Five Two Racing is a new team for 2011 set up by John Lee covering 4X, DH and BMX, with the aim of giving new talent a channel to progress and develop.
The Underdog Project will chart the team as it races around the UK this season, showing the team training together and other stuff thrown in. We’ll let the team update us on progress so far:
So the last training weekend for 2010 has just been and gone. Luckily the snow held off and we only had a small amount of ice to deal with. With everyone in attendance and our newest rider Jess on board for a chilly weekend we headed off into the dark, cold Wales with a simple plan – XC rides and 4X sessions with a life cycles premiere thrown on top for extra fun.
The XC ride is a great way to get a look at the teams overall fitness and where each other lie in regards to other riders. I try and use these rides as a way of gauging improvements in fitness and skill every time we meet.
In the seven weeks since our last ride in the Lake District it was great to see that the adjustments we had made to each others training had really paid off, especially seen in Kieran, who was shredding up the hills on this trip and almost died in Wales. After towing our rider into the car park we headed home for a night of pub cuisine followed by a healthy stint of X-Factor, not many ways of ending a day better in my opinion.
The sun rose on day three but ice was still everywhere and we eventually all appeared out of our bed pitts for breakfast. Today was going to be epic as we were heading to Afan 4X track at the superb facilities of Bryn Bettws in Afan. The 4X team decided a day here would be the best plan especially as it’s the venue for the 2011 National Championships, and the DH boys Elliot and Lee flew off with parents for an epic day XC ride!
The team were shredding hard and I am really fortunate to have a team who really work hard together and spend time on and off the bike working on their futures.
Jess was really attacking the track confidently and what better way to be inspired than riding with Suzy. Suzy was showing lines and Jess was giving them a damn good go. Kieran’s fitness and strength adjustments in training have really helped his riding – stable on the bike and handling the rock garden like a beast!
Dom, well lets just say that whatever I do, Dom just does smoother, faster, higher and altogether more stylish! Dom was on fire and was a great laugh to ride and session with – we spent the majority of the day sessioning the step-up into the rock garden with some interesting hang-ups and near death spills – always a good crack to ride with Dom.
After hours of sessioning and a few spills (none of the girls, just the lads) from John, Kieran and Dom all in the rock garden we decided some warm grubb was in order and we headed off for a rendezvous with the newly converted XC riders to defrost at Bryn Bettw’s mini pub/bar/restaurant.
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