BMCR FEATURE: ROY CHAMBERLAIN INTERVIEW

– If you missed it the first time round, here is a repost on the great Roy Chamberlain interview BMCR and VeloUK ran a couple of years ago.

BMCR FEATURE: ROY CHAMBERLAIN INTERVIEW (Updated for 2025, by Toks Adesanya) — If you missed it the first time round, here is a repost on the great Roy Chamberlain interview BMCR and VeloUK ran a couple of years ago. Grab yourself a brew and lets go on a racing deep dive with one of the UK’s most enduring masters athletes and a rider I raced with in the 90s in Milton Keynes

Two years have passed since this interview first ran, and remarkably little needs changing. Now an E category racer (60-64), Roy Chamberlain,
remains a key presence in the UK masters scene — competitive, consistent and still full of insight.

Recent highlights include:
• Winning the D category at the 2024 Dulwich Paragon Road Race. 
• Finishing 1st in category E in the 2025 BMCR Road Bike Time Trial Championships (2nd overall) on 6 July 2025. 
• Taking the 2025 Stallard Series category E title (1st) in the Stallard Series 2025 rankings. 

SETTING THE SCENE – 2005 NATIONAL ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIPS (Duncombe Park Helmsley) The 2005 National Road Race Championships took place on a couple of brutally tough hilly circuits in North Yorkshire, and was the first of the classic Ryedale Grand Prix events by Bob Howden. Eighteen riders managed to wrestle themselves clear early; then a four-man chasing group (featuring Russ Downing, Steve Cummings, Chris Newton) bridged across. Many big names missed the move — including race favourite Roger Hammond.

The only masters racer in the break invested his energy wisely — and still played a part to keep the main bunch out of sight. As the terrain and constant attacks whittled the leaders down, ten remained at the front. Russ Downing and Steve Cummings pushed clear, Downing took the title. That masters racer? Roy Chamberlain — finishing a superb 9th.

Q: What was your form like in the run-up to those 2005 Nationals?
Roy: I had some top tens in Premier Calendar events 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.
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Q: You’ve obviously competed in lots of really special races over the years both abroad and in the UK. Are there any that stand out 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.
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Q: What about some of the 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’d never see him again.

Then in France it was the likes of Richard Virenque and a few others… 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 Malcolm 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, Cavendish, Thomas, Stannard era as well……
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Q: 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 recovery and being sharp for the next event, which is the ideal as I like most riders would prefer to race than train.
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Q: 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 😉
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Q: 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.

Editorial note: Roy’s post-2023 podiums and category wins in UK masters events built on this kind of strength.
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Q: How often are you on your bike these days?
Roy: Unless the weather’s really bad or the roads are icy, it’s most days but some of the days can be a 7-mile easy spin to work and back.

Editor’s note: He still rides most days and maintains the consistency that underpins his recent results.
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Q: 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.
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Q: 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 of the readers can do more but at least I’d have smoked Joop Zoetemelk in International Superstars.
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Q: 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.
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Q: How long have you actually been racing now?
Roy: I’m 58 (at the time of the interview… Now 60) 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 candle 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 a few stage races abroad as an elite up unto my early 50’s when mother nature said `who are you kidding? — no more’.
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Q: What about the 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 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 to know how to race by not putting their nose in the wind unless they absolutely had to but when they did it 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.
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Q: What has been one of your favourite all-time races?
Roy: Back in the day (Christ 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.
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Q: Any favourite BMCR races?
Roy: Overall the BMCR 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.
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Q: 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 not always wins but the rider who invests their energy the best I still love the process of targeting a race(s) and then focusing 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 ‘it’s like real racing but in slow motion’ and that’s basically it.
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Q: 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 BMCR race but certainly something I’d tried to adopt if I was thrown into a 150+ rider hurly burly race somewhere abroad.
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Q: 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 profit because only two of us finished and we weren’t anywhere near the front.
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Q: What do you wish you could do better?
Roy: Cook. I tend to adopt a totally slap-dash that’ll do. (sounds just like me – especially if I’m cooking for one) 😛
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Q: Do you ever simply get out and ride your bike or is there always a training plan?
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 build-up and during the season I’d say I train rather than just ride.
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Q: 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.
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Q: 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.
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Q: 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.
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Q: What recollections do you 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 is 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.
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Q: 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.
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Q: 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.
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Q: 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 it’s 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.
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Q: Your Watts Per kilo?
Roy: If the Zwift races are anything to go by I’m seeing high 4 w/kg on the long climbs but aim to bring that up above 5 with some specific training.
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Q: Race to win or race for enjoyment?
Roy: If I raced to win I’d come away being disappointed a lot of the time. Of course it’s great to win and it’s 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.
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Q: 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.
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Q: 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 old-ies something to do at the weekends.
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Q: Did you ever have a favourite pro rider?
Roy: From when I was young Sean Kelly was incredible and gave another meaning the word `hard’. Nowadays it’s 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!
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Q: What’s 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.
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Q: 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.
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Q: 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 a great way to get off the roads for an unstructured ride.
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Q: 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.
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Q: 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.
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Q: Mallorca 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 effort that are great for training as opposed to the Alps where the length and severity of the climbs dictate the speed you go up them but an awesome place to test yourself on such iconic climbs that are steeped in cycling history.
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Q: 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’d have bars up until the final hour when I’d 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 it’s about 2:1.
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Q: 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 game-changer 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.
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Q: 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 head-banging off the front or sulking in the middle.
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Q: 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.
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Q: Do you have a favourite post-race food – cheeky McDonald’s perhaps?
Roy: —- No… A bucket of tea and a slice of cake.
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Q: How many hours are dedicated to training roughly?
Roy: In the season between eight and twelve.
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Q: 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.
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Q: 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 trying 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.
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Q: 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.
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Q: Give us all an interval session that’s guaranteed to get you in shape for racing?
Roy: The traditional 4-minute VO2 max 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.
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A massive thanks once again to Roy Chamberlain for his insight, honesty and humour. We wish you all the best for the 2026 season – Roy is available to coach (has been coaching since 2003) all riders, but his particular interest is in helping those over the age of 45 who are attempting to race at national masters level, whether that be on the road, TT or off-road on the MTB or Cross bike.

Enjoy the season ahead. | BMCR.org.uk | Bike racing for the over 40s

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