Catching up with Lizzie Deignan the evening before the first stage of the Women’s Tour de Yorkshire and I was struck by just how relaxed and level headed she is. She’s three races into her return from giving birth last September, so I was thinking that maybe there would have been some lingering apprehension at being back in the thick of things, but not at all. Any doubts she had over nerves or if her ability to deal with the stresses of racing in a peloton were, she says, gone after the first 100 metres of Amstel Gold Race.
In a way, I’m glad the race hasn’t started yet as it’s a chance to talk about some of the more interesting aspects of bike racing, namely the weird and wonderful stuff that goes on before and after the event that can’t be seen by the public.
Like rooming with a coffee aficionado. It’s one of those little things that keeps a rider sane, and for Tayler Wiles – aka the ‘Cookie Monster’ – there’s a whole procedure to go through each morning that involves grinding beans and measuring water content before consumption happens.
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Deignan might be team leader but when someone’s home comforts are involved it’s best to not interfere. And what can she admit to as her own little reminder of domestic life? Socks, soft fluffy socks. Not cotton or bamboo or anything special – they just have to allow walking on hotel carpet to be pleasant.
Surely she has something special, some quirk of character that needs to be satisfied each day on the road but no, there’s not the usual fussiness over bike setup that accompanies most top level bike riders. She knows her saddle height, and can feel if something isn’t right in her setup. I enquire if she ever starts with an Allen key in her pocket to adjust one of the contact points and there’s another shake of the head. What about one of the hot topics of the sport, weight management?
Nope, no problems there either, but it’s one of her dislikes; the constant strain on riders to lose, maintain or, in some cases – like track events – to gain weight. She admits she’s lucky – staying at her race weight isn’t a chore and there’s no dieting, as it happens. There was some calorific restriction before the Rio Olympics but her lack of performance there, she says, didn’t come from the brief diversion from keeping normality in her nutrition. Instead she says, “No, I just wasn’t good enough on that course.”
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/philippa-york-lizzie-deignan-defines-her-own-identity
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