The Ras na mBan hasn't even started yet..

After a busy day at work yesterday, driving the 5 hours alone to Fishguard did not appeal. I didn’t want to go, stressing about whether or not I was good enough, whether or not I would enjoy myself, what the accommodation would be like…
I (sort of) manned up and got on with the drive. After an extremely dull 5 hours I arrived at Fishguard at 12.10am – early for the time I was due to meet Karen and Steve from GB Cycles. They were delayed as they had to go back for Karen’s passport, so with the time being fairly tight I was asked to be standing outside the car with my bike ready to put on the bike rack for 1.20am. So at 1.18am I was stood in a cold, dark, empty, eerie car park with my beautiful Parlee Z5 Sli. At 1.30am I was still stood there. I called Karen and she had put the wrong postcode in the satnav! They were 40miles away – with only 30 minutes to go until boarding closed. The ETA was now 2.35am and they were probably going to run out of petrol. Shit. There was no way they were going to make the ferry.
Reluctantly under Karen’s instructions I went to see the lady on the Stena Line desk (thinking that there was absolutely nothing we could do about the situation) and emptied my contents of the car in their office so that IF they arrived in time, I could load their car up quickly. They were really very, very helpful and to my disbelief allowed us to board despite being so late. To save time I even rode my bike onto the ferry rather than strap it onto the car roof – felt a bit weird sprinting along a ferry dock at half two in the morning.  

As it happens, I am already having a great time with the GB Cycles team. Line up for the Ras is:

Iona Sewell
Karen Poole
Sandra McKay
Michelle Forster (London Phoenix rider also guesting for GB Cycles)
And me

After lunch where the waiter hilariously dropped both our drinks AND food all over the floor, we all went out for a little spin this afternoon just to get the travelling out of our legs and Michelle’s front mech fell off into her chain jamming it so she couldn’t pedal. We took it in turns to push her the 8km back to the hotel, where we still haven’t found a fix to the problem yet… Fingers crossed she can start tomorrow for the first stage.

The Ras na mBan (women’s tour of Ireland) consists of 6 stages over 5 days. The first will be tomorrow at 5pm and is 65km ‘rolling’ circuit based around Ennis - http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2153061. For race updates follow @rasnamban and for a start list click here.

Thank-you Activ Cycles

I’m pleased to announce that I will continue to be supported by Activ Cycles (an independent bike shop based in Corbridge, Northumberland) for the 2013 season in addition to the Champion Systems/Maxgear team.

The guys at Activ Cycles really helped me out through 2012 in lending me equipment to race with and encouraging me to believe in myself. I had a difficult start to the year after breaking my collarbone in 2011 and was at a point where I was ready to give it up. They persuaded me to travel up to train with them a couple of times in Northumberland and the Lakes and reminded me what I enjoy about riding my bike. They’re brilliant fun, although trying to follow them downhill is not so much fun – nutters!

Thanks very much guys, really looking forward to the rest of 2013! Please follow them @activcycles or like them on facebook.

London Bike Show Rapha Elite Women’s Indoor London Nocturne

Outline of the course www.londonnocturne.com

I love doing things that are a little bit different, so when I heard about the UK’s first indoor criterium – the Rapha Elite Women’s Criterium at the ExCel - I had to have a go. The race was only 25minutes + 5 laps, so I figured that track league speed, combined with long base miles would suffice in off season.

The day before we were due to travel the forecast was for heavy snow, so it was touch and go whether we would be able to get there. I had taken the day off work and didn’t fancy spending it sat at home not racing, so went for it!

The conditions on the M6 were interesting. The outer lane not in use as it was covered in an inch or so of snow, but the traffic was quiet and there wasn’t much snow south of Birmingham.  We arrived in plenty of time to have a look around the bike show.

Watching the 2^nd cat race and fixed bike race (yes that’s with no gears or brakes) before ours was interesting to say the least. There were a number of crashes and anyone who came off on ‘the paint’ was losing a LOT of skin!





Me cornering - obviously to fast for Towse

Rider briefing - mostly telling us not to run over their
feet!

I made sure I got a place on the front row on the start line – I couldn’t mess it up after coming all this way. The whistle went and I got swamped. I had the worst imaginable start ending up in the back quarter of the field after lap 1. Not the start I was aiming for..
It took 4-5 laps of riding as hard as I could and negotiating passing riders in the corners to bridge to what was left of the bunch – all of 3 riders! I sat in to recover and realised Clemence Copie was away, so made an effort to get her back with the others, but I was already suffering from having to chase back on. I looked over at the clock, expecting us to be half way in  and it only showed 5 minutes! The course was quite twisty and technical in places, although the corners were painted with a red paint with grit in it to make the corners more grippy which worked well (as long as you kept it upright). The only issue was coming onto and off the painted areas – cornering too early or too late would mean sliding out on the concrete - in the first few laps of the race I nearly decked it a fair number of times!        

In the closing stages of the race my legs were buckling but I just about managed to stay with the other 3 riders finishing in 5^th. The race was a bit of a shock to the system, but saying its off season I’m pretty pleased with my result!

1	Clemence Copie	High Wycombe Cycling Club	28:26
2	Alice Barnes	23C Orbea	+33
3	Louise Mahe	Team MuleBarGirl	ST
4	Alexie Shaw	Les Filles Racing Team	ST
5	Nicola Soden	Champion System/Maxgear	ST

Click here for full results