About bikes, cycling and cycle to work - Tredz Blog

Jody Wins Mens Kilo

You shouldn't ever really expect anything at this level of competition, but it's hard not to predict Jody Cundy will be there or there abouts every time he enters an event. Another international competition (the Paralympic World Cup this time), another Gold for Jody in the Kilo Sprint.

By the time this has been published he will have also competed in the Mens Team Sprint. Fingers crossed, but we're pretty sure he'll give a very good account of himself.

We are all as usual, in awe. Congratulations mate.

In other Jody news, the Beeb has got a good article and short video about him on their site. Well worth a look.

Jody Cundy drops in

Jody dropped by today to source some shoes (he ended up plumping for the Shimano R-300, their benchmark competition road shoes) we of course grabbed him and sat him down to get the latest. Five minutes in and he's already telling us about some of the amazing training techniques he and the rest of the British team are using.

Try this on for size. Slipstreaming behind a motorbike on the track and racking up speeds of up to 75km/hr. "You don't want a blowout when your're doing those speeds." Jody grins.

As well as chasing down a motorbike, Jody has been fine tuning his equipment for the run up to the Paralympics. Including the same £2000 handlebar as Chris Hoy and crucially a new leg. No more NHS kit for Mr Cundy these days as he's getting equipment befitting a premier world athlete. Ossur, one of the worlds leading provider for non-invasive orthopaedics also provide equipment for athletes. They provide prosthetics for the likes of Oscar Pistorius.

Fairly auspicious company then.

He gets the prototype next week, and will be participating in the Paralympic World Cup in Manchester on the 8th - 9th May, with possible BBC highlights on the following Sunday.

Jody Cundy Article

Jody Cundy Tredz sponsored rider is gearing up for Bejing this summer. The Paralympics are his main focus now and in this Evening Post article he explains how he is still waiting to hear if he's been selected.

After his already successful year, not least of which breaking his own world record recently in an unoffical  demo in Manchester, we're pretty sure he won't get overlooked.

Best of luck Jody.

A letter from Jody

Just as we were starting to worry about Jody, our resident world champ, he gets in touch to tell us what he's been up to in the 'off' season:

Jody on the BBC

Jody Cundy, Tredz sponsored rider, world Champion and all round good egg has been featured on BBC2's  drivetime Chris Evans show. Best of all it doesn't feature Chris Evans (he's on holiday).

Check out Jody on radio 2 here, he appears about an hour and forty minutes into the broadcast if you want to skip the Jeremy Clarkson inspired rock.

End of the Nationals

More Jody results have come in following the end of five days of competition and forty laps of full tilt racing at the nationals.
Jody’s back to his winning ways with a gold and a world record of 11.458 (to beat his own previous WR of 11.676) in the flying 200. He also got silver in the kilo, 2nd in the B sprint competition and a top ten place in the open kilo. His team came 5th in the team sprint where he scored another personal best of 19.4 in the opening lap.
The CWAD (cyclists with a disability) kilo was the final event. Not surprisingly considering the amount of racing he’s been doing, Jody’s legs were a bit knackered by this point so he came a ‘disappointing’ second. He told us he dropped a gear to try and give his legs a break but couldn’t take advantage of the easier spin. Just a tiny bit glad to hear that lactic acid affects champions as well as your average fair weather commuter...
Another fantastic showing Jody, congratulations from all of us.

Jody doesn't win shocker!

So he is human.
Jody Cundy, our resident world champion, made it through to the final's of the BC National Track Championships in Manchester but got twice narrowly beaten by Mike Partridge. He's still got the  team sprint, flying 200 and the kilo to go though so we're still hopeful that he can cap his tremendous year in style.
Jody told us he's looking foward to the break he's getting after the nationals. Well deserved!

Phil Marland Wins Welsh Grand Prix Championships

Another week, another Tredz rider making headlines. Phil Marland has won the this year's Welsh Grand Prix Tri Championships.

A huge effort, spanning four races in Bala, Pembrokeshire, Aberavon, Llanelli and Tuska. The unique Welsh landscape (for unique read hills and rain) makes the Welsh Grand Prix Championships a particularly hard won event.

I spoke to him recently and asked him about his triumph and found that because of a combination of a hectic work schedule and a dodgy leg, he wasn’t even planning on taking part in the entire series.

So how did he end up winning?

Although he didn't say as much I would attribute a lot of it down to mental toughness. When I was talking to him about the swimming (his least favoured event) he told me he “…landed on some rocks in the mass start, I was in agony for ten minutes and I got a few kicks in the face, but the adrenaline soon kicks in.” Nails.
He made up for the swimming and the fact that he can only run once a week (that leg) through his favoured event, the cycling. Riding his Tredz issue Specialized Roubaix he achieved a higher average score than everyone else over the series.

Congratulations from all of us at Tredz, Phil.

Jody Update

Jody has given us another video of his incredibly successful time at the World championships in France.

For those thinking that he breaks records every time he gets on a bike here he is snapping his chain in a training session. Probably due to peddling too hard.

In other news he's been planning for the distant future by getting some coaching qualifications and the near future by getting a new lighter, more aerodynamic leg. Hopefully in time for the national championships in October.

Jody's World Championship update

On his return from the para-cycling world championships in Bordeaux, Jody called in to show us his latest medals. The gold looks rather good on the green jersey! We took the opportunity to have a chat with him about his training and some other stuff.

We were keen to know if he'd modified the spec on his bikes at all to help achieve his impressive results, but both the team issue bike for racing (Trek 5.5 Madone) and his 'Tredz issue' bike for winter training (Giant SCR 1.0) are identical to the one you or I would buy. No excuse for anyone there then...

MTB Masters World Championships

We've had news from our 'other' man in France, Julian, who was one of over 1000 athletes taking part in the Mountain Bike Masters World Championships last weekend.

After doing battle with EasyJet, who were less sympathetic to the needs of competition cyclists than to their own commercial interests, Julian and his fellow traveller and Kona rider Andrew Titley ended up flying out minus their spare kit.

At Pra Loup, the track was dust! In some places 2ft of it which was difficult to ride without spiked tyres. Julian had to use the same tyres as for Moelfre, his spikes having been left behind in the excess luggage.

Julian was well ranked after the qualifying runs on Friday and kept his position in the top 5 until some 200m before the finish. A good run into the river followed by an unexpected compression bounced him away from his bike. Despite a super fast recovery it lost him several places, finishing in 29th place 18 seconds after the winner, Shaums March. Full event ranking here, event pictures here.

While it was most disappointing to have such a set-back, Julian qualified for next year's World Championships for which he's definitively taking his car.

World Championships Bordeaux - 22 August update

He's making it sound so easy: Jody's Bordeaux update for today includes another world record! His time of 50.14 in the Team Sprint was a cracking improvement after 51.08 in heats and got Jody gold again. He was followed by the Chinese (51.8) and the Chech Republic in third place.

Daily updates and all the details are published on Cycling England as soon as they become available.

Watch the videos of both the Team Sprint and the Kilo on YouTube.

Gold medal at World Championships

We just heard from Jody in Bordeaux: he's achieved another  gold medal and set a new world record time of 1.08.71 (2nd place came in at 1.11) in the LC2 Kilo. Despite having a cold and a temperature! We wish Jody good luck tomorrow in the Team Sprint.

Para-Cycling World Championships Bordeaux

400 cyclists from 40 nations are taking part in the World Championships in Bordeaux:

• Aug 19th – 24th: World Championships (track)
• Aug 26th – 28th: World Championships (road)

We received an interim update from our sponsored rider Jody Cundy, member of the GB team, who arrived in Bordeaux last week and we look forward to next week's results. Good luck Jody!

As soon as he's back, Jody's straight into the Welsh National Track Championships Aug 31st – Sept 1st.

Downhill championships Moelfre

Last weekend, Tredz rider Julian Poffley came third in the Masters at the NPS Downhill at the popular Moelfre track near Oswestry. The Moelfre track is both a great spectator track on open hillside with no trees, and a super fast rolling track with many high speed corners, off camber sections and fast straights.

A great line-up of top downhill mountain bikers made it a very competitive event, in the Masters six riders came within six seconds of the winner David Tallontine who finished with 2:38mins, Julian coming in just 4 seconds later at 2:42mins in third place after Aidan Bishop 2:40mins, out of 33 riders.

It rained the night before the race but the sun and the strong winds soon dried the track out again. The changing conditions didn’t make the choice of tyres easy. Julian decided to stay with his combination of Maxxis Minion front and High Roller at the back on his Cove to tackle the mud and semi-dry conditions. Some riders went for spikes which were great at the start but drifty later on in what was the first dry race this summer.

Racing was super fast on a track which varied from fire road to solid and cut up singletrack with a steep and grippy finish: a fast jump into grass at speeds of 40mph plus. Lots of shots of the downhill champs here.

We wish Julian success in the 2007 UCI Mountain Bike Masters World Championships in Pra Loup, France, next weekend.

Jody's World Championships training

It’s been a while since I’ve been in touch, so thought I’d bring you up to speed with how things are going and what’s planned for the coming months.

Well, currently in my major block of training for the World Championships in 5-6 weeks time. Training's been going very well and am currently at my 2nd team GB camp in 3 weeks at Newport velodrome. We’ve been working hard on the team sprint at the moment, as we’ve had a bit of a history of being disqualified at major championships. So we have had the Welsh Institute of Sport down, filming our workouts so we can make sure that come Bordeaux, our changeovers and rides are legal. Everything seems to be going well and we’re looking pretty slick now.

Had my 1st major crash on the track a few weeks back. Having finished an effort I came off the track and my front wheel got stuck in the join between the concrete and the track where a fault had developed, and spat me off. I took pretty much all the force on my chin and required a quick visit to A&E for a total of 7 stitches, 5 visible and 2 inside to keep the wound together. But I was back on track the following day, and still riding hard!

Things at the moment are looking fairly positive as I’m hitting times I was doing on race wheels etc in May, so I think I’ve moved on a bit more and hopefully come Bordeaux I’ll be flying.

Tredz rider wins National Downhill Championships Masters

Last weekend was another podium finish for Tredz rider Julian Poffley at the bcf downhill nationals at Rheola.

After a sunny practise and seeding on the Saturday, the heavens opened up  for the race on Sunday, with many people seen sporting bin bags!

Steve Peat  rolled his ankle early on in the day and this seemed to make everyone step up their game. Jules's Cove Shocker performed faultlessly, and his knowledge of the local track obviously paid off as he brought home a gold medal, first place in Masters class. Jules took the title from former champion Tim Pontin by 3.5 seconds.

Times below -

1. Julian Poffley - 3.32.676
2. Tim Pontin - 3.36.040
3. Andrew Titley - 3.40.074

A big congratulations to Jules for flying the Tredz flag, and getting 3  podiums in as many weeks! So where next, maybe the worlds? Who knows.

More details are available on British Cycling and on the Dragon Downhill site.

GB Squad announced for World Championships

Hot off the press

We've just received the announcement of the official team selected for the 2007 Para-Cycling World Championships in Bordeaux from 19th to 27th August 2007. It's great to see Tredz rider Jody selected for both the Track and the Road squads and congratulations to all squad members for their selection.

Downhill championships Rheola

It's the National DH Champs at Rheola (Glynneath) this weekend, and Tredz team rider Julian Poffley will be gunning for another podium place, even though the weather is looking grim.

We have had Jules's Cove Shocker in the workshop for a little pre-race tune up, and due to the technical nature of the Rheola course its running a firm but slow shock and fork setup. Jules will be running with dx spd's on this track and as for tyre choice, we have put together a little guideline program for all you new to the fold dh riders:

• dry conditions (yea right!) Jules will run a pair Maxxis high rollers, 2.5 super tacky compound

• wet conditions a pair of Maxxis Swampthings 2.5 super tacky compound

• damp/mid conditions: high roller front and a high roller rear, run at about 30 psi.

Hope these tips are useful, and if you get to the race, look out for the Tredz van and cheer our guy!

Cycling gold: Jody's Wales Grand Prix & World Cup updates

The Disability Grand Prix of Wales

The Wales Grand Prix is in its 2nd year and was originally setup as a warm up event for the World Cup. The Australian and Irish team showed up as well as the full GB squad and a few extra entries.

I was originally down to do the flying 200, kilo, pursuit and the scratch race, but after talks with my coach, Barney Storey, we decided to pull out of the pursuit and scratch race in order to keep my legs as fresh as possible for the world cup just 2days away. The final plan was to do a maximum effort in the flying 200 and a 500m max in the kilo and cruise to the finish.

The flying 200 went well considering the lack of warm up, not my fault, the organisers told us we were running in numerical order which would put me on number 28 however just as I was about to start my warm up proper, the organisers decided to reverse the order which put me off 3rd without a warm-up! I did my effort and didn’t feel particularly great but the time was 11.675 which is actually a pb by 1/1000th of a second, and had it been official would of also been a WR by the same amount.

On to the kilo, my target was to do my first 500 faster than the schedule I set when I broke the world record which meant my target was 36.446. Without a starting gate the start wasn’t as good as usually but quickly got up to speed and settled into my aero position. The conditions didn’t feel favourable at top speed, you could almost feel the drag! However my 500 was covered ¾s of a second quicker than my target. I then eased off and tried to maintain as much speed with as little effort as possible. Final time 1.11.253 only a second outside my best and that was without consciously trying for the last 500, looks good for world cup!

Paralympic World Cup gold medals

First up at the World Cup was the team sprint and it was also the 1st race, I was off 3rd again with Rik Waddon and Darren Kenny ahead of me. Have to say my legs didn’t feel that great but all the changeovers were smooth and that was what was important as we’ve been disqualified for those on more than one occasion. The time was 52.096 not the fastest we’d ever been, however it was the fastest we’d been in an official IPC competition and subsequently it was faster than the old WR. Not a bad start and it certainly got the crowd noisy!

Next up was the kilo, a quick change into my world champion skinsuit and back on track. Hopefully the team sprint hadn’t taken too much out of me. Target time to beat was 1.10.271 by Jiri Bouska, only a fraction slower than my WR. My first lap was up on schedule and going through 500 I was faster than I’d been in Newport 2 days prior, now it was all about holding it together on the last 2 laps, which although were seriously painful I think I managed that. I crossed the line to a massive cheer from the crowd and Hugh Porter going mad on the PA, as I’d smashed my WR from 1.10.255 to 1.09.028. Which I later found out is the fastest kilo by any paralympian other than the tandems.

No time for much celebration as the team sprint wasn’t long. We were up as fastest qualifiers, against the Spanish team, and coming into my changeover we were as quick if not quicker than our qualifying run, however as Darren peeled off I could see we’d caught the Spanish team, which meant when I was flat out they were about to change. So I had to go the long way round almost up to the fence to overtake safely. When I crossed the line it was 52.740, so outside the WR but considering we’d caught our rivals in 44seconds meant it was my 2nd gold of the day!

To top the weekend off I was announced as the Nationwide Achievement Award male Track Cyclist at the awards ceremony after the event. 

Jody Cundy wins two more gold medals

Tredz team rider Jody Cundy broke two world records and collected two more gold medals yesterday at the VISA Paralympic World Cup in Manchester.

Jody was riding in the team sprint with Darren Kenny and Rik Waddon. They broke their own world record in the morning heats stopping the clock at 52.096. Jody said “although we broke the world record, we’ve been faster as a team. But it’s the first time we’ve done it in an event and that’s what counts.” They went on to take gold in the final.

Our man Jody then showed himself to be the fastest Paralmypic athlete over the kilo by breaking his own PB and the world record in 1:09:028. The guy can’t stop collecting gold. The BBC called “him the star of the show.” Let’s hope they can all duplicate the performance in Beijing next year.

There’s a full write up on British Cycling and BBC2 has coverage from 3:45pm on Sunday.

Jody Cundy preparing for the World Cup

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, so thought I’d bring you up to date on a few things.

Since my last post I’ve signed with a new team, actually my 1st cycling team: VC St. Raphael.  I’ve also competed in my first set of races outside of paralympic events. I rode the 1st round of the Llandow crits, in which I was 7th in the 4th Cat race, which wasn’t bad for my 1st race. It taught me a few lessons, like not to sit on the front too much as it fatigues you out more than you think and secondly, don’t get boxed in when the strongest rider decides to make his break with 2 laps to go!

And then just a few weeks ago I rode the first round of the Sprinters Track League at Newport, which didn’t go too bad, although I was quite cautious about getting stuck in as the Paralympic World Cup is coming up soon and I want to be fully fit and ready for it.

Speaking of which, preparations are going very well. I managed to top my personal best in my flying 100m efforts both in training and also fully kitted. In Manchester last week I finally managed to crack 20 seconds for my opening lap with a 19.72, so things are going well.

Ed's Northshore Nirvana

Ed and his mates have been busy over the winter building some really crazy northshore. It's not quite what you'd see in mountain bike DVDs but as the boss said "You've got to admire the engineering genius. I wouldn't bloody ride it though". Would you?

Ed on new Cove Shocker

I may have upset Ed by showing some footage of Jules on his new Cove Shocker. To kiss and make up, here’s some stills of Ed last weekend as we've finished building up his new frame.  

Tredz rider named in GB squad

It was a bit of a foregone conclusion that Tredz rider, Jody Cundy would be chosen to represent Britain on the cycle track at the Visa Paralympic World Cup in May this year. His outstanding results in Australia clearly did him no end of good. No surprises then when the news broke on the Beeb yesterday that he was in the 10-man set-up. Well done Jody, you deserve it mate.

Former swimmers Jody Cundy and Sarah Bailey are in action too on 11 May in the Manchester Velodrome. Cundy, who made his international debut in last year's event, will compete in the LC2 kilometre time trial and the scratch race.

Jules' new bike

Our veteran downhiller has built his new stead. I’m not sure who decided first but both Ed and Jules are to be racing the Tredz downhill banner on Cove Shockers.

Jules has rigged his up with: Marzocchi 88rc2 fork, Mavic dee max wheelset, Shimano Saint crankset, Crank Bros mallet pedals, Maxis high rollers, MRP chain device, Hope Moto v2 brakes (awesome), Easton bars, Odi lockon grips and a Charge Stool saddle. It certainly looks like a winning combo but it rides like one too according to early reports. If you see him on the circuit, go say hello.

Cove frames are lush (and in stock)

We've been a fan of Cove frames for ages and sold the odd one here and there, but this week we made the leap of faith and bought a load for stock. Why the hell hadn't we done it before - they're gorgeous?

Only available as frames, they offer a burly build that looks like you could huck it off a building! (Not that we recommend that type of thing, obviously.) There’s hardtails, jump bikes and trail eating machines available, but it’s the downhill bike, the Cove Shocker, that’s going to be flying the Tredz flag. You’ll see both team riders on Shockers at the dh races this year. Ed is building up this one. Is it the orange or his hair that you’ll notice first?

Jody update

Feels like a while since I last posted and to be honest not a lot has actually happened. Just been busy training and that's been about it. After the Australian nationals finished we spent 2 nights in Beijing and basically did the tourist thing. Checked out Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City which are vast. So strange to see so much open space in the middle of a city. Then we hit the Xiu Shui/Silk Street markets which are a "an experience." I don't think there is anything you can't get here, and if you are up to the bargaining, there’s many a bargain to be had. Our hotel was just a stones throw away from the Olympic stadium (pic above), which is affectionately known as the bird’s nest (you can understand why).

It took a little time to get back used to the wet and the wind as we'd been spoilt for great training weather in Australia, but things are going well now. I’ve even scored a few PBs on the track in training over the last couple of weeks – they’ve helped my confidence. So things are currently on track for the Visa Paralympic world cup which is in May. Unfortunately it looks like the European championships in Newport might be off, but they were on and off 3 or 4 times during our time in Australia so until the date comes and we're not racing, I'll take it with a pinch of salt!
Posted by Jody

Ed not outdone by Albes kid

Well it’s February and it’s raining; it’s still bloody raining. Thank god for indoor skate parks. A haven of dry in a world of boggy jumps and waterlogged berms. Plywood is refreshingly firm and springy under wheel. Perhaps a little too firm as a stuffed jump means I'm now typing this with very little help from my right hand, the wrist of said hand being about as much use as a triathlete on a downhill course. Anyway, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and besides it left me free to take a couple of pictures of Ed tearing about the place.
Posted by Chris

Fabien Barel races Tredz rider

Tredz team downhill rider Julian often uses the uplift at Rheola but this week’s runs were a bit special. On his way to the course Jules’ good friend, Dirt Magazine's Steve Jones, called to invite him to ride with some professionals who were already on the mountain.

These weren’t any old hacks from the circuit; he was taking about two World Champions: Fabien Barel and Tracy Moseley! They were spending the day at Rheola hammering one of the best Welsh dh courses.

It’d be stating the obvious to say our guy was blown away by the riding ability of both the world champs, but he was more amazed at the level of technical knowledge they employ. Both of them apparently continue to tune and re-tune the bikes to get maximum performance for the specific terrain. Sure, we’d all expect to see their lackeys changing tyres and adjusting fork and shock pressures, but changing the actual linkage plates!? This really was World Cup Fettling.

Fabien was averaging a 3.11 descent, and our guy didn’t let the side down with a very respectable 3.17. All in all, an unbelievable day not to be forgotten - as Jules said “You wouldn’t see Beckham playing football with his fans”.

Trainer joins Tredz contributor team

TredzTalk have been on the look out to put a trainer on the books who can offer qualified cycle training advice. We're pleased to say that position has been filled by all-round-nice-guy, Nigel Nicholas. Nigel is a full-time fitness instructor, passionate triathlete and uber Lance Armstrong fan. He's competed in the London Triathlon 2006 as well as several local events and his plans include the London tri again and the Xterra half ironman this year (it’s a US link because the UK site is pathetically out of date). His lifetime goal is a sub 2 hour Olympic distance triathlon.

We're hoping Nigel can enlighten us with advice that'll lift our cycling and triathlon standards (although that'll be simple for me as January was utterly hopeless on the training front, Feb’s not started much better either). If you're anything like us, you're going to welcome any tips that can help get the most out of pretty limited training time.

Gold again for Tredz rider

Well the team sprint went well on Friday night. We won the gold in the 4th fastest time ever recorded, a 52.270. Personally though I was very pleased with my own performance, as I managed to dip under 15 seconds for my lap for the first time with a 14.96(average speed 60.16km/h).

Everything has gone well on this trip, and considering the time of year and phase of training I'm in, I'm very pleased with my performances and am personally looking forward to going even faster as the year rolls on. We've got 2 more days in Sydney, if we can get tickets think we're off to the 2nd match of the one day cricket series. On Monday 12th we fly to Melbourne, before leaving for Beijing the following morning. The bikes go home Monday so Beijing should be a chance for a quick bit of sight seeing, before we head home. You'll be pleased to know that the weather in Beijing is pretty much the same as you've got at the moment, so it's away with the shorts and out with the thermals!

Tredz rider wins again

Tredz rider and world record holder, Jody Cundy has won his first race in Australia for good old Blighty!It took a while to find the results page but this is taken from the Australian Cycling Federation (the bugger hasn't writen a race report yet). He races again on Friday in the team sprint. Good luck Team GB.

Results Event 6     Monday, 5 February 2007 1:00:00 PM   Communique 22
                LC2 Men 1000m Time Trial Final                

Place     Rider    Name                      Affiliation          Speed    Time
1           61        Jody CUNDY             GBR                   50.73    1:10.970
2           50        Martin VCELKA         VIC                    49.33    1:12.982
3           72        Jonathon BAXTER     NZL                   42.39    1:24.921

A belated race update from the man himself:

Out of the gate I felt pretty smooth and was quickly up to speed by the first corner. I settled into my tri bars but ran a little wide - I think that was due to running a double disc and not knowing what to expect at full speed. From there I settled into a good rhythm, and pretty soon it was the bell lap. Coming into the home straight I could just hear the commentator saying 7, 8, 9 as the seconds passed so I knew I was on a good ride. 1.10.970, 3rd fastest I've ever been and a new Australian Championship record! Pretty good considering it's only February and we've not really started working on my speed yet, hopefully better times to come as the year goes on.

Pretty good night for team GB. Of 7 events entered we won 5 golds! But so we should as 4 of us riding were world champions from Switzerland.

Jody down under

I'm sure you'd like to hear that it's cold, wet and windy over here in Australia, but I can't lie to you! The weathers gorgeous, around the 28C mark everyday, however it has been a bit windy [bloody shame, Ed].

The cycle track we're training on is really peculiar, it's 418m long but, unlike most conventional tracks, it's not oval in shape. This thing is almost a curved D shape. It doesn't cause too much of a problem for the solo bikes on track but with the lack of any banking, the tandems are having real issues getting round it at full speed. Qu9ite funny though. The camp has gone well with a mixture of road, gym and track based work. I think everyone's really looking forward to Sydney now and I just want to get racing again. Especially as with the temperature so warm the conditions on track should be really fast. (Photos courtesy of British Cycling.)

My new leg has been good, but there are a few teething problems which was expected. The biggest prob is that it's a bit long! I hadn’t really noticed on my road bike, but on my kilo track bike when I’m settled down into the tribars, my right knee has been hitting me in the chest. So after a few modifications we're hoping it should be all sorted by the Sydney competitions.

Cycling prosthetic brings pedal power

I wanted to update you before I head off to Oz on my British cycling squad training. I've nicked my girlfriends laptop so hopefully I'll be able to send you an update straight from there – if I’m not too knackered.

My cycling leg is finally in prototype form! I went for my 3rd fitting in Leicester last week and things are really moving on. My fitter, Christophe Cointet, was particularly pleased as he and his technician had managed to complete it a few days earlier than planned so I could take it down under for my training camp and competitions. Cheers guys!

It’s my first customer-made cycling prosthetic and it immediately feels more secure. I know it’s going to allow me to transmit loads more power than my current leg. It utilizes a simple valve within the liner that expels the air and allows for a secure fit. As this is a prototype, it currently weighs 1.7kg which is the same as my current leg and shoe, but the target weight for the final version is 1kg. This model is sparse on aerodynamic qualities, but the final version will be made as optimal as possible. The leg does away with a right shoe altogether and is built directly into a cleat system, which awesome for cycling but not good to walk in!

Have thank Christophe and his technicians in Leicester and Robert Shepherd from OttoBock for making this all possible - if I had to pay for this myself it would be in excess of £10,000. Tredz may be good but I don’t think they’d manage to fit that bill.
Posted by Jody

Who needs reindeer?

Just got my club newsletter through. Dan-Yr-Ogof was the scheduled Christmas club run, but it was decided that a sociable ride down to Mumbles would be more in keeping with the spirit of the season, and indeed we found a ‘North Pole’ (albeit on the menu in Fortes). I'm in the middle in snug blue tights.

I have to say it is amazing how many people just have to wave to Santa Claus. They just can’t help themselves! Children, grannies, van drivers, you name them, we humoured them, and if nothing else this ride put a smile on few faces (including our own). Let’s raise the bar with a few more Santas and Reindeers next year shall we?
Posted by James

Tredz at Sports Personality of the Year

Tredz rider Jody Cundy will be in the NEC on Sunday at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards. He’ll be rubbing shoulders with the cream of British sport. And deservedly so. My bribery attempts to let him take me as a chaperone have proved fruitless. I've never been closer, bugger. Obviously, we want Jody to win but despite the shortlist being increased to ten this year, it doesn’t hold his name – or any other disabled athlete for that matter.

My favoured personalities in the line up would have to be Joe Calzaghe, Jenson Button and Nicole Cooke. I’ve seen the undefeated super middleweight World Champ fight in Cardiff and you can actually feel the power from 20 metres away – awesome. Jenson won his first grand prix this year at Hungary (only wish I’d been there to see that!) but I fear he’s an outsider for even 3rd on Sunday. Cooke has retained her World Cup crown and led Univega to the team title as well. Yesturday William Hill had Calzaghe at 10/1, Button at 80/1 and Cooke at 50/1. Just looking from a strictly research point of view you understand.

Not quite Northshore

Tredz rider Ed has been pretty handy with a shovel for a few years now. He's built dozens of jumps but is now turning his hand to carpentry by building northshore runs anywhere remote. This is how not to ride them...