Tom Southam - Racing the Rapha Condor Way

By Brett Travers - www.Brett-Travers.com

September 22, 2009

---

Tom Southam, the former Amore E Vita and Team Barloworld rider appears to be relishing his second year back in the UK, racing for the Rapha Condor Professional Cycling Team.

Brett Travers recently caught up with Tom who, as well as being a talented bike rider, is known for his quirky blogs that cover a range of matters inside and out of the world of cycling.

You seem to be very happy racing for Rapha Condor this year?

Tom: Yes I am. One of the fundamental reasons that I really wanted to come to this team was the unity. A core group of us were mates before we were team mates, which I believe is really important. I’ve been in teams before where I’ve not been mates with anyone and in the past it was odd turning up at an airport with guys you didn’t even know or like and having to work together, where as now we all get on really well.

The team evolved somewhat from last year with the recruitment of new riders such as yourself, Darren Lapthorne, Dan Craven and Simon Richardson. Was this the reason results were initially slow to come by?

Tom: It took until the 8-day Rás Tour of Ireland in May for things to really start gelling and that was where the team’s year took-off in terms of results. We rode excellently as a team in Ireland which resulted in Si [Richardson] winning overall.

Results since show that it has not just been one rider from the team winning: Matt Cronshaw won the Blackpool Grand Prix Premier Calendar Road Race and a stage of the UCI 2.2 categorised Tour de Beauce, which was a fantastic achievement for a 20-year old. Darren Lapthorne, Dean Downing, Chris Newton and Kristian House, who took the British Road Race Championship, have also had wins.

The team’s race programme this year has been quite intense – how do you cope in terms of recovery?

Tom: I tend to find that this time of the year because you get strength from racing I don’t really find racing that difficult, unlike early on in a season when you are racing really hard on a bike. This time of the year you should have the rhythm and strength from racing. I get to the point where I can do as many days as is necessary and at the end of the year I’m generally ok and going quite well.

You’ve ridden under John Herety’s guidance in the past and seem to clearly be benefiting from your close relationship with him as Rapha Condor’s Directeur Sportif?

Tom: I get on really well with John and always have. I remember that I desperately didn’t want to race at the Colchester Tour Series event, which I ended up winning. I was tired as we had just got back from racing the Tour de Beauce stage race in Canada. But, I’m clearly glad that I did. John told me before the start that racing is 99% in your head. I’ve got confidence in the fact that he knows me and pushes me in the right way. Had someone else said that to me at the same time I probably would not have believed in them. John knows my personality as he has known me for a long time; he always has his riders’ best interests at heart, I’ve got a lot of respect for him.

From reading some of your blogs you appear to have taken on a mentoring role to help the younger riders in the team?

Tom: It’s slightly strange as Rapha Condor is probably the first team that I’ve been on where I’ve been one of the older riders. Throughout my career I was normally the youngest rider on my team and without noticing I’ve become one of the older guys, but I wouldn’t say I’ve got a mentoring role. I just try to give as much advice as I can in my own odd way, especially as I like to help the guys out if I can.

You raced for European based Professional teams between 2004 and 2006, then quit racing and headed for Australia, where you married and eventually returned to racing again for the Drapac-Porche Pro team. What did you gain from your time out from racing?

Tom: It’s strange when you race at a high level then stop. You get to look at cycling from a different perspective and see some of the pitfalls and traps that you can fall into when you are young because you are so impressionable, especially with things like diet that can make a huge amount of difference. I wouldn’t want the younger guys on the team to make the same mistakes I made.

What races do you have left this year?

Tom: The Tour of Britain rounded off our European race programme. We now plan to race the Sun Tour in Australia, followed by the Melbourne to Warrnambool Classic [which prior to last year’s course change was the World’s longest single day race] and finally the Bendigo Crit [in central Victoria], which I really want to win as the race goes past my front door in Australia, where I live in the UK winter. I’ve been second in it for the last two years so if I don’t win there’s going to be a riot!

Brett Travers - www.Brett-Travers.com