The Coffee Ride #37 with Reece Homfray
TWENTY years ago Brad McGee went to Canada as an 18-year-old kid and came home with two gold medals as a dual Commonwealth Games champion.
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TWO DECADES ON, THE FIRE STILL BURNS FOR MCGEE
TWENTY years ago Brad McGee went to Canada as an 18-year-old kid and came home with two gold medals as a dual Commonwealth Games champion.
His triumph in the individual and team pursuit set him up for the first of two world titles on the track the following year before he became Olympic champion in Athens in 2004.
But the whole time McGee became just as distinguished a rider on the road which led to a stage win in the 2002 Tour de France and wearing the yellow jersey in 2003.
Now two decades since Victoria in 1994, McGee is going back to the Commonwealth Games, only this time to Glasgow and responsible for selecting and coaching Australia’s men’s road team.
“I really believe that everything I ever did as a cyclist was to get me ready for this role now and I’m really trying to capitalise on my experiences to get the best out of it for these riders, my colleagues and the program I’m responsible for,” he said.
“I feel like that experience can help a young Caleb Ewan come in, can help the Tour de France riders come across because I did the same thing racing three days after the Tour in Manchester.
“I know the Comm Games are absolutely essential in your pre-prep for your first (Olympic) Games.
“To be able to deliver and come out with medals from your first Olympics, Comm Games is indispensable.”
Yet last week in Adelaide — a long way from the roads of Europe — McGee was pacing up and down the SuperDrome holding a stopwatch, encouraging riders in the pits and wheeling bikes across the track as head cycling coach with NSWIS.
It’s almost as if for everything McGee achieved on the road and despite his current role with the national road team, the track was and still is his first true love.
McGee refers to his NSWIS role as his “day job” because at night he’s communicating with riders and fellow national men’s road co-ordinator Brian Stephens by phone, Skype and email.
“I really believe that Australia’s winning edge is a strong culture in track cycling,” said McGee, who spent three years as a director with Saxo-Bank when he finished racing.
“And my big message to all endurance riders, in particular those that have hopes of being Tour de France stars or running into women’s pro teams — your edge will come from the track.
“For many reasons it’s important that track racing, preparation and experiences remain alive and well integrated into Australian cycling.”
Rohan Dennis, Luke Durbridge, Michael Hepburn, Caleb Ewan, Simon Clarke and Mark Renshaw are all in the men’s road team in Glasgow.
And all came from the track where they were either national, Oceania or world champions.
“And Caleb, Michael Hepburn, I could rattle out plenty of names who are still on the boards in their preparation season, mastering their sprint craft and keeping their fluency and power delivery,” McGee said.
“They know they can only get it on the track.
“And it’s a great environment to be in. Dedicate one day a week to come down to the boards and give it a smash.
“We had both Caleb and Bling (Michael Matthews) dropping off the motorbike at 70km/h in November in New South Wales.
“And I point that out to highlight that these things really do pay dividends.”
The road course in Glasgow is expected to suit a sprinter and, as such, a lot of responsibility could be placed on Ewan’s 19-year-old shoulders.
“I don’t think we can say he’s (Ewan) 100 per cent going to be ready for the occasion because it’s his first time out,” McGee said.
“We do know that Comm Games is a great way to introduce riders to performing in a games environment. The sooner you can get in there the better.
“That said, we know Caleb is capable of preparing well, coming out of a training load and into a major competition with good form. He did that at worlds last year and national championships this year.
“He’s largely a junior rider and early into the under-23 ranks, so how much can he deliver in the elites is an unknown entity.
“But it’s a shorter, under-23 style race in bunch size so there’s a lot of reason to back him but you’ve got to acknowledge that it is first time out.
“He’ll have a role to play as all riders will have specific roles and tactics on the day and he’ll be one of our six.”
McGee said Australia would have liked to consider other fast finishers for the team including Michael Matthews and Heinrich Haussler but both were unavailable for selection.
Asked whether Matt Goss was in the frame, McGee said he was given “a lot of consideration”.
“We know Gossy in form can be devastating on that sort of parcour but we haven’t seen enough of Gossy and the selection is made that far out.
“It’s quite likely he could be our best man for the job come race day, but selections have to be made so far out that’s the way we had to go.”
Three to four of the riders in the team are expected to come out of the Tour de France and McGee hopes they will be unscathed and with “golden Tour legs” which means they should be cherry ripe for the Games.
Australia can start three of its seven riders in the time trial but only six in the road race in Glasgow.
KING OF THE BOOKS AND THE BIKE
IS BELLA King an elite cyclist who in her spare time studies a double degree in medicine and surgery?
Or is she a medical student who in her spare time has become a world championship bronze medallist?
Either description sits comfortably with the 22-year-old from Western Australia.
“I don’t want to just cycle and I don’t want to just be a uni student, so I really enjoy having both things in my life and I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t want to,” she explained at the Adelaide SuperDrome on the weekend.
“I’m a little bit hyperactive but no matter who it is you can’t ride your bike all day so if you’ve got hours to kill you might as well put it to good use and go to uni.”
King last week showed she was making good progress with new coach Clay Worthington by winning both women’s omniums at the International Track Series in Adelaide.
It followed her bronze medal ride with Amy Cure, Melissa Hoskins and Annette Edmondson in the team pursuit at the world titles in Cali in March which was her first senior Australian world championship team.
“It’s made me a lot calmer when I race and I know teams pursuit is what I want to focus on leading into Rio,” King said.
“I do omniums for fun and I like training for them because it spices up your training through winter.”
King is in her fifth and final year of Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery in WA and finishes exams in December.
She then plans to take two years off to move to Adelaide and train full time in the hope of making the 2016 Olympics.
“Which will be interesting because I’ve never not done school or uni — I’ll have a lot of time on my hands and have to find some new hobbies,” she said.
“But I don’t want to look back in 10 years and regret not going after that Olympic dream.”
Her decision to go all-in and finish her studies this year meant King has sacrificed her chances of selection for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games next month, but she is focused on the long-term goal.
“In sacrificing attempting to go to Comm Games it means I can take two years off to fully focus on Rio and for me the teams pursuit is my main event and there’s no teams pursuit at Comm Games,” she said.
“So that was just the decision I came to. It’s kind of bittersweet but it worked out all right.”
It will also mean she will no longer have to worry about whether her training is on track in Australia while her teammates are racing on the roads in Europe.
“Mentally that’s pretty hard because I’m always stressing ‘am I doing enough?’ ‘how many steps ahead are they?’ or whatever.
“But so far it’s been okay I guess and this will be the hardest year because we don’t finish exams until the start of December.”
ON YER BIKE, SAM
THIS one is thanks to our Sunday Mail colleague Ben Hook who on the weekend reported that Port Adelaide young gun Sam Colquhoun has turned to cycling to recover from a knee reconstruction.
The 19-year-old is doing stationary bike work under the club’s fitness coach Darren Burgess, who has worked with football giants Liverpool and the Socceroos.
Shortly, Colquhoun will progress to a Power-coloured Trek donated to the club by Bicycle Express.
When he’s finished his cycling training, the bike will be auctioned with the proceeds going to Port Adelaide’s community programs.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
“I’ve been to two world titles and leading into the Olympics I still felt like I was very new to the sport because I hadn’t raced the sprint that much.”
- Matthew Glaetzer on his progression from raw sprinter to one of the fastest men in the world.
“I had some dialogue with her late last night after we both got home and I saw glimpses of the old Anna Meares — the eye of the tiger, the preparedness to chase Steph (Morton) down and that was very impressive.”
- Australian sprint coach Gary West on his dual Olympic gold medallist.
“Sky can of course do whatever they want, but I strongly feel that it is a huge mistake if they do not have Wiggins.”
- Tinkoff-Saxo director Bjarne Riis tells Danish television channel TV2 about Sky’s Tour de France selection.
“Sometimes when you’re in a hole it’s hard to see a light at all and a way out.”
- Anna Meares on racing through a heavy training phase which aims to have her peaking come the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow next month.
“From 400 metres to 200 metres, it was slightly uphill, so I was in a good position to launch myself. Of course, it’s easy to say that when I never even got the chance.”
- Orica-GreenEDGE’s Matt Goss after crashing out of the sprint finish in Stage 5 of the Tour of Switzerland.
TWEET, TWEET ...
Today I was definitely the nail. #buckled
— luke davison (@lukedavison90) June 23, 2014 Sub-type: comment CAPTION: Today I was definitely the nail. #buckled— luke davison (@lukedavison90) June 23, 2014
— Australian men’s track endurance team member Luke Davison after a solid day of training in the US this week.
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Originally published as The Coffee Ride #37 with Reece Homfray
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