Cycling South Africa News

South African 1, 2 at Tour of Rwanda, Lill Takes the Tour Win

26 November 2012 – South Africa’s national road cycling team stuck to their game plan and claimed their first victory at the 2012 Tour of Rwanda when Darren Lill retained the yellow jersey after the seventh stage to claim the overall win with compatriot Dylan Girdlestone finishing in second place. The Tour of Rwanda ended on Sunday in Kigali with a stage of 124,3km.

After starting in Kigali nine days earlier, international teams toured the scenic and hilly Rwandan countryside to span 876 kilometres in total, starting with a Prologue on Sunday 18th November followed by eight stages.

For Lill, who was not feeling up to peak fitness prior to the Tour after recovering from a virus, the victory was a pleasant surprise.

“This was an unexpected win for me,” said the 30-year old from Cape Town. “I went as part of the team to help the younger guys, so to claim the overall victory has come as a surprise!”

Lill captained the 6-man national team to victory in his first Tour of Rwanda. “It was a good tour, with challenging stages, and great terrain, which made for positive racing. There is fantastic talent in Africa, but I think my experience in international racing, and being a mentor to my younger teammates gave our team the edge, especially when we cannot use race radios.”

National team manager for the Tour of Rwanda, Ian Goetham was supremely impressed with the team’s performance on his first international outing with the squad. “We had very good days that were well planned, and we succeeded,” said Goetham. “The team camaraderie was very high, and they all understood the goals of the tour. From stage one, the initial plan was to get the yellow jersey and win the tour.

“It was a brilliant team effort, with each one of the six riders contributing to the team’s success. An overall victory for Darren and a second place for Dylan is an excellent accomplishment. David (Maree) sacrificed a lot to work in front, and Avery (Arendse) and Reynard (Butler), both new to international racing, contributed a lot for us to keep the yellow jersey. Shaun (Ward) kicked off the tour with a stage in the yellow jersey [after his combined efforts of the Prologue and stage one, with Girdlestone only seven seconds behind in the GC at that point]. Darren was an excellent team leader.”

Further to holding the top two positions in the top ten of the final GC (general classification), South Africa also won the Team competition. “Considering that this team spends most of the year representing other teams within the country, they worked very well together as a unit. The quickest times of the top three riders in each stage resulted in a team win for us as well.”

Cycling SA’s road cycling director Hendrik Wagener was very pleased with the results. “We always hope for a win when we send a team to an international event. To have a first and second place in the final overall GC is a great achievement, and gives us a great base to build on in the early stages of our aim to take part in more African events, and of course, some valuable UCI points.”

Summary of Results – 2012 Tour of Rwanda – Overall GC

1. LILL Darren (RSA) 22h43’41’’
2. GIRDLESTONE Dylan (RSA) 22h45’28’’
3. NJOROGE MUYA John (KENYA) 22h45’40’’
4. ATSBHA Getachew (Ethiopia) 22h45’48’’
5. DEBRETSION Aron (Eritrea) 22h46’40’’
6. MERHAWI Kudus (UCC) 22h49’58’’
7. LIPONNE Julien (Rein. Br.) 22h53’01’’
8. ABEBE Alem (ETH) 22h53’34’’
9. NIYONSHUTI Adrien (Rwanda Kalisimbi) 22h54’14’’
10. HABTE Solomon (Eritrea) 22h54’39’’

For further information and results of the Tour of Rwanda, visit http://en.tourofrwanda.com/

ENDS

Recently, I started coaching a 14 year old. Hmmm, a blank canvas, I thought. “what if he is selected for the Olympic talent programme. I need to find out how the programme coaches plan and prescribe training for youngsters, to ensure that how I coach the rider reflects what they’re doing”. Luckily, working at National Cycling Centre , I was able to pester Olympic Talent Coach Tim Buckle. As a result he invited me to a seminar for young riders and their coaches on exactly that subject. Although, I didn’t gain any new information, what I did learn was how to present that information. Tim’s genius was to make planning and prescribing training simple, practical and relevant to his audience.

“Eureka” I thought. Most of us need to fit our training around a busy life; amateur athletes have more in common with 14 year old school kids than Olympic athletes, i.e. limited time to train, many life demands, no professional support teams and limited access to coaches. Why had I been looking at what works for elite athletes when it’s more effective to look to how the best in the business develop youngsters? I had made the same mistake as Kerrison, starting at the top and working down, rather than starting at the bottom and working my way up.

I’d love to continue with Kerrison’s cake baking analogy; however, Buckle buggers this up by using an alternative one, “The Snickers Bar”. He wants to produce riders with the fundamental skills required to progress to compete at a higher level and marginal gains doesn’t come into his equation. So what is the “Snickers Bar”?

The Snickers Paradigm

Old habits die hard and I like to sound clever so I’ve advanced Buckle’s method of developing young riders by calling it a paradigm. Don’t look down the page just yet; Describe a Snickers Bar (a Marathon bar if you’re old and from the UK). What does it consist of?

Yes…. nuts, nougat, chocolate, caramel, and then the wrapper! However, unless all of these elements are present, the Snickers Bar does not exist. If any bits are missing, it’s not a Snickers! If it’s not a Snickers, you ain’t moving to the next level. Simply, the Snickers is the foundations of cycling performance. As I’m Scottish, the next level would be to batter the Snickers, deep fry it and then serve it with full-fat ice-cream. The world class marginal-gains cherry on the top Snickers Bar.

I’ve used mainly cycling examples here, but it’s easy to apply to any sport.

The Wrapper- is work ethic. The wrapper holds everything together and it stops the bar from melting. There are many youngsters coming to sport wishing to follow in the footsteps Brad Wiggins, Lizzie Armistead or the Brownlee’s. What they don’t see is the sheer hard work and commitment that these athletes put in to reach the top. Every endurance athlete must learn to love and want to work hard. Training in mid-winter in freezing temperatures isn’t much fun after all.

Have you ever got back home tired, wet, cold and hungry? The blood starts to flow back into your fingers and toes, resulting in excruciating pain! 2 hours later after being in a sleeping bag, under a duvet, and having the heating on full you are just starting to warm up. Is it a reason to brag to your mates how hard you are or an excuse not to go out the next day?

A summer evening. Life is great. Everyone is out on their racing steeds, gunning it at 50km.h. Going through a roundabout, a car pulls out and you are stranded a few meters out the back. Just then, a crackpot decides to drive at the front of the group and you can’t close the gap. It gets bigger, there’s no way you’ll get back on now! Do you sit up and give in? Or do you imagine you’re Philip Gilbert out front in the Ronde with a 2 minute gap to close?

Training when you don’t want to or looking at adversity as an opportunity to improve is a prerequisite for success. It takes time to develop, discipline and support from others to maintain, but without a serious work ethic endurance sport is probably not for you.

The Caramel- Are you brave? Can you go down a 20% descent with the brakes off? If a scary mad Kazakhstani leans on you, do you push back or do you end up in the gutter? Me? In the first instance, you wouldn’t see me for the rancid smoke coming from the burning rubber from my brake pads. In the second one, I’d be screaming “stay away from my Di2 rear-mech you brute”. I never made it as a road racer! I prefer non-drafting triathlons on flat straight roads! Kirkland is a complete nut, but he isn’t a complete Snickers.

Bravery isn’t just about racing. It’s about having an open mind, not always following the crowd and being brave enough to take measured risks. Sometimes, the bravest fail, but they dust themselves down with the wrapper and try again!

The chocolate- I once worked with a rider whose 5 minute peak power was 575 watts (massive). He was physically exceptional but he chased the wrong moves, attacked just before big climbs (he was 85kg) or chose to mix it with the sprinters when his fast twitch fibre count was 1%. His tactical awareness was similar to a Vietnam GI on angel-dust. He took up time-trialling!

If you’re not the strongest, having a good tactical brain can help compensate. When the red mist descends for others, it is essential to keep a clear head and think about what you are doing and why. The more you race, the quicker you start to make the right decisions instinctively. Why are GB riders now able to win at such a young age, if experience is so important? It’s simple. They practice tactics in training, they critically watch others racing and they are taught to reflect on what went well or less well in races They are encouraged to take remedial action to strengthen their tactical armoury.

Nougat- or nugget if you’re not posh! Being fast is part of being a bike racer. It’s not simply about the speed of travel. It’s about having fast legs. I recently had a parent on the phone saying that their “little Johnny” was getting dropped in local criteriums because he was on junior restricted gears and what should they do? Without a hint of irony, I replied “pedal faster!!!!” It’s simple….if you can’t increase the force, increase the velocity.

Being fast is also about being able to change pace rapidly, shifting cadence from 80 to 135rpm in the blink of an eye. Such skill requires neuromuscular adaptations and for these adaptations to occur specific training is required. Riders are most responsive to neuromuscular adaptation at a young age……think small gears, think track, rollers, BMX, cycle-speedway! Did I mention getting the miles in? Nope! That’s not to say that developing endurance isn’t important, it’s just less of a priority until speed is developed.

Nuts- peanuts, they’re jungle fresh! They’re also skill! In the Tour de France, maintaining the average power at the start of a stage is within capabilities of an Olympic target shooter…well maybe a slight exaggeration, but you get the idea. It’s pretty low! However, the average 1st cat rider would be scrambling at the back of the field, accelerating at peak power out of every corner and they’ll be out the back as soon as a wee dig went in. Why? Because they lack skill. Cornering, descending, being able to bunny hop at speed, eating a gel, putting a jacket on, not falling when coming into contact with other riders, sitting on a the team car bumper at 60km.h are only a few of the skills required to be a successful road racer. When was the last time you practised any of them? “When was the last time you practised then smarty-arse?” I hear you say. Never! But I struggle negotiating a turn in a time-trial and get shouted at by age-group triathletes when going round a corner.

Until Next Time

The Snicker Bar is now complete. We all understand what it is, but how can we make ourselves or our athlete’s into one? Hard work to develop these skills is required before it’s time for the batter and ice-cream.

In a recent presentation to a group of club athletes,only one or two riders cautiously put a hand up when I asked them who trained to develop their own Snickers Bar. That was less than 10% of the group! Which group do you fit into?

Next week, I’ll go into planning training for next year, so hopefully I’ll see you then. If you like my article, tweet it, post it on your Facebook or pass on the link to others that you think may be interested.