TTs, Exams, Championships and Only 1 Crash

Been a while since my last update, so thought I'd do a small post about the last few months racing. After a good week of training in Mallorca at the end of March it was back to uni and final preparations for exams in May. Due to exams I wasn't racing much until the end of May but I still managed to get a few races in.

The first was the St Helens CRC Bickerstaffe road race, I had raced at Bickerstaffe before and really liked the circuit. Its relatively flat squareish shaped circuit with a fast finish. It was my first race since

Leading the bunch

my crash on the track so I was a little nervous about being back in a bunch so I took the first few laps to just ease myself back in. The race had a few attacks but I managed to just sit in a follow the moves and was feeling pretty good entering the last few laps. With two laps left I moved up and was sitting in the front of the group. Coming into the straight before the finish line on the last lap there was a bit of a cross wind and so rides were overlapping slightly over most of the road. Suddenly a rider in front of me on the far left of the road decided to move to the right and collided with another rider who veered right and crashed, I then went straight into that rider and over the bars and onto my face… And so now I have matching scars on my chin and a new section of road rash right on top of the newly formed skin on my leg from the last crash.

Luckily for me the paramedics at the race were able to patch me up and saved me from having to take another trip to a random English A&E.

Unfortunately, unlike the last crash I didn't have 2 weeks holiday to recover so I was up first thing on Monday for a 6 hour day of lectures and labs, which when you can't stand on one leg very well tends to make things uncomfortable. After two heavy crashes I was a little nervous about getting back on the bike but after a few gentle riders with the uni boys I started to feel more confident on the bike again.

Borthwick 1-2 at the Scottish Students TT Champs

My next race was the BUCS 25 mile TT in Oxford, I've been doing a lot of time trail this year and this was my 2nd 25 mile TT so I was really happy to do a 5 minute PB on what was admittedly a very fast course. After that I had the Scottish Students 10 Mile TT Champs in Freuchie were I finished 2nd followed by the Scottish 10 Mile TT Champs were I finished 3rd Junior. The latter was the day before my first university exam so for the next two weeks, bike riding was on hold temporarily. I am happy to say however, exams went well and I found out this week I successfully passed all my exams!

After exams I only had a few days to try and find my racing legs again before the Scottish Road Race Championships on the 22nd of May, the race was a tough one with a hilly and slightly confusing course. I was nervous about the race as there was both multiple Commonwealth Games riders and

Womens Race Start- Photo: Robert

Olympic hopefuls in the race. The first 8kms of the 33km lap were all climbing followed by a descent into a sharp left turn followed by more decent and a left turn at about 15kms where the course started to climb again, after this it was pretty rolling the whole way to the finish. I made it to this point on the first lap of 2 but as the bunch hit the corner an attack went and I couldn't hold the pace and slipped off the back. The rest of the race was a solo effort to finish. I wasn't expecting much from the race so I'm happy with 26th overall and 4th junior considering I was nowhere near race fitness.

After the champs I was lucky to have the opportunity to go back to Mallorca for a week to get my

fitness back and attempt to get a tan with the lovely sunshine. After I got back I had two races the coming up the Scottish 25 Mile TT Champs on Saturday the 4th June and ERC womens race, Tour de Gladhouse on Sunday the 5th. This didn't last long as the Scottish 25 Mile TT Champs were cancelled a few days before the race due to road works.

The Tour de Gladhouse was a round of the Scottish Womens Series and the first womens road race run by my own club that I've been able to race. The race was run on a tough 21km loop with nearly 1000m of climbing in the whole race. We raced over 4 laps so by the end, including the neutral zone the race was 90kms long. We rolled out of Eddleston just after 11am in glorious sunshine and as we had to ride the final climb to the finish in the neutral zone I made sure I was up front to make it as easy as possible and so I could get a clear run into the right hand turn off the main road. I stuck in the bunch for most of the first lap but lost out on the fast rolling section on the main road from Howgate to the Leadburn junction. I then formed a 3 rider group with Jess Millar and Emma MacLaren both riders from Johnstone Wheelers and we stuck together for the remaining 3 laps working well together. The race was the longest race I've done and I think the longest of the Scottish womens races. This combined with the climbing and heat made it a long day in the saddle, so I'm very proud of my team mate Eleanor Strathdee who finished 25th, it was her first road race on open roads and despite dropping her chain multiple times and having to ride on her own for parts of the race, she pushed on and even out-sprinted someone on the final climb to the finish!

I'd like to thank ERC for putting on the race and for all the club members who volunteered to help, it was so nice to race and have all the marshals cheering you on at every corner! I hope this start a long tradition of womens road races run by ERC!

Now I've moved back home to Edinburgh and getting my head down with training, I'm happy to say I've again been selected to ride in the Arctic Tour of Norway Hereos of Tomorrow Race, this year taking place in Bodø in August. This race will be one of my main aims for the season and I'm very excited for the opportunity and hope to better my performance from last year. In the short time I have a few crit races over the next few weeks and a road race down south at the end of the month. A big thank you to all the Junior teams sponsors as I would really struggle to manage all my racing without there support!

Sprint Finishes and Face Plants

The last few months of winter training have really flown by and the start of the 2016 season has really snuck up on me! But before talking about that, I’m happy to say I have been selected for the St Andrews University Individual Performance Programme.  This is a real privilege and it gives me great opportunities such as strength and conditioning sessions and funding to help me achieve some of my goals for the year.

Unfortunately since my last post I’ve also been ill lots, the end of October and start of November were almost completely written off by a lymph gland the size of a golf ball and an extended course of antibiotics (ughh gross I know!). After recovering I launched back into training only to hit my end of term exams.  The riding took a back seat as the books came out. I’m happy to say I passed my exams - so obviously it worked!

The Christmas break was about training and adventuring, the latter by hitchhiking to Budapest for charity. (Got there – took 3 days and very little sleep) I went back to uni feeling good and excited for the term ahead.  And then I got ill again… Even more unfortunately I got ill on the weekend of the World Cyclo-Cross Championships, which my awesome parents took the whole family and my CX-mad friend Eleanor to as a treat for my 18^th birthday. Despite being ill, the whole weekend was unbelievably exciting but in true CX tradition it poured with rain.  This didn’t impact on the atmosphere, which was electric and these Belgian crowds really know how to party! Being so close to some of my sporting heroes was amazing and I did scream my head off when Mathieu Van Der Poel went past every lap. After two days of standing in the cold, the glamorous life continued as we got back to Edinburgh at around 11pm on the Sunday night and I was up at 6.30am on the Monday to get my train back to St Andrews for 3 hours of lectures, 3 hours of labs and a tutorial. Ah well I did choose this life, and I’m loving it!

After I shifted that cold, thankfully without any drugs this time, I pushed on with a hard month of training and was feeling like I was making progress as my first race approached.

Some of the beautiful scenery in Fife

The season opened in a similar fashion to last year with the St Helens CRC Pimbo Road Race, round an industrial estate in Skelmersdale. The circuit was 3kms long with the women’s race being 18 laps.  Around 60 riders signed on and the field was a really strong one with the UCI level women’s team, Drops Race Team, teams from the British domestic scene and GB Breeze riders to name a few.  

I always like to arrive at races in plenty of time so when mum and I arrived at sign on just before 10 it gave me two hours to get from sign on to the circuit, sort my kit and warm up. As we had plenty of time mum decided to provided some light entertainment whilst trying to park the van on the muddy verge on the finishing straight… I wont say much more but we did end up taking bets on how many people would be needed to push the van back onto the road…. I won the bet with 6!

All smiles on the start line!

On the start line, the sun was shining and I managed to get on to the front line so got a clean start when

the race got underway. The first lap was, I will admit, a bit scary as I had a massive near crash as the bunch flexed in size and the riders on either side of me both squeezed me causing my bars to get caught under the arm of the rider on my right, we both had a huge wobble but held it but I then got pinged to the left and my front quick release clanged off the frame of the rider on my left. Luckily through adrenaline and speed we all stayed upright and pedaled on. 

The laps ticked by and suddenly there was a mass surge up the finishing straight as we entered the first of two prime laps. I knew these sharp changes in pace could put me in trouble but I felt strong and stuck in the bunch fine during both the prime laps. The race really lit up and there were people pinging off the front every lap but nobody could get any distance on the bunch due to the number of teams with riders prepared to chase down attacks.

Race face going strong- Photo Credit: Daniel Styler

With 4/5 laps to go we were all together and I started to move forward while still sheltering in the wheels as much as possible. Then with 2 laps to go I spotted the Drops team starting a lead out for Lucy Shaw (the winner of the race), and well, who would turn down a free ride to the finish on the back of a UCI team lead out train. So I followed them as they moved forward and on the last lap as we turned left onto the long finishing straight I was starting to have to push it just to follow the wheels. As the sprint opened up I got pushed into the gutter a little but kicked hard up the little finishing rise to get every last bit of strength out before I hit the line. It was my first women’s bunch sprint finish and the buzz I had afterwards was incredible! I was so over the moon to have been up the front at the end of the race and I suspected a top 15-20^th finish. It was only the next day, when I saw the finish video and official result, that I saw that I had finished 10^th!  The result means a lot to me as last year’s Pimbo was my first ever road race and I got dropped and lapped. This year I knew I was fitter and stronger but the field was also a higher caliber and a top 10 finish was not something I thought possible.

Pimbo Finish- Photo Credit: Daniel Styler

My next race was last weekend, representing my university at the British University and College Sport (BUCS) Track Championships.

As I hadn’t raced on the track for about 18 months, I was a bit nervous as I headed south with the Edinburgh University team.  The journey was entertaining with chaotic diversions, cars getting lost and a queue on the motorway for the last mile before the hotel. Crawled into bed 11.30pm and was very glad of a lateish start of 8am the following day.

On Saturday I had the 3km pursuit and then the 500m TT, followed by the elimination and points race on Sunday. The first stressful time of the weekend came when my headset came apart in my hands, as I tried to change my stem/handlebars. Following some mad running around asking everyone and anyone to help, the nice guys at Evans sorted the issue and I was back on track with just enough time to calm myself down and warm up for my pursuit.

As is the style with track racing we were behind schedule so the organisers cut the length of the pursuit to 2.5kms so only 10 laps of suffering! I was a bit shaky off the start but I settled into my ride and felt ok.  Then I heard a roar of encouragement as I came into one of the straights. I was fully aware that this wasn’t for me as the rider I was against whooshed past me. This was, I must admit a little disheartening, but as this rider went on to win the whole event I didn’t feel too bad. In the end I finished 14^th and I’m satisfied enough with that. The 500 TT came and went without my performance making much of an impression.

The next day I lined up for the Elimination and as we rolled onto the track I maneuvered myself to the front of the bunch to keep safe for the first few eliminations. It worked for a bit and then it was my sister, Louise, vs me for an elimination. I tried to go over the rider in front of me and Louise dived under and she got it! So that was me out but I had enjoyed the racing. The 10km points was next and almost straight from the gun there were attacks and I had to kept pushing to try and stick in the back of the bunch.

After the first sprint the group bunched up. I was riding at the bottom of the track catching my breath and as we came round into the back straight all I saw was a pair of wheels coming in to my peripheral

on the startling of the points race

vision. Next thing I knew I was flipping over my bars and on to my face. I’ve been told it was a spectacular crash and it even made someone spill their tea in track centre by giving them such a fright.

All I knew was that I was lying on the track and my face hurt. Suddenly someone grabbed my neck stopping me from moving and a load of people appeared asking various questions about what hurt etc. All I wanted to know was if my bike, wheels and glasses had survived and demanded someone take a photo. Bike was fine but glasses, front wheel and helmet were write offs. After being scraped off the track I got patched up by the medics but had to go to A&E to get the cut on my chin looked at. Fair play to my sister though, who after checking I was alright got back onto the track, raced on and got 8^th then packed up everything and got me to hospital.

always smiling!

More patching up at A&E and then the long drive home. I was really pleased to crawl in to bed and even more pleased to be starting uni Spring break so I could get a long lie!

The next few days were quite tough as I was stiff and sore all over and just felt low in energy. By Thursday I was feeling much better and after a short spin on the turbo I was feeling much more like my normal self. Hope the recovery continues as on Sunday I am off to Mallorca for a week of riding with my ERC clubmates.  I am so looking forward to this!

I’d like to say a quick few thank yous, firstly to everyone at the uni sports centre, especially Allan and Luke! And to the boys in the uni cycling club for putting up with me getting dropped on the hills all winter. To everyone who helped me at the track too and check I was ok, I was overwhelmed by everyones kindness. And finally to my teammates at ERC, you always make me feel so welcome when I sporadically turn to the club rides and I really appreciate the support you all give me!

Until next time!

Year Finale

With university in full swing and life returning to some form of routine with training, studying and a ‘small’ bit of socialising, my mind had slipped far from the 2015 racing year and was solidly thinking forward to next season. So when I was asked by the university to race the British University and College Sports (BUCS) Hill Climb Championships in Yorkshire I was initially apprehensive on two counts, one I hadn't been doing much race/short interval training and two, I'm not a big fan of hills. But the boys in the cycling club soon convinced me round to the idea and I decided to throw myself head first into my first (hopefully of many) BUCS events. I also had decided to ride the Scottish Team Time Trial Championships the following day in Fife, which meant it would be a tight turn around from racing in England on the Saturday to racing in Scotland first thing on the Sunday. 

As preparation for the race, and, well cause I love cyclo-cross, I decided to race the opening round of the Scottish Cyclo-Cross Series at Callendar Park in Falkirk. I loved the course at

On the start line at Callendar Park

this round last year and this year’s course only bettered last year. I wasn't sure what to expect from my legs but I decided to just race my heart out and see where it got me. I was lucky to be gridded to the front line along with several other strong riders including Anne Ewing, who having been in the Scotland team for the past 2 Commonwealth Games was odds on in my eyes to have a fast start and a good race. And I was right she did win the race!

The race start was on a fast tarmac section and I got off the line in around 5th or 6th. The first few laps were a bit of a blur as I pushed on and tried to dig in on as many sections of the course as possible, but I had started to fade a bit towards the second half of the race. With one lap to go I had two of the other women just in front of me and I put in a big effort of the final short climb to get past them before a technical set of tight switch back before a final flat set of corners and sprint to the line. I managed to just stay in front of the other two riders until the line and finished 12th women overall and 1st Under 18. Even better news was that my team mate Eleanor had come 2nd in the Under 18s so got to fly the Edinburgh Road Club flag on 1st and 2nd steps of the podium!

After this I had two weeks to get ready for my last weekend of road racing of the 2015 road season. After a good first week (which also did include some of the ‘little’ bit of socializing) I unfortunately got a cold. As a precautionary measure I took it easy in the week and only went for a short spin to trying and stop my cold developing, which sort of worked. I was off at 12.07 on the Saturday and we had a 6+ hour drive to the race, so the uni team and I headed down on the Friday afternoon to Glossop to stay the night before the Hill-Climb which was taking place up the Curbar Gap in the Peak District. The weather on the Saturday morning was not promising and it rained on off all day including during my warm up, which did make riding the rollers a bit tricky… After not falling off in my warm up I headed to the start with a lot of nerves and inhibitions about the 2kms of climbing at an average of 11% that was ahead of me. The boys had given me some tips for riding the hill but by half way up no advice on lines or where to push on mattered as I was going flat out just to keep climbing. As I turned the right hand hairpin I knew (or I'd been told) I was almost at the finish and with a large group of supporter gathered in a lay-by I put in a final dig to the line. It was safe to say I was pretty tired after crossing the line and had to ask one of the helper to catch me as I wasn't sure I would be able to get my foot out my cleats without falling over… And yes I was moving so slowly that could have happened… 

After catching my breath I headed back down the hill to do a short cool down in an attempt to save my legs for the Team Time Trial the following day, then put on all the clothes I'd brought with me and headed up the hill to support the other riders, especially the 3 boys racing from St Andrews. As the boys racing went on the weather slowly got colder and wetter but spirits were high as the St As boys (when they'd finished) and I joined the Sheffield University crowd of supporters that had gather on the hillside.

After all the riders were done we headed down to the race HQ, i.e. the local pub, to find out the results. Unsurprisingly the women’s race was won by Hayley Simmonds, representing Cambridge University. She had just returned from representing Great Britain at the Elite Womens World Time Trial and Road Championships in the USA. I had finished 37th, but my goals for the race were to post a sub 10 minute time and I had managed that and as the youngest competitor, I was pretty happy with my position. The boys seemed pretty happy with their placings too, Liam had achieved his goal of top half of the field in 69th place, Andrew went faster than last year and Clem (also a first year) made a solid base to improve on in future years. After we'd all warmed up a bit we headed to the van to pack up and hit the road for the drive home to St Andrews. The hours tumbled by, probably due to me having a sleep, and we arrived back just after midnight. 

After lugging all my stuff into my already messy bedroom in halls I collapsed into bed welcoming all the sleep I could get before my 7.30am start the following day. In an amazing bit of luck that was also the night the clocks went back by an hour so I got an extra hour of precious sleep!

My parents had arranged to come and pick me up from St Andrews the following morning and after a quick breakfast we headed of the race. After we arrived at the race HQ in the quiet town of Freuchie I headed to sign on and squeezed in a small warm up on the turbo before Rae, Jane and I headed as a team for the race start. As we rolled to the start we had a quick tactics talk and agreed that Rae was by far the strongest member of the team and so she would set the pace and Jane and I would help out were possible. The course was pretty much ideally suited to me as a rider with a mix of fast flat sections and rolling roads which could be powered up and with a final longer climb before a fast decent to the finish. 

We started out fast as Rae pushed on the speed, I very surprised that I was managing to keep up in Rae's slipstream and felt good for the first 20kms out of the 50km race. After this point I knew it'd be tough but I was determined to push to the limit and try my best for the team. Riding on my junior restricted gears meant I had to focus on spinning my legs as fast as possible to stop myself being dropped on any descents. But I held on and managed till the

photo courtesy of the Press Room

final climb and knowing we were close to the finished gave it my all to stay with the others. After we'd finished we rolled back to HQ and enjoyed the spread put on by the organisers. The food after a TT is always a treat and there were plentiful amounts of tea, so I was content.

We had a nervous wait for results as we speculated about how we'd managed, thinking we'd maybe been 3rd or 4th in the women’s field. As the results were announced, I was absolutely ecstatic to find out we'd been 3rd fastest team and 2nd in the Scottish Championships (as one of the teams wasn't eligible for the championships). I was extra proud of the result because this was the only opportunity I'd had to ride as a team for Edinburgh Road Club all season so that made it special. 

After the race and a nice lunch and a proper catch up with my parents about my past few weeks of life away from home I headed back to St Andrews looking forward to crawling back into bed… but alas laundry needed done… Student life is hard you know!

The weekend had been a long one but I was happy with my results and look forward to more opportunities to represent my university. It was also a nice way to bring my 2015 season to a close, so now I can properly begin preparation for next season. I have a few people to thank for their continued support throughout this season, and over the weekend. Mainly my parents, who even though I've 'flown the nest' still help me out whenever possible and have got up at unnatural hours countless times this year, so thank you both!! Secondly everyone given me the fantastic opportunities I've had, including Peter Clark, Tim Mackley and Statoil for helping me to experience international racing for the first time in Norway over the summer, (see previous post). My team, Edinburgh Road Club, and the sponsors and supporters of the Junior Race Team have also been massively influential in my racing this year as without their funding and support I wouldn't have been able to travel and race as much as I have. Lastly everyone who has believed in me over this year, as it's not been an easy one, so thank you one and all!

Above the Arctic Circle

Hello there, been a while since my last post but every things just been a bit crazy these last few weeks! My seasons racing was put on hold for a few weeks with a cold that developed into a nasty ear infection and required a few courses of antibiotics. This was annoying because it meant I missed a very good race in Bickerstaffe that I had been looking forward to for weeks and that I was missing training in preparation for my race in Norway in mid August. When I had the all clear from the doctor I get myself back into training with 3 or 4 weeks of left. I was starting to feel more confident in my level of fitness as the weeks went by but still wished I'd had a bit more time! Thanks to Alex Coutts and my ERC Junior and Senior teammates for keeping me motivated.

 The trip to Norway started for me on Thursday as my team mate Lulu and I headed up to Aberdeen to stay in the airport hotel so as to avoid a 3am start. My dad gave us a lift up and helped us in with the bikes and bags and then we were left to ourselves. The hotel staff did seem bit bemused as Lulu and I struggles through the lobby with our bike boxes but they were very accommodating. After a comfy sleep in a double bed each (thanks for the upgrade) we raided the free breakfast and got to use the complimentary mini bus to ship us the 2 minutes to the terminal building. It was a very wet morning but the whole team were in good spirits all excited for the journey ahead. We all got checked in and through security and before we knew it we were one the first flight!

Our day of traveling had begun and after 3 flights and a bus journey at the far end we were all quite tired when we arrived at Narvik university which was our base for the next few days. Due to Narvik being a small town we were being put up in class rooms at the uni and sharing with other teams so was 12 to a room. We (well us girls) quickly got chatting to our roomies and made a bed plan on the white board so we could remember each other names. Luckily during this we discovered our Norwegian room mates all spoke very good English and were kind enough to write there names how we should pronounce them.

After a quick dinner we were onto unpacking the bikes which had all made it in one piece. Thanks to the boys for helping me with this as I was having real struggles with reassembling my bike! We all lost track of time a bit at this point and soon realised it was quite late and that all the girls in our room had gone to bed bar us so we had to attempt to sneak in and get into bed without waking anyone. Safe to say we failed badly...

The next morning we were up and enjoying the breathtaking scenery that we could see from the dinning hall.

The photo doesn't quite do it justice

 We had a slow start to the day as we were due to ride the sportive that was an add on event to the professional races final stage the following day. We passed the morning painting out nails with Scottish flags and enjoying the endless supply of free fruit from the canteen. By the time we headed out on the bikes we were all excited and just wanted to ride! We joined with the 30km ride and I don't think I've even ridden a more beautiful 30kms!! 

Once we were back from the sportive ride we did a few laps of what we thought was the race circuit (we added extra climbing) and certainly for me the challenge of what was to come really hit home. The circuit was about 8kms long with 130+m of climb and about 200m of flat in total. After one looked at the course I knew this was going to be one of the toughest races I'd ever ridden. I've never been ashamed of how I'm built as a person and have accepted I'll never be a small, lean climber like Emma Pooley, but I am finding my own power based way of climbing but the repeated climb, descend, climb, descend of the course was going to push me to the edge of my abilities. After we'd looked at the course we headed back to the university for dinner and some seminars. 

Luckily for us and our lack of Norwegian these were both delivered in English, which was probably not so fortunate for the majority who didn't speak English… The first was a talk about making the right choices and being strong, it was very well delivered and really made you think. The second was a Q&A with Thor Hushovd, Bryan Coquard and Chris Williams. I found it particularly interesting to hear Chris talk of his challenge to overcome type 1 diabetes to become a professional cyclist. After we had a photo call with Thor, who (life goal achieved here!) remembered me from when we met in Aberdeen.  

The following day was race day, so we all headed to bed early in nervous excitement  The race order had the boys starting at 9.15 racing 10 laps, the Professional Arctic Tour of Norway race start at 2 and then my race at 2.15, The girls race was 6 laps then the pros returned to the circuit to do a finishing few laps. This meant the girls had a luxury of a late start, a chance to support the boys on the brutal hill past the university with still lots of time to get ready and prep for the race. Usually when I'm doing a road race at home I'd do a small roller warm up but unfortunately even my bag couldn't fit a set of rollers in it! This meant we had to adapt a bit so we used the last finishing straight of the race and a bit of extra road to roll up and down to get our legs going. This also meant we were rolling up and down past all the team cars and riders, resulting in Lulu getting chatted to by a Tinkoff-Saxo rider and me nearing running over Alexander Kristoff! After the pros rolled out we were called up onto the stage and announced officially as the Scotland team. This was an amazing experience and the first time I'd got to to sign-on on a stage and get my name announced to a crowd, safe to say my usually big smile was literally the width of my face!!

The photographer doing the pictured also loved our nails and insisted I showed them off. After this we headed back to the start line and had a nervous wait until the race began. 


The race was neutralised until we'd descended down and gone through the tunnel then the car pulled off and we were straight onto the first short sharp climb. I clung onto the bunch until just before the top of the long climb as one of the girls from a strong team put in a dig and the pace went out. After a chase back on the long descent I got into the second group on the road with what remained of the peloton in sight on the climbs. Our race was 6 laps and I was just hanging into the group on laps 3 and 4 up the hill but on 5 i just slipped off the back on the last drag of the big hill. I then chased like mad trying to get back to the group and was only about 100m off the back of them going over the finish line into what I thought was the last lap but unfortunately due to the pros riding faster than expected I got pulled.  The most heart breaking thing was the group just in front of me was allowed to continue and given an official finish. In all honesty I was devastated after I was pulled out and I'd like to thank Peter and Tim for how they dealt with a slightly tearful me…

After I'd pulled myself together, had a quick shower and packed my bike (well ok, got the boys to help me pack my bike…) we headed out to watch the last few laps of the pro race go passed the university. It was so bizarre watching these grown men battle up the same hills I'd been grinding up only hours before. Safe to say the guys nearer the back of the race looked how I had felt going up the hill! I was certainly glad I didn't have to ride up the steep section again but not so glad that the bus and van for the bike boxes was at the top of it… Apologies everyone I ran into with my bike box it seemed to have a mind of its own! 

Once we were on the bus and heading back to the hotel for our last night we (the girls at least) were all still buzzing from the whole experience and soon made a bad attempt to liven up the journey by starting a sing along to Katy Perry and Sam Smith. Surprisingly some of the Norwegian boys seemed to know all the words too! When the 'party bus' arrived at the hotel the next challenge was getting the bike boxes to the rooms, Ashleigh and I were lucky we only had 3 flights of stairs to manage, Lulu and Sarah had 6! A bit of team work, much laughter and a near disaster later the bikes all made it safely. The next morning we thought I'd be quiet enough to use the hotel lifts but unfortunately a party of French tourists in the hotel also choose that exact time to leave the hotel… "I could have swore this weighted less yesterday" was the continual thought in my head as I precariously staggered down the stairs with my bike. 

I won't bore you with the details of the bus journey and 3 flights home but I for one will be glad if I don't have to set foot on a plane for a long time!! 

The whole experience went by in a fantastic blur of laughter, beautiful scenery and a severe burning sensation in my legs. I'd like to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone involved in the trip, from the fab people at Statoil, Peter and Tim who were totally awesome the whole trip, and last but no means least my fantastic, amazing, outstanding and unbelievable crazy team mates! You guys made the trip 100 times better and for that thank you!! 

"which way to the start?"

I know how lucky I am to get these opportunities and that fact was brought home more ever when I heard about the heart condition that my old teammate Ben Forsyth has.  Ben and I started out riding round the cones at Inch Park with ERC Juniors and in 2013 he went on to win the U16 Boys British Road Champs in ERC colours. He has now found out that he has a heart condition that means he will never be able to compete again and he will have to live with a pacemaker and defibrillator.  Even while Ben has been dealing with all this he has still taken the time to share his story and to encourage all young athletes get a heart screening - something I hope to get done soon.  I want to wish him all the best for his upcoming ops and for his University career.

After taking a week off to have a my first bike free holiday in a long time, I'm back on the bike and just enjoying riding in what remains of the Scottish summer. I'm off to start a new challenge of university in the next few weeks and am both excited and nervous but looking forward to many new adventures!