The Season Begins

And so my 2013 season began last Sunday with the 47th Clayton Velo Spring Classic.

A race only 15 miles away from where I live so I know the course well, unfortunately my home advantage didn't quite pay off as I rolled in within the bunch to get 26th.

Never the less it was the first race of the year for most of the field and a regular season opener, I'm feeling confident in my form for the start of the season. 

Thanks for the pictures, by Larry Hickmott

I let my excitement get the better of me by riding a bit too near the front and when the attacks came I missed the important moves which were to never be seen again.

With a few laps to go the group I was with settled down and we waited for the sprint, I positioned myself well leading up to the last corner but lost a few places in the rush for the line, I sprinted a lot better then I thought I would so pretty happy with the way it went. 

All in all a good weekend, the weather held off and the racing was good, althuogh after the race there was a small blizzard! on the ride home.

Team Sportscover took their first win of the year, the teams newly signed junior rider James King won the Trader Cup race in Dundalk, Ireland. Here's James` Blog.

Next weekend the entire team will be out in force at the Eddie Soens Memorial race on the Saturday, I will also be riding the CDNW event at Pimbo on Sunday.

Looking forward to racing up some hills in a few weeks.
Sam

Team Sportscover Launch

Hello everyone, definitely a weekend to remember. Team Sportscover had its official team launch at the Manchester Bike & Triathlon show, just 100 yards from our base at the Midlands Hotel.

Saturday morning started off catching a lift with team mate Joe Moses, we then headed off to meet up with our team where we were told how the two day launch would pan out, but also to pick up some matching team kit courtesy of BioRacer, helmets from Kask, trainers from Adidas and finally some very white podium shoes from DMT for when we collect our winnings on stage!

We quickly got changed into our recreational team clothing and headed to the shows venue of the converted railway station, Manchester Central, where in pairs we each spent 30 minutes handing out leaflets at the CNP stand and introducing their 2013 range which we will be using for the season.

Now onto our first official team launch, we were all individually introduced on stage by our DS Mark Barry who did a couple of interviews with some of the riders, we then headed back to our hotel, a few of us went for a swim before we all met up to go for a meal at a local Italian with some of our sponsors.

On the Sunday we were up for breakfast nice and early to get ready to ride the Red Kite Events sportive, hence the numbers in the video below. A very lumpy 70 miles with just over 2000 metres of climbing, Winnats Pass being the main climb of the day was certainly a test. After the sportive we cleaned up and headed back to Manchester Central for round two, where as the day before we repeated our launch, this time we were all interviewed, and I was asked about my win from the Stannington Road Race.

                     

Thanks for reading, I have almost reached a total of 1200 views on my Blog in just over a month. Also a big thank you to our support staff in the background, also Colin Wooller for the videos and pictures, and the teams sponsors; Sportscover, Haribo, Avanti Bikes, CNP, Bio Racer, Skoda, Kask, Ritchey, CycleOps Power, DMT, Paligap and Oakley.

I'm very grateful to be part of a really impressive and professional set up.

Sam

Team Launch Preview

Tomorrow, Team Sportscover will have its official team launch at the Bike & Triathlon show in Manchester.

The team will be around to chat to the public from 12 o'clock until 3:30, when we will take centre stage for our team launch, with the same again on Sunday.

But before repeating the events of Saturday, we will be riding the attached 77 mile sportive as a team, organised by Red Kite Events.

Here's a short video made by CNP cycling on our team page. Just track riding at the minute in the video but the road season kicks off next week for myself at the Clayton Velo Spring Classic, the team will also be well represented the following weekend at the Eddie Soens Memorial race.

Looking forward to meeting some of the teams sponsors and getting to know the people behind such a great set up.

More to come in a couple of days.

Sam

As seen on TV!

Thanks to everyone who tuned into the Revolution on ITV4 the other night for my ten seconds of fame.
My bid for glory in the points race didnt quite come off but it did get some good coverage!

Back out training on the roads over the week with two 3rd places at Track League on Tuesday night. Feeling better as each day comes, great preperation for the road season which is just two weeks away, my first race of 2013 will be the Clayton Velo Spring Classic, placed 21st last year so hoping for an improvement on that.

In case you didnt catch the Revolution, click here for the ITVplayer catch up, skip to 22 minutes in for the coverage of my race.

Next weekend, on the 16th & 17th, Team Sportscover will be having our official team launch at the Manchester Bike and Triathlon Show. On the sunday we will all be riding the Events 75 mile Sportive. Look out next week for some pictures.

Sam

In at the deep end!

What a weekend! Friday morning I receive a call from my Team manager with a last minute call up to ride the final round of the Revolution series on Saturday night at the Sir Chris Hoy velodrome in Glasgow!
With not much time to even think about it I went for an easy 2 hours spin on Friday then it was kit ready and on the road by noon to meet my team in Glasgow by 4.30pm the next day. 

My track legs have been coming on quite well in recent weeks, Manchesters Premier division league is quite  fierce but this was different, I would be riding against National and World Champions, GB academy riders and of course my fellow Colner, Olympic Gold medalist Steven Burke. 

My team mate Ollie Wood  hit the deck in the 2^nd race of the night, walking wounded and out of the action, but we did do a decent 1K Madison Time Trial together finishing 8^th quickest, not bad since I was about 14 the last time I did a hand sling, staying upright was my priority.

Next up was the points race, although no points were scored on my part, with about 4 laps to go the bunch swung up the banking behind me, leaving me in no man’s land I went for it, with 3 laps to go and the 5 points up for grabs on the final lap, I got caught on the final bend, officially placed 8^th would have been 4^th if I'd have hung on for those 5 points, let’s hope I make the TV. (Thursday ITV4 at 8pm)

Now my personal favourite; the elimination race although better known as the Devil. Another crash ruined my chances, I was just above the pile up when another ride took me up the track, I sat up thinking the race would be neutralised , but it wasn't and my decision cost me! Lesson learnt for next time.

Last race of the night and by far the hardest. It started of pretty tame but gaps soon opened up and a group of 6 broke clear, I was on the wrong side of the split, I did a big turn on the front to close most of the gap down knowing a certain Mr Clancy was on my wheel, I finished my turn for him to engage after burners and close down to the leaders, but that wasn’t enough and Burkie came through to take the win from Andy Tennant, I rolled in for 14^th.

Click here for the race report and results.

A great night in front of my first ever sell-out 4,000 strong crowd, definitely hungry for more! Thank you to my team and the opportunity of a ride, quite a long day but well worth it, finally got to bed at 2:30am!

The highlights will be on ITV4 at 8pm on Thursday 7th February. Repeated 11.50am Thursday 8th February and available for 30-day catch-up in ITV Player.

More photos and video interviews coming soon.

Thanks for reading
Sam