Q&A: Antony Wallis (veteran champion)

Toks Adesanya has a little Q&A with Antony Wallis – a BMCR 2023 Criterium Champion and a formidable masters athlete

Q&A: Antony Wallis (veteran champion)

Toks says “whenever he attacks at Hog Hill I’ve never been able to hold his wheel for more than a lap. Thankfully pinning him down to answer a few questions doesn’t require a VO2 max effort. Ladies and gentleman, lets have a little Q&A with one of my Region 9 racing buddies Antony Wallis. He’s a BMCR 2023 Criterium Champion; and a formidable masters athlete – welcome”

Toks: Hey mate let’s start with.. how many candles will be on that next birthday cake? 😉
ANTONY > 54… 55 in February so I go up a category and become briefly one of the ‘younger guys’… Ha..)

Toks: Tell us about your 2023 season?
ANTONY > I loved it. Won a few, lost a few but I really enjoyed the racing. I think because I’m no longer the youngest or smartest or slimmest, (I was never the slimmest…Ha..again..), because all these forty something interlopers have turned up, I’ve had to start thinking more about tactics and things like that.

Toks: I have this vision of you on the turbo absolutely killing yourself through a set of “near death” intervals but we can talk about that later – What would you say is your favourite type of ride?

ANTONY > Between 10 and 12 miles an hour on my mountain bike, a bit of gentle off roading, bouncing up and down kerbs, just wandering around aimlessly like when you were a kid. I’ve got friends up in Derbyshire and I love the road rides up there, the traffic where I am just doesn’t make it enjoyable.

Toks: How many times a week are you on the bike?
ANTONY > I like riding my bike every day if I can, but I couldn’t call a lot of it training

Toks: What about the stuff that makes you fast on the bike – I’m guessing intervals are big part of your Winter training regime?
ANTONY > Yes – I like doing intervals, so it’s similar to the summer without the interruption of racing

Toks: Do you have a strength and conditioning regime?
ANTONY > Press ups, sit ups and a bit of Yoga with Adrienne (Awesome…!)

Toks: We all know you’re super strong on the bike but what is your sporting background?
ANTONY > Cycling and then a little more cycling. And a couple of ultra marathons but that just knackers your knees.

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Toks: What about sport at school?
ANTONY > I went to a Rugby and Cricket Grammar school, if you didn’t do that you were a nobody, so I played basketball, which is where they hid the conscientious objectors.

Toks: How did you do in your first ever race?
ANTONY > Club ten, 27:15… On my mums 1950’s Holdsworth, I improved by three minutes within the month when I realised ten miles couldn’t be sprinted out of the saddle the whole way.

Toks: Haha…so how long have you now been racing?
ANTONY > As a vet (Masters) twelve years with a two and a bit year Covid gap, as a youngster from about 14 until work took over.

Toks: What’s your approach to training as a masters racer?
ANTONY > I crashed about ten years ago and read up about power meters, so if I’m training properly, I train to the numbers and it hurts but it’s effective, a friend of mine calls me a robot, which is fair enough, but you can’t beat just enjoying riding your bike.

Toks: Do you have a favourite race circuit?
ANTONY > Eastway RIP…. So Hog Hill gets my sentimental vote but Gravesend I think is the best all round circuit, but with that said there’s no substitute for a windy day at Darley Moor.

Toks: Do you diet at all?
ANTONY > Do I look like I diet…..Haha… Aero as a house brick…

Toks: What do you wish you could do better?
ANTONY > Woodcarving, I love it, I can spend 100 hours on something but then I get a bit excited towards the end and think I maybe rush things, I need to work on that.

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Toks: I’ve seen your work, its very impressive… Now you’ve been racing and winning for a long time. What makes your still want to race?
ANTONY > There’s the day you are born and the day you die, everything else is just the stuff in-between, and this is the stuff in-between, a really nice bunch of guys and girls and a bit of goal setting, a bit of learning how to suffer through exercise, why not.

Toks: Cool…What are you favourite BMCR events?
ANTONY > I always like the Omnium Champs down at Newport, and a big thank you to Mike Amery and all of his team for putting it on every year. It’s got a school sports day feel to it and to me I walk into a velodrome and get on my track bike, it’s like being in a Cathedral for cycling.

Toks: Do you ever use races just for training?
ANTONY > No, I mean it is but it’s not training is it, it’s not disciplined or regulated efforts (see… Robot..)

Toks: You’ve won a ton of races at masters level – do you put your self under pressure to win?
ANTONY > I think I did a little pre covid, not obsessively but not this year, I’ve just enjoyed it, I mean obviously losing the Scratch race at the Masters Worlds by about 1cm was disappointing, but I’ve had counselling and I’m nearly over it….😉

Toks: Awww mate – you were so close – away from the track where’s a favourite place you like to ride?
ANTONY > I love the lanes South of Derby, but that’s where my friends take me. I love the Pilgrims way on a mountian bike in Kent and the North Kent coast, and there’s a disused converted railway line that runs from Annecy up towards the Alps for about 25 miles, it’s just a cycle path so not at all adventurous but just beautiful, haven’t been there for a good few years, but whenever I ride along it at some stage ‘Days like these’, Matt Munroe starts playing in my head..

Toks: What’s your favourite pro race?
ANTONY > Tour of Flanders. I’ve raced all of those roads, it makes me quite sentimental but happy not to be stuck in the gutter anymore..

Toks: What power meter, do you use, HRM or perceived exertion?
ANTONY > The force….. erm a power tap back wheel and I recently got some Assimoi pedals, although that’s probably not how you spell it…!!!

Toks: Whats your FTP?
ANTONY > Pre covid probably 320-340… now 305 – 320…. But I don’t think it’s relevant, most people can fulfill their potential by focusing on much shorter numbers than a one hour effort.

Toks: Your Watts Per kilo?
ANTONY > I’m way too heavy to worry about any of that…😉

Toks: You often appear super focused – and in the zone -do you agree?
ANTONY > No, I’m just a bit shy..

Toks: Who inspired you to race?
ANTONY > I saw Geoff Wiles race when I was about 8 or 9 years old, in a Criterium at Rochester, and thought how exciting it looked, from that moment I just wanted to go around in circles of one mile or less.

Toks: Are there any BMCR riders that inspire you?
ANTONY > I’ve mentioned Geoff, and coming back to racing as a vet and getting to race with guys like Bob Downs, it’s just amazing, and without wishing to come across as some world loving Hippy, everyone inspires me, anyone at our age who can rock up to a circuit and smash round for an hour at 23+ miles an hour inspires me. Everyone has a different story, all of us are able to commit more or less time to it, but if you can do this it’s inspirational…

Toks: Did you ever have Favourite Pro rider?
ANTONY > Peter Sagan, my all time favourite. I remember seeing him win his first TDF stage and just knew he was special, never afraid to lose, came second as many times as he won and saw his responsibility to entertain the crowd, love him. I really like how Katie Archibald rides on the track too, she rides a track bike how a track bike should be ridden.

Toks: What was your first bike?
ANTONY > It was a Raleigh ranger, can you imagine my disappointment when all the other kids had grifters and choppers. First racing bike was my mums 1950’s Holdsworth, my first track bike was my mums 1950’s Condor, the first bike len Chambers ever built for a woman apparently. He had a soft spot for my mum, and why not she was adorable. I remember how pleased she was when I brought home my first sponsored Condor when I rode for Olympia Sport. Condors, Monty, Steve, they were very good to me as a kid with no money.

Toks: Which one – sportive or gravel?
ANTONY > Sportive, I’m not a snob but I don’t recognise this word (hey I’m joking), if you ride a bike, who cares how and where you ride it. Sold my gravel bike, too many injuries, 29″ mountain bikes and stabilisers for this old timer

Toks: Prefer solo or group rides
ANTONY > It’s always nice to have friends, but it’s a sign of weakness😉

Toks: Mallorca or French Alps
ANTONY > I love Mallorca, but haven’t been for five or six years. Alps are great too, I just think Mallorca gets cycling.

Toks: How many hours on average are dedicated to training?
ANTONY > I would have to guess between 7 and 11 hours a week… Now whether all of that counting as training is debatable.

Toks: What’s your favourite training session
ANTONY > 3 minute intervals, anything can be achieved in three minutes…

Toks: What advice would you give anyone considering dipping their toes into racing for the first time ?
ANTONY > See it for what it is and enjoy it, first or last across the line, if you are still riding a bike you’re winning.

#Thanks a lot mate. See you on the start line next year – Mr D Cat 😉