A Bit about me
My name is Tom Couzens and I'm a 16 year old cyclist. I have been riding my bike since I was 11 years old when I rode for the local club, Bicester millennium cycling club before moving to the Zappi youth team as a second year under 14 where I have moved up the ranks to where I am now riding for the Zappi Junior Racing team.
My first proper year of racing was as a second year under 16, in this season I competed in my first ever stage races inlcuding the North West Youth Tour where I finsihed 19th and the Youth Tour of Scotland where I represented the Central region and finsihed 11th. I also competed in a number of the national series rounds and the British National Championships where I finished 11th.
After making the step up to the Zappi Junior team this year I have raced with the team in a number of big races, inlcuding many UCI day and stage races aborad as well as a number of national races in the UK. The classic season didn't go to plan, with a lot of bad luck and a lack of experience it meant I came away from the start of the season with no real results to talk about. However with a few weeks of training at home I went to the Junior Tour of Mendips, a UK National series round, with a lot of confidence and a good feeling in the legs. In the the prolougue I finished 14th, then in the afternoons stage I finished at the front of the main bunch, going into the final queen stage I got in the break and got 10th on the stage, 9th in GC and 3rd in the young riders competition. The rest of the season has just being about gaining experience and confidence, picking up some results on the way including 15th at Johan Museeuw UCI 1.1, 11th on the hillclimb of Bizkaiko Itzulia where we also won the team classification.
After a long road season I took a three week 'rest' period after my final race of the season which was the Philippe Gilbert classic UCI 1.1 where I spent most of the race in the break, in this period of 'rest' I did a little bit of swimming to mix up the training slightly and keep things exciting as well as visiting the gym once or twice for a little bit of core work.
After a little time off to physically and mentally recover from the road season I have entered the cyclocoss for the first time propery. The start of the season has gone quite well for me so far with two wins out of two starts, one of these at the first round of the Wessex League and the other at a round of the Central Cyclocross league held at Campbell park on a similar course to that of the 2012 World Cup held there. This weekend I am racing the first round of the National series in Derby which I can't wait for.
I hope you have enjoyed having a little read of my first real write up, be sure to check back for more insights into my training and racing throughout the season.
Tom
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