The Unspoken Consequences

If anybody has read my Twitter feed recently, they will know that I am no fan of Lance Armstrong.  I admit that back in 1993, when I had just started racing, I had a poster of Lance Armstrong on my wall, as the blue-eyed Texan was good eye candy for a 14 year old.  But when he came back from having the cancer and started to become extremely successful, I was dubious.  Don't get me wrong, back in 1999, I wasn't that up on blood doping, although I had heard of EPO being used, but I never suspected Lance of doing so.  No, I was suspicious because he had a "legal" way, supported by doctor's prescriptions, of taking, what I believed to be, a large amount of steroids in an effort to remain in remission.  Having said that, I also thought that he must have been riding his bike an awful lot, as he was thin, despite presumably taking steroids at some point.  But I was only a student at University studying French and Italian.  What did I really know about what drugs people take?  Nothing, apart from through personal experience.

No, I have never had cancer, so I do not know what that is like.  And, yes, Lance has undoubtedly raised awareness for a condition that can be fatal; I have had family members suffer from it, with untimely deaths resulting in certain instances.  And I have seen how much weight a cancer victim can put on, and lose, through taking steroids to try and wage the war against the condition.  But everybody knows about cancer and its dangers.  I am not an oncologist so I am not about to talk about something I know only a limited amount about, because that would be wrong.  Instead, I am going to concentrate on what nobody seems to be thinking about at the moment - the consequences of doping.

I am epileptic and I take medication on a daily basis to control my brain.  Epilepsy is a condition which affects the way the brain works and can result in fits.  I don't like taking drugs, but I have to do so in order to lead a normal life.  When I started taking medication at the age of 15, the only thing that the doctors would mention about side effects was the possibility of my unborn child developing spina bifida, or having learning difficulties in its formative years.  That was enough to put me off ever trying to have a baby.  But the scary thing was that these drugs controlled my brain, but could also affect an unborn child?  And the doctors were willing to give me these drugs? 

That was the side effect they told me about.  What they didn't tell me was that it would affect my heart rate so that I could never get it over 180, when I was 17.  Okay, there may have been other factors, but it was enough for my coach at the time to persuade me to change medication.  Which I did.

The new medication was supposed to be better for the unborn child (that I was never having).  Great.  But they failed to mention that the tablets that I was taking to control the frenzied neurological goings on in my brain also affected my bone density, made me put weight on, could lead to osteoperosis and problems with the level of white blood cells in your blood.  Oh, and that it would ultimately lead to me developing chronic fatigue.  15 years I was on those tablets.  15 years.  That's a long time when I'm only 33 now.  So, I came off those drugs and went on to a newer drug, which has supposed to have less side effects.  No doubt I may find out in 10 years' time that there are still side effects - the drug just isn't old enough to have shown its true colours yet.

I apologise for going off on a tangent, but there is a point here.  I struggle to believe that people are stupid enough to take drugs that are untested to a large extent.  They are playing God with their own lives.  Look at Marco Pantani, Flo Jo, even Tom Simpson - all known drug takers and all died an untimely death.  If I had been an athlete in the 1980s, 1990s or even now, and I knew that I had taken drugs to enhance my performance, I would be absolutely bricking it.  Not because people might find out that I had taken drugs, but because they haven't thought about the consequences of doping.  I would be straight off to the doctor for an MOT, to find out if there are any signs that I could prevent an early death.  If the doctor doesn't know what you've done to yourself, he can't help you overcome the potential pitfalls.  It might not be an untimely death, but that's the point about taking any drug - you don't know what side effects you will suffer from and how bad it will be.

So have a thought about your health - put your desire to win/greed or whatever other motivation you had aside for a second and do yourself a favour - come clean.  It's for your own good.

A season over

Well, this has been my first attempt at a racing season since changing medication and being discharged from the Chronic Fatigue clinic at the hospital.

At the start of the year, I had a number of realistic aims - to lose some weight, to attempt to get on the start line and to obtain a few British Cycling licence points.  I just wanted to enjoy racing like I did when I was 16 years old.

So, what is the result?

Well, as at Christmas last year, I weighed 11st 12lbs, not huge for somebody who is 5' 7", but too big for my liking.  On Saturday, I weighed 9st 13lbs.  I've not weighed that since I was about 15.

I have done a number of races this year, some all women races, others men's races.  I purposefully didn't ride any National Series races, as I didn't want to do too much, or get put off.  I'm still worried about getting over-tired.

And, yes, I won about 23 points.  Not massive, but I didn't intend to become a 2nd cat in my first attempt at a season.  Remain realistic at all costs, is my motto.

Having said that, I've done all of that with minimal training, no winter miles and a full time job.  Maybe I might even surprise myself if I think about doing some structured training.  Who knows?  Only time will tell...

A return to road racing

After my 'efforts' in South Korea, I thought that I had better put the experience to good use and enter a road race. However, I didn't fancy travelling down south to do a Team Series race, nor did I want to get my head kicked in by entering a National Series road race (I've not got the winter miles in to cope with the distance).

So, what do I enter? CDNW's Bole Hill road race in Buxton, with men. Yes, you may think that I was slightly bonkers (as the great Dizzee Rascal once sang), however I wanted to do a few hills and this gave me the perfect opportunity. I'd never ridden the course before, but I had marshalled on it at various points over the years, mainly when Stretford Wheelers used to organise the old Division Championships on it.

Well, how hard could it be? The organiser did check with me when I signed on to make sure that I knew it was horrendous but I was prepared for it. Anyway, it was glorious sunshine and 25 degrees, which is practically unheard of for Buxton! To be honest, I used to love racing with the blokes when I was younger, but this time I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up so I wasn't stressed out about it because nobody expected me to keep up!

We set off, and I got dropped up the second hill in the neutralised section, which didn't seem that neutralised to me, but hey, I kept going! What did make me laugh was the whole bunch braking when they came to a bit of water in the middle of the road - absolute lunacy!

It was really windy pretty much all round the course and Bole Hill itself is definitely steep!  What made it worse was that I wasn't turning the pedals fast enough to go on my bottom sprocket, so the lowest gear I had was 34 x 21, yes, a granny gear, but I could have done with being able to use the 23 sprocket (shameful I know).


Photo courtesy of Richard Towse - taken from the lead car at 40mph!


Maybe you don't think it's remarkable that I took part in a men's race on one of the hardest circuits in the country, but to me, getting on that start line was an achievement.  In 2010, I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue, and last year I could only manage 10 minutes without nearly collapsing from exhaustion.  If you look at pictures of me from last year, I was quite large, not massive, but too big for my liking.  I have now changed medication for my epilepsy, lost nearly two stone and I think you can tell from the photo that I am a lot lighter.  This time last year I would never have been able to ride out to the course, let alone do three and a half laps of it and ride back to the HQ, so I am really proud of myself.

I packed on the bell lap, but only because it wouldn't have been fair on the helpers for them to have to wait for me, as I was quite far behind.  But you know what, I don't really care as I enjoyed every second of it and can't wait for my next road race now!

Roll on this season, they'll be no stopping me next year!

Tour de Korea 2012 - the forgotten race

You may have seen some of the blogs about the Tour de Korea 2012 by some of the professional riders taking part, as there were many incidents that made the headlines.  However, there was also an amateur race taking place at the same time, and this is my story.

Back in February/March, there was a request for female riders who were needed to attend the Tour de Korea.  I thought nothing of it, as it seemed too good to be true.  However, after having received an email about it, and, being without anything better to do, I thought, why not, as it would be an opportunity to visit a country that I would never probably do otherwise.

The emails we received suggested that it was basically a PR exercise for women’s cycling in South Korea, where we would be expected to ride 50km a day for eight days, with local people, giving women’s cycling some publicity.  I thought that it would be good opportunity to get the miles in, whilst visiting somewhere I had never been.  Everything was paid for by the South Korean Government, all we had to do was get to London Heathrow.

Admittedly, in hindsight, I should have known that it wouldn’t quite work out that way – the major clue being that we had to be in Seoul for 21 April, when we would meet Dossa fans (a cycling community in South Korea) at lunchtime, however our flights were not getting in until 4pm local time, so the flights were quickly rescheduled so that we flew out a day earlier instead – the reschedule taking place on the Monday before we were due to fly out.  Yes, a big clue really.

I met up with my fellow team mates for the trip at Heathrow on 19 April and we flew to Seoul.  When we arrived in Seoul, we were then told that in actual fact we weren’t taking part in any fun rides, we were actually taking part in the amateur stage race which was supporting the professional stage race, over 674km over eight days.  Bearing in mind I had been preparing for fun 50km rides, this came as a bit of a shock.  But it got worse.  Not only were we racing in a stage race with over 300 other riders, although we weren’t technically competing as we were guests (go figure) for some reason unbeknownst to us, everybody thought we were top GB cyclists and were professional riders – which is not true at all!

So, we get on the start line on day one, with a gale blowing, driving rain and it’s so cold that our teeth are chattering on the start line.  We had no mechanical support and our team manager was doing a brilliant job at blanking us.  Next thing we know, the race has started and all hell breaks loose!  My handlebars slip after about 10 minutes but rather than helping me fix them, I have to find my Allen key in my bag, which is in the back of the team car and fix it myself – all whilst being filmed by Korean TV.  I chase to get back on but it is futile.  Lyndsey also punctures, which was a disaster as we had no spare wheels, and we end up getting in the team car, after Lyndsey manages to borrow a wheel off one of the teams.  We then have a madcap chase through Seoul traffic trying to catch the race back up, before being let out of the car 5km from the finish to finish the race, as it was important for the cameras to show that we could ride bikes.

When we finally arrived at the finish, Adel had been there for about 15 minutes waiting, as she had been mixing it with the blokes, although she had been brought down by some random riding with 3km to go, whilst at the front of the bunch.

The rest of the days continued in a similar fashion, with our bus driver taking us the scenic route so that he could keep the money for the tolls that the Korean Government had given him.  There was no support from our team manager and the guy who invited us did not get the whole concept of bike racing at all.

Each day, the average speed was somewhere between 40km/h and 50 km/h, depending on whether there were hills in the stage, but our main worry was staying upright in the bunch.  The riders were fast but they lacked the technical bike handling ability, which meant that they would crash whilst going in a straight line on a four lane dual carriageway/motorway.  In our race, one of the teams saw their riders break the following bones – femur, wrist and two collar bones – that is just one team, whereas there was a crash on a descent which saw eight riders fall, with one guy head-butting a wall, so he must have done some damage to his skull as he had blood pouring from his head.

Adel was knocked off three times and Lyndsey once – for my part, I decided that it just wasn’t worth getting killed, so I started off at the front, waited for the bunch to drift pass me and then sat on the back for as long as I could before getting off and getting in either the team car or the broom wagon.  The lack of support from our team manager was legendary, and it soon became clear that everybody just felt sorry for us.

It was a totally new experience for me, although I have raced in stage races abroad before.  We kept hoping that the average speed would drop as riders tired however it wasn’t until day seven that we found out that riders could get in the broom wagon one day and start again the next, and although they did not feature on GC, they would work as hard as they could for their team before getting in the broom wagon, only to do exactly the same thing the next day.

Hats off to the organisational team of the Tour de Korea – they did a fantastic job bearing in mind that they don’t really have much experience of organising races, as you might see elsewhere, say in Europe or Australia, however it is a shame that there doesn’t seem to be the infrastructure underneath to support the event.  I’m all in favour of organising races, but when the riders themselves don’t know how to ride in a straight line or in a bunch, then you need to really have another look at the sport from the bottom up.

Having said all that, I was glad I went but I’m not convinced I would go back to do the race, as there doesn’t seem to be the same value to life as there is in the UK.  A special mention also goes to Jen Taylor, who had never raced in a bunch before going to Korea – some learning curve!!!  We’ve all got some good memories and hopefully it has given the five of us some confidence for when we race again in the UK.  Well done girls!

A Reunion

Many moons ago, when Take That were topping the charts the first time around, Britpop was cool and having a bike built to your specification was the way forward, and carbon bikes were something that hadn't been thought about, two girls called Heather Roberts and Cath Cockram met at the North West Centre of Excellence, at Kirkby Sports Centre.

We had competed against each other at Kirkby Track League and the ACT Track League at Manchester Velodrome and at various 'Juvenile' (do you remember those days?) events across the North West. 

We became good friends, taking part in various competitions, including the annual 'Children in Need' event at Manchester Velodrome, where we would put on fancy dress outfits and race, all in the name of charity.

I went to live in Italy and France in 1999/2000 as part of my university course and after that, I drifted out of cycling and lost contact with Cath.

However, many years later, we got back in contact through Twitter.  A lot had happened during those years apart - I had married Fred Bamforth and Cath had married Bradley Wiggins.  We had both struggled with various health issues and Cath is now a mum to two beautiful children but we both shared a common bond - we had used cycling to get back to somewhere where we wanted to be.

So, when I heard on Twitter that Cath was organising some crits at Salt Ayre (which used to be called 'Scale Hall' when we were younger), I knew straightaway that I would support her event and couldn't wait to get there.  Admittedly, Fred and I possibly turned up slightly early, but it was great to see Cath again - straightaway it was as if we hadn't lost contact and we started chatting about how cycling had changed since we first got involved.

I really enjoyed Saturday's race, especially since Cath and I are now back in contact. 

And so it begins

Tomorrow, I will be riding at Salt Ayre, where I used to race as a young girl.  It was called 'Scale Hall' back then, not 'Salt Ayre' and I don't think the sports centre was there either.  I'm looking forward to riding, as it will be the first time ever in my cycling career that I get to wear a long-sleeved skinsuit (yes, I am that materialistic)!

I have had a really bad couple of weeks, so it isn't the best preparation, but it is something different nonetheless.

Come back tomorrow to find out how I get on!

Pre-Season Warm Up

Tomorrow sees the return of Deloitte's involvement in the Fit for 2012 challenge. It involves a health assessment and 2.1km of either spinning, running or handbiking. Yes, you've guessed correctly, it will be the spinning for me! I did the first one, last May, in 3.23mins although I didn't go fast on purpose. I then did 2.50 mins in October, both without any real training. I am currently second overall with an average of 3.12 mins. I would like to beat 2.28 mins tomorrow as that is the fastest bloke's time but I'm not sure that's possible - the men are on a higher gear and therefore go further quicker. It should be interesting.

Good news is that my thighs are half the size they were and I have lost 13lbs since New Year. I also kept up with Fred going up a steep climb yesterday so improvements are being made. Roll on tomorrow!!!

Welcome back!

Well, after the rather long break, I'm now back to writing a blog. Firstly, I feel a lot better now that I've changed medication and have a lot more energy; secondly, the weather isn't as cold as it was this time last year.

Fred's in the middle of building my new track bike (which looks nice and shiny) and I've been ordering bits and bobs to get ready for the coming season. I now own a long sleeved skin suit, which I think is ace, so I'd better look after that.

I've lost weight too, after putting some on pre-Christmas, so things are looking up. I've devised my racing calendar for this season, so I'm nearly good to go! It can't be any worse than last year - I got knocked off my bike in July then ended up in a car crash on the way to the Track Nationals in October - all extremely annoying! Anyway, the resulting injuries are finally on the mend (hopefully) so onwards and upwards!

We have a VC St Raphael training weekend to look forward to, which should be fun, although I think I might need a new tyre on my training bike, after riding through smashed glass this morning. My tyre currently has a piece of plastic from a choco dip tub in it to prevent it puncturing again where the tyre is slashed! Such fun!

Anyway, check out our new VC St Raphael blog at http://vcstraphaelwomen.blogspot.comfor info about the women's team.

RAB Training Ride - the Manchester Team together

Yesterday I organised a ride for all of the Manchester riders, although unfortunately not everybody could make it.  The main purpose was to give those riders who haven't had much experience of group riding the chance to ride with other people of mixed abilities - admittedly it was never going to be like the RAB itself, but we managed to get 12 people out in total, which is pretty good.  The weather was fantastic - about 20 degrees Celsius and not a cloud in the sky, although there was a bit of wind every so often.

Fred would lead the ride as he mapped out the route and I asked three friends to join us - Rusine and Dave Heald and Rob Wilkinson (who rode out to the ride and rode home, doing a total of 109 miles!) - with their job for the day helping those who hadn't ridden in a big bunch before.  We managed to go off course a couple of times, but nothing major (one being my fault) and we stopped at a cafe for lunch, which everybody enjoyed.  There was only one puncture and one person fell off near the end, but apart from that the ride went by quite well.  The roads were really quiet considering it was a sunny Saturday - even the main road into Middlewich was quieter than what we're used to riding through Carrington and Partington.

Rob, Fred and Dave all did a sterling job helping those who got a bit tired near the end, as did Jo Green but everybody was more or less smiling at the end of the ride.  We managed to ride 60 miles without too many problems, so I have no worries for those guys who are riding the RAB - bring it on!

Unfortunately, my Sportypal wasn't very helpful yesterday - it didn't start until after I had spoken to Fred on the phone - I think it's about 12 miles short in total as the battery ran out before we got to Knutsford so it didn't record the whole ride - the wonders of modern technology! I can't bear to part with £200 to buy a Garmin though....  Anyway, here is the link to the part of the ride that it did record:

http://sportypal.com/Workouts/Details/1044835

I also had my bike computer, however the magnet was proving to be less than powerful - at one point it was reading 0 mph whilst I was going downhill - how does that work?

The good news is that despite me not riding that distance for over 10 years, my legs weren't aching too much today - maybe I'm finally getting better?  Who knows?  Only time will tell.

Congratulations to everybody who took part on the ride yesterday - you were all great!

Before...

...and after!

Single file? Says who?

Fred and I now have VC St Raphael team kit, so the dream of racing again is slowly becoming reality!  I suppose 'racing' will be a bit of a loose term on my part as I am sure everybody will be that bit fitter and stronger than me however, it sounds like being out of the back of the bunch might be a good thing if today's Team Series race in Windsor is anything to go by (there were a number of crashes by all accounts).  It sounds like nothing has changed much since I was last racing!  My thoughts go out to all of those women who were caught up in the carnage - I wish you all a speedy recovery...

What is becoming more and more obvious to me the more rides I do is the number of ignorant drivers out there - both today and yesterday we had people winding down their car windows to shout 'Single file, it's the law to ride in single file'.  Err, since when?  Get your facts right, people of Manchester!  The best one was last week when we were in Cheshire and a bloke drove past us, saying 'Single file, that's the law, I should know - I'm a cyclist!'  Yeah, right, in your dreams, mate!  Maybe it isn't the fact that they don't know "The Highway Code" rather instead that they are so unskillful at driving that seeing a cyclist panicks them into shouting obscenities at the cyclist to cover the fact that they are such a pathetic driver.  Oh, it is sooo annoying!  I can see why there are so many horrific accidents, leading to so many people dying before they should - life is so precious, give cyclists space, car drivers and quit with the road rage!

And, breathe!  Right, rant over for the time being!  I went out both yesterday (with Fred) and today (with Fred and Yvonne) and despite what I have been told in the past, I can tell you that the wind definitely was not my friend this weekend!  Today was horrible - we rode for more than an hour into a headwind, which is very tiresome indeed!  The links for both rides are below:

Saturday 2 April 2011

Sunday 3 April 2011

The good news is that the time trial bike is coming together now and is nearly finished - it just needs some handlebar tape and I think it is nearly there.  Of course, it will be a different matter entirely when it comes to trying to ride it, but hey, I am a firm believer in the idea that if you persevere you will succeed.  I have got a skinsuit now, so I am more or less ready for my first time trial on 7 May 2011 - if I can ride the 10 miles in less than 30 minutes I will be happy, so the fingers will be crossed for that!  In the meantime, we have a training ride for the Deloitte Ride Across Britain next Saturday, which should be good!  Bring it on!