Mr Average

[huw williams]

Bloody 'ell they're milking this story for all its worth - a sneak peak over the designer's shoulder this morning reveals that Mr Apples is getting ANOTHER 4 pages in this week's CW - with even more BIG pictures - his head'll explode At all; good newsagents from thursday

What we ALL want to see of course is the coaching feature, some hapless fool signing up for 7-10 hours of training plus races/TTs/Sportives all regulated by proffessional torturers, err sorry coaches,
- candidates for the short list are now in:

Grahame
Simon Day
AJ
Mike Ingram
Chris L
Dombo

Now it comes down to a decision as to who would make the best long-term guineau pig in terms of editorial features

We've got regular Jo club riders who want to do well in their maiden Etape, Riders who've dabbled with a bit of road racing and want to get better and Mike who's been hanging around the TT scene with mid-table mediocrity (still pretty good by a lot of peoples standards) and wants to shave off those extra minutes.

So, quick straw poll - who would make the most intersting feature? Who's got most work to do? Who's got most room for improvement?

[Colin Steadman]

[color=red][size=200]It's simply got to be SUPER AJAY[/size][/color]

[kieran]

but won't Ajay be super dad again, with another on the way? or am I wrong? 7-10 hours commitment each week to cycling, emmm....

[huw williams]

Well it must be said that having witnessed AJ's various doomed attempts to elevate himself to 3rd cat status at Hillingdon for the past 30 years - it would be more than a little interesting to see if a) he could follow the programme and b) whether it would make any difference.

Of even greater interest is who would crack first? - AJ or the coach

[Richard (Apples)]

[quote]Why is okay to read Harry Potter on the train, but if you got a copy of The Famous Five or Winnie the Pooh out people would look at you oddly?

[Andrew G]

Go for Mike.

TTs are hugely popular around the country, and they'll be most cyclists introduction to competition. Hardly gets any coverage in CW apart from a few little bits in the news section after a big event

Please don't base it on a sportive rider (sorry Dombo) there is far too much sportive stuff in CW, pages of it every week. Where have all the race features gone? It's become almost purely a sportive magazine crossed with weight watchers. Gripe over.

[huw williams]

Yes indeed but these things don't happen by accident - they happen after much researching and focus groups - if you see a trend develop in CW its because significant reader numbers have asked for it to happen

so while TTs might be hugely popular around the country - they're not amongst CW readers. Neither is road racing outside of the Tour - amaazing for a cycling magazine but there you go

That doesn't mean that more general features based around improving performance wouldn't be of interest however and to my mind a TTer would be perfect because the improvements would be so easily quantifiable - ie if Mike improves as a rider, his times would get better. You could imrpove loads as a road racer but still get burried in the middle of the pack due to tactics on any given day and improvements would be less noticeable

[Ben]

I've got back in the habit of buying CW again and for what's it's worth I think the front cover of the magazine over the past issues are too similar, their all pretty non descript.
Pictures should be of things of beauty be it bikes, women or scenery . Not necessarily in that order and pictures related to addiscome cc should always be included.

[Colin Steadman]

[quote="huw williams"]Well it must be said that having witnessed AJ's various doomed attempts to elevate himself to 3rd cat status at Hillingdon for the past 30 years - it would be more than a little interesting to see if a) he could follow the programme and b) whether it would make any difference.

Of even greater interest is who would crack first? - AJ or the coach

[Dombo]

[quote="Richard (Apples)"]

If you want to read Winnie the Pooh on the train you go ahead

[Dombo]

That Dombo fellow gets my vote. Even his bike's average - half steel, half carbon.

[huw williams]

I must also stress at this point that I have no sway over the judges decision as to who is picked

They're going to go solely on the case studies everyone has provided - so theres no point in sending me unmarked brown envelopes stuffed with fivers - oh go on then, I'll see what I can do

[mlocke]

"O Darn!!"

Huw mine was the envelope with all the £50 notes - could you return to sender when you have a sec??

[Sue R]

Just noticed what this thread is all about. Is it too late to put my name on the list? I think I fit the criteria.

[huw williams]

Sue

post a couple of details (Or PM me) about riding you've done and goals for next year etc and we'll see how you fit in