In 2012 I
entered the National 10 and 25 mile Time Trials on a whim; I knew I had
improved dramatically from the previous year and I wanted to see what I could
do against some of the best TT riders in the country. To my surprise I finished 8th in the 10 and 9th
in the 25 (results that helped me obtain my University Full Blue – a Cambridge
sporting accolade). Following this
success, I aimed higher and set myself the goal of achieving a podium placing
in a National TT in 2013.
Back in late
May and early June I finished 4th in both the RTTC National 10 and
25 mile Championships. I was
extremely disappointed with this, especially the 10 where I was only 13 seconds
off Hannah Barnes who finished 3rd. Looking back, it seems silly to be disappointed with 4th
in such strong fields and at the time my friends pointed out how good the
result was. I know that on both
days I pushed myself as hard as I could and that I just didn’t have those extra
seconds in me. I was also
disappointed to have only finished 17th at the British TT
Championships in Glasgow in late June, a result I am determined to improve on
next season. Still, I knew that I
had one more chance at the end of August in the Circuit Time Trial Championships
to attain one of my season’s goals.
With little on the road calendar in August, I had plenty of time for
focussed training and spent some time re-familiarising myself with my beloved
TT bike (Pegasus), having not time trialled since BTTC.
I’ll fill
you in with other events I did in August, in preparation for the Circuit
Champs, later this week (I know there is a limit to how many cups of tea and
biscuits can be consumed in one sitting).
For now, back to Nationals…
One thing
that has really helped me with my road racing this season has been doing
cornering practice with a friend (who also happens to have been a pro in
Italy). Knowing that there was a
tough corner on the course for the Circuit Champs I arranged a TT-bike specific
session with him for the Thursday, 2 days before the race. This was a really valuable session and
made me feel much more confident about my ability to take the corners on the
course at a decent speed – rather than just trying to not lose time to others
through the corners, I might actually gain some! I am especially grateful to
Dave for helping me last Thursday given that he had a cast put on his leg that
morning and was on crutches, hobbling around a car park giving me advice on my
lines!
After a
recovery spin on Friday it was time to head to Salisbury, where we would be
staying with Mark’s parents to make the journey to the race on Saturday more
manageable. Luckily we had been
warned that the traffic between Salisbury and Bovington Camp (where the HQ was)
was likely to be terrible due to the Dorset Steam Fair and Bournemouth Air Show
so we had factored in plenty of time for the drive on Saturday morning. We arrived and did a circuit of the
course in the car before I set off with Pegasus to ride a lap and practice That
Corner. I know that several people
were caught out by the traffic and I hate feeling rushed when getting ready for
a big event so I was glad that we had built in plenty of time – I really think
It was beneficial to have ridden the course beforehand as the conditions on the
day, coupled with the rolling terrain affected the way I planned to pace my
ride.
I think that
warming up on the turbo pre-race was the most nervous I have felt all season
(or certainly close to it).
Normally, once I start my pre-race routine the nerves calm down and I
just settle into a pattern that I have repeated many times before. Last Saturday however, I felt quite
sick during warm up and couldn’t seem to settle down. I think the reason for this was that I had put a lot of
pressure on myself to do well and finish on the podium. Neither Hannah Barnes (who came 3rd
at the 10) nor Anne Turvey (who was 2nd at the 25) were racing and
so I felt like I should almost be guaranteed a medal, but I also know that
anything can happen in bike racing; there were people on the start sheet who
hadn’t raced the 10 or 25 and other riders (like Bronwen Ewing) who had just
been getting better all season. As
a result I was nervous because I didn’t want to just miss out yet again.
Regardless, I had a job to do so I got on with my pre-race routine as
normal and arrived at the start with about 5 minutes to spare, confident that
my bike was in excellent working order and that I was as ready as I was ever
going to be! Soon enough I was being held up on the start line, ready to
complete 2 laps of the circuit (just over 20 miles in total). “10” start the
garmin, “5, 4…” remember to breathe, “3,2,1, GO!” Mark yelling at me to “go,
go, go!”.
The race
went fairly well to plan. I quite
enjoy circuit courses as you normally have a good idea of where you are on the
course, whereas with some out and back TTs every meter looks the same. One
thing I found on Saturday is that there are pros and cons to having so many
riders on the course at once (the juniors started directly in front of the
women so the fields quickly became entangled); the major downside, on a course
with a roundabout and a tight left-hand bend, turned out to be having riders
ahead at inopportune moments which meant I had to back off a little at times. I also found that there were times when
4 or 5 riders had all ‘bunched up’ and I was having to stay out in the middle
of the road for extended periods of time.
Mark and I had spoken beforehand about where I would be catching the
riders ahead of me if I was having a good race – I caught Karina Bowie (who was
my 1-minute woman) just before the end of the first lap, which was what we had
hoped. After that I caught other
women who had started ahead of me at fairly regular intervals. Mark was standing at the side of the
road on the longest section of the course during my second lap to give me a
time-check on Rebecca Slack. I
have never beaten Rebecca before and she almost always finishes on the podium
in the RTTC National TT events.
However I felt that I was capable of beating her at some point this
season and so she was the rider I was having time-checks against. As I approached Mark I could see that
his hand was raised in the air – I was up on her! I then heard him shout “8
seconds” and so I went in to overdrive, pushing as hard as I could for the
remaining few miles, hoping that I could keep the gap. I finished strongly and then made my
way back to HQ to look at the results.
I had done it! An 8-second difference between me and Rebecca at the
finish resulted in silver for me and bronze for her – my first National TT
medal. As expected, the women’s
event was won by the unstoppable Julia Shaw – another gold cap to add to her
collection. I was pleased with my
performance though as I’ve gained some ground on her since the 25 in June. My aim now has to be getting as close
to her as I can next year (or maybe even beating her at some point…?!).
There are
some people without whom I never would have achieved my goals this season, and
in particular this silver medal.
I’ve already mentioned Dave who has not only helped me with cornering
but has also been a source of support and advice when I’ve needed it. Secondly I must thank Daimian who not
only built my TT bike in the first place but also checks it over before each of
my target events to make sure that it is working perfectly. Finally, there is no way I would have
achieved anything in cycling without Mark. He might bully me and make me train when I don’t want to but
without him I would probably spend all of my time sitting on the sofa eating
cake. Clearly the training plan he
has written has been working, as much as I complain about how hard he pushes
me. Thanks also to all at gbcycles
who have supported me this season; Steve for giving me a place on the team in
the first place and always being supportive and encouraging, Stephen for
sourcing me some essential components and the girls for pushing me to be a
better rider. You all deserve
medals too… but you can’t have mine ;-).
