MAKE FASTER YOUR NEW NORMAL
A few months ago, I turned up to the regular Tuesday morning paceline ride. When I say ‘regular’, it had been a while for me. I hadn’t trained with this group since the pandemic began in March 2020. Just minutes after pulling away, it was clear that I was nowhere near their level anymore. After 15 minutes of pain, I was dropped like a stone. What was going on? How had people that I used to keep up with destroyed me so soundly?
“The lockdown gains are real,” diagnosed Danni Shrosbee (Team Brother UK-LDN) over coffee afterwards. “This year’s women’s national series was at least a few miles per hour quicker.” Sitting alongside her, Tom Fairley (Stayer Racing) agreed: “Even the men’s Cat 4 races are hitting averages above 45kph!”
When I checked my Strava later, I saw that I had achieved some notable personal bests on the ride despite feeling like I was falling short. It wasn’t that I had detrained or slowed down, it was that those who had leveraged lockdown were now reaping the rewards – in spectacular fashion.
So what are the secrets of their success? What are the lockdown changes, implemented from March 2020 onwards, that made such a telling difference? More importantly, how can we all learn from their example to ‘lock in’ the gains as life returns to normal? We tracked down five riders who each transformed their riding and asked them to share their experience to help the rest of us get back on terms with them.
Josh Whitehead
LOOKING TO THE LONG TERM
Josh Whitehead, 22, lives in Shropshire and has been racing bikes since 2018. He marked the end of his first season with a
