Quiz Time! Ollie Peckover (trainSharp Orro Elite Team)

A big winner in 2023 of road races and time trials, Ollie Peckover of the trainSharp Orro Elite Team is set to chase more victories in 2024 but with big changes in his life, those victories may be different to 2023

Quiz Time! Ollie Peckover (trainSharp Orro Elite Team)

Q. With your victories in time trials and road races, what for you do you think was the best performance in 2023?
Ollie: From a personal point of view, comparing myself in the British Cycling National TT champs was a really positive event for me. With 50% of the field being pros, sliding into the top 10 was a really nice for me. On the road, with a strong start to the season, my best ever, just seeing the consistency with three wins and a solid 8th at the Cicle Classic. It’s hard to narrow it down to a single best performance!

One of Ollie’s big wins was the peaks Two Day organised by James Hawkins

Q: You had a brilliant start to the season in 2023. Was that down to specific training in the winter before it?
Ollie: Working with Chris McNamara and Jon Sharples at trainSharp, we wanted to hit the early season races well. After a good winter and solid training camp with the team in Tenerife, that is exactly what we did.

Q: I am told that early season races can be harder because so many riders are hungry for that win after a winter away from racing. Would that be right?
Ollie: Yes and no. A lot of riders are eager to get stuck into the racing early on and build up a huge amount of fitness over winter, but it is hard to replicate the demands of racing, in training sessions, and some riders like to fine tune their ability in those early season races.

Q: As a rider who wins road races as well as time trials, does your training encompass the needs for both those displines?
Ollie: Depending on the time of year, the sessions are changed slightly yes. Around the Time Trial championship races (both BC and CTT), the number of short, sharp sessions reduces slightly, and is replaced with more threshold, slightly longer efforts.

Q. What’s been the hardest challenge for you this winter? IE, with all the wet weather, does that mean a lot of training on the turbo?
Ollie: Late last year and into winter there have been a number of changes. For example towards the end of the year, we sadly had a death in the family, which takes a huge toll emotionally and mentally, in addition to me and my partner moving down south for her work, so settling in and adapting to the move takes a lot of time.

Since then, we unfortunately had another death, so cycling has essentially been non existent for the last few months, but now goals have been put into the calendar, the motivation is there to get back on it.

Q: Which do you prefer training results wise – turbo or training on the road outside?
Ollie: For a really high intensity session, I always try and do them out on the road, simply because it’s more realistic and it feels like time goes faster during those efforts. Longer, lower intensity efforts I do not mind which. I’ve done 5 hour turbo sessions before, stick some films on, and off you go!

Competing against the pros in the British Time Trial Championship

Q: Is your training structured with intervals etc all the time or are there days when you can just ride the bike?
Ollie: During the week, due to working a full time job, it is usually the case that there will be a steady zone 2 session in the morning, followed by intervals in the evening. The weekends however, they are generally a free for all, steady on the flats, a bit harder on the climbs.

Q: Having won the Peaks Two Day in 2023, are you expecting to race the event again?
Ollie: It was an amazing event last year, with a bit of everything which was nice to see. Due to current fitness level, and the travel distance to get to the event (200 miles each way!), it will more than likely be a miss for 2024, but plans may change!

Q: How many hours do you devote to training for your bike racing?
Ollie: For the last couple of years, my work has been super flexible, and allowed me to work part time during summer, in which I can then easily manage 20 hour weeks consistently. For 2024, this is not the case however, which makes the sessions I will be doing, much more key and focussed to developing the fitness for the year, with around 12-16 hours per week.

Ollie racing the CiCLE Classic in 2023

Q. What race was the most fun to do in 2023?
Ollie: That would have to be the CiCLE Classic 2023, the race is designed to be chaoatic and with all the rain, that is exactly what we got. (Plus I had good form for it which was an added bonus)

Q. What race was the toughest in 2023?
Ollie: All of the Prems I’d say… During those months I was plagued with bad luck!

– Lincoln – illness
– Ryedale – punctured through the abbey, got back on at the bottom of the climb at the back of the bunch, then blew chasing
– Lancaster – punctured on the feedzone climb, chased back on and got on at the bottom of the KOM, already in the red, then blew over the top
– Beaumont – punctured, but luckily the race wasn’t ‘on’ at that point and managed to get back on okay
– Went out to Belgium, crashed in the first race, then punctured the day after.

Ollie in the Lincoln Grand Prix

Q: When you have been winning one race after the other, does the pressure on you to continue winning get higher or less because you have those wins under your wheels?
Ollie: Yes and no. The more races you win in a row, the more likely you are that in your next race, you won’t win! The streak was broken at the Timmy James Memorial, a race I would’ve loved to win, being a close friend and past team mate with Tim, but the legs didn’t turn up on the day having missed the break.

Q. Are their specific races in 2024 you are looking forward to most?
Ollie: Main focus will be on the CTT championship races, but with the team also looking to build an exciting calendar with multiple trips abroad, it will be nice to just get stuck into a different style of racing to that in the UK.

Q. Finally, what goals are important to your for 2024?
Ollie: Getting back on the bike with consistency would be a start! With how life has changed for 2024, the main focus will be on the time trial scene from April onwards once my fitness is where I would like it to be. After a successful 2023, I would also like to spend time supporting team mates in road races to get them results, paying back the hard work they gave to me last year.

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