Saturday the 10th August saw myself and Karen go out across the Sussex countryside in the search of some good hill training ahead of the Ras Na Mban.
For me it was more of a shock due to the fact that although the suffolk Essex borders do have their hidden little gems, as teams found out at the Giro, but on the whole we don't have the hills that down south has.
Lead by Karen and her Garmin we had a great ride, and some good climbs, and a perfect sunny day, getting home after a good 100km's , making me wish for a nice golden pint whilst on the green watching the cricket recovering!!
The next day however we were heading down to Winchester for a town criterium. Arriving early we had time to walk and ride around the course, which was really nice, and technical, good if you love cornering, we had our lunch, then before you know we are warming up on our turbo and rollers.
We were advised we had to meet at 16:50 near registration, which all us girls duly did only to be held there until about 17:30, so it was the same for everyone, warm up and then a long cool down before the start.
GB Cycles a long with a few others were lucky enough to be gridded at the front, now normally I never have an issue with getting my foot into the pedal, but this time the left one argued a bit and I faffed and lost a bit of an advantage I could have had. Nonetheless, I dug in deep made up what I could, and eventually found myself working hard with a few others, really pushing it to close the gap on a larger group just yards up ahead. The course was fairly short, and twisty and turny, but I was finding myself really comfortable with the corners, which is a great feeling. I also absolutely enjoyed the race, never enjoy the waiting, but once your off, that's it.
Thank you Steve Wright for always being there for us, and accepting all our little ways.
