Xmas Feature – Matt Clinton

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One of the country’s top time trialists, Matt Clinton, takes the VeloUK Xmas Feature Q & A

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Xmas Feature – Matt Clinton

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1. What were your highlights in 2015?
Matt: A difficult one really as it seemed to be a bit of a below par season, with shingles early on, yet I managed to be reasonably consistent later on, enough to take the Ron Kitching Champion of Champions.

The 50 was a real test as I’ve never done that distance before, I didn’t know how well I’d do especially as I was still trying to find form. The 25 was a disappointment as I could have done so much better and taking the wrong turn wasn’t in the plan! Getting 2nd in the 10 was great too, I’d really focused on that. It’s just a shame I didn’t finish the season off with the hill climb too – I’d been under the weather since winning the Circuit Champs.

2. What races/championships are you looking forward to most next season and why?
Matt: I’d like to prove myself even more in the standard distance TT Championships. Yhere’s a real buzz about them in the TT world. I’m also planning on supporting my team-mate Jack O’Neill in road races so he can gain his 1st cat licence. I’m a 3rd cat now, so that could be fun!

3. What is the key thing to being able to work full time and also compete at the highest level in time trials?
Matt: I think the main thing is to train when you can and rest when you need to. Most of my training, I’d guess 80%, is done commuting. Doing big miles isn’t the key, but quality is. Perhaps I have years of miles in my legs already, but I typically do 8-9hrs a week. No junk, even my commutes are usually 250-330w.

4. When training, do you prefer to use a normal road bike or one with tri bars and do you mix it up with off roading as well in the winter?
Matt: As most of my training is on my commuting bike, I’ve got standard bars, mudguards and panniers. I don’t do a great deal of training on the TT bike at all, it’s typically just club events mid week and the opens at the weekend. It’s something that I should work on, but it’s just a lot easier to jump on a bike that’s ready to go! Usually in the winter, I’ll be on the MTB a couple of times a week, though this is when it’s cold and dry, I’ve not yet ventured out this winter as it’s far too wet!

5. How will you spend December on the bike (post wedding of course!), long miles only or a mixture of intervals and miles and bike only or gym/cross training too?
Matt: December will be mainly spent building miles on the back of commuting, with some intervals on the turbo when the weather’s not so nice. I’ve only done about 3.5hrs a week since October, so there’s a fair amount to catch up on! I’ll start to build a bit of core work in too, not too much, 15 mins each morning just to keep things all aligned properly.

6. Xmas one; if you could have any cycling related Xmas present – what would it be!
Matt: I’m very fortunate having great sponsors, so this list would be quite short. I have so say a disc-brake equipped carbon winter bike would definitely be up there. With mudguards and pannier rack of course!

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