New faces and new gear!

Exciting week as my new Sigma sport / Specialized / Sportful had its official launch.

Couple of hours were spent at the very nice surroundings of the hampton court golf club meeting the new team and being allowed to get hold of our new equipment.

First time for me for anything like that, felt like xmas with all the goodies were were showered with. The team is blessed with some excellent sponsors, which is fantastic as the gear for the whole team is top-notch. Also top-notch is the quality of the riders within the new look team.

The primary aim of the team will be the premier calender races, with Matt Stephens and Rob Sharman leading the charge at these races. Although i'm not a part of the 7 man squad for this year I will hoping to make some appearances at selected premiers, and hopefully showing that i'll be a valuable asset to the team for next year. All being well my first premier ride for the team will be at the Girvan Stage race at the end of March.

My main role for the year however will be as part of an extremely strong "local" team. This team will be led at races in the South East by Gary Dodd, and includes Steve Gowar and Simon Lawn who have been with the team for a number of years, and new signings Steve Golla, Wouter Sybrandy and myself.

With this team we will have real strength in depth and should be able to have a real influence in races. Our racing calender hasn't been fully decided just yet but its looking March will be a busy one with most of the local team having entries sent off for the Wally Gimber, Jock Wadley and Hounslow Road races.

Couple of nice photos of the team can be seen here on cyclingnews.com

Right off to bed now, last Hillingdon tomorrow and have a 4th place in the overall to defend!