Iona at Peterborough Crit

Iona at Peterborough Crit

Friday 11 April 2014

Post Tour Ta Malta training and mostly eating camp in Sicily

After a very physically and emotionally taxing four days racing in Malta, mainly down to suffering with a violent stomach bug/food poisoning over the last 2 days of the tour, I was definitely ready for some chill out time, recovery rides and then some productive training in the sun (without horrific stomach pain!) before returning to the UK.

Our Sicily group consisted of Iona, Sandra, Steph, Michelle me and Rob. We spent two days off the bike in Malta recovering after the Tour doing some sight seeing in Valetta the old capital city of Malta which was definitely needed as I was still suffering from some of the post effects of the stomach bug so I did a lot of sleeping too!

At 4am we woke up to ride down to the ferry which was a surprising nice ride considering it was just past dawn! My legs were still very heavy from the Tour so it was nice to spin them out before we rode later in the day in Sicily. We all had a good sleep on the ferry before we got picked up at the ferry port by our lovely host called Salvo in Sicily. Later that day we had an easy 2 hr spin out to Milo were I was starting to worry if my legs would ever feel the same again!

The next day, after a humongous pizza and a good sleep my legs suddenly reappeared! We set off up Mount Etna for our first climb of the training camp. It was a long 20k climb so 1hr and 30 mins later we arrived at the top of Etna. The mist was really thick at the top and the temperature as sub zero with not much of a view to see except the team saxo bank car that we all got very excited about, we all huddled into the restaurant for a quick coffee before we descended. At this point however both me and Iona shivering badly so when we started descending I really suffered. My body completely froze up and I don't think iv ever been as cold on a bike and thats saying something as iv been in some bad situations in the uk! Then I got a puncture! Rob very kindly sorted out my puncture as I couldn't feel my fingers! I decided I needed to go home to get warm so Rob very kindly escorted me home and the girls carried on to do abit more of a ride. When I got back to the hotel I got straight into bed and slept for 4 hours! All the girls rode really well today and climbed great!

Day 2 I finally felt like I was recovering from the stomach illness and was excited to ride up Etna again, today we were riding up the steepest side of Etna and as soon as we hit the climb me Rob and Iona hit it hard! I loved this climb it was my favourite climb so far since iv started cycling...just a brutal climb for 1hour 30 mins! It was a much better and warmer day thankfully! So when we got to the top we got an amazing view and took a lot of pictures which I didn't think we would get to do considering how cold it was at the top yesterday. We had a guide today a lovely guy also called Salvo, it seems everyone in Sicily seems to be called Salvo! After the ride Salvo invited us to go to meet his Mum who ran an old people's home at the most of Etna she cooked us a three course meal which was amazing including all homemade wine, vegetables, and olives. We had a lot of banter although only Steph could understand Salvo who couldn't speak any English and we couldn't speak any Italian so it was a rather amusing meal signing to each other.

I am currently sat here about to go to tea with the team and I can officially say I have my appetite back yeppeee! Tomorrow we are planning an easy 2 hour ride before we head back to Malta for one day then fly back to the UK on Monday :(

It's been a great four days in Sicily the girls have been great fun and have all ridden really well and I definitely want to come back here to batter myself up Etna some more next year!

That's all for now, next race Nigel Measom 2-day stage race then Cheshire Classic...bring it on!

Baby Tate




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