Just get on with it.

This week three albaRosa girls, Emily, Danica and myself, travelled to York for another evening of bike racing. Danica and I did an easy 35min ride as a warm up, during which my legs were not enjoying any kind of incline and I thought ‘I’m not sure it’s really a good idea to be doing a bike race tonight’… Anyway, this thought was quickly overridden with ‘It’s a training race and I wouldn’t miss training just because my legs are tired so just get on with it’.

Arriving in York, the sky looked ominous with a big black cloud threatening to soak us, but luckily the wind was blowing the right way and we avoided any rain. Fourteen girls lined up on the start line, the biggest field yet, and we were set off in two groups. There was a front group of eight including Emily and Danica and a back group of six of which I was part of. We worked OK together to catch the front group but as we passed them, two girls managed to jump groups increasing our group to eight. Most girls continued to take turns at the front but a few just sat at the back. For the remainder of the race I tried to stay near the front of the group so I could cover any breaks, there were a few attacks but no one got away. Coming into the final hairpin I went to the front so I didn’t lose any time on the bend. Then coming into the finishing straight, two girls (Iona and Brit) came past me on the outside. Unfortunately my tired legs couldn’t respond this week so I had to settle for 3rd. Well done to Emily, who has improved so much each week and Danica in her first ever circuit race.

I think my next bike race will be at Dishforth on the 10^th August where hopefully Lindsay, Vicky and I can work together can work together to finish near the front for albaRosa! In the mean time, perhaps not quite as catchy as Nike’s slogan, but the message works for me: ‘Just get on with it’.

Race report and results here