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.
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.
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The
photo doesn't quite do it justice
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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!!
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"which
way to the start?"
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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!
