The Para-T Cycling Team is Here!

The Para-T Cycling Team is Here!

by Jody Cundy MBE
 

Wow, nearly missed this being a January update, my god this month has flown by.

2011 already! That means the Paralympics are next year! It’s all starting to sound a little scary, however I’ve still got 576 days to train and perfect everything before then!

Well 2011 started with me switching to a new cycling team. A team I helped setup with my girlfriend, to be honest she’s done a great deal to get it up and running.
Here’s a little bit of information about the team I’ll be competing in.
“Para-T” (Paracycling Team) is a unique cycling team made up entirely of some of the best Paralympic cyclists in the world. The team has been formed to help promote Paracycling, and demonstrate the skill and speed of athletes who compete at the Paralympics.
Through promoting the amazing ability of our riders, and not their disability, we aim to increase the interest in Paracycling and push the boundaries of the sport as well as to show that sport is something nearly everyone can do.
In the first year of racing, the team will be mostly focused on track events, but a number of road races and time trials will be attended whenever possible, with athletes competing in both Paracycling and able-bodied events.

The team is a mixture of British and German riders, and hopes to expand in the future with increased rider numbers and racing on the road.”
For all the up to date information on the team, and a look at the amazing looking kit I’ll be racing in, head over to our website www.paracyclingteam.com.

With the world championships fast approaching (March 11th-13th) I’ve spent many hours on my bi- cycle and things are going really well. This winter I’ve spent more time on my bike getting in the endurance miles than ever before, because in addition to the team sprint and kilo I will be also competing in the 4km Pursuit at the world championships. The GB team is on a point scoring mission to make sure that we have the most athletes available at our home games in London, and that translates into yours truly doing the pur- suit! The pursuit training, is quite a challenge for me, and is quite different from the out and out sprint train- ing I’ve previously done for the Kilo. It’s all about measuring your effort, and not giving too much too soon, but making sure you get everything out by the end. As part of my learning process in the event I’ve painfully found this out in training, and it really does come back to bite you before the end of the 4km if you go out too fast! However with GB’s rich history in the pursuit I have a wealth of advice on hand from coaches and riders, and fingers crossed if all goes well, there may be another medal in it, which would make all the hard work worth it. But one step at a time!

With the poor weather in the UK over the winter, it was really nice to get away to Majorca for a 10 day training camp with the GB squad. The weather gods were really on our side, and we were greeted with bright sunshine every day. That made such a nice change to our rides, being able to head out in shorts and minimal layers, so much nicer compared to multiple layers I’ve been used to in the last few months! The camp was a huge success, with the whole squad getting in many quality miles, and making the most of the beautiful weather. It was definitely the time to be on the island as we spotted many of the professional teams in their preseason training, including Sky, Leopard Trek and Lotto.

I’m back from Majorca now, and my training has now switched focus, as I’m back on the boards of Manchester Velodrome trying to convert those miles into some race speed. Things have been going really well, but with the Manchester round of the World Cup fast approaching track time’s been a bit crowded. However inspiring as it is to watch the GB Team Pursuit team in full flight in training, it’s never a great situation to have to rush your efforts on track, so next month we have a 2 week GB training camp at the Velodrome in Newport with just the GB Paracycling squad in attendance. Once the world cup is over, it’s back to Man- chester to put the finishing touches to my preparation before heading out with the team to Montichiari on the 7th March.

Well that’s January all done, were there really 31 days? Catch you next month for another update.

Jody
 
 
 
 
All images ©Copyright Christina Kelkel

A Topsy Turvy Year

A Topsy Turvy Year

by Jody Cundy MBE
 

As 2010 comes to an end, it’s time to look back on what has been a bit of a strange year.

Starting in January with a “warm weather camp” on Majorca which ended up in snow, it was a sign of a topsy turvy year I was going to have.
By the time March came around, our World Championships in August had been cancelled and my training goals where turned on their head. In Easter my first proper race of the season: The Herne Hill Good Friday Meet. Unfortunately, once again the rain brought a swift end to the racing, but hopefully 2011 will be luckier as the meet moves indoors to Manchester. Without Worlds to prepare for, Ride Across Britain was a perfect chance to keep the miles and legs over the summer and also to help raise money for Paralympics GB. Sharing the mileage with tandem pilot Barney Storey, the nine days from John O’Groats to Land’s End were some of the most enjoyable days I’ve ever spent on my bike. Even though I was soaked to the bone for the first three days in Scotland, the scenery made up for all the wetness and pain. And by the time we reached Land’s End, the sun was shining and myself along 600 other cyclists had completed 1000 miles and raised over 300.000 Pounds!

With RAB done, it was back to the track and to prepare for the National Track Championships and a potentially rearranged World Championships. With all the miles on the road in the summer, my track legs really came to me and my training went really well. The Nationals were filled with highs and lows, the highs being my New World Record in the Flying 200m and my first able-bodied podium in the Men’s Team Sprint and Team Pursuit. The lows, becoming really ill after Day 3 and not being able to perform to how my training had been going and loosing out on an almost certain Gold medal in the Team Pursuit due to a crash.

October brought us final confirmation of the World Championships after many rumors and many cities had been mentioned. From March 11-13, the new velodrome in Montichiari in Italy will play host. My training is in full swing now and I am working hard on retaining my World Championship titles in the 1KM Time Trial and Team Sprint, and also hopefully getting close to the podium in a new event for me: the 4KM Pursuit. However, for the first time I wont be able to win the Kilo in a World Record time as it might hinder my changes to win in London due to the unconfirmed factoring rules that the UCI will be applying to the Paralympic Games in 2012.

All that leaves me to is to wish everyone a happy and prosperous New Year and thank all my sponsors and supporters for their help and hard work and I look forward to your continued backing on my path to 2012!

I think that’s all from me, enjoy the remaining days of 2010 and I’ll see you in 2011!

Jody

PS: You can catch me on BBC4 on December the 30th at 8pm as I made a guest appearance at the Royal Institute Christmas Lectures.
 
 
 
 
All images ©Copyright Christina Kelkel

The Cycle Show & Europa Cup

The Cycle Show & Europa Cup

by Jody Cundy MBE
 

With Nationals all done it was on to The Cycle Show at London’s Earls court, where I was busy signing autographs on the British Cycling stand, I can’t remember ever signing so many autograph cards! The Cycle Show was also a great opportunity to meet potential sponsors and suppliers in the run up to London 2012, it was also a great place to generate feedback and interest for the Paracycling team that I’m helping put together, and be riding for in the coming season.

Next stop and my 2nd race meet in a month, this time the Europa Cup in Kaarst Büttgen, in Germany. Although the velodrome was indoors, it was very cold, and left many of the riders on the team wishing they had bought more layers to keep warm. However it was the same for everyone, first up on the race programme was the team sprint, an interesting race, not so much because of the result, but the way the race panned out.
With no electronic timing, start gate and countdown clock it was a bit of a shock to the system, especially while we were under starter’s orders the countdown began over the PA, not beeps like we’re used to, but the official counting down irregularly 5, pause, 4, 3, pause, 2, pause, 1, and Go! It certainly made us all laugh when we finished the ride! Myself Rik Waddon and Terry Byrne posted the fastest time, some 4 seconds quicker than Germany, who we would race in the final. Next up was the Kilo, and after some impressive times being posted by my competitors the top 3 separated by just 0.4seconds I managed to ride a 1:07, 3 seconds clear of the Czech Republic’s Jiří Ježek.

The final of the team sprint was the last race of a long day at the velodrome (12hrs!). Lining up against the home team Germany, and with the velodrome finally warming up, myself Rik and Terry put together a slick performance, coming home faster than our morning qualifying ride, posting a 50.8, just fractions of a second outside our world record and over 4 seconds clear of the team from Germany.
After Germany, I had 2 weeks off the bike, to recharge my batteries, and plan my preparations for the track world championships in Italy, which have officially been confirmed now as taking place from March 11th – 13th 2011.
After my break I’m back on my bike and so far I’ve been rained on every day, oh well I guess that’s an occupational hazard of living in Manchester! Anyway speaking of training, it’s looking dry outside now, so I’m going to head out before that black cloud decides to follow me for the next 2 hours.

Until next time happy cycling!

Jody
 
 
 
 
All images ©Copyright Christina Kelkel

National Championships

Jody Cundy riding at the National Championships – Image ©Copyright Kelkel

 

National Championships

by Jody Cundy MBE
Good news everybody!

We finally have a World Championship for 2010/11! The UCI have found a new host for the track Championships which were cancelled earlier this year. Montichiari in Italy will play host to the UCI track World Championships in February/March of 2011, added to this the UCI also announced the 2012 Track Championships. Los Angeles will play host in February 2012.

After a really quite year for racing I managed to get stuck in with a full program at the National Championships which took place at the Manchester Velodrome at the end of September.
On Day 1, I won my first senior able bodied National medal by riding to bronze in the Team Sprint with fellow team mates Andrew Kelly and Dave Readle. It was a tough night of racing having to do 3 rounds of Team Sprint as man 3. Not for the faint hearted!

Jody Cundy competing at the National Championships, Manchester – ©Copyright Christina Kelkel

Day 2 was the Paracycling 1 km Time Trial, and although I was some way off my best time (think the previous nights racing took quite a bit out of my legs), however it was good enough to earn me a silver medal.
Day 3 and the shortest race on the schedule, the flying 200, an event I don’t get to do often, so after some encouraging times in training the week before it was something, I wanted to do especially well in. I managed to set a new personal best, at the same time breaking the C4 World Record (WR) with a time of 10.970, an average speed of 65.633km/h or 40.785 MPH.

Day 4 was uncharted territory for me as I was to be riding the 4km Pursuit. A pretty daunting task in its self, but made even harder by the fact that all morning I’d been curled up on the sofa feeling pretty sick, obviously not the best preparation. However, I managed to get on my bike and race, coming away with a Bronze medal and a new British Record (BR) time of 5:03.826.
The final day of competition was one of frustration. Riding the 4km Team Pursuit with team mates from scienceinsport.com Alistair Rutherford, Adam Duggleby and Tim Lawson, it was clear I still wasn’t feeling well but without a replacement rider I would do my best for the team. After leading the team off and getting them up to speed I sat in behind the other 3. Unfortunately my legs weren’t up for it and after my 2nd turn I had to pull off leaving the 3 remaining riders to post the time. To my surprise we qualified fastest, which put us into the gold medal ride off.

In the final we took the decision of using me as an expendable member, my job was to get the team up to speed and stay on the front until I couldn’t go anymore, this way the team would get more rest and I will of contributed more in my weakened state. This worked brilliantly,
as I did 3 and a quarter laps, leaving my team mates within sight of the opposing team. Then disaster struck, we got within 4 metres of the competition, (you need to be within 1 to take the win), Tim caught the wheel of Alistair and came crashing down. With only 2 riders left on track the race was over.

A great but tough few days of racing, being pretty successful with 3 Bronze, and 2 Silver medals, a WR and BR.

Next stop for me is the Cycle Show in London’s Earls Court on the 10th October, where I’ll be on the British Cycling stand meeting people and signing autographs.
Then on the 14th of this month, I’m off to Kaarst Buettgen, in Germany for the Europa Cup, a 2 day Paracycling race meet, where I’ll be busy again, racing the Pursuit, Kilo and Team Sprint, against some of the best Paracyclists in the world. Hopefully I can find a bit more speed by then.

That’s all for now, happy cycling.

Jody

All images ©Copyright Christina Kelkel

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