My pal Yordan Andreev is a National Champ! And other stories...
My flatmate and team pocket-rocket Yordan Andreev returned from Bulgaria in July with some extremely defined tan-lines and a national title! He had won the national road race and podiumed in a 2.2 stage race in Macedonia. Clearly on good form and high spirits, I was hoping some of that might rub off on me; my morale was the lowest it’d been this year and performances weren’t anything to shout about...
Criterium and Nocturne Race Roundup; James McKay Blog
I've been riding a few criterium and nocturne races lately; in this Blog update there's fireworks, some good results, a trip to watch the Tour, and more ripped bib shorts…
James McKay Blog – Supersized at the Tour de Beauce
After a week home in London, I remembered how bad riding a bicycle is and in the end returned to Nancy for some more peaceful roads. But before I got too comfortable cruising around the gloriously empty local countryside, we were on the road for 12 days with the Coupe de France and the Tour de Beauce in Canada.
James McKay Blog – Tour de Mirabelle and Other Races
It feels like I only arrived in France a few weeks ago, yet the summer has started now. The weather and racing has been heating up, I've raced the UCI 2.2 Tour de Mirabelle and plenty of other events. Here's the story so far...
James McKay Blog – Ronde des Combattants puts hairs on my...
I was on a high from last week’s success before the Ronde des Combattants, a race with four stages over three days in Verdun. Teams were competing from Luxemburg, Germany and even a team from the CCM (UCI World Cycling Centre) in Switzerland (who host riders from poor countries without the support of large national federations).
James McKay Blog – Manic Zwifting = Podium Placing!
Apologies for my silence on the James McKay Blog for the last six weeks. If you had read my last blog post, you would know that my start to the season has not been brilliant. In just my first week of racing in France, I crashed and broke both my finger and wrist. Since then I’ve had more hospital visits than outdoor rides but I am delighted to say I’ve just completed a week of riding outdoors again, and have placed on the podium too!
James McKay Blog – We’re Racing, But…
C’est la vie. After filling most of Saturday with a dozy nine hour drive, the team arrived in the medieval village of Sillans-la-Cascade. We were greeted with a hearty four-course feast, courtesy of the host family who would be looking after us. This set the theme for the week; each meal was both tasty and enormous. With 1000km to ride in the next seven days plenty of fuel was certainly welcomed.
Introducing the James McKay Blog
Hello and welcome to the new James McKay Blog! Over the past three years I balanced the life of a university student and bike racer, albeit unequally! But after graduating last summer, I decided to take 2019 as a year to solely pursue my cycling obsession and race for a team full-time. I had my degree now, and with my 22nd birthday on the horizon, time is ticking on my cycling career.
Latest Articles
Dan Fleeman – Coaching in a Lockdown
In these ‘Strange Days of COVID-19’ if you’re a racing cyclist, what do you do about training? We asked ‘Dig Deep Coaching’ founder, Dan Fleeman for his advice on how to train in these trying times. Fleeman is a long-time friend of VeloVeritas, past winner of the British u23 Road race Championship, the Tour of the Pyrenees and rode as a professional with DFL, AN Post, Cervélo and Raleigh...
Jody Warrington – How Riders Can Cope in a ‘Lockdown’
In the overall scheme of the world’s current predicament, guys not being able to race their bikes doesn’t even register but if you’ve been training all winter to realise goals you set yourself for the season and overnight they’re plucked from your grasp it’s not easy to handle.
We spoke to one of the most respected coaches in the area, Jody Warrington about how riders can cope with ‘lockdown.’
Book Review: “Oh, THAT Tour!” by Paul Jesson
Paul Jesson has recently finished his autobiography; ‘Oh, THAT Tour!’, the title coming from his introduction to the pro ranks. The book isn’t a conventionally structured tome, starting with a short chapter about the Paralympics time trial/road race bronze medal he came back and won in Athens some 24 years after his Vuelta stage win...
The VV View: Our Top 12 British Classics Rides
‘Cycling Weekly’ printed a list of their ‘10 best Classic Races of all time.’ It’s not the usual time of year for ‘retro’ pieces, the Classics should be in full swing but Covid-19 has blown apart a lot of well laid plans this spring. So here’s our top dozen British Classics Rides, in what we see as order of merit...
Hambini – the Aeronautical Engineer who tells it like it is
If you read the recent, ‘Vik Rant’ we ran the other day, you’ll be aware that the VeloVeritas answer to Nostradamus is a disciple of a certain Mr. Hambini, purveyor of tools, small parts and bottom brackets and also Facebook and YouTube Videos about the quality of bicycle frames and componentry. We thought it would be interesting speak to the man.
Wimpie van der Merwe – Still Chasing and Setting Records at 62
If the UCI hadn’t changed the rules governing bicycle design after our own Graeme Obree shattered Francesco Moser’s world hour record on ‘Old Faithful’ it would be entirely feasible that South Africa’s Wimpie van der Merwe - with a 53 plus kilometre ride - would have succeeded Obree’s 52.713 kilometre ride, and not Miguel Indurain with his 53.040 kilometres...
