Snow, A levels and Sleep

The last few weeks have been interesting both off and on the bike!

Off the bike I have had two interviews at Manchester and Leeds University for next years education. Both interviews went well and I have now got offers from both. Now I need to work hard to make sure I get the right A level grades so they let me in! I've got 4 offers so its all down to me now.

I've had another round of exams in January and I think they went well.

On the bike has also been going well too...

The new Champion Systems/Maxgear/Kyklos kit arrived and looks the business and training is going well despite the weather doing its best to keep me inside on the rollers/turbo. I'm very lucky to have the Manchester Velodrome close which allows training and racing in the relative warmth.
The team launch in Northumberland was brilliant, I laughed lots and really got to know my new team mates. Nice, nice people! I did have a little incident with a wheel rim which exploded in my face! The team owner described the noise as a bullet from a gun. What happened was that my braking surface had actually worn through and the wheel had collapsed. I was lucky not to come off.
Luckily Paul Hewitt who originally built the wheels is rebuilding them with new spokes and rims because they were my favourites!
We have had a number of invites to races, both national and international and we are plotting our first foreign road trip for March.

Next event is the Vita cycles time trial through the Mersey Tunnel (shut to cars!) which Francis, Nicola and myself have been persuaded to enter. Exciting times! :)

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.