Team GB Worlds 2023 report

The training for this year world’s championship began with an intense period of negotiation with Mrs Coxon. Once we had established that a) I had never really meant to sell the trikes after last years championships b) promised that next year would be the year Mrs Coxon would be graced with a holiday, the booking of planes, trains and hotel rooms began.

 The UK team consisted of Judith Swallow, David Minter, Jochen Farwer, David L’Hostis, William Tullett (supported by the paternal presence of David) and me. Jochen had kindly volunteered to take my trike for me, requiring me only to jump on a plane to Zurich and then sample the delights of the Swiss train service for an hour.

The event was taking place on the Austrian border, next to Switzerland and was based in Lustenau. This town’s wiki entry mentions it was created by “Charles the Fat”; the world was obviously less PC in those medieval times, although I would not like to have been the peasant who called him that. Since the second world war it had turned into a semi-industrial town that seemed a world away from the rural atmosphere of last year’s worlds in France.

I had a couple of days free waiting for my trike to arrive with Jochen. This was taken up by dividing my time between using WhatsApp to harass my wife like a bored toddler and messaging my good friend and previous champion, Jochem Leemans, who attempted to boost my fragile ego with made up tales of how skinny I was. Sadly, Jochem was not able to attend this year, which was a relief to everyone whose FTP was not over 6w/kg.

At last, the UK team arrived. First on the scene were David and William Tullet. It was in no way a mark of my inability to cope on my own that I arrived within 5 minutes of them texting me that they were awake. William’s velomobile had survived the trip, still adorned with the colour scheme of an ill wasp. David seemed to have fashioned his outfit from the “Englishman abroad” shop, with hat accessories chosen from the “Dr. Livingstone I presume” section. To be fair, only a man of David’s charm is capable of pulling off such a look.

The hat made taking David’s advice difficult….

Judith, David Minter and David L’Hostis rolled into base camp shortly after. With the first race, a 4km hill climb, not starting until 7pm on the first day, Jochen and myself took the chance to ride up the hill in the morning, enjoying the views and sound of cow bells. This course rece turned out to be a good idea. The up and down of the published course profile turned out to be misleading, with the actual climb a constant 8 to 12 percent, which removed any false hope of a respite from the effort.

Day 1 – Hill Climb Race

In preparation for the hill climb, any heavy features were removed. Judith removed her luggage rack, instantly making her trike look racier. William removed his front hatch from his velomobile, saving one gram of weight and allowing vital ventilation to his mid shins in the 30 degree heat. David Minter preparation consisted of psyching out the opposition by demonstrating his two-wheel trick skills on his upright trike.

First away were the recumbent bikes. Here, David L’Hostis was quite incredible, finishing in second place in a competitive field. Apparently cycling for hours at a time makes you quite fast; who’d have thought. Jochen put in a solid performance further down the field, powering his cast iron “climbing” bike up the hill, while cursing his delay in pressing the purchase button for a pre worlds eBay carbon bike bargain.

A great performance by David L’Hostis to finish second on the hill climb race

The trikes were next away. I decided the best policy was to subdue the opposition into defeat, so was rather upset when I saw that 400w for the first half of the climb was making minimal difference to Phillipe, a Frenchman with the look and style of James Bond. Luckily, and possibly due to trying to avoid my perspiration, Phillipe fell away on the second half, allowing someone of my stature to achieve a gravity defying win.

Further down the hill, David Minter was going well on his upright trike, beating his Australian buddy, Pete Heal, on his remarkable tilting trike. In the trike women’s race, Judith was putting her previous medical issues to one side to finish in 2nd place in the female trikes. Jochen piloted the climbing bike up to also give a solid performance in a competitive class. Finally, with the evening heat wilting David Tullet’s hat even more, William ground his hefty velomobile past the trio of musicians playing Swiss longhorns at the finish line.

William gets the velomobile to the top of the hill with the aid of the shin ventilation shaft

Day 2 -1km standing start, 200m flying start and 4km standing start.

Sprinting time for Jochen

The recumbent community headed down to the footpath by the Rhine that marks the Swiss-Austrian border for the day 2 sprint-fest. First up was the 1km sprint, which is always a shock; how can 1000m feel so hard! David L’Hostis had a tough one, struggling to clip into the pedals at the start. Jochen was again solid, pushing his “sprinting” bike (also made of cast iron) to an impressive 42.7 km/h average speed. The trikes were next. For some reason I decided to start in an impossibly large gear which seemed to take maximum effort to move once the official shouted go. Eventually I got up to speed and I crossed the line with my vision becoming just a pin prick of light in the lactic agony.

This sensation was repeated in the next 2 races, although “007” Phillipe gained the upper hand on me in the flying 200m. Despite the efficient organisation, there was a long wait between events. Thankfully, David Tullet’s attire was always available for entertainment, in addition to my rather worrying open appreciation of Jochen’s sub 3% body fat physique.

At the end of the day the scores were in. David L’Hostis had made up for the 1k effort, with two good results. Jochen was Mr Consistent, Judith had cemented her position as second female trike and David Minter was being put under pressure in the battle of the Aussie’s by Mr Heal. I had managed to grab two more wins and a second, to put me in a comfortable first place in the male trikes.

A huge surprise awaited me that evening, with the unexpected arrival of my wife and son, appearing in the pizza restaurant while I was midway through stuffing my face with my good friends, Diego and Francois. The TikTok video shows that I did not respond to this shock in Hollywood fashion, with the hugs and kisses of loved ones replaced by me taking on a blank look, while muttering “oh my God” through a spray of partially masticated pizza dough. Mrs Coxon, you are indeed, a lucky woman.

Day 3 – 100km Crit Race

Last day and a big one. 100km criterium, racing around 5km laps. Unlike last year, the course was flat but the tight corners would test the handling skills of the competitors.

A great atmosphere greeted us all on the start line as everyone lined up together. From the gun, Phillipe’s suave image loomed large in my rear-view mirror. However, quickly I managed to hook onto the back of the leading recumbent bike paceline, quickly putting distance between my rival and me. From then on it was just a game of making sure I kept in the slip stream of the faster machines, while drinking and eating enough.

Jochen in the crit race, while Phillipe “007” Descubes corners with nonchalance on two wheels.

This was also enough to keep me ahead of David L’Hostis and Jochen on the faster two wheel recumbents, while marvelling the cornering skills of the leading velomobiles. With relief, I crossed the line the winning trike and world champion, averaging over 42.5kmh over the race. Further back the field, David and Jochen finished within a few places of each other, echoing their battles this year in the BHPC series. William was not far behind, followed by David Minter. Judith showed her endurance leanings to finish within a short distance of the overall female trike winner.

All that was left of the event was the medal presentations, with Judith, William and myself gracing the podium to receive some rather attractive trophies. Sadly, David Tullet’s hat did not receive a special mention. Next year David. Jochen started the long journey back to be questioned by UK customs about why he has so many ancient bikes in a transit van (I am sure they agree, Jochen, that you need a new, carbon bike). Judith and David Minter headed off to the Paris-Brest-Paris endurance test and David L’Hostis was last seen pedalling into the distance, forever evading the car lifestyle.

Next year we are in the UK and I am sure we will do the HPV community proud!