You know Jay Williamson, right? He raced for Team Wideopenmag for years, destroyed the British Downhill Series in Experts and is the self-proclaimed Cornish Fasty?
Little known fact about Jay? Living in Cornwall, he pretty much has to travel further than any other racer in the UK to race his bike. His return to Fort William is over 1,000miles!
/ Interview by Jamie Edwards
/ Photos by Ian Lean
So Jay. It’s been a couple of months since we announced you were leaving the team. What’s happened since then?
Well I started off with just relaxing, getting my head out of racing with getting back to riding with my mates involving all kinds of biking and odd trips away even the odd surf thrown in for good measure. This gave me the chance to hit the reset button and begin work on plans for the 2015 season.
So I’m now on the Steve Peat Syndicate team for 2015. I’ll be racing the all new 2015 xl Santa Cruz v10 Carbon CC at all British national rounds, 5/7 UCI world cups rounds and representing a full line up of team Sponsors. We’ll have team pits, mechanic support and no doubt some wise words from the big man himself on how everyone can improve their race craft.
So did it take a lot of work to get to the point where you are now?
I would say it’s been testing. There has been hard work and at times a bit of uncertainty. At the same time it’s been a real good experience talking, negotiating and figuring out which opportunities were the best way to go. It was hard to decide which way was best to suit me and my riding rather than going for the easy option to get it over with early on, which at times was tempting!
“With so many great riders out there you always have to be working hard and thinking outside the box”
With so many great riders out there you always have to be working hard and thinking outside the box to find what ever is going to make you go faster and safer on the bike. I would say that it has been hard work and I’ve had to do lots of grafting away but honestly that’s how I have always been even with my goals outside of biking. That’s just the way I like it. I have struggled with rest days where I feel like I’m not getting anywhere! But I have learnt to really make those count this off season which has been a good break!
How did you feel when you found out you were getting SPS sponsorship?
For me it was like hitting the jackpot. After a few months of emails and planning to finally have a break through that I was happy with by joining the SPSyndicate was amazing. I was especially pleased as I’m a tall rider and really needed to look into what bikes would suit me best. I’ve got pretty long legs and need the room that the Santa Cruz V10 will give me!
Alongside that there’s loads of great support on offer with a whole team of people to giving their experience and knowledge. We’ve got some great sponsors and some great team mates for the 2015 race season.
Tell us about SPS. What have you done with them so far, what support will you get from them in 2015?
It’s a super relaxed team, with Steve Peat and team manager Tristan Tunstall putting together a great programme to help up am coming riders and riders that just love to go racing. So far this year we have made a few very beneficial trips – including to Sheffield Hallam uni for some monitoring of fitness to look at those important areas that need improvement. We’ve also thrown in some fun trips to get to know the team and just get some bike time in.
And it looks like you’ve been hard at work digging Cornish dirt. What’s been on up at your local hill?
For sure! I really set about making sure I was challenging myself more than ever with a new hill offering some crazy unique features. It honestly gave me a hard time just trying to work a track down the hill in places and I was often questioning if it was even possible which gets me excited to build. There really is some challenging riding near by. Over the past few years I was always wondering if I needed to move further afield to benefit my riding but now I know where I am is good enough to stay put which is a great weight of my shoulders.
Cornwall is a little behind compared to the biking on offer further up the line but it has started to take off in the last 2 years with a few fresh trail centers and Gawton Gravity Hub in Devon close by. It’s enough to keep my training interesting, my riding challenging and to prepare me to compete at World cup level.
So what’s next for you?
For me its very simple. I’ve had a great off-season working with both my trainer Andy Dockrell and Sheffield Hallam uni to make this season a good one and to work to towards my goals. I’m also looking forward to enjoying this year’s racing and travelling along the way.
My season will begin at Round 1 Bds in Ae Forest and continue from there with UCI World cup round 1 in Lourdes (France).
“Be yourself, Enjoy your riding, be focused and set targets for yourself”
Any advice for riders like you that are looking to make a step up in their racing?
If you have racing in mind you need to be dedicated. There’s no slacking or you’ll simply be left behind with so many talented riders in this country alone. Be yourself, Enjoy your riding, be focused and set targets for your self on where you want to be and how you are going to get there.
I would like to say a few Thank-you’s to a few people for their efforts and continued support. Steve Peat/Tristan tunstall and all involved at Sps 2015, my trainer Andy Dockrell, Royal Racing, Drift Innovation, Horizon Watches and Muscle Tone Massage in Taunton. See you all around soon!
