My Story

Introduction

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For those who do not know me, or my story that has lead me to this point, I have written this piece below. It is quite long, but I think it is important to provide the background to myself and this company. I hope it instills confidence that Ward Performance is not yet another company selling snake oil, run by people whom have never actually pushed the envelope of performance for themselves. So if you are interested, sit back, get comfortable and have a read through my ramblings:

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Beginnings

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In my formative years, I did not have any particular hobby or sport I was focussed on, but I knew I needed to find my calling. I tried a few different sports which piqued my interest, but none seemed to 'click', until I eventually gave cycling a go. It was perhaps inevitable, as my parents met through UK cycling, but well aware of the complexities and associated costs, they did not encourage me into cycling and had hoped I would take up a different sport instead. However once I tasted that sense of freedom and mainly the speed of pedalling a bike down a smooth road, I was immediately hooked. Once I had a speedometer on my bike, I would go up the road to a straight, flat section and sprint up and down repeatedly, even using the slipstream of passing traffic to my advantage, trying to hit a new top speed!

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For some riders, the sense of adventure is what does it. They want to ride for hours on new routes and see all the world and countryside has to offer, but that was not for me. I got a thrill from exerting myself and being rewarded with speed. That feeling of efficiently gliding along a smooth road, despite putting in high effort is what got me coming back for more and it still does to this day!

 

I have always been inquisitive, one to ask 'too many questions' and seek understanding of things which most would say are irrelevant. While this might consume more time, it gradually builds a much deeper and more usable understanding of things. I had this same mindset in cycling, around the riding position and equipment. 'Why does this bike/bike wheelset/tyre feel faster than this other?' 'Why IS this bike/bike wheelset/tyre faster than this other?'

 

For many years, we were just guessing and copying 'the fast guys' from local or National races, but as I went through school and developed a passion for science, especially physics, I started to be able to understand and predict these differences in performance.

 

When something is just a job, or even a casual hobby, one does not usually care about improving to the point of perfection - if that even is a thing - but when something is an obsession, then one finds themselves already far along that path without any conscious effort. I knew that I could equal or beat other riders with less power, long before I used a power meter or knew exactly why that was. I knew I was 'aero' before I even knew what 'aero' meant or how to calculate it. But there is more to efficiency than just aerodynamics.

 

Education

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I excelled in GCSE Science and then went on to succeed in A-level Maths, Physics and Chemistry, before studying Mechanical Engineering at Loughborough University. Having already achieved a Bronze medal in the 2012 Junior British Time Trial Championships, a 19 minute '10' and some top 8 placings in the Individual Pursuits at both the Youth British National and Junior British National Track Championships, I was selected for the Loughborough University Performance Cycling Squad.

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Despite having already resigned myself from the possibility of achieving success at the elite level of competitive cycling, physiology testing through the Performance Cycling Squad showed that my natural abilities were in fact better suited to a range of track cycling events than the road TTs I had focussed on. That year, I entered 4 events at the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) Track Cycling Championships and much to my surprise and delight, came away with a medal in each event! This then sparked my obsession with collecting BUCS medals, like Ash Ketchum, I'd "gotta [win] them all!"

 

During my 4 years at Loughborough University, I won 30 BUCS medals, 29 official and a bronze in the unofficial BUCS circuit race champs. In my final year, I had an in-tact streak of coming home with a medal from every single BUCS Championships venue I had raced and finished at, until what was perhaps my last ever BUCS event. Losing that streak right at the end. What a way to bow out, hey!

 

My final year dissertation project was on the "Effect of cycling position on frontal area and power output". During this, circumstances forced me to change direction with my project and learn how to 'aero test' myself on Derby velodrome, with only basic equipment. A blessing in disguise! This meant that I could finally satisfy my obsession with going ever faster in TT events by employing a synergy of physics and cycling. I enjoyed the aero testing process and answering the unkown, but I also enjoyed riding and racing my bike faster. I performed so many aero test runs over the next few months and years, constantly trying to refine my aero test protocol and data analysis as well as my own system CdA.

 

Experimentation

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I am one to question the conventional wisdom and unafraid to try things which would be considered whacky or even completely mad by more mainstream individuals. Using the Derby velodrome as my usual testing ground, my experimentation was watched on by certain Derby based track team riders. I was often heckled and made fun of, but I was undeterred, knowing that I was finding out things perhaps nobody else in the world knew and starting to push some boundaries of what was thought possible in terms of not only the cycling system CdA value, but finding ways of achieving it on more basic and cheaper equipment.

 

This experience and knowledge helped land me the job of Performance Science Technician at the Boardman Performance Centre. This was a dream come true at the time, it was my dream job - working not just in a wind tunnel, but a UK cycling specific wind tunnel, with racing cyclists! - However rather than continue to push the boundaries and discover what lies in new, uncharted territory, I instead found myself actually monotonously repeating the same series of aero tests and usually finding the exact same results as I had found with previous riders and in my own aero testing during the previous year. Of course, you can try some really cool things in a wind tunnel when you work there and there is some free time. That and working with elite cyclists and/or those keen to try something unorthodox, were the best times, which I absolutely revelled in. But I wanted to have more of that, more often.

 

I did not get as much time to experiment or aero test myself in the wind tunnel as you might think. We were quite busy with paying customers and there were other responsibilities to be taken care of, however I did occasionally get some time to experiment. I was always interested in checking the wind tunnel test findings with real world aero testing at the velodrome and came across a recurring phenomenon: That the results in the wind tunnel are sometimes quite different to the results of testing the exact same things on an indoor velodrome. Now I don't want to give all of my knowledge or secrets away, but let's just say that from my experience, it is not much use testing aero wheels in a wind tunnel and certainly not with the protocols employed by almost every brand in the aero wheels industry. Of course, the sceptics may say that this is me trying to cover for the aero wheels I produce, but don't get me wrong. Ward aero wheels still test faster than anything similarly priced in the wind tunnel, just not quite as fast as they test in the 'real world', which is where it counts, right?!

 

All too many people seem to chase the CdA value in a wind tunnel, only to find that their predicted 'gains' do not match up very well at all with their real world findings. Well, that just helps me and my clients to keep achieving success with our own racing! Crack on guys!

 

I do think that the wind tunnel absolutely has its uses for some things, but just that it is not quite the 'golden standard', overwriting method to use for testing everything.

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Putting It Into Practise

 

I have since improved my real world performance through training as well as indoor and outdoor velodrome testing to achieve 17:58 10 mile (16 km) time trial and 45:36 25 mile (40 km) time trial times, both in 2021.

 

Now, I certainly don't think I am the smartest person around. In fact, I don't think I'm the smartest person in cycling aero testing, or even on my own race team! But there is more to knowing how to improve something very specific like a cyclist's CdA than just IQ or academic qualifications. I believe I have a rare synergy of the racing, riding, aero testing experience as a rider myself, along with the theoretical knowledge of physics, aerodynamics and experience of testing others. Just ask: how many aerodynamicists or wind tunnel gurus have ridden a 25 mile (40 km) TT in 45:36? Or how many National Medal winners have spent over 500 hours aero testing across wind tunnel, indoor velodrome and outdoor velodrome? It is having that understanding through real world experience of what it takes to ride a bike fast, how to most efficiently do that, while also understanding how to teach others to do it.

 

That is perhaps what landed me the job as consultant to the Welsh Cycling team. I worked with the men's squad in the lead up to the 2022 HSBC National Track Cycling Championships. I aero tested the riders and advised the team on equipment and strategy. This aided their men's Team Pursuit squad in jumping from 4th place at the previous Championships to 1st place, National Champions! For the first time too. I would like to add that I was riding myself in the Silver medal winning team. Perhaps this shows that I am better at helping others ride fast than riding fast myself.

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My best competitive cycling achievement to date came in the 2022 CTT National Team Time Trial Championships as a member of the three man Ward WheelZ squad. I had analysed the data collected from riding previous team time trials and used this knowledge to my advantage in preparation. I knew the abilities of each team member and trained in a way which would enable me to give the most to the team. We only had one single training session together before the race day, but our plan seemed to work and we gelled well. On race day, we executed the plan and got the most we possibly could out of each of us. We were surprised and delighted to discover that we had won the title! Beating not only a strong Saint Piran team of distinguished individual and team time triallists, but also the strong favourites and multiple time defending champions, Ribble Pro Cycling! We were all quite shocked with the result and the time gaps. We were certainly not the most powerful individuals out there on that course that day, but were obviously the most effective. So it just goes to show that even in time trials, it is not a case of the most power and the latest/most expensive equipment wins. Knowledge is power!

 

Bringing It To Market

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I have spent the time between working in the wind tunnel and founding this company working on other projects. I have researched and experimented with additive manufacturing, producing various functional components and assemblies. I believe this is another area where practical experience and 'hands on' time is crucial. I learned about additive manufacturing at University, but I can say that you do not learn any of the relevant knowledge on how to produce strong, reliable parts at all. You do not delve into the huge array of settings which each can make a huge impact on either a specific region or even the entire part. Of course there are many hobbyists who will have experimented with additive manufacturing and many engineers who do it professionally, but again, how many of those people combine the intrigue of wanting to know what every setting does, with the strive for perfection and the obsession with achieving exactly the desired outcome of the final product?

 

Many valuable lessons have been learned over these last few years. There have been testing times, but these have certainly driven me to bring you a better offering with Ward Performance. Are you in?