Scottish Cycling Foods: protein recovery Flapjack recipe

Posted on February 15, 2012 by admin

After posting about Graeme Obree’s low-fi energy food recently, you may end up ‘breathing in crumbs’, to borrow a phrase of his, with this recipe.

The recipe is the creation of my brother, who spends his spare time mountain biking and back-country skiing in Switzerland, when he isn’t trying out the trails of Borneo.

The addition of protein powder certainly makes it more of a recovery food than race fuel, but having tested it on the reliability rides this month it is good on-ride winter fodder if you nibble in small quantities, or is ideal for carrying as an insurance policy against the dreaded bonk.

Ingredients Continue reading →

Joe Christison, Edinburgh Comet RC 1950s

Posted on February 13, 2012 by admin

Courtesy of Jennie Wells comes an image of Joe Christison of the Edinburgh Comet RC lining up for the start of a race.

There is a great set of images of the Edinburgh Comet RC riders in the 1950s – click through and explore them. Jennie’s father is John Gilliatt, who raced along with Joe Christison.

Joe Christison and Ian Greenfield

Joe Christison is pictured above- a rider who it seems little is known, these days, which does not seem commensurate with his ability. I blogged about his story in a post last year- Tour-racing.co.uk republished some archive articles about his lost chance to go to the Grand Prix des Nations– back then then the unofficial World Championship time trial.

Click through for my post, and the piece on tour-racing.co.uk – interesting story.

On the Braveheart Forum, former pro and recently-retired race organiser Jimmy Rae commented:

I remember as a junior riding out to the Tour de Trossachs 1953 with my clubmates in the Thistle and watch Joe winning, knocked he minutes off the course record, I followed his career and witness the sad demise of the pro and independent class, The last time I raced with Joe was in the the Tour of Scotland in 1958, I was in the race wining break with him and John Lackey, Joe offered to work and help me win the race which contained all the Empire Games riders.

Information is required for identifying the riders in the photos – please help if you can.

Scottish Cycling Foods IV: Marzipan

Posted on February 10, 2012 by admin

“We have evolved to eat food” said Graham Obree at a recent talk at Look Mum No Hands cycling café in the East End of London. He was speaking to Jack Thurston of The Bike Show to promote his new training manual, The Obree Way.

Energy drinks can be indigestible– you’re bypassing the first stage of digestion which takes place in the mouth, and with energy bars you end up breathing in crumbs.

So his ingeniously low-fi solution for energy food is a lump of marzipan in the cheek, hamster-style, that can dissolve and be munched on gradually as you ride. “How can you not like marzipan?” he asks, rhetorically, at the talk.

It is well worth a listen, click through to the Bike Show website and scroll to the bottom for the audio. It’s also availble on iTunes as a podcast download.

Scottish cycling foods III: Tunnocks
Scottish Cycling foods II: Irn Bru
Scottish Cycling foods I: Oatcakes
Euro Foods

Scotland’s unique time trialling stuation

Posted on February 9, 2012 by admin

February sees the first time trials of the season, the Ice Breaker 2-up, followed by the 3-up in Musselburgh in March- both races can be windy and cold affairs and the shelter of a team-mate or two to draft behind is essential. These team time trials open the year, with 10 mile races dominating the calendar in March and April before the longer 25s and 50s come in. Early on there are a couple of mountain TTs with the Knockhill Mountain Time Trial and the Tour of the Meldons, amd then much later in the season a couple more classic hilly TTs: the Tours of the Campsies and Trossachs, and finally the hill climbs starting around September. We have a lot of time trials.

The good news for any Scottish amateurs who have invested in top-end kit in the past few years, is that. Scottish Cycling won’t be adopting the new UCI regulations for the specification of time trial bikes. The bad news is that they will be phased in over the coming years. So a bike like with the Specialised Shiv nosecone below wouldn’t be allowed.

The UCI now specifies some pretty restricive technical regulations about time trial bikes, and as Scottish Cycling is the internationally recognised governing body for cycle sport in Scotland it would normally be subject to the UCI technical regulations for time trial bikes.
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Focus on mechanics: Brendan Milliken

Posted on January 27, 2012 by admin

Brendan has kindly agreed to answer some of my questions about the past two years he has spent as a full time mechanic for Endura Racing.

You’ve spent the past 2 years as mechanic with Endura Racing, remind us how you got the gig?
Since the age of 14 I have been involved in cycling, as a rider and working in cycle shops as a mechanic, cycling has been a big part of my life and to be involved in the professional scene on or off the bike has always been a dream. I have been involved with Endura Racing for 4 seasons now, from the original incarnation that was PedalPower Race Team/Endura where I assisted the team with mechanics and support in the team car at a few Premier Calendar events. During the 2009 Halfords Tour Series after a mechanical-strewn 1st round, I was offered the position of mechanic, looking after team bikes, driving and logistics which led to a full time job with Endura and Endura Racing.

Tour Doonhame 2011 | Photo by Larry Hickmott | www.VeloUK.net courtesy of Endura Racing
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Velodrome progress

Posted on January 16, 2012 by admin

After reading about wood flooring being installed in the Velodrome, I have been digging around for progress updates on the project. These can be difficult to find, as generally the architects, contractors and clients on such high profile projects tend to keep things under wraps until construction is complete. For the 2012 Olympics, some companies are not even allowed to publicise their involvement with a stadium or arena until after the Games have finished.

Image by Alexander Kachkaev

After reading the sumptuous Architects’ Journal Building Study special about the 2012 velodrome by Hopkins Architects (above), I have been digging for information about Glasgow’s forthcoming track. I read a short piece in Scottish architecture magazine Urban Realm, which mainly covered the fire and thermal performance of the cladding of the building, which houses both the velodrome in its 2000 seat arena, as well as the National Indoor Sports Arena, a 5000 seat venue.
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David Bell Memorial seeks Premier Calendar Status

Posted on January 10, 2012 by admin

I recently covered the idea that Scotland could maybe host the UCI Road World Championships, and indulged in a bit of speculation as to where the course might be.

Part of this conjecture was the experience the south west of Scotland has in hosting high profile events- the Tour of Britain has passed through there on a few occasions and the Premier Calendar Tour Doon Hame 3-day race is now well established. This is all based upon a solid grass roots crit races, local road races and mountain biking trails.

Now, one of Scotland’s top amateur events, possibly the toughest one-day race we have outside the national championship, is hoping to step up a level and gain Premier Calendar status. Last year the Davie Bell Memorial made some radical changes to the course, bringing in sections of dirt road, which was a fitting way to honour the pioneering off-road cyclist that the race is named after.

Today it was announced that the promoting club, Ayr Roads – Harry Fairbairn BMW, have already secured ‘National A’ status for the 47th running of the 100mile event, which will be held on Sunday June 10th 2012:

Rapha-Condor-Sharp rider James McCallum has pledged his intention to defend his title at the South Carrick David Bell Memorial, a ‘monument’ of Scottish cycling aspiring to join the Premier Calendar series in 2013. National A status will guarantee the best possible line up of British professional and elite cyclists.

Thanks to backing from South Ayrshire Council and support from South Carrick Community Leisure, McCallum and his Rapha-Condor-Sharp team will be hoping to take home their share of the guaranteed minimum £2,000 prize fund. However, competition will be tough with teams such as Endura Racing, Herbalife-Leisure Lakes and Vanilla Racing already signed up to compete.

The race is rightly feared by the Scottish cycling community, with its tough ascents of the area popularly referred to as the ‘Ayrshire Alps’, and also for its whose-who list of former winners including Robert Millar, the late Jason MacIntyre and current Scottish Road Champion Evan Oliphant. With such a rich history, organisers are already building towards the 50th edition to ensure a spectacular celebration of Ayrshire cycling, and the life of the pioneering off-road cyclist that the event is named after. More commonly known under his penname ‘The Highwayman’, David Bell was a local journalist who brought his explorations by bike between the 1930s and mid 1960s alive through a hugely popular column in the Ayrshire Post.

The Carrick Forest Drive during the 2011 David Bell Memorial – A breakaway establishes a 40second lead on lap 1.
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Belgo-Scottish cycling kits

Posted on January 8, 2012 by admin

I did a short post on the great VC Moulin jersey design, a club that specialises in cyclocross, and got some good feedback. Then I noticed the jersey had been picked up by WTFKits, an American blogs that celebrates ‘bad kits and bad-ass kits’. VCM comes into the latter category.

Image Trina Ritchie
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Scotland to host road worlds? (maybe)

Posted on January 6, 2012 by admin

That British Cycling may table a bid to host the World Road Championships is not a surprise- British cycling (with a small ‘c’) is booming and with the Olympics in 2012 there will be the experience and enthusiasm of a major event to draw on.

British Cycling president Brian Cookson spoke about this to various media in October 2011, including the BBC and VeloUK- each piece was largley the same. But I heard a quote on the Velo Club Don Logan podcast that caught my attention and I found it in writing in a Cycling Weekly piece:

Cookson, who was recently made head of the UCI Road Commission, mentioned Wales, Scotland and London as potential places.

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Scottish racing moments of 2011

Posted on December 31, 2011 by admin

‘Tis the season for ‘Top 10′ style lists, so here’s a brief rundown of some of my highlights of 2011 where Scottish racing is concerned. I certainly haven’t watched everything closely- these are just the things that stand out, off the top of my head. Please contribute your own ideas in the comments.

in no particular order

Arthur Doyle’s 19:45
Arthur is pretty much the best time triallist around, particularly in 10s and 25s and this blistering time at Westferry at the end of August was brilliant. Check out this discussion on Braveheart which looks at other 19 minute rides.