London Nocturne – Elite Women’s Criterium

Today we travelled to the centre of London for a fun action packed evening of racing at the Smithfield Markets. There were all sorts of races before my race, the Elite Women’s Criterium, such as a Penny Farthing race, “Boris bikes” races, folding bike races, track bike race, retro bike race etc. Lots of people had come out to watch and so the atmosphere was amazing. The course was rather bumpy and had lots of tight corners. Unfortunately, I was a few lines back at the start line and this really didn’t help as the race was so fast from the off! The whole time everyone was riding in single file as it was so fast, which made it hard to move up and so eventually the elastic band effect caused me to drop off the main group. Also, recently I have had a problem with my left knee and so kicking out of each corner was made painful and so I couldn’t put down as much power as I would have liked. I joined another group, just resting in the middle for a few laps in order to recover from the chaotic and tiring start. Eventually I recovered and moved up to the front of this group. In the end I managed to finish 3^rd in this group. Overall I’m really pleased I raced in this event, as it was such a great atmosphere. It was a tough race, but great experience!