A Levels Finished, Let the Holidays Begin....

After a busy few weeks of exams and revision, which hopefully have gone well, I am now back training seriously again! I’ve jumped straight in at the deep end by going to race in Belgium which I knew was going to hurt, and definitely did. The first race didn’t go too great, at the end of the day I just wasn’t fit enough to match the standard of the other girls. However that was no surprise to me as I had barely been on a bike in the last month. I wasn’t too disappointed though as it was just a huge relief to finish exams and be back on a bike.

After the race I visited a war museum, and because the town we were in got completely destroyed in World War I, it was quite moving to read about the lives of the soldiers and people who lived there. My mood was quickly lifted as there was a European Rally on in the town, so I got to look at lots of nice cars, and also Lamborghinis and my dream car an Audi R8.  One of the rally cars was particularly brilliant as it was my own car, a Toyota Corolla, however that one looked slightly quicker and louder than mine L.

I decided it probably wasn’t the best idea to race on the Sunday, instead I went on a ride down the Schelde Canal all the way to Oudenaarde. The weather was miserable but I managed to get some great efforts in and felt great afterwards. Hopefully more rides like this will give me a good base for some form later in the year. I am really looking forward to being able to race competitively in a few weeks

 

After Sunday’s riding, I came home for my prom and had a lovely time with all my friends from college. After recovering from the previous few days on the Tuesday, I was straight back on the train to London this time with my boyfriend, Alex, for another week in Belgium. We arrived late Wednesday night and woke up to lovely sunshine and temperatures well above 20 degrees. We took this opportunity to go on the ride along the canal to Oudenaarde again, this time with more efforts and sprints in, and I felt noticeably fitter than the previous ride.

That afternoon we went to a music festival, Rock Werchter, in 32 degree heat where we saw Blink 182, Netsky, Skream and Skrillex. It was amazing, the festival had such a nice atmosphere and it was warm even when we were walking back to the car at 2 in the morning.

On Saturday morning we got up early and went for a ride along a different canal with Eve who had arrived the previous night. We threw in a few sprints to spin up our legs to prepare for the next few days of racing. On the way back to the youth hostel, we had the choice to negotiate a cyclo-cross-esque climb which was very steep and made up of dried mud. I managed to ride up it second time, after having to clip out and then go back to the start for a bigger run up the second time. Eve, similarly to me, had to clip out on her first attempt. For her second attempt she went into it in a much more determined manner, which resulted in her making it half way up the hill, before slowly toppling off the side of the hill into a handily placed bed of nettles. Eve Dixon, coming soon to a cyclo-cross race near you! 

After a couple more days of training we went to the Prologue of the Tour de France. Despite riding a bike for 7 years I had never seen a stage race on this scale before. We arrived early and the barriers along the finish straight were 2 people deep at least, and the atmosphere was electric. I was suffering slightly from the previous few days efforts, which meant I spent quite a bit of time sat down, but I still saw plenty of the riders. It was great to see Bradley get second to the monster that is Cancellara.

 I’m now spending the evening relaxing, before a few races in the coming days.

Love Mel

xxx

Got a Cold!!!!!!!! Its Only Just Gone and I've Just Won a Holiday

Our Belgium trip was an epic, lots of cycling, some star gazing and a week away from revision. One unfortunate gift I got partway through the week was a cold. This was the queen of colds the sort that makes you feel rubbish and unable to get out of bed, unable to eat and unable to concentrate.

I've had it a couple of weeks and I am just about over it however almost immediately I am dropping into my final A level exams. 2 more weeks at school, exams and then a holiday.

I planned at the beginning of the season to do some cycling, stop for my exams and then continue cycling once exams complete.

There is a small amount of cycling I have been doing which have proved quite profitable this year...Roller Racing. I won the local and national rounds of the  Rollapaluza National Championships and recently I was invited to a competition they were running for Levi's new Commuter Jeans.

http://eu.levi.com/en_GB/Sprint-King
 
The challenge was to put the fastest time down for 500m on the rollers between the 19th April and 10th May in the Levi store in London.

The fastest Male and female time won a weekend trip away to the finale of the Tour De France in Paris.

Dad worked some magic with my rail tickets and managed to get me First Class (apparently it was only an extra £3!). First Class was brilliant, lots of leg room, nice food and drinks and i felt like royalty. The competition was in Selfridges and after my cold I was unsure what speed I still had in my legs.

Well I only needed to do one ride, 22.9 secs for 500m not my best but I was happy with it. A long way off the fastest chap however I was well in front of the next female. The competition didn't close for another week so I had an anxious wait to see if my time was to be bettered (lots of checking of the Levi's website).

Well I have won myself a little trip to Paris! Return trip for two on the Eurostar, 2 nights in the hotels and 250euros to spend in Levis in Paris. How ace is that!

Speak soon
Mel

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.

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.