Name: Emily Wadsworth
Date of Birth – 8th August 1999
Nationality – British
2020 Team – NXTG Racing
Former Teams – Brother UK – Tifosi, 100% ME
Career Achievements –
7th La Picto-Charentaise (2019), Tour Series Rd 7 (2019), National Championships (2018)
8th Women’s CiCLE Classic (2019)
9th Stage O cenu ฤeskรฉho ล vรฝcarska (2019)
11th National Championships (2019), National Circuit Championships (2019)
13th Lincoln GP (2019)
Who taught you to ride and bike & how old were you?
My Dad taught me how to ride my bike but I canโt remember what age. I remember riding laps around a local park with my Dad slowly adjusting my stabilisers until they were high enough they werenโt touching the floor. I have no memories of falling – so I guess the technique worked!
What was your first proper road bike & what colour was it?
Haha – I didnโt have a road bike for quite a long time. I was brought up racing MTB XC and Cyclocross, so at the point where I started dabbling in road races (2nd year, so under 14 I think?!) I used to race on my CX bike with road tyres in! It was a blue/ black Trek and I thought I was pretty cool – I was the badass riding an off-road bike on the road!
I think I got a proper Road bike as a junior – a Matt black S-Works Amira from my local bike shop, Beeline Bicycles. Shout out to Luis Tulip & Mark Akers who supported me all through my youth and junior years across all disciplines (and admittedly still now when Iโm home!) – the support they gave me is the reason I am where I am now, I owe a lot to these guys.
What’s your favourite routes/places to ride?
I love the sunshine so Iโm tempted to go for Girona. However, living away from home now makes me really value my home roads. I have a โgo toโ 3 hour ride, which I probably learnt the first time my parents allowed me to train solo. I ride from Abingdon (South Oxford) through Wantage and over the Ridge way and into the โValley of the race horseโ towards Lambourn, before heading back through White horse hill and quiet villages.
Itโs not the most exciting of routes but I love how quiet and at home I feel, I canโt even count the amount of times Iโve ridden those roads. When I go home, itโs the first ride I always do.
What’s the most important piece of kit/advice that has helped boost your performance?
Thatโs tricky, because everything has an effect on performance – big or small. In terms of shaping how I operate/ function as an athlete, I would say being on the British Cycling MTB XC talent team/ Junior & senior academy has been extremely influential to what kind of athlete I am today. I still remember my first Talent Team camp and being taught the art of handwashing by Stuart Blunt – am important life skill I still use now… After spending years driving around Europe with Simon Watts and the MTB XC riders, I learned so much about being away from home and being able to operate in that high-pressure group environment. I loved it.
Currently, I race with NXTG Racing and I am also supported by the Dave Rayner Foundation. On the team, the girls are all really experienced with racing so Iโm always learning from them about race tactics. The Dave Rayner Foundation has supported a huge number of successful pros so I really value their advice too, as well as the additional financial support.
What tips do you have to keep the love of cycling going amidst all the training?
I think itโs easy to lose perspective on why we do what we do, and Iโm guilty of this sometimes. Itโs impossible to love every moment of training and racing, but I always tell myself โpeople donโt always ENJOY going to work every day. But they do it because itโs their jobโ and some days cycling is my โjobโ. But most of the time this isnโt the case. If it all feels a bit too serious/ overwhelming at times, I would say to take a step back from the numbers on your Garmin! Plan a route and follow the maps for a few hours… lose track of time for a bit.
For me, I will always love this sport for introducing me to most of my closest friends, and allowing me to travel around the world. And I think in my case, as long as I am still experiencing these things, the love for it comes naturally.
What experiences are still to do on your cycling ‘bucket list’?
Thatโs a tricky question. For me, winning a road race haha. Believe it or not, Iโve never won a road race – not even a local crit. I grew up focusing on MTB / Cyclocross and have only been fully focused on the road in the last 2 seasons. So this is something I havenโt had many opportunities to do, but would really like to achieve!
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