BikeTreks RT Cycling Weekly Photo Shoot.

First official blog (ignore the other waffle). Yesterday was my first ride with some of my new team-mates for next season and although I already know many of them from racing this year it was great to properly chat to them. Some were doing the national HC champs and others were unable to make it but there were 7 of us riding in total (3 from the U23 squad, 3 from the JNR squad and Nic - manager @Nichbuick. We met at the BikeTreks shop in Ambleside on what can only be described as a typical day in the Lakes; wet. After chatting to a very nice gentleman upstairs in the shop (who's name I sadly didn't catch) about another potential big sponsor for 2013 I headed downstairs to meet the rest of the team and the photographer for the day from Cycling Weekly.
We took a few team shots outside the shop and then headed off towards Thilmere lake where we took our first shots and its safe to say we weren't very good... it took a few attempts to get 'the shot' but oh did we get it, probably. It's quite hard to look pro when you're frozen cold and thoroughly soaked but we were all in good spirits. Simon Deeley @SimonDeeley (who's an absolutely top bloke) was in the car following for the day providing food, drinks and rain capes, oh and Kendal mint cake which was an experience as I've never had it before. One bite and I'd ODed on sugar but its OK because according to Sandy @SandyLockett (definitely team joker) you can get it coated with chocolate, brilliant. We then continued on towards Keswick where I chatted and joked about racing in 2012 with two extremely strong members of the junior squad; Matt @Matt95Flynn and Fabio @FabioClose1996 who both have an extremely lengthy list of wins to their names from this season. We continued onto Whinlatter Forest where we took some more photos climbing as a team. Shortly after I had a chance to chat with James @JwDunlop who'll be on the U23 squad with me next year and who I've raced against at a few E/1/2 crits with at Preston this season. He's another talented rider and got his 1st cat licence this year, we discussed things like racing in Premier Calender races next year and a few of our sponsors including riding Remerx wheels - http://www.sihelcycling.com/ @MilanSihelsky in 2013, all exciting stuff.
We then continued to ride and looped back round towards Keswick where we stopped at a cafe much to the disappointment of the two women working there, we were soaked to the bone. We proceeded to ruin their wooden floor and leather chairs and cover their radiators in our clothing. After a bit of food we took our cold, wet clothes off the radiators and put them back on (it was even worse than it sounds) during which Sandy assured us the pretty blonde waitress had the hots for him, I wasn't so sure, I think she hated us all. We headed back to Thilmere Lake where I chatted with Jake @J_T_Cowen, a nice lad who I rode against in the NW regionals where Matt won. (you can already tell we're shaping up to be a formidable force in 2013, and that's not including the riders who weren't able to make it including one from the Irish national squad and another from the Isle of Man squad!) We all hammered it back to the shop in Ambleside where we had a chat and then I got changed into warm dry clothes for the two hour drive home. All in all an absolutely brilliant day, we all had a great laugh and hopefully got some decent shots for the magazine. I'm taking a two week break off the bike after tomorrow after which I'll get back into shape for the team's first boot camp at the start of December. Just want to take the time again to thank Nic and everyone else involved in selecting me for the team in 2013, I feel extremely privileged to be part of such a strong squad with such a great bunch of lads. TB