Feature Interview: Alex Paton a new signing at Madison Genesis

A new signing for Madison Genesis in 2017 is Alex Paton who moves to the team from Pedal Heaven

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Feature Interview: Alex Paton a new signing at Madison Genesis

After having been speaking to the Madison Genesis team in the second half of 2016, Alex Paton signed for Madison Genesis after three years with Pedal Heaven Racing Team.

“It is a nice feeling to be honest to know they wanted to sign me” Alex said when we spoke recently. “ It is satisfying to know the hard work being put in is being recognised by other people and that you the person and rider will add value to their team”.

Alex added that “Having that boosts your confidence and gives that extra motivation to train hard and racer harder. Having spent three years with Pedal Heaven, there’s a lot to look forward to with new faces and new ways of working and fresh ways of tackling challenges. The time felt right for a change and will hopefully benefit me and the team”.

I remember talking to Alex a few years ago when he started to get some impressive results and was staying put with Craig Peters and his Pedal Heaven racing team. “I have always had good things to say about Pedal Heaven and Craig who was always good at helping people as much as he could.”
“Equally Tim (Elverson) has been a key part of my cycling career over the last few years and I get on well with them both and we worked well together and are still friends”.

Above: Chepstow 2016 and a 1-2 for Pedal Heaven

Asked what his 2016 highlight was, Alex hesitated and then replied “Tricky question because I don’t think I had a particular stand out performance in terms of results. 2016 was a solid year for me with consistently good results but throughout the season I never won one bike race at any level which is not great but there were plenty of stand out performances for different reasons.”

When asked about what race was fun however, that was easy for Alex. “Chepstow was the one I had the greatest amount of fun; the Elite Circuit Series race, where Harry (Tanfield) and I were first and second. The pair of us spent the whole race away off the front working together, and having a bit of a laugh the whole race. It was just one of those nights that we seemed to go well for us and we had fun”.

On what his pre race routine is, Alex explains, “!Always rollers. I hate riding the turbo and would go out of my way to avoid it! I generally have no music although sometimes will put the head phones on but generally the case is I’ll take in what is happening around me”.

Alex winning in cyclo-cross national trophy a few seasons ago

When we spoke, Alex said he’d started training already for 2017. “I have just come back from Spain after my first structured week. I have had a few little holidays and time off the bike and down time. I was in Spain for ten days, the first few days with the girlfriend who was with me before she went back to work and I spent a week doing a proper block of riding”.

With the winter a long one for the British riders as racing doesn’t start for quite a while, is it hard to keep up the enthusiasm! “Yes, there are times when you need to remind yourself the race season doesn’t start for a while and when it does, you have five or six months of racing so its finding the balance between starting the season in good shape and then still being able to progress rather than starting in great form which gets worse across the season. A tricky balance.”

Asked what his goals are, Alex says “As any rider will have, they are to try and win bike races. Everyone is trying to do that of course so it’s not the easiest thing to achieve but I’d like to win a major event. I seem to spend my time rolling with top 10s here and there and time attacking bike races, so it would nice to claim the top step”.

Alex on his favourite events says “People generally say my performances in circuit races stand out which are a firm favourite of mine but probably the event I enjoy the most is the Rutland CiCLE Classic. It is by far my favourite race and suits my riding style fairly well and one I’d like to focus on and get a good result”.

Finally, it wasn’t that long ago that Alex was out front of British ‘cross races. What’s his plans with cyclo-cross? “This winter is the first one I have gone into with no plans to ride cyclo-cross which is different for me. Some years, I’ve done a full season and others, just bits and pieces so I will probably slide a few events in but I have no plans to do the national champs yet. It would be too easy to get carried away and want to get some good results in cyclo-cross and before you know it you’re training hard again with the road season still four months away”.

Good luck to Alex in the Madison Genesis colours in 2017

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