Sarah Storey: because of the pain you might never want to do it again
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Version 0 of 1. It’s going to be a savage challenge,” Sarah Storey says calmly on a sunlit morning in Lanzarote as she anticipates the simple yet vicious purity of trying to ride a bike further than any other woman has ever managed in an hour. “But I think I’ll only really know how savage it is when I’m deep into the hour. I expect the last 20 minutes to be brutal so I had better enjoy the first 40. I’m trying hard to prepare, but there is this sense that I’m venturing into the unknown.” On 28 February, at the Olympic velodrome in London, Storey will attempt to break the world Hour record for women. The 37-year-old will be back on the track where she won the first of her four gold medals at the London 2012 Paralympics. Storey is such a remarkable cyclist that she narrowly missed being picked for GB’s invincible team pursuit squad, alongside Laura Trott, Dani King and Jo Rowsell, at the 2012 Olympics. Instead, she arrived at the velodrome and went out on the road a few weeks later to lift her tally of Paralympic medals to 22 – half of which are gold. Storey is planning her seventh Paralympic Games in Rio next year, having competed in her first as a gold medal-winning teenage swimmer at Barcelona in 1992. She became a mother in 2013, and she is still breastfeeding Louisa while preparing for the Hour record during training in Lanzarote, but her appetite for sporting achievement remains voracious. The Hour, however, is different. Amid the stark clarity of a race against time, Storey senses she is about to be stretched like never before. “I’m used to pushing myself hard in races but this is relentless,” she says of riding her bike flat-out around and around a track. For exactly 3,600 seconds she will hunker down over the handlebars and keep her visored gaze fixed on the black line that circles the gleaming boards. “There’s no swinging up the banking for a breather and coming down to sit on someone’s wheel for the final 100m,” Storey says. “It’s just me and the clock for one whole hour. A point will come when it’s like you’ve hit the 18-mile mark in a marathon and you start thinking: ‘What am I doing.’ So it’s as much a mental challenge because there is no freewheeling and you’re riding relentlessly, following that black line. It seems crazy … and if you ask me why I’m doing it I’ll probably only be able to explain it properly once I’ve finished.” Storey listens closely while I read a quote from Eddy Merckx, the incomparable Cannibal and multiple Tour de France winner who broke the men’s Hour record in Mexico City in 1972. “Basta,” Merckx apparently said in a rasping whisper, “that’s the last time I’ll ever do the Hour record. The pain was incredible.” In public Merckx tried to downplay his agony but he admitted, eventually, that his record hour was “the longest of my career”. Surely Storey feels a shiver of apprehension when she hears how much even Merckx suffered? “No. I fully expect to feel that as well. I don’t think the pain is in any doubt and I’m sure it will be the longest hour. It’s the unknown that can be the most unsettling – but that’s the physiological and mental challenge. In a way you feel you should do the hour a couple of times before attempting the record. But because of the pain you might never want to do it again – like Merckx said. It’s going to be interesting.” Trott once told me that she loved the pain of racing. “When the pain is bad,” Trott said, “it tastes like blood. But I love that feeling.” Does Storey react in the same way when dealing with hurt on her bike? “I’m not really aware of it. Once pain starts to be recognised by your brain in a race then you’re thinking too much. Most races it’s like you’re on autopilot. Sometimes the worst pain is lying on the floor of the track centre after training or a race. I’ve never been aware of pain in a race situation. “With the Hour you need a certain mental capacity and hopefully all those years of following the black line in the pool, as a swimmer, will help. I’m very good at dealing with solitude and there are going to be lonely moments when I’m going to have to dig deep. I’m ready to do that.” No one has attempted the women’s record since the existing mark was set by Leontien Zijlaard-Van Moorsel, the Dutch rider who rode 46.065km in an hour on 1 October 2003. How many laps of the Lea Valley Velodrome will Storey have to ride to break that landmark? “184 and a quarter,” she says instantly, knowing she will have to complete 3.07 laps every minute, for 60 minutes. “I wonder if women haven’t attempted the Hour record much because our events are shorter than the men’s,” Storey suggests. “There’s an element of doubt in our minds when thinking about a whole hour. Men are more used to it because their time-trials and stage races are longer. In the national road race last year the men did twice the length. That’s why there is more doubt for women” “The Hour, it seems, is having a moment,” Suze Clemitson wrote in the Guardian last year when she plotted the fascinating history of the event and explained how Jens Voigt setting a new men’s record of 51.115km in September had rekindled interest in a unique challenge. Voigt broke a record which had stood for nine years and it helped that he was humorous – revealing that his silent scream during the whole hour was “Shut up, legs”. Voigt’s record lasted less than six weeks before it was broken by Matthias Brändle. Bradley Wiggins, Fabian Cancellara and Tony Martin are all said to be ready to attack the Hour this year while, at the same Revolution meeting where Storey hopes to smash the much longer-standing women’s record, the British road racer Alex Dowsett was hoping to ride further than Brändle. Storey winces in sympathy for, last week, Dowsett broke his collarbone during training. The two riders had been “exchanging pleasantries” via text, she says, but Storey stresses that her attempt is not rooted in any romantic embrace of the Hour and its evocative past. “I was approached by the Revolution meeting as they wanted to find a female cyclist to attempt the women’s record. It was never really my intention to put myself forward and it was more a case that the invitation was extended. I went through a few days of testing in Manchester just to see what figures were required. We realised it was a possibility but we could also see it was far from a foregone conclusion. It’s an honour to be invited but I’m coming to it not only as a novice but also as someone who has not had a fairytale romance with the Hour.” Storey has only a sketchy appreciation of the many past attempts at the record – which stretch back to 1893. Hélène Dutrieu, the Belgian “Girl Hawk”, was one of the first to break the record that year when she covered a respectable 28.78km in an hour. It’s an event which has also drawn in British riders like Chris Boardman, Graham Obree and Yvonne McGregor, who have all claimed the record. Is Storey aware of the drama surrounding each of their attempts? “Only anecdotally. The last time the women’s record was attempted was 2003 when I was still a swimmer and the last British attempt was even further back. But I’ve spoken to people involved in Yvonne’s record [47.411km in 1995. It’s a completely different process and it’s really interesting because it forces you to look at things in a very structured way. “Barney [Storey’s husband who has competed in three Paralympic Games as a sighted rider working in tandem with partially sighted or blind competitors] is deeply involved – mostly on the equipment side. He’s done lots of research to find out the best bikes, and the best weight of the bike as we look for the ideal setup.” Storey reiterates that her past solitude as a swimmer will help. “Swimming gave me huge mental strength and discipline. I’m one person you never have to worry about getting bored on the turbo. When there’s snow or ice I’ll just say: ‘I’m not risking it, I’m going on the turbo.’ I have no problems with the relentless solitude. In a way, it’s taken me a long time to get used to the social side of cycling. I’m better at concentrating alone. “When I was a girl in the pool I’d often go through my homework in my head so it would be written down more quickly when I got home. Now, training alone, I might think about writing a blog – but most of the time I’ll be looking at the power measurements. So it’s a mixture of stuff … and often I just think of my little girl.” Storey was bullied at school when her success as a 14- year-old at the Barcelona Paralympics made other girls jealous. “It helped shape my identity and my career,” Storey says. “Sometimes it would have been nice to fit in but my whole goal was to compete at elite level. It wasn’t great at the time but I found ways to deal with it and I then changed to a college for my A-levels.” Does she ever think of those bullying girls today, after all her achievements in both able-bodied and disabled sport? “You bump into them occasionally and they’re really proud of you – which is odd. But when people don’t understand they often lash out.” Storey was born without a functioning left hand and yet that disability seems an incidental in her extraordinary career. She switched from the pool to a bike in 2005, after persistent ear infections as a swimmer, and she seems determined to win more world championships on the track in March as well as Paralympic medals next year. “As soon as I had Louisa I was thinking about the process of getting back to racing again and reaching the level I need to defend my titles. Last year was a nice surprise because I came back stronger than I’d ever imagined.” Just as the runner Jo Pavey appears to have been strengthened by motherhood, Storey sounds steelier than ever. “It’s more than a positive being a mum,” she says. “It’s just the best thing ever, really.” Breaking the hour record next month will not feel anywhere near as important, but if Storey manages to ride more than 184¼ laps how might that feat compare to all her Paralympic and world championship medals? “I’m not really sure yet,” she admits. “I’m just focusing on the process. But it will be a good question to ask me once it’s all over.” Sarah Storey’s attempt at the Hour record is part of a weekend of elite racing at the Revolution Series on 27-28 February. Tickets ranging from £10-45 at cyclingrevolution.com or 0844 854 2016 |