Dominic Lowden of Lewes Wanderers Cycling Club
Photo Credit: Emma Gearing
Lewes Wanderers is a cycling club based in East Sussex. The club offers cycling for all abilities ranging from Sunday club runs through to time trials and road racing in the summer. The club also meet once a month for a social evening in Waldron.
We got in touch with the Wanderers and Chairman Dominic Lowden kindly spoke to us about the effect the pandemic has had on cycling, some of the history and successes to have come out of the club and his thoughts on bike tech and why Sussex is such a good spot for cycling.
Photo Credit: Emma Gearing
Photo Credit: Emma Gearing
how has the pandemic affected the club?
The pandemic has probably had less effect on cycling clubs than many other sports clubs. We considered ourselves fortunate in the UK to be permitted to take exercise in the form of cycling during lockdown. Most club members continued to ride, but solo or with members of the same household. The popular Sunday morning club run was cancelled as were all other organized group rides. We also cancelled our criterium series of road racing and our evening 10-mile time trials, and of course all other cycling events which we would normally do were cancelled. On the positive side, club members were out on their bikes, enjoying the quiet roads and the run of good weather. Once the lockdown restrictions were eased, we were able to organize small group club rides and run a few time trial events. As time trialling is very much an individual sport, with strict rules to keep competitors apart, it was considered low risk and hence permitted under covid cycling rules. This was not the case for mass start events such as road, track, or cycle-cross racing, so very few took place. Normally, during the spring and summer season we would have been busy doing these events, but for this year, club activity was restricted to small group rides and time trialling. Now back in lockdown again, all cycling events have been stopped and riding is only permitted solo, bubble with only one other rider.
Once the pandemic is over, I expect the club to return to normal with little difference from pre-pandemic days, maybe except for a few more members due to the increased interest in cycling.
What's your best advice for staying fit in lockdown?
Obviously, my advice is riding a bike to stay fit in lockdown. Cycling is permitted under lockdown if the social distancing rules are followed. Of course, it does carry some small increased risk of infection and is not much fun in bad weather. For this reason, we have seen a huge increase in indoor cycling activity. It is simply a case of placing the bike on a static resistance device to create a training machine like the spinning bikes at the gym. Then you can do all your exercise indoors. For more fun, you can hook up to online cycling games where you can exercise, train and, even race with others in a virtual world. This form of static cycling became so popular during lockdown that a version of the Tour de France was raced on-line on static machines.
What are some of the biggest achievements to come out of the club?
LWCC was formed back in 1950, and during the last 70 years has had many riders go onto to pursue professional careers. Probably the highest achievement, certainly in recent years, is club member Joscelin Lowden winning a bronze medal representing GB at the World Road Race Championships in Harrogate in 2019. She was in the mixed team time trial and being unseeded was one of the first teams to finish the course and take the podium. As team after team failed to usurp their position it came down to the last four world top teams. With a nail-biting finale, only two of the four managed to beat their time and GB held their podium finish in third place and a bronze medal.
What's the best thing about cycling?
For me, the best place to ride a bike is in the mountains, on twisting roads with great scenery and good company. Cycling is surprisingly social and sharing the ride with others is easily done. It is also hugely beneficial as the rider in front creates a wind shield for those behind. Swapping and rotating the lead while riding as a group is fun and can be extremely fast and exhilarating.
Cycling is generally a low injury sport. As a non-impact activity with the body weight supported, there is little stress on the body and a low rate of chronic injury. Of course, there is a risk of acute injury if you crash or fall off, but it is quite small.
Cycling is a big calorie burner. It is excellent cardio-vascular exercise releasing loads of endorphins and as a rough rule of thumb burns about 500 calories per hour. So, a long four-hour ride is not only good for your mental health but is also a great workout that leaves you ferociously hungry.
So, the best things about cycling – scenery, company, and good health, plus you can eat what you like!
What's the worst thing about cycling?
When it gets cold and wet, there is plenty of good technical clothing that works well, and I have rarely been cold going uphill. The problem is descending. With minimal work effort and a high wind chill, it can get very cold, very quickly. And, once the shivers set in, it gets dangerous and almost impossible to warm up. Ask any cyclist how they feel about the cold and they will have a story to tell of the time they nearly froze to death on a bike.
There are other worst things I could list, such as potholes, busy roads and headwinds – all of which I could do without but accept its all part of riding a bike.
Tell us your top three essential bits of riding gear/tech?
Cycling is techy – there is a huge amount of bike, clothing, training, and protection technology that continually bombards the cyclist on a daily basis. How much of it is essential? Not much, most of it is nice to have. Hypothetically speaking, if I walked out of a bike shop with a brand-new race bike costing, say £1000 there are three essential techy things I would do. Firstly, pedals. Simply because new race bikes do not come with pedals fitted. So, I would fit clip-in pedals. Cleats are bolted to the sole of cycling shoes and the cleat fits into a spring-loaded trap on the pedal. This means the cycling shoe and pedal become one. It sounds scary, but like ski bindings, the slightest rotation of the foot means the cleat unclips, so while it takes a little getting used to, its not a problem to take your foot off the pedal when needed. And the advantage is that the foot is firmly attached to the pedal when riding which is safer and more power efficient.
The next is wheels. Manufacturers like to keep the bike build cost down by fitting fairly cheap, low quality wheels. Fitting a wheelset that is stiff, light, strong and free-running can make a huge difference to comfort and speed. We are fortunate in Lewes in that we have one of the country’s premier wheel builders on our doorstep with DCR Wheels. I use them to hand build my wheels on all my bikes – it makes a huge difference.
And the final bit of kit would be a sophisticated cycle computer. This is a GPS recording device which provides position over time enabling not only speed and distance data but also maps, locations and route following to be shown on a small screen mounted on the handlebars. Plus they collate and display any other digital onboard equipment such as a cadence or power meter. All useful stuff to show on the cycle dashboard while riding and post-ride to store and share through social media.
Tell us five things you love about Sussex
These are the five things I love about Sussex and the five things about Sussex that make it so good for cycling.
Ashdown Forest
The Ashdown Forest is a glorious place to ride a bike. Its wide-open spaces, long views and centripetal pattern of climbing roads make it ideal for strenuous, yet fast and exhilarating road riding. The classic climb is Kidd’s Hill (nicknamed The Wall) heading south from Colemans Hatch up onto the forest.
Waldron Lanes
The network of tiny roads around Waldron and extending east of Horam towards Battle make for fantastic riding. The rolling terrain with short climbs and technical descents along narrow roads twisting and turning their way around villages, fields, woodland, and streams is hard work but rewarding.
Downland Climbs
The scarp face of the South Downs is not the place you might expect cyclists to aim for. But if you like steep, but short climbs ending with breath taking views then head for the Bostals. Starting in the east with Butts Lane, then Bo Peep and Firle, they each have a no-through-road ascending to open downland. Then west of Lewes there are through roads over the famous Ditchling Beacon, Devils Dyke and Steyning Bostal. All of these make great climbs – so good that four of them are used regularly for hill climb time trials and the Tour de France has raced over Ditchling Beacon.
Contrast
Cyclists like contrast; they like varying gradients, terrain, and direction – it is the reason Alpe d’Huez is so popular, it has 21 bends (and a steep climb). And Sussex has contrast in abundance. Within a heartbeat from the pancake flat Pevensey levels, you can be riding Wealden ridges around Brown Bread Street, steep downland climbs above Eastbourne or fast rolling roads to the west and east to Hailsham or Bexhill. There are not many places that have so much topographic variety in such a short distance and it makes for great riding.
Circles
Finally, cyclists dislike out and back rides – much better to do a loop. Sussex has a large network of B and C roads and it is possible to do many circular routes around the county without the need to ride on the busy A roads. The huge network of roads, varied terrain and great scenery makes Sussex one of the best counties for cycling.