Uncertainty missed goals and little to measure yourself against play havoc with the racer's mind, but Cam’s found new ways to stay positive and set himself new goals. Here’s his take on training and riding at the moment…
It’s been super tough without having any set goals in the calendar to work towards, but in the hope that things get back to some normality sooner rather than later, I’ve been keeping the legs turning through the past weeks and months, very gradually upping the intensity of my training. Normally at this time of year, I’d be deep into the cyclocross season, regularly spending time making max efforts in the mud to retain some race fitness through the Winter.
That was a big goal for me this year but obviously, that’s not been possible – however one positive that has resulted from the lack of racing this year, is that it has given me a chance to take a more progressive look at my training and focus towards the road season. By spending a lot more time in my lower training zones and building base fitness I can work on a better platform and hit the ground running for the 2021 race season – possibly a welcome fallow year which was needed to fully recover and refocus as appose to back-to-back racing seasons. With the boom in popularity of indoor training that has occurred this year I have really enjoyed spending time on the turbo and Zwift. It’s been a great platform for me to use to help cure some of the boredom that often comes with indoor training, especially when the focus is on some long and not so intense efforts. Once my top end fitness comes a bit more onto the scene I will definitely be giving some eRacing a go. At least that gives me something definite in the diary and it will provide some sort of goal while mixing up the training.
As nice as the turbo is I’ve still made sure to still get outside as well though. I’ve managed some nice rides over the festive period including a spin on the ØNE with Glen across Ashdown and on some secret #sweetsussex trails – it’s great to mix up the type of riding regardless of the season and really helps to clear the head. Another boost to the morale in these troubled times has been the recent announcement of my new team kit – my 2020 race-team becomes Precise Performance One Resourcing RT for 2021 and we’ve got a completely new kit. We’ve been very lucky to find new sponsors and I can’t wait to get riding and racing. It’s a great group of us and we’re aiming for solid results in the domestic racing this year – let’s hope we also get some euro racing and some cross racing in too!
Photos by Glen Whittington 2021.RIDERS – CAMERONPREECE Cameron’s been riding with us since 2014 when Glen first built a tiny 650c Youth road bike for him – since then he’s raced his first season of ‘Cross in 2017/18 in the Juniors, followed it up with a highly successful road season, before a blinder of an 18/19 ‘cross season where he broke into the top 5 and raced the national champs on the ÆIGHT.MANUFACTØRY ØNE. This was enough to secure him a place on a new team, which will help him make the step up to 1st cat and possibly some euro racing.