Its the end of 2011 so rather than write lots of words I thought I would post some cycling pictures which are a bit different!

 The resident pig at our Youth Hostel in Belgium

 Me and Eve practicing Madison slings......we fell off at the nationals must try harder!

 Spaghetti Boonenaisse at the Cycling Museum, Oodennarde

 Photoshoot Castlefields, Manchester

 Training ride Lancashire

 Team Launch Wigan

Belgium cobbled climb......

Over The Handlebars!

Today I got it wrong!

Lots of snow and ice where I live continuing the 'its always wet here' theme.

Conditions suggested turbo trainer or cyclocross at Leverhulme Park

The cyclocross however was 10mins from my house and I thought it would be fun......

The good bits....

Close to home.
Good to see everybody.
My cycling kit looks great!

Not quite as good bits......

It was very cold, and I mean really cold.
I crashed on a descent narrowly missing a tree and went over the handlebars (top chopper cyclist that's me!). It hurt so much I cried for 5 minutes and then carried on.
Rode really slowly because I was cold.
Broke my gear shifter (only a plastic bit so its still works).
Women's changing rooms locked at end of race so no shower, shivered all the way home.
My body is damaged by handlebars (legs and stomach).

I'm glad I got out in the sunshine, although it was really, really cold and crashing (and thawing numb hands and feet) hurts more than an hour on the turbo! Plus I wouldn't need to clean the bike either ;).

Melissa x

Its Still Raining!

Training is going well!

Have been hit with a cold and forced to take a few days off but nothing too serious.

Have been on rollers, have used turbo trainer, have raced on the track at the velodrome (got a win on Friday hey look at me.....there's enough girls now to give us our own group which is brilliant).

I have even done another cross race a bit different this one it was a Madison cross.

Madison in cycling basically means a relay and its supposed to happen on the track. Alex and I paired up at Clayton Vale for Phil Braybrooke;s Christmas event and I rode in the 70s purple kit which the Midland riders of Halesowen profess to be proud of!

Short fast laps for an hour through long grass and mud followed by a technical section into the finish. The conditions, the kit and dad on the microphone made it an interesting day! Actually in terms of training it was really quite hard.

Have now got interviews for university's to prepare for and also exam set number 3 for A levels so life is quite interesting again!

Speak soon


Melissa

Winter Training

Well its dark and cold.........

Not a great start to a blog however this is how days are in Bolton. Its always raining, about to start raining or just finished raining....

Race bikes are hung up on their hooks, its time for my winter bike, track bike and my cross bike!

The plan for the next few weeks are long slow rides on the winter bike, track league on Friday nights at Manchester velodrome and then a few cyclocross events to sharpen up my bike handling skills.

I also plan to have a few off the bike strength sessions too build up my core strength.

My first cyclocross for a year was at Stadt Moers near St Helens and I can report although I am not great, I really quite enjoy it. I managed to stack it on the first lap coming down the first descent much to the dismay of the riders behind me, still nothing but pride damaged. Then for the next hour I slowly rode around the course managing to stay upright and not getting lapped by too many riders. For learning to ride a bike, cyclocross is a great sport.

Friday night track league is always fun, very busy at the moment, track cycling clearly popular! 5 groups of twenty five racing and I am in group 3. The pace is higher than it used to be (or I have slowed up..) and its nice to get the legs spinning again on the boards.

Done 4 long rides so far in November since returning from my break and tomorrow there is a group of us doing 50 miles around the peak district which should be good fun.

Just starting to think about next year and have just received my first invite for a race in Holland.


See you soon


Melissa

The Orbea Orca goes into Hibernation

Last week I had my winter bike prepared for the poor weather and now its the turn of my Orbea Orca race bike.

Before it goes into hibernation (it doesn't like the cold or the wet) Paul Hewitt Cycles give it a good going over to ensure all is ok. The good news was that all was mechanically sound. A few small jobs, however, were required (chain, cables, bar tape and a rear tyre) and then the bike was given a perfect bill of health. The bike is about to be stored on its hook for a few months until the weather improves (could be a while!)

Revolution but not on the track!

Last night I went to the Revolution track cycling event at Manchester Velodrome not to race but not to watch either....

Instead, I was there to display 'The WASP'!

The WASP (Wattage saving, Aerodynamic, Speed Products) is, the new prototype skinsuit by Maxgear/Champion Systems designed to minimise resistance and maximise speed.
The skinsuit had never been seen before in the UK and certainly drew some positive attention, with people flocking to see the kit. This made me even more self conscious, already riding a skintight WASP in the middle of the packed Velodrome. However I did get a 2hr roller training session in....

By name and nature, the speedsuit even looks like a WASP, in bold black and yellow. It was also great to watch the Maxgear team performing well and mixing up the future star races from where I was riding. I love the speedsuit so much that I really hope I can race in it next year. The WASP saw its first competitive outing at the National Hill Climb Championships, worn by my team mate Nicola click here to see her blog.

Mel Bury - Lloyds TSB Local Hero!

On Tuesday I went to the Lloyds TSB Regional processing centre with my race bike and rollers. I am part of the Lloyds TSB Local Heroes programme which supports young athletes in their sport, so the visit was to meet the staff and introduce them to my sport and explain how Lloyds TSB support my sporting ambitions. I met with lots of great people and demonstrated riding my bike on rollers, which always creates a bit of a stir!

The questions from the staff were great (I think they were being kind and not asking really tough ones!). When I got home I had a lovely e-mail thanking me for my visit. It's always great to do these events, as I really enjoy meeting people, introducing them to my sport and inspiring people to get on their bikes.

Mel x

Preparing my Winter Bike for training

I took my winter bike to Paul Hewitt Cycles in Leyland today to get it prepared for winter miles. Paul's team have always been great with me, genuinely interested in me as a cyclist and always doing a great job with my bikes (much better than dad!).

My bike needed a new chain and cassette (must have been my power, maybe not!), cables, brake blocks and bar tape.
All I need to do now is put some miles on it. Paul and the gang will service my race bike next week ready for hibernation over the winter.


I have 1 week of rest remaining and then I will put the warm clothing on and start to explore Lancashire on my bike again. Off to LloydsTSB bank processing centre on Tuesday to demonstrate my sport to the staff at Lloyds and then modelling new champion systems cycling kit on rollers at the Revolution next weekend!

Race weekend in Belgium Part 2 - The war museum and Izegem

Saturday night we travelled to Ypres, a town made famous during the 1st world war for the number of servicemen that died there in the war. We ate and then watched the Last Post at Menin gate a memorial to 54,000 soldiers who lost their lives during the 1st world war whose remains were never found. Every night at 8pm since the end of the first world war this 15min remembrance service is performed. It was very, very moving.
A Youth Hostel in Kortrijk provided an interesting overnight sleep with Johan waking us insisting we show for breakfast. Germain Burton is a regular we see in Belgium and he told us he got 10th same as me on the Saturday.

After breakfast we went to a war museum which explained what had happened in the local area and the horrific conditions the soldiers fought in (a full scale mock up of an underground dugout where soldiers lived for many months). We then found some original trenches right in the middle of an industrial estate which had been recently discovered. It must have been absolutely awful for the soldiers.

The next race was at Izegem was 30 minutes from the trenches and I wanted to be at the race 2hrs prior to the start, the Sat Nav ensured that arrival was fine despite a number of roadwork's on route!

Izegem was the European centre for shoe and also broom making until 20 years ago when manufacturing moved to the far east. Sundays race was a much shorter course round a city centre with barriers – rather like the City crits in the UK. Two cars were unceremoniously removed from the course by low loader and the racing began. Prizes every lap kept speeds high and the short laps meant that the 34 laps made me dizzy! I felt great and took most of the primes (lap prizes), thinking that the prizes were euros. What I actually won was:
A blank CD, a pizza cutter, a tee shirt, another tee shirt, a rucksack, another rucksack, a Sudoku game, a shoulder bag, a set of glasses (with one missing), another set of glasses, a box and a Pyrex dish! I did also win a rather nice watch (confirmed as not from the market but from a high class town centre jewellers) for winning the most lap prizes.

Into the bell lap and I was placed about 6th. Around the course I hit the front with half a lap to go. Into the final bend I was still on the front. I was on the front with 100 metres to go, 50 metres to go there's a rider alongside me, I sprint like mad. Over the line there's a rider in front of me. Defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. Still I got 2nd place which is my best result in Europe so far.

40 euros prize money, a box full of tat (apart from the watch and maybe the Pizza cutter), a top 10 and a 2nd made for a really good weekend and roll on A level results on Thursday, the track nationals next week followed by another European adventure in two weeks time!

Race weekend in Belgium part 1 - Bekegem

12th to 14th August saw me visit Belgium for two 60km races, Bekegem on Saturday and Izegem on Sunday. On Friday we travelled south to Dartford to a Travelodge (£15 was saved through a voucher on the internet, Google is definitely your friend). Pizza Express at Bluewater shopping centre closed a fairly uneventful day, although I did see a fox when I walked to find the Thames river!

Saturday morning early rise, a quick dash to the 24hr Asda for provisions and then off to the Eurotunnel for the 09.24 crossing. Delays had been reported on the internet but thankfully by the time we checked in all delays cleared and we arrived in France on schedule. The race in Bekegem was an 1hr 30mins from the Channel tunnel and we planned to arrive 2hrs before race start to set up the bike, check the course and warm on Cyclops rollers (good job we have fold up rollers, otherwise we wouldn’t have fit them in the car!). The drive to Bekegem was very wet and I was worried about the safety in the race if the rain continued... Luckily it didn’t and on the recce we found Bekegem to be a typical Belgium Kermesse (4km loops through a town centre, disappearing into the local countryside before returning into the centre via a sharp right turn and some fairly friendly cobbles).

Signing on proved fairly ok (sometimes a challenge in Belgium because of our lack of Flemish) and was also very busy. 61 riders signed on for the 2.45 start with many quality riders from Belgium, Holland and me the only Englander..... No instructions issued in English but I’ve learnt some of the basics for left, right and the odd swear word! Most of the riders speak good English anyway!

As usual the race started very quickly! At the end of the first lap 20 riders had been dropped from the leading bunch. I was safely in the middle of the leading bunch. As the race went on riders continued to be swept up by the Broom wagon (last vehicle following the race usually signified by carrying a brush = riders being swept up!). I felt good and was very active at the front of the bunch, my Maxgear/Champion Systems kit really looked the business amongst some rather garish European kits! The cobbles proved challenging with some riders electing to clip out of their pedals to ensure their safety around the sharp bend. When the race got to the business end 2 riders managed to escape of the front of the race and with the bunch not working properly together the two escapee’s were not to be seen again. The riders back in the bunch set up for a bunch sprint for the remaining places. Two girls didn’t fancy the sprint for the line and managed to kick out of the bunch early surprising the pack and stealing third and fourth position. Thirty riders then contested the bunch sprint from the cobbles to the filmed finish line. Good positioning over the cobbles saw me finish in 6th in the bunch (I wasn’t quite as brave as some of the other riders), 10th overall. I was very pleased with this not yet back up to full fitness since Glandular fever earlier in the year.

My recovery from glandular fever and Belgium breakthrough

I’ve had a pretty rough start to the 2011 race season contracting glandular fever taking me out of action for the early part of my first year racing for Maxgear RT.

By mid season I’ve pretty much recovered from glandular fever, so I’m slowly building up back into racing and training again. This started off with just some really easy rides, and just really riding my bike for enjoyment. Then I showed my face at Tameside for a few weeks which started to get some strength back in my legs with all the sprinting out of corners. I rode the junior national RR, however at that point my fitness was pretty bad, so I got dropped after a couple of laps, but I saw it as something to build on. I also rode the Stoke on Trent town centre crit, which if I’m honest I was disappointed in my performance as I got 6^th last year, and got lapped this year.

However the turning point came when I went over to Belgium for the first time after my illness. I had a bad cold for about a week beforehand (Music festivals aren’t the best idea mid-season) so I went into the race expecting to be out the back first lap. Because of this, I think my mentality of the whole race changed, and I made sure I was always in the top third, to make it as ‘easy’ as possible for myself. I was therefore extremely surprised and relieved when I heard the bell and the words ‘laste runde’. I think I rolled in at the back of the bunch I was in, in about 17^th. I was over the moon with this, as to me it meant
that I was finally getting better, and improving.

Alongside this, I have also done a couple of 10’s. The first one I did without a bike computer, so I was extremely pleasantly surprised when I smashed my PB by a minute and a half, to do a time of 25.18. I also did another 10 last night, they changed the course and I felt really sluggish, but I ended up doing 24.25, so I’m hoping that I can improve my time trialling further.