Kelly Cycle Coaching athlete, Youcef [Paul] Cummings, previously from the Geelong and Melbourne area, has been living in Oman for nearly 20 years now.  KCC has been coaching Youcef (remotely) for 2 years now, along with his his nephew, James and brother, Mark (aka Cummo).  Youcef qualified for the UCI World Masters Champs last weekend in one of the qualifying events, held in Perth.  Here is what he had to say when asked about his racing and training.

How long have your been racing competitively Youcef?

Bicycles? I raced as a kid for about 7 years I guess, continued until 1993 I guess when I took up coaching. I raced A grade in Australia after only about 5 B grade races, rode a couple of Aussie titles, have some State title medals for TTT. Did a little racing overseas in 2nd Cat then 1st, got hammered. Gave up cycling for about 7 years until 3 years ago when I started again, prior to that I raced Karts ended up a National Champion and raced a World Title ( 17th)  and then on went on and Rallied motorcycles in the Cross Country World Championships for 3 years ( 10th in 2009).

For those who are a bit confused by your non-Aussie sounding name, can you tell us how you ended up living in Oman?

I visited my sister in Oman on my way to Europe one year, it was great to train there in the warm before heading to a wet France. I was eventually asked to coach the National Team have earned a Level 2 Australian Coaching Certificate at the time. I stayed on until the Olympics in Atlanta , when we returned there was a funding drop so I resigned at the same time meeting my wife a stunning Omani lady who took my breath and heart away. I stayed in Oman ( 19 in total years now) and became Muslim 15 years ago prior to marrying that pretty lady, hence Youcef!

What is your preferred terrain for road racing?   What would you say your strengths are?

I like road racing up to 140 and 160kms I do also enjoy hot dog crits or any crits, technical as possible on rough roads, I like road races that are wet and windy, as long as they start in the sunshine!  I do really like echelon racing, its got to be the best racing of all, everyone needs to work, no hiding in the echelon! Short sharp efforts one after the other probably suit me best physically, where most people just get fed up and cant mentally do another one, I like to try for the extra one, hurts the most.

Have you tried to qualify for the UCI World Masters Championships before?

No, this system is kinda new to me I rode the original format in Austria in 2010 I think it was, St Johan….big hill, got hammered all  day long. I found this race odd, the group size wasn’t so big so it was stressful to get inside the 25%, only 9 places and if you think about that you can blow it all in a sprint after a 22,000km on 12 month season! That would have really annoyed me!

Where and when are the UCI World Masters Champs this year?

Trento Italy – 22nd September….huge mountain climb at the end up to 1,600 meters at end after cresting two climbs of 550 meters and 1100 meters on the way! Time to work on the 20min FTP Helen!! I would love to cross the 320w for 60min FTP prior to Italy, that would be awesome.

So the qualifying race you chose was in Perth, what happened in the race?  Did you get into any early breaks?

The race was tense, the UCI regulations state that on the top 25% go through to qualify for UWCT Trento so in our group there was just under 50, a little simple math tell me I have to get across the line in the top 10 at least. That isn’t easy, if there were 200 you could easily break the race up and get a good group away to all qualify, but when its 10 or less everyone is looking at each other all day long. There were a lot of interstate guys who also, like me, had money invested in trying to get to Italy.

The first 30kms was quite sedate, the usual early break solo that is destined to fail, a few half hearted attacks. I tried at about 40 kms with a strong guy and 2 others, we made it about 6 kms then they the other two sat up for no reason, they were suffering I could see but they just chucked it in. I tried again at 60kms, got a good break with a really strong guy ( eventual winner) , we had about 40 seconds for 10 kms then a big train pulled us in, back in the bunch I could ride so easy, I never once felt stretched. I tried again at 80 by myself, again I got out there but the only guy in blue with Dubai and Frankies all over him was well marked by now they wouldn’t let me go.  At 93km, the really strong guy I was with in the first break went, I could see it was the break that was going to win, we had just been working, the bunch was breathing hard it was the exact time, as soon as he went I said to myself that’s the one. I tried to get out of the corner I was in, I even swore at the guy in front who was blocking me that that it was break but by that time he was gone with one more guy and the bunch was just sitting on anyone who moved.

I had missed the break…I went again with 2 kms to go out of sheer frustration I guess, I know I have a decent sprint but there was one guy just riding away and nobody was doing anything so I decided to go across on my own and give the sprinter something to contemplate, I was away with 2 other guys but they didn’t as commit so I just jumped on the sprint train as it came by, I obviously spent my matches with 2 to go so I hung on in the sprint for 7th.

What was your final result for this race?

I finished 7th and qualified. Phew!

So congrats Youcef.  I give you permission to have a little break (see I am a nice coach:)) and then its head down and start preparing for Worlds.