BMCR Q&A: Roy Chamberlain

Roy Chamberlain has been racing for many many years. VeloUK was racing against Roy in the 90s and he’s still competing! BMCR’s Toks Adesanya quizzes Roy on his racing…

BMCR Q&A: Roy Chamberlain

Roy in the legend race, the Newport Nocturne

The 2005 National Road Race Championships took place on a couple of brutally tough hilly circuits in North Yorkshire where the Ryedale Grand Prix was held. Eighteen riders managed to wrestle themselves clear early doors; and then the group swelled to twenty-two when a stellar four man chasing group – featuring Russ Downing, Steven Cummings and Chris Newton – bridged across.

Quite a few big guns missed out when the key move went up the road – including the race favourite Roger Hammond. The only masters racer in the break invested his energy wisely – but still played his part to ensure the main bunch were never to be seen again. Inevitably, the rolling terrain and continual attacks decimated the group – so towards the finish there were just ten riders out front.

From this leading pack Russ Downing and breakaway specialist Steve Cummings forged ahead gaining 14 seconds. It was a sprinter’s day – so Downing took the win and the British title.That 40 year old masters racer – winner of this years Percy Stallard competition – finished a very creditable 9th. Ladies and Gents grab a brew and a biscuit coz we’re doing a racing deep dive with that masters athlete who is, of course, the one and only… Roy Chamberlain 👏

Toks Adesanya: Well Roy, that was some result back then – you must still be super proud. I googled the result and a couple of guys called Cavendish and Thomas finished back in the bunch. What was your form like in the run up to those 2005 Nationals?
Roy: I had some top tens in Premiers the weeks leading up to the race so relative to my ability, I felt ok but the nationals is another race when everyone brings their A Game.

Roy racing at Eastway before it was destroyed so the Olympic park could be created.

Toks Adesanya: Indeed – You’ve obviously competed in lots of really special races over the years both abroad and in the UK. Are there any that stand outs from your time racing abroad?
Roy: The one race that stands out is riding Montecarlo- Alassio, 350 riders doing the Poggio and Cipressa with the speed rarely dropping below 50kph. Our team car was gridded about 40th in the convoy and the DS and mechanic didn’t even follow the race and instead spent the afternoon on the beach because their thinking was if we had a mechanical we’d be screwed anyway.

Toks Adesanya: What about some of legends of our sport that you’ve raced against; drop a few names, which ones do you remember being super strong?
Roy: Oh my, so many! Being a perpetual amateur, I’ve seen so many riders pass through on their way to stardom from Chris Walker and Paul Watson in the mid 80’s, then Paul Curran who was such a strong and clinical rider as he’d only attack once and that was it, you’ve never see him again.

Then in France, it was the likes of Richard Virenque and a few others who sadly got caught up in the systematic doping that was endemic in the pro (and maybe amateur) ranks at the time. In the 90’s, I got badly beaten up by Roger Hammond a few times then a few years later it was Wiggins, Dan Martin then onto doing prems with Malcom Elliot who was pure class even at 40+ years of age along with Russ Downing, Chris Newton, Rob Hayles et al and of course the Dowsett, Cav, Thomas, Stannard era as well……

Toks Adesanya: Amazing!! And now you race with us mere mortals 😉. The BMCR Road Races are obviously much shorter and less intense than Elite/Pro level races, so how has your training changed over the years to reflect this?
Roy: I train for the type of races I now enter and so with most vet 50 races being about two hours in duration, they can be pretty intense with not a lot of time for fatigue to set in for the races to split up. So training now has less volume but I still like to throw in long rides for the simple reason that I can.

Whereas in the past, training for longer races, the distance and intensity can get to riders, so you have to train to be strong when it matters in the final hour. Then of course with stage races, when they were a thing in the UK, it was important to do back to back days to replicate the accumulation of fatigue you’d experience in multi-day races.

But if I had a good programme of races and was finishing them, it was often a case of the training taking a back seat to focus on recovery and being sharp for the next event, which is the ideal as I, like most riders, would prefer to race than train.

Roy racing BMCR.org.uk races – photos Cheryl Owens

Toks Adesanya: Lots of guys who raced back then, who still race, seem to take a sabbatical of sorts at some point. Have you had many seasons off since you started racing?
Roy: A few years in the 90’s to focus on a drinking career 😉

Toks Adesanya: In recent times, what races have you enjoyed the most?
Roy: In recent history, I’d say the win on the Queen Stage in the Masters Tour of Mallorca that finished on the sea front in Pollensa. I went solo over the climb and only held the chasing group off by one second. I had to go pretty deep that day.

Toks Adesanya: Cool, thats actually my favourite Masters stage race 👏 How often are you on your bike these days?
Roy: Unless the weather’s really bad or the roads are icy, its most days but some of the days can be a seven mile easy spin to work and back.

Toks Adesanya: When Road Racing stops through winter how do you keep ticking over?
Roy: Mixing it up really to keep it fresh with some cyclo-cross racing at local league level, getting off road on the MTB or cross bike, a couple of gym sessions a week along with the occasional Zwift ride or race and of course some steady road rides. Nothing mega structured so I feel mentally ready to train come the New Year.

Rory on the attack in the Jock Wadley Memorial Trophy race

Toks Adesanya: How’s your flexibility and upper body strength? Could you do a few press ups
Roy: Yes, I seize up if I don’t keep on top of my flexibility and mobility. Must be an age thing. I actually hadn’t done any for ages, so I’ve just had a go and managed 60. I’m sure a lot the readers can do more but at least I’d have smoked Joop Zoetemelk in International Superstars.

Toks Adesanya: Yeah I remember that show. All the cyclists always performed horribly with all round strength tests. I think Boardman did ok when the show came back briefly in the early noughties though. Speaking of Boardman, did you do a lot of time trials or was it always the road races for you?
Roy: Definitely a preference for road racing but I quite like an occasional hilly TT when you’re up and down the gears and ideally with some freewheeling thrown in to break up the effort. Doing TT’s on duel carriageway dragstrips with all of the costly cda-lowering paraphernalia has never appealed, nothing of course due to the fact I’d be useless at them.

Toks Adesanya: Do you make any specific effort (e.g. dieting) to stay in race shape?
Roy: Just eating well, trying to avoid the super processed stuff and balancing calories in vs calories out which can be a challenge at times if you love food as much as I do.

Toks Adesanya: How long have you actually been racing now?
Roy: I’m 58 now and I started when I was 15. I’ve had a few years out from racing here and there but always rode to some extent. I had a season racing in Belgium and two in France when I was in my late teens and early 20’s followed by a couple of years on the national mountain bike circuit when the sport was new in the early 90’s.

In my mid 30’s once, I became more settled after burning the chandelier’s candles at all ends, I was able to train and race a lot more consistently and was able to mix up riding Premiers and what became Nat B’s along with few stage races abroad as an elite up unto my early 50’s when mother nature said `who are you kidding ? – no more’.

Toks Adesanya: What about this (2023) season? Are you happy with how it went generally?
Roy: I’m pleased to have won the Stallard Series and a few events along the way. I focussed mid part of the season on the BC Nationals in Devon but came a away with second so bitter-sweet to have come so close but when you come to the finish with a fast finisher it was on reflection a decent result.

One of the highlights was my last race of the season which was a masters kermesse in Belgium, closed roads with sixty odd guys from 40 to 59 kicking the hell out of each other. Every rider seems know how to race by not putting their nose in the wind unless they absolutely had to but when they did if was full gas racing. The guy who won simply attacked once and we never saw him again but he was built like Goliath’s big brother.

Roy racing the Vet 50 category in the National Trophy Cyclocross at Derby

Toks Adesanya: What has been one of your favourite all time races?
Roy: Back in the day (I sound like Eurosport commentator Brian Smith!)I loved the Tour of Cotswolds, one great big loop over a hundred miles up and down some serious bergs and then finishing on the grass in a park. These days it’s just not possible to have races like that on the same roads so I see myself lucky I was able to do them along with other epic races like the Tour of Peak, Five Valleys, Havant GP and so many others.

Toks Adesanya: Any Favourite BMCR races?
Roy: Overall, the BMRC races are great with the organisers being racers themselves so there’s always a nice ambiance around the events. But if I had to choose a favourite race it’d be between the Peak RR organised by a great bunch of guys on a proper hard course and Phil Rayner’s Fleche Waltone when the weather can have a play on the day.

Toks Adesanya: How have you been able to motivate yourself to keep racing all these years and still be very competitive?
Roy: Apart from the nature of road racing when the strongest doesnt always win but the rider who invests their energy the best, I still love the process of targeting a race/s and then focussing on being the best I can be for them.

Plus, the social side of meeting up and having a thrash on the bikes with like-minded guys who are still doing it at our age. As my good late friend Clive Pinfold used to say when he was racing in his 50’s, ‘its like real racing but in slow motion’ and that’s basically it.

Toks Adesanya: Haha – I think I’ve heard that quote about vets racing as well. You must’ve met enough characters, and been giving your fair share of advice down the years. What’s been the best advice that you also pass on to others
Roy: In big bunches when positioning is key is ‘if you’re not constantly moving up then you’re going backwards’. Not something that’s relevant in your average BMRC race but certainly something I’d tried to adopt if I was thrown into a 150+ rider hurly burly race somewhere abroad.

Toks Adesanya: Anything you probably wouldn’t pass on to others?
Roy: Not so much advice but more of a pre-race prep talk from a stand-in DS once he’d returned from the managers meeting the night before a pro-am race in France that had a stacked field. I can’t remember what he said translated word for word but his team talk went somewhere along the lines of “…well lads, with all of the other teams here, you’re all going to get your heads kicked in” and then he left it at that, nothing about the course, wind direction etc that we’d expect; he just said one sentence and then left us to it. He must have been some sort of a prophet because only two of us finished and we weren’t anywhere near the front.

Toks Adesanya: What do you wish you could do better?
Roy: Cook. I tend to adopt a totally slap-dash that’ll do approach.

Toks Adesanya: Do you ever simply get out and ride your bike or is there always a training plain?
Roy: With all the data on the head unit, I tend to get drawn into riding to the numbers so now and then I have to consciously turn the page on the head unit to a map and just go for a ride for the simple joy of riding a bike. But to answer the question, in the buildup and during the season, I’d say I train rather than just ride.

Toks Adesanya: How do you like to race these days?
Roy: I just like to get stuck in, not to ride aimlessly towing everyone along on the front as seems to be popular right now but to be in the mix.

Toks Adesanya: How often do you ride?
Roy: Most days, some days are key training days with others recovery rides, in the season a very polarised approach; hard days hard and easy days mega easy.

Toks Adesanya: Favourite place to ride?
Roy: In the UK, I’ve got to like the White Peak, less busy than the High Peak but with more roads and hills to choose from. I just don’t get the option to ride that way much unless I take the day off and drive up.

Toks Adesanya: What recollections do have of sport from your school days?
Roy: It was a typical comprehensive in the 70’s when it was mainly football or if you were no good at that, you’d be kicked out to go for a cross country run/walk/smoke which what I did. For those that can remember the film Kes, it wasn’t far off. Towards the end of my schooldays, a few of us got the cycling bug and the rest is history.

Toks Adesanya: Are you pure old school or do you do the Zwifty thing?
Roy: Yes, I quite enjoy it and for me it has its place whether it’s a set workout, a race, group ride or just testing myself on one of the routes. Some of the hardest rides I’ve done on a bike have actually been in a Zwift race especially during lockdown when you’d see a bunch of pro’s knocking out ridiculous W/kg’s.

It’s a great tool to enable a rider to push harder for longer as opposed to the times when I’d have to stare at a breeze block wall in my garage watching the seconds slowly tick by. I do however have to be wary though of not using it too much as it can make a rider very one paced when they get out in the real world.

Toks Adesanya: Which do you use powermeter, HRM or perceived exertion?
Roy: All three, for a set session around or above threshold having the power as a carrot is great but for longer rides I tend to use HR or have the sensation of ‘keeping the chain tight’ which I suppose is what zone 2 is and then let the power fluctuate on ascents and descents.

Toks Adesanya: Do you know your FTP?
Roy: Right now no as I’ve been putting off doing a fun packed FTP test on hold but I suspect its dropped quite a bit from what it was in the season. Once I start doing watt-watching sessions, I’ll do a test so I can work to zones.

Toks Adesanya: Your Watts Per kilo?
Roy: If the Zwift races are anything to go by I’m seeing high 4w/kg on the long climbs but aim to bring that up above 5 with some specific training.

Toks Adesanya: Race to win or race for enjoyment?
Roy: If I only raced to win, I’d come away being disappointed a lot the time. Of course, its great to win and its something that motivates me if I feel I have a chance of coming away with the victory but I tend to err on the adopting a more subjective aim of being in the mix and finishing with nothing more to give.

Toks Adesanya: Who first inspired you to race?
Roy: When I was a junior, I joined Coventry Olympic with the Legendary Mick Ives at the helm. With sponsors on the jersey and the loan of a Peugeot bike, it felt at the time like turning pro which was all made possible by the infectious input from Mick.

Toks Adesanya: Are there any BMCR riders that inspire you?
Roy: More the riders from the older generation who paved the way to form the LVRC. The likes of Mick Ives of course and the late Barry Michell and Ray Minovi along with so many others who’ve given us oldies something to do at the weekends.

Toks Adesanya: Did you ever have Favourite Pro rider?
Roy: From when I was young, Sean Kelly (pictured right) was incredible and gave another meaning to the word `hard’. Nowadays its got to be Pog, apart from being super talented with his attacking style, his whole demeanour come win or lose is so admirable and great to see. Then for females, Marianne Vos has been the best who has raised the bar on women’s racing no end. I’ve actually named three but it’s my interview!

Toks Adesanya: Whats your favourite pro race?
Roy: Tour of Flanders. Team Sky tried to tame it and failed but at the end the best man/woman always wins.

Toks Adesanya: What was your first bike?
Roy: It was a Bob Jackson 531. a lovely looking bike with hand painted lugs and a real mix of kit and a lowest gear of 42×18 which everyone had to get up everything. We didn’t miss a lower gear because it didn’t exist.

Toks Adesanya: Which event – sportive or gravel?
Roy: I haven’t ridden any sportives in the UK as they tend to be glorified Reliability rides but I’ve done a couple of Fondos in Italy as well as the Marmot twice which were great to ride on closed roads with thousands of others.

This labelling of `gravel’ to mean `off road’, surely it’s a ploy from the cycling industry to get us to buy a Gravel bike when a MTB or cross bike or whatever does the job will do just fine? Anyway, now I’ve got that off my chest, I have some 40mm tyres I can put on my cross bike and lose myself on the bridleways which is great way to get off the roads for an unstructured ride.

… Continued after the advert …

Toks Adesanya: Solo or group rides
Roy: I love a good gloves-off chaingang or reliability ride as well as a slow café ride with others but most of the time I prefer to get out on my own to focus on what I want to get out of the ride.

Toks Adesanya: Breakaway or bunch kick?
Roy: Certainly not a bunch kick! I’ll do what I can to avoid the race coming down to a bunch kick but sometimes the sprinters have their day.

Toks Adesanya: Mayorca or French alps
Roy: So hard to compare the two. There’s a lot of variety in Mallorca, fast flat roads and nice climbs where you can control the efforts that are great for training as opposed the Alps where the length and severity of the climbs dictate to you the speed you go up them but an awesome place to test yourself on such iconic climbs that are steeped in cycling history.

Toks Adesanya: Gels or food
Roy: With vets racing being rarely above two hours, I’ll have a few gels in my pocket but when I was doing longer races, I’ve had bars up until the final hour when I’ve have gels; a caffeinated one if I was in a good position or just a plain one if it was just to finish. For long training rides, I’ll make a few jam sandwiches which go down quite well and for those up on their glucose and fructose ration, its about 2:1.

Toks Adesanya: Clinchers or tubeless
Roy: I’ve got wheels with both set ups but after being stranded a couple of times on rides trying to sort out a punctured tubeless tyre, I’m going back to using inner tubes especially for training. I get the advantage of using tubeless and when going off road, it’s a gamechanger but for me I want to know I can get home if I puncture and not call the good lady to come and pick me up.

Toks Adesanya: Where would we find you in a bunch race?
Roy: Certainly not riding on the front of a bunch towing everyone along thinking I’m Quickstep’s Tim DeClercq but more likely headbanging off the front or sulking in the middle.

Toks Adesanya: What’s your favourite time of the season to race?
Roy: If I’m going well and come out of the winter OK, I like the spring, everyone’s keen, some have been on training camps and the weather can make the racing harder.

Toks Adesanya: Do you have a favourite post race food – cheeky Mcdonald’s perhaps?
Roy: No… A bucket of tea and a slice of cake

Toks Adesanya: How many hours are dedicated to training roughly?
Roy: In the season between eight and twelve

Toks Adesanya: Do you have a coach
Roy: No, but I could do with one now and then to tell me to stop racing like an idiot and to have more recovery days.

Toks Adesanya: Will you make any changes to how you race, train or recover, in order to achieve your goals next year?
Roy: I’m always open to new approaches and enjoy keeping on top of the latest research from the Sports Scientists and try out new training sessions or whatever comes up but to tell you the truth, most of it is reinforcing what we’ve known all along. I did go into some races this year not as fresh as I’d have liked because I got the taper wrong which I suspect is down to a combination me getting older and needing more recovery and being in denial that I’m getting old.

Toks Adesanya: What advice would you give anyone considering dipping their toes into racing for the first time ?
Roy: Aim to get round in the main group and once you’re confident you can do that, don’t fear failure by going with and even instigating attacks off the front. The enjoyment level of being proactive in a race no matter the outcome to me far outweighs the ambition of just sitting in the wheels to get whatever position in the group kick.

Toks Adesanya: Give us all an interval session thats guaranteed to get you in shape for racing?
Roy: The traditional 4 minute VO2max intervals but with a 20 second kick at the start and finish to mimic a late attack are pretty horrible but good for lactate tolerance. I aim to do six but as I’ve got older the recovery period between the intervals is longer than the 1:1 ratio that’s normally prescribed for such a session.

Big big, thank to Roy for taking the time out to provide us all with deep and detailed answers to all the questions posed – I’m sure just like me everybody appreciates what you bring to the sport and we haven’t even mentioned coaching or race promotion.

All the best for Christmas and good luck in next year’s races 🎄🎄🎄