Asda Athletes

As you can see I was in store fundraising by cycling on rollers on my road bike. I cycled 3 x one hour sessions and shoppers were asked to donate and guess my mileage. The winner received a £20 ASDA Gift Voucher for guessing closest to 75 miles. An enormous thank you to ASDA in Leamington and their generous customers who helped me raise £96 which I shall put towards my cycling costs.

Over the last few days I have been kept really busy preparing for my first in store fundraising day.

A day at the store provides me with a massive opportunity to promote my sport and I am keeping my fingers crossed that ASDA will be extra busy on Friday with customers stocking up for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Celebrations!

I had a great planning meeting with Simon Milligan who has taken over from Laura as my stores Community Life Champion. Simon was really happy with my format for the day and is being very supportive. At this point I would like to say a big thank you to my family and friends for their support.

Equipment gathered, display material printed, two bikes cleaned and shinning like new and I am ready to go!

Watch out for my next blog when I will reveal what I got up to at ASDA.

I recently competed in the 2nd Round of the 2012 Schwalbe British Four Cross (4X) Series which took place at PORC, Kent.

The torrential rain during the week provided me with the extra challenge of coping with a very wet and slippery track.

Practice was limited on Saturday due to adverse weather conditions but come race day the rain cleared to blue sky.

I had a hard day racing with a fall and similar gear issues which dogged me in Round 1 in Leamington. I won two of my motos and did make the B Final where I had a reasonable race to take 7th on the day.

Round 3 takes place on Sunday 1st July 2012 at Redhill Extreme, Gloucestershire.

(Photo credit to Salvatore Rigione)

I held my initial meeting with Laura Murphy, Community Life Champion at ASDA Leamington.

After pleasant introductions I explained to Laura all about 4X and told of my notable success to date. Laura was very interested in my sport as it is a discipline of cycling she hadn’t heard of.

We discussed PR and fundraising ideas which left me excited about the partnership I can form with my local store.

I thanked Laura for the support of ASDA as I am so proud to be an ASDA Athlete.

Last weekend, after an off season training hard, I rode competitively in the 1st Round of the 2012 Schwalbe British Four Cross (4X) Series which took place at my local track Campion Hills, Leamington Spa. There are six rounds in the series.

Saturday was practice day, I spent time with my coach and team RLS4X The Bikeyard/Nukeproof riding at the track, I felt confident hitting the jumps and focused on the line that I would ride; in 4X we refer to this as ‘getting our lines dialled’.

Sunday was race day, it was warm with clear blue skies and a large crowd of spectators gathered around the track. Over 200 riders and 70+ teams were ready to race, amongst them was 2010 4X World Champion Tomas Slavik from the Czech Republic. Tomas was riding in preparation for the 2012 4X Professional Tour; fortunately he was too old for my age group!

The motos got underway; motos is the term used in 4X for the heats in each category. The racing was fast and furious on a very dry track. Up against older and more experienced riders in the Junior category I rode 3 motos. 2 pleasing wins and a 3rd took me through to the semis but after getting the snap out of the gate and leading the field into the first corner a stuck gear shift caused me to miss the final cut. Finishing 3rd I qualified for the B final where I finished 2nd gaining valuable points for my team and myself in the individual standings.

It was a successful day for my team, 3 riders made the podium, a 1st and 2nd in Youth (15-16 years) and a 3rd spot in Elite(18+). At the end of Round One my team RLS4X The Bikeyard/Nukeproof is in second place.

Round 2 is to be held on 29th April, PORC, Kent.

Off now to train even harder! Be back soon……

(Photo credit to Salvatore Rigione)