Luke Sherwood

Team:         Development Rider
Resides:     Rockhampton Qld
Results:     

2008

2nd NQ games U/19 road race
2nd NQ games U/19 time trial
2nd NQ games U/19 Criterium

Luke Sherwood Diary Entry 2/5/08

I’m Luke Sherwood, I’m relatively new on the cycling scene but hopefully by the end of the season some will know who I am.  This is my first entry so ill fill you in on how I got here. Enjoy.

After a miserable performance at the state track titles I turned my attention to getting some road kms into my legs for the upcoming road season. My first task was to efficiently settle into the local bunches in my new town of residency, MacKay. As I found out this would be much harder than expected. The few weeks I had to achieve my task were plagued with drought breaking rain and a drought of riders dedicated to ride through it. Although through this I persisted in showing up to bunches and being faced with the all too familiar no shows. As the rain was beginning to dampen the spirits, there came a sign of hope. It seemed that someone had been taking notice. I got my invitation to a team training camp, which at first I thought would just be a chance to ride with some real roadies and gain some rep. But as the time drew nearer the plot played out and it turned out that I would have a chance to step up and prove myself.
with memories of a weekend of pain and suffering fresh in my mind I returned to rocky to move one step closer to finishing school and becoming  a team rider. Being a TID rider i thought I knew a thing or two about training. I was wrong, jay and Chris soon set me straight and before long I was beginning to understand what I had gotten myself into.

Next thing I knew the Easter training camp had come round and it was my chance to prove that I was up to riding on a team. But with a bit of misfortune I was out for half of it with a cold. But I walked away from the weekend informed and psyched for the start of the season. Once my health had returned I contained to train hard in rocky. 2 weeks later i returned home and was shown exactly how to train hard by Kyle Evan and Chris. A week of hurt and we were on our way to Townsville for the NQ games.

The first trip away with the team went well. Some highlights of the weekend below:

·         Travelling to Townsville in the IGNIS

·         Returning with possession of the nipple shirt

·         Realising that what you think is good, places you in the groupetto 

·         Missing a wheel in the Crit and spending half an hour trying to catch up

·         3 silver medals for U19

·         Travelling back to MacKay in the IGNIS

With some valuable experience gained I had one more week left to train with the Mackay regiment of the team. Once I got back to rocky I remained focused for the next event that I would get to attend, The Tour de Tablelands. Whist training hard I was on the defensive, avoiding the colds that were being passed around. I still managed to pick one up, and just managed to kick it in time.

And now I’m somewhere between Bowen and Townsville, and still facing another 5-6 hours on the road. Tomorrow the tour kicks off with a 45km road race, so my first aim is to help the team out and survive.