Happy racing my bike (Photo: Dave Hayward)

Name: Helen (Pan calls me Houdini).

Date of Birth: 10 Feb seventeen-hundred and something – it was hard to tell the candle had mostly melted by this time.

Occupation: Charity Comms.

Preferred cycling discipline: Everything I have tried (except track).

Proudest cycling moment of 2011: Miscalculated lead out for Anna in Jersey/miscalculated break-aways in Essex/Ireland.

Three goals for 2012:

• Learn to ride no handed.
• Ride so hard my eyes bounce in their sockets and water (again. Man I love that!).
• Pull a move that seals a win for our team. TBD.

Favourite Muppet: Rowlf the Dog – laid back, assured, talented – what a guy! (My boyfriend is like Rowlf. I have such good taste….yet odd ways of complimenting a fella.)

Favourite turbo track: Currently torn between Prodigy’s Omen and Freemasons remix of Beyonce’s Ring the Alarm.

If I was a Greek god I would be: riding a winged horse which in my head is what I am doing most of the time anyway.

Cipollini or Cav? Who? I watch women’s racing. Vos is the most talented rider in the world! (Altho Pooley is my fav.)

(Doesn’t Cipollini mean little onions? Draw your own conclusions.)

Name: Louise Moriarty

Date of Birth: 17 January 1978

Occupation: Architect (almost!)

Preferred cycling discipline: Peloton-smashed-to-bits-riders-all-over-the-road/track races

Proudest cycling moment of 2011:

Silver medal at Irish National RR Champs off less than ideal run-up, but with Pan’s words in my ears: “I will ride and race today, tomorrow, this summer not for pride or results or identity but to learn how to suffer harder and more gracefully.” I went pretty deep … not sure it was graceful!

Three goals for 2012:

• Smiling
• Pedalling
• Fighting (metaphorical! “Don’t be a winner, be a fighter. Anyone can stop you from winning, but only you can stop yourself from fighting.”)

Favourite Muppet: Red Fraggle

Favourite turbo track: Too lazy to sort out my iPod / hardcore: No music, just pain. Hahahaha

Cipollini or Cav? Neither – I like the relentless ones, like Laurent Jalabert and Jens Voigt, and the ones who can win sprints but are so gutsy they’ll also go it alone, like Tom Bonnen and Thor Hushvod.

Louise has a wikipedia page which we are very impressed by. You can read it here.

You can read her rider biography here.

Name:  Jo McRae

Date of Birth: 07/07/77

Occupation:  Exercise Specialist

Preferred cycling discipline:  Any suitable for Attention Deficit Disorder

Proudest cycling moment of 2011:  Top 20 in the Ras with 2^nd in the sprint on the first stage.  I would say neither endurance nor sprint finishes are my strengths.

Three goals for 2012:

• Build my fitness through racing (pelvic fracture and disrupted winter mean I’m not sure of my fitness)
• Develop patience in races and use efforts wisely
• Enjoy being part of the team (again!)

Favourite turbo track: Ministry of sound ultimate workout mix is favourite at the moment

Favourite Cartoon Character:  Snoopy.  I had a Snoopy as a child who was my closest friend.  Loss of Snoopy at any time was extremely distressing.  I could probably still draw you a Snoopy and Woodstock in an instant…

Cipollini or Cav? Cav for his sprinting, Cipollini for his personality and ridiculous skinsuits

You can read Jo’s rider biography here.

Jo has a website which you can visit here.

Jo is also on Twitter and you can follow her here.

Name: Charlotte Easton

Date of Birth: 2^nd, December 1979

Occupation: Classics Teacher

Preferred cycling discipline: Road, TT

Proudest cycling moment of 2011: Racing myself to 9^th in the National 25 TT

Three goals for 2012:

• Beat the breast cancer
• Be more supportive of those I love
• Ride my bike

Favourite Cartoon Character?  Wile –e coyote, because no matter how screwed up he gets, he just picks himself up and keeps going

If I was a Greek god I would be: “Grey-eyed Athene”

Cipollini or Cav? Cipollini

You can read Charlotte’s rider biography here.

Charlotte has a blog which you can read here.

Charlotte is also on twitter and you can follow her here.

Anna won on Thursday night. We are incredibly proud of her.  It was a close fought battle.  Well done to Astrid and Eli for making it a good race and thanks to Leslie and ELV for continuing to support women’s racing.

1 129 Anna Grundy Look Mum No Hands 1 14 Laps  in 49.04
2 125 Astrid Wingler London Phoenix 2
3 126 Elinor Winter Corvida Allpress 4
4 130 Jasmijn Muller Kingston Wheelers 3
5 127 Jenny Haskell Welwyn Wheelers 4
6 128 Stephanie Dreyer Pearson Cycles 4

Hard to believe but Lydia is still pretty new to all this racing hoo-ha. In her third season she seems ready to take on the world.

Here is Lydia’s mini-interview:

Name: Lydia Boylan

Date of Birth: 19 July 1987

Occupation: Structural Engineer

Preferred cycling discipline: Track

Proudest cycling moment of 2011: Easy…the moment I crossed the line to win the National Championship

Three goals for 2012:

• National Road Race
• Climb Alpe d’Huez in less than 60min (very ambitious)
• Race more cleverly!

Favourite turbo track: It’s an Omen by The Prodigy

If I was a Greek god I would be: Pegasus

Cipollini or Cav? Cipollini for sure…cycling is all about Italian style!

You can read Lydia’s rider biography here.

Lydia is also on twitter and you can follow her here.

Elise is the only real mum in Team Mum. She gave birth to Erin in November last year and returned to racing at the team cross champs only a few months later in February. She is a legend and we love her.

Here is Elise’s mini-interview:

Name: Elise Sherwell

Date of Birth: 27 July 1975

Occupation: Mum to awesome Erin, wife to awesome David and part time solicitor.

Preferred cycling discipline: One I can go quickly in. Anything Jo McRae tells me I am capable of: Cross in the snow, track in the sunshine, circuit in the mud and rain.

Proudest cycling moment of 2011: Riding on the rollers at 42 weeks pregnant the day before being induced, oh and riding down onto the pier at Blackfriars to catch the commute boat home  with 30 seconds to spare whilst heavily pregnant! Mainly spent last year on the side lines – so I’m a bit baby orientated!

Goals for 2012:

To have fun!

And win some races…

If I was a Greek god I would be: Athena

Cipollini or Cav? Cav

You can read Elise’s rider biography here.

Elise is on twitter but she needs practice.  You can find her here.

By Lydia

Jo and I made the trip up to Reading’s Palmer Park for this year’s Bordeaux-Paris Track Meet. The main event is in two stages; Stage 1, an 10km scratch race where the first eight qualify for Stage 2, a 15km derny race.

I did this event last year and really enjoyed it, but finished last! This year, with much better legs, I was out to prove I could do better!

Stage 1 was a bit of a formality with only 10 entered. There was a few short blasts of pace but it was all down to a final sprint. Jo and I were safely through to Stage 2.

I completely underestimated the amount of time I* would have to change the gear on my track bike and get ready for the derny race. (*should read Toby) Thankfully the organisers at Reading are super nice and they waited for me to get my bike sorted. It wasn’t until after the derny race that Toby pointed out I had only about 60 psi in my rear tyre and a loose chain…opps!!!

(C) Guy Swarbrick/trackcycling.me.uk All rights reserved.

(C) Guy Swarbrick/trackcycling.me.uk All rights reserved.

I asked Doug, my derny driver at the same event last year, if he was up for the rematch. He was completely awesome with me last year, as a complete newbie he quickly talked me through all the ins and outs of derny racing and really put me at ease. This year though….I had my game face on!! We quickly pushed to the head of the race where we just sat at a good pace. This meant that I could react to anything anyone may do behind and they would have to put in a good effort to get over me. This tactic worked! Sarah Brook of Mule Bar Girls tried a few times to push over me but each time Doug would twist the screw and put just enough speed in to make it really difficult for Sarah to get over. The last few laps were really hard, but eventually I got a little gap on Sarah on the final laps.

I was so pleased to win this race especially after coming last in it last year! And it was so fantastic to be able to do it with Doug!

Unfortunately due to solely focusing on not hitting the back of the derny (although you could probably park a bus in the gap I leave behind the bike!) I have no idea how the race panned out for Jo…hopefully she can add to this with her view of the race.

(C) Guy Swarbrick/trackcycling.me.uk All rights reserved.

Huge thank you to Doug for being a smart and patient derny driver, to Toby for driving and sorting out my bike, to Jo for being awesome company and competition on the track and to the organisers, volunteers etc that made for such a great meet.

Results:

1. Lydia BOYLAN Look Mum No Hands
2. Sarah BROOK Mule Bar Girl
3. Matthew LANSLEY Palmer Park Velo
4. Joanne McRae Look Mum No Hands
5. Tom SEFTON Palmer Park Velo
6. Daniel LANSLEY Palmer Park Velo
7. Cheryl OWENS GS Metro
DNF Hannah MANLEY For Viored

An interesting read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bordeaux–Paris

Pan Pan joined LMNH race team late in 2011.  Anna found her cycling round the lanes in Essex and brought her along to our inaugural team meeting.  We instantly warmed to her and are very glad that she decided to return to us this season.

Here is Pan’s mini-interview:

Name:  Pan Pan (Xieyue) Fan

Date of Birth: May 31, 1986

Occupation: Runt of the litter – economics researcher; free-lance writer

Preferred cycling discipline: Road/Crits

Proudest cycling moment of 2011: There are two for very different reasons:

(1) Finishing the Ras na mBan on 2-3 months of no training, and

(2) the LWCR race at Hillingdon where I worked really hard for Anna and Lydia.  Lydia won the race, and I believe Anna came in top 10.  It was flawless teamwork.

Three goals for 2012:

• Racing up to my fitness,
• challenging myself and pushing boundaries,
• having fun while doing it.

Favourite Muppet: Kermit.  Hands down.  (This is what you mean by muppet, right?  Elise uses the word muppet all the time, but I don’t think she means the same thing by it)

Favourite turbo track:  aggressive rap.

Favourite Cartoon Character: The dog from the movie “Up” who loves everyone.  I find him to be a kindred spirit.

You can read Pan Pan’s rider biography here.

Pan Pan also has a blog which you can read here.