preparation was certainly a long one: three or more hours in the gym followed by another three hours on the track. His gym session included some full squats (three sets, 10 reps) with 160 kilos (352lbs) and then 170 kilos (374lbs) on the bar followed by some half squats with 230kg (506lbs) on the bar, exercises which form part of his core training. There are also more specialist routines he does to work on weaknesses and so on. Even at home, he has a special rig set up to practice starts.
"This gym work will taper down this week and the bike work will take more of a priority. I'll start backing off in the gym, not so much for Manchester but more looking towards the Worlds where I'll be looking to be out of the gym four weeks prior to it."
Craig then says that as far as timing goes, Manchester is perfect especially as he doesn't have to travel to it either. "For us, it's perfect in giving us a little test so we can see how much work we have to do before the World Championships."
Having a home crowd at the Manchester World Track Cup will also help he adds. "The Revolution series has become quite special, especially the last one where I was the only British sprinter and quite touched by the support the crowd gave me."
World Track Championships
A stepping stone for the Olympics, it's always special to do well and last year, Craig came away with two medals, Team Sprint and Sprint. For the 2007 Worlds, he says "I'm hoping to make the team in Man 1 for the Team Sprint and also do the Sprint event too. I'm also not ruling out going for other positions in the Team Sprint either. If I am capable of doing 10.0 for the 200 metres, then I'm going to be a good bet for Man 2 as well especially as I can start as quick as the next guy."
Right: No stone is left unturned as Craig looks to improve on everything that can be improved to keep his place in the team.
Talking about his rivals on the track, one name stands out, Dutchman Theo Bos: "He is still the man to beat and there are a lot of guys I haven't raced like Bauge or Nimke and I know I'm going to come up against them some time and so we'll see what happens."
"I think everybody is beatable and I am bit torn as usual between Team Sprint and individual events. I think Team Sprint has got to take priority so most of my training is for a first lap effort in that event and then hopefully I'll ride a decent sprint off the back of that."
"The main problem with the Sprint competition is its run over two days and you have to back up and do 10 or 11 rides and that is where the cross over between Team Sprint and Sprint isn't so good. It's about finding the endurance as well as the speed because generally you meet faster riders as the competition progresses. In other words, you have to do your best rides when you are most fatigued".
"I probably do more road work now than I did purely for the Match Sprint event to help my endurance and ability to back up the rides round after round. That is probably the only change. In terms of the track training, it's not a whole lot different with starts and so on."
With the Kilometre having been so controversially axed by the UCI/IOC for the next Olympics, the riders vying for spots in the Team Sprint have two individual events they can target, Sprint and Keirin. Of the two riders vying for Man 1 spot in the Team Sprint, Jamie Staff has been Keirin World Champion and Craig a Silver medallist in the Sprint. And Chris Hoy has been looking good in both events in recent World Track Cups.
So although the Kilo has been lost, and the match races (Keirin and Sprint) can be more of a lottery, the GB team still has the fire power to perhaps repeat its previous success in the Olympics. But it isn't only a rider's physical ability that counts when it comes to winning sprints, because tactics also play a big part.
As far as the Keirin goes, Craig has spent a few summers now in Japan doing that event and also had the odd success like a second place in the Japanese Keirin at Manchester in 2005. But the GB team are also aware the riders need to sharpen up in the 'head' department on the track and for that, they have an ace up their sleeve, a German ace in consultant coach Jan van Eijden.
"Jan is a very skilful bike rider and great tactician so his presence in the team can only be a good thing" says Craig. "Even if he doesn't say anything, just having the confidence of having him take you up to the line can psyche out other countries because I understand he was in quite high demand."
"We have done some race scenario type efforts on the track already, observation work and that, and as we get closer to the Worlds I'll do some more under his guidance against the other lads. Iain (Dyer) and Jan work well together and Iain is fantastically knowledgeable about all aspects of the training and Jan will compliment him with his tactical coaching on the track."
It is, Craig says, a step forward within the Sprint squad to help the riders achieve in not just the time trials (Team Sprint) but also the man on man races where GB has not had the same success as it has in the Kilometre and Team Sprint. But the team can only do so much for the riders.
The bottom line for those who want to step out onto the track in Beijing, is they need to look at every possible area where they can gain time on an opponent and from what I have seen with Craig, he is one of the riders in the GB team who is working very hard to make sure he achieves the heady goals he has set himself.
British Cycling wishes him well not just at the Manchester World Track Cup but in the months and years to come.
Event Programme Information and ticket information
Full details of the UCI Track Cycling Manchester World Cup event programme can be found on www.worldtrackcycling.com which includes a link directly to the Ticketmaster page for the event. Day ticket prices start at £12 for adults and ?6 for children.
