24 June 2007

Every year we forget how hard racing in Zeeland is purely based on the fact that the whole region is reclaimed land and at sea level. This might not seem like much until you remember that Holland has the strongest winds in the world (not a true fact!!!) and the straightest roads creating the most impressive side winds ever!!!!

So once again the team went to the annual 3 day stage race the Raboster Zeeland race in Holland. The race started with a 7.2km time trial based on a great circuit near and including the sea front. With my brand new shiny Guerciotti time trial bike from Fat Birds Don’t Fly in Hunstanton I was really pleased with my time. I came in 23rd with a great time of 9mins and 52 seconds, and an average of 43.6kph!!! Immediately after I finished the heavens opened and poor Linn had to ride in the extremely heavy rainfall for her entire ride!!!! It was really grim looking when I was sat warming down on the turbo trainer!!!

The next day, as is the tradition of this race, the stage started at 18:30 again in the rain!! The first crash was after approximately 3 metres!!!! Good start to the race! Anyway fortunately there weren’t many more and the race progressed pretty quickly after a few attacks that never stuck the bunch was down to 80 riders in the finish. A small crash in the last 500metres messed up the sprint near the front but everyone was given the same time with all the team safe.

The following day once again started with rain but fortunately it stopped before the start of the race. Luckily for us the 60kph winds dried the roads pretty quickly and we were looking forward to a great race. The winds were always going to play a massive factor in the race and boy they did!!! After just 50km the bunch was down from 138 starters to just 60. Then by the first passage across the finish line around 90km there were just 40 of us left!! Unfortunately on the next lap the race split again in the chase to get the front group of 10. Me and Sigrid were in this split along with another 12 riders and we were unable to get back on. We finished 27th and 28th on the stage putting me in 26th on general classification. At the end of the race only 39 of the riders completed the full circuit to be classified. Hmm not a bad fall out rate, 100 riders!!!!!!

Before this race on Sunday we had all ridden in the Tielt-Winge world championships (well it is a very important race at least!!!) in our home town. With the sign on less than 200metres from our house it’s fair to say it was an important race for the team to win and luckily we did!!!

We all worked well together as a team and covered all the breaks. After 4 laps I went away with Siobhan Dervan the Irish National Champion, who rides for Lotto. We worked hard together and made 3mins on the bunch. Unfortunately the bunch started to work to get us back pretty hard and with 1 lap to go they caught us. As a few more breaks went Debby was working hard to keep it together for Sigrid in the sprint when another attack went with 2km to go. This time Louise was on it and a gap formed. The 3 riders, Louise, Yolandi and a Belgium girl worked hard together and Louise kicked in her devastating sprint (I know, she has beaten me to many sign posts!!!!!) and won convincingly!

It was another great result for the team. We are now off to the National Road Race Championships in England this weekend. It should be a great race as long as the water from the massive floods the whole of Yorkshire are currently experiencing has subsided. Otherwise it will be a pedalo race!!!!! So till then.

Tour De L’aude May 17th – 27th, 2007

Well guys I realise it has been a while since I last updated my website but I do have a good excuse!! Honest!! I have spent the last 2 weeks racing in the south of France in the biggest womens stage race in the world, the Tour De L’aude. Oh and its 10 days long!!!!!!

We travelled down to the race on the Wednesday via a really nice hotel that Harry and Amelia have been to many times before. While we were there there was some kind of party for a wedding anniversary going on which started fairly tame. Until just after we arrived when they all started on the karaoke and Spanish style dancing. It was great entertainment!!!!

But anyway to the race, after the team presentation on the Thursday evening (it was like a whos, who of cyclo-cross including the majority of the top 10 from the worlds this year!!!) we had a 3.9km prologue to start the race. This was won by the current Austrian time trial champion, Christine Soeder ahead of Hanka Kupfernagel! In our team me and Debby where split on time by 0.3 seconds!!!!!

The profiles in the races are always a little bit unrealistic and most of the times don’t really show how bad they are and this race was no exception!!! Having been sick for the week before the race I always new it would be a difficult start to the race although it was definitely harder than I had expected!!! Luckily Debby was on flying form and finished well up in the front bunch.

The next day was the team time trial, 40km including a 1km climb!! With only 5 riders it was always going to be hard but it was good fun. I rode my new time trial bike Fat Birds Don’t Fly kindly supplied for me and it was fast!!! The wind really slowed the time trial down but we finished a happy 17th team.

Only 7 more days to go!!!!! The race on the next day seemed quite tame until the bigla team went to the front of the race and completely split it on the descent!!!!! Debby was on flying form and managed to get into the front group and finished with them 2mins up on the main bunch.

Having made it through the first 3 days we were really looking forward to next 3 which including the mountain stage down in the Pyrenees, of two 1860 metre climbs. The best teams in the world all ride this race which made it so incredibly fast and hard at the front but the team rode well over all the stages helping Debby to stay up there as long as possible, by day 6 she had moved up into 28th place on the general classification.

The stages all passed pretty quickly and everyday seemed to be a little bit hillier than the last!!! Everyday the guys would come back and tell us how pretty the scenery was…hmm some how I must off missed that bit!! I did get a little look when I punctured on a descent and Linn came back to help me get back on but otherwise most of it past in a blur!!!

On the last stage of the race having covered 900km of racing me and Debby were incredibly happy to finish in the bunch just 55 seconds down on the break away group on the stage.

That evening there is a presentation of all the jerseys in the race in a big sports hall in the town where the last stage finished. After the presentation these crazy people came into the hall dressed as clowns holding big sticks and dancing to a brass band whilst carrying a big cream cake!!!! Hmm no I didn’t have anything to drink!!!!!

So now I have a little rest before we have 2 races this weekend in Belgium, I’ll let you know how it goes!

24 April 2007

After a much steadier weekend, with just the one race, a kermese here in Belgium, this weekend we were all nice and fresh for our 2 race weekend, Ronde Van Gelderland, Holland and Wortel-Hoogstraten, Belgium.

At 140km Saturdays UCI race is one of the longest on the women’s calendar. Held over one 70km flat circuit and one 70km hillier circuit it suits all types of racers. The team had 8 riders in the race assigned to different roles. After a fairly uneventful start a small break of 8 went on the first hill, including Marianne Vos. Unfortunately Vos attacked this group and was sent the wrong way with Chantel Beltman and reappeared in the peleton after a good chase back to us!! So in a true act of team work the other DSB rider in the break dropped back to the bunch and they all worked to bring the break back with a slight help from Therme Skin and us. With the break caught with just 5km to go the race was back on. A slight split in the final descent left us with 3 riders in the main group for the sprint. After a lot of directed anger Vos won the sprint ahead of T-mobiles Ina Totenberg. Lizzie was 19th and I was 31st in the bunch.

The following day we were racing back in Belgium in Wortel. On a slightly smaller circuit than normal of only 3.6km it was a very fast race. After a number of attacks from the team Lizzie got away in a small group of 4. After a slight hesitation in the peleton and some great team blocking I jumped away on my own. Within a lap I had reached the lead group. After 6 laps the bunch brought us back to just 10 seconds where another 2 riders jumped across to us. With fresh blood in the break we quickly gained a steady advantage over the field of 1min 30secs. In the final laps I made a couple of attacks, although making a gap the group where able to get me back and it ended in a sprint. Lizzie, fresh from sitting in the group came 3rd in the sprint and I was 7th. Another successful outing for the team.

This weekend I am racing Sunday in GP Stad Roselare, Belgium and Tuesday in a criterium in Belgium. So till then.

10 April 2007

This weekend was the Tour of Flanders, the teams first world cup of the season, run over the famous cobbled course with way too many climbs on it!!! It was an amazing race with a lot of spectators and hundreds of British fans everywhere!! Thanks for the support guys!!

The team started the race well although unfortunately we lost Nikki early with the effects of lingering team house sickness taking its toll. The pace was incredibly fast for the first hour as every team wanted to be at the front to reach the cobbles first. Unfortunately just 1km before the first major set of cobbles there was a big crash on both sides of the road taking out all the rest of our team except me! Debby was able to get back up quickly enough to get back to the bunch by the end of the cobbles section however the rest of the girls bikes or bodies were unable to get them back up there, leaving just me and Debby in the some what reduced bunch!

After a long section of sitting in I unfortunately lost contact with the bunch around 90km on the cobbled descent and was unable to get back to the group thanks to the very helpful doctors car stopped blocking the entire road!! Before the last 2 cobbled climbs I was able to join onto a small group of 10 riders including Debby to ride to the finish. We finished 68th and 74th just 3mins 30 secs down on the winner Nicole Cooke. It was a brilliant, incredibly hard race. It is defiantly true when they say that the crowds can take the pain away especially on the famous Muur.

The next day we were racing in the bike Belgium kermese race in Dottignies. With a few of the girls fresh from not having ridden the day before and 80% of the teams from the world cup present on the tiny 6km narrow circuit it was going to be a hard but fun race. Unfortunately I was incredibly tired from the previous day and just survived the race finishing in the bunch. Also bad luck struck the team again with 2 punctures and a crash taking our fresh riders out of the race!!

Next weekend we are riding a kermes in Belgium and having a training weekend with the team. Should be good fun. Till then.

2 April 2007

The weather was starting to turn into to summer here this week in Belgium until Friday when in true Belgium style it rained and was incredibly windy and felt just like winter again! Luckily for us the sun came out again in Holland on Sunday just in time for our 13 hill race!

We had previously ridden the course in training and had realised that of the 120 starters there would not be very many left after 10km and 3 hills!!! Linn rode hard on the front of the race for the first 5km to the base of the first climb to help to keep the pace high and loose as many riders as possible as quickly as possible. This worked well with 2 hills in quick succession and a technical descent the bunch had deteriorated somewhat. With the next few climbs coming in the next 30km the race was decided pretty early on. A small group formed off the front including Marianne Vos. Just 200 metres behind was 4 DSB girls, me and 2 other riders. Vos decided she wanted her team mates with her and so dropped back and picked us up.

We were then in a group of 20 riders until 20km before the finish where again Vos attacked taking a small group of 6 riders with her. I was able to follow her for a couple of metres but eventually the hill took its toll leaving me just off a group of 8 riders. Unable to get back to this group I rode alone for the final 15km before being caught by a small group of 3 just before the finish. With another great result behind us of 17th and 25th the team are really looking forward to the Tour of Flanders this weekend. We have already been training on the course and know what to expect so are really quite excited to be riding the biggest one day race for women in Europe!!

So till then!

This weekend saw the team riding their first road race of the season in the Omloop Het Volk in Belgium. It was really good with high winds and the threat of rain which actually held off for the whole race, it was a pretty hard race with only 64 of the 173 starters finishing within the time limit!!

The team looked great with the first outing of our new bio-racer pink and white kit, it was so easy to spot in the bunch it was great! I have definitely never ridden in such comfortable kit in my life! Anyway the race was pretty hard with a 7 cobbled section including a cobbled climb and a 2km long drag. With it being the first race of the season there was a lot of nervous riders and far too many crashes which split the bunch quite a lot. The side winds helped split the bunch further and by the time the race entered the finishing circuits the bunch was down to just 70 riders. By the last lap there were only 48 of us in the bunch. A small group had gone of the front on the final circuit and just stayed away for the young Danish sprinter, Mie Lacota (team Flexipoint) to take the win in her first race as a senior woman!

Nikki and Linn finished in 25th and 26th in the bunch. Unfortunately I had a little incident with a rider who attached their bike to mine slowly bringing me to a stop to detangle the bikes in the last 2km leaving me to finish in 54th 1 min down. But the team had a great day and it was good to start the season well. Oh and we were team car number 1, a first for the team meaning the boys could see everything the whole race!!!!

We are riding in Huijbergen this weekend in Holland, a criterium that I rode last year. It should be incredibly fast and I can’t wait. So till then.

Wow what a busy few months I have had!! After the world championships I have had a really nice 3 week holiday and visited all my family and friends followed by 10 days training in Majorca with some of the team. As I sit here in a very wet Belgium I am definitely thinking I was back there now!!!!!

So the World Cyclo-Cross championships, well it is fair to say it did not go exactly to plan and although I was not alone in this feeling it still didn’t make it any less disappointing! With my podium place in the world cup the proceeding weekend I was extremely excited and pretty confident about my ability to get into the top 5 again this year. Unfortunately my plans were thwarted on the first lap when the Italian national champion crashed in front of me on the first mud straight. I was unable to move past the field quick enough to get back onto the lead group and was left to take 9th place at the end of the race. I have learnt a few things from the race and what doesn’t break you only makes you strong.

I will definitely start the next season with confidence from what I have achieved overall from this entire cyclo-cross season which I think it is fair to say has been my best so far. The highlights being my 2 podium places in the world cups, winning the National championships again and maintaining my 3rd place in the world rankings from the start of the season to the finish!

But there hasn’t been much time to dwell on the cyclo-cross season as my road racing season starts on the 18th March with the Omloop Het Volk, in Belgium. The team will be showing there new pink and white kit with excitement with the new riders.

Before then I have been training in Majorca for 10 days with Stef, Dave (our mechanic), Kieran, Robbie, Gabs, Line and Linn. It was a lot of fun with a lot of distance covered and hours in the saddle. Along with a few hours in the local café ‘Happy Larry’s’! And yes the owner was called Larry and he was very happy!!!! He made a good hot chocolate too!!

We are all back in Belgium now and the girls will start to arrive in the team house in the next week which kicks off the road season. I think I must be getting old because every year seems to go by faster and faster and it does not seem like yesterday we were starting the last road season! It’s all very exciting though and I can’t wait for what I am hoping to be the most successful road season yet!! I will update after the first race in March. Till then.