We all have the WILL to WIN- but who had the WILL to PREPARE to WIN?

Apologies. It has been ages since my last blog. It certainly feels like it! I have been so busy with work, racing, my Birthday and Mountivation meetings and camps. I would like to take this opportunity to tell you all about the team’s first camp and some more exciting news.

Birthday meal with my Family.

A few weeks ago was the start of something new. The very first Mountivation Cycling Development Academy Boot Camp. The night before the camp was my first track meeting of the winter at Manchester Regional Track League. It wasn’t the best of nights for me as it was taking my body and brain time to adjust to track racing again. For my team mate though, Matt Flynn, It was a different story! He took 2 wins, a 2nd and a 3rd, enough to get him moved up to Group 5! Cracking ride Matt!

 Day 1 of the Academy Camp, we were to meet at Arneside Youth Hostel at 9am to unpack our kit and have our bikes ready for the mornings ride. At 9:15am we had our first briefing off Academy Director and Academy Manager, Dr Phil Leigh and Gary Sadler. A brief outline and very strict rules were enforced for the weekend as we had to be professional about everything we did. Also Phil and Gary took time to introduce two key members of the Academy staff. Julian Rudd, Team helper, head chef and Spanish teacher. Also Ken Jones, our fantastic clothing sponsor, Bioracer. Unfortunately our 5th rider Josh Knights was unavailable to attend this camp due to other commitments.

The first briefing of the weekend, listen up!

Wheels rolled at 9:30am as we headed out from Arneside to Lyth Valley for a tough session in the head and crosswinds, carrying out race scenarios, team time trial training, lead outs and standing starts. We returned after a tough 3 hours, to the Youth Hostel. There was no rest for us though, because in half an hour we had to have lunch on the table for us and all the staff. This, like many other things on the camp was to teach us how to look after ourselves and give us some independence. A quick shower and a bottle of recovery drink we were down stairs in the kitchen preparing lunch. With the theme tune of ready steady cook running though our heads we had to plan a meal from certain ingredients which Dr Phil had bought for us. We decided to make chicken and pasta salad. Full of protein and carbohydrates to help us recover for the afternoons session and also the following day. At 13:45pm riders and staff sat down and had lunch. I have to say, the best chicken pasta salad I have had! After washing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen, we were back in the meeting room for a kit bag exercise, run by Big G (Gary). A very good session which taught us not to take too much or too less! We also had a talk given by Bioracer man, Ken Jones. Who had the new 2012 Bioracer kit bag with him, and showed us the Dr Who tardis like features to it! At 15:00pm we had our second bike session of the day, this was a 40 minute turbo session. With 5x 20 second sprints followed by 40 seconds 80% for the rest of the minute. This was a very hard session; we were all feeling the fatigue after this! Abit of a chopper move by James though... Falling off the turbo!! Still no rest as we had to get showered and be back in the kitchen again to prepare dinner for everyone. Luckily, we had made enough lunch for dinner too! After dinner we had some free time to relax, James King and I took this time to wash everyone’s kit for Day 2, while others took this time to speak to their girlfriends!! At 19:45pm we were back in the meeting room for an inspirational talk from Dr Phil about the 10,000 hour rule and the key attributes of what it takes to get to the top. A very helpful talk from Dr Phil, especially when we were falling asleep before the break after a hard day! After Phil’s talk, we had Race strategy and Day 2 overview talk from Big G, where we talked over the teams first few races the Clayton Velo Handicap and Eddie Soens. We picked out several race plans and strategies, but we are bound to talk about it closer to the events themselves. At 22:00pm it was lights out and heads down for a good night’s sleep!

 Day 2 of the Academy Camp, we were up and making breakfast for half 7, for the riders and more staff! Photographer Henry Iddon and Mechanic Mike Jackson joined us on Day 2.

At 8:45am we had the Day 2 briefing from Big G and Dr Phil, there was a slight twist to this one because we were late for it and had a real telling off from Big G (hope the other lads weren’t too scared after it!). We departed the Youth Hostel at 9:00am for a 4 hour ride out to Capernwray road race circuit. After going through and off there, once we arrived, we did 3 tork hill efforts up the finishing climb. Tork efforts are big geared, seated efforts to develop lower back and leg strength. Some of the best bike riders in the world do these including Cadel Evans and Ivan Basso; Team Sky even did them at the recent camp in Majorca. After this we went through some wheel changing exercises with Mike, where a rider had to put their hand up, go to the correct side of the road and wait for the mechanic to reach them, and then get pulled back up to the bunch by their team mates. This was a very useful exercise as anything can happen in a bike race! After this we did a lap of TTT efforts, going through and off, thinking about the wind until we got to the bottom of the finish climb, where it was a race scenario to the top . I got dropped at the bottom due to a fast turn of speed from Matt. Matt won the race but that isn’t the objective of this exercise. It is to get us to think about what to do in a race. Now is the time to make the mistakes, so at crunch time you get it right! Capernwray though…Horses for courses, this one is not one of my favourites put it that way!

Dr Phil shouting instructions from the car.

On the way back to the Youth Hostel, we did a 200m sprint to emphasise sprinting for the finish of a 70 mile stage of a big stage race. James won this, as I went to early and should have left it late because of the fatigue in the legs. James did the right thing and left it late to come round me, that’s the way James! Once we got back to the Youth Hostel, we had 15 minutes to be back in the kitchen to prepare lunch again. This time we decided to make Pasta Bolognese, another protein and carbohydrate filled meal. After lunch and washing up, we were back in the meeting room for a Spanish lesson with Julian Rudd. With lots of experience under their belts Big G and Dr Phil both were very keen to make us learn languages  so in the future we don’t struggle to know what other riders are saying or what the organisers are saying! With a note pad full of phrases (most of which I can’t say on here!!), it was time for the final bike session of the weekend. It was another turbo session, but this time we did the famous 20/40s session. These intervals mostly prepare you for the races, as races aren’t just 20mph; they go from 15mph to 30mph then back down to 10pmh for the whole race and then finish sometimes at 40mph! The 20/40s help to adapt to the races especially the town centre crits! After a very solid session, we got showered and we were back in the meeting room for a bike maintenance session from team Mechanic Mike Jackson.

Back in the classroom again.

 This was to teach us the key parts to looking after your bike. The sponsors put a lot of money into the kit and bikes and you should take pride in it and look after it. A very useful session from MJ.  After this it was time to get back into the kitchen to make soup, cheese toasties and chicken for dinner. We were only cooking for 6 of us, as Mike, Henry, Julian and K Dog had to leave early to get home. Big G and Dr Phil gave us a camp review over dinner and the good and bad things about the camp. After getting our bags packed to go home it was time to thank Dr Phil and Big G for a fantastic weekend and say good bye.

 All in all a superb weekend! I would like to thank everyone who was involved! Ken Jones (K Dog) from Bioracer, Julian Rudd (Mateo) Team helper and Spanish Teacher, Mike Jackson (MJ) Team Mechanic, Henry Iddon (H) Team Photographer, Phil Leigh (Dr Phil) Team Director and Gary Sadler (Big G) Team Manager. A great support staff! And also thanks to my fantastic Team mates! James King, Matt Flynn ( Vansumeran) and Tom Armstrong (Donkey),  also Josh Knights, who couldn’t make it. I think this is the right time now to welcome James Knox to the Mountivation Cycling Development Academy! Our 6^th member, we now have a full squad! We had another team meeting a week after the camp and James was there, he fitted in really well and we are all happy to have him on board!

New member James Knox.

Now for the recent news. At the end of the 2011 season, Cycling Ireland released the news that they were going to have a Junior Squad in 2012. This Squad would have various camps during the season and ride the biggest junior races in the World, the European and World Road and Track Championships. I applied for this in early October and had a reply saying that because I didn’t have my Irish Passport yet I couldn’t get picked until I did so. A few weeks ago I received an email from Frank O’Leary telling me some fantastic news. I am Delighted to say that I am on the Irish National Junior Squad! I am really looking forward to this as I have a lot of good friends who are on the Squad including the Irish Junior National Road Race Champion, Ryan Mullen. Also this is such a fantastic opportunity for me as I am now one step closer to achieving my 2012 goal to get selected for the  2012 Junior World Road Race Championships but mainly to achieve my lifetime ambition of becoming a professional bike rider. The first Squad camp is taking place on the 25^th February, where we will have a ride and a presentation. I am flying out there for the camp on the 24th and then flying back after the camp on the 25^th and then getting the train from Manchester to Lancaster to Phil Leigh’s house to stop over, to race the next day at the Clayton Velo Handicap. The first race of the season! A very busy weekend, but a very exciting one!

The future is green.

I would like to tell you all about the sponsors for my new team for 2012, Mountivation Cycling Development Academy. As I said in the Boot camp paragraph, our fantastic clothing sponsor is Bioracer and Ken Jones from Onimpex. Ken has lined up a fantastic clothing deal for us to look the smartest in the peloton for 2012, including on the bike kit and off the bike kit. New materials from Bioracer including the smart new race proven jersey and shorts, which are a lot tighter, mean that they are more comfortable and aerodynamic. I am delighted to be wearing Bioracer clothing this year, we are going to look and feel really smart! Ken has not only provided us with a clothing sponsor but has provided us with many other sponsors.

Onimpex Jersey I have been showcasing at MRTL.

We will be show casing Carrera Helmets and Glasses this year. These were worn last year by the Geox-TMC Team, riders including Carlos Sastre and Denis Menchov. A brilliant look!

Carrera helmet for this year.

Carrera glasses for this year.

Our Shoe sponsor for this season is the famous Vittoria. We will be wearing the top of the range shoes with a choice of 3 colours. Very cool shoes, famously showcased by Dan Martin. We will also be wearing the Vittoria socks, to get that V even more noticed! Can’t wait!

Vittoria range 2012.

Also another sponsor Ken has brought in is Schwalbe Ultremo Tyres. A very famous company which sponsor most of the top professional teams in the World including RadioShack Nissan Trek. These will allow us to grip that road like glue and float to victory!

Schwalbe UltremoTyres

Finally I am delighted to say that our bike sponsor for this year is Onix Bikes. Having seen Craig from Onix at the first team meeting in December, I automatically knew Onix bikes new Black Rob Hayles range was going to be fantastic, but when the press release came out this past week, I was even more proud to be part of the Onix family! Craig showed us the design of our green and orange team bike, I honestly can’t wait to get on it and get racing!

Our weapon of choice for this year. Will look great in team colours!

Well that is it for this Blog; I hope you have enjoyed the news! The Camp was fantastic and can’t wait for the next one! Here are some dates of my up and coming events!

Manchester Regional Track League - 10^th February

Manchester Regional Track League – 17^th February

Mountivation Cycling Development Academy Camp – 18th and 19^th February

National Irish Junior Squad Camp – 25^th February

Clayton Velo Handicap – 26^th February

Eddie Soens – 4^th March

Well there we are, I had a fantastic time at the Camp and cant wait for the next one! I am delighted with my Team and supports staff! 2012 Should be a great season.

I will be writing my next blog after the Irish Junior Squad Camp and my first race of the season! Keep a look out!

Thank you.