June 17th, 2008 — Graeme obree-
Graeme Obree has had many different bikes, many of which he built and designed himself. Unfortunately the UCI often banned his unique positions (after he had used it).
This is one of his first racing bikes - The double lugs meant he could only ever use a single chain ring at the front
June 17th, 2008 — british-
Chris Boardman was born August 26 1968 in Holyake, UK.
Chris was one of the world’s top time triallists, winner the prologue of the Tour de France, Olympic Gold in the 4,000Km pursuit; he also broke the world hour record on 3 occasions.
Chris was renowned for his meticulous preparation. He was an early advocate of using all possible scientific methods to improve performance. These included heart rate monitors, wind tunnels, power metres and carefully calibrated interval training.
In training for the world hour record, he used an oxygen tent in his house to help his preparations.
He is married with 6 children and retired from professional cycling due, in part, to a form of osteoperosis which made his bones susceptible to excessive pressure. He now works as a commentator for ITV. He also advises the British track cycling squad.
More on Chris Boardman
June 17th, 2008 — british-
Chris Hoy was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, March 23rd 1976. From a young age he was active in many sports. He represented Scotland at a junior level for BMX and rowing.
Chris joined his first cycling club, Dunedin CC, in 1992. He participated in different cycling disciplines such as Time Trials, Road and Track. However, after a couple of years he focused on track racing and joined the City of Edinburgh Racing Club.
His talents on the track were spotted by the British tack team and Chris has been a member of the British squad since 1996.
Chris also found time to complete a degree in applied sports science graduating from the University of Edinburgh in 1999
2000 Olympics
At the 2000 Olympics, Chris won the silver medal in the team sprint with Jason Queally and Craig Maclean
2004 Olympics
Chris won gold in the individual 1km time trial. The 1Km time trial was considered to be Chris’s best discipline, but unfortunately the Olympic committee decided to scrap the event to make room for a bmx discipline. However, since the decision to scrap the 1km pursuit, Chris has shifted his focus to other disciplines such as the, individual 500m sprint, the team sprint, and the Keirin
World Record for 1Km Time Trial
On 12th May, Chris attempted to break the World Record for the Kilometre Time Trial at altitude in la Paz, Mexico. At his first attempt he fell just 0.005 short, clocking 58.880. However, he managed to recover and in the afternoon he succeeded in breaking the record for the 500m flying start of 24.758 secs. It was a remarkable achievement given the difficulties he faced in travelling to the track at altitude. Doctors were amazed at his recovery from his first record attempt (he had been desperately short of oxygen as he finished the attempt.)
2008 World Championships
In the 2008 World Championships, Chris eskwed the 1km time trial as it is no longer in the Olympics. Instead he successfully turned his attention to sprint events and the keirin. In doing so he became the first athlete to win a gold medal in 4 different disciplines. In the last 9 years he has won 19 medals at World Championships or Olympics (10 of these medals have been gold)
Although, still a novice in the keirin, he now looks to be one of the favourites for the Olympic title. Although he was rightly disappointed when the 1Km race was removed, it may be that it was a blessing in disguise as he now has a chance to win Gold in 3 different events.
Chris Hoy
DoB: 23 March 1976
Height: 1.85m
Weight: 92kg
Chris Hoy Profile at the Telegraph
Photo Top: Chris Hoy in 1Km Time trial at UK Sport
June 17th, 2008 — british-
Rebecca Romero is an Olympic silver medalist at rowing. After retiring from rowing, after the 2005 World Championships, she made a seamless transition to cycling and represents an excellent chance for a future Olympic medal. To win an Olympic medal at different disciplines is quite a rare occurrence and is unheard of in a sport as different as rowing and cycling.
Born in Twickenham, London in 1980, Rebecca didn’t take up rowing until the relatively late age of 17. However, once she had taken up the sport she made rapid progress to become a key member of the British Olympic squad.
In December 2006, after only recently making the switch to cycling, Rebecca won the Silver medal in a World Cup event in the 3,000 mertres track pursuit. (She was beaten by fellow Briton Wendy Houvenhagel.)
World Championships
Rebecca won silver in the 2007 World Championships in Palma Mallorca
On 16th February 2008, Rebecca won gold in the World Cup meet in Copenhagen and now represents one of the leading candidates for winning the Olympic Gold in Beijing.
Chris Boardman who helps in the training of British cyclists has been impressed by the physical capacity and mental strength of Rebecca. Speaking on Rebecca he said:
“She’s prepared to ask the hard questions and her commitment is unquestioned,” he said. “She’s utterly uninterested in the silver medal. She’s been there and done that and she doesn’t want another one. It’s fantastic but quite scary as well with her level of commitment.”
External Links
June 17th, 2008 — british-
Bradley Wiggins
Bradley Wiggins, OBE was born 28 April 1980 in Ghent, Belgium. Bradley grew up in London where he developed an interest in cycling from an early age. He first started racing at Herne Hill Velodrome at the age of 12.
At the age of 20 he competed in his first Olympics winning bronze in the team pursuit.
By the Athens Olympics of 2004, Bradley had become won of the leading track pursuiters and he won Gold in the 4,000 Km pursuit, silver in the team sprint and a bronze with Rob Hayles in the team Madison. His tally of 3 medals has rarely been accomplished by any British Olympian. Shortly afterwards he was awarded an OBE. Despite his success, Bradley remains modest, speaking of his success to BBC he said:
“I was told a medal was still possible but this sort of thing only happens to other people. I never thought this could happen to me.”
Bradley became a full time professional cyclist in 2001, riding for the short lived Linda McCartney team. He has also ridden for Francais de Jeux, Credit Agricole and Cofidis. Success on the road has proved more difficult than on the track. However, 2007 saw a good Tour de France, finishing 4th in the prologue time trial and staging a long lone break on stage 6, where he was out in front for most of the day. Unfortunately for Bradley, his team, Cofidis were forced to later leave the tour when teammate Christian Moreni failed a drugs test. Helped by the ethos of British cycling, Bradley has developed a good reputation for discouraging the use of doping in the professional scene.
Speaking of the pressure involved in being a cyclist, with so much riding on 4-10 minutes, Bradley remains philosophical about the pressures involved.
”I’ve learnt to deal with it because if you stick to the truth it’s actually clear and simple. It’s just a case of going from point A to B as fast as you can. Why be overawed by the occasion - just because you’ve got a chance to win the opening stage of the world’s biggest race or because three million people are watching on television?” source: Guardian
In the 2008, World Track Championships, Bradley won Gold in the 4km Pursuit, he was also a member of the world record breaking team pursuit, who set a new record.
In 2008, Bradley is riding for team High Pursuit.
Bradley Takes success in his stride at BBC
(My claim to fame is beating Bradley Wiggins in a race. It was the Bec hill climb in 2006. I think Bradley was asked to come and give out the prizes and so he agreed to race as well. However, I should point out that I saw him ride up the climb in his training gear with water bottle e.t.c. I think he was just doing a bit of training. Nevertheless it is still nice to have a full time professional come to local races.)
Bradley Wiggins on Track
Picture: top: Bradley Wiggins riding in 2007 Prologue Time Trial, source wikipedia
June 17th, 2008 — us-
We may never know for certain, if Lance Armstrong took performance enhancing drugs. There has been intense scrutiny and speculation, but, nothing has ever been proved on a legal basis.
These are some of the circumstantial factors around the issue.
[1] Simeoni and Armstrong Spat at Tour
[2] EPO test at 1999 Tour de France
[3] Strong Arm tactics at Scotsman
Lance Armstrong Links
Doping Issues in Cycling
June 17th, 2008 — hrm-
Similar to the Polar FS1. The FS2 offers a simple no frills heart rate monitor with simple navigation and one button for changing modes. In addition to showing heart rate monitor. The FS2 can set an alarmed target training zone and record average heart rate and exercise time. Some users have criticised the limitations of a one button navigation system. e.g. if you try to illuminate at night you have to go through various options. At £42.99, it is not the cheapest entry level HRM on the market; also for a small jump in price you can get a model with more options.
Related Heart Rate Monitors
June 17th, 2008 — hrm-
The Polar FS1 is a simple but elegant heart rate monitor from Polar, the leading manufacture of heart rate monitors .
Features of the Polar FS1
Polar developed this model by using features from the old F1 and F3. The main feature is the ability to use target zones with either audio or visual alarms. It records exercise time and can give average heart rates and time in the zone. It can also be used as a stop watch. For those looking for a basic watch to give an accurate heart rate this heart rate monitor will fulfill all the functions. The big question is whether Polar offer good value for money. If you want a basic heart rate, there are several alternatives which do the same functions for half the price. To some extent you are paying for the brand name of Polar, although if you do buy a Polar FS1 you are unlikely to have any complaints.
June 17th, 2008 — us-
The life and career of Lance Armstrong is quite extraordinary. Lance has won the Tour De France, the toughest and most prestigious cycling event for 7 consecutive years 1999 –2005. What makes this record even more remarkable is his well documented recovery from a near fatal attack of cancer. Lance recovered from this painful experience to become, against all expectations the most successful cyclist of his generation.
Lance was brought up by his Mother in Plano, Texas (his father left his mother at an early age). In his early years Lance was a very successful triathalete and would spend many hours training on his bike in the pool and running.However after training with the US Olympic development squad Lance concentrated on cycling. His rise in the amateur ranks appeared effortless, and Lance qualified for the junior world championships in Moscow in 1989. By 1991 he was the U.S. National Amateur Champion and soon after turned professional. In his pre cancer days Lance Armstrong was mainly known as a fearsome one day racer. His crowning moment of triumph came in the 1993 World Championship Race in a rain sodden Helsinki. Lance survived the numerous crashes of the race and hung on to win become World Road Race Champion. Lance started the 1996 year ranked number 1 cyclist in the World.
However during that year of Lance felt his performance unexpectedly drop for no apparent reason. After many tests Lance was diagnosed with having a form of prostrate cancer and was given a 40% of recovery. After a prolonged and painful process of chemotherapy Lance managed to overcome the cancer and slowly came back to health. Lance wanted to revive his cycling career but perhaps not unexpectedly the top teams were unwilling to take a risk.
However Lance was given a break by the US postal team, which proved to be a remarkably judicious decision. Therefore in 1998 Lance returned to the professional ranks, although he nearly quit after having to drop out of the Paris Nice Stage race in early spring. However Lance merely needed more time and by the start of the 1999 season was starting to show good form again. In fact the cancer meant Lance Armstrong had lost some weight on his upper body. This loss of muscle mass proved to be a blessing in disguise in the sense that Lance was now more competitive in the mountains. This often proved to be the decisive stage in his Tour victories.
Throughout his comeback Lance has been the subject to many accusations about drug taking. To be fair Lance has never failed a drugs test nor has any convincing evidence been produced. Many of this accusations stem from the fact Lance has become Cycling’s first superstar, his career and private life have been subject to enormous scrutiny. Nevertheless it does remain the case that professional cycling has yet to prove it has a clean bill of health and some argue Lance was ill advised to use the controversial trainer, Michele Ferrari. M.Ferrari was recently convicted of sporting fraud for advising some clients to use performance enhancing drugs. However since his conviction Lance has dropped M. Ferrari as a trainer.
Lance Armstrong was the first cyclist to win 6 Tour De France’s beating legendary names such as Miguel Indurain, Jaques Anquetil and Eddy Merckx. Some argue however that Armstrong does not have a complete palmeres, apart from the Tour he has won relatively few races. Also compared to riders such as Merckx Lance races relatively few races, concentrating all his effort on the Tour. However cycling has changed with an influx of riders from new countries, more money e.t.c. It has become much more competitive and much more difficult to be in contention for races all year round. The Tour remains the most lucrative and prestigious event, to win it 7 consecutive times could be one of sport’s greatest achievements let alone cycling’s greatest achievements.
As well as cycling Lance Armstrong is active in promoting his charitable trust The Lance Armstrong Foundation which helps raise money for cancer. The yellow wrist band “Live Strong” have proved remarkably popular starting many similar wristbands. It is uncertain what he will do in the future at one stage it was thought he may attempt to set a new World Hour Record
Since retiring from cycling Lance Armstrong recently ran the New York marathon on Nov 5th 2006. His finishing time 2 hours, 59 minutes and 36 seconds. In the last half of the race he said he suffered a lot saying
“I think I bit off more than I could chew, I thought the marathon would be easier,”
It is likely Lance will continue to look for new challenges and will probably try to improve on this time
In September 2008, Lance announced a return to procycling. Aged 37, he thinks he has a realistic chance of challenging for overall victory in the Tour de France in 2009. Lance said part of his motivation is to prove his doubters that he never took performance enhancing drugs.
Other Sites about Lance Armstrong
June 17th, 2008 — british-
One of the World’s leading female track cyclists, Victoria Pendleton is one of Britain’s leading hopes for an Olympic gold medal. Since graduating with a degree in sports science from Newcastle University, Victoria has had a meteoric rise to the top of track cycling, become a key member of Britain’s successful track team.
More on Victoria Pendleton
Victoria Pendleton featured in the Times
Victoria Pendleton was named sportswoman of the year by the association of Sports Journalists
As well as gaining recognition on the track, Victoria has gained a high profile through a couple of glamorous photo shoots. The first photo showed her in an attractive black dress on a Lotus bike. It was certainly a different perspective on a track cyclist, - where tight fitting lycra and bulging muscles are more common. Speaking about the photo shoot, Victoria said:
“I knew when I did the shoot it would stir up opinion, people would be for or against, but I don’t regret the picture at all… Actually I was quite please with the picture, people could see what I am about, that I am not just a track cyclist.” (Daily Telegraph interview 26/03/08)
More recently, Victoria agreed to pose for the Guardian newspaper magazine in a shot reminiscent of a former photo of Lance Armstrong. - Wearing no clothes, but strategically taken.
More on Victoria Pendleton
Video of Victoria Pendleton winning Gold in World Championships
Cycling Info Blog
