My sponsors feature: Quest Sportswear

“A budding sportswear company offering the highest quality Cycle and Triathlon kit at highly competitive prices” is how I’d describe Quest Sportswear in once sentence.

 With John Brame at the head of operations in London, the word of the brand has quickly spread with some of the biggest names in the Sports and Corporate World using  the offerings from Quest Sportswear. The staff at Quest Sports Wear UK have a great deal of experience as professional athletes, in sports retail, product buying and in art and design. All of these attributes have been combined to guarantee that their clients get the best in quality of service and product.

My partnership with the guys at Quest has blossomed over the past year and a half. October 2011 was the first time I put on their kit, as they were the supplier of choice to my cycling team Ciclos Uno. I was immediately impressed with the fit and performance of the kit, and I was interested as it was a brand I had never come across before. After a successful 2011-2012 cyclocross season in which I used amazing kit such as thermal skinsuits, I decided to start directly contacting Quest to let them know what I thought of their kit, and to say thanks.

After keeping in contact over the summer, they sent me a bit of their kit to use during the Cyclocross season including the impressive Autumn Jacket. I continued to stay in contact, and in February 2013 met with John Brame in Majorca whilst I was on a training camp. It was then that we discussed and confirmed official sponsorship and exciting plans for the future. 

Quest Sportswear now supply me directly with Custom team kit and pieces from their retail ranges to use and give my valued feedback on.

Find out more about Quest Sportswear on their Website www.questsportswear.co.uk or via Email at questsportswear@gmail.com

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Belgian Road Racing/Majorcan Training/And Swiss plans. A very multinational blog.

So since my last post; my life has got progressively quieter at just about the same rate that my college workload has got heavier. Probably just coincidence...

Well, now all that is left for me to do in terms of college is sign out for my first year. That's a relief, the amount of work we were thrown in the last few weeks was really having an effect on my ability to train properly, and I know that the general consensus is that education take priority over a sport... But I am 16 after all?

Cycling-wise the last few months has been up and down. But I'll write mostly about the ups, naturally. I returned to Majorca for another weeks training with my Teams sponsors Pollensa Cycling Amigos, which was a massive step up from my last visit there as I knew what to expect and how to set out my week (with help of my coach- Mark Walker!). I enjoyed it, and I loved the climbs out there, most notably the Puig Major. Those climbs suit me to the ground, I can get into a rhythm and keep the pedals turning, but the chances of finding a 14km climb in Britain quite like that are pretty slim. I can only hope I'm wearing my Quest Sportswear Pro Mesh jersey when they find that climb. 

I spent the week with Ciclos Uno star mechanic Ewan Hendon, and the man himself- Dan Kogan. Dan has raced for top British teams and spent time in France mixing it up with the big boys, so he wasn't a bad training partner for the week by any means. Although the weather was probably worse than that in Britain, we still had a good laugh, and as per usual: i really bloody miss Majorca. Uno Cafe con leche and a Normatec recovery system supplied by Neon Velo por favor. 

I travelled to Belgian recently too for my first Junior road race abroad. Well my first proper Junior road race at all really! The race was an 85km closed circuit race around a 7km circuit in and out of a seafront town called Bredene. Bredene is a pretty sentimental place for me, the finish of the road race was on the same stretch of road as the finish of the Versluys cyclocross where I finished 2nd in 2012 (http://seandunlearacing.blogspot.co.uk/2012_01_01_archive.html). I didn't really know what to expect to be honest, apart from agonising pain and crashes. They were both consistent throughout the 2 hour race. 

We started off in a neutralised zone. The first crash was literally about 300 meters in, and it was a rider who was probably the Belgian version of a chopper. He was being bit of Jack the Lad looking back at a camera and he ended up face first on a motorway, but I'm sure he's glad to know the camera was still looking and got a great shot. He looks fantastic in the photo, see for yourself:

So anyway, the pace kept going up then down, then up again and down again, so I just kept a constant speed and found myself inbetween the peloton, and a two man breakaway. Yes, my first ever junior road race, in Belgium, and I made a solo breakaway. Some may say I am a 'nutter'. Surprisingly I bridged the gap to the leaders on my own and we were joined by two more shortly after. I spent about 30km in the lead group, and  got a preme. I dropped back to the bunch though as I was aware there was still 40km left, and there was a slim chance of me finishing if I'd tried to keep with them. I ended up rolling over in 27th, after a hard and rewarding day in the saddle. I got back home that night and got straight into my Normatec Recovery Pants supplied to me by Neon Velo in hope of being able to train, or even walk the next day. I trained the next day, hard, thanks to the Normtecs. For those interested in Strava, here's the race data: http://app.strava.com/activities/57740979

So now I have one thing on my mind which is of course the cyclocross season, and my Coach Mark Walker has got me his best torture training plan! I'm hoping to make up for disappointment in the form of illness and injury that I had last season, and do some good rides come this winter. I'm lucky to have the support of some great sponsors keeping me going on my quest for success and to be the best and beat the rest (Utilising GCSE poetry skills in hope that Mrs Crickmore may stumble upon this). Quest Sportswear, my team and personal kit sponsor should have something interesting regarding myself coming soon so be sure to keep an eye on them (see links to the right!) and Neon Velo should also have something cool coming to an internet near you... 

On the subject of sponsors, I'm also very pleased to announce my latest sponsorship from Forgoodness Shakes and Nectar Fuel who will be helping me recover and fuel myself during racing and training! I've been using these products for a long while so to have their support is great, and I look forward to working with them for the foreseeable future! 

So now I must leave you all, in a rather literal sense seeing as I'm off to Zurich, Switzerland in 6 days to train and see my best euro bro Johan Jacobs!

Mention for my good mate Alex Dowsett who won the National Time Trial Championships on Thursday despite being battered and bruised. Nicely done Alejandro.

Thanks for reading, and please do be sure to follow me on Twitter and share this blog. Each follow and share helps a young cyclocross rider, and it's free (that's the best part).

Tot ziens. 

Follow @seanmdunlea

March summary/First Race-First Podium

Since returning to England from a mildly warmer Majorca, I've done my first 3 races of the road season, first podium of the road season and my first 2 crashes of the road season.

March was a heavy month for me compared to what I'm used to, but it lead nicely to my first race of the season at Hog Hill on the 2nd of March. I've never really done a full road season before, and have relatively little knowledge of how to race in senior races and finishing at the front so everything i did on this day was pure experimentation. As the race started and progressed i showed my true cyclocross rider panache and spent the vast majority of the race on the front chasing everybody who went away, and if there was nobody away I'd just try and string it out for some reason. In hindsight i can't think of a valid reason why I'd do these things, it's just natural to me...

Photo: Nick White @RubbishJumper

It was really cold, but then which day of 2013 hasn't been? The race wasn't long at all, it was only 36km, so in terms of length it suited me. I felt fresh towards the end of the race so I just tried my best to stay relaxed and wait for the sprint. On one of the final corners though, the rider in front of me clipped a pedal on the floor and nearly lost it which dropped me back a few places. Leading up to the start of the Hoggenberg ascent to the finish, i was sitting in third wheel, ready to jump. I waited for other riders to start their sprint before I risked it, which paid off as i was able to maintain that third and grab my first ever Senior Road Race podium. I think i surprised myself more than anyone else as it's the first time I've done a road race at Hog Hill without being dropped, if this was twitter I'd hashtag 'winning'.

Photo: Nick White @RubbishJumper

After my confidence boost at Hog Hill, i had a tough week at college leading up to my second race trying to get assignments finished and handed in which I did mostly successfully. The said race was the opening round of the Elveden circuit races on the 9th of March. I love this circuit, its held on closed farm road and has a really cool feel to it. The weather on the day was significantly less than dismal. I've done over 5 full cyclocross seasons in my life and NEVER have I been so cold after a race as I was at Elveden. The race was tough for me, I felt able to ride consistently but couldn't get away. I did a few full out digs on the front but never got anywhere. There were a lot of people riding dangerously, and crashes were coming more often than not so given the weather conditions I decided to take a back seat in the sprint finish and just try and finish without crashing.

Photo: Nigel Goodenough (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77900181@N06/)

If only it were that simple. As the bunch was heading down the finish straight at over 55kph, I noticed something odd about a rider a few meters in front of me; his rear wheel was up in the air. I knew then that i was going to crash so I tried to utilise the skills i've garnered through cross to make it as least painful as possible. Soon enough the crash was road-wide and I went into a rider already down, and flipped over the handlebars. Thankfully, and remarkably I was able to get up and roll across the finish line with nothing worse than a sore knee. I did see a few riders on the floor waiting for the on site ambulance to arrive, and I wish them a very speedy recovery.

Photo: Nigel Goodenough (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77900181@N06/)

After Elveden I picked up a patience testing cold and took a week and a half off the bike to try and get race fit again for my third race of the season, which was two days ago on the 29th of March. Leading up to this race I had been training 3 days in a row in a last ditch attempt to get back up to speed and even took my MTB out for a spin in the snow. Did it work? I don't really know. I crashed before the start of the race and picked up my first road rash of the season, and had a twinge in my left knee as a result which made me cautious during the race.

I sat in really comfortably, and surprised myself once again on the infamous Hoggenberg climb each lap, but come the finish i just didn't have anything left. Over the summit of the climb leading into the bell lap I put a small dig in to try and get a small group away. It folded, and I was compensating for that for the remainder of the last lap. I ended up rolling over the line in the bunch.

This has been the coldest spree of races I've done, but thankfully I've got the kind people at Quest Sportswear keeping me kitted out and warm. Watch this space for some exciting stuff regarding my sponsorship from Quest over the next couple of months.

As for my programme now, I've got a really exciting month or two coming up. I'm hopefully racing the Prologue Paris-Roubaix in Compiegne nocturne criterium on the 6th of April (this coming Saturday), and will be jetting off again to Majorca for a weeks training with Pollensa Cycling Amigos on the 20th. I'll be doing my first race in Belgium of the road season in Bredene on the 2nd of June.

Thanks for reading, and thanks to my generous sponsors for keeping me in one piece!

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