So after months upon months of bar-chewingly hard training from my coach Mark Walker of Intelligent Cycle Coaching, the first race of the season kicked off proceedings on Saturday.
This summer has been unrelenting for me, but I've had good times, and have spent a very large amount of time in Nandos. Nandos time is happy time. One of the exceptionally good times was in Switzerland. I went there for 2 weeks for some training, it's ideal really as I have family there! I have this weird sort of affinity with Switzerland, it's my perfect place. Everything is quiet, and the scenery is something else. The whole place is perfect.
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| Training around Lake Zug |
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| Zuri Fascht |
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| Breakfast every morning |
Whilst in Switzerland, ITV4 aired the episode of 'The Cycle Show' which featured my few seconds of fame, I was doing motorpace training. Famous.
I've been spoiled rotten by my sponsors with amazing bits of kit, like the Normatec System from Neon Velo, the amazingly practical luggage from Ventoux Ltd and the few box loads of kit from one of my closest sponsors Quest Sportswear.
Saturday was an odd day for me, first races of the season usually are. I was pretty organised which was especially odd. The course was 'different' shall we say, not my cup of tea, nor my forte, but it's the same for everyone. Last season on this course as a first year junior, I won my category and got 6th in the senior race, starting from the back as I was ungridded. Anything less than that would have been disspointing!
So I was getting into my race gear about 45 minutes before the start, and that's when this massive load of nerves just amassed in me from nowhere. I'm not sure what I was even nervous about as I had nothing to lose, and nothing was particularly expected of me. But nerves can be good I guess.
I got changed into my race kit, and went to warm up by the start. There was a bit of confusion about ranking and gridding due to a technical fault but at least I was well in the front row at the start. So with the masses of nerves i was up against, I had a really good start, so good that it was completely irrational and ill thought out. I led the race up the start straight to and up over the first climb... And then for the consequent 2 laps.
Yep, I was on the front in a group of 6 for 2 laps before it occurred to me to let someone come through. I was riding fairly strong, gapping other riders on the longest climb of the course, but when Dan Stevens of Neon Velo caught us from behind, the pace rocketed. Soon enough, with 2 laps to go I started to flag, and was dropped.
I raced on for a win in the junior category and 6th place in the adults race; exactly the same as last year. This wasn't a disappointment by any means though, as the riders I was up against were very strong and had nearly all just come out of a Road season. I'm happy with how it went; I got the Strava KOM for the course.
This weekend is my home race at Springfield park, literally 400 meters from my house. It's so close that GPS data for Strava won't show up because it's within my 500meter privacy zone. A real home race. I'm hoping for a win there, as I am for every race, but especially at Springfield. Now the season is winding up, with things really getting busy in October. I'll report back as and when.
Check out Anna Buick's report from Saturday here.
As usual, thanks to my sponsors for keeping me going, I really appreciate the help.
Ciao mateys.
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