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On yer bike Sam

A Borders College student is gearing up for the ride of his life after being signed to one of the world’s biggest cycling teams. Sam Flockhart, 16, is on the BASE downhill course and after an impressive season’s racing was asked to join the prestigious French team, Lapierre.

The teenager, originally from Cumbernauld, will join downhill biking legend and ten times world champion Nicolas Vouilloz from France, who is also a world-class rally driver. They will be joined by New Zealand’s Sam Blenkinsop, who has a world cup victory and several podium finishes to his name.

The youngest member of Lapierre, Sam is looking forward to meeting the team when he travels to France next month to start product testing and getting to train with his new colleagues. “I might be a bit star-struck the first time I meet Vouilloz - he’s one
of the best riders in the world, but I’m sure I’ll get over the nerves once we start to train together. “I’m so excited to be part of such a well-known and respected team and I can’t wait to start racing.”

It was Sam’s successful season last year that earned him his place with Lapierre - he won the youth category of the Maxxis European cup, and his time would have won him 15th overall in the senior category.

An injured knee midway through the National Points Series forced Sam to take enforced break, but he’s now back to full strength and training harder than ever.

“The BASE course requires me to train a minimum of four times a week and what we do is pretty intensive, but I still like to get out on my cross-country and road bikes at the weekend. At the moment I’m getting ready to race the winter series at Innerleithen.”
The muddy descents of Innerleithen are a far cry from what Sam has to look forward to this summer when the UCI World Cup Series will take him everywhere from New York to Slovenia and Canada. Moving from youth into the junior category, Sam will be competing against the sport’s top riders as he takes on some of the most technically demanding downhill courses in the world, where he will reach speeds of up to 80 kilometres per hour as he makes his way down the track.

Although there will be a lot of pressure on his young shoulders, Sam told the Border Telegraph that he is relishing the prospect of getting the chance to show what he is capable of. “The BASE course has given me a good idea of how to prepare for the season ahead. We’ve been working on everything from sports psychology to nutrition and physiology so I feel like I’m going in ahead of the game. “I’ve also got the advantage of getting to train with the other lads on the course who are at a similar level to me which makes training more fun.”

And although he is hoping to better last year’s achievements, Sam is equally excited at the prospect of getting to see the world. “I’m looking forward to the travel and meeting the other riders, it’s a really amazing opportunity for me and I’m going to make the most of it.”

Article Courtesy of
Kate Smail
Border Telegraph & Peeblesshire News
Forth Weekly Press

25-01-2010

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