Whilst the media focuses on Sky, Cav, Brad and the Tour, there are some riders who ‘just get on with it’ in the real world of pro cycling - no agents, no four year contracts, no angst-ridden interviews, no tabloid articles, no book deals or no ‘recalibrations.’
There’s no time for any of that; there are kermises and inter-clubs to be ridden, primes to be grabbed and the rent to be paid.
Hamish Haynes came late to cycling at 23 years-of-age. Had he arrived on the scene a few years, earlier there’s no doubt he would have risen to the very top. But ‘ageist’ UCI rules mean that teams are reluctant to sign older riders lest they push up the average age of the team.
In the last decade the 36 years-old Haynes has ridden for the DFL, Cyclingnews, Maestro and Jartazi pro teams, but more recently with solid Belgian amateur teams such as Yawadoo. It was with Jartazi that he scored his biggest result – the British Elite road race championship in 2006, outsprinting Roger Hammond and Geraint Thomas to take the title.
But he’s had big wins on the continent too; take Renningelst, which he won in 2008; it has the likes of Iljo Keisse, Jez Hunt and Erik Dekker on its role of honour. Last season he won the big ‘inter-club’ at Nieuwkerken and grabbed a host of good placings to boot.
VeloNation caught up with him as he prepared for yet another year of racing.
VeloNation: How many seasons have you had in Belgium now, Hamish?
Hamish Haynes: 2010 was my tenth.
VN: Do you still ride the ‘trademark’ red, white and blue topped socks?
HH: I still have a pair somewhere!
VN: How was 2010 for you?
HH: It started well and at Easter I rode the Tour of the North in Ireland, where I was second on GC. But after that I kept coming down with the cold; the nationals were a disaster, but I came good again towards the end of the season.
I don’t really keep score, but I had about a dozen podium finishes and 20 top five placings. I was fifth in the GP Briek Schotte for example, Kevin Van Impe won; but then it’s a bit of a ‘home race’ for QuickStep.
I’ve been having trouble with my back. Putting a spacer under one of my pedal cleats has helped balance things, though – I’ve been working with Body2Bike in Northern East Belgium to try and sort things out.
VN: Did you have much of a break after the season?
HH: I had about four-and-a-half weeks off - that’s longer than normal, with practically no riding, getting back into the bike was a struggle. I spent some of that time working with Emma James. She’s a sports psychologist; we’ve been addressing my weaknesses, talking about visualisation, attitude, belief systems, the hierarchy in the peloton – little things, but they can make the difference.
VN: How’s the training going?
HH: I’ve been doing a lot on the track at Manchester – I usually go to Spain but I’ve been thinking; is slogging up lots of big hills the ideal preparation for Belgium? On the track you can train with more intensity and the bad weather isn’t a factor.
It’s only a 20 minute drive to the track from the house; but I also have 300 metre climbs within 30 minutes ride of the house if I do decide I want to do hill work. For example, on one of the days, I did two hours on the track in the morning then two hours on my cyclo-cross bike in the afternoon….my bottle was frozen solid within an hour, mind!
Another day, I did four hours on the track; I ride with the local amateurs, we’ll do a 20 minute warm up at the top of the track, I’ll do lead outs for them and when they’re having a break off the track I’ll do a series of sprints. I’m no longer into doing six or seven hours runs – I’m doing more around the four or five hour mark but with more quality work in there.
VN: Do you ‘cross’ train?
HH: I use the ‘cross bike if the weather is bad and I do a lot of core training exercises with the fit ball. I’ve also been on the indoor climbing wall; it’s good fun and involves a lot of stretching – almost gymnastic type movement.
VN: Where are you based for 2011?
HH: Diest, the same apartment I shared with a friend in 2010.
VN: You have a new team?
HH: The new team is at Continental level; Colba-Mercury-Dourphonie. Colba is a Belgian mobile phone retailer whilst Mercury is a flooring company and Dourphonie supply street furniture and signage for construction and road works.
We have a team bus and all the vehicles in place; bikes are Ridley Damocles with Campag Chorus groupsets, and with Nico Sport doing the clothing. The team will be racing at a higher level than I was in 2010; I’m still ambitious, I think I’m still capable of winning a UCI 1.1 – when I started racing I said I wanted to be British Elite champion, people laughed...
VN: You seem to get keener as you get older?
HH: Maybe it sounds like that but sometimes I feel that age is catching up with me! But as you get older you learn more and see more possibilities. I started on the bike when I was 23 so I think that I can continue until I’m 40; I still enjoy riding my bike, I get excited about it.
One thing that I am conscious of is that I’ve made a lot of sacrifices for the bike; you neglect social contact and end up in a bubble – that’s something I want to address.
VN: Ridley are nice machines – are you an equipment fanatic?
HH: If I had a pile of money I might be; your bike matters but as long as it’s a good solid - but not too heavy - frame with good aero wheels…those are the main things. If you have those factors in place, then I think any other equipment gains are so small as to be irrelevant.
VN: Who were the dominant forces in your races in 2010?
HH: The most trouble came from Vacansoleil; they just seemed to be at a different level – but I guess they have a good programme and strong support.
VN: How’s the programme shaping?
HH: It’s sound! We’ll miss the races in February but hope to start with Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, then the Three Days of West Flanders, E3, De Panne, Samyn – it’s a good programme.
VN: Will you be back for the British Champs?
HH: Certainly! It’s in the north east of England and whilst I believe it’s a hard circuit, it’s not crazy – it should suit me.
VN: You’ve done ten seasons – what’s the biggest change you’ve seen in Belgian racing?
HH: A lot more bunch sprints, with control and negativity the words which come to mind. The DS’s are emulating what they see the big teams doing on TV – to control it and set it up for the sprinters makes it more predictable for the sponsors.
It’s more sterile, not as predictable, there are attacks; but a lot of them are for show. It’s becoming more and more important that you’re able to sprint.
VN: So how many more seasons will you do?
HH: I plan to ride this one and one more . . . . but I might do another, if all goes well!