Sam The Cyclist

First decent push along Military road and I must say it goes better than I thought and what a day! #isleofwight #westwight #freshwater #stunning #view #cliffs #militaryroad #newcar #vw #golf #gti #gti35 #spring #perfect (at Freshwater Bay)

Finally moved into our new place.

The year started of with me and the team Wightlink/LCM Systems Cycle Race Team traveling out to Tenerife in March. To start the season off in some extremely nice weather on a week long training camp. The week consisted of a lot of cycling up mountains, sunshine, nice food and a lot of laying around recovering. I found out that I can climb mountains rather well and had a bit of form which I was surprised about. It set me up nicely for my return home to start the interval training and to get racing. Once I had a few races under my belt, my sights were now on the Pearl Izumi Tour Series. We were the special guest for the team time trial in the morning and the support race in the afternoon. The day went very well, we did come last but we were up against the pros. Then it was onto the support race. We had a race plan and nailed the start of it. We got 3 of us into the front group of about 12 riders. With me being 1 of the 3 so now we just needed to cover the moves and hang on. The finish came and I managed to hang on to 6th place which I was pleased with. I then went back to my training plan working on my weaknesses and trying to get as much racing in as possible as I was now working towards the Natwest Island Games in Jersey. The training was paying off as I took the first win of the season for the team at Winchester park and ride crit. So things were going in the right direction. The Natwest Island Games had finally arrived everything was in place all the training had been done. The first event was a time trial on the Sunday. It was a awesome course but it's not my event and I did struggle against the clock. Next was the road race which suited me. There was around 80 riders on the start line, It was a 60 miles race which consisted of 8 laps of a hilly circuit. I managed to hang on for 5 laps and on the main climb the elastic finally snapped I lost contention of the main peloton of around 25 riders which were left. I picked up another rider from the Shetland island and we rode the rest of the race as a 2 up TT. In the end I came 24th I think, which I was very happy with. As there was a few pros in there tearing it up. It was then onto crit where that night I had picked up a bug and was pretty ill so had a disaster of a race, so I won't talk about that. That week in Jersey was by far the best week of my life and will never be forgotten. The lads, the whole IOW cycling team and the atmosphere was just epic. Once back home I had a bit of a rest as I had no more real targets. So I done a few races and then my last race of the season I went to Winchester park and ride crit. Where I went and pulled out another win which ended my racing season perfectly. With thanks to the team Wightlink/LCM Systems race team and the sponsors and everyone that's supported me through the season because with out doubt it's been the best cycling season ever!

Better quality video of chasing @chinnerno1 #cycling #tenerife #trainingcamp #downhill #road #teide #nocars #gopro #mountains (at Santiago Del Teide, Canarias, Spain)

Top of the biggest climb in Europe. #tenerife #teide #nationalpark #cycling #road #mountains #trainingcamp #top #summit #epic #goodstuff (at Teide National Park)

Cheeky little sign sprint!!! #gopro #cycling #isleofwight #iow #bicycleisland #video #sprinting #lanes #signsprint #wightlinkferries #lcmsystems #teamiow

Me going through the feed in the road race. #roadrace #islandgames #Jersey2015 #teamIOW #isleofwight #shetland #cycling #brutal #experiencejersey

Warming up for the road race. #cyclingteam #teamIOW #Jersey2015 #islandgames #experiencejersey #roadrace #cycling #isleofwight

Another cheeky little win today at Winchester. #cycling #crit #win #winchester #winchesterparkandride #racing

The family selfie while out in Tenerife. #tenerife #tenerifenorte #family #holiday #gopro #goprooftheday #familyselfie #livingthelife #sunset #puntillodelsol

Living the life

Just rolling through the start/finish line warming up for the team time trial as the guest team in first round of the pearl Izumi tour series.

If 2016 is anything like 2015 I'm in for another epic year!!