Cyclist Sam Cook, a Perago Trust recipient in 2017 provides an update on his training and competition:
In January I did my first race back from my knee injury in the Hawkes Bay at the Hub tour. After only one month of training, it definitely wasn’t an easy race to get back into things with the full NZ endurance track team there!
I had a good weekend covering over 300 km over the 2 days. This was a huge test for me and I was happy to be finishing with the leaders on most of the stages however I just didnt have the fitness to be contesting the placings.
From then on my training has been awesome with consistent 18 hour bike weeks + gym inclcuding club racing every Tuesday and most weekends I have found a race to go to. It has been very tough mentally as I have been struggling to find some good form even though I have been training my butt off! But finally I had a good race over the weekend coming 2nd in the Te Kauwhata cycle
challenge which is a very good sign with my big races coming up.
I have also been hitting some very good power numbers over the last two weeks. I will be travelling to Tasmania on the 21st of March for the Oceania Road Championships where I will race the Road Race and the time trial. This is one of my big goals for the season and I hope to get some podium placings if possible.
After that I will race the CHB junior tour in Hawkes bay, WBOP road race Championahips and then Nationals in Masterton on the 20th – 23rd of April. Here I hope to perform well too as i should be at peak fitness. The following Wednesday is the Cambridge Cycling festival where i will race the elite Criterium.
As you can see I have a massive 2 months coming up. All signs are good and I think I am tracking well to achieve all of my goals and maybe even a National title. I would just like to thank you to everyone involved in the Perago Trust for your support once again. I look foward to updating you again in the next few weeks following on from Oceanias.