Steve Bate: Your Questions Answered [Great Britain Cycling Team]

hi guys it's Steve bait from the great British Cycling Team answering your questions you've sent in this week so thank you for those we'll kick off with Collin Daly who asks how do I increase my speed on the bike I have cleats but I'm still learning how to use them Collin I think just riding more you'll increase your speed I don't think you have to do anything particular just ride your bike more which is difficult at this time I know but I think the speed will come with time I think is my my advice for that moment second up is Claire Blackburn how do you find the motivation to train indoors either on the turbo or the rollers clear for me I think I have to have a goal that's really important at the moment my goal is seeing how crazy I can be on the turbo so how long I can spend on the turbo so I've just completed a virtual lens into John O'Groats which was a hundred miles a day for ten days of just ridden 200k on the turbo so yeah it's just mixing it up and kind of having fun if I know that doesn't sound like fun but yeah it's kind of having it setting yourself a goal and trying to achieve that and I think if you have that then that takes care of the kind of mental side of thing of thinking of sitting on a turbo for a long time and riding if you've got a goal to achieve it kind of gives it a purpose which is which is key so Joel Reinhardt's asks how long do you train for a day and at what level Joel that really depends on what kind of phase of training we're in so over winter obviously it's kinda I guess classic big miles on the road and as we get closer to races that kinda changes to intensity on on the turbo for me really so it kind of depends on the phase of training but that can be a standard general week can be anywhere between 20 to kind of 30 hours and that can be a mix of like I say volume training or or short interval short intensive interval stuff so it really just depends on what phase of training we're in that does does differ Terry says was winning your Paralympic gold medals the best feeling you've ever had in sport and how would you describe your feelings when you won I don't think this shocks a lot of people I don't think winning the gold medal in Rio was the highlight actually of my games Adam and I in the qualifying ride for the pursuit and our first race broke the world record and to me that that was always the the biggest thing that I think I've achieved in sport the reason being is anyone can turn up you know and have a bad day on the bike and still when a gold medal which sounds stupid but it's kind of what happened to us in the time trial we didn't write particularly well and we still won so we were the we were the best that day was I think when you break a world record you're really raising the bar and you're moving the standard of your sport forward which i think is there's always the most important thing to try and achieve in sport as to you want to push that push that on and and leave the sport in a better place than when you when you started so I think that's to be to be fair that that was really the key and so well answer how did you feel it's a very retrospective thing at the time that's all it all happens very quickly so we had three races to do in Rio and we want a gold medal and our first event the pursuit on the track on day one but as soon as you get through that as soon as that race is finished you'll automatically think about the the time trial and five days time and getting prepared for that so at all it was very surreal to be honest and and even now it's you know thinking back about it it all happened so quick and yeah it's just a um it's really surreal to think yeah you've actually achieved that because at the time it's it's pretty pretty crazy and but yeah it's just hard it's really hard to put into words if I'm honest so Jonathan Jonathan hi NAT says elite-level sighting is obviously very hard work but how do you find the time to actually enjoy your cycling yeah it is it is it is hard work but you know you have to love what you do I think if you if you don't enjoy riding your bike is you're certainly going to struggle to make it and make it an elite level but for me I mix up what I ride so I spend a lot of time on my gravel bike and a lot of time on my fat bike so I ride off-road a bit and just generally mix it up but when I'm not in training I'm probably out on my bike anyway having having adventures so I think the variation for me is is the key really Nikki how much do you how much training do visually-impaired athletes sorry I'll start again there how much training do visually impaired riders get to do on their own that is a brilliant question Nikki and that really depends on the level of visual impairment so for me I can still ride on my own if I'm very careful I have to like I can't really ride through cities and in towns but I live out on the countryside so that makes it easier which is why part of the reason why I live where I live but yeah it really depends we've got people on the squad who are completely blind who spend all of their time on the turbo or the tandem and we've got some writers who write a little bit on the road but generally not a lot where most of the training I do is is kind of on my own and and and now I choose to do that like I don't go out and group rides because that's too dangerous for me I prefer to ride on my own like I'd love to ride in a group but it's just it's just really too dangerous so even when I'm training with the team if I am on my solo I generally set off the back about 20 or 30 meters off the back of the group so I can kind of preserve what's going on with them and nothing happens too quickly for me whereas if I'm riding in a and a tight group because I've got no peripheral vision I can't see what's happening around me so it becomes really really stressful so it's just easier to avoid that situation and hopefully not take out one of my teammates so so yeah it kind of varies through writer to writer gray a mass with the Paralympics been put back a year what are your targets prune now in Tokyo 2020 one very good question Graham yeah obviously it was pretty pretty gutting to have the games put back but for all the right reasons I think we all all athletes agree it was it was the right decision and it was great that we got told kind of a month earlier than expected so we weren't hanging in limbo and I think my personally my target is to come out of this period of lockdown and still in the same shape I am now going into it and we're obviously six or seven months away from the game so we're we're all pretty fit and going pretty well at the moment so it's just to kind of maintain and and try not to get too caught up and improving at the moment because we still don't know how long this lock downs gonna gonna you know going to continue for so it's just a case of I think going into a bit of a maintaining phase and hoping when I come out the other side of this it'll you know I'll be I'll be in great Nick and ready to push on again but I think the key is coming out of this block really refreshed and really willing to get back on and press on and really prepare for the games Peter joists asks when training for endurance events in this case 200 miles in a day what would you recommend as the best food to build stamina hmm I am NOT a nutritionist Peter so I'm sure our nutritional staff could probably give you a better advice on that I think to build it's not so much about your food it's more about the time spent on your bike so you'd want to be building up your miles and and you know slowly slowly working your way towards doing doing that great 200 200 mile er which sounds incredible but food wise for me I generally on big stuff I generally try and eat real food and I always go down the route of rice cakes and kind of opals and things things like that and you know a bit of a bit of savory stuff in there as well just to keep her mixed so I think if you're riding for 200 miles a you want to make sure you keep eating and be have a variety of things to choose from because that's I think that's really important because you don't want to get sick of one thing and stop eating because that will be a big mistake so yeah but maybe maybe the nutritional guys can can advise on that a bit better than I can't mean James says how do you stay focused and motivated when your goal of the Paralympic Games has been moved back James I'm still trying to work that one out mate yeah for me I think it's putting short-term goals in place I'm very I'm a very goal orientated person so for me starting to put small things in place and part of that was I think my virtual LANs into John O'Groats right I did on the turbo which was at riding a hundred miles a day for ten days I took that off and then I moved on to riding 200 cane a day on the turbo so a lot of the stuff I'm doing at the moment is turbo base because I really am trying to stay inside and follow the government guidelines and it's it's hard to do because you know the roads are really traffic free at the moment and there's you know it's and the weather's good so there's a real incentive to get outside but I'm trying to do my sport bit by writing the turbo staying inside and and hopefully saving lives and so yeah putting putting small things in place small goals in place in the meantime I think is the is the key to that mate whatever and I think whatever they are you know whatever they are to sue you would you know a jump on Tron rider the to Land's End to John O'Groats it's good fun kind of what else have we got here Andrew toons and the current circumstances with only solo rides available I'm not training to the same level I usually do and the pounds are starting to creep back on where do you find the motivation well Andrew it's funny I saw a message from Cara on social media saying that the only issue he was having with social distancing was from his fridge so don't forgive the owner out of that boat Andrew but yeah I think I think having sitting yourself some goals and finding a purpose to get back on and train for you know I think Swift is a great platform for that there's lots of things to challenge yourself on Swift so yeah jump on the air mate and you know join some group rides I know British on a road race series on a Tuesday and a time tour series on a Thursday so that great events you know you can go out and just try and increase your personal best you know if it's not about winning those things particularly maybe but just about trying to increase your increase your performance each week might might help you do a B how do you rank your cycling achievements and what are you most proud of I think like I said earlier the world record is probably up there and very closely followed by a couple of gold medals at their games being a world champion is obviously a massive thing for a cyclist and bring those rainbow we're in that rainbow jersey so that that was a bit of a proud moment but there's other things outside of sight outside of elite competition that I'm really proud of and writing the second city divided with teammate John Gill day and introducing him to bike packing or kind of like fast by packing as you know I'm really proud of that and just generally trying to help people get into cycling and into outdoors I think it's really important as a nation that we're not solely focused on you know riding a 250 meter track and you know we've got a great country and you know Scotland's probably my favorite country in the world to go bike packing in so I thought I think getting people outside on bikes is the key and I'm super proud to be a part of trying to push that initiative really through my own stupidity and exploits on on a bike so yeah I you know don't run being being an Olympic champion is great but you know having messages from people saying hey I've just seen what you did there and I want to go and do this by packing route or whatever what do you think is really just as fulfilling so yeah good good question we have Marc and I think it is Ange sorry forgot your name or Mac what strictures do you do before and after a ride also what kind of stretches do you do on a rest day Mac I'm not good at this I'm not good at this Mac and I should be because I'm 42 and I should be much better with my body I think again I think I'm no expert in this I think our L support staff and certainly my physio Katie flatters the team physio would would probably get on my cases but about this but I would say any stretching is good stretching how about that Brad sir yeah I'm sure you can find lots of stuff online there's a BC you've put up lots of stuff in the past I think on their social media about you know pre-race warm-ups and things like that so so delve in and do a bit of research and I'm sure you'll find a better answer than what I can give you sitting here in my kitchen Catherine says what draws you to big endurance rides and equally some of the lesser-known disciplines such as fat bikes angle rebel riding I came into styling from a more adventurous background Catherine so I you know I I came into cycling through trying to rock climbing and things like that as well as beforehand and surfing and and and things so I've always had a I think I've always had a passion for having an adventure and I think what I discovered when I started running a bike was you can travel really far and have amazing adventures and and with the with the kind of progression of bike packing and by packing bags and travel cool and you can travel light you can travel far and fast then I started to be really interesting what I could physically do and what where my breaking point was for riding so my I think the thing that attracts me where that sort of thing is just the the places you can get to on a gravel bike and certainly a fat bike in the conditions you can ride in and the journeys and adventures you can have I think is there is really what inspires me to jump on my grover bike you know put a bivy bag in and just go and ride as far as I can in a day or through a day or you know whatever and just explore and I love point-to-point riding so eight to be riding I kind of because for my job I ride around in circles a lot and I don't use me on the velodrome but you know training out living house and coming back to your house so for me going point to point A to B B to C to D like that sort of thing is almost like a Tour de France type ride is perfect for me you're like I really find lots of inspiration in that and seeing new things every day and and yeah generally just just finding my breaking point really which is always some you know which is which is an ongoing thing every time I do one of these big rides the second city divided was a was a classic example where I rode through the night and and had a shift of 36 hours on the bike and I've never done that before and I thought that would kill me and it didn't so so yeah there's you know it's just it's just the adventure side of things I thinking and really enjoying and having those adventures so yeah thanks thanks for the thanks for the question and it and everyone should own a fat bike because fat bikes the most fun of it they have on two wheels so if you don't that might get yourself a fat bike you won't regret it we've got a message from John Linton here why did you choose cycling what attracted it what attracted you to it as a Paralympic sport and what was your motivation for getting involved and power cycling talent identification good question John my attraction to it was I always wanted to know as a youngster growing up if I had all the support around me could I be the best in the world of something and I mean all the support around me I mean you know the physio is nutritionist and the amazing support network we have a British Cycling if I had all of that around me and I committed a hundred percent to a target could I be the best in the world and and it didn't matter what sport it was I just wanted to know if I could be the best in the world at something if I put my mind to it and and as it happened cycling came up once I have my eye diagnosis a friend Karen dark said you can ride on the back of a ten and race for Great Britain so that's kind of how I went down the cycling route and it's worked out you know it's worked out really well for me but you know I think it wasn't I wasn't a cyclist and thinking I'm gonna be a Paralympic cyclist it was more okay civ it was looking at the opportunities I had after losing my driver's license and losing my sight that kind of you know led me to jumping on the back of a ten and with Adam Doug will be and answering a few were those kinda childhood questions which was which was pretty cool and then John's also asked there's a theme building here John what advice would you give to anyone thinking of applying for parasite and talent identification sorry I'll start that message again John arts what what advice would you give to anyone thinking of applying for Paris cycling talent identification activities I would say get involved you can track down the if you go onto the British Island website you will to be able to find the talent ID process they are no perda cycling run talent ID days all over the country throughout the year and certainly I would think in the next year they'll be starting to look for talent for Paris so that will be an ongoing process so yeah get on the bc website and if not track down John Linton online he's got a Twitter handle I think it is John P Linton I think on Twitter and he will actually be able to answer your questions John is our pathway Development Manager so it'll be him that you'll be talking to and he'll be only help you well so that's all the questions I have thank you very much for sindermann I hope they've been interesting for you and I just want to say you stay safe keep well and all the best during the this crazy time take care guys Thanks