Q&A Sub 2 with Rik Waddon

ZZRC Sub 2 with Special Guest Rik Waddon

Route Big Flat 8

Riders 122 riders

I must say from the start …. Huge thanks to Rik for giving up an hour of his time to join us and answer so many questions in great detail . He not only provided some amazing content but joined in with the ZZRC banter . I think he will never be the same again after Lars started with the jokes

This will be abit of a lengthy blog as I try to give some insight into the questions asked and answers given .Firstly I was there purely to pace and keep the conversation moving but not too fast that Rik didn’t have time to answer them. I kept the pace very relaxed to allow the riders chance to type the questions without fear of losing the yellow .

I had an amazing crew on supporting everyone and working very hard despite all the chat on screen.

I gave us 5 mins to settle in and then Lars started the questions off with

“How do you balance your indoor training with your outdoor rides ? Do you have a preference ?”

Reply “ my indoor sessions are normally near my gym sessions, so it will be my TT intervals of high power stuff , the strength stuff in the gym in the afternoon”

Pabbo then asked “why did you pick cycling /TTT to other sports ?”

Rik said that he just fell in love with cycling after watching the 91 tv in school .

Riders were fascinated to know what his heart rate was and it was sitting at 120bpm . Martin wanted to know what his HRMax was ? To which he replied 180 .

Rik explained that his disability came from being knocked off his bike as a child by a car .

Martin was then wanting to know what Riks sweet spot cadence was , and Rik was straight on that with an answer of 75-85rpm .

I will say , I truly admired the honesty of the answers given on this ride , Rik was so down to earth .

The honesty started in the pen when he admitted he was riding in his slippers. The next question

“What’s the best most beneficial piece of advice you have been given that improved your performance ?”

"Look at everything when training , diet , sleep , basically every aspect of your life that may impact on your performance, performance is at the top of what you need to achieve so build everything around it "

Pete was then quick to ask , which do you think is the most overlooked aspect ?

Sleep !!!!!

Rik answered very quickly on that one . What I didn’t expect was for Rik to say he gets ten hours sleep each night ! . I was so envious of this  I’m lucky if I get 4 hours

Rik advised us that he really monitors his sleep now and his training ability has gotten better for it . He uses whoop really for sleep

Then it was Dom’s turn to ask a question

"Rik, low cadence drills for general road cycling ? Yes or no" . The reply was “ low cadence drills are ok if you have a goal in mind that you may think it will contribute to in order to make you better "

Philip then asked “Thanks for taking the time Rik- how difficult is it to get sponsorship, especially at the start of a career in para-sports “

“It’s not easy anymore with the current climate . I chased a lot of sponsorship around 10 years ago which eventually paid off but it’s alot of hard work. So the current climate the cost of living and the impact that had with company’s having the ability to just give stuff is not easy anymore “

We were now 30 minutes into the ride, so late join had now ended.

Rik continued to say "it’s so expensive now , a road bike that is top end is at least £10,000" Rik also went on to say that he really isn’t a big user or social media . He had Instagram and Twitter but didn’t really use them much . He said that he was not part of the “cycling influencer” brand of really fake cyclists .

Now that’s honesty for you !

For recovery he tends to sleep a lot, eat lots of high protein food , and really home in on the nutrition.

His proudest moment as a cyclist was becoming world champion and obviously competing at a home Paralympic Games .

That is really such an impressive achievement, when asked did he have a biggest regret ?

"I don’t do the regret thing , I wake every day and get the most out of it I can . Life is what it is , no luck , just focus and work towards your goal . I don’t do superstitions either , if you have put the work in and stick to your race plan, then it will work out ."

Clare was now asking “ is sports psychology an important part of your regime ?”

Rik was again very honest … "if I can offer you one bit of advice, just be happy with whatever you choose to go and do ".

We asked what he did in his down time , and he loves watching TV . He chatted football , and nearly got into the great pizza debate of whether pineapple belongs on a pizza .

We had amazing feedback on the ride , the one that caught my eye was from Jim .

“ I’m getting inspired , thanks Rik snd Andi !!!! Very inspirational ride “

Meanwhile the ZZRC crew were working very hard keeping riders close to me as I held a steady pace throughout .

We all thanked Rik for joining us , I was extremely grateful he accepted my invite . The ride was just fantastic from start to finish .

We covered 20.55 miles /33.1km

Climbed 358ft/110m

Average speed 20.3mph

Leaders average watts were 112 which equates to 1.87wkg

Huge thank you to all who joined and to the amazing crew I had helping on this ride .