Hello Little Simo here! So as a competitive cyclist we get interviewed a lot, and we are always asked the same old thing.
a) How did you get into cycling?
b) Whats your favourite race?
c) Who are your role models?
And so on, and so forth yade yade yada….. kind of boring right. I for one want to know something different, something a bit more personal so you get to know the amazing girls I get to spend my time with.
So my first victim, i mean, interviewee is none other than the baby of the team, but don’t let that fool you, as being from Yorkshire she certainly doesn’t act like a baby, no no she is a tough cookie in my eyes…..its Jessie Walker a.k.a J Wak (or shameful twitter plug @jesiwak, follow her!).
So, lil Jessie these are going to be a bit random… You have recently finished your AS Level Exams, What was the first thing you did on completion? Any Celebrations??
It was such a relief to finish my exams. I put a lot of pressure on myself to revise for the weeks leading up to them so I get pretty stressed. The thing I look forward to after exams is doing nothing basically. I like to have a day relaxing and watching a film etc. However after my PE exam I did the opposite and did a local bike race to release all of my stress.
If somebody said to you ‘Right, you can never ride a bike again!’ What career could you see yourself in? Would you compete in any other sports?
I would definitely participate in a sport because sport is part of who I am and I’ve been brought up with it. But I don’t know about competing, it depends how good I was haha. But I’d like to have a career involving sport in some way like a physio or nutritionist. I’m not sure really I change my mind quite often so it’s hard to set my mind to one thing.
If you were a contestant on Come Dine with Me, What 3 courses would you cook?? And what theme would your evening be?
I love that program. Well I’d probably make a tomato and butter bean soup for starter. I made this for the Matrix Team on our training camp. I make a mean Chicken and Parsnip Pie so that would be the main meal with homemade chips and mushy peas… It’s gorgeous. And for dessert it would have to be homemade banoffee pie, my dads favourite. The theme for the evening would be film stars.
We all have our Pro Peleton Crush, (mine is of course the fabulous Fabian), so go on who tickles your fancy??
Well you have good taste, Fabian is very nice, as well as Boonen, and Iljo Keisse.
What has your worst crash in cycling been, how did it happen and are you left with any scars??
Well luckily I’ve only had two crashes on my road bike (touch wood) and the worst out of the two was a recent one in Holland in the second stage of Omloop Van Borsele. The race came down to a bunch sprint at the finish and at the peak of the sprint someone came down in the middle of the bunch and took the majority of the bunch with her. It had a domino effect to both sides of the bunch. At first I thought I was lucky as I was at the far right hand side but someone slid into me and hit my legs hard from behind. I jumped back on my bike climbing over everyone on the floor and crossed the line. Then I realised my legs were really painful. Luckily I didn’t break any bones just a swollen knee and bruised muscles. But racing continued the next day.
Imagine you’re warming up for a Tour Series round, which 3 songs would you want on your Ipod to get you motivated to race??
Well I find Eminem good to listen to, his music really psychs me up so one song would be ‘Lose Yourself’. I have my iPod on shuffle with songs I like so I don’t have any other specific songs, as long as they’re loud it sets me in race mode.
Well there you have it, a little something about little Jessie Walker that you probably didn’t know! Keep checking back for more mini interviews with the team!!
By @LittleSimo and @jeskiwak
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