Q & A with Team OnForm’s Sian Botteley

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The VeloUK Q & A quizzes Sian Botteley of Team OnForm about her 2016 season and looking ahead to 2017

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Q & A with Team OnForm’s Sian Botteley

1. What is the best thing about your team?
Sian: We’ve got a really nice bunch of girls in the senior women’s team, as well as a mixed junior team and U23 team. We had a get together a couple of weeks ago and we all gelled quickly! My dad is involved with the management and my little brother is on the junior team as well, so it’s nice that it’ll be a bit of a family affair for me.

2. What was your highlight of 2016 and why?
Sian: I won quite a few races last year so I have quite a few highlights. I guess the best one for me was winning the Dave Peck Team Series race, it was the first bigger race I’d ever won and completely unexpected!

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3. What was your favourite/most fun race of 2016?
Sian: I loved the first ever women’s Cicle Classic in July. It’s as local as a race gets for me and used a lot of the roads I regularly train on, and lots of people I knew came out to watch and cheer!

4. What was your toughest race of 2016 for you and why?
Sian: Curlew Cup without a shadow of a doubt! I had the worst day I think I’ve ever had on a bike and hated every moment of it.

5. What is the best piece of equipment (clothing/bike/gadget) to do with racing you are proud of most?
Sian: I don’t really have anything in particular, but I’m always more upset than I let on if a nice shiny pair of socks get dirty in a rainy race!

6.What is your warm up routine for races- rollers or turbo? Music or no music?
Sian: Generally I prefer the rollers. I don’t tend to bury myself in music or anything, I find trying to get “in the zone” makes me more nervous, so I try to be as relaxed as possible.

7. Whats your favourite discipline on the road and why!
Sian: Crits are always fun, I love the Tour Series and races like Otley. The atmosphere isn’t something you can regularly get in a road race.

8. Will you be staying in the UK to prepare for the next season during the winter or get in a training camp or two abroad to get in some serious miles?
Sian: I’ve hired a big villa in Calpe in Spain with my boyfriend so I’ll be spending January and February out there. We did the same thing last year and you can’t beat it, far better than being constantly freezing and wet riding here!
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9. When will you start training for 2017 and what comes first- long steady miles or a mix of miles and efforts?
Sian: I started training at the beginning of November. I’ll be mostly getting in the miles (and frequenting a few too many cafes mid-ride) until Christmas, then the more intense efforts will be added in the New Year.

10. Do you use a special winter bike with mudguards etc or using a normal race like training bike?
Sian: I have a relatively heavy winter bike with mudguards but I’m yet to bring it out of the garage!

11. What are the goals for 2017?
Sian: I’d like to be getting regular top 10’s in the national series and hopefully Tour Series too.

12. With the darkness now upon us, are the long rides now only on the weekends and how many hours a week would you do in a typical week?
Sian: I usually train about 12-20 hours a week, depending on the week. I’m lucky that I have plenty of time to train in daylight hours with only working part time, so I rarely have to dig out the fluoro gear and flashy lights.

13.Does winter training consist only of riding the bike or running/swimming/gym work(cross training)
Sian: Generally just bike riding, I like to mix it up a bit with a bit of splashing around in the mud in the form of cyclocross!

14. Finally, what have you learnt to best deal with the winter months on the bike?
Sian: Ride with other people, there’s nothing worse than plodding along on your own for hours at a time!

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