More Bike Races

Post race smiles in York (L to R: Sam, Emma, Victoria, Alison and Seonaid) 

Race: Yorkshire Day @ The Races 2 (2/3/4)

Position: 1st

22.03.14

With a four o'clock start time I was able to do an easy swim and short run in the morning and have a bit of feet-up time before heading over to Sheffield. I met albaRosa team mate Victoria and Leeds University rider Lucy at the sign in desk and we sheltered from the torrential rain for a while before heading out for a 'warm up'. 

On the start line there was a bit of discussion about how long we were going to ride for. I wanted 40 minutes- I felt it would suit me well and that was what was advertised and I’d driven all the way to Sheffield for. No one else looked that keen though, so the race official decided we would race for 35 minutes because there were some black clouds in the sky. This seemed a bit unusual to me, I'd never heard of a race being shortened because it was raining before. Anyway off we went. This was my first time racing on the circuit in Sheffield and it was good fun to try out a new course. It’s 1 km long with two hairpins, a bit of a chicane and a slight uphill finish.

With about 7 laps to go we were down to a lead group of about 7 riders. Alison (PH-MAS) led the group around the final lap and coming into the finishing straight a couple of girls made their move. I accelerated to get on someone’s wheel but found I was going faster than them so just put my head down and sprinted for the line, crossing it first. Well done to Victoria in her first ever bike race and Lucy who was riding strongly throughout.

By the end of the race it had started raining again so Victoria, Lucy and I chose sitting inside next to the radiator for some snacks and a chat over a cool down. 

Results here

Race: York Sport Day @ The Races 3 (E/1/2/3/4)

Position: 1st

29.03.14

Back to a 1 o'clock start so I treated myself to a morning off training. After breakfast and second breakfast with some feet-up time in between I drove over to York. I met up with albaRosians Alison, Victoria and Emma, all looking great in their pink and black kit. We did a bit of a warm up around the campus and a few laps of the circuit. 

We were set off in two groups. The first group contained 13 riders. The second, four - three GB Cycles girls (Iona, Brit and Jo) and me. We worked together to catch the main group and Iona accelerated past them without picking up any extras. So it was down to four again. At one point Jo had a good gap but unfortunately she fell and so in the end it came down to a sprint finish between me and Iona which I just managed to win. Well done to Alison for adding to her point collection, Victoria for her second bike race and Emma who felt the benefits of a good winter’s training in her first race of 2014.

It was good to be back at York Sport, it's so close to Leeds that it needn't take too much time out of the day, unless you want it to that is... I ended up spending the whole afternoon there with a post bike race hot chocolate and snacks followed by an easy swim. 

Results here

Next up some actual triathlons, watch this space.