Oh hey, I didn't see you there.....my name is Josh but most of my mates call me Blake, it's my last name. I've been riding bikes for as long as I remember but I got my first mountain bike when I was 10 years old; it was a full rigid Giant Upland SE and it was the coolest bike you've ever seen. Well that was what I thought until I upgraded a few years later to a Giant Rincon (with some sick front shockers) and since then I just kept upgrading until I got my first downhill bike, 2004 Kona Stinky and I was the envy of all my brothers friends. I had my first downhill race in 2005 at Mt Gambier and loved it so much I continued to race for the next two years.

As well as racing downhill, I was rowing for Unley High School. In 2008 I decided to put all my focus into rowing as it was getting very serious, and with that I decided to sell my downhill bike and purchase a very nice road bike (2009 Giant OCR Advanced) from Mitcham Cycles. I definitely didn't think I could afford this bike but the guys really helped me out with the price. I used my road bike to keep my fitness up and get to most of my trainings....not the ones that started at 5.30am with a 45min ride to get there...haha. With the end of rowing early 2009 I decided to get back into cycling despite SASI's interest in me for future rowing teams.

Unfortunately my road bike was stolen from my house and I was left with no bike. I made a bold decision to get a cross country bike as I missed the mountain biking from downhilling but still loved the endurance aspect of road cycling. And with that I have my current bike; a 2009 Scott Scale 20. A seriously fast climbing machine and as Lea said to me the faster and harder you push it the better it feels, it loves to go fast both up and down the hills.

As for the future; I want to finish year 12 and get into the uni course I want. Then take a gap year made up of a lot of riding, training and earning some cash. I'll race the entire state series and then the national rounds hopefully with some podium finishes. Hope to see you at Mitcham sometime soon.