The Paris Roubaix (and a Go-Karting win)

Super day Easter Sunday...

16 mile short spin from Laarne to the town of Donk. There's not much there apart from a water feature in a pond. Eve nearly went over the handlebars trying some crazy manouvre (she thought I didn't see her....)!
We rode back to Laarne and then packed up to watch the Paris Roubaix at the Arenberg forest. On route we spied the course and also saw the Junior race - which rider from our boys team Chris Latham was riding - cross over the motorway bridge in front of us.
We parked up with the crowds and started to walk in the direction everyone else was walking. So many people had turned out to watch the pro's at Arenberg. Apparently Arenberg is an old mining area and the rumour is that a miner who rode the Tour De France found the route through the Forest that Paris Roubaix is famous for.
The cobbles are the nastiest I have ever seen, they proved difficult to walk on so riding a bike must have been horrendous.
The vehicles started to pass through and soon the helicopters following the race were almost above us signalling the bikes were nearly here. The crowd started to go mental so we knew the bikes were upon us. A group of 5 riders passed through with number 83 getting a puncture right next to us, the mechanic seemed slow to change the wheel and probably ruined the riders 5 minutes of fame.........

A gap of maybe 5 minutes and then the bunch passed through, the expressions on the riders faces a picture showing the efforts they were having to put in. 10 minutes later the riders were gone, the noise of the vehicles had cleared and it was time to go.
We walked down to the entrance to the Arenberg stage where the noise started again with many Flandrians giving it the beans for Tom Boonen who was having the race of legends. 50km to go he jumped off the head of the race completely destroying the riders behind him who had no answer to his power and strength.

Afterwards we went to the Go Kart at Koksidje, for some more racing :). The racing was over 12 minutes and despite the speeds being slow the course is really twisty and technical - pretty sure Icould get round it faster on a bike! I took 2 seconds of my lap time from last time I was here and managed a win! Eve has a special Go-karting style which isnt that quick but didn't crash once so big improvement from last time.....

National Rollapoluza Champs and day 1 in Belgium

On Good Friday we packed the car for our road trip to London (and beyond). I can’t believe we managed to fit all our stuff in the car – it was filled to bursting, although fortunately we have a Thule roof box and bike carrier!

We travelled down to London which took ages. Thankfully I got a Kindle for my birthday so I could read all the way down. We were slightly late for Hog Hill, but still got there in time to support Eve for most of the race. She’d had some bad experiences there with punctures in the past, so we were really keen for her to do well.

Eve rode brilliantly, keeping up towards the front of the bunch and looked comfortable and strong. There were a few attacks but the bunch largely stayed together. With 4 to go, a rider managed to slip off the front, quickly gaining 20 seconds whilst the bunch just looked at each other and it seemed the riders would be racing for 2^nd. The bell rang for the last lap, but the lone leader was nowhere to be seen. She had a bit of bad luck and punctured.

Eve attacks at Hog Hill

Coming up the infamous hill the last time Eve positioned herself well at the front of the group and absolutely charged up to lead the riders up the hill. This caught a lot of riders by surprise and it appeared to be the first 5 riders that had a chance of the win. Eve hung on and managed to place 2^nd over the line.

A fine ride and we were all so pleased for Eve!

+£50 spending money for our trip to Belgium!

Then it was time for some roller racing at the Rollapoluza National Final! Racing on rollers is something I have done for many years and is a 500m effort against a clock (and an opponent).

We met up with some friends from Eastlands Velo - Mark and Carol Barry, Matt Rotherham and his dad Jeremy, who are massive supporters of cycling and have always been interested in me and helped me out when I was younger, which is proper nice! I qualified fastest lady (and faster than most of the boys) and ended up winning – hope I made them proud!

+£200 spending money for our trip to Belgium! (Belgium socks definitely on the way…!)      

The next morning (at 7.50am – far too early for college holidays) we got the Eurotunnel to France and travelled across to Piershil in Holland for a festival of cycling. Of course Eve and I slept in the car all the way ready for our afternoon crit race!

The course was really short 1.5ish miles, flat and with lots of sharp corners. After 30 minutes of roller warm-up next to the Belgium national team (I think they were impressed with my roller skills..!), legs felt rubbish after last night’s Rollapoluza - 50mph on rollers has a cost! There were 70 on the start line and gridding meant that we didn’t start in the best place. The race shot off at the start and within the first 3 laps we were both scrapping around at the back – we were not mentally prepared for how fast this race was going to be!

After 25minutes of racing we had got used to cornering at 30mph and pushing up through the race. Half the field had already been eliminated by the broom wagon and it was close to being our turn. All of a sudden there was a crash right in front of me. Fortunately we managed to miss it, but 10 minutes later an air ambulance appeared and it was curtains for the race. It was abandoned. It was a super lesson for myself and Eve as we now need to be ready for the race going off like a train - completely different to the race yesterday at Hog Hill.

Good news the girl in the crash was ok and we got a cracking workout! Off to watch the Paris Roubaix at the Arrenberg Forest! Its dry at the moment but the forecast is rain = carnage on the cobbles.

More pictures and reports on the way...

Mel x