One down...

RACE REPORT TIMMMMEEEEE!

I know, I know, better late than never. The race was last Sunday. So here it is, first one of the year out of the way, those unnecessary nerves and worries can sleep until next year;

Travelling from the Isle of Man with a fairly hefty rucksack and a bike to anywhere in the UK is no mean feat, I thought I'd nailed this process fairly well after living in London and travelling back frequently to see my family and friends. To be fair, although it's knackering, and expensive, sitting on a boat for 5 hours and changing train three times whilst walking 5 miles to get to your hotel before a race... it's all completely worth it knowing that in less than 24 hours you'll be sat on the start line alongside 50 odd other women ready to experience the greatest feeling on earth.

My travels began eventfully, chatting to a (presumably) student with a mountain bike from the boat all the way to the train station, then very stupidly "allowing" Merseyside Police to "mark" my beautiful new frame with an unjust amount of blue plastic compound. Come on guys, I live on the Isle of Man, I have insurance....why do you have to do this to me!? Anyway, that's a story all on it's own so I'll crack on with the interesting bits....

New pals! :)

Fastforward to Chester, one day later. We were blessed with beautiful weather, even on arrival at 8am I had my knees out, basking in the 16 degree treat that was tropical Saighton. I have to say, the ladies 'up north' are a friendly bunch, chatting to a few strangers put my nervous mind at ease as I realised that the peloton would be welcoming plenty of new racers, even newer than I. I'd caught up with brand new mate Elisa and we decided on trying to work a bit together, as neither of our teams would be represented as a group it was nice to be able to share something with another rider. We lined up together, and the group rolled out behind the neutral service car onto the course. Keeping my coaches advice firmly at the front of my mind "stay in the top 15" I ensured my position was good enough not to be too shocked once the service car sped off. To be honest it wasn't really worth trying to prepare myself for this, once the car had gone, the next few minutes was a lot of internal screaming and remembering what racing felt like. "Oh crap" and "it burns!" mainly.

I soon settled back into the rhythm of things, happily sticking to the top 15 or so of the bunch as instructed. Attacks came and were snubbed out as quickly as they appeared. The pace was impressively high and it's testament to the incredible capabilities of female riders at all levels of the field. However, it was clear from even one lap in that a lot of the riders around me might be new to the game and unfortunately a little bit of unnecessary argy bargy was beginning to form. While aggressive riding can be an important part of road racing, it's not really OK to try and slip into gaps that aren't there... not least elbow your way into them, especially on tight open roads. 2.5 laps in this unfortunately culminated in Heather Bamforth (our league organiser and all round superhero) being taken out.

I don't know who took this, it was sent
to me on twitter! sorry/credits! 

It was at this point I decided to change the outcome of my race. Happy in the knowledge that I was comfortable with the front half of the pack, and that my fitness has developed nicely despite a pretty horrendous winter of illness and setbacks following last years long season, I got off my bike as the peloton passed me and ran back to where Heather lay, shouting for help. It's not nice to hear a fellow rider come down, ever, but when it's a bad one it's just unbearable. While normally I'd carry on, knowing this was Heather, and knowing what she's done to ensure we are all able to race these amazing events, and knowing that it was a bad one from the sounds of it, it seemed like the most sensible decision to make. Luckily as I got to Heather the commisaires car also pulled up to the rescue and so I hopped back on my steed and began plodding out a hearty rhythm to the end.

A few folks have since given me a bit of stick for stopping. Which is fine, I can understand that. But what you have to understand is that in some circumstances, it is OK to make sacrifices for the good of the people around you. Good sportsmanship is as important to me as doing the best I can.

In the end, I came a relatively modest 34th out of 45. After timetrialling the final two laps, picking up a friendly Manchester Wheelers rider along the way. I rolled in to the finish of my first race of the season feeling satisfied and eager to continue. I'm unbelievably happy with where my fitness is at, all considering, and it can only bode well for the coming months. Onwards and upwards.

So there you have it, one down, a fair few more to go!