2nd Half of the Season

It’s funny how things can change in a few weeks.

Last time I updated you on what was going on, things were going really well, great performances at the World Cup and the C1 event, and world leading times in both.

2 weeks after the C1 event in Manchester, I was pinning a number on my back again, this time swapping my GB skinsuit for that of my own team Para-T, it was time for the National Championships.

First up was the 1km Time Trial, my event and as such I had the honor of pulling on the rainbow bands as current World Champion. Having done a few kilo’s this year I was looking forward to the race and keen to try some things I’d been working on in training to build from my previous performances. However, after 250m that plan went out of the window. As it was nationals they run the 1km TT as a head to head, with your opponent starting on the opposite side of the track, sadly for me my fellow competitor wasn’t as fast as the athletes I usually race on the world stage, and to my surprise as I came into the home straight to complete my 1st lap, there was my opponent, my closing speed was probably over 20km/h different and I made an big evasive maneuver to overtake him into turn 1. This compromised my race, as this is the one place you want to be smooth, fast and nailed to the black line, as it set’s you up for the remainder of the race, and is also where you hit peak speed. In the end I settled into a good rhythm and powered on to the finish, in a time of 1:05.185. With the multiple classifications at nationals, my time after factoring was good enough for Silver behind Kadeena Cox. 

In the evening I was back on track in the flying 200m time trial, an event that we don’t get to race often, but a good one to see how much top end speed you have. This for me was one of the best rides I’ve done in quite some time, as I did a big PB of 10.485 seconds. This was good enough to take the Gold medal in the event, but also take the World Record in the event too, considering the phase of training I was in, this was very satisfying.

With a successful nationals behind me, I was looking forward to the final run in to the World Championships, and it was clear I was in a better place than I’d been for many years, and excited with the prospect of what I could do once tapered and racing for the Stripes.

With 4 weeks to go, everything changed. In a freak occurrence, a mistake, a misinterpretation and extremely bad luck, somehow, I managed to find myself in the direct firing line of the sprint Tandem Pairing of Matt Rotherham and Neil Fachie, who were at full speed finishing their effort on track, they hit me and my coach at 66km/h.

Miraculously, we all escaped in relatively one piece.  My coach was worse off, breaking his scapula and dislocating his elbow. I ended up taking most of the impact in my left lower back and kidney area.

The next 4 weeks I was having daily physio, working through goals that would get me to the start line in Apeldoorn for the Worlds.

Week 1’s goal was to get back on the bike, and able to do some efforts seated. Week 2 was to get back on track and get to appoint that I could get out of the saddle and put some power down. Week 3 progress the out of saddle accelerations until I was able to do a standing start. Week 4 was to bring it all together and go through all the phases I needed to be able to race (Start, Acceleration, Top Speed).

By the time Worlds came around I actually felt ready to race, physically everything was working without pain, and I thought it would be possible to pull something out of the bag, as even though I’d miss a few crucial phases of training everything seemed to be going pretty well.

However, the morning of travel to Apeldoorn, fate would decide I needed something else to deal with, and I had that familiar feeling of a scratchiness in my throat. 9 times out of 10 means I’m coming down with a cold, sure enough, even after topping up on my essential vitamins and taking Zinc lozenges to keep the cold at bay and reduce the symptoms I sat on the start line full of illness.

Competition day was a disorganised affair, especially for a World Championships. The start gate causing the majority of the technical delays, by the time I was due to race I think we were 2 hours behind schedule.

Finally though it was time to see what I had, and the time to beat was Jozef Metelka’s 1:06.477. I got out of the start gate cleanly, and up to speed and into a rhythm quickly, by the end of the first lap I was feeling pretty strong, but as the race continued I started to fatigue really quickly, at this point I was just trying to use my experience over the years to get to the line as smoothly and speedily as possible, the last thing you need is to panic as from experience it tends to slow you even quicker.

I crossed the line in 1.05.422, enough to take the rainbow bands, but I felt exhausted although in a weird way I didn’t feel like I got everything out in the race. I put that down to the cold and not being able to breathe and go as hard as is physically possible.

This was my 16th World Title in Para-Cycling and my 11th straight 1km Time Trial victory and considering the run in I’d had to the championships you would think I would have been over the moon. However, I was disappointed in my performance, I didn’t feel it reflected my true form, and it was only 15th fastest kilo I’d ever done, it was weird to feel so negative on the podium. On reflection I’m still disappointed, but importantly I didn’t lose, and I have many things I can learn from in the run up to this competition.

After the kilo I wasn’t due to race until day 4, this time I’d be lining up with Jon Allan Butterworth and Louis Rolfe again to defend our World Title in the mixed team sprint. With a few days recovery I hoped that my cold symptoms would have subsided, but this was a stubborn cold, and I felt pretty similar on the start line compared to the kilo. Thankfully all the technical issues had been ironed out by day 4 and the competition was running much smoother.

There were a number of teams who’d raised their game and will certainly be contenders in Tokyo, but it was our main rivals over the past few years, China, that had posted the time to challenge in qualifying. Our opening ride together went well, taking the top spot by just 2/10ths of a second. Things were all to play for in the final.

In the final the Chinese team bought in fresh legs as they replaced their man1 rider for another even faster rider, we kept our line up the same. This tactical move paid off, as the Chinese flew around the track, taking 4/10ths off their morning ride and to edge GBR into the silver medal by 0.245. As disappointed as we were to only manage Silver, it was the fastest time we’ve ridden all season, and we improved from heat to final, we were just beaten by the better team on the day, their time would have been good enough to win every World Championships and Paralympics before us, we are the only team to have ridden faster.

So that was my season done and dusted, a proper mixed bag. Some great rides early on in the season at the World Cup and C1 events, and a WR at the National championships. Then having to fight injury and illness just to make it to the start line, but I’ve come away with a World title and I have plenty of experiences to learn from as I get ready for the 2019/2020 season which starts in November.

This summer is all about getting all the background work done ahead of next season and most importantly enjoy riding my bike. To that extent I’ll be hitting the trails on my MTB to keep everything fresh, and taking on a 3 day coast to coast ride in July, which is going to be a pretty epic challenge considering I think 3hours is the longest I’ve ridden on my MTB, but it should be good fun!, My coach and I also have plenty of ideas to keep me busy and motivated during this period,, and although it feels like I have loads of time to be ready for next year there before I know it we’ll be on the final run in to Tokyo, so need to make sure every pedal rev on the bike counts.

Catch you all in the summer as I update you on how it’s all going.

2018/19 Season Kicks Off

The 2018-19 season started a few weeks back at the UCI London World Cup, a bit of a historic event within ParaCycling as it was the first ParaCycling competition integrated into an able-bodied World Cup, and hopefully the start of further events being integrated in the future.
First up was the team sprint qualifying, riding in the World Champion stripes alongside Louis Rolfe and Jon Allan Butterworth. Team USA had set the bench mark time, as we took to the track Louis got
us under way in front of the partisan crowd, Jon took us up to top speed on his lap, and then I finished the race off to cross the line in the fastest time of 49.925, just fractions of a second outside our gold medal ride from the world championships in March, and the perfect way to start our 2018-
19 season.
After a few hours break I was back on the bike, and in the start gate, racing the 1km Time Trial. The last time I’d raced the 1km TT in London was back in 2012, when I famously rode all of 10m and was denied a restart. Hopefully it would go better this time.
In a head to head heat with fellow GB athlete Jaco van Gass, I got a really clean start from the back straight and was quickly up to speed. As the laps ticked by, everything I’d been doing in training was kicking in, and I felt pretty strong, I crossed the line and looked up at the scoreboard to see my time, it looked like a 1:04 something, but the clock didn’t’ stop. It would take another 20minutes until the results were official, and I could finally celebrate, and the medal presentation could take place. Officially the time was 1:04.654, one of the best times I’ve ridden at sea level, and as a first kilo of the year, a great place to build from. Joining me on the podium were Christopher Murphy (USA) and Jon Gildea (GBR).
A quick drug test and back to the hotel for some food before it was back the velodrome for the final, the atmosphere was electric with approximately 4000 people in the stands, and with us riding for GB, 99.9% of the support was for us which was pretty special to experience that kind of support
again. We managed to beat Team USA in the final, although not quite as quick as the morning, we certainly had a lot to be happy about.
I hope that the powers that be enjoyed the ParaCycling events as much as the riders competing did, and this integration becomes a regular event.
Christmas is always a funny time for athletes, especially track cyclists, as it always falls slap bang in the middle of when you want to get some hard work done, but every year I manage to balance family life, and training as best as possible, and I believe I got some good work done during the
festivities this year and also managed not to over indulge too much.
This would be important as the next race on the calendar was the Manchester International ParaCycling, and this was during the 2nd weekend of January.
For this event I was going to be training straight through, unlike the World Cup where I’d rested and tapered specifically for. Having had some big sessions in the week prior to the competition it was going to be interesting to see how this affected my race and form.
Before the ride even started I had issues! I managed to snap my cleat on my cycling leg in the warmup. A quick panic remembering where I’d put my spare leg, and a quick change and I was all set. Thankfully I broke it with about 10mins spare.
In the start gate I had a proper brain fart and messed the countdown ahead of my start! Who would have thought counting down from 5 was so hard! By the time the gun went I was in completely the wrong phase of my start, and I felt like I was stationary for the longest time (it was only 0.44seconds,
but compared to 0.15 or so of a normal start it felt like ages!), before all of a sudden I was off. After which normality kicked in and I got on with the job of riding the Kilo! I felt pretty good through the ride, but as the last laps were kicking in I could feel the previous days efforts in my legs. I crossed the line in 1:04.614.
Surprisingly a little quicker than the London World Cup, and in less than favourable conditions, so really happy with the way things are going at the moment. I took the win ahead of Alfonso Cabello (ESP) and Jon Gildea (GBR).
The final day of competition and it was an early start for the Team Sprint. With Louis Rolfe out of the competition through illness we had a late addition to the team Matthew Robertson. Qualifying went surprisingly well, with Matthew setting a big PB on his opening lap and handing over to myself and Jon Allan Butterworth to finish off. We qualified in a very respectable time of 50.512, only fractions of a second outside of our time from the London World Cup. We were going to be up against the GB
B team as they had narrowly edged out the World bronze medallists Spain to qualify 2nd.
After the ride my coach realised that I’d been under geared, a silly error that rarely happens, but one of those little things I over looked by not checking my bike prior to racing like I do at every other
competition.
In the final, with the right gear on, Matty got us up to speed with another PB for his opening lap, I was quickly onto Jon and feeling really good behind him before making a run at him in the final
corner and into the final lap. The larger gear helped as I reached the final turn and acorss the finish line. WOW 49.844, we’d taken a big chunk of our qualifying time to take the win from the GB B team.
All in all it’s been a fantastic start to the 2018-19 season, and I’m looking forward to the national championships here in Manchester in 2 weeks time, before completing the run in to the World Champs in Apeldoorn March 14th -17th.

2017 World Championship Thoughts

 

Happy new year everyone.

Over the last few days you may have caught me on the TV or on the Radio in relation to the last-minute announcement of a World Championships in LA from the 2nd-5th of March.

I thought I’d put down my thoughts on “paper” to make sure nothing is missed and that with editing my comments don’t get taken out of context.

 

Firstly, the positives, because at the end of the day I can’t be down beat all the time, I’ll be getting a reputation that I’m always moaning about Para-Cycling and the UCI.

 

It’s great that US Olympic/Paralympic Cycling have decided to organise a World Championships, to tie these in with the logistics of the able-bodied World Cup which takes place the week before is clever and should help keep costs and overheads down.

Also by establishing a Worlds in 2017 it sets a precedent that the UCI are keen to make sure that this is a yearly event in the first quarter of the year. This is great news for the numerous track cycling specific riders that are involved in Para-Cycling, it gives us a yearly goal and an important stepping stone to the Paralympics every 4 years. As an athlete that has been vocal about lack of events it’s great to see the commitment to put on an annual World Championships, this in my opinion, will help our sport grow and is the basis of developing a Para Track Cycling season, which doesn’t exist no matter what you may read in press releases.

 

Well that’s the positives, but below is a list of things about these world championships that I don’t understand and what has got me to the point of being vocal and making a stand and to stick up for the Para-Cycling athletes.

 

First up, 7 weeks or 52 days of official notice (and I’m not talking about rumours, but actual published dates) of a World Championships is downright crazy. If Track Para-Cycling had an actual season of qualifying and World Cup events like our able-bodied counterparts, and athletes were regularly competing week in week out on track, then the idea of an additional competition in 7 weeks would be more than welcome, especially as it would be for the prestige of winning a rainbow jersey.

However, that is not the reality, in fact our Para-Cycling track season (not counting national championships) this year is literally 4 days long and starts on the first day of competition in LA on March the 2nd ending on the 5th due to no other events on the schedule.  This is an area the UCI needs to work on when it comes to Track Para-Cycling as there are no regular events to compete at that we could effectively class as a season. Every year is an unknown, and some years we might get lucky and have 2 maybe even 3 events a season and others we may have zero. This is one of the major reasons a lot of nations and riders focus on the road and not the track, because they know that they’ll be C1 events, World Cups and World Championships, with regular events throughout the year. Because there is no “track season” then the only investment in track training and racing is when competitions count towards the next Paralympic games points qualification system, and all of a sudden it’s of interest to take part in track.

 

7 Weeks isn’t long enough for any athlete to focus their training and target being in prime condition to take on a World Title.

Additionally, in a Post Paralympic year many athletes take extended breaks due to no planned world championships, so athletes are hastily returning back for panic training so they don’t’ look like complete amateurs in LA, but quite a few are simply declining the opportunity to race as they won’t be ready to compete.

Within British Cycling team we are fortunate that due to Lottery Funding we can train full time and don’t have the commitment of a full/part time job, but this isn’t the same for other nations with many riders having work commitments that they may be unable to leave at such short notice to compete in 7 weeks time. We also have the advantage of being a track based program so gaining access to the velodrome is far simpler and I am grateful for that.

 

If we take the athletes out of the equation, 7 weeks is still a crazy amount of time for federations to get everything in place for a world championships. There are the logistics to start with, so that’s flights, transfers, hotels, equipment freight, training times, VISA’s, entries, and that’s just off the top of my head.

 

Then you have the actual costs to the nations, with the event being so late in the day to be confirmed, a lot of nations will have already committed money to other races/training in the 4-year cycle to Tokyo or have spent all of their money on the Rio cycle and haven’t received the next Paralympic budget. This is important because originally there was no plan for a 2017 track Worlds, with 2018 looking like the next opportunity for a Track Worlds. So now money is having to be reassigned, or for some countries the harsh fact is that there is no money, especially when you consider that for many nations this is a Long-Haul event meaning it’s likely to cost more than an event in Europe.

None of the above makes sense to me, but this is the situation we’re in after the last-minute confirmation on LA 2017.

 

I must question why these championships were cleared by the UCI, and why the rush to have them in the 1st Quarter of 2017. Surely they could have been scheduled for the last quarter of 2017 therefore still holding them in the year following a Paralympics? We didn’t’ have a Worlds in 2013 post London 2012, our first Worlds wasn’t until the last-minute addition of the 2014 World in Mexico.

The only positive I can draw from this is the commitment for regular track World Championships within the Para-Cycling calendar, but the way in which this has been facilitated is certainly not in the athlete’s or national federations best interests.

 

So, who benefits from these championships taking place, I can only hypothesize but with LA is currently bidding for the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, and they need to be seen to supporting Para Sport ahead of their IOC evaluation which take place in April 2017. As in recent games their coverage of the Paralympics has been woefully inadequate in comparison to their Olympic coverage, and in comparison, to other nations with Great Britain leading the way on that front. I’m guessing the bid process includes money to put on events in LA and they’ve used that money to put on an event, and the UCI pockets a substantial hosting fee (a fee so substantial it’s the stumbling block for more nations putting on a track world championships).

 

Also in 2017 it is re-election time for the UCI president, and putting on these championships would certainly tick a box next to Para-Cycling and it shows a commitment to future events, and growth of this side of the sport.

 

However, both scenarios look good on paper, the reality as I sit here typing is that this event has the potential to look disastrous, with minimal fields competing as whole nations decline to attend due to logistical and monetary issues. Leading athletes who won medals and set records in Rio refuse to compete due to the last-minute nature of the event.

 

In addition to this if the event is a failure, then this reflects very poorly on Para Track Cycling, and in a time when the IPC are looking to the sustainability of track racing for future Paralympics, a poorly attended, laughably last minute event certainly doesn’t show the sport in the same positive light as the competitions on track in London and Rio, which were both 4 day sell outs and witnessed some fantastic racing and performances.

 

Finally, I just wanted to answer a question I’ve been asked a few times. Why don’t I boycott these championships if I believe they are so wrong?

To be honest I have thought about this long and hard, and it comes down to this.

I’m not sure that individually boycotting the event would help, the solution to these issues are complex and need to be found by all of us, the athletes, national governing bodies and the UCi working together with potential host nations to ensure the future of the sport and opportunities for talented young Para-Cyclists of future games.

 

Also, I’m a racer through and through, and I couldn’t sit at home knowing I wouldn’t be on the start line to defend my world titles no matter how fit or unfit I may be. Add to this that I’m funded by UK Sport and British Cycling to be a track cyclist, I feel obligated to attend and to do my best to represent my country.

 

In the past I’ve slammed the UCI for not putting on track cycling events, and I feel like I’d be a huge hypocrite if, when they actually put on an event and I declined to race.

I feel like I’m damned if I do and I’m damned if I don’t.

 

I’d love to know what you think either way.

Am I making a fuss over nothing, or is this something that as a prominent rider within Para-Cycling I should be doing for the good of the sport.

 

I look forward to reading your comments on my website, Twitter feed or Facebook.

 

Here’s to the panic training.

 

49 day’s to go.

 

Jody Cundy OBE

7 x Paralympic Gold Medalist and 12 x UCI World Champion.

 

 

 

 

The 911 weekend and the generosity of strangers

The 911

After the last 2 weekends, I thought it would be a good idea while I had a little spare time, to reflect on how cool they were, here’s the first weekends antics.

This experience ended up coming off the back of this tweet.

tweet

After tweeting this I shortly had a reply from Richard Eniffer at the Colchester Porsche Centre, saying that he could help with that and to send him a direct message. As you would expect I did what anyone would do and checked out Richards profile and to my surprise it looked like this was the real deal, and I couldn’t reply quick enough. He explained that they had a nice demonstrator 991.2 Carrera S in the showroom, and I would be welcome to use it for a long weekend. Once I’d realised he wasn’t joking and this was really happening I planned a road trip to make the most of the experience.

Day 1

First up it was all about getting down to Colchester, I am based in Manchester and its a 4.5 hour journey to the showroom. I left excited about the day ahead an I arrived at the Porsche Showroom just after 1pm to be greeted by Richard, where we chatted through the plans for the weekend, before I got my Rio medals out to show all the staff at the dealership. While I was doing this, another staff member popped out to pick up my ride for the weekend.

Typically the rain started to lash it down, so they brought the car inside the and I had my first experience of sitting inside a £100,000 car, as Richard took me through the controls and features of the 911. We snapped a few pics, and that was it I was turning the key for the first time and driving off the forecourt.

To say that this was a little nerve racking would be an understatement, my normal day to day car is a Skoda Fabia VRS, a sporty little hatchback with 177 BHP, but I was about to drive a car that was only a fraction heavier, but sporting 414 BHP. The last thing I wanted to do was wheelspin out of the showroom, loose control and T-Bone the numerous Porsche’s sat in front of me. Obviously, this wasn’t going to happen, but I certainly had visions it would before I pulled away.

To my surprise the car was incredibly easy to drive, in fact I’d go as far to say as it was even easier to drive than my everyday car. This surprised me, and helped bring my heart rate down as I set off on my road trip.

First stop, was to visit my parents in Wisbech, my brother Ashley knew I was coming over but I’d managed to keep it secret from parents, so we thought it would be fun to see their reactions when I pulled into the drive. I picked up Ashley before we made the journey to mum and dads. The smile on his face when I put my foot down in the 911 was a picture, to be fair both of us couldn’t stop smiling and laughing, It was a such a good feeling, we went around the roundabout and then back over the same piece of dual carriageway we’d just come from, just to do it all over again!

By the time I got to the house it was already dark, so we pulled in the drive parked up and I came in to see everyone. Mum and dad were surprised to see me, and started quizzing me as to why I was home! That was when I took them outside, and they saw the 911 sat on the drive. Their jaws hit the floor, initially my dad thought I’d bought it (I wish), and they asked all kinds of questions to which I filled them in.

   img_7352

Day 2

The second day with the 911 started with me giving rides to my brothers girlfriend, and then Mum and Dad. All of them on the same stretch of road where I’d been laughing away with my brother the day before. Judging by their expressions I think they enjoyed the experience.

Next stop for me was to head over to my girlfriend’s mums in Shropshire, where I would be meeting her as she’d be joining me for the rest of the road trip. It ended up being a bit of a family affair as her whole family are petrol-heads, so I ended up giving passenger rides to both her brothers, before we left for our destination for the evening. Our final port of call on day 2 was Aberystwyth, I found out there were some great driving roads there, and we’d be on the coast which is always nice come rain or shine. With it being Bonfire Night we headed to the local Rugby club to take in the annual firework display they host, it was great fun and on the way back to the car we had a few lovely remarks made to us about the car, to which Stacey replied its not our’s we borrowed it off a friend to which the family next to us said “we need a friend like that”, at that point it sunk in just how fortunate I had been to have this opportunity and with the smile still on my face I drove us to a lovely hotel just up the road for the night. What i should say here is that after 2 days and quite a number of miles clocked up already I was amazed at just how comfortable the car was and fresh I felt when I got out of it.

img_6868

Day 3

With another day of driving planned we set off from our hotel in glorious sunshine towards the A44, a road I’d read about online when researching great driving roads, and it certainly fit the bill. The road was a beautiful ribbon of smooth tarmac weaving its way through beautiful countryside and hills, I think this piece of road is where I fell in love with the car, the way it felt, and the response to your inputs it was just beautiful.


gpexportphoto

As we left the A44 we headed up over the Brecon Beacons and toward Raglan Castle (somewhere I’d wanted to check out ever since passing close by on a training ride during my holding camp for Rio) we took in the sights and parked outside the castle, and for the second time I’d noticed the interest in the car from general passersby. It seemed to be quite a head turner, and I felt amazing stepping out of it at every destination.

fullsizerender-7
We continued our journey through to the Cotswold’s, stopping for a late lunch in Burford. The last part of our trip for day 3 took us past Henley on Thames into Marlow, it was dark by then so after finding our hotel and having a drink at the bar it was time for bed.

Day 4

The last day of our 750mile road trip was spent driving across Hertfordshire and Essex before finally heading into Colchester. I took in every remaining mile in the car, knowing that I may never get to drive such a special car ever again. Handing the keys back was always going to be a difficult task, but one I could do with a big smile and lots of happy memories.

I had never in my wildest dreams thought that anyone would give me the keys to 911, let alone a brand new one. It truly is a very special car, one that put a huge smile not just on my face but also Stacey’s and all our families. To think a car can do that is just outstanding, and I totally get why the 911 is held in such high praise by everyone in the motoring industry, it’s a sports car through and through, but one that is as easy to drive as a humble hatchback but far more luxurious. But when asked can make every hair on your neck stand up to attention as it reminds you that there is over 400 HP on tap under your right foot, The experience has been so special that I’ve now made it my mission to scrimp and save so that sometime in the future I may be able to own my very own Porsche.

I’d just say a huge thank you to Richard and his brother who initially saw my tweet and forwarded it to him, its not often enough that strangers are so kind or so generous and I have been very lucky in my life to have had some incredible experiences but for me this was really something very special.

img_6885

Here we go!

Here we go!

4 years have flown by, and here were go with the opening ceremony of the Rio Paralympics.
The last few weeks as a team we’ve had an amazing preparation camp in Newport Wales. Where the staff at the Celtic Manor and the Wales National Velodrome looked after our needs to allow us to have the most relaxed holding camp I think I’ve been part of in the 6 Paralympics I’ve attended.
Other than one or two equipment hiccups, which always seem to happen in the run up to the Paralympics, everything has gone really well, myself and the rest of the team appear to be flying on the track, with everyone seemingly setting best times in the run up to Rio, I think it’s the strongest I’ve ever seen a cycling team I’ve been part of, and certainly reminds me of the buildup we had ahead of Beijing, where we went on to win 17 gold and 3 silver medals.

Personally I’m really pleased with how my riding is going, and eager to take to the start line and do the ride that’s in my legs.
By all accounts the velodrome is now sold out, and I’m looking forward to how the atmosphere compares to the patriotic crowd we had in London 4 years ago. I sense it’s going to be different, but especially after watching the Olympic coverage, and hearing some of the football like chanting that was happening in the swimming pool I think it has the potential to be equally as awe inspiring.

For these games I’ve had custom artwork commissioned for my carbon cycling leg, and once again the guys at Image Design Custom have gone above and beyond my expectations and produced an eye catching sentimental design. Hopefully the treasure map on the leg leads to the gold I’ve been seeking for the last 4 years.

If you want to tune in to watch my racing here’s where you can do so.

Schedule

C4-5 1km Time Trial   – Friday 9th September 2016 16:30 BRT/ 20:30 BST

Mixed Team Sprint     – Sunday 11th September 2016 Heats 10:54 BRT/ 14:54 BST
Final 13:01 BRT/ 17:01 BST

You can watch on Channel 4 and all their live feeds online and on the red button or you can follow the official live feeds from the IPC online with http://www.dailymotion.com/paralympics

Thank you to everyone who has been a continued part in my sporting career to date, friends, family, sponsors, coaches and support staff who’ve made it possible for me to take to the start line for my 6th Paralympic Games. Hopefully I can make this one memorable for the riding and not the swearing.

See you on the other side
Jody

The Final Countdown

50 Days to Go

 

The days are really ticking off quickly now and I’m back in Manchester for that final run in before we head to our holding camp in Newport on August 17th.

In fact I’ve just come back from a training camp in Newport as the Olympic team were putting the final touches to their Rio preparations in Manchester and it’s just too busy to get in the quality of workouts needed, so we’ve been warming the track up for them in Newport as the head to the holding camp before jumping on the plane to Rio.

Training is going well so far, managed a great strength block, followed by a nice top up on endurance, and even managed to get a hit out in the 1km TT at the recent Masters Nationals Championships. As an added bonus to doing a pretty strong ride I ended up on top of the podium and picking up a National title! The ride was a good marker of how things are going and has highlighted that I’m not a million miles away from where I want to be, and the elements I was lacking on is what this next block of training is all about.

K72C1872

This time in the Paralympic cycle is always the most anxious and enjoyable, as you try to stay as healthy as possible, not pick up any injuries and worry about every element of training as there are not many days left to point it in the right direction if something is out, but then on the plus side, we get issued with all our kit from Rio, bags of clothing to wear in the village and venues, kit to ride in, and the coolest part, our new bikes and cycling specific kit. Although may have to wait a few more weeks as the Olympians need theres first! It’s always a bit of a last minute rush, I remember not even having my handlebars for Beijing until I was a few days into the holding camp, but they arrived in time and did the job!

 

The last bit of kit that I do need to finalize, is my leg. At the moment I’m using my London leg and have my Beijing leg as a backup, however, fingers crossed by the time I get on the plane to Rio, they’ll be a new leg to show off too, and that’s always exciting as I try and get a snazzy paint job to go with it!

 

With 50 days to go it’s probably a good time to thank all the people involved in my Journey to the games.

So thanks to

UKSport and the National Lottery – for providing the funding to allow me to train day in day, and rest and recover correctly

 

British Cycling  and English Institue for Sport – For the coaching, equipment and facility access. Plus, all the behind the scenes experts in Nutrition, Strength and Conditioning, Physiology, Psychology, Biomechanics, Aerodynamics, Physio, and Medicine.

 

My Sponsors – Össur for providing me with state of the art prosthetics

Alexander Mann Solutions – For their continued support of my goal to win Paralympic Gold again.

Also Zwift who provided my state of the art setup in my spare room to assist in my training.

And last but not least, My family. My Mum, Dad and Brother for their continued support, I wouldn’t be here without them, and finally to my girlfriend Stacey, who puts up with my moaning, and the days when I’m tired and grumpy, but never ceases to put a smile on my face.

 

Thank you to everyone and hopefully I can do you all proud.

 

Hopefully catch up with you soon, most probably when we get to the Holding Camp in Wales.

 

Jody

Official Selection

Last week was selection week, and the first wave of selections for the Cycling team to race in Rio were announced. I’m pleased to confirm that I’ll be going to my 6th Paralympic Games in Rio this September. The selection was announced at the Channel 4 studios, where myself and the rest of the team were introduced 1 by 1 by Chef de Mission Penny Briscoe. Then it was onto interviews with the press, TV and magazines, of all the 6 games I’ve been named on I can safely say that this announcement was the most high profile, and I think that’s partly due to the success of the London games, but also profile increase of the British Cycling team in recent games and years.

In Rio I will be competing in the 1km TT on September 9th and the mixed Team Sprint on September 11th.

Rio Selection
Jody at the team announcement. Photo Credit PA

Going to Rio as World Champion in those 2 events gives me great confidence, however there’s always something special about the Paralympics that forces everyone to raise their game, and after my London experiences I know to expect the unexpected, as anything can happen!

So thats it, I have 80 days of training until I’m sat on the start line for the Kilo. I was worried the other day thinking it’s coming around quick, but seeing the training that still needs to be done, there’s a lot of work still to do, and plenty of sessions to improve in and make sure everything comes together on the day.

As a bit of a preview to the games, and to get to know me a little better, and mainly because a lot of people who follow me pretty much know me for my swearing outburst in London, so I’m going to be doing a Facebook Live AMA (ask me anything) on my Facebook Page, which I’m also going to tie in on Reddit and hopefully answer any questions you might have about training, prosthetic legs, cycling, even that day in London or anything thing else you can think of.

So feel free to join in and check it out at Wednesday 22nd June at 7pm GMT.

Look forward to your questions, and I’ll catch you soon.

 

Jody

 

 

100 Days to go

Well that’s certainly come around quickly. The 4 years between games always seem like so far away, and a huge amount of time, but before you know it we’re on the last run in to Rio.

 

So what’s happened in the 4 years since the last Paralympics and my famous John McEnroe moment in the track center of the London Velodrome?
Well I’ve done a bit of training, won a few races (2014, 2015 and 2016 World Championships), set 3 WR’s (1km TT, Flying 200m and Team Sprint), performed rehab on an elbow injury, and spent a week in hospital with a night in ICU when I couldn’t breathe.
All in all, it’s been an enjoyable period, it would have been nice to have had a few more races in there, but I’d be nit picking.

 

First step is selection, with the selectors meeting over the next few days to go over all the athlete’s performances ahead of the official announcement at Channel 4 on June 16th. Things look good on paper with the 2 golds I won at the recent world championships, but anything is possible, and with only 6 men’s places and 8 women’s the selectors will have some tough decisions to make, fingers crossed it will all go well and I’ll be on my way to my 6th Paralympic Games.

 

Until then it’s all about the training and trying to make every pedal rev on the bike and rep in the gym count, so when I’m in the start gate in Rio (fingers crossed) nothing is left to chance and I’m in the best condition I could be in, to race the perfect race.

 

Catch you on the 16th when I’ll be able to let you know whether it’s a thumbs up or down!

 

 

 

 

2016 Track Worlds – Montichiari

Well here we go, 3 days to go until the 2016 ParaCycling Track World Championships and 177 days until the Rio Paralympics, 2016 is all of a sudden getting interesting.

 

These World Championships are the last stepping stone of a 4 year quest I’ve set myself on since the disappointment of the 1km TT in London in 2012.

 

Things up until last year had been going really well, I’d managed to retain my titles in the 1km TT in Aguascalientes 2014 and Apeldoorn 2015, in doing so reduce the WR time to 61.466 in the thin air of the Mexican velodrome, and also bring my sea level best time down to 64.381. But during the summer of 2015 when getting back into the gym I managed to cause a minor injury to my elbow, little did I know it was going to be still causing me issues 9months on. The injury itself wasn’t anything to right home about, golfer elbow, but it affected so many things I was doing that my training became seriously compromised, out of saddle accelerations, standing starts all had to bite the dust, as well as a number of useful exercises in the gym. Thankfully the injury didn’t stop my ability to ride the bike, although I was limited to doing all efforts in the saddle.

Over the weeks and months, we put together a training program that worked on areas that I didn’t normally focus on, and these would hopefully would keep me on track with my 2016 goals.

At the end of September, I had to withdraw from the 1km TT at the national championships as I was still unable to start the bike without pain. However I could ride the Open Sprint competition and ParaCycling 200m. Both of these events comprised of the flying 200m TT, which I could ride as long as I didn’t get out of the saddle.

This ended up being a perfect test of the training I’d been doing. In the morning I set a new PB/WR by 0.077seconds to take it down to 10.684, in the afternoon learning from the mornings 200 I took a further 0.153 seconds off for another PB/WR of 10.531.

It was clear that the work I’d been doing was working and things were still on track. Come November I was still having issues with my elbow, although I was still making progress with what I could do.

With the C1 event in Manchester I again had to withdraw from the 1km TT, something I didn’t really want to do, but I needed to keep the bigger picture in mind. It was difficult as this event was one of those very few opportunities where I can actually wear the rainbow stripes I’d earned in Apeldoorn.

Although unable to ride the kilo I was able to ride in the team sprint, the nature of the ParaCycling event meant that I was still able to start by using a seated start and get onto the 2 riders in front of me.

This was a groundbreaking moment, not so much for my injury, but in the fact that it was the first time since 2011 we’d manage to run a team that not only was fast, but we’d be competitive on the world stage. Teaming up with Jon-Allan Butterworth who was returning to the squad after a year away, and our new star from Athletics Kadeena Cox, with no practice we gelled together on that first ride to set a time quick enough to make the final in Apeldoorn, and then in our final ride we found even more time to dip under 50seconds and set the fastest time in the world in 2015.

With a training camp in Majorca and Valencia under my belt things have been going from strength to strength and I feel in a good place ahead of these world championships. I finally managed to get out of the saddle and do some standing starts just a few weeks ago, as my elbow is nearly back to full strength.

It’s going to be a tough championship in the sense I’ve not ridden the kilo in 12months, but I’m in good form and looking forward to putting all the pieces together on Thursday. This track has happy memories for me as I rode to the gold in the team sprint and kilo here in 2011, both in WR times. Hopefully if it all goes well I can pick up where I left off 5years ago.

If you want to follow the event, British Cycling will be live blogging from the track center via their website www.britishcycling.org and if you’re on twitter you can follow the #paracycling2016 hashtag for all the latest information.

 

Catch you all on the other side as the countdown to Rio continues.

 

 

Jody

Manchester ParaCycling International – 2015

Friday was the first time that I’d been on track at the same time as my 2 team mates from the team sprint, which you might find hard to believe considering I’m riding for the GB cycling team, who are famed for their attention to detail, but there was a reason. Our new man 1 for the Team Sprint (Kadeena Cox) had only been cycling for 8 weeks, and just 2 weeks ago she was in Doha running for the GB Athletics team at the World Championships where she won Gold in the 100m sprint and broke the WR in the process. Kadeena has proved to be a rapid learner, quickly mastering how to transfer her power to the bike and setting the world alight on the boards.

 

Preparations were less than perfect, but after 2 quick practice starts in the warm up we were ready to go!

 

We were in heat 5 and Kadeena got out the start gate cleanly and got us quickly up to speed as she finished her lap, then it was over to Jon Allan Butterworth to build on the start speed and accelerate us up to top speed throughout the 2nd lap, before clearing the way for me to bring the team home.  As I crossed the line we’d set the fastest time of 50.451, a time that would of qualified 2nd at this year’s world championships, a massive improvement on our 5th place we achieved at that competition.

 

Considering it was the first ride as a team, it was an almost flawless ride, with smooth changeovers and from the out side you’d have thought we’d been practicing for weeks.

 

Over to the final, Kadeena came out of the gate all guns blazing, Jon and myself having to dig deep to keep on her wheel as she blazed ahead over half a second quicker than her previous best. Jon accelerated off her wheel, and we kept the pressure on as we raced head to head with the world silver medalists Spain. With the changes slicker than in qualifying I took over keeping the speed high all the way to the finish, crossing the line in 49.820, taking the gold medal in a time faster than the Chinese had set when they went on to win the World Championships earlier this year in Apeldoorn at the Paracycling Track World Championships.

 

It’s been a long time coming, but it was the first time we’d been on the top step of the podium in the team sprint since 2011. The team is now highly motivated to win at the World Championships next March in Italy before our ultimate goal of gold at next years Paralympics in Rio.

 

The remainder of the meet I was forced to sit out as I continue to recover from an elbow injury which has been troubling me for the last 3 months, and has prevented me from performing 100% effort, out of the saddle standing starts. My number 1 event the 1km TT relies on this type of start to get me up to top speed as quickly as possible, with my elbow almost pain free myself and coaching team decided best to not aggravate it now so that it will be fully recovered ready to return to full training in December.

 

However with this free time spent in the stands, I witnessed many of my teammates achieve PB’s as well as other world best times for the year with 12 Gold medals, 5 Silver and 7 Bronze we really cleared up. All in all, the meet was very successful for the whole GB team, as we scored many valuable qualification points in the run up to Rio. Our next major event and final qualification event for Rio is the World Track Championships in Montichiari Italy next March where I shall defend my world title in the Kilo and aim for gold at my 6th Paralympic Games.