First win & a British 1,2,3!

firstly, sorry this is so long! ...



Day One - Bekegem


Second trip to Belgium, this time with Hannah Barnes and Hannah Walker, it was going to be good! We made our way there the day before and i've never seen so much rain in my life on the way down, epic. And half way there, after being reminded by Barnes that it was Friday 13th, we pulled in at the services and it was packed. We must have queued for about an hour to get out! Eventually we made it to Laarne though and stuffed ourselves with food before getting some sleep.


After a nice lie in until 9 on Saturday morning we made our way over to the race, stopping at Lidl on the way (closest thing we could find to a supermarket) to get supplies for lunch and loadssss of fruit (making up for the excess of ice cream!). Also, after checking the weather before we came we were expecting heavy rain, but no, it was sunny! as you can see...


Just before the race we covered our legs in baby oil, as you do, and made our way to the start... we were the last to turn up, so we started right at the back! Luckily though the race didn't start as fast as we thought, so we moved up well and by the time we got to the last corner (MAJOR COBBLES!) all three of us were on the front together.. good start.



Loads of little attacks were going but being brought straight back, so ofcourse i had a go, and i ended up riding straight off the front. Did a nice lap off the front and then Barnes came and saved me before i got swallowed up again :). It carried on like this for about 14 laps, Barnes kept trying to get away too, but they were straight onto anything, shouting it down too. Then with 2 to go, i was fed up and wanted to get away, seen as no one was wanting to chase down on the tougher parts of the course. I countered another attack that had got a few seconds on the bunch and just went for it. Barnes and Hannah slowed it down a bit on the front too, which really helped. .. and then it started to rain/absolutely chuck it down! The cobbles were mega dangerous, so i took them slowly (same with the rest of the corners, didn't really want to deck it on my own!) and by the last corner i had about 30seconds on the bunch and actually realized i was going to win. I still smashed it to the finish though, i wasn't risking this one!



and amazingly the Hannah's finished the race off with a 2nd and 3rd over the line! We were so so happy, we'd tried to control the race from the start and we'd worked together really well, nevermind about the rain!
and i don't think the Belgians were too pleased with us taking over :)

That night we had another good meal, including more fruit and ice cream, trust me, they have the best ice cream, we all agreed! We then all fell asleep before 10, well Hannah Walker definitely did because me & Barnes had to put up with her snoring for ages!

Day Two - Rumst

Another lie in and a half hour journey over to the race, oh and no rain! Although it did take FOREVER to find the actual course, after being told it went onto a closed road, which had red tape across it at the time! We were willing to break the tape though, but Dad didn't let us :( Anyway it was a slightly bigger race today, with the Dutch champ there aswell and the wind was picking up too!

The race got underway and it was pretty much like yesterday, but a bigger bunch, so i freaked out a little in the first two laps but then realized i needed to just man up and get on with it!

A group of 5 got up the road and we thought we could ride back up to it, seen as there was over 20 of us left in the bunch (after another split), but no, no one was willing to work, so me and Barnes seemed to do waaaay too much work and still get shouted at! After trying to bridge the gap on my own, i rolled back into the bunch, it was too far away having to fight the headwind, and now i felt awful :(

With one lap to go just at the end of the tough headwind bit i attacked (seen as i didn't have the legs to sprint!) and Barnes rolled through after and stopped them chasing for a bit and i just smashed it to the finish. Finished 6th and was pretty happy with that too, so a very good weekend in the end :D

Bryn Bach Triathlon 15th August 2010 :)

Before i start i would like to apologise for my Mum's poor photography skill when I'm on the bike, she tries every time to catch it at a good time but never seems to work. But one day, i promise ;)

Anyway......Ouch! Hard but enjoyable race today in South Wales. Woke up this morning feeling fresh and ready to go, did my usual routine! Got to the race, got into transition, racked bike...all set! I wasn't to nervous going into this race because i knew it was just a good practise for IRC's in September. Got wetsuit on and set off into the lake, brrrrrrr it wasn't too warm in there at all. We must have been in the water at least 12 minutes before setting off and i was getting colder and colder so had to keep myself moving. And off we went, quite a rough start in the swim, i got hit in the nose and lip twice but then got a bit of free water and got going, i was one of the first females to exit the swim, so i was pleased.

T1 went well, got wetsuit off quick and this is where the really hard work started, a hilly bike and my legs feeling numb and very tired (not a good combination) but i tried my very hardest to keep with the girl but it wasn't the best course to draft and my legs just weren't working with me today.

Coming into T2 was OK, but my feet hit the ground quite hard so quite sore going into the run but i really enjoyed the run today :). It's quite a flat course until the turn around where you go down then straight back up, but it was bearable!! Throughout i felt quite strong and was pleased with it :D

Overall pleased with today and ready for September and very much looking forward to it!! :)

Essex Giro & National Crit Champs

Essex Giro 2 day

Well i say it was a 2 day event, but i only lasted about 1 and a half days...

Day One

First day went really well, apart from the torrential (ish!) rain at Hog Hill on Saturday morning before the time trial. We hid for aslong as possible out of the rain but i HAD to go round the quite technical course before the tt, so i braved it in the rain and i looked like i'd just had a shower when i got back in after ONE lap! i was not impressed andneither were my rollers, they made such a noise when i got on to warm up and was a bit dodgy when doing efforts! Anyway, i gave the tt everything i had, quite literally as i felt awful afterwards!, but the 6th place was definitely worth it, proper happy with that and looking good for GC.

Next was the circuit race, including the big hill, but in the opposite direction which was just as tough. There were quite a few attacks but nothing was getting away, just people dropping off the back up the hill, and some major dodgy breaking going on on the downhill! In the end i just rolled in in the bunch, but it was a tough 1hr race!

Day Two - ouch.

I was in 7th now on GC, so i just needed to stay in any front group or break in the road race, seemed pretty simple...

The race got underway and oh my gosh it was dodgy! Carnage. I'm sorry, but some women just need to learn to ride a bike in a straight line, corner properly and hold their line. So there was quite a bit of shouting going on, as usual i suppose. About 20 miles in though, i ended up on the pavement. We'd come flying downhill to a junction, bit of an S-bend with a terrible road surface, there'd been something going on infront of me, i tried to avoid it and ended up flying over the kerb. not happy. i don't totally remember what happened, but we weren't going slow which probably didn't help at all. Anyway i've left quite a bit of skin in essex, but luckily nothing is broken because i came down pretty badly on my shoulder.

National Circuit Champs

After crashing out last week i was looking forward to getting on with some fast town centre racing! And it was brilliant having the Langdale van there, looking dead professional near to Rapha and Endura etc. and yes, ofcourse we were allowed to park it there! ;)

I knew today was going to be fast and god it was. I had a rubbish start with two women crashing into each other whilst attempting to clip in, so i spent the first few laps moving up, whilst numorous attacks happened, ouch. After getting back up near the front i just hung on, people were being dropped every lap and it wasn't long until about 10 of us were remaining. Not long after someone attacked and the group temporarily split (well that's what we hoped), i was in the back 6 and we were just getting the gap back when we met all the lapped riders. We also met them at the tightest left hand bend on the circuit, so ofcourse they were all over the road and the gap grew as we fought past the lapped group. The gap stayed at about 10 seconds for the majority of the race and our group dropped to 4 riders, with Sarah Storey towing us round! On the last lap when there were only the 8 of us left on the circuit, we just caught the back of the front 4, but it was too late and i finished in 7th. But an amazing win by Barnes :)!

Happy with the finish though i suppose, because there was such a good start list for the race today, so i didn't really know where i'd end up. Shoulder seems to feel a little worse though! oops.

Triathlon camp, Les stables, France July 21st-August 4th and London Triathlon 7th August :)

Hi everyone, i have had a very busy two weeks in France at Les stables. Got some great training in. Feeling so much stronger on the bike. Really enjoyed my time there with everyone. I would have to say my favourite part of the trip was when me, Steve, Sophie and Kate went for an open water swim in the thunder and lightening (and yes i did say this was my favourite part of the trip) :P and two others followed us in the canoe and then we all got stuck in some mud (random i know) but very fun!! We also went to watch the last time trial of Le tour DE France, this was such a good day. Got a lot of great pictures and a few autographs (: Anyway can't wait to go back next year!!

London Tri

This weekend i had London tri which i really enjoyed, one of my better races this year :D Me and mum got there Friday Night after being stuck in traffic for 2hours :( not good, but got there and had some food :) That night i went through last minute check list (even though it would be a bit late if i had forgotten something by now) and had a quick look through the race booklet. Morning of the race, had my usual weekabix :) and headed down to the Excel and put my things in transition. Then me and a few of my friends who were also racing went through transition and swim exits..ETC. Then i was all sorted!! I think nerves were taking over again and i was feeling a bit sick but then calm down a little before getting in the water. I really enjoyed the swim, even though it was the most manic id ever been in due to being set off with the boys. But i was so happy with 4th girl coming out with the leading group. Got wetsuit of very well and a good T1 then i was off on the bike. it was the first time i was trying keeping the shoes already on the bike instead of putting them on in transition, which went really well! Bike i was happy with but was hoping for a bit better position coming in. Then T2 WOOOPSIEEE :S not the best of transitions, i ran pasted my slot in transition and then eventually getting there and putting my bike on the rack, it then fall off :S so not good, but something to work on for next time! Run, i was quite happy with my run apart from the beginning where i had a bad stitch but i ran through it and then coming to the last 100m of the race, i was feeling like i was going to be sick and got inside of the excel and i was :( so i lost one position! But overall very pleased with 9th overall :D

i have a few pictures from France and London tri :)