I know its a bit late, but I have finally found some time to catch up on my blogging.
Sunday 24th June saw the National Road Race Champs head to Glasgow as a test event for next years Commonwealth Games, and 3 GB Cycles girls made the journey - me, Brit and Hayley.
The course has been widely viewed as being a 100km long crit race, as at no point did the circuit hit any countryside, unless you count Kelvingrove Park. I was dubious myself being an avid crit hater, so the best thing we did was to ride the course early on Sunday morning (after the roads were closed), after which my fears were passified (although Brit's and Hayley's were not).
After a good warm up, we all positioned ourselves well on the start line, getting valuable TV coverage for our favourite sponsors Geoffrey Butler Cycles. With the Proclaimers blasting over the speakers I was getting excited and pumped to get started.
From the gun, Anda-Jay Burgess (Sandy Wallace Cycles and Glasgow local) obviously had a plan to make the most of a home championships, getting a whole lap up front to herself to enjoy the crowds. Having had a skid into the first right angled bend, I moved myself right to the front of the peloton so I could pick my own line through all the rest of the corners on the first lap. The rest of the field (including all those Olympic and World medallists) were happy to sit behind me.
It wasn't until the third lap that the race really started kicking off, and I found myself stuck behind a few people who weren't holding the wheel in front. A small group of us formed, and with powerhouses like Alexie Shaw, Natalie Creswick and Laura Massey we pulled ourselves back on for the next pass of the finish.
The same happened on lap 4, and, in hindsight, a split second decision to climb in the saddle rather than power out of it might have broken my race, and this time Alexie, Laura and Natalie made the break, leaving me in a smaller group with Jane Barr, Jessica Learmouth and Helen Ralston. Unfortunately, Brit hadn't managed to get back on after the pace increase on lap 3 (and rode the rest of the race on her own - chapeau).
Our group came and went a bit - we gained Lucy Coldwell (who had punctured earlier on in the race) and up and coming track star Katie Archibald, and lost Jessica to a mechanical, and Katie, but the other 4 of us stayed together and mostly worked well together. With 2 laps to go, the bell rang and tannoy announced that we had only one lap to go, despite being told from the side of the road that we were still within 10mins of the race lead. Helen and I had a dig on the last climb up Montrose Street, but Lucy and Jane came back to us. Back in Glasgow Green, Helen led out the sprint, and it turned out that Lucy and Jane hadn't clocked that we were finishing, so seemed a bit pissed off that Helen had sprinted. On crossing the line, the tannoy confirmed that we had been racing for 24th - 27th places, and finishing 3rd in our mini sprint, that gave me 26th place - a highly respectable performance.
Getting pulled out a lap early has its advantages, as I was then able to watch the leaders coming through. A big solo effort from Lizzie Armitstead got her the win, with Wiggle Honda girls Laura Trott and Dani King taking 2nd and 3rd. The most impressive performances on the day came from Natalie, Alexie and Laura who rode straight through the field to finish 9th, 11th and 13th respectively.
Iona at Peterborough Crit
