STEVE BATE MBE

Thevisually-impaired ScottishParalympic cyclistontrainingsolo

MIX IT UP

I aim to ride seven days a week in a variety of formats. Because I race on a tandem I look to train on one whenever I can, but I also train at home on a turbo and I ride on and off-road solo. Mixing things up in this way keeps training really interesting.

LOOP THE LOOP

I was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa in 2011, which means my vision is impaired, but I can, and do, ride on the roads. I stick to loops of quiet local roads near my home in the Calder Valley. This is a good approach as you can alter the length of your ride depending on the light, weather, training requirements and time of day. I’ll do two, four or six-hour loops. On ‘double’ days I’ll do a turbo session in the morning and road in the afternoon.

SHORT, SHARP SHOCKS

For tandem training, on the track and roads, I ride with my pilot Adam Duggleby either at the Manchester velodrome, here in Calder Valley or near Adam’s home in Leeds. Over the winter it’s interval-focused speed work.

BASIC INSTINCT

People think there’s a lot of chat that goes on between tandem riders but for time trials and the pursuit we don’t really speak at all. We plan tactics beforehand, we intuitively know how we both ride at corners and it’s only when we need to push harder that Adam will call out to me.

GET OUT THERE

I love riding the fat bike off-road around the Yorkshire moors and the west coast of Scotland. It’s great to escape the traffic and I find the challenge it gives the legs especially helpful when I’m back on the road bike. I did a lot of fat bike riding last year, including the Deloitte Ride Across Britain. Steve uses Pulseroll vibrating technology to recovery from races and as part of his training routine, pulseroll.com