Getting to grips

Not done a blog post in a while, almost 4 months.
I've been pretty occupied back at home with lots of training and preparation for upcoming races, I'ts also nice being back around close friends and family, I'm so used to living predominantly on my own in a foreign country which dont get me wrong is amazing, but being back for this season is nice too.
Training is going well, still with my coach Tom which is great, his knowledge of the domestic scene is insane so thus far hes really helped me feel like I have a grasp on UK racing. Numbers are up and I'm going well, just waiting for the call up for the bigger races now really, show what I can do and that I have a good kick on me.

My team Vitus Pro Cycling managed to get into the prestigious Tour De Yorkshire which was great news for us as a new name and outfit, I was confident we would due to the great team of riders and staff.
For me this season (as a last year U23) is all about getting stuck in and being spontaneous in the races, I have a good kick but you can never just rely on the race coming down to a sprint, take the race to them! 
Training in Yorkshire is probably some of the best around, yes the weather is incredibly unpredictable, but the rolling terrain is great for efforts, long or short, you have it all really. Another good thing about being back at home is I know so many routes, weather you ride over to Derbyshire or west towards Manchester you'll always have a challenging route and great views to match, the TdY is certainly going to be brutal!
I'm hoping to race at Klondike GP in two weeks time, I think the rolling course will suit my style of riding and I'd love to get stuck in on a national level, and I really want to rep our amazing team kit made by Velotec (check it out below) 
We really have some great sponsors on board this season, the Vitus Vitesse Evo bikes are outstanding, super stiff and great geometry, the team mechanics have done an excellent job building them up and fine tuning them, also sticking on the schwable tires which ride great. Vitus is a name that's been around for a long time in the cycling world, they became big after Sean Kelly won multiple races on board one while racing for KAS, its an honor to ride for such a prestigious bike name and I hope to get some great results for the team this season, another great tool I really rate is Kitbrix, designed off a military idea it keeps all your kit super organised and compact which is incredibly useful, the crew from Kitbrix came to our team camp in Spain and gave a great presentation about the brand and what they do and their goals as a key sponsor in professional cycling.
Last thing to mention is I'll be doing the Etape Du Dales on the 20th of May, a 170km sportive around the wonderful Yorkshire Dales, all proceeds go to the Dave Rayner fund which helped me a great deal and is one of the main reasons I am where I am today, and even the reason for setting up this blog which I really enjoy using so go check out the website,
Thanks for reading all,
Bring on the next race!

Off Season Antics 

Usually in the months of November and December the motivation is low and the calorie intake is high, for me on the other hand this was different.
While winding down at the end of the season I decided to target some track races back in England, after doing a few track leagues I really needed some motivation and sunshine so I decided to get myself to warmer climates in sunny Spain!
Spain (especially Costa Blanca) is renounced for its 365 days of sunshine and endless rolling terrain, It really is cycling heaven.
Numerous professionals choose this hot spot to do their base miles this time of year, while the sound of professionals doing it might be daunting dont let that put you off trying it out for yourself, It can be done incredibly cheap and you'll have an equally amazing experience just like the pro teams.

I flew to Alicante and did a 16 day block which was plenty of time to get the legs to where they needed to be, I actually stayed in Jalon (Xalo) with a cycling touring business called Siempre Ciclismo, ran by Gavin and his wife Kathryn, their knowledge of the local area and cycling routes was overwhelming, just like their hospitality, the pair housed me for the entire trip and we became good friends.
After memorizing some routes Gavin showed me I would regularly take myself off for hours on end getting those well needed base miles in, sometimes only seeing two or so cars, you really cant beat this area for training.
I was able to get a round trip flight with Ryan Air for £45!

The climbs in the area are perfect for pacing yourself or even doing some power/fitness testing on, there are a handful of climbs that are over 15 or so minutes some even 25+, I was only about 5km away from the bottom of the Col De Rates which is one of the most popular climbs in Europe, numerous professional teams use this climb for power testing and TT efforts as the grade is consistent and the road is extremely quiet.
My best time was 16:05 for the 6.5km long climb which is reasonably fast for this time of year and gave me a good gauge of fitness.

If anyone is interested in trying this out please feel free to drop me an email at gleddy123@gmail.com
I'd be happy to give out some information from my experience.


More exciting news coming up so stay tuned.
Peace out.

End Of Season News & Updates.

I have just recently done my last race of the year and I am ready for some well earned rest, It's always a stressful month September as many riders are trying to secure teams for next season and for myself I made it quite a challenge, After flying back from America I pretty much went strait to Belgium with one goal and that was to find a team for 2018, this was a massive challenge as I didn't really have that many results in Belgium as a U23, I had some success as a junior but those results were useless, I'd won and podiumed a lot this season in America but that was in April and May so my form currently was decreasing fast while the style of racing was way more aggressive, my fitness was good but my kick was depleted from a long season after starting my first race in January, I found the best way for me was to get into breaks as we would pull through at a consistent speed unlike the jumpy peloton behind, this tactic lead me to a credible top 10 in Lokeren Kermesse with an average speed of 46kph (28.5mph for my American friends) which was ridiculous as the race was 120km.
I was fairly pleased with this end of season fitness and started inquiring with teams about 2018, It was difficult but after a lot of networking I was able to secure a team for 2018 and I'm happy with my choice, in 2018 I'll be riding for Renohomes United Cycling Team, we will be doing a mixture of Interclubs and stage races predominantly in Belgium with the choice of several UCI 2.2 stage races too, Interclubs are the highest level of amateur races in Belgium and doing well in one can really get you noticed.. fast.

I'm currently living in Tielt Winge, its located in the Vlaams Brabant region about 20 minutes east of Leuven, fantastic training on quiet country lanes, The house belongs to Tim Harris and Joscelin Ryan and has housed hundreds of cyclists including some absolute legends that have been on the same path as me, such as Mark Cavendish and Chris Froome to name a few!
Big thanks to them for opening this fantastic home to me and also helping me get settled, their knowledge for the sport is incredible

None of this would of been possible without the Dave Rayner Fund, I'm extremely grateful and really look forward to the annual dinner on November 4th! you can purchase tickets on the website http://www.daveraynerfund.co.uk/dinner/
Also massive thanks to my coach and good friend Tom Murray for helping me this season,  I look forward to working with him this winter.

Next for me is a big off season to get ready for 2018, I'll be doing a few weeks in Spain in November and then my team launch is December 9th in Gent so two things to forward to.

2018 Kit.

Mid Season Report.


Can't believe its already August! I guess time goes pretty quick travel over several continents riding your bike, especially when you're having so much fun doing it.
This season has been great in terms of results and overall progression, starting with a great coach and friend Tom Murray I'm feeling the best I've ever felt, and winning two races and gaining 4 podiums throughout the race season in the USA, I'm currently in Belgium writing this from an Airbnb in lovely Hasselt, out here doing some kermesse racing for a few weeks, things are going well and I'm enjoying being back in Europe and seeing friends and family.
I've decided to come back to Europe for the foreseeable future, mainly to get back on the scene and compete in bigger races, America was amazing dont get me wrong but I always had this voice on my shoulders telling me that I was totally isolated and that big European teams just didn't really care about my results or progress over there, America is so big that it almost becomes a bubble for racing and teams, not many continental teams travel outside the continent to race and take in European riders and I slowly started to notice that, which in short is why I have returned back to Europe to pursue bigger teams over here, anyhow I'm happy with this decision and all is going well.

After returning to England from San Jose I decided to enter a few national rounds and even the national circuit champs just to see where I was at against the continental lads back home, first up was national champs in Sheffield which yes was a little optimistic for my first race back, but what the heck I've done hundreds of crits in America, this is where I was wrong, the style of crits in England are completely different to America, not necessarily the speed but the aggression and cornering, its so hard to move around the group on the narrow roads of old town squares at 30mph, and to top that the continental teams just dont want to know about you and will do anything to make you have a negative race by pushing, shoving and shouting words I haven't heard since high school, I think that's one of the reasons I wanted to go race abroad for a bit before returning home, It can get out of hand but I guess that's racing these days, not much respect, this is why I love Belgium, the riders all seem to be aggressive but in a safe way where there aren't half as many crashes as UK racing.
Later that week I raced Beverly which was a little better for myself, more of a leg speed kind of race and after getting to the front a few times I rolled in 20th or so, a similar pattern followed in Colne the week after and Barnsley too.


My aim is to still turn continental in the next year or two, I'm only progressing and I hope to show I'm worthy soon, training and racing are going well and It's only a matter of time.

Id like to thank Team KTM for taking me under their wings for the remainder of 2017 and of course the Dave Rayner fund for their continued support, all the above and more could not be possible without them, go give them a follow on twitter to see what we all get up to!
@daveraynerfund

Colne GP.

The Month Of April

This month has been great with regards to success, I managed to take a big win at the Sequoia Cycling Classic on the 2nd and managed a respectable 9th last Sunday at the Sea Otter Circuit Race with an incredibly stacked field. My form is really coming along nicely for some of the big upcoming races we have planned as a team, this next week is a really busy and important one, I have the Cat's Hill Classic Saturday which our main sponsor Mikes Bikes hosts and then we drive down to Dana Point (Southern California) for the big Dana Point Grand Prix which is part of the USA national series, after that race I'll stay in SoCal for the Redlands Bicycle Classic which is a huge 5 day stage race with multiple UCI teams competing, I hope to be going well for that one and maybe look for a good result on stage 4 (sprint stage)

Sea Otter was a great insight for me with regards fitness and comparing my power to continental level riders, so the race was on the famous Laguna Seca which has a fairly hard hill on it, its about 500 meters or so with an average gradient of 14% or so, my normalized power for 75 minutes was 363 watts which is fairly high and I only managed 9th, the winner Edwin Avila (2016 Colombian national champion) is an incredibly strong rider, he just won 2 stages of the Tour Of Taiwan, his power wasn't much higher than mine but he rode a different race to myself, he seemed to have more top end speed than me on the climb which really helped string out the field, so I'll definitely be working on my top end for the next few races just so I have that edge when it really matters, other than that my threshold is great and I feel super fit.. I'm also really happy which is the main thing.

Training has been going great, some of the local routes and scenery are spectacular, I've been lucky enough to train with locals (one of which is close friend and team mate Andrew Shimizu) which allows me to see some amazing routes that would be hard to come up with on my own. The great thing about being relatively close to Sacramento is the amount of group rides one can endure throughout the week, I tend to do them on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, they make for a fierce interval session, they also get you super quick.. super fast. I definitely think my fitness is improving a lot and I'm excited for my next set of races here in the states, I still have a lot of big ones coming up over here but I'm also excited to go back to Belgium this summer and test my fitness there. My aim is to still get onto a continental squad and I'm happy with my progression this season with 2 wins under my belt and several podiums.

All of the above wouldn't of been possible of course without the Dave Rayner Fund, go check their website out!  http://www.daveraynerfund.co.uk/

2017 Update

Hi folks, I thought I would update you all on what my 2017 will look like and the sort of races I'm hoping to do and also what targets and goals I have this season,

I'll be supported by the Dave Rayner fund for my second consecutive season which is brilliant, so big thank you to everyone involved.

Although getting onto a professional cycling team is the long term goal for me, this also involves smaller goals such as a certain race result or possibly a new personal best power average, all these things help you to reach that next level, one of the main things I'm focusing on this year is getting my name out there, doing bigger races and being aggressive and really giving it all I've got.
So this season I'm doing very similar race to last season, some national caliber races but I'm also going to be targeting races across the country like the prestigious Tulsa Tough and possibly Northstar Grand Prix, these races religiously get over 120 guys from across the country and sometimes globe competing making it fantastic competition and a real challenge, one of the stages at Tulsa Tough is called 'Cry Baby Hill' just to give you an idea of the level of pain, I'll also be going back down to Dana Point GP to give that one another go, I managed 18th at this national level race last year with no team around me so I'm hoping this year with a solid team we can all do well.

Training is going well at the moment, I'm definitely going better than last season and can already see improvements in overall fitness and power, for you people wondering what my stats are at the minute here they are;
Weight: 70kg (154lbs)
20 Minute power (375w)
Max Power (1685w)

My strength really is in the punchy finishes, my max power has always been fairly high from doing so much track and also high cadence stuff helps me to get on top of my sprint much quicker, I'd like to be super fit going into summer as ill be heading back to Europe in July to race in Belgium/ Holland and hopefully try and get some results.
The team are awesome this year, I'm really happy to be surrounded by such knowledge but at the same time such youth and enthusiasm for racing, I'ts really refreshing to see a bunch of guys/ team mates that strive to help each other as much as my team does and that's one of the main reasons we have so much success between us all I feel.
Check out these great images from out team camp in Marin County.

What A Season!

This season has been incredible, don't get me wrong its had its ups and down like most cycling seasons but id say that the ups definitely outweigh the downs, by a big margin. Firstly before I go on I'd like to thank the 'Dave Rayner Fund' for their endless support this season (buy tickets to the dinner on the website), without it I wouldn't of had this amazing opportunity to race abroad.
So I had my last race a few weeks ago, the Oakland Grand Prix (also district champs) and I went with one goal on my mind, to end the season on a high, whether that was to attack solo and ride aggressive or get on the podium, I really just wanted to end with a bang. The race was in downtown Oakland and was an hour long, I had one other team mate (Greg) and Mikes Bikes (one of the biggest teams in the USA) didn't have their designated sprinter so I knew it was going to be fast and aggressive, and I was right.. about 15 minutes in of intense pace the peloton split into two groups, I was in the back split but I kept my calm as I knew it wasn't going to last, while I kept my calm a lot of other riders around me did not and frantically chased the split down, this inevitably helped Marc Pro (top elite team) to get everything back together with about 10 laps to go and set up their sprinter for the gallop. I started to move up just as we caught the split, my reasoning behind this was because I figured while there is a lull in the pace when the catch is made someone may attack and solo away while everyone that contributed to the chase is tired. Again, I was right, several Mikes Bikes riders jumped and went for the solo, as we caught that rider another Mikes Bikes rider cannon balled off the front.... this tactic almost worked but it was also caught by a strong Marc Pro squad with about 2 laps to go, my time to move up even more, I managed to squeeze into about 5th position with 1.5 laps to go, at this point we were doing 30 plus mph! as we approached the last few corners one last rider tried to break free from the galloping peloton... but he was caught with about 50 meters to go (sorry Rob) I came around the last corner in 4th and got 3rd. and first U23 in the district champs! Happy Days.
This race also counted towards the premier series and was also the penultimate one. this result jumped me up to 2nd in the series out of some seriously good riders including at least 8 UCI continental level racers and also 1st U23. and finally I was also joint 3rd in the BAR competition this season (best all rounder)

Thank you to all my sponsors this seaon for your endless support: Scotts Valley Cycle Sport, Specialized, Muscle Milk, DNA Cycling, Red Ace Organics, Mountz Tools, Zepp, James Coffee and many more.

Also check out Cycling Weekly in the next few weeks, I'll be featured again about my successful season along with a couple more Rayner Funded riders.

This off season I will be doing plenty of miles but also doing some cross to keep fit and just to do something with a change of scenery, check out my cross bike below from my incredible sponsors. 2017 S-Works Crux.


The top step! The top 3 under 23's from the race.

That's myself lunging on the right of the photo for 3rd.

The 2017 S-Works Crux.