Hello all, this is my first blog and I am going to tell you a bit about myself and my journey so far.
I got into cycling through my Dad, we used go out every Sunday for a few hours and I caught the bug. The thrill of the wind in your face, the feeling of adventure and freedom, and the beauty of pushing yourself. It is as if everything goes quite and calm and you can just enjoy the pedalling motion and push yourself to the limit.
Once I caught the bug I joined my local cycling club (Velo Club Venta), I started out at the go-ride session and these helped me make friends and transition into racing. I was terrible at the start and that is being kind to myself, but I really enjoyed the process of training and the hard work that goes into it. I had no clue about how to train properly though and this lead to me over training a lot. Leading into the 2022 season I had some amazing guidance from people at VC Venta, and support from Abs now running Exo Hub bike shop in Winchester. This helped me win my first races and lead me to racing at the national level and gaining my first few respectable results, 6th at the national championships, 7th GC at the London 2 day national and 2nd on stage 4, team time trial national champion and the win at Guilford town crit.
These results fuelled and motivated me even more, ready for a big winter's training in 2022/23 as I was stepping up into the U16 ranks. I was still coaching myself and with my little knowledge in the area I kept on doing overly big training weeks for the short 1 hour crit races that you have to do in the youth ranks, but I was stronger than ever and really looking forward to getting racing. The first target race of the season was round 1 of the National Series in Pembrey and it didn't start how I would have liked, getting taken down in 2 crashes and ending the weekend in hospital with a concussion, sadly this became a theme in 2022 spending more time on the tarmac than actually on my bike. My next big target was going to be the national youth omnium ( my first track race and my 3rd time on the boards, BIG MISTAKE) I crashed 100 metres into the individual pursuit skinning both my knees and sending me to the hospital for surgery, an abrupt end to my season as I was stuck on crutches for the rest of the summer.
Luckily I had some amazing support from close friends and family getting me back on the bike for the 2023/24 winter. It was my first winter receiving coaching from Jack Rootkin-Gray, he helped me hugely giving me support and structure in my training that really helped me develop. most importantly I had huge guidance and encouragement from my close friends Monte. I had my sights set on a early peak at the Youth Tour of Scotland so I could focus on my exams in the summer, I was really exited to get back racing at the Youth Tour of Scotland and show the hard work I had been putting in, but annoyingly my di2 broke leaving me stuck in my biggest gear, I powered on grinding away each stage and finished in 18th overall which wasn't what I hoped for but I did the best I could in the situation.
I put an emphasis on my GCSE's over the rest of the 2025 season so my training wasn't optimal but I managed to compete in the Isle of Man youth tour and Loughborough, both coming away with under whelming results, so I packed my bike up after my exams and did a solo 2000 mile bike packing trip around France to watch the Tour de France and Paris Olympics.
I am really looking forward to the 2025 season with team Culture Velo out in France and support of my amazing friends, family and Pedal Potential.
published on the 15th of January 2025.