Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => Freewheeling => Racing => Topic started by: slope on 15 April, 2017, 08:41:03 pm
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http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/features/john-woodburn-rip/#.WPJ184XzKKE
https://youtu.be/-fTCmda5WGU
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He rode me off his wheel on an AUK 200 once.
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An amazing rider and a jolly nice chap.
He was quite local to me. Had a lot of connections with DPCC (he may have been a member briefly, or maybe just 2nd claim, I don't know!) Luckily for me (and the club 24h record) he always had a "serious" team to race for. He was happy to chat about the 24 without suggesting I was a total muppet who shouldn't have even been in the same race as he had ridden :) I think he may have trounced me in a club 10 once-or-twice in his 70s.
Proper cyclist :thumbsup:
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Known to Moultoneers for his record Cardiff to London ride on the then new Moulton in 1962, 162 miles at 24mph average. He addressed the annual Moulton meeting at Bradford on Avon just a few years ago.
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Did he attract any criticism for doing TTs on gears? I imagine the RTTC was a bit Luddite in those days (and still is...).
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RIP.
I can still recall reading about his LeJOG in the early 80s - at that time I was just getting into club riding and my first (hopeless) 10 mile TTs. Seeing his kit brings back memories - cleats that you nailed on yourself and so on.
He must have been incredibly strong and blessed with remarkable heart and lungs. And as hard as nails. I wonder if there was any study of such things back then? Sub-20 10 mile TTs at over 65, 1:47.xx for a 50.
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incredible achievements, seems like a man i can relate to and be inspired (although have never heard of him before). rip.
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I read the account of the LEJOG, this caught my eye.
The RRA rules forbade the feed car from overtaking its rider more than once every half hour. If the feed car or one of the others wanted to get ahead of the rider more often than that, it would have to take another route. These detours could result in frantic chases through back lanes in the dead of night.
Former Cycling Weekly editor Robert Garbutt, who travelled with the Woodburn cavalcade, wrote in his report: “Former End-to-End trike record holder Pat Kenny (travelling with the support team) was a master of these detours on Woodburn’s ride and upset courting couples as he and his companions blasted down quiet country lanes late at night to get in front of their man and hand up drinks and sponges.”
Read more at http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/record-rides-john-woodburns-record-breaking-end-to-end-1982-211103#CeAD8YMVRzgI4T0r.99
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I read the account of the LEJOG, this caught my eye.
The RRA rules forbade the feed car from overtaking its rider more than once every half hour. If the feed car or one of the others wanted to get ahead of the rider more often than that, it would have to take another route. These detours could result in frantic chases through back lanes in the dead of night.
Former Cycling Weekly editor Robert Garbutt, who travelled with the Woodburn cavalcade, wrote in his report: “Former End-to-End trike record holder Pat Kenny (travelling with the support team) was a master of these detours on Woodburn’s ride and upset courting couples as he and his companions blasted down quiet country lanes late at night to get in front of their man and hand up drinks and sponges.”
Read more at http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/record-rides-john-woodburns-record-breaking-end-to-end-1982-211103#CeAD8YMVRzgI4T0r.99
Half of me is surprised that Pat didn't do it on his trike.
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I like his description of the End to End.
Woodburn is brutally honest when he describes how the End-to-End came about. At the time Manchester Wheelers was more than just a club. Its sponsor, steel magnate Jack Fletcher, who recruited the best time triallists in Britain regardless of where they lived, ran it as a business.
.....Next he dismisses Lands End-John O’Groats itself. “There’s not a lot to it. You can’t go too quick at the start,” he says.
However, as Woodburn concedes in Ray Pascoe’s film of the attempt, Two Days and Two Nights, he started training seriously on January 1, 1982, building to 60 miles each evening after work, then 100 miles on Saturday and another 100 on Sunday. When the racing season started he rode the longest local time trials on the calendar to build speed.
By the end of July 1982 Woodburn was ready — or “fairly fit” as he puts it. “You’ve got to be fairly fit but you don’t want to be bloody killing yourself. You’ve really got to make sure you can keep going and get to the other end, so it’s pretty simple really.”
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HK and I spent some time chatting with John at a Moulton weekend. The stories of his disagreements with various authorities ranging from the RTTC to Alex Moulton were a treat. An absolute legend of British cycling.
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He could come across initially as being quite gruff, but once you'd broken through the exterior he was a lovely chap. I think the last time we raced together was in a 50 in, gosh, 2002 (http://www.mickfountain.co.uk/t457.htm) when he caught and passed me for 4 minutes (and then some...). At the time, I was 21 and John was, I think, three times my age! :o