The ballad of Mick Ballard

When your cycling career starts back in 1957 at the tender age of 14 with a ’25’ of just 1:13, you either stick with it or find another pastime. Mick Ballard stuck at it through the 1950s, 60s, 70s finally finishing in the 1980s. How many short distance time triallists can look back on a career like that?
It all started with that 1:13:26 in 1957 on a 72" fixed with a couple of stops for a rest. Not the best of starts but, hey we all have to start somewhere! Mick carried on into 1958 using the same method: in an early season ’50’ he stopped in a transport cafe for some tea and toast, then came home with a 2:33:49. He had to leave his spare tub as a deposit for the tea. The thing is he had wintered well, having done more than 2500 miles in the company of Sid Phillips, a fine rider in his day who had finished well up in the BBAR. In addition he rode 24 miles a day to London, where he worked for a leather trading company, add that to the 200-mile weekends with Sid and the Kent Road Club as well as some cold winter rides in the evenings after work in January, and you can see where his fitness came from. Incidentally, the top tip in those days was to wear pyjamas under your cycling clothes to combat the cold. There was none of this warm-garage-on-the-turbo lark in them days!
He soon found out that this mile-eating just didn’t work for him. All it did was to leave him shattered. He still tried to race without the success he had hoped for so he packed for a time. After a while he came back to the sport to do a few good ‘25s’ around the 1:1:00 mark. Mick had now realised he was never going to make it as a long distance cyclist. He greatly reduced his cycling, just riding to work some days with some evening rides on the others - there was nothing scientific to his approach.
Then he cracked it while riding a ‘25’ on an 81" fixed. He beat the hour for the first time with a time of 59:51 but the next time out went four minutes slower! Again he packed up in disgust thus ending his 1958 season. Before he packed he had a crash that damaged his knee. His doctor said if it hurts, stop cycling but he didn’t and the knee is painful to this day. It caused him problems for the rest of his racing career.
More improvements
During the following season, 1959, he started to move towards the upper echelons of the sport, beating the hour on no less than 16 occasions with a best of 58:15 on the day that Alf Engers’ 55:11 broke competition record. He did these rides on a diet of riding to work and the traditional evening chaingang tear-ups. In 1960 he didn’t disappoint either with another dozen or so rides under the hour. By now his best 25-mile time was 57:37 and a good ride of 58:23, just a fraction slower than his best at the time, gave him 11th place in the national ’25’ championships, one place behind a certain Barry Hoban.
In 1960 he also discovered grass track racing - there are not many time triallists who have won more than 60 events on the grass. If he thought it was looking good so far, it was about to get a whole lot better as 1961 really was the breakthrough season.
He had now joined the West Kent RC and was getting faster too. With five ‘56’s recorded and a best time of ‘55’ he was now moving towards the top of the short distance time trial scene. Mick rates his 10th place in that year’s ‘25’ championships as his best ever ride in the nationals. But it’s a placing that could have been even better given the circumstances surrounding the ride. He’d got a lift up to the event at Gailey near Birmingham but on the way the driver got lost!
Arriving at the event HQ at 5-45am gave him no time for a warm up but luckily just enough time to put his bike together. He was off at number 5, 6-05am; 2 minutes in front of him was Peter Gordon, the legendary young international roadman, whom he caught at around 10 miles. He carried on at this rate to be the first rider to finish, ending up with a time of 57:13 for a final placing of 13th just a few seconds behind Robin Buchan, but in front of names such as Alf Engers, Barry Hoban and Dave Bonner. 
That 1961 championship event proved to be a breakthrough in time trialling as it was won for the first time on gears by John Woodburn in a time of 56:01. Mick had used an 82" fixed, largely because his hero at the time, Ken Craven, used that very same gear. (He has a few heroes within the sport, his greatest being multiple Tour de France winner Jacques Anquetil - a rider he had the privilege of following in a continental time trial.)
The following seasons produced a similar pattern with between 12 to 17 wins each year and some more good rides in the national championships with a best of 7th in 1962 behind Charlie McCoy. He was still hitting the ‘55’ mark time and time again, then finally in 1965, in a season that totalled 17 wins, he lowered his best to a 54:42. Although by now he was in the big league of short-distance time trialling, he had yet to win a title or even make the top three. In the winter of 65/66 he trained hard and had some new bikes ordered but come March he once more called it a day. Upon retiring he had a three year period in the Territorial Army serving in the Middle East and Germany, so cycling was forgotten for a time. One of Mick’s greatest disappointments was that he was denied a career in the Royal Navy but he has retained a great interest in ships, aeroplanes and military history and equipment. He has a library of more than 1,500 books on these subjects and these days spends much time reading.
So we move into the 1970’s. After 5 years away from the sport he is enticed to have another go while waiting for a bus outside Bird Brothers’ shop in Welling. He was approached by Ken Bird about yet another comeback and looking back over his past racing career - although many would have been proud to have Mick’s record - the man himself saw little achievement. The decision was made to have another go and he obtained the best possible kit and embarked on some more hard training. The winter of 1970 was a cold one making base training difficult. However, he lost 14lbs in weight and regained some basic fitness. He put in more than 1,500 not always enjoyable miles, realising you only got out what you put in. Racing started again with a stark reminder of how hard it can be - but then not everyone starts racing again in a 2-up partnered by Alf Engers! It made him realise how big the gap in ability was. He held Alf at a length throughout and Alf won with a 58:48 with Mick not even doing a turn in front. The year ended with a personal best of 54:18 and 4 wins. Riding for the Tooting BC he finished 38th in the nationals with a time of 1:01:05.
1972 saw Mick back in the West Kent RC, but the season got off to a bad start with knee problems again. He now worked for The Solicitors Law Society in London selling computer systems to solicitors and accountants which was a good career and gave him plenty to think about. This career encouraged a good social life which Mick enjoyed to the full - he would think nothing of having a lunchtime pint throughout his racing career in the 1970s and 80s. Due to his new job he could no longer ride to work but travelled by train or car. Another of Mick’s interests outside the sport was fast cars and he has a car history that would make even the presenters of Top Gear jealous. He has, at various times, owned a Mini Cooper, Lotus Cortina and an Escort Mexico but this kind of speed got him in trouble with the law and a succession of offences won him a disqualification. However the love of fast cars carried on into the 1980’s when he drove an Escort XR3i, an Escort RS Turbo and, until it was stolen, a Sierra Cosworth.  
New training methods
With the change in career so came a total change in training methods. He followed much the same programme as his friend and rival Alf Engers. Gone were the long rides. He had worked out that the only way to go fast was to train fast, only 1000 miles early season with no rides longer than 60 miles. During the season his training would consist of flat-out 10’s, some as a 2-up with whomever he could find to hang on, others were efforts of 5 to 7 miles mostly ridden on the A2. His speed training consisted of riding as fast as he could ... for as long as he could and the maximum distance he ever lasted was about 8 miles. Most of these training rides were on a time trial bike using Clement No 3 tubulars. He didn’t see the point of training for 2 hours for a ‘25’. In fact some of his rides were as short as 20 minutes and he never trained in the rain. He now had little interest in training anymore than was absolutely necessary. An article written by Bernard Thompson about Beryl Burton made him realise how little training he did - the thought of riding 100 miles scared him. In fact he probably only did that much training in a week and that was the way he could retain maximum enthusiasm.
Not training in the rain also meant that Mick didn’t race in the rain. He just didn’t like the state you ended up in when riding in the wet. Then there was the bike. Mick always had the ultimate machine just like Alf. He rode as light a frame as possible, equipped with Campagnolo Super Record components, 24 spoked wheels fitted with Clement No 3s (at times even using No 1s, which was a track tub, resulting in a few DNFs due to punctures). He rode 177.5 cranks with a 57 tooth chainring and a 13-17 block. At times he would use only a 3-speed block leaving him 118"/110"/102" gearing. Mick would never contemplate starting a race with a dirty bike and would spend Friday or Saturday cleaning and polishing an already ultra clean machine.
Mick was also a believer in the mental approach, he always felt people didn’t build up to an event properly. His build up started on the Tuesday before the event where he would start to think about it at work. The problem that sometimes arose with this approach is that he could be put off for all sorts of reasons; he suddenly just didn’t fancy the idea anymore; a change in the weather was forecast (ie: rain for example). He would get criticized a lot but he would simply point out that he paid his own entry fees and was an amateur racer with a full time job so he could do what he wanted - although he still laughs at his record of 20 DNSs in a season!
The knee cleared up by August 1972 but it lost him most of the season. He still clocked a best ever ride in the Leeds Wellington event with a time of 53:42 on the V134 one of his favourite courses along with the Q25/8 course in Chilham, Kent. The Kent course produced his first ever win. It is a course that he feels is a true test of a rider, it is no dragstrip and he held the course record there for many years. 1972 may have been a short season but it resulted in 10 wins and the only race he lost was to Dave Holliday in a late season Campag Trophy event. With fellow West Kent teammate and another rider who followed the ‘less is more’ training plan, Joe Mummery, he ran Phil Bayton and John Patston close in the Hainault 2-up with a ‘53’ and Mick doing 80% of the work.
Much shorter winter rides of no more than 40-odd miles followed in the winter of 1972/73. He used the same training methods as in 1972, and a successful season saw him gain 21 wins over 10 and 25 miles but he saved one of his best rides for the national ‘25’. Here he finished in joint 4th place with Mike McNamara in 56:21 only beaten by Alf, Dave Holliday and Ian Hallam. During the season he clocked a best ‘25’ of 53:06 on the E72 from which he was disqualified for riding in the middle of the road. He successfully appealed and was reinstated but never received the prize money!
Having met Frank Dickens at Herne Hill, he now changed clubs to the Unity CC for the 1974 season. Over the year he won 16 events and recorded a personal best of 52:38. He also chalked up another two ‘52’s, eight ‘53’s and three 20-minute ‘10’s. However his ride in the national ‘25’ was a bit of a disaster, especially after starting as one of the favourites. He finished 21st, some three minutes behind Alf’s winning 54:50. 1975 was a bit of an uneventful year after another late start, again due to injury and illness. However, he did manage a total of 10 wins.
1976 saw Mick riding for the Woolwich CC with Alf Engers as a team mate. He improved his ‘25’ time to 52:23, clocked up 14 open wins and rode four 52-minute ‘25’s, five ‘53’s and a handful of 20-minute ‘10’s. Alf won the ’25’ championships again, this time on the undulating Farnham-Alton course, proving that he was not just a dragstrip merchant. Mick gained a fine fourth place, but was left to rue as to what might have been have been had he not got held up by a herd of cows through which he had to push his way. The only saving grace was winning the team title with the Woolwich - but it was not the medal he wanted.
The National ‘25’ champs in the following season didn’t go to plan either with a DNF, but he still clocked up another 16 wins with a fastest ‘25’ of 52:33 and a few more ‘52’s to add to that, plus five ‘53’s and the same number of 20-minute ‘10’s.  
Magic moment
Then came 1978 - the year of that magic day on August 5 when the ‘25’ record went on to another planet with that 49:24, a massive 1:26 beating of the record that Eddie Atkins had only just set with 50:50.  Mick had finished in 4th place 3 minutes adrift but it was only his third race of the year due to more knee trouble which had now been sorted with cortisone injections. He still finished the year with another 12 wins and a new personal best of 52:12 but he was always to look back on that magic day as another ‘what might have been’ episode.
In 1979 Mick changed team to the CC Orpington - the club now being sponsored by Ken Birds’ Cycle Centre a shop where Mick would often hold court on his views on time trialling. These views included how the BBAR should be abolished; the maximum distance that should be raced is 100 miles by those who chose to do this; a time trial competition should be set up along the lines of the Campag Trophy and so on. His views of the RTTC in those days still can’t be put into print! The season was not a good one as far as he was concerned, but he still scored 12 more wins, but achieved no personal bests at ‘10’ or ‘25’ miles and he was just outside the top ten in the national championships.  [He finished equal 16th with John Woodburn in a time of 57:10 - Ed]. Too many people 12 wins would make a very good year, but we are talking here about a man who had great ambitions and wanted to progress.
Mick was always convinced that he wasn’t born with natural talent or speed but he believed that it can be trained and if he can get to the top so could many others. His view is that it has to do with just how much they want it and his theory is the harder you train, the easier racing becomes. This explains his way of training to condition himself to handle pain and gain the necessary speed.
Mick stayed with the CC Orpington for the 1980 season, adding a couple more wins to the 1979 total but again finishing well down in the ‘25’ championships [He did a 56:10 for 29th place - Ed], but nearly won a medal in the 100km team time trial title race! Yes you are reading correctly, he actually rode 100kms or 62 miles! Of course, there is a story behind this. He was persuaded to ride to support his teammates Derek Cottington, John French and Paul Woodman. At half distance they were in third place at which point Mick was thinking of dropping off but to his disappointment Woodman beat him to it. Knowing that the time is taken on the third man he had no alternative but to stick with it, not only racing the furthest he had done for years but with a heavier workload too. However it was not to be and the team lost the bronze medal to the Edgware RC, which included a certain Ian Cammish, by 7 seconds. Upon finishing, a totally shattered Mick gave one of his quotes "I always thought that after 30 miles you rode off the edge of the world".
There was a new kid on the block in 1981 in the shape of Martin Pyne who won the ‘25’ championship with Mick back to his best and in fifth place. He had now rejoined the Unity CC and with the new-fangled skinsuit came the essential new piece of kit: the skin hat. A good season was had with an increased total of wins to 17 and new personal bests of 51:48 and 20:24. At 40 years of age, Mick was now back in the groove. 1982 and 1983 followed a similar pattern too, with many ‘52’s and ‘53’s, some done on days when people showed total amazement how anyone could go that fast. He showed them how it was done in classy fields in Essex and Cambridgeshire as well as his local Kent courses and by now he was also the king of the A2 courses where he was hardly ever beaten on roads he trained on, showing many a big name visitor his back wheel. 
Controversial
As ever, Mick retained strong views about the sport. He was quoted as saying that despite racking up many wins "I’ve always been 60-90 seconds behind the best 25 milers". These riders were people like Charlie McCoy, Dave Dungworth, Alf Engers and now in the early 1980s Martin Pyne but he felt that they were true amateurs, working a full week and then racing. He used to get wound up about racing against people who didn’t work for a living which was becoming more prevalent in the late 1970s and even more so in the 80s. He even suggested in a letter to Cycling Weekly that these riders should have ‘DNW’ against their names. It caused quiet a stir at that time as it was in the era of the likes of Dave Lloyd and Darryl Webster - at that time Mick would tell you that he was getting passed his best. Throughout his career he always got his points across with good coverage in Cycling back in the days when it was a real magazine with top articles by Mick Gambling and the late Bernard Thompson. Even back in the 1960s he would pop into Cycling’s office and have a word or two with the then editor Alan Gayfer. He was a colourful character who could always provide a good quote or two.
As his racing career was nearing its end he did what he regards as his best ever ride, and it was not over his favourite 25-mile distance. On a hot August Saturday afternoon in the Sydenham Wheelers ‘10’ on the Q10/19 he became the first veteran to do a 19 minute 10-mile time trial with a 19:59 (on a traditional bike bike drop handlebars bars!) which at that time was also the season’s fastest at the distance. He also became the fastest veteran over a ‘10’. He had previously held the record with a 20:22 until it was broken by Roger Iddles. He planned the record ride as you would expect of the man, scheduling to do every two and half miles in less than 5 minutes, but started too fast and when checked he completed the first quarter in 4:24 riding gears of 119", 110" & 102". He mostly used the 110" riding a low-profile machine and carried on with the rapid pace until up at the end. Yes, he stopped the clock with his own magic ride of 19:59 when only a handful of riders had dipped below 20 minutes, these being riders of the quality of Dave Lloyd, Sean Yates, Dave Akam and Martin Pyne to name a few. He followed this up with a win in the next morning’s Unity ‘25’.
He carried on for another few more seasons notching up between 6 and 15 wins a year to finally call it a day in 1988 having recorded some 259 wins between 1971 and 1988. This was by all accounts an impressive figure for someone who didn’t really start racing until April each year and only rode an average of one event per weekend. In total he had 345 career wins which works out to around 13 a year - and don’t forget he didn’t do rain and liked to have a few DNS’s to keep it real.
In conclusion Mick Ballard was a cyclist who was, and still is, held in high esteem by many people despite never winning a national title. He is a true ‘25’ mile legend and. to quote the man himself, ‘I nearly made it’  

1 January 2009