Essex Giro 2 Day- part of the National Women’s road race series

Unfortunately, my lead up to this race wasn’t what it normally was leading up to a major event, as the crash the week before meant I had over a week off the bike. Anyway, I went into the weekend with a positive attitude, excited for a tough weekend of racing with my teammates! J

The first stage was a 2 lap TT of the Redbridge circuit, which I found particularly difficult to pace myself as I had to go up the major hill 2 times. I started off well, but in hindsight I went too fast in the flatter sections. This meant that I had little energy left to go up the hill and so I lost a lot of time there. Not a good result in the TT, but I put it behind me and looked forward to the next stage as it would suit me better.

By the second stage, the sun was out and it was extremely hot!! I therefore had to ensure that I kept on drinking water constantly to make sure I didn’t get dehydrated before the race had even started! The race was really tough because of the hot conditions, but it was going well for me, sitting in the middle of the bunch, until I had some mechanical problems with my bike; my chain jammed solid so I couldn’t pedal! This happened twice and both times I had to quickly sort out the problem and chase on. I was successful chasing on, but the next lap there was a sudden increase of pace up the hill, which I was unable to keep up with because I’d used too much energy chasing back on and hadn’t fully recovered. I also made the mistake of being on a wheel of a rider who was dropping off and I didn’t have the energy to get around her. I then rode round the rest of the race at a steady pace, catching up with other people who had dropped off and then dropping them myself. Exhausted after the race and rather annoyed that mechanical issues hindered me.

The third stage was a 75 mile road race with a 7 mile neutralised section before that! So a very long race, the longest I’ve ever done by quite a distance and it was made even harder as it was a rather hilly course as well! The weather was completely contrasting to the day before, horribly rainy and it had caused flooding across the whole road at some sections. The race was fast from the start, and for the first lap of 4, I maintained a very good position within the bunch, always in the top 10, so having quite an active start of the race. For the next laps, I settled within the middle to front of the group, constantly finding that each hill and the race distance was really getting to my legs. The main group was certainly being whittled down, so with 1 lap to go there were just over 30 of us left. On the hill up to the finish line with 1 lap to go, my legs were sooo tired so I dropped off the main group. However, on the flat section after the hill, I put a lot of effort in and I managed to chase back onto the group; I then stayed comfortably in the group for the rest of the lap. In the sprint up the hill at the end, I had nothing left so I finished last in the main group, 32^nd. However I am really pleased to have lasted 75 miles in the main group on a tough circuit in horrible conditions!