In June I entered the 84 mile Tour of Cambridgeshire with Super Domestique, Abdu and Staggieurs, Mark G and Steve H. The top 25% of finishers in each age group qualify to represent Great Britain in the UCI Grand-fondo World Championships, this year being held in Perth, WA.
After a slow start and unplanned stop, Abdu and Trix left the Staggieurs checking out the pub opening times at the 45mile mark and decided to step on the gas. A valiant effort by Abdu saw them counting off the other ladies ‘of a certain age’ as we passed them and we were feeling good about qualifying with a 19.3mph average. However there was considerable confusion at the end of the event and qualification to Perth was not confirmed until 2 days later… now the serious training had to start….
Weekly PT sessions with Ray Robins have been a brilliant help and being dragged round Essex by Abdu, JB and Ray on Sundays have also made me up my game. A week in the mountainous Cantal, followed by a jaunt up Mt Ventoux all contributed to the training plan.
I travelled to Perth with the long suffering John on the bank holiday weekend ready for the event the following Sunday – 27hours of travelling and amazingly no jet lag. I met four other GB team members and we went out each morning in & around Perth… riding along the Quay and beautiful beach areas North of Perth was fantastic, but it was only 10-11 degrees and made Essex seem tropical!
On the day of the event, with over 1200 competitors, I started at 07:35hrs as part of the 19-49 years age group along with 130 other ladies from 39 different countries. It was a short course at 105km, with the first 50km being on a four lane freeway (thankfully closed) and the second part of the ride in the very hilly area of Kalamunda and Mundaring. We all stayed together on the freeway until a large crash split the peloton, unfortunately I was stuck behind the crash, so lost time navigating around the pile of bodies & bikes. I also managed to dodge a further crash on the freeway to get to the Kalamunda and Mundaring hills in one piece. The second 50km ranged from 2-10% with some very long uphill drags followed by some fantastic descents. I managed to get up to 51.6mph on one descent (anyone would think there was a cake stop at the bottom!). The last 11km of the ride was a climb and it was great to ride into the finishing area and over the line where there was literally 1000’s of people supporting the event. I finished in 3hours 40 minutes, slightly disappointed as I had hoped to maintain a better average, but exceptionally pleased to have qualified and competed for my Country.
Many thanks to Abdu, JB and Ray for their support & regular beatings in getting me ready and for all of the Club members for their on-going interest. Now where’s the cake????????