Perth’s Professional Women’s Cyclist Jess Allen.

Women’s Cycling has exploded around the world in the last decade and right amongst it has been Perth’s own Jess Allen! Jess first met some of the Star Physio team 15 years ago as an upcoming teenager. Star Physio [provided support to Junior Cyclists , including injury prevention, flexibility and strength lectures at junior training sessions and camps.. Jess was part of an amazing age group of WA talent including 2022 Giro D’Italia winner Jai Hindley and former pro Robert Power. Star Physio staff are proud to have supported many cyclists from their junior days to being some of the best in the world!

2011 Junior World Championships. Time trial Winner

Jess’s breakout victory was in 2011 when she was crowned the World Junior Time Trial Champion, a win that set her career in women’s cycling into fast forward. This win was followed by Australian and Oceania criterium and road cycling titles and professional contracts to forge a career in women’s cycling of 10 years to date. These days Jess lives in Girona, Spain for most of the year but looks forward to her annual trip to Perth to catch up with friends and family. This also serves as her pre-season training block to prepare her body for another arduous year on the bike.

Pre Season for a professional cyclist.

An important part of Jess’s pre-season work is catching up with the team at Star Physio. Despite access to health professionals around the world, Jess rates the Star Physio team as “the best in the business”. Pre season with Star includes a review of niggles and injuries sustained in the previous year, a review of bikefit, saddle selection and position. It also incorporates a block of strength training supervised by Star Physio expert Steve Jeffries.

Strength and Conditioning for Cyclists.

Many cyclists and coaches still don’t understand the powerful evidence on performance and injury prevention by adding strength training to any athlete’s program… and no, big gear work on the bike is NOT strength work! Read here to learn more about why you should be doing strength work! Steve Jeffries and Star Physio offer 1:1 and small group strength training as well as custom take away programs to help you reach your goals. As our staff are physiotherapists, you can receive private health rebates for your program. In addition, your niggles and previous injuries will also be taken into consideration in your program. Book an appointment with Steve here!

Jess lifting weights supervised by Steve Jeffries.

Bikefit for the best in the world!

One of the challenges about being a professional in women’s cycling is that of sponsorship, or moreso change of sponsors and equipment. This year Jess’s team Bike-Exchange Jayco are riding Giant Liv Bikes with Giant’s range of saddles. Tough gig you might say, having to change from one top end bike to another each year! Every bike manufacturer has slightly different geometry, and for someone that sits on a bike for 35000 km per year, a new saddle can bring saddle pain and sometimes even nasty sores. Many female cyclists, from amateur to professional suffer in silence rather than get their saddle in the right position or for some, change and get the right saddle.

Fortunately for Jess, she uses Star Physio’s bikefit team with the amazing Gebiomized saddle pressure and stability analysis. This allows us to find the right saddle and the right position without the guesswork for every cyclist! Check out this article on saddle pain and this one on saddle selection if you want to know more!

Did you know that 80% of saddle pain is due to the wrong saddle position, and only 20% is actually the wrong saddle? Book your bikefit will saddle pressure and stability analysis here! As we say again and again, it is what you can’t see that matters the most in a bikefit and without saddle analysis, we are just guessing!

Jess Allen Star Physio Bikefit

Where next for Jess Allen?

Jess has a solid block of training coming up over December in Perth with twice weekly strength sessions at Star Physio. Currently we are trialling Giant’s saddle range to find the one that works best for Jess with some more fine tuning of her bikefit.

In January Jess heads East for the Australian Women’s Cycling Championships, the Cadel’s Race before heading back to Europe for another year in the pro ranks!

Keep your eyes out for Jess on the roads and bike paths and make sure you say hi!

Women’s Cycling: Jess Allen