I'm James King, 17 years old from Richmond. I attend QE Sixth Form College in Darlington studying Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry, and Biology. I started cycling 2 years ago after being a county cross country runner. Last year (2011) was my first racing season, which was very exciting! I went from strength to strength throughout the season growing in ability and confidence. I have represented the North East at the Inter Regional Track and Road Championships which were both great experiences. The highlight of the season was the All Ireland National Championships in Roscommon, where I finished 2nd in the National Road Race and 5th in the National Criterium. I really enjoyed my first racing season and my results at the Nationals topped off a successful first year. I'm looking forward to the 2012 season with the Mountivation Junior Development Academy!
I was invited to join the Mountivation Junior Development Academy towards the end of 2011, which is a huge opportunity and I am really looking forward to the 2012 race season. I have been on several training camps/sessions with the team and have just got back off one today, which involved lots of race preparation! Last week was the first over night camp in Arnside where we were on the bikes twice a day (ride/turbo) doing various scenarios, on the first turbo session I managed to crash on the turbo! My bike flew out of the turbo doing an effort which was a bit scary but quite funny to look back on! We also learnt some Spanish, learnt to cook, as well as a bike maintenance workshop. The weekend was a real sufferfest, but really enjoyable thanks to everyone who was there to support us, Phil Leigh, Gary Sadler, Julian Rudd, Ken Jones, Henry Iddon, Mike Jackson. Henry Iddon our team photographer took some great pictures of the Mountivation boot camp and put together a short video which shows exactly what the camp was about, take a look below.
I am really looking forward to racing with my new team mates Jack Sadler, Matt Flynn, Tom Armstrong, Josh Knights, and James Knox, and really appreciate the support from Dr Phil Leigh (Team Director), and Gary Sadler (Team Manager & Coach)
Check out Jack and Matt's blogs. http://jacksadlersblog.blogspot.com/ , http://matt-flynn-cyclist.blogspot.com/
I am also very excited to be riding an Onix bike this season, all the testing and effort that has gone into the bikes to make them perfect is unbelievable (and they look amazing too!), can't wait to ride my new bike-(http://onixbikesonline.com/). Bioracer are providing us with kit, the design and quality couldn't be any better, fantastic stuff, thanks Ken Jones- (http://www.onimpex.co.uk/). Mountivation are the main sponsor (http://www.mountivation.com/) They have also recently sponsored the CiCLE classic which is the only UCI event in Britain. I will be able to tell you about further sponsors in the near future.
Being part of the Mountivation Junior Development Academy will provide an ideal opportunity for me to develop as a rider and contribute to what will be a winning team in 2012!
Being part of the Mountivation Junior Development Academy will provide an ideal opportunity for me to develop as a rider and contribute to what will be a winning team in 2012!
Thanks for reading,
James
