Feature – Q&A Joshua Lawless

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Today’s Question and Answer is with Elite Joshua Lawless (PMR@ToachimHouse) who’s a consistent winner in the South East including the Tour de Fowlmead

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Feature – Q&A Joshua Lawless

1. When will you start your road season and what will be the first race?
Joshua: I will be starting my road season at the Perfs Pedal RR with a few other members of my team.

2. What races will be your targets for 2016 and why?
Joshua: Race targets are always a difficult one due to the calendar never being set in stone. What I would like is for the team to get well into double figures in ‘good’ wins ie National B road races and crits or above and for me to contribute a lot to that. If I do any of the Prems, then I would look to get a top 20 too.

3. How will you spend the time on the bike between now and your first race in training? Long miles or cutting back to do top end efforts?
Joshua: A mixture of both really in the sense that I will be cutting down my commute to work now having recently moved, but I will be increasing the pace and distance I am doing at the weekends whilst increasing the intensity during the week having got a lot of steady miles in my legs already.

4. What was your favourite Xmas present?
Joshua: White Converses (shoes) are hard to beat.

5. When it rains, which its doing a lot right now, is it turbo time or wrap up and get wet?
Joshua: I’ve still been wrapping up and heading out, but sometimes if it is stupid weather then you have to turbo it. My favourite tip to stay dry, wear a Gabba, time your training to the latest forecast and look at all the forecasts for the areas you will be heading to and if you have to switch days or training around then do so. IE, today it’s pouring and I’m supposed to do 5 hours, tomorrow is dry and I’m supposed to do short intervals, just swap. However don’t do this too much as no doubt the coach has set the sessions in a certain way to get the most out of yourself.

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6. If you could do any race in the world including the best ones in the world etc, what would it be and why?
Joshua: Torn between a few. Strade Bianche for where it is and having been on holiday to Siena and having ridden on the stretches of the Strade Bianche, I can confirm how stunning the whole place is. The next would be GP Plouay having ridden a couple of times in the amateur version. The fact it’s down the road from where I lived and raced in France too so I used to train there all the time. Tour of Britain has to be up there for simply riding your home stage race.

7. What piece of food can you not do without where ever you are on the road during the season!
Joshua: Is this for during the races or in the car? For the former it’s just bog standard cereal bars and Soreen for any other time other race time.

8. What is your favourite music track when warming up for a race or on the turbo?
Joshua: Oh that’s a toughie. Depends what mood I’m in really and also the type of set I’m doing on the turbo, but any heavy dance tracks or metal works because of the beat.

9. If given the option, would you prefer normal brakes or disc brakes on your road bike?
Joshua: Normal brakes. There have only been a couple of times where I haven’t been able to brake as well as hoped due to callipers rather than disc brakes. However no crashes have occurred when these incidents have happened only a bit of downstairs trouble. In all the times I have crashed under braking, it is because the tyres have lost traction, not because of the brakes themselves. I think I’m just repeating what Dowsett said.

10. What’s the spec of your race bike for 2016 and your favourite bits on it? (include a pic or two if you have them!)
Joshua: I will be racing on the Specialized Tarmac Expert 2016 as supplied very kindly by our team sponsors Banjo Cycles. It comes with all the good quality standard Specialized offerings with full Shimano Ultegra 11 speed mechanical groupset, pretty sweet. As for the part I’m most looking forward to, it is simply getting on the bike and riding it as I have only ever ridden a Specialized once, a Venge, and so I’m intrigued to know how this compares to that and the other bikes I have had the pleasure of racing on over the years.

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