After spending a few years of good times with my friends riding mountain bikes, building jumps and just generally messing about, I decided to buy my first road bike in 2006. My decision was helped by my dad who raced as a junior and has been into cycling all his life. The following year I rode a fair bit, but just for fun and without racing. I completed the 2007 Etape de Tour, however by the end of the year I was looking for a new challenges...
In 2008 I took part in a few local road races and time trials, and also rode the Etape again. At one of these time trials, some Italian guy took a liking to my old Pinarello, it turned out to be the local ex-pro, Flavio Zappi. I got chatting with him, and he told me to go with him to race a few times later in the season.
Some Kermesse in Belgium, 2009.
For the following year myself, Flavio, and another local rider, Dexter Gardias, joined forces and with the help of a few small sponsors raced nearly every week of the season. Although we didn't achieve any important results, we had a lot of fun, learnt a lot and also travelled to race in Belgium and Morocco. At the end of the year I also got to spend a couple of weeks with one of the top amateur teams in Italy, UC Bergamasca. I learnt a lot here about the lifestyle needed to be a good cyclist, 3 riders from the team that year turned professional.
Training in Italy, Cesare Benedetti on the left, me on the right. 2009.
For my second full season, 2010, I raced for the newly formed Team Zappi's. We had help from a few sponsors, and a good bunch of guys, we definitely had a good time during the year and also achieved some results. For me the highlights were winning the National Uni Road Race, 5th in the National TT U23, and a few other top 10s.
Motorpacing with Will Fox, left, and Dex Gardias, right, and me in the middle. 2010.
Team Zappi's was unable to continue for the 2011 season, so I had to look for other options. Thankfully, with the help of Flavio Zappi, I was able to gain a place in small but friendly amateur team based near Varese in Italy, SC Fagnano Nuova.
