Talking Shop: Under 23 TT Champion Doug Dewey

Exclusive interview with a young rider making an impression at the top of his sport in Britian

At the British Time Trial Championships in September, GWR’s Doug Dewy finished almost a minute up in the Under 23 championship on a class act making a comeback, George Atkins (former Junior RR Champion).  If that didn’t make any waves, when he came to the Manchester Velodrome with a few weeks training and qualified fourth fastest just behind riders such as Olympic Bronze medallist Steven Burke, Sam Harrison and Jon Dibben, it was clear he is a talent on a bike.

The  rider from Somerset  has been racing for five years or so and was introduced to the sport by his brother who races Duathlon at a high level in the world. Now that he has finished his Masters degree in engineering, Doug says he’s fully focused on cycling to see if he can get a contact for the pro peloton in the coming years.

One of the key elements to Doug’s success has been his work with Jon Sharples at Train Sharp cycle coaching. “I went to him and said I’m in danger of over training because I am that sort of person” says Doug.  “I’m not very good at planning or organising myself so he has come in and given me a plan of what training to do every day and helped me to target things.”

“I was going quite well when I was out in Belgium and the strongest I had ever been and I think the key with Jon was he had me resting when I didn’t want to rest.”

A very wet ride in the Time Trial Championships in September.

Doug explained that his training is based very much around a power meter  and doing efforts at a  certain power level and heart rate. “Pretty much every ride, Jon has me ride at set power or between two power levels. Afterwards, I’ll send him the file and he’ll come back and ask from more detail about what was happening at certain power levels, was I riding up a hill etc. It is pretty useful to talk it though.”

At the beginning of the year, Doug’s goals were to win a race in Belgium which he did and to win the Time Trial Champs (Under 23) and he did that so it has been a pretty awesome year for him. The plan for next year is for Doug to head for Belgium and see what he can do out there.

This year, he and some GWR teammates guested for a Belgian team and next season, they intend to ride full time for them.  “Racing in Belgium suits me as I’m not a great climber and it’s aggressive racing which I like. I can race any day of the week as well which appeals to me.”

Doug realises that before he can step up to realise his ambitions, he may well get a kicking but having raced in Belgium, France and Holland, he is going into the season with his eyes wide open.

Doug’s dip into the world of track racing was more about seeing where he is in the world of under 23’s in Britain and the result was a pleasant surprise. “I had good form after the Time Trial Championships so I did some specific efforts and it was good test against some really good guys like the 100% ME lads.”

In Pursuit mode on the track…

“I’m really pleased with the way Jon helped me focus on it and get the form for it. I didn’t do a great deal of training for it because there were only a few weeks between it and the TT nationals and so there was a lot of resting mixed in with some high cadence stuff. It felt weird but it worked. Jon knows what he is doing and I trusted him and it worked out great.”

Doug says his ride did get the attention of the GB coach Chris Newton (GB Under 23 Academy coach),  a former World Points Race Champion who has had a word with Doug. What will come of it Doug isn’t sure, but he is hoping to get some training with the Under 23 team during the winter.

From there, it will be to Belgium where Doug admits the success of the British pros nowadays has made a difference for riders like him and he hopes he can take full advantage and realise his ambition of riding at the highest level.

 

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