A Spot of Varnish

"Do you realise that only world champions should be wearing world champion colours" quizzed the informed but slightly condescending cyclist.
"I know" commented the 47 year old Jim Varnish before turning on his cleats and jumping back on his bike.

Jim agrees that being able to wear the rainbow colours on his kit is "Very Cool" and has a bit of fun at other peoples expense with it. "But it comes at a price, you can't hide on a ride, you're expected to be putting more in than anyone else, and you've got to be fairly modest about it, because no one likes a show off and there's always some bugger thats gonna beat you!"

That aside, he's rightly proud of what he achieved after traveling to Adelaide in 1985 to take the World Cycle Speedway Championship. But it wasn't the only title he won, after coming last in his debut national final, he won a full house of titles - the first rider to win the "Grand Slam" ie. u18, u23, Senior, Australian and World titles in a 5 year period.

Just as Jim inspired his daughter Jess, he himself drew inspiration from his father who was himself a National silver medalist rider in the 50's. Three generations of champion cyclists, and with Jess being world record holding European Team Sprint Champion, and a World Championships bronze medalist, hopefully its only a matter of time before the Varnish household have two sets of rainbow colours to their name.

Jim as a youngster used to watch motorcycle speedway and wanted to be like the riders, so his dad introduced him to the cycling equivalent and he never looked back. For those who have never seen cycle speedway, check out the 1984 National championship final video - its manic! Jim won after a controversial restart because of an overly aggressive cutting up maneuver by John Watchman, which caused a little bit of an altercation. Probably wouldn't have got away with it today, but John still asks for his spokes back whenever he bumps into Jim these days!

At the age of 15 Jim had a handful of local company sponsors from his home town of Walsall to help cover the cost of competing, but how does the training compare to todays cyclists? "It was one size fits all" commented Jim "No specialist individually designed programs, but plenty of 10 mile flat out rides behind the back of a van. Diet wasn't specifically tailored, but I was lucky in the respect that my parents made sure we ate healthily in our household - my dad was my coach. You can never compare generation to generation, but it would have been interesting to see what the older guys  could have done with today's technology and diet" When pushed about what he would have been doing in today's cycling theater if he had his time again, Jim suggested a possible Kilo or Keirin role would have suited him best.

The demands and more specifically leg speed required for cycle speedway is incredible and stood Jim in great stead for track sprinting as well as road racing, both of which he participates in now for the domestic team V-Sprint Racing. The V-Sprint's pro team includes the soon to be announced for the coming season, Olympian and daughter Jess Varnish. (Thats an exclusive!)

The V-Sprint team itself participates in road racing as well as track, and is essentially a club with about 40 riders. Although unsure about what his own race commitments are going to include this season, he admits that the adrenaline rush he gets from watching Jess compete is just as good as the rush he craved from racing himself. "The atmosphere is electric at the international meets, the standard is so high and the margins for error so small, you can't help being dragged into the excitement generated, especially so if you happen to be supporting your own daughter"

And what of V-Sprint, what is it? "V-sprint wheels is an online retailer of quality carbon and alloy wheels for track, road racing and training" explained Jim "We set it up 4 or 5 years ago and it's going from strength to strength, we even have our own branded V-Sprint expresso mugs coming out!"

Now coffee is something close to most cyclists hearts, namely coffee shops visited on the weekend run, but when I asked Jim which was his favourite coffee stop, I didn't quite realise what I had touched on. Jim admitted to be completely obsessed with coffee, and investigating various brands of said substance for the ultimate blend. "There is a coffee shop called Coffee Fix in Manchester, a favourite haunt of the British Cycling team, and whenever I visit Jess, we pop in and hang out to sample the wares."

Jim is obviously competitive by nature, so I thought I'd ask him how old Jess was when she started to beat "The old man". I wasn't sure how that one would go down to be honest, but luckily for me Jim found it mildly amusing "About 16 or 17 to be honest, but you have to remember she was a full time athlete when she was 15, so you're messing around with a bit of a beast there, she generates more torque than you could imagine - She can squat double her body weight! Unfortunately she's injured at the moment so having a bit of rest with her mom in Marrakech."

For Jim these days 150 -250 miles in a week is the norm, and he's still competitive as a Vet rider. He coaches as well and gets sessions in on the track as often as possible. I once met a retired Spanish National road champion who admitted that since quitting, had never touched the bike, commercially or for pleasure. I personally found that quite sad, but its obvious that Jim has a quite different approach to life. Diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma in 1999 - something he described to me as "A bit of a speed bump". It made him realise how great it is to ride your bike, what's important in life and how it put everything into a totally different perspective. The incident co-incided with the release of Armstrong's book; Its not about the Bike. "An amazing book, and facinating story, and drug use aside it really inspired and encouraged me at a particularly difficult stage of my life." commented Jim

Final point from Jim is a professional forecast -Froome to win the TDF, and Wiggo the Giro "Its going to be a fantastic year for Sky"

Thanks very much for Jim's time, and good luck to Jess when she's back fit and well.

PS Although I was unaware of this at the time, I found out during this interview that not only did Jim hail from my own home town of Walsall, but we were the same age and went to the same school Joseph Leckie!