Back to Bike Racing

Coming back to road racing had been on my mind since June 2015. To be honest I really missed the sport, its simplicity compared with triathlon, and the option to race nearly every week thoughout the season, with triathlon I would be looking at one race a month between May and October. I missed the road racing scene and the race itself, nothing compares to racing in a bunch. For me the inevitable time trial that I was doing to complete a triathlon, mainly due to my weakness in the swim, saw me race for nearly 4hrs on my own against my numbers until I'd start catching people in the last 30mins on the run. I learnt quickly that I couldn't win the big races like this, as a bike bunch forms with the fastest swimmers and they are then nearly impossible to catch by the end of the race. Triathlon was also becoming too expensive for me to manage, I tried to secure a few financial sponsors but these fell though, I just couldn't keep up the full time commitment that was needed to be competitive at the top of the sport. I really enjoyed those two years and feel like its given me a lot of physical and mental strength that I will be able to use as I pursue a career in cycling.

I wanted to come back and base myself in Devon where I knew the roads for training and all of the cyclists in the area. I got in touch with Jonathan Tiernan-Locke who had started a new team 'Saint Piran' which was based in the South west and supported by the bike shop: Bike Chain Ricci. The team will give me the opportunity to ride all of the Elite road races in the UK and also race for a result myself which is something I feel I never got to do in my first few years of U23 racing. Being able to be part of this team and joining half way though the season means a lot to me and I really appreciate their help with everything.

The rest of this season for me is all about getting back into the swing of road racing again, doing some high intensity training on the bike which I haven't done for a long time, and also trying to shrink my shoulders which have increased in size due to smashing it up and down a swimming pool for two and a half years. I feel confidant that I can come back stronger than I was before and put myself in a good position to race professionally on the road in the near future.

Outside of racing and training I've been working in Colin Lewis Cycles and have been building up my coaching business. I've been coaching for a number of years now. My coaching is focused on cycling and triathlon as I've learnt a huge amount from racing and training in both sports at an elite and professional level.

I also want to take the opportunity to thank everyone who supported me during my triathlon racing and who are supporting me now for my bike racing. Also to all the great friends I made and people I met though the sport.