Ras na mBan 2014 part 1

Having raced Ras na mBan in 2012 and 2013, this race is proving to be one of my season highlights.  Its a 5 day, 6 stage race based in County Clare, Ireland, with superb organisation!  This year I was a guest rider for the Lakeside Wheelers from Mullingar and I can't thank them enough for what an amazing week it was!  Well in advance of the race the team had been out riding the parcours so we were well prepared for what to expect with each stage.

 

Easy to spot in the bunch, the Lakeside Wheelers kit.

 

The team had a meet and greet on the Tuesday night at Steve's (DS) shop in Mullingar, where we had a nice leisurely club chaingang.  This was the biggest chaingang I had ever been on, with easily 30 people.  It was really good to meet the club and chat to them about the Ras, although I did find myself saying "pardon" a lot struggling to tune in to the Irish accent and then trying to think up interesting and varied answers when asked a fair few times if I was looking forward to the Ras and we were in for some great weather.  Everyone was so supportive and it just made me even more excited to start racing.  The weather didn't disappoint either, topping out at 26 degrees and just helping me to re-cultivate my previously razor sharp tan lines (Rule #7 http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/)!!  Its probably time to introduce the team starting with our awesome support crew: Steven Franzoni, Stuart Cox, Colin Robinson, Paul Daly, Sharron Barret, Lenny O'Mahony, and Billy Cunnane; and riders: Michelle O'Halloran, Sonja O'Mahony, Karen Robinson, Jessie Walker and me.  The banter started right from the off!

 

Stage 1 was a 66km road race, starting in the evening, which gave us plenty of time to drive from Mullingar to Ennis and get checked in to our hostel.  The stage was to finish right outside our hostel later that evening, so no long transfers for us!  After a long wait at the start (a girl had gone off to warm up on the road only to get a puncture and need rescuing...) we finally got underway.  We hadn't even left the car park of race HQ when there was a crash, I hoped it wasn't a sign of things to come!!  The start of any race is always quite twitchy and I pretty much hate the neutralised section where everyone is nervous and fighting for gaps that aren't really there and it can get quite sketchy.  Eventually 5km later the flag was dropped and the race was on.  The attacks started fairly early on, but nothing was sticking until Anne Ewing nipped off the front and opened up a gap.  It wasn't until we hit the only categorised climb (Cat 2) that we had Anne back in our sights and she was reeled back into the bunch.  Apparently we had done this climb last year, but I couldn't remember it at all.  Maybe I had blocked it out...it was by no means the worst climb ever though.  The final 20 km was full of attacks and counter attacks and made for a fast fun run in to the finish!  We had been strictly warned not to go round the final roundabout at the finish the wrong way, but this didn't happen!!  The poor marshall stood on the roundabout looked a mixture of terrified and confused as the speeding bunch cut the roundabout and opened up the sprint to the finish only 200m away.  I just made sure of finishing safely in the bunch and not losing any time, no kamikaze sprint manoeuvres.  Unfortunately Michelle had crashed on the descent, but total respect to her for getting back on and finishing the stage!  The Wheelers were all good for stage 2.

 

Stage 2, the longest stage of the Ras at 120km.  This would be on some familiar roads from last year, taking in the Cat 1 climb of the Cliffs of Moher.  I always think this sounds like something out of Lord of the Rings!  The race HQ was at Loop Head Lighthouse, the most Westerly point of Ireland, next stop Boston.  We arrived with over an hour to spare before sign on opened (that's army planning for you!) so there was time to take in the stunning views over the cliffs.  In all seriousness though, I much prefer to be early with lots of faffing time rather than be rushing around getting stressed and using up precious energy!

Taking in the view from Loop Head Lighthouse, before the start of Stage 2.

The race was neutralised back down the bumpy narrow road from the Lighthouse and eventually got underway.  Positioning from the start would be key, with the first categorised climb coming after only 13km.  This was where the first decisive split happened, as the pace ramped up with the QOM contenders racing to take maximum points at the prime.  It was then another 60km of rolling coastal roads until the next QOM prime at the top of the Cliffs of Moher.  This climb starts off quite steep but is then more of a drag to the top.  Cresting the top of the hill I was in a group distanced by the leaders so the chase began to reel them back in.  With only 4 or 5 of us in the group willing to work, it made for quite a hard chase, but we eventually caught the leaders as we neared the final climb of the day.  As would become the norm for the run in to the finish, there was a lot of attacking and counter attacking but nothing stuck and it came down to a bunch sprint finish, albeit a much smaller bunch than stage 1.  Finally the finish appeared as we rounded a corner and sprinted for the line.  I crossed in 11th place and was happy enough with that result given that I'd made hard work of it for myself at times!...

 

Recovery is key during a stage race and thanks to the awesome Robbo, we were extremely well looked after!  His massages were spot on, well maybe apart from when he worked on my feet...I'm really tickly and this was a cross between being really tickly and excruciatingly painful.  I couldn't help but laugh but inside I was dying, it was so sore!!  Our recovery methods didn't stop at just massage though.  Robbo had brought along an electric handheld massager that also had infrared for any injuries.  Steve had been loaned some inflatable trousers that inflated and compressed your legs and then deflated, letting the blood flow back in.  This felt so weird, but in a nice way!  Robbo also introduced us to Qigong (pronounced chi gong) which involves opening the energy gates of the body with dry needling.  Needles are placed between each of your big toes, thumbs and forefingers and in the middle of your forehead.  I felt so relaxed afterwards and definitely slept well that night!

The inflatable recovery legs

 





Friday was the double stage day with stage 3 the individual time trial (ITT) and stage 4 the circuit race.  I'll be back soon to blog about these...

 

Cheers,

 

Jools.

Battling the Braes and the hurricane!

Haven't blogged for a while so thought I'd use this rainy rest day to update on the past few weeks.  A few days after returning home from the Tour de Bretagne, I was back racing in one of our local evening road races.  My legs had other ideas!!  Needless to say I didn't last long before being spat out the back and instead used it as a recovery spin.  I hate not finishing races, but I don't think I'd appreciated just how much the drive home from France had taken out of me.  So onto the next one...

The last race in the British Women's National Series was the Stafford GP, a crit in Stafford town centre on Friday night and a kermesse on the Saturday afternoon.  About an hour before the crit started there was a torrential downpour and there were literally rivers running down the street.  I'm not much of a crit fan at the best of times so the prospect of racing on wet roads on a tight circuit did not leave me massively excited about the race...Thankfully it had dried up a bit before the race started but it was still a bit of a crash fest!  Saturday's kermesse was in the grounds of a country park and a pretty decent lumpy circuit.  Great solo attack by Jane Barr to stay away and take the win!  Then it was back into the car for the long drive home...

A very wet Stafford GP crit!

A few days later I was off on my travels again, flying to London for the RideLondon Women's GP.  This is a very cool race around St James' Park, passing right in front of Buckingham Palace!  It had a super impressive line up as well with none other than Marianne Vos, Lizzie Armitstead, Laura Trott, Georgia Bronzini to name a few.  I won't say too much about this race, apart from that it was a total mechanical disaster and one of the worst races I have ever done for that reason.  Some days you have good races, some days you have not so good races and that race was most definitely the latter!!

Training up Box Hill with my team mate Jasmine before RideLondon GP.

Since then I've raced a few more times with a double header a few weekends ago with Battle of the Braes road race one day and the Auld Yins and Ladies road race the next.  Flanders Moss was reminiscent of Dutch racing and the race-shattering cross winds!!  Brutal I think is the word best used to describe this race, but in a weird way it was a lot of fun.  Although I do think the mini Braes are far worse than the big Braes! 

So now there's a few local(ish) races (in Scotland) before heading over to Ireland for the women's 5 day, 6 stage race Ras na mBan.  This will be the third year I've raced the Ras and its just such an awesome race!  I've gone from breaking my chain and having to ride a bike about 2 sizes too big for me in men's trainers about 5 sizes too big for me in the first year, to second place in the stage 3 TTT and enjoying life in the breakaway from the gun on stage 5 last year.  Pretty excited for what promises to be an even tougher race this year! 

So that about sums up the past month or so.  Its been a long season and with only a few more races left the Ras will be a nice end of season finale before some time out to recharge my body and mind!

Cheerio for now,

Jools.

Tour de Bretagne wrap up

For the first time this season I think I can honestly say that I loved every minute of Stage 3, the 129km road race. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed many other races this season, but this was the first time that everything just seemed to flow and feel good and I was totally loving racing! After a bit of a rocky start to my season, finally things seem to be coming good again!

Stage 3 was billed as the toughest stage of the Tour de Bretagne and it didn't disappoint! There was even a wee "mountain" thrown in there that took everyone by surprise! It was this that saw a decisive split in the race. Hitting the sharp incline after a fast descent was met with crunching gears and a fair few shrieks as girls dropped their chains or struggled with the ascent. Around 30 riders regrouped at the top and rode on towards the finishing circuit. It was a fairly steady pace on the undulating roads and I think everyone was taken by surprise when suddenly the group swelled in numbers as a large group of riders caught us. This large group remained to the finishing circuit and as soon as we reached the "circuit arrivé" sign, the memories from last year came flooding back. This was the same circuit as Stage 1 from the 2013 tour. Far hillier than the profile in the race manual would have you believe, the group gradually thinned out as the demands of the circuit took it's toll.

Hitting the flyover climb on the last lap, a few riders attacked. The group lined out but eventually came back together with around 3km to go. At this point position was key as there was a fast descent followed by a 90 degree right hander that took you onto the finishing straight with 500m to go. We were lapping riders at this point so a few sketchy moments before we hit the straight for the sprint finish. I managed to hang on with the group and finished 32nd, a result that moved me up to 39th on GC. It was all smiles after the race with most of the team having had a good race and pretty buzzing! 

Final stage and we headed for the coast. Team morale was good, despite tired legs. Race underway and pretty soon there was an attack. This was closely followed by another from Louise from Epic-Scott, who bridged to the initial attack. Another 4 or 5 riders made the breakaway and they opened up a decent gap. We were all hoping Louise would stay away, a very brave move going so early in the race, total respect! 

I think the finish of this final circuit was the toughest!! A hard climb of 300-400m, which might not sound a lot, but when your legs are screaming and your lungs are burst, trying to sprint uphill feels like you are riding on a double puncture!! Going into the penultimate lap, the yellow jersey hit the front and ramped up the pace on the climb. I couldn't quite stay with this though, which was pretty disappointing given there was only 10km to go. Crossing the finish line, I knew I'd given it everything I had though, so had to be happy with the result. It was such an ace week riding with the Epic-Scott team, thanks guys (Phil, Alex, Sam, Molly, Hannah, Anna, Mel, Louise). 

Looking back to last year, this was big progress! I finished 40th on GC in comparison to 79th last year and by a much smaller time margin from the yellow jersey this year compared to last. Ok so 40th might not sound all that good but the way I rode each stage and the confidence that I can take out of the whole race is really going to help me for the future! I'd love to return next year!!

After a week and a bit back home, I'm on my travels again, this time to Stafford for the Women's National Series. Next weekend it's the RideLondon GP, with none other than Marianne Vos, exciting times!!

Until next time, thanks for reading!

Jools. 

Ride of attrition

3 stages down, 2 to go. After the prologue only seconds were in it on GC. That was all to change after Stage 1...

Starting and finishing in St Meen Le Grand, the race headed out for 90km before returning to the town for five laps of a 5km finishing circuit. This was like two races in one, a road race and then a crit! As we chilled out before the start, the temperature just kept rising and rising! When we rolled out it was something like 34 degrees, which would then top out at 38 degrees during the race!!! 

With Anna Christian on one of the climbs. Thanks to Owen Philipson for the photo :)

The first queen of the mountains (QOM) came after only 13km so positioning right from the start was important. The pace was fairly steady nothing too rapid, other than after a crash going uphill (?..) where I did a bit of bunnyhopping the kerb to get round and then bit of an effort to close the gap to the top of the hill. Riding in extreme heat when you're not used to it (I mean we're lucky if we get into the 20s in the North East of Scotland!!) saps your energy and makes it even harder to stay switched on. Waves of heat go through your body and its nigh on impossible to keep cool. By the time we reached the first feed at 50km I'd drunk a full bottle and most of the second, so was almost ecstatic when I safely collected a fresh bottle of water from our soigneur. Some teams had the luxury of multiple feeds along the course where they could collect a couple of bottles at a time, one to drink and the other to pour over their head. If you happened to catch a few drops of spray as they did this, the momentary splash of cool water hitting your skin was like pure heaven!!!

Feeding from the team car during the race is also allowed. You just stick your arm in the air holding your bottle and the commissaire radios to your team car to come up to the back of the bunch for a feed. You drop back behind the commissaire car to get a bottle/gel etc. I'm never really sure about doing this but needs must and desperation for water had started to set in so I stuck my bottle in the air and got ready to drop back. Most of my team mates had the same idea so Molly came to our rescue and dropped back to the car. As she did this though the pace started to ramp up and the bunch lined out. We heard later that as she was back at the car putting bottles into her jersey Phil had shouted don't take any more! She glanced up and saw a gap had opened up to the next car as the pace had gone up. Thankfully though she made it back to the bunch weighed down with all the spare bottles, thanks Molly!!

A break had gone up the road and we were getting time checks from the motorbike. As we neared the circuit we picked up some of the breakaway, which left one lone rider. She was to hold on to her lead to take the win with 11 seconds on the bunch sprint for second. The finishing circuit rode a bit like a crit and the pace for the first few laps was pretty hard! There was an intermediate sprint with 3 laps to go, after which it settled down a bit. Coming into the last lap, the heat had finally started to really bite and having missed the last opportunity to feed (you're not allowed to feed within the last 20km), I was down to rationing the last few drops of water. There was a stretch where it was quite windy and when gaps opened up I just didn't have the legs to close it. Hayley (my Velosport-Pasta Montegrappa team mate) and I ride in together, finishing just over a minute down on the leader. I was pretty gutted not to have had the legs to stay with the bunch to the end but on reflection this was a big improvement to last year where I only managed to stay with the bunch once! The whole team all rode really well and survived the heat, albeit with varying degrees of dehydration!!

Stage 2 and it was a big relief that it was the individual TT day. Quite short at 11km, we did a recce of the course after lunch. It wasn't too technical with nice long stretches where you could really put the power down. I sound a bit like a tester, hmm not really my strong point but gave it full effort regardless! I think it's a year since I'd last ridden with TT bars (it was this race last year in fact) so the position felt a bit alien! Overall I guess I was happy enough with how I did and really happy for a fellow Brit, Sarah Storey, to take the win! Chapeau Sarah, awesome ride!!

Onto today and Stage 3, 126km RR. The race rolls out from our accommodation so we've had the luxury of a pretty chilled out morning, before lunch and race start at 2pm. 

Until next time au revoir,

Jools. 

Back at Bretagne

A year on from what was my very first UCI race and only my second ever stage race, I'm back in France for the Tour de Bretagne Feminin. Such a contrast in emotions to last year!! I'm excited, but also a wee bit nervous although I like a bit of nerves as part of my race prep. Last year though I was just super nervous full stop!!!  So this year I'm guesting for Epic-Scott WRT. Need to say a big big thank you to the team for the opportunity to race here again, thanks guys!! 

When I started writing this post I realised that it's been ages since my last one!! Almost 3 months I think...and I think to say those 3 months have been a complete rollercoaster sums it up best! To recap really quickly I've raced Energiewacht Tour and Omloop van Borsele in Holland, Dwars door de Westhoek and Trofee Maarten Wynants in Belgium, the Scottish and British National Road Races and Surf and Turf and Curlew Cup in the British Women's National Series. Lots and lots of travelling but it's been a blast! So I guess the racing and fun times that come along with that encapsulates the highs. I've learnt loads, had some good performances and some not so good ones but above all else just been loving riding my bike! There has been one very significant low though...Not being selected for Team Scotland for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. To say I'm absolutely gutted is an understatement and I don't think this hurt will ever totally go away. Now isn't the time to blog about this though, maybe one day...

So back to France and today is the 2.3 km prologue. Short and sharp to kick off the racing before the first road stage tomorrow of 120km. At the moment I think the sun god is being kind as it's not as scorching hot as last year! Just a nice temperature to have a wee team spin before we set off for the prologue start. 

Thanks to Ali for the frame number holder, it's first outing! :)

Will try to update during the week and not be such a stranger to this blog as I've been!

Thanks for reading and catch you soon,

Jools. 

Belgian classics

14 hours after waving goodbye to The Chainstay in Oudenaarde, I finally stepped inside my front door and took the next few steps to my bed! It's often the simple things in life that are the best and for me nothing beats kipping in my own bed!

The title of this blog "every day's a schoolday" certain sums up my first experience of racing in Belgium. I look back on those 12 days with some ace memories and maybe a mix of emotions. Definitely most of them positive, a few not so much but I definitely believe that you have to experience the lows to appreciate the highs even more! 

Here's a few things: 

Positioning is key! I know I've mentioned this one before, but in the Belgian crosswinds when the bunch is lined out and everyone around you seems intent on putting you in the gutter, getting in a good position and holding onto it will save you from gutter death and also save some beans for later in the race. Use your beans wisely!

Stay out of the seam of death! Even if the girl next to you tries to put you in it or the girl in front thinks it's a good idea to ride in it, don't! (N.B. the "seam of death" is a channel, just about wide enough but not quite to fit a wheel, separating the right and left sides of the road). 

Don't be afraid to mix it up! In order to improve you need to keep moving forward. That's both in a race and in training. In the bunch if you're not constantly moving forward then soon enough you'll be at the back! Trying new things is how you learn, every day's a school day after all!

So I spent most of the week after my crash assuming the horizontal position alternating between the sofa and bed, determined to line up with my Scotland teammates for the third and final race, Omloop van het Hageland Tielt Winge. Obviously I would've much preferred to have been racing Le Samyn des Dames but even I knew this was far too soon and kind of a crazy idea!

So what to do when you can't ride your bike? Watch classic bike races of course! And I watched a fair few, from World Champs from the '90s to famous one day classics. In a way though it was kind of like tormenting myself so when Wednesday came and I had the "ok" to get back on my bike I think my face muscles were more fatigued than any other part of me from smiling so much! This definitely helped soften the blow as the team left for the race, knowing I was off out into the Belgian sunshine for a spin along the canal. I was surprised how knackered I was after the wee recovery ride and just crashed out on the sofa the rest of the afternoon, watching the men's Le Samyn through my eyelids!!

Thursday and Friday and I was back riding with my teammates, good times! Friday's ride was ace, big thank you to Jane our navigator! We followed some of the Ronde van Vlaanderen parcours and took in another famous Belgian cobbled climb, The Muur, worth it for the amazing view at the top!! 

Race day arrived and having had an ace chat with Dave, my sports psych, the night before, I was feeling pretty positive about things and just really happy to be back racing again. The race started fairly steady, less twitchy and sketchy than the week before. It didn't take too long before I started to relax and feel confident to sit in the pocket and keep moving up in the bunch. As we neared the finishing circuit a big crash split the bunch. I got caught behind it and a chase ensued to get back to the group in front. A smaller group had pulled away in front but as we hit the cobbled climb it all came back together. My legs were starting to tire as we started the first of four laps on the circuit so when riders in front lost the wheel and a gap opened up it took a big effort to chase back on. I worked with a couple of other riders until the SC car came past and I could jump on the back to be pulled back up to the bunch. I used up the last of my beans in this chase until I popped and just had to roll back to the finish where my race ended, still 2 laps to go. If I'm giving an honest reflection of my race, then I achieved far more than I had thought I could when starting out that day, given what had happened that week. I was really disappointed not to have finished the race, but bike racing is all about the ups and downs and my learning curve continues. 

Even if my first experience of racing in Belgium and the Spring Classics wasn't exactly what I'd have hoped for, it was still an amazing experience. I definitely learnt from it and looking forward to racing there again soon!

Cheers,

Jools. 

Belgian spring classics, the racing begins...sort of...

After a really easy week with lots of rest it was time to head to Belgium with the Scottish Cycling team to race Omloop het Nieuwsblad (OhN). The first of the Belgian Spring Classics and my first race in Belgium, excited was an understatement! Let the racing begin!!

As we drove off the train in Calais it was just like home from home, chucking it down with rain! This continued as we crossed over the border into Belgium, plus the wind! Trucks looked like they were being driven on an angle in the crosswinds! 

Thankfully by the afternoon it had cleared up so once we'd settled in to our digs at The Chainstay in Oudenaarde (this is one cool place by the way, thanks Greg and Holly!), we headed out for a recce of the OhN climbs. This first ride in Belgium was really special as it included the Paterberg, a famous Belgian cobbled climb, and some cobbled roads. Asked whether I enjoyed the cobbles my answer was "loved them...I think!". No amount of riding on the pothole ridden mud caked roads in Scotland can prepare you for your first cobbles experience. There's definitely a technique to riding them, other than just grinning and bearing it! 

Surprisingly I managed to get a decent enough night's sleep before what would be the biggest race of my life. I was actually pretty excited, although I'm not going to lie, I was pretty nervous too!! Arriving at the velodrome in Gent and seeing the team buses from Giant Shimano, Specialized Lululemon, Dolmans Boels, Orica AIS, Wiggle et al, it hits you just how big a race it is and who you'll be racing against, pretty cool feeling!

I tried to shut all that out though and just focus on going through my pre-race prep to get my head into race mode. Mark, Nick and Gary took care of everything, bikes, numbers, timings so all we had to do was get ourselves ready, eat and sign on. Standing on the podium in Scotland kit with my teammates was one very very proud moment! It definitely adds a wee bit extra motivation and drive to race hard, do the job you've been given and the best performance you possibly can!

The neutralised section was nice and steady on fairly wide roads with a few turns to negotiate before the flag was dropped and the race was on. I focused on holding my position and moving up when I could. See a gap, get in it. See a gap, get in it. A split second hesitation and it's gone so you always have to be on the ball, never switch off. It was a bit twitchy in the race to start with, not helped by the roads being a little bit damp and some unnecessary braking. And that's where my story of the racing ends...next thing I feel something swipe out my bike and I'm on the ground. The domino effect of a crash meant that girls behind were coming off on top of me and landing on my head. All I could think of was I wanted to get out of there so just remember getting to my feet and heading over to the gutter so that no one else could land on me! My next thought was "ok I'm out of the crash now, I should go get my bike and get back in the race". Then quickly realised it was a bit sore to do that so I lay down on the grass and that was it, race over. The feeling when the realisation hits you that it's race over is the worst ever. I was (and still am to be honest) totally totally gutted. The first race of the season, racing for Scotland, in Belgium, was over after only 5km. And knowing I could've done nothing about it is also pretty hard to take. My first get down, stay down. 

A big thank you to the race doctor and medics for looking after me. Not sure I was very comprehensible for most of the time between crashing and the hospital. I do remember Gary at one point on the journey to the hospital saying "I think we'll be here for a while" and thinking to myself we must've hit a traffic jam or something. But no, the ambulance had broken down! Only minutes from the hospital! Thankfully there was another one right there to take us the last wee bit of the journey. 

Some scans, dressings and neck brace later I was all patched up and ready to leave hospital only to go and faint as I was within touching distance of the outside. This meant a 24 hour stay in hospital for observation. Big thank you to Gary for chatting to me about his racing career, loved hearing about some of his highlights and definitely helped distract me. 

It's always good to find a positive in things so I guess this had to be arriving on the ward just in time to watch the last 20km of the men's Omloop het Nieuwsblad. The nurse looking after me was a cyclist too so he found it on tv for me and we watched Stannard take the win, legend!!

Next afternoon and I was breathing a big sigh of fresh air relief at being released from hospital when my personal escorts Gemma and Nick came to get me. I was really looking forward to getting back to the house to see my teammates Lucy, Kerry, Jane, Kayleigh and Claire and hear all about their race experience. It was ace to see them pretty buzzing about how the race had gone and I was super proud of them hearing their race stories. It's also quite hard with the "what if" and wondering what my race story would have been if I hadn't crashed...but that's bike racing. There are the highs and there are the lows and this is just one of the lows. I'll be back on the bike real soon!!!

Bye for now,

Jools. 

Velosport-Pasta Montegrappa and friends

Currently sitting high in the sky on a flight home from London for the first team get together of Velosport-Pasta Montegrappa. What an ace weekend!! Feeling so lucky to have joined such a quality team, with a super supportive DS (Mauro Pizzol), amazing sponsors (Velosport, Aprire, Pasta Montegrappa) and not forgetting my new team mates, who as Emily would say are totally "#reem"!!

This weekend was just what I needed after recently submitting my PhD. Definitely last chance saloon with this being my final corrections and now awaiting the final verdict. Whatever happens it's some welcome closure on a very challenging past couple of years.  

When I took my first steps into doctorate world, way back when and far longer ago than I care to remember, little did I realise how long it would take me or just how big an impact it would have on my life!!  An old work colleague and fellow PhD-er once said of a PhD "if they made it easy then everyone would do it". Oh how true that is. I'm not going to lie, it was incredibly hard, one of the hardest, most challenging times of my life. Yes I know it was my choice to do it and given the hardships that others face in life it kind of pales into insignificance but it's definitely left it's mark on my life. It's done now, time to move on and devote that wee extra bit of headspace to my cycling! Woop!!

So back to this weekend. I arrived in London on Friday night, excited to be meeting everyone the next morning. Phil Dempsey (director of Aprire, the team's bike sponsor) was kindly putting me up (or maybe putting up with me!) for the weekend, thanks Phil (and not forgetting Trevor the zebra!!). Saturday morning arrived and the team met at Velosport for a bike fit, kit unveiling and a toast to the new season with friends of the team. It was great to hear a bit about Radio Marsden (one of the team's partners), give them a listen online sometime! 

After a spot of re-fuelling we got all kitted up and set off on our first team ride round nearby Richmond Park. This isn't really like the parks I'm used to in Aberdeen. To start with cars are allowed to drive through from dawn to dusk. Also it's a haven for cyclists! I think we quite possibly encountered the entire cycling population of Aberdeen in our short sojourn around the park! Apart from the odd kamikaze cyclist or crazed car driver, it was a fun ride. I was on a test bike from Velosport, an Aprire Vincenza, which will be our team bike this season. This is one cool bike and I can't wait to race on it!!

We had a team ride planned for Sunday in the Surrey hills. Just one word to describe the ride, dreich!!! It was like flicking a rain switch, no sooner had the first crank been turned the rain started to fall. And fall some more. And a wee bit more. It was still a (mostly) fun time on the bike and I think the rain and cold helped team bonding, there's always a positive! Plus it finished at the top of Box Hill, part of of the 2012 Olympic road race course. Nice way to finish, riding over the road paintings of "Go Cav" and "Froome Dog" etc, but the cafe at the top was a welcome sight!!

I think I've just about warmed up and dried out now, standing back on home soil waiting for Paul to pick me up. Thinking about the fun times this weekend with a smile and even more excited for 2014 in Velosport-Pasta Montegrappa colours!!

Ciao! :)

Jools. 

Girona camp part uno

Rest day today here in Girona on the Scottish Cycling camp so thought I'd take the chance (in between snoozes) to write a wee blog on the last 4 days. 

We arrived late on Thursday night and after building our bikes it was lights out before the hard work started on Friday morning. Day 1 was five and a half hours of steady riding, even venturing over the border into France. It was most definitely a welcome change to shed the thermal layers needed back home, with temperatures in the high teens degrees C. Not quite brave enough to bare my peely wally legs yet, but a few of the tougher girls have! Respect! The roads are so smooth too, no pothole dodging here! 

Day 2 and despite our best efforts to leave it behind, the wind had found us. The plan was to do three through and off efforts at increasing speeds. A touch of wheels on the last of the three efforts brought down several of the group. Unfortunately two of the girls had to be taken to hospital by ambulance with Charline fracturing three of the transverse processes in her back and Kerry suffering mild concussion and road rash. Those girls are nails and we all wish them a super speedy recovery!!

Day 3 worked a treat in lifting everyone's spirits after a pretty hard hitting emotional end to day 2. We stayed more local and mixed it up with a bit of everything. Out of the saddle hill climb, crit racing, derny racing, a TT and hill race. These were hard efforts but had everyone smiling and the fact that we could train in the sunshine was an added bonus!

So on to Day 4 and the promise of a longer climb up Rocacorba. This was a 13km climb up to 970m and I'm not going to lie, it was tough! But being one of those "weirdos" who quite enjoys climbing, I loved it!! Ok maybe not so much at the time when it seemed like the top was never going to be "just around the next corner", but once I could breathe again and take in the view all was  good! Then it was just a short peddle home, day 4 complete and to top it all off there was the most amazing sunset that had us all smiling!

All smiles at the top of Rocacorba. 

Amazing sunset on day 4. 

Tomorrow brings the next four day training block so I'll be back with part dos soon.

Hasta luego,

Jools.