Why do you cycle?

I cycle because of my dad. He got me into cycling when I was 12. I went to watch him race at Croft and immediately fell in love with the sport. Seen a few young guys racing at my age, who I'm still very good friends with now, and it looked very very good fun! So that next week my dad and I built up a yellow road bike that was too big, seat post and stem slammed, and it still was like riding a superman position. But I was on the bike and it was the start of an epic ten year adventure ultimately! Can't thank my dad enough because I probably would never have started riding if it wasn't for him.

What do you ride?

The Northern Echo:

I ride a Prorace Rapide with Ultegra 11 and Mavic SSR wheels. The Prorace is from the team, and I really love the bike, fast, comfortable and a really easy bike to get used to - a bike I have a lot of confidence in. The Mavic wheels were my dads - still are - but after breaking my original race wheels last year, dad donated them to me - again, fantastic all round great wheels, perfect for Belgium. My TT bike is a 2015 edition Scott Plasma 3 with Di2 and Reynolds wheelset. Best bike I've ever ridden. I've ridden my best ever TTs on that bike, it's my secret gem.

Tell me about your favourite route?

My favourite route - well I have a few but if I would name my favourite, it's the "four dales route". It consists of the north York Moors, riding out to Stokesley, Great Broughton, Clay bank, Newgate Bank along the valley road, into Helmsley, descending Sutton Bank, Thirsk, and those lovely quiet roads back into Teesside. Around 75 miles, and it's an absolutely brilliant route.

The Northern Echo: Sutton Bank from Roulston Scar

Tell me about your best cycling memory?

My best cycling memory is a difficult one because so many times I look back at things over the last ten years.

I always remember my first ever club ride, falling off because I couldn't unclip properly, riding a 42t small ring up Toft Hill to a cafe and having to be pushed up the climb and having a bacon sandwich and a hot chocolate at the top - happy days!

Also completing my first and probably last 12h TT when I was 15 also with my dad. Everybody called me crazy, but I wanted to just ride and complete it. I managed 206 miles which I was happy with and the way back home was also an experience - consisting of sleeping in the car, to sleeping on a park bench, to sleeping at the side of the A19. Some serious fatigue.

My other memory when I look back was winning the national hill climb champs as a last year junior and being able to put on the national striped jersey. I've always wanted to wear the jersey and being able to put it on was something very special. Even more special because I won it by two seconds so it could have gone either way. Still have it hanging up in my garage.

What is your most important piece of equipment?

The Northern Echo:

The most important piece of equipment I'm going to have to say tongue in cheek is socks. Socks are very important for the morale. Sock height also. I've had many races when I'm struggling and simply look down and see my sock height just cresting my calf muscle immediately gives another 50w!

Sock height is everything! Sock choice is also important. You don't want them falling down causing de-morale, just tall, good design, filled with extra morale and extra watts.

A more serious choice of equipment would be a skinsuit. I recently ordered a Bio Racer Speedwear Concept made to be plain fast as hell. And it is! Going from my original skinsuit to this is unbelievable. They say everything is marginal gains, but that made a huge difference for me.

If you could cycle anywhere where would that be?

The Northern Echo:

A difficult one because there's so many places I want to go back to. But I am a very very huge fan of Tenerife. I went there on training camp last year and had the privilege of El Teide - a 40km climb bottom to top, that goes over a volcano, a choice for Tinkoff, Sky and Lotto Jumbo and their early season preparation to name a few. It's a fantastic island. I once did a six-hour training session there. The ride consisted of riding from the hotel ten minutes to the foot of el Teide, up to the top, descending the other side, riding another 30 minutes and turning back. And it was six hours ha ha!