You Too Can Go For Olympic Gold (in Tokyo 2020)

We have been passed over this lovely article to publish from Alice.

It may be too late to be selected for Team GB in Rio 2016 but new research has shown how almost anyone could become a future Olympian – with a lot of training and more than a little cash.

The study by money saving website Voucherbox.co.uk has revealed exactly what it would take for an average person to take up a new Olympic sport and reach world class level in just four years.

Researchers looked at the time and money investment required to master a wide variety of Olympic disciples in time for Tokyo 2020.

They researched the costs of hiring Olympic level coaches for one on one sessions and researched gyms and trainers across the UK to get an accurate insight into the number of hours it might take a person with average fitness levels to gain Olympic level competence.

They found that aspiring Olympians train for an average of five and a half hours per day, six days a week. But the vast differences of hiring world-class coaches and buying equipment across different sporting disciplines led to some huge differences in the cost of achieving that elusive Olympic dream.

Perhaps surprisingly the researchers found that triathlon was the quickest discipline to master – requiring an average time investment of just 5200 hours over the next four years or 25 hours of training each and every week.

Would be triathletes also need deep pockets with a total investment of £322,400 required to have any real chance of making the podium in Tokyo.

Yet that looks like a snip compared to the enormous costs involved in mastering an equestrian sporting discipline.

To start now as a novice and be ready for Team GB’s equestrian team in 2020 you’ll have to put in a massive 6240 hours of training, or 30 hours a week, and make a huge investment of £468,000.

Those on a tighter budget might decide to focus on judo. With a projected investment of less than £80,000 researchers judged this to be the least expensive sport to master to Olympic levels.

But that doesn’t mean it’s an easy option. To go from novice to Olympian judo star in just four years would require a massive 6864 hours of training – or 33 hours every week between now and the Tokyo 2020 opening ceremony.

Perhaps surprisingly badminton was found to be one of the most difficult sports to master to this top level requiring 6656 hours training over four years, or 32 each week, and an investment of £155,418.

Boxing will set you back almost twice as much cash with a total investment of £299,520 needed to have any hope of Olympic selection.

Researchers also found boxing required more time to master than any other sport with a massive training commitment of 7488 hours needed in the ring and at the gym between now and Tokyo – that’s 36 hours every week.

Shane Forster, UK Country Manager at Voucherbox.co.uk says “There’s no greater accolade than competing for your country at the Olympics. Our Olympic medalists are celebrated for years to come. Although our research shows that it’s costly to achieve your goals, you can’t put a price on success.”

Thank you.

An extraordinary Para Swimmer.

I am pleased to know this amazing Athlete, that during her young life has fought constantly.

 A bit about her:

Jasmine is a 19 year old learning disabled para swimmer, who competes both as an S14 classified swimmer under Paralympic rules and also as part of Special Olympics GB.

She trains hard 5 times a week with Altrincham Swimming Club as one of just 2 disabled swimmers in the club.

She's just completed her BTEC level 2 in Health and Social Care at the Manchester College and will progress to level 3 in September.

This week, with support from a personal assistant, she passed the ASA level 1 Swim Teaching Assistant qualification.

Throughout her life as well as struggling with her learning disability, she's also battled serious health problems - she was born with a hole in the heart and narrowed valve, had meningitis aged 2 and been hospitalised many times as a child with chest infections.

Despite all this she's growing into a positive young lady who's passionate about swimming and loves to help others. Every week, in addition to her studies and swim training, she volunteers as a Young Leader at a local Brownie group; at The Hub in Altrincham at the toddler group and the cafe; and as a coach at Altrincham Swimming Club.

Although she qualified for the first time and competed as a para swimmer at the International meet in Glasgow this year, the best opportunity for her to achieve her potential and shine is competing for Special Olympics. I've received formal confirmation today, that she's been chosen to represent the North West at the 10th Special Olympics National Summer Games in Sheffield next August. This is an amazing opportunity for her.

If you would like to support Jasmine or be involved in supporting her please feel free to contact us at store@saddledrunk.com

Let all of us together make her dreams become TRUE.

Thank you SD TEAM

MINET CRIT Saturday 2nd July 2016 report

Ciao all, we are pleased to announce the great success of the first Fixie Crit held at HIllingdon 2 weeks organised by White City Track.Kevin from WCT the "brain" behind the event report back to us.

The weekend before the Red Hook Crit, London cycling collective White City Track teamed up with Saddle Drunk to hold MINET CRIT at Hillingdon Cycle Centre in West London.

The race format, Track Bike Criterium, athletes compete on brakeless track bikes racing multiple times around a technical circuit. Skills required excellent bike handling ability, high level of fitness and a fearless attitude.

Qualifying groups A-F, riders chosen at random to face each group over mini 6 races. Each rider’s heat results determine their starting position for the final race.

Qualifying got underway at 3pm, the riders we charged and ready to go, qualifying heats were high-speed mini races held on the shortened 1km circuit. Riders battled it out in the qualifying heats to set their starting grid position in the final race.

Liam Yates of Neon Velo and La Classica Team rider Andrea Vassallo smashed both of their qualifying heats with 2 wins out of 2 races, followed by single wins by Alessandro Marinari, Jonathon Calderon. East London Fixed rider Matt Payne took 3rd spot on the final grid with consecutive 2nd placing in the qualifiers.

Kiera McVitty took the win in the woman’s heat with an impressive sprint with fellow team mate Corrine Price.

Woman’s Race, athletes lined up in to take their grid positions at 5pm, after 1 neutral lap the race were underway. Kiera McVitty, Jess Morgan and Corrine Price set the pace from the off. The PRIME lap bell was rung on lap 3 and the lead group broke away. Kiera took the PRIME, her prize a golden ticket to ‘the best pizza in London’ Santa Maria. Lina Bivaninte, Imogen Humphris and Jessica Hayes of Velociposse worked together to attempt to narrow the gap but never managed to catch the lead group.

The bell lap rang,  the pace increased, Kiera came out of the final corner first and began sprinting for the line with 200m to go, she powered through hands aloft to finish 1st in style, quickly followed 0.9 seconds later by Corrine Price and jess Morgan. Second place was not clear at this point as both riders appeared to cross the line together. Thankfully we had 2 iPhones with ‘Coaches Eye’ positioned each side of the finish line to capture frame by frame video footage.  After a good look at all the footage it was clear that Corrine took second place by a whisker.

Men’s Race, 6pm, names were called out in order of grid position with Liam Yates taking the pole position. Kiera McVitty the winner of the woman’s race line up alongside Liam to race with the guys. After a quick briefing from the race director they were of for a ceremonial lap with David Trimble from Red Hook Crit.

Riders were not told when the PRIME bell would ring so the first lap was ridden with caution as no one wanted to burn to quick. Lap 2 came with the bell ringing, shouts of Vai Vai Vai from the Italian crew and they were off.  Coming out of the last corner were 4 contenders for the PRIME pizza, pretty much head to head until Andrea Vassallo narrowly beat fellow Italian Alessandro Mariani to the line. The race regrouped and riders settled back in again.

Crash! 4 riders go down after a rub of wheels when a rider strays from his line on the ‘Omega Curve’ section. Liam Yates, Matt Payne Kris Snell and Liam Hoffley are all forced to retire from the race to receive road side first aid treatment. This change the dynamics of the race as the fastest qualifier Liam and in form race contender Matt are out.

The pace of the top riders remains high with the NVAYRK team bridging gaps when they appear, Dimitri Demishev and Jordan Grizevivius chase down the race leaders. Dave Noakes, Daniel Mateus and Marlon Sandiford do their work in the middle of the pack to keep the group together.

Bell lap rings and it’s clear that there are 2 men fighting for 1st place, both Andre and Vassallo bolt out from the final corner and begin the sprint for the line. The 300m straight sees both riders neck and neck until Andrea is piped at the line with a lunge-wheelie win for Allessandro. Less than 0.4 of a second separated the top 2 riders in the end. Dimitri broke from the chasing group to finish a strong third place.

The riders do celebration lap with crowd cheering them on, high fives, hugs and handshakes as the riders regroup at Parc Ferme by the finish line.

Photographers gather, the crowd gathers as 3 plastic chairs are lined up for the podium ceremony. The girls go first to receive their prizes on the podium, Kiera pops the cork on the champagne and celebrates in style; Jess uses her prize bag to shield the onslaught of spraying Champaign.

Next up the men’s podium, Alessandro flew from Milan especially to race the MINET CRIT and won it! Again pops the cork and soaks the photographers!

There was great community spirt amongst the athletes and spectators and the warm welcoming of newcomers too. Spectators were amazing; they kept the buzz going all day with boom box antics and cans from Sainsbury’s. The best thing about the day was the spirit at Hillingdon, cool people from different backgrounds, boys and girls, rival teams, parents, children, park goers and a big friendly German Shepherd who stopped to enjoy the racing and have fun!

Facts

The race featured 50 riders representing 14 countries, from Cat 1 road and track racers to city bike messengers.

Open to teams and individuals.

Separate men’s and women’s fields, equal prizes for each field.

Qualifying format developed by Red Hook Crit Director David Trimble.

Qualifying race circuit 1km, 4 right hand turns.

Main race circuit 1.5 km 5 right hand turns and one left hand turn, 18 laps men’s, 12 laps women’s.

Woman’s race 12 laps.

Men’s race 18 laps.

Ave speed men’s Winner Alessandro 26.8mph avg 37.6mph max.

Women’s Podium

1st Kiera McVitty - Why Be Normal?

2nd Corrine Price - Why Be Normal?

3rd Jess Morgan - NLTCBMBC

 Pizza PRIME (Santa Maria Pizza)

Kiera McVitty - Why Be Normal?

Top Antagonist

Lina Bivaninte – Velocipossie

4th Jessica Hayes - Velocipossie

5th Lina Bivaninte - Velocipossie

6th Imogen Humphris - Velocipossie

7th Heather Anderson – KYCU Velo

8th Keziah Unah Cader - Unattached

Men’s Podium

1st Alessandro Mariani - IRD Carrera SC

2nd Andrea Vassallo - La Classica RT

3rd Dimitri Demishev - NLTCBMBC

Pizza PRIME 1 (Santa Maria Pizza)

Andrea Vassallo - La Classica RT

Top Antagonist  

Matt Payne - East London Fixed

4th Jordan Grizevicius - Convention

5th Daniel Mateus - KYCU Velo

6th Federico Motta - NVAYRK

7th Peter Janak - NVAYRK

8th Dave Nokes - State Bicycle Co

9th John Karlo Corpuz - Red Bike Shop

10th Matthew Johns - Full Denim jacket

11th Henry Summers - NLTCBMBC

12th Ben Ramshaw - KYCU Velo

13th William Fox - East London Fixed

14th argon Sandiford - Defi Collective

15th Jonathon Calderon - TRBS

Race organiser: White City Track.

Main Partner/Sponsor: Saddle Drunk. (http://www.saddledrunk.com/)

Prize Sponsors: Saddle Drunk, Electric Coffee Co. Santa Maria Pizza, Ass Savers, and Brother Cycles.

Technical support: David Trimble (Red Hook Crit), Stefano Dall'Aglio (Saddle Drunk) Alberto Battaglia (Palu Bicycles),

Volunteers: Rab, Vic, Sukky, Nena, Kuldip, Savraj, Shelly and Kaz.

Photos: Kristina Matovic and David Trimble

'World's fastest' cycling helmets to debut at Tour de France

JIM PLOUFFE FROM "THE LEAD SOUTH AUSTRALIA"  tell us about a new helmet for the TDF.

A NEW helmet – touted as the fastest in road cycling - will make its pro tour debut at the 2016 Tour de France on the heads of ORICA-GreenEDGE riders.

The Scott Cadence Plus was developed by researchers at the University of Adelaide in South Australia and is streamlined to ensure less drag and increase ventilation.

Project Leader Richard Kelso said that from an aerodynamics perspective, the Scott Cadence Plus performed better than any of the other leading helmets on the market.

“It’s faster because of its shape. The materials are extremely smooth and are moulded to produce surface details that help to control the airflow and that is one of the secrets that help make it a very low drag helmet,” he said.

“It’s a premium helmet, high-level safety, excellent performance - It definitely adds an extra element of comfort...

“Against some of the top helmets it could provide about a 0.2 metres advantage but against some other high quality helmets you can even get a larger distance of up to two metres. If you want to cut your drag it’s a brilliant way of doing it.”

The helmets have been trialled by Australian cycling team ORICA-GreenEDGE, which includes explosive sprinter Caleb Ewan , four-time Tour Down Under winner Simon Gerrans, experienced tour campaigner Daryl Impey and South Australian rider Alex Edmondson.

They are also expected to be worn by riders at the Rio Olympics.

The Scott Cadence Plus features a unique double entry ventilation system with vents at the front and rear.

It is also designed to have small ridges on the top of the helmet to increase the aerodynamics of the helmet.

"Our goal was to produce a helmet design with the lowest drag possible, but also to ensure the rider's head is well cooled and, above-all, well protected," Assoc Prof Kelso said.

“Our research showed that you didn’t need to have vents all over. If you had good-sized vents at the front, back and good-sized ducts inside you not only get good cooling, in fact you get better cooling – you have more flow through to the back.

“It’s got a high level of safety. It’s got the MIPS (Multi Directional Impact Protection System) layer inside and that reduces the effect of impact and the acceleration of your brain when you have a large impact. It is a helmet that could potentially keep you alive when many others can’t.”

The Cadence Plus and Centric Plus helmets were tested at the University of Adelaide’s wind tunnel facility using a full-sized mannequin and heated mannequin head.

The helmets are products of Swiss company Scott Sports and will go on sale later this year.

Scott Sports Senior Product Manager John Thompson said the company had a strong partnership with the University of Adelaide team, which had been instrumental in developing successful cycling products for the Swiss corporation.

"We couldn’t be more proud and excited to be delivering these new helmets to our athletes and to have Associate Professor Kelso and the team at the University of Adelaide on our side,” he said.

"Our goal was to deliver the very best performance advantage to our professional road and mountain bike racers.

"The results speak for themselves, with both new helmets exceeding our expectations and outperforming the competition in controlled wind tunnel testing.”

THANK YOU JIM for providing us with this interesting tip.