Hetton Hawkes was my 5th race in the National Road Series which I am currenlty still leading. The race was originally going to be held over 3 days, which changed to 3 races within one day! The 3 races were to be a 1 lap time trial of the 3km course, a 12 lap scratch and a 12 lap points race with sprints every 2 laps. The weather was terrible all day with a cold wind and non stop rain. This made the racing hard but interesting. In the time trial I rode well for a respectable 3rd, only 10th of a second off the winner! The scratch race was my worst race of the day although I managed third again. I was caught up in a crash with 100m to go whilst the winners went speeding off unscathed! I spoke with my coach about what I should do in the points and agreed that I would attack the race and show then what I was made of! For the first 2 sprints I sat in and got minor placings, waiting to suprise the others! After the second sprint I went and attacked over the hill and went alone to get the full points next lap. I sat up after I got the points as my 2 biggest rivals were hot on my tail! We were then to work together just 2 of us until the end. I received 2nd in the points race which still only meant I came away from hetton with a 3rd overall!
From the 28th July-10th August I went to Assen, Holland and then on the 2nd week Alkamar, Holland with the Great Britain Olympic Youth Endurance squad. There were 9 other talented youth riders and 3 GB coaches. For the first week we were racing as team Great Britain in a European Renowned Youth and Junior Tour. This was the most amazing stage race I have ever done! Competing with 60 other girls who were all skilled bike riders was immense. Best of all was being able to work as a team! We were mainly working for Twickenham based rider Corrine Hall who managed to get 3rd in the General Classification and 1st in the white points jersey! It was all a great team effort and we split the winnings equally… The second week was track training in preperation for nationals! this was a great experience as we were on Hollands national track where international stars train… It was an extremely hard week of training as we had to ride to the track every morning and home every night which took up over an hour! We managed to spot the Dutch Sprint champion Theo Bhoss and fellow dutch rider Tim Velts at the track one day which we were very excited about. I was glad to get home but the experience was was brilliant!
I have recently completed an exhilerating week of track racing for Britains Nationals in Newport, Gwent, South Wales. The first day, which happened to be my most succesful was the individual 2km pursuit! I was in the last heat against renowned pursuiter Halesowen rider Jess Booth who has many years of track experience. I only had a rear disc on where as my main rivals were riding double disc, which would most likely give them a slight advantage! I qualified in 4th place. Jess beat me by over a second!
For the final I would be riding against V.C Londres rider Laura Trott who seemed to be unbeatable! I manged to get a front disc for the final which helped. It was looking close as she had started very fast but she was slowing down. I managed to pick it up and hold her off till the finnish! I had won by only 2/10ths of a second. I also achieved my PB 2.36.02 (I wanted to break 2.35) but never mind. I received the 2nd fastest time of the day beating the second places time but still only 3rd. Thats what puruisting is like though! Another second faster and I would have been in contention for Nicole Cookes National record for U16’s!. In the 2 bunch races it didn’t seem to go to plan. The scratch was too slow so the sprinters could get towed round and then sprint to get the podium places! In the points race I was an aggressive rider attacking the race but no-one was goiog with me and being on my own it was hard to stay away! They chased me down and by that time I was too tired to contest in many of the sprints! I finished 7th but was content with this because I had at least tried! I also entered the junior points race which was much more intersting than the u16! It was extremely fast but I felt more comfortable as people kept attacking to keep the pace high. I went again on a few attacks staying away for longer as i wasn’t alone! My final race was a 500m time trial which is the event I did best in last year. I was planning to get a new PB. From my current one of 40 second!” I had a poor start but clawed it back and got a 39.5. Not bad for an endurance rider who had just completed a 20km points race. I received 6th place. Overall coming away from the weeks racing with a National Bronze medal was a great buzz for all the hard training I had done prior to this event.
More to come……
