Page 14 - DLNnov2016-1012

Food for Thought for Would be Champions

In August Tony notched up 80th birthday and although we celebrated this
milestone the guests were under strict instructions as to no presents –
just their presence. However one of our closest friends ignored this and
treated him to a years membership of the Bidlake CC.

Bidlake CC is not a club as we know it. It is a group of individuals who enjoy
nostalgia. They produce an interesting quarterly magazine and for those
oldies amongst us it resembles what Cycling Weekly used to be – a mixture
of articles, often honing in on time trials, in depth analysis of some of the
high profile BC events and touring.

On reading the first two issues it made us realise how the sport of cycling
has changed since Tony made his comeback in 1971, however it has reinforced
the ideas of the ethos surrounding how Tony managed to achieve his rides
in time trials so many years ago. He always held the theory that you only
get out of life what you put in. On his return to the sport he had undertaken
a 9 year break to settle into married life, move into a new home whilst
continuing to go to attend night school 3 times a week to continue his
technical education towards becoming a Chartered Engineer – the journey
to London from Maidstone was made after a full days work. His only
recreational outlet was car rallying with a friend where they had reasonable
success but he also contributing to a weight gain of 3 stones.

This was an era pre coaches, very little scientific knowledge regarding training,
where no technique books were available so it was all very much trial and error.
The best piece of advice he received was from a prolific record breaker of that
era Dick Poole who told him to :

Set specific and realistic goals as to what you want to achieve.
Always aim high.
Plan precisely at the beginning of the season how those goals would be met
Train specifically to attain those goals.
Once each goal was achieved upgrade the goals to ensure progress continued.
Don't dwell on any set backs or failures – analyse and learn from them, get

14