The Big Move

So I landed in California on the 10th of December to start my new life, straight away I noticed how different it was to England, the trees, landscape, temperature and the cars, even the people, they are so nice. after about a week I started to ride, with living on the coast (San Clemente) its hard to get a loop in without doing about 120 miles, which some people might like to do, but for my races that isn't really beneficial to me, for my first ride I decided to ride south down the coast, adjacent to the I5 is an almost abandoned highway which is perfect for riding on, wide, smooth and empty, you cant go wrong. after riding I usually indulge myself in a burrito from the finest place in town, Pedro's Tacos. (give me free stuff guys, I mentioned you... just kidding)

The first few weeks went pretty quick and i started to meet some great people that also rode pretty consecutively like myself, one thing ive noticed in California is that everyone ive met works from home, so they can always ride with me mid week which is great. I also have a girlfriend now which is awesome, shes really supportive in my cycling and is interested too! shes called Alex (hey Alex if you're reading this)

11th January: My first race, Ontario CA. It actually rained in the morning really hard which got me thinking, do Cali folk know how to ride in the rain? after spending most of my youthful moments racing in the rain i sure was used to it. the race was at 4:15pm which gave it time to dry a little, but it became pretty greasy, I still wasn't really phased by this. the race was one hour and i was in the professional field, being 18 i still have some growing to do with regards muscle and height so in power crits i tend to start on the back foot. after about 10 laps (1.2 mile laps) i really started to get into a nice rhythm, my team mate Duban Sanchez really helped me on the penultimate lap but we where way outnumbered, i rolled in 14th out of 60 riders. not too bad for my first outing i guess.

Team Camp: every year Team Rokform have a team camp, situated in Santa Maria, the roads and scenery are breathtaking. this camp gave us a chance to collect out new kit and really bond as a team not only on the bike, but off the bike too which i really think is important as we are going to spend the next few months racing and traveling with each other. Over the 3 days of camp we did around 250km of riding with some time and team time trial efforts. our new kit is awesome (as pictured below) the orange really stands out. On the camp we where introduced to our team mentors and sponsor representatives which gave us an insight into what product we will be receiving this season. GU energy, Bonk Breaker, Garmin to name a few.

So that's my time here in a short summary, be sure to check back in about a week or so to see how I did in my next race.
 PEACE OUT. Below are some of my favorite pictures so far hope you like them