80 | Cycling World
Putting My Cycling
Skills to the Test
By Suzanna Hayes-Goldfinch
B
ack in the Editor’s etter of my very first issue of
Cycling World (April 2017), I may have mentioned
that I was looking to increase the amount of
time I spent in the saddle. While I have managed
to squeeze in the odd cycle-ride with the kids here and
there, I haven’t improved anywhere near as much as I
would like. also mentioned that when I did get on my bike, I would
usually be cycling for the whole day). He seemed shocked
at my admission, as I expected, but went on to ask me
about my current fitness
erked u
So, when was offered the chance to head u to the ee
Valley Velodrome, the same Velodrome that Olympic
athletes from all over the world whizzed round back in
2012 and still holds some big events for professional
cyclists, including last year’s UCI Championships, I jumped
at the chance. The idea was, that Rob Mortlock, head
coach at the venue, would ut me through a fitness and
performance test in the VeloStudio and I could see what
aspects of my cycling form I needed to work on. Then Rob ex lained that they had three fitness tests, and
that we would be doing the middle one. “We could do the
lower test, but think you’re far too fit for that.
As the date drew nearer, I started to become nervous.
hat exactly would my session involve
ould be fit
enough to do everything that was ex ected of me fter
all, as the head coach of such a prestigious velodrome,
r ortlock would surely be used to working with finely
tuned athletes.
I needn’t have worried. Rob put me at ease straight away,
explaining exactly what the test comprised of, and how
it would be carried out. Firstly, he asked me a number
of questions, including my age, height and weight. Then
came the loaded questions: “How many years have you
been cycling at your current level
How often do you
cycle a week
hat are your goals
Feeling slightly ashamed, I admitted that I was looking
to up my cycling frequency, but that I had been cycling
leisurely for around three years, maybe once a month (I
“I run three times a week, yoga almost every day, and
add in the odd HIIT session too,” I smiled.
Immediately I regretted telling him about the running.
re you sure
asked, ’m not that fit
gnoring me, he ad usted my att ike to fit, and asked
me to jump on. We synced up my heart rate monitor with
the bike, and it gave a reading of 131. “Do you usually
have a high resting heart-rate he asked, u led.
We came to the conclusion that my heart rate monitor
hadn’t adjusted itself properly yet, as it kept jumping
between numbers. The final reading that we agreed was
probably the most reliable was 88.
Then Rob settled me in to the warm up. Resistance was
set at , and was to cycle at r m. Easy confidently
chatted away while maintaining my speed. In front of
me, a big screen showed some uneven circles, which Rob
explained were monitoring the pressure on the pedals.
He said I had a very ‘peanut-y’ shape, which was typical
of amateur riders, and that I needed to make the circles
larger and more even. Basically, when I was pushing the
edal forward and down with my feet, it was fine, but
then I was removing the pressure, where I should actually
be dragging my heel more to maintain the control. He