First Bike Race, First Bike Win

albaRosa girls: still smiling after our first bike race

Inspired by watching the Tour de France and encouraged by albaRosa team mates especially Club Captain Jamie Tweddell, I decided to have a go at a bike race. 

On Tuesday evening I travelled to York for the women’s only race at York Sport Cycle Circuit. Six other albaRosa girls were also competing for the first time so it was great to chat to each other before the start, try to work out the rules and reassure each other. The race was 40 minutes long on a 1km circuit with a count down from 10 laps to go based on a calculation of our lap speed. We were allowed 15 minutes to warm up on the circuit and practice the corners before the race. First impressions were: ‘that hairpin is quite tight’ and ‘the back straight is quite windy’. Soon enough we were lined up on the start line. As first timers we were given a head start, with two groups of three riders setting off at intervals after us. 

We set off quite steadily, so I made sure I got to the front before the first hairpin so I could get round it safely. Along the back straight Vicky Clark, also racing for albaRosa, came past quite strongly so I got on her wheel and this was where I stayed for most of the race. Vicky is an amazing rider and was so strong. I had to work hard to keep up and so wasn’t really able to help her out much but I did go to the front when I could to give Vicky a bit of a rest. 

Coming into the final third of the race we started to catch the riders who had set off last and were the only riders we hadn’t yet lapped. When we caught them we sat at the back for a lap until they signalled for us to go through. Coming out of the next hairpin they tried to get away but couldn't drop us. On the next lap Vicky went to the front and as we were coming out of the hairpin I noticed we had a bit of a gap so I went to the front to try to establish a break. It worked. When I started to tire, Vicky came through again and powered us round the last few laps extending our lead over the rest of the field. Coming into the finishing straight I was a bit cheeky and decided to sprint for the line, finishing just ahead of Vicky.

Speaking to all the albaRosa girls at the end of the race it seemed that everyone had enjoyed themselves and would be coming back again next week! I don’t think Vicky and I will get a head start again, but hopefully we can still win from the back. Well done to all the albaRosa girls for a successful first bike race and thanks very much to all the albaRosa guys for persuading us to have a go as I don’t think any of us would have been there otherwise!

Report & results here

p.s Thanks very much to James for the photos.

Almond Butter Cookies

Thanks to Meridian, I am now addicted to their almond butter and after eating it on toast, rice cakes, pitta bread and crackers, I started to experiment with baking with it too. The best recipe I have come up with so far is for almond butter cookies. Actually they taste a bit like digestive biscuits, but nicer. But I think they could be improved further by adding some flaked almonds to create a different texture. Anyway, here is the recipe as it stands;

70g Meridian almond butter

70g brown sugar

1 egg

200g plain flour (100g wholemeal/100g white)

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Small amount of milk

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Beat together the Meridian almond butter, sugar and egg. Stir in the flour and bicarbonate of soda. Add enough milk to turn the mixture into dough. Roll heaped dessert spoons of the mixture into balls. Place on a baking tray 5cm apart and flatten with a fork. Bake for about 12 minutes. Cool on trays.

Meridian Malt Loaf

First attempt at home-made malt loaf

Firstly, thanks to Meridian for sending me lots of tasty products to try. I’ve been a fan of their peanut butter (with no added sugar or salt!) for a while so was keen to test out other products in their range.

This malt loaf recipe is adapted from one I found online and includes Meridian Barley Malt Extract. Barley malt extract is a natural sweetener and is found in healthy muesli options such as the ‘no added sugar’ version of Alpen. This recipe does use extra sugar, but there’s no added fat and I used wholemeal flour instead of white flour so overall, it’s pretty healthy.

Ingredients

175g    Meridian Barley Malt Extract

85g      dark muscovado sugar

300g    mixed dried fruit

150ml  tea

2         eggs

250g    plain wholemeal flour

1 tsp    baking powder

½ tsp   bicarbonate of soda

This recipe is really simple: preheat the oven to 130°C; mix together all the ingredients in the order above; pour into a lined loaf tin; bake for 50mins. The malt loaf tastes good by itself or with a bit of jam on it. 

My Moroccan Adventure

Well that was an experience and not one I’d like to repeat in the near future.

On Thursday I travelled to Tangier, Morocco to compete in the Larache ITU Sprint Triathlon African Cup on Saturday my first international triathlon. The general theme of the weekend was waiting: waiting for my transfer to the hotel (2.5 hours); waiting for my bike (12 hours); waiting for accreditation (1 hour); waiting for race briefing (1 hour); waiting for race start (1.5 hours); waiting for my bag (30 mins); waiting for my transfer to the airport (50 mins) and finally, waiting for my flight home (6 hours). It seems the Moroccan minute is quite different to a UK minute.

Anyhow, eventually my bike did turn up, at 23.15 the night before the race. And when the race finally started, it was a great course- nice warm sea to swim in, a few waves, hilly bike and hilly run. I came 11^th out of 16 finishers. I was disappointed with my result but it wasn’t a complete disaster, I learnt a lot that I’ll take into future races. Other positives of the trip were: a cafe selling ideal pre-race pasta; friendly locals (sometimes a bit too friendly); and a bit of sunshine (unfortunate tan lines to prove it)! 

Three weeks now until my next race, Blenheim Triathlon, on the 9^th June. It was one of my favourite triathlons last year, so I'm looking forward to doing it again.

Race results here

Pendle Tri

Pendle triathlon on Sunday was my first UK triathlon of 2013. The weather forecast was terrible, 7°C, heavy rain and strong winds. Luckily this turned out to be inaccurate and it was really more like light rain and moderate winds. Even so, I laid out my bike jersey and gloves in transition- after Skipton, Wetherby and London triathlons last year I didn’t want to do another triathlon where I couldn’t feel my hands and feet.

The swim was a 750m pool swim, a bit unusual as normally sprint distance tri pool swims are only 400m but it suited me, as normally in an age group triathlon the swim ends up being my strongest discipline. There was a bit of a run up to transition, round the building, up a hill and round another building and my transition took a bit longer than normal as I put on my helmet, bike jersey, race belt and gloves!

Onto the bike and I was so glad to have my extra layers on, especially for the down-hills. The bike course was good, two laps of a hilly loop with marshals all the way around. I’m always reassured to see marshals in a non-drafting race as it makes it much fairer for everyone, discouraging some people from drafting. It was also reassuring to know I was going the right way.

The run course was also nice and very well marshalled. It was more like a cross country race than a normal triathlon run though as we ran through fields, over stiles, up hills, along farm tracks and along a canal towpath. The last kilometre felt much longer than a kilometre, so I was happy to see the finish line and collect my finisher’s Mars bar!

After a warm down jog, shower and change the presentations took place. I was 1^st woman and 5^th overall in 1.13.50, a time I was quite pleased with given the nature of the course. I was disappointed however that the men and women were given different prizes. Only the 1^st woman won a prize while the top 3 men got prizes and only the 1^st man and 1^st local man won large shields.

Overall this was a great triathlon though, very well organised with interesting bike and run courses, especially if you like the hills!

Results here