Xmas Feature 8: Erick Rowsell

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The second Xmas feature today is a chat with another from the Rowsell family, Erick, from Madison Genesis, winner of the Tour of Reservoir and 8th in the Tour of Yorkshire

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Xmas Feature 8: Erick Rowsell

British Junior Road Race Champion in 2008 after being third in 2007, and winner of the Junior Tour of Wales (2008), Erick Rowsell has ridden at the highest level in races like Milan San Remo.

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Erick Rowsell sets up an overall victory in the Tour of Reservoir by winning stage 1

In 2015, back in a British team (Madison Genesis), he kicked it off with a bang, winning the Tour of the Reservoir, 8th overall in the Tour of Yorkshire (very special indeed) and the KoM jersey in Ride London.

A crash in Belgium in August however saw his challenge for the Tour of Britain dashed. VeloUK fires off some questions to the Madison Genesis rider.

1. With your team all sorted for 2016 (staying with Madison Genesis), what races are you looking forward to most next season?
Erick: I’m looking forward to all the races we will do next year as every race is an opportunity. If I was to pick out a few though it would be Tour of Yorkshire, Velothon Wales, Ride London and Tour of Britain.

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Photo: Prudential RideLondon – Erick Rowsell (Madison Genesis) and Pete Williams  (One Pro Cycling)

2. What were your highlights in 2015?
Erick: I enjoyed this year so much as a whole, everything I did with the team was great fun (apart from the race that I broke my arm). Winning Reservoir was nice as it was the first Premier I had done since 2012 and got the year in Britain off to a good start for us.

The whole team worked so well that weekend, it brought us all together really well for the races to come. Then obviously after that, the Tour of Yorkshire was a big highlight for me as I got to show a bit of what I can do there. Also, Ride London was a highlight for me. It’s been a while since I’ve been back to the roads that I grew up riding on so it was nice to be back and be out in front around there.

3. What race was the most fun in 2015 and why?
Erick: It’s a bit of a strange one but I really enjoyed the Leicester kermesse. Not sure it was my favourite but it definitely stands out as one of them for me. It’s not normally my sort of thing as it was basically a two hour crit but once I got into it, I really enjoyed it.

We had just come back from a two week training camp in the Pyrenees so we weren’t expecting much at all as we had just been doing big long rides in the mountains so none of us were race sharp but we went there and the whole team was just all over it from the start and we got the win with Matt Cronshaw. So that stands out as a good, fun race for me.

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Winning a stage of the former Scottish race, DoonHame

4. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given and who gave it to you?
Erick: It was something Roger (Hammond) said this year. ‘The best training you can do is the training that you believe in and want to do. If you have a coach setting training but you don’t believe in what you are doing, it’s not going to work for you’.

If you go out and do something that you really believe is going to make you better, it may not necessarily be scientifically correct, but you will get more out of it because you believe you are doing the best thing and you will put more effort into doing it.

Also, another bit of advice is “this time of year always take a spare pair of gloves with you training”. Not sure who told me that or if I’ve just come up with it from experience but now I never leave the house without two pairs of gloves if I’m going for a long ride in Britain.

5. Tell us about your winter training bike, what is different about it compared to your race bike?
Erick: Nothing really different at all as it’s the same as the bike that I race on except I will put a mudguard on it for this time of year in Britain and maybe some different tyres. Apart from that, it’s the same bike. The only other change will be the wheels for races.

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2008, wearing the British stripes as Junior RR Champion and winning the Junior Tour of Wales

6. Finally, how will you spend December on the bike?
Erick: I keep things very simple in December. I will stay at home in Britain and won’t go away at all until the new year. For me, in December, it’s just miles and time on the bike. I don’t go to the gym at all as all my training is done on the bike. I will ride the mountain bike a bit during December just to mix things up a bit. I won’t start doing any intervals until the new year as we don’t start racing until end of March so it’s still a long time.

Thanks Erick and good luck in 2016!

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