Friday 26 July 2013

Le Tour Feminin en Limousin Stage 1

With four days of racing in the legs it was time for a few days recovery and some tourist rides. 

Post recovery ride cool down. 

Le Tour Feminin en Limousin had been billed as being hillier than Bretagne and this was certainly the case!

The Tour de Bretagne was a massive learning curve and one of the main things for me was positioning. Positioning is key!! Getting yourself in a good position in the peloton is one thing, staying there is another!! You can't switch off for even a second or you'll have drifted back 4 or 5 wheels. So going into Limousin, positioning was one thing I wanted to focus on. 

Stage 1 started off steady, but the narrow roads made moving up the bunch quite tricky. It was a case of see a space and put the power down to get into it before someone else beat you to it.  Around 6 or 7 km from the second QOM prime, I managed to get right onto the front, joined shortly after by Mel. This proved to be good timing as not long after came the customary ramp up in speed by the contenders for the mountain points. Being up the front allows you the safety net of drifting back a wee bit without being right off the back, but it's actually much easier as you kind of get sucked along surrounded by other riders. The fast descent that followed had the peloton strung out, with a few riders involved in a crash on a small bridge at the bottom of the next climb. I had to dig deep to stay on the wheel going up the climb and the small group of us chased back through the convoy to rejoin the main bunch. 

Not long into the finishing circuit, where we were to do 5 laps, a small group of us were again distanced from the main bunch. The pace was pretty fast as we chased to get back on the main bunch and I was having to go some to stay with them at times. As we crossed the start/finish with 3 laps to go, around the 90km mark I think, I lost the wheel and later heard from Stew that it was like it was in slow motion. Stew pulled alongside me at this point and said to chase so I put the hammer down and gave it everything I could to get back to the group. After several "almost but not quite" attempts I had to resign myself to the fact that I was off the back. Stew pulled alongside me again and (although it took a few tellings) I followed his advice to sit up and wait for the group behind to catch me. This was something I found mentally quite hard to do, as I was extremely frustrated at having lost the wheel. The remaining laps were a much more comfortable speed and seeing the 1km to go marker was such a relief! 

The next few hours were spent doing some self-reflection (code for beating myself up, but not literally!!). However after some good chats with Peter, Stew and my team mates, I was feeling much more positive and focused on the next day's stage, the individual TT. More on the other stages in my next post...

Cheers!

Thursday 18 July 2013

Stage 2 of the Tour de Bretagne was the individual time trial. Full TT gear was allowed and there was some seriously nice bike kit on show! The team had individual plans on how to ride the TT, be it full gas or saving the legs for the remaining stages. I had decided to give it a good go (gie it laldy as they say back home) and made my road bike as aero as possible with deep section wheels (big thank you to Mark for the loan of such sweet wheels) and clip on bars, every little helps I guess!

Another first for me, rolling down the start ramp and as I did so I could hear cheers of "go Julie"! Never did I expect to see a familiar face in the crowd so far from home, but here was George Findlater and his grandson , definitely a much needed boost and great surprise - thanks George! I concentrated on staying nice and compact on the bars and focused on finding a nice rhythm to tap away on the pedals. I was fairly happy with the way I'd ridden it and then made the most of the extra few hours of recovery before Stage 3 the next day.

I had been contemplating whether to write anything at all about Stage 3, mainly because there's not much to say as my memory of it is pretty hazy to say the least! No, I hadn't got a temporary bout of amnesia, but such hot temperatures and adrenaline aren't really a good combo for a 124km race!!  Peter (my coach) had taken a day out of his hols to come and support the team (another big thank you) and he was in the team car with Stew for the race, after watching (and laughing) at Stew's creative moment that involved me recreating a photo that a certain Mr Cavendish had once posed for.



So this is where my memory gets a bit fuzzy and other than a few sections of the course, I don't remember much of how the race unfolded other than having to dig very deep to stay with the bunch.  At times there was some sharp braking, at one point causing my neck to click and leave me unable to put my head back.  I guess this served as a distraction from the pain in my legs but made it a very uncomfy ride. I lasted with the bunch up until we hit the finishing circuit, when I dropped back to try and get a bottle from the team car. Little did I know that poor Mary was having a total nightmare of a race, having punctured and then a brutal chase to get back on, only to hit the back of a car after it braked right in front of her. When asked what this was like, Mary's response was "it was just like a bird hitting a window". Thankfully Miss Mary was able to get back on her bike and chase back on to the bunch, albeit a wee bit dazed!  Mary then joined Bricey, who was also having a pretty tough time of it, suffering from multiple cramps and delirium!! Meanwhile I was riding in TT mode round the circuit, receiving updates from Amanda about how far Mary and Amy were up the road.  My ultimate yet misguided wisdom made me think it would be a good idea to chase to join their group, I think delirium had also started to set in and all advice of saving the legs and cruising home forgotten. Eventually I made it up to Mary and Amy, all of 3 miles from the finish. They were greeted with a "hi guys" as I moved through to take a turn on the front, just wanting the race to be over...

Adrenaline is a weird thing. It's great during a race to help push into the red and dig deep, but almost immediately after crossing the finish line its gone, leaving me unable to do much other than roll down towards Stew and pitifully attempt to turn the pedals.  The next wee while is a blur, but apparently the finish area resembled a crash scene with bodies everywhere, me included.  It's safe to say that the whole team put in a monumental effort on that stage !!!  So three stages down, one to go...

Thursday 11 July 2013

Tour de Bretagne stage 1

For the next 2 weeks I'm guesting for DID Ladies Racing Team at the Tour de Bretagne and Tour Feminin en Limousin. I'm really excited about this opportunity that DID have given me (thanks guys!!) and it will be ace to race as part of a team for the first time.  Big thank you to the team, their sponsor DID Electrical and   Europcar for the car hire in France. This trip is going to be one of many firsts for me, can't wait!!
Stew loading up the team car before we head off. 

So Thursday 11th July, my first UCI race. I'd been out like a light the night before and had a great sleep so was feeling pretty fresh in the morning. Our team meeting the night before had helped to settle the nerves a bit with no pressure and just to see how the legs were in the race. It was such a contrast travelling to the race with the team, eating lunch together and warming up as well. I felt proud rolling down to the start alongside my team mates (Amy, Siobhan, Mel, Mary, Clem) in the DID kit and standing on the podium at sign-on for a few photos. We have such ace support from Stew (DS), Amanda (soigneur) and Caroline (PRO) so everything is taken care of and all we really have to do is concentrate on the racing!

Team DID at the podium presentation before Stage 1. 

Lining up at the start I think nervous excitement sums up the way I was feeling. I tried to just take a few deep breaths and couldn't wait to get started. Riders had started lining up quite early and so after one final obligatory comfort stop, I found myself quite close to the back along with Mel and Mary. As soon as the race went off I managed to move up into the top half of the field. This wasn't all that close to the front though with the 120 riders in the race! Another first being in a race with such a big field!

The race went off quite steady and a few riders tried an early attack. They were brought back in fairly quickly though and the bunch was holding a steady pace. We all had stickers on our top tubes with key points on the parcours. The first of these was the hill prime at 17km. The pace started to ramp up for this and I had to work hard to hold the wheel in front. Getting the first hard effort in the legs in a race always feels better and I could then settle in to holding my position in the bunch and shelter from the wind, something I've been trying to work on. 

The standard of riding was very good and other than a girl sort of jettisoning into a field, there were no real incidents that I knew of. I soon learned that Mary was really good at positioning in the bunch and so I tried to follow her wheel as much I could - thanks Mary! I just remember at one point in the race, maybe around half way, just thinking to myself "I'm racing in France" and having a wee smile to myself. 

After 95km the race went onto a 6km circuit, where we did 5 laps. This wee circuit proved to be hillier than we thought and not long into the first lap around the 100km mark, my legs sort of gave up and lost power so I drifted off the back of the bunch. There were a few others dropping back as well at this point as the pace seemed to ramp up as we hit the circuit.  I ended up in small group to finish off the last few laps and we were picking off a few riders who had been dropped from the main bunch as the final laps counted down. It came down to a sprint within our group at the finish so I thought just one last wee dig and then it's over! The longest race I've ever done at 79 miles and my legs are definitely feeling it. Amanda's magic massage hands sorted out the tightness in my legs after dinner and then it was time for bed.  

I think it was mixed emotions within the team as to how everyone felt about their own performance, but everyone gave it everything they had on the day.  Tomorrow is another day so bring on the individual time trial! 

Cheers,

Jools.