Sponsored Cycle Racing Teams and Poaching

Sponsored Teams

It's that time of the year when folks are putting together their cycle racing teams for next year. At professional level we hear about it in the cycling press, and it probably sounds quite exciting to know who the Schlek brothers or Bradley Wiggins will be riding for.

At local level just as much machinations go on as well.

I guess the difference is that the team may just be "sponsored" by Joe's Energy drink which offers riders the chance to pay £30 a year, spend oodles on their snazzy kit for the sake of riding as part of a competitive team where you get told where you should race, how you should race (more often than not, for someone else), and any prize money you happen to win doesn't go to you but to "the team coffers." Oh and you will have to do national level races which are ages away from home but you just make your own way there, and you will have to stay in the chosen "team hotel" which will end up quite expensive as that's the only one which will accommodate all the riders, Directeur Sportives, sponsor representatives, with Uncle Tom Cobley and all! But hey, none of that's a problem. You're in a sponsored team wearing kit that makes you look like you're a somebody in the cycle racing world, so why should you complain? After all, as part of the deal you get free inner tubes and 10% off labour when you bring your bike to their shop that's 50 miles away!

Yes, local sponsored teams are not always what they're cracked up to be. There are a number of ordinary cycling clubs that offer more!

So, my clubmate Deborah has been approached by one such "sponsored team", Gels Incorporated. She is quite new to racing and had quite a promising first season in 2010. Naturally, she is thrilled and flattered to have been approached by this lot, and is considering leaving our club.

As women's captain in the club I would be sorry to see her go, but I am not one of these people who gets all possessive about riders. I like to look to the future and I feel confident that our club will have other good riders coming up through the ranks. It has to be said though, that Deborah is a strong, keen rider and an all-round nice woman. I was looking forward to racing with her next year.



Poaching

A few things are bugging me about Deborah being approached by the sponsored team:

I find the guy who is running Gels Inc, Jake, a little dodgy and not altogether honest to me. I got to know of him last year when he expressed a wish to organise a women's cycle race at Hillingdon on the same day as the Smithfield Nocturne - a London Women's League event, and a big day on the racing calendar. British Cycling pointed this clash out to him, but he still went ahead and organised the race.

Some time afterwards he told me about how he was disppointed at the low turn-out of women at his race. He omitted to say that he organised the race on the same day as one of the biggest cycle racing events in London, and preferred to make it sound like women just couldn't be bothered to turn out.

When he told me he was forming a women's team he said that it was disappointing how no women had come forward to join his team. But yet, as someone who reads the cycling press I have not seen a single press release or advert appealing for women riders to join their team.

He has described the team that he was forming as a "feeder" team for the professional Horizon Fitness women's team - the number one UK team. My understanding is that Horizon recruit women from everywhere, not from any specific team. Technically, all racing teams are feeder teams to Horizon Fitness!

Finally, Jake said that his team would be composed of women who race but find themselves to be the sole racer in their club. Deborah is one of seven women who do road racing in my club. We have raced the team series and the London Women's Cycle Racing league. Although we didn't threaten the top riders we have still had a presence and by no means can Deborah be described as the sole rider.

What I also find galling is the fact that Jake spent time discussing with me his intentions and then goes on to poach a rider from my own club where I am the women's captain!!

I don't want to sound precious about my clubmates being approached, but I do think that this behaviour is described as sly to say the least!

Which brings me on to him approaching Deborah.

Deborah is new to racing and probably doesn't really know what constitutes a good or a not-so-good sponsorship deal. I guess if anyone walks up to her and says words like "racing team", "sponsor", "team training session" and/or "team tactics" in the same sentence cycle racing suddenly sounds sexier, and new riders who don't know everything that's out there can be easily tempted away.

It seems like that's what Jake has done.

When I asked him what sponsorship deal they offer their riders, what he described didn't sound like a very good deal. It was very much like what I've described above, though of course he gave it more positive packaging!
The other thing which I don't think is particularly good is that he said that he would expect one of the riders in Gels Inc to be a team manager, deputizing to him. He would be out and about with sponsors so would be too busy to be getting on with the day-to-day running of the team. He would therefore like one of the maturer more experienced members of the team to double up in the role as sponsored racer and team manager! And you still have to pay your way to do all this!

I note that some of the women Jake has recruited so far are quite young, probably of an age that would be appealing to Horizon Fitness if they were looking for new recruits. Deborah is not a youth or an under 23 - in fact she is nearer to my 41 years than the young'uns who do top flight cycling. I am therefore concerned that he may be keen on her not only because of her racing abilities but also so that he could lumber her with the role of "de facto" team manager. Now that's not so appealing.

I understand that he approached one woman, a very fast veteran track racer from Willesden CC and she turned down the offer. He is therefore probably doing the rounds of all "women of a certain age" and Deborah is one of them. Should she still be flattered?

I feel bad because when Deborah excitedly told me the news via email and asked my opinion, I gave a brief reply along the lines of do what you feel is best for you and make sure you are happy with the deal you are getting. I suppose I didn't want to sound like I was being possessive or bitchy.
In hindsight, and also on the advice of my other half, I think I should have just told her the above. After all, if she is so new she probably doesn't know what a good/bad deal is.

For instance, non-sponsored clubs like Dulwich Paragon contribute towards travel expenses, Surrey League pay entry fees to National Team Series races, London Dynamo pay entry fees and travel expenses. Sponsored teams Mule Bar Girls and Rapha Condor Ladies gave free items of kit and contributed towards race entry fees last season. Gels Inc give nothing - well actually, a couple of inner tubes and an unpaid part-time job! In short it seems like life would be alot easier and more pleasant if one stayed with their regular club than ran off after this! I think I should have a word with Deborah......

Finally, I feel like I can do something right!

Well, not sure how I would define "right" but in terms of me taking part in local sports competitions, for me that means gettting a result which is respectable. It doesn't even have to be a win. It just means finishing in a time or a position that is not in last place, or one of the last few finishers. It means getting a result which looks like you trained a little and took the competition at least half seriously.

I finished 134th out of 372 runners in the cross country running race yesterday. I completed the 6.5km course in 28mins 1s. The winner did 20mins 48s. That doesn't sound like a result to set the world on fire but then again the last finisher took more than 52 minutes, and I beat a couple of women who completely trounce me in the cycle races. So I am pleased with my result.

This sort of thing is good for me as I sometimes get pretty fed up when I turn up at cycle race after cycle race and come last or 2nd or 3rd last. It gets abit tiresome and quite demoralising. Of late my goal has been to not come last. Many times I have failed to achieved that. And in a few cases not only did I finish last but I finished way off the back, like even a lap down on the person who finished in 2nd last position.

The irony of the result that I achieved yesterday is these days I don't consider myself to be a runner. I describe myself as a cyclist. True, running is the sport that I first took up and have done it since a very young age, but these days I don't do any specific running training. I run 5km once or twice a week to keep my weight down, but I don't do any hill reps, track sessions or fartlek. I spend much more time in the cycling environment. I ride my bike to work, I go on the rollers and the turbo trainer when I'm home, I even go through phases of doing intervals and hill reps. I have done lots of cyclo sportives and long distance bike rides. But for some reason my cycling efforts just don't seem to convert into anything useful in a race. Or at least that's how it feels.

Last week's cyclo cross race had a field of 41 women of various levels from all around the country. I finished in 39th place. One of the women who finished behind me was a team mate who had suffered with stomach cramps during the race so was obliged to slow right down. So in reality I would have finished 2nd last. I rode the course as though it was my first ever cyclo cross race. I had no confidence. When I finished the race I was not out of breath because part way through I couldn't see the point in riding hard only to lose places by falling down, failing to remount the bike properly or just generally making an ass of myself on the corners.

I felt ashamed to see the guy who first got me into cyclo cross in 2003 watching me ride no better than I did all those years ago. When he arranged the London teams to ride the Inter-Area Champs back then I finished 2nd last - just like last Sunday. "You may not believe it," I said to him, "but I do actually train, honest." And I just skulked away feeling like a laughing stock and a complete failure.

I have had these feelings on more than one occasion after a cycle race, and I have really begun to develop a complex where I believe that many riders won't give me the time of the day now because they don't see me as someone who can be bothered with their racing if I'm turning up week in, week out with a poor run of results.

So, finishing the way I did yesterday at the Surrey League cross country race at Denbies Vineyard was a real boost to my sporting ego. It made me feel that I could do something reasonably well. I don't train much for running, but yet I am able to pull out respectable results in the races. This is the sweetspot that I need every now and again to keep me soldiering on and persevering! Hopefully, this "can do" feeling will seep into the cycling aspect of my training.

London Women's Cyclo Cross is the new road racing

It's that time of year when most of the cycling I do is on the muddy stuff. I usually commute to work by bicycle so I do put in 15 miles a day going into Central London and back, but in terms of the club cycling I do, it's mainly about off-road riding, and in particular the London Cyclo Cross league.

When I first started taking part in the league I really enjoyed it. It was not so sharp end like the road races. It was relatively low key, but alot of people took part as it was seen as being accessible. The range of abilities was wide, and people who weren't that fit could have a go. The fact that it was laps of an off-road course meant that spectators couldn't tell where you were in the race compared with others. So you didn't have to suffer the embarrassment of everyone watching you come last! Also people could ride any off-road bike they had. Most people rode cyclo cross bikes, but many had  mountain bikes and even there were a few people on bmx bikes! It didn't matter.

In short, cyclo cross league was a chance to play around in the mud at speed on your bike, but it didn't really matter where you finished in the field. You had a chinwag with your fellow competitors and then you went home, looking forward to the next one.
I have never been particularly strong at cyclo cross, but a couple of times I have finished 4th in the league. One year I even finished 2nd.

Nowadays it's all different. Among the women, cyclo cross is just seen as an extension of the road racing season - except that we are off-road. Everyone shows up on a cross bike. More and more are using tubular tyres with their racing wheels, and they are bringing spares for the pits. A few even have spare bikes. That was something you only really saw at National Trophy races rather than at local league races.

What is really striking is people are doing specific training sessions to prepare for this - turbo trainer intervals, off-road training rides, some have even taken up running!

So now, when I race a London Cyclo cross league race I am lucky to get in the top 5 out of 10 women. More often than not I am one of the last finishers. Yet I'm riding faster now than I did back then. Someone has changed the game. It's like in musical chairs when they go from taking away one chair when the music stops, to taking away three! It's quite disheartening at times and I almost why I should bother with this anymore. Thing is I enjoy doing cyclo cross races and I shouldn't be put off by the arrival of a number of really fast women. Ultimately I will continue to do the races as long as I enjoy them, but to be honest it is a shame that the romance of just taking part in the hour-long challenge is not enough. People have to put up Twitter entries about their power outputs, analyse their techniques on a video, check the British Cycling rankings and have a distinct race plan when the whistle goes.

Admittedly, this serious training paid off for the London team. At the recent Inter-Area Cyclos cross champs London had more women present than any of the areas in the country. Our A team finised in second position out of 11 teams in a 40-strong field of women. One of the members of our London B team also finished in the top 10.

It shouldn't be a surprise that the competive girls where the ones who ended up with the medals, I wasn't one of them! That was great for London and I'm really plesed for the girls. However, I can't help thinking that we are losing the salt of the earth end of local cyclo cross racing as this is all getting put aside in order to use the 'cross races as a warm-up to National Trophy races, which are in turn the foundation of the roa racing season. Then I really will feel under pressure to "make the cut" - which I invariably don't.

The men have a hard edge competitive end to the sport, but they have a laughing group end as well. The women don't seem to have that. Hopefully this is issue is just a phase that will fizzle out, and some of the women will go back to plain old playing in the mud, with our British Cycling points tally being the last thing on our minds!

Quick Word on the Rest of the Weekend

Sunday 22^nd August was actually an easy cycle day. We rode up to Vence via an area called the Hauts de Cagnes. Cagnes sur Mer is divided into 3 areas. There’s the part by the sea, Cagnes sur Mer, then there’s Cros de Cagnes, slightly further in and then there’s Haut de Cagnes at the top of a very steep hill that we went up. I hadn’t been expecting to ride up such a steep hill so early on in the ride! The photo Fred took of me was one of shell-shock!

The ride into Vence was quite straight forward. It’s only about 10 miles if that – maybe 12 miles, it’s quite easy to find. We took the long way round because we wanted to ride around the suburbs of Vence, which is quite a spread out town. Once we reached the historical centre we found it to be a very picturesque artistic town. There were a lot of people there on an afternoon out looking at the buildings etc so we stopped and had a little lunch there before heading back to Nice via La Garde and St Jeannet, plus other little picturesque villages. It was quite a pleasant afternoon. I think it was a good antidote for both of us from the previous day. I had spent the whole week riding through France, and Fred who had probably not had much sleep the previous day, trying to get to Nice from London.

Once we returned to Nice we sunbathed for a while on one of the private beaches attached to a bar. It’s always much more pleasant than the public beaches in Nice. At least you’ve got somewhere reasonably nice to sit and it’s quite secluded and neater. You can relax more than being piled towel to towel up against loads of screaming kids and families!

The following day, Monday 23rd, we rode quite a long way. We had thought of riding up to Sospel ski resort but we didn’t get that far. What we did do was long enough anyway.  We set off on our usual Grand Corniche route which is always very pleasant, though I always underestimate how tough it is to get up those inland slopes! There's also the col d'Eze to get up during the ride. The ride is always very rewarding though on account of the views over the coast and the various villages and Monaco. We didn’t go into Monaco. We got as far as La Turbie and then turned up North, away from the sea and went to a small town called Peille. This involved more climbing and we also went up to a place called St Agnes which involved going over the col de Madone de Gorbio. This is apparently a well known climb as it’s the one that Lance Armstrong uses to train on when he’s in the cote d’Azur. I don’t think there’s anything massively special about it, but it’s just the fact that Lance does this climb so everyone now does it, and it’s got a cachet. Admittedly it is a good climb to train on, but it’s no nicer than any of the other climbs in that area. In terms of difficulty, it’s like a long version of Box Hill. It’s probably a climb you could train up at speed and hurt yourself on, though in absolute terms it’s not that steep.

So we went from Peille to St Agnes and then it was a long quiet road to get to the col de Braus. This road is marked on the map as not very well maintained. In some areas it was actually a decent road with a decent surface, but there were other areas where it turned to dirt roads for off road bikes. In fact if we had wanted to ride the col de Castillon to get to Sospel, which was not far away we would have been on an off-road trail – what Italians would call a strada biancha. So we were on a road with a reasonable surface. It was very quiet and on single carriageway. We may have only seen two cars over the 10-12 miles that it we rode. It was all uphill, but it was very gentle climbing. There were probably 3 cols that we crested, but none of them were long or onerous.

Then, just when we were thinking “this is brilliant riding on decent quality roads” we hit a dirt track. Oh dear, we had around 4 or 5 miles of this to get through to reach the col de Braus. It wasn’t particularly hilly but it was a dirt track with lots of stones and potholes and I was just worried about getting a puncture. At least Fred had turned up on his cross bike with hard wearing tyres. I was on my cross bike but with smooth road tyres. I just wasn’t in the mood to be dealing with punctures especially as it was coming up for 6pm.

So we pressed on to the dirt track. Fred kept suggesting we turn back and maybe ride to Menton and catch the train to Nice. But I really wanted to ride over the col de Braus because I was looking forward to the descent. It’s one of the best you can get. The hairpins look impressive from a visual and photographic point of view, so we continued anyway and I managed to get through it without any problems or punctures. We went down the col de Braus. For Fred it was a real joy for him and he just couldn’t believe the road he was on. The hairpins were literally just stacked on top of each other. The descents were quite steep – between 12 and 15% in gradient on the hairpins. It was a real whizz down! I’d forgotten just how good the descent was. I’d say that’s one of the best descents you can do on a road bike. There’s a real adrenaline rush and in fact we barely did any pedalling from the summit until we reached Nice. It took about an hour to get from the heart of the mountains at over 1000m, into the suburbs of Nice. This descent failed to disappoint! Once in the surburbs we had to pick our way to the centre of Nice. I’d forgotten how busy and sprawled out this town is. I guess it’s no different to riding in any major city. We reached the Promenade des Anglais, just at sunset – around 7.30pm. It had been a long day but we were pleased we had done it.

Our last day in Nice, Tuesday 24^th was spent riding along La Basse Corniche, the coast road, to reach Monaco. It was a nice ride but it’s not an adrenaline rush. The road is slightly busy and once we got into Monaco it was a bit of an anticlimax. There was a lot of traffic and not much fun to ride through as a cyclist, with all the various busy tunnels as seen in the Forumula One races!  I guess you do there more because it’s gotta be seen. We returned to Nice, sunbathed a little and then rode back to the airport to get our flight to London.