TalkingShop! Winter training for Endura’s James Moss

James Moss, who is racing for Node4 – Giordana in 2012 is back training ready for a new start in 2012

Having been with Endura Racing for a few years now, James moves across with fellow Endura Racing rider Dave Clarke to Node4 – Giordana and started training properly back in November. Nothing massive he says, just making sure it was structured and he was treating it like work again.

“I think I had about two weeks completely off the bike but I moved house down to Tunbridge Wells at this point so it wasn’t much of a rest unfortunately! After this I then had another ‘messy’ two weeks just riding when the sun was shining and there was a decent group going out, or riding the cross bike when I fancied it.

At the minute I have been doing about 18 hours a week with a couple of increasingly tough gym sessions with my new cycling specific personal trainer Paul Butler down here in the deep south. I think we’re making some real progress on something I have always unfortunately neglected.

Asked what a typical midweek training day is, James replies, “Anything between 3.5 and 5 hours but all relatively steady at the minute. After bad winters up in Newcastle over the last couple of years, I have felt that I have lacked a big base, especially as I haven’t been doing this for years on end like some guys out there.

As for the weekend, much of the same or a bit of ‘cross. I’d like to do a few more ‘cross races, so if that happens, I like to ride the cross bike the day before to get my eye in a bit. My girlfriend doesn’t work a Monday to Friday 9-5 job either, so I work my easy days around when she’s off if possible, often Sundays which is a change for me.

As Christmas approaches, the big question for any rider is do they want to go out on Xmas day, or will they be allowed to? James explains “I have done that in the past when I was back in the real world of work, but now I am full time on the bike there’s no panic to do things like that. It’s good to catch up with friends and family that I hardly ever see, but I’d like to do 30 minutes on the rollers as it would make me feel better when eating a tonne of food!”

Now that he is full time and has joined a team with high hopes for 2012, Node 4 – Giordana, James says there are some training camps coming up. “January will be long steady stuff and February a bit shorter with more intensity so race speed doesn’t come as a huge shock to the system. I was away in Lanzarote with Wilko (Ian Wilkinson) and Dave Collins before Christmas last year as the weather was so bad. As I have basically moved to ‘France’ and it’s still relatively tropical down here in the South East, that won’t be necessary this year!

With the road season just around the corner, and the team having only just come together, James says the 2012 race programme is still work in progress. “I have not seen a full race programme yet but there appears to be a lot of early season ‘Classics’ down here which I am looking forward to dabbling in. The Perfs, Jock Wadley and Wally Gimber which should all be decent prep for the Prems.”

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